English 
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For brands and retailers competing in today’s fast-paced industry, digitization is becoming a top priority to save time, money and resources. While the digital transformation is not new, it is often focused on 3D technology adoption, while the supply chain still works in a traditional way.
Imagine you have all information in a central platform where both retailers and service providers have access. Supply chain digitization enables a stronger relationship within the supply chain by moving all aspects of the supply chain online to manage all procedures and tasks anywhere. You can manage logistics, payment, inventory, and other data and share with colleagues across time zones and continents instantly. This enables speed and can increase profit and efficiency across all operations. Other benefits include cost reductions for logistics, inventory maintenance and improved customer service.
Digital transformation of the supply chain is important and 70% of executives from some of the largest global manufacturing and retail organizations across Europe and North America, say they have already started a formal digital supply chain transformation effort. While there is still room to grow, there are current technologies already being used to enable this digital supply chain transformation. These include big data analytics, simulation tools, the cloud and supply chain visibility platforms such as ERP and PLM systems.
Adopting technology allows for companies to be agile and respond to changing market conditions more rapidly. For example, integration with PLM means collaborating at a much faster rate between an organization, their customers and supply chain partners to enable more time for design changes, make faster decisions and create better products. As such, digitization provides an end-end solution to plan, create, develop, source, and cost throughout a whole product lifecycle.
When it comes to consumers, the supply chain is also relevant. For example, consumers want the flexibility to buy from anywhere, but for a retailer this may be difficult to maintain inventory stock to support. Through digitizing, companies can view in-story inventory balance and manage stock to support the on-demand consumer. Furthermore, all consumer purchases and profiles are stored in one central place to analyze what trends are popular, and instantly provide feedback to the whole supply chain.
A supply chain digital transformation requires investment, however the opportunity to foster automation, collaboration, smart data analytics and instant connectivity, will only provide benefit across the entire value chain.
