As with every year, at the start of January, we look forward to the year ahead and the changes it brings with it. As we take stock of 2022, we present our top 5 industry blogs and content to show how things changed throughout the year.
1. Digital Transformation in the Electrical sector – article
The Wholesaler & Electrical Distributor (W&ED) magazine
Earlier in 2022, B2BE’s Joe Pettit was featured in the W&ED magazine. Joe shared insights into how the electrical sector had the potential to improve processes around data analytics, accounts receivable and invoice financing.
Over the last three years, organisations everywhere saw a dramatic spike in the need, and acceleration, of digital transformation. Likewise, this was the same for the electrical industry. The transition towards a successful digital transformation journey became the difference between survival and success. This article highlighted the obstacles in the digital transformation journey that were often faced and advised how to avoid these.
Read the full article in the W&ED magazine here.
2. The impact of COP27 – white paper
As climate change becomes a more pressing issue in every part of life, more pressure is put on businesses to conform to better ESG standards. In 2022 we released a COP27 white paper which explained the main outcomes of the COP 27 summit, the expected global targets and the role supply chain sustainability will play for businesses in the immediate future.
COP27 will be known as the year that agreed on the Loss and Damage fund, a pooled fund for countries most impacted by climate change. However, focusing more on the business outcomes for the summit, supply chain transparency was also on the mind of many attendees.
Supply chain transparency has made its way up the agenda due to the rise of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) as a strategic goal in business. Benchmarking by Climate Action 100+ shows that corporate net-zero commitments are rising. In March 2021, a quarter of firms surveyed expressed ambitions to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. And last month, that fraction had jumped to more than half with 51% of companies making the pledge.
Download our full COP27 takeaways white paper here.
3. Supply chain inflation and the rising cost of the sausage roll – blog
Inflation was a huge talking point in 2022, and as high street bakery Greggs announced the increase in the price of its sausage rolls, citing supply chain issues as the cause. We looked at how the cost of the global supply chain was increasing and the link it has to inflation. The interconnectedness of a global supply chain means that when one price goes up, others will follow and as we saw increases in transport, labour and energy costs across the globe, this all contributed to inflation. While consumer price inflation was considered low and stable for the last 20-years, we saw this clearly changing within 2022 and the few years before. A large jump in the price growth fuelled the discussions about the role of supply chain disruptions.
Read more about the impact of supply chain inflation in this blog.
4. The impact of hiring challenges – webinar
In 2022, 65% of supply chain leaders described the hiring situation as “very” or “extremely” challenging. As a result of the pandemic changing demand needs, strikes causing backlogs, and product shortages, the consumer saw the disruption first hand. Despite lockdowns easing for the world, businesses continued to see disruption within hiring needs. As unemployment levels dropped and organisations faced the possibility of not being able to retain staff numbers, there was concern about an increased workload for the sales and customer service teams. With increased levels of administrative tasks, teams are diverted from value-adding tasks, it becomes harder to attract new employees without jobs being exciting or appealing. Our teams shared their expertise in this webinar to highlight how businesses can ensure business as usual as staff leave using Sales Order Automation.
Watch the full webinar on demand.
5. Fuelling a sustainability agenda with technology – case study
Cable management company Marshall-Tufflex used Sales Order Automation to reduce unnecessary manual tasks to allow teams to spend more time on strategic activities. Consequently, by improving service for customers, they could allow teams to focus on their 2028 vision to increase the amount of recycled plastic used in PVC-U trunking. This case study is a prime example of a business being pro-active in the drive towards better business sustainability. As well as using technology such as Sales Order Automation to help them achieve their goals.
Read the full case study here.
We hope you enjoyed our top 5 content suggestions for 2022. With so much disruption throughout the year within the supply chain it’s clear to see how businesses around the world can be impacted. As we head into 2023 we will continue sharing more thought-leadership content in our blog, and across our website. Happy new year.
About B2BE
B2BE delivers electronic supply chain solutions globally, helping organisations to better manage their supply chain processes, providing greater levels of visibility, auditability and control. We’re driven by a passion for what we do, inspired by innovation, and underpinned by a wealth of knowledge. With over 20+ years of experience, the B2BE teams operate worldwide.
For more information, visit www.b2be.com.