Skip to main content

Business apps considered a decisive competitive factor in supply chain management

Written by: Supply Chain Online
Published on: 24 Nov 2016
Category:

BUSINESS APPS NEWSBusiness apps considered a decisive competitive factor in supply chain management

Experts working within the fields of global trade, logistics and supply chain management agree that business apps can provide companies with a competitive edge, even though relatively few are already utilising them.

This is according to a new research study conducted by software provider AEB and the Stuttgart, Germany-based University DHBW. The study, entitled The Global Trade Management Agenda 2017, polled 330 experts, and nine out of ten said that they consider business apps to be “a critical, competitive factor in global trade and logistics.”

The vast majority (86.7 per cent) also agreed that the importance of such business apps is only set to increase going forward.

Despite this, take-up remains surprisingly low. Only less than a fifth (17.6 per cent) of respondents said that they are already making use of business apps within the areas of supply chain management and logistics. Slightly more than a fifth (21.1 per cent) said that they are working on implementing such apps into their businesses.

Nearly half of respondents identified transparency, control and flexibility as the primary benefits of using mobile apps. Nearly a third (30.4 per cent) thought it “very likely” that using business apps would provide a competitive edge.

Forty-seven per cent of respondents said that in-house IT integration is amongst the main success factors for using these apps, along with functionality across different operating systems and added value.

The study’s findings indicated that those in upper management are “particularly optimistic” about using business apps, in part because they tend to already have personal insight into the area.

Dr Ulrich Lison, co-author of the study and Portfolio Manager and Member of the Executive Board of AEB, said: “The views of upper management should not be seen merely as strategically calculated optimism. They are actually often based on personal experience.”

He added: “After all, some 80 per cent of top-level managers currently use business apps most intensively."