Page 37 - Logistics News - Issue 01 - 2024.indd

P R O CUREMENT TECH TRENDS

Tech trends impacting
Sustainable procurement practices and policies are topping
the agendas of leading organisations. By 2024, sustainability the freight forwarding
reporting is expected to become a significant trend in the
industry
procurement industry.

The growing focus on risk management, collaboration, By Renko Bergh, Co-Founder at CTRLfleet
communication and sustainability means that technology is
more important than ever in procurement. Today’s procurement igital transformation is becoming a must in the freight
teams are data-driven and need to have comprehensive, forwarding industry. With uncertainties becoming the norm,
transparent, real-time views of sourcing and spending as well as D freight forwarders will need the right tools to ensure that
platforms that enable suppliers to access the requisite data. This they can survive and thrive despite the supply chain’s challenges.
means that technology skills are essential in procurement teams. Aside from helping freight forwarders control and coordinate
the movement of goods, digital freight forwarding solutions help
While the procurement profession proved its mettle in businesses in a variety of ways:
navigating risk in recent years, it cannot rest on its laurels • Give companies the ability to centralise operations and analyse
now because supply chain volatility has become the norm. data in real-time.
Procurement and supply chain practitioners played a • Allow automation to simplify operational work.
pivotal role in ensuring that their organisations managed • Integrate functions for greater efficiency.
production and delivery disruptions in recent years. The • Provide companies with the ability to measure and analyse data
volatility, economic pressures, shortages and risk will not to overcome demand and supply challenges.
abate in 2024. With the recent rise in global conflicts and • Allow freight forwarders to improve customer service by
climate events and, in South Africa, the ongoing electricity providing real-time shipment data to their clients.
crisis, water outages, freight rail and ports crises, the
chaos is set to continue. Procurement professionals must These advantages will help freight forwarders plan and prepare
manage this by sharing knowledge, expanding their skills, for the uncertainties expected in the near term. Moreover, the
building resilience, managing risk and even using it as a simplification of tasks and the ease of training can help solve
competitive advantage. staffing issues.

The growth of the Africa Supply Chain in Action (ASCA) As the Internet of Things becomes more widely deployed
Conference is a testament to the growing recognition of the across all aspects of logistics, artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as
vital role played by supply chain and procurement. ASCA 2023 the next wave to gain more traction in 2024. AI may come from
saw almost 1,500 African supply chain and procurement algorithms that analyse historical data to help logistics software
professionals from 70 countries gather online to examine the automate procedures and make operations more efficient. AI
skills, strategies and solutions needed to accelerate African helps freight forwarding companies by minimising guesswork in
economic development and growth in a post-pandemic new both planning and procurement.
world.
By analysing trends, AI can help minimise human errors when
As a result of its success since it was launched in 2020 by managing inventory and buying cycles. While manual interventions
Smart Procurement and SAPICS (the Professional Body for and scrutiny can help improve compliance, intermediaries like
Supply Chain Management), ASCA has become an annual rather freight forwarders might be well off employing AI to monitor a
than a biennial virtual conference. The fourth Africa Supply Chain diverse and ever-growing trade volume.
in Action takes place on 13 March, 2024.
While customs processes could be strenuous and resource-
Procurement’s evolution will continue as the profession shifts intensive, the influx of AI-based tools can help hasten workflows.
and pivots with the ever-changing, uncertain, disruption-fraught AI-based tools can help read and ingest data with impeccable
business environment. We need talented, skilled, knowledgeable accuracy, removing manual scribing errors. AI can read and
and qualified procurement professionals more than we ever have process documents, identifying necessary details that it extracts
to rise to the challenges, succeed and add value in this exciting, to auto-populate customs documents. This can then be verified
dynamic and increasingly important profession. • by brokers, expediting the process with a high degree of data
accuracy. •

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