Just one in every 20 European retailers or manufacturers has digitised its relationship with its entire supply chain, according to a new survey by the managed services provider TrueCommerce.
On average, businesses surveyed trade electronically with just 57% of their supply chain. Businesses are falling short on industry goals too, with 82% wanting to digitise trade with all their suppliers.
For businesses in the process of digitising their supply chain interactions, 39% cited a skills shortage among key reasons holding businesses back; while 32% cited not having the right resources to support digitisation.
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“Supply chains across every part of the economy are under more pressure than ever before as businesses at the head of the chain look to innovate in order to manage cost and remain competitive,” said David Grosvenor, managing director at TrueCommerce Europe. “However, there is clearly a significant void between where businesses currently are and where they want to be in terms of their ability to automate processes and trade data both rapidly and seamlessly. Until they close this gap and improve the way in which they interact with the supply chain, the issue will ultimately continue to have a negative impact on their commercial performance and that of their wider sector.”
He added: “Investing and upskilling teams internally is clearly a priority but, with resourcing issues adding to existing industry headwinds, it’s important that businesses continue to seek support to alleviate those pressures. It is those businesses who will ultimately be able to develop a digital strategy that adds value to their operation.”
Survey data was generated by Vanson Bourne on behalf of TrueCommerce, with a sample of 300 businesses. These include organisations from the UK (100), France (100), Denmark (50), Sweden (25) and Norway (25).
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