Harnessing ERP power to drive government supply chain resilience

ERP for supply chain and service delivery improvement

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role supply chain management plays in the delivery of government services. The heightened attention makes a strong case for government leaders to champion supply chain transformation by investing in underlying technology—strengthening government’s ability to deliver cost-effective services and mitigate risks, all while fostering public confidence.

Top commercial organizations rely on digital solutions to transform and elevate their extensive supply chains. In past years, government, too, has realized how technology can optimize supply chain capabilities, ultimately enhancing transparency and resiliency. While cutting-edge technologies, such as blockchain, IoT, and artificial intelligence, show great promise in supply chain, a fundamental baseline is an ERP solution, which can jump-start government’s journey through digital transformation.

ERP is a powerful supply chain tool. It provides government visibility and control of disparate areas, such as finance, procurement, and logistics—enabling separate functions to quickly share consistent financial and operational information. Furthermore, ERP solutions and underlying technologies provide a treasure trove of data that can be used to generate intelligence needed to run government more efficiently. ERP optimization enables access to robust reports and scorecards; end-to-end supply chain views; and the insights needed to boost service, cost savings, and operational efficiency.

Optimized ERP systems empower organizations to “rightsize” and implement solutions in stages. Using this approach, government can adapt to the initial solution, begin to experience benefits, and prepare users for the next phase of the project that may include integrating new ERP modules or installing complementary technology to address specific business requirements.

Improving supply chains now and for the future

At the onset of the pandemic, one large state sought Deloitte’s experience to improve its delivery of critical personal protective equipment to hospitals, first responders, and medical facilities. The team collaborated with state agencies and stakeholders to evaluate current fulfillment operations across eight Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) Regional Advisory Council (RAC) locations, conduct inventory cycle counts, and identify process improvement opportunities for post–COVID-19 operations.

To implement improvements to drive supply chain resilience, Deloitte determined that the state needed to improve its inventory management and procurement functionality. In response, the Deloitte team worked with its partners at Oracle to create a turnkey platform that provides government with ready-to-use inventory management capability—enabling more effective response now and when future emergencies occur.

Reinforcing supply chain resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the vital importance of resilient supply chains in government. While taking the first step in supply chain performance improvement can seem daunting, government can start with the implementation and effective use of solutions, such as ERP. Harnessing the power of ERP data enables organizations to create more resilient, performance-driven government now and for the future.