Article

How a customized and adaptive strategy can drive your digital supply network

Forget fail fast

As companies begin to use digital supply networks, they face challenges in scaling pilots to an enterprise level. Moving beyond the mantra of “fail fast” to a more customized approach may be the solution.

DIGITAL SUPPLY NETWORKS (DSNs) offer a profound vision: the transformation of linear supply chains into dynamic, interconnected, and open systems. By integrating information from many sources and locations, businesses can attain a holistic view of what’s happening, where and when. In short, a DSN can transform the way organiza­tions make, move, and manage goods and services.

To test such new capabilities, organizations often begin with small pilots to prove the business case for a large technological investment. Where they find themselves challenged is scaling those pilots to an enterprise level. To simply pilot is not enough, and failing to scale successful programs leaves significant opportunities untapped.

As they seek to scale DSN capabilities, most business leaders don’t always have to navigate un­charted territory these days. Many DSN applications that were once considered bold leaps of faith have evolved into standard capabilities. Leveraging the proven business cases of others, who have successfully scaled these capabilities into enterprise wide solutions, can help create a more informed, targeted path for an organization’s own evolution. It can also provide a roadmap to scaling that doesn’t have to involve failure.

On the other hand, identifying which innovations have not been truly proven may help leaders understand how—and when—to invoke a more traditional approach to piloting, learning, and scaling.

The following criteria can help organizations scale successfully:

  • Understand why the mantra of “fail fast” may no longer be appropriate in many cases;
  • Understand potential DSN tactical archetypes;
  • Build archetype-appropriate strategies for success at scale; and
  • Build a programmatic approach to DSN plans.
To explore these criteria in detail, download the “Forget fail fast” report.

Authors

Richard Bradley

Director

ribradley@deloitte.ch |  +41 58 279 8712

Richard leads Digital Supply Chain for Switzerland. With over 15 years of experience in digitally enabled Supply Chain transformation and as a thought leader and speaker on digital supply chain topics, he is passionate about bringing disruptive topics to business, breaking down barriers to adoption and harnessing business impact across all areas of the value chain.

Meg Alderman

Senior Consultant

maalderman@deloitte.ch |  +41 58 279 8189

Meg is a Senior Consultant within Switzerland’s Digital Supply Network (DSN), Strategy and Smart Operations team. She joined the Swiss practice from the United States after gaining diverse experience across supply chain, strategic risk, and enterprise risk. Her unique experiences have driven a passion for problem solving in the digital age and managing risk driven by disruption, innovation and change.

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