December - 2018 19logisticstechoutlook.comIn 1996 I was in Egypt on a tour organised by archaeologists. We toured tombs and temples, palaces, and pyramids. Amongst the tourists, there was a range of opinions on how such wonders had been constructed.There were certain hypotheses concerning extra-terrestrials and more mainstream theories concerning vast armies of slaves. The modern, developed-nation mind has difficulty, it seems conceiving how such scale, precision, and grandeur could be possible without even the basest of base technologies, iron tools.In our technological age, the only way we imagine solving complex problems is through the application of complex tools. But as our archaeologists pointed out, when you don't have advanced technology, what you need to achieve great things is advanced society.It turns out that even without lasers and horsepower, many high-skilled artisans, working in highly-coordinated close collaboration could, quite literally, move mountains.Today, constructing a stone pyramid would be monumentally expensive, require vast resources to plan and might require the development of completely new equipments, and new tools. Why? Because in the modern world, our current technology toolset defines the limits of what we can achieve ­ indeed, what we can imagine we can achieve. Simply put, because we don't build pyramids, we can't build pyramids.In our lifetime, technology's impact on workplace productivity has been immense. We have more intelligence, connection, and power to execute than our grandparents could have imagined.The idea that technology drives performance improvement is now ingrained in our thinking. So much so that the default answers to any shortfall in output is to deploy some new software. In fact, the software industry has a word it uses as the ultimate euphemism for "product" ­ solution.And euphemism it is, because the tool is never the solution. Swapping a bronze chisel for a jackhammer is not a solution if you want to build a pyramid.At GEP, our area of expertise is procurement and supply chain, and for two decades we have seen at first hand the positive impact technology has had on procurement's ability to drive real bottom-line results to the business.In recent years, however, chief procurement officers have come under increasing pressure to deliver more, with less, at higher frequency. Bigger savings, lower risk, quicker Digital Procurement Transformation in Supply Chain Management By Paul Blake, Associate Director, GEP WorldwidePaul BlakeCXO INSIGHTS
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