As more and more individual parts of our supply chain have become automated over the last decade, the shipping logistics industry has seen massive increases in efficiency. Modern software, autonomous machines, and time-saving scheduling are now the norm for many of our customers at DMW&H. But as this modernization has spread across the field, we have also watched communications gaps crop up between these individual sectors. As the baseline of technology has been raised, our customers are looking for new ways to get a leg up on their competitors. As we look for ways to take advantage of these smaller gaps, systems integration has emerged as a key component of our strategy. Let’s take a look at how this challenge emerged and some of the best ways to resolve it.
SILOS
Systems integration is a method of problem solving, but what problem are we talking about exactly? In short, the issue is information siloing. An information silo is one piece of a larger management or data system which, while it may function perfectly well on its own, is insulated from the other components of that system. For certain types of systems, this is not as big of a challenge as it is for warehouse storage and distribution. For example if you are operating a bank, it may not be important that your financial database can communicate with the software systems that control your building. But in other situations, siloing can create real issues on a day-to-day basis. This includes warehouse management, which relies on many different pieces of the overall puzzle working in concert.
SLOW ROLL
One reason that systems integration is a unique challenge in our business is the way that new systems have been added. Generally we see slow or staged rollouts, in which certain new technologies reach maturity before others. This could mean that your customer service software was developed in 2014 and implemented in 2016, while your autonomous mobile robots were first rolled out in 2018. It is quite rare to do a complete overhaul of all the individual systems involved in shipping and receiving at the same time, using the same integrated software. Taking these different sized steps at different times is often the only way to implement new tech solutions, but information siloing can also be an inherent challenge.
FILLING THE GAPS
Our experts at DMW&H have dedicated much of their time to finding unique and reliable solutions to filling these information gaps. These strategies involve many different types of systems integration, both digital and human. It is not always as simple as implementing new software solutions to create intuitive communication channels between individual systems, although that is a significant part of our strategy. There are also important ways of subtly restructuring or repositioning these systems in physical or digital space that can make all the difference. If systems integration remains a challenge for you and our business, contact us today to learn more about how we can start filling these gaps.