Since the covid19 outbreak, frictions in supply chain have been a key driver of innovation and have provided impetus for collaboration among entrepreneurs and big businesses . The pandemic ushered a global supply chain downturn which affected the operations and revenue of many businesses globally.
SCM connections has been helping organizations to weather their supply chain hassles through tech in the last decade. However, recently, the company has joined the McKinsey team to deepen the supply chain transformation in the postcovid period. In an article published on McKinsey’s website, the new union is tipped to provide a more robust and integrated platform for clients.
The publication reads in part: “The proven technology skills and capability building from SCM Connections will complement McKinsey’s strategic insights, planning-process acumen, and deep organizational, cultural, and mindset transformation experience”.
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Mike Doheny, McKinsey senior partner who leads the organization’s manufacturing and supply chain work described how the acquisition will leverage artificial intelligence to enhance sustainable value delivery and good customer experience. According to him:
“With this acquisition, we can help clients with their advanced planning transformations, from step one to step ten, with no handoffs and complete ownership of impact, which has been an unmet need for many clients.
“This includes developing the organizational capability and mindset shift necessary to capture and sustain the value. In addition, we will enhance these processes with our QuantumBlack expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning” he said.
SCM Connections which has been in business for over 10 years has more than 45 experts, many of whom have experienced or led major software and ERP deployments as both clients and systems integrators. The firm managed extraordinary demand during the pandemic, helping numerous companies convert bricks-and-mortar stores into e-commerce channels almost overnight, reinventing networks, digitizing processes, and building resilience into infrastructures.
“What we like about SCM Connections is that they often get called in to fix tech-enabled transformations that have gone wrong,” says Ketan Shah, the McKinsey partner who leads the organization’s supply chain planning work and technology alliances in the supply chain space. “This takes a real understanding of the supply chain and experts who know what they are doing with the technology and the process” she added.
McKinsey and SCM Connections have a proven relationship. For example, during the pandemic they helped a billion-dollar enterprise lay the groundwork for its upcoming advanced planning and scheduling (APS) implementation. “We brought very complementary strengths,” says Ketan. “We like the ‘popcorn’ of ideas, the excitement of problem solving, and figuring out how insights from our research and experience will translate into concrete next steps to create value for our clients.”
In addition to complete transformations, the newly integrated team will help clients across industries stand up SCM initiatives with early-phase diagnostics, business-case development, and road mapping, as well as undertake interventions in existing SCM transformation projects to unlock untapped value.