How can supply chain practitioners navigate through times of SCTech "tech washing"? Techwasing is a term coined to describe a current situation when emerging providers use a deceptive practice of marketing and promoting a product as technologically advanced while its actual capabilities may not live up to those claims. Have you come across any cases?
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Senior Director, Supply Planning, Philips Connected Care in Healthcare and Biotecha year ago
As far as supply chain solutions and data/analytics tools are concerned, I try not to be swung by the bells and whistles of what is in the box. Just about every time I've gone to spec out a solution or tool in the supply chain analytics space, virtually anything up to current state of the art will be better than what I have. For me, the product itself simply needs to meet the target application requirements.Beyond this, it is all about the partnership, and how we continue to deliver value long after the technology of today is obsolete. I try to focus and differentiate on the partner I am engaging with. In particular, what type of support will I get during and after deployment? How motivated are they to break into this sector/industry? Is this product a core part of their portfolio or an add-on? Are they looking to partner with me for the long term, and what have they done to demonstrate this during RFI/RFP?
It depends on the situation and perspectives. I see it as a clash and gaps between different knowledge/practitioner disciplines.
Oftentimes, tech developers may not be familiar with, have hands-on experience or supply chain expertise then develop the technology based on the requirements of their company or in many cases clients who try to provide solutions to capture or monetize the current market demand that is needed but might or might not have an understanding of what obstacles that supply chain practitioners actually face in the field.
As the question pointed out, we end up seeing some over-promising, misleading products/solutions that actual capabilities may not live up to those claims.
To navigate through times of SC tech "tech washing" is to start with truly knowing your customer and business needs (present and in the near future at minimum) inside out and having the capability to identify the foundations of needed technology. Taking the time to prepare, research, look into the SC tech demo, and try it out thoroughly to see its landscape, requirements, features, configuration, and capability before making the decision has been a time/cost saver from my experience.
What about you?