COVID-19: Building the intelligent enterprise to create agility and resiliency

Responding to the pandemic has underscored what work is critical. And what work may be cut. It has tested conventional wisdom about the need for physical proximity to customers, products and management. All this while a massive amount of labor has moved to virtual modes.

There’s no doubt: Companies equipped with more agile operating models are flexing agile muscles they built-up over the past years.

Evaluate your partners and lean into your ecosystem for rapid insight and innovation

Now is the time to develop and execute an agile supply chain strategy that can steer the business through today and tomorrow. An agile supply chain accelerates demand-sensing intelligence, localization and product flow optimization as "shape of chain" begins to reflect current fluid offerings and fulfillment experiences. It incorporates business continuity planning by diversifying across supply chain and distribution channels, modes of transportation, and ecosystem and alliance partners.

For other parts of the value chain, including marketing, sales, and support functions, organizations should be agile in responding to the evolving realities of running the business. There is also an opportunity to better integrate sales and operations, demand and supply planning powered by predictive and prescriptive analytics and a team empowered to bring critical business insights forward. Leveraging enterprise analytics platforms to make insights more readily available within the organization. This is a capability urgently required. One that will remain just as critical to what’s needed next. We call it, "sensors at the edges."

As we operate in the Next and prepare for the Never Normal, most organizations are rapidly designing processes to improve efficiencies. They’re relying on resources located physically further away from products, customers and business leaders. Increasingly, they’re depending on ecosystem partners that are better prepared to operate in a remote or virtual environment.

The measures companies are putting in place to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic are accelerating the adoption of Intelligent Enterprise trends. Companies need to consider more than just the urgent needs of the NOW—they should accelerate the building of an Intelligent Enterprise for the NEXT and to outmaneuver uncertainty in the new normal or, more accurately, the NEVER NORMAL. We can help you.