Avanade’s Gopinath Pathikonda and Marryam Khawaja explain the company’s innovative roadmap to developing seamless, data-driven, intelligent, and more sustainable supply chain operations.

Maintaining operational resilience has long been a challenge for manufacturing companies, further augmented by the exposure of existing supply chains to the unprecedented hurdles driven by the pandemic, natural disasters and extreme weather conditions, road and port closures, and other man-made adversities, as well as strict regulations and government policies.

While many enterprises have invested in boosting their operational capabilities to meet the rising market challenges, developing more resilient supply chains may require a different approach.

By efficiently organising data and moving from on-premises to modern platforms, and deploying advanced analytics to connect with consumers where they live, shop, and do business, businesses can fully harness the power of data to build more resilient supply chains that can withstand future challenges.

At Avanade, we developed six practical steps to help companies develop data-driven, intelligent, and more sustainable supply chain operations.


Assess your supply chain agility

Supply chain agility has become increasingly critical, enabling organisations to respond faster to customer needs and market conditions, radically shift production lines, revisit supplier networks and find new ways of collaboration, among other benefits.

In recent years, the UAE has transformed into a supply chain nerve centre owing to the effective implementation of national logistics plans and digital transformation initiatives supporting the country’s public and private sectors.

Working with an experienced consultant enables businesses to determine shortfalls along their supply chain and develop approaches to address them.


Consider your supply chain visibility

Siloed technology platforms, high implementation costs, and the lack of quality data are key factors behind the operational inefficiencies preventing businesses from accurately locating their inventory, and determining what is needed, and when.

Over recent years, leading supply chain solution providers in the UAE have undertaken massive digital transformation projects to migrate their supply chain and logistics operations to the Microsoft Azure Cloud.

By moving ERP platforms to the Microsoft Azure cloud, and digitising supply chains, firms can tackle disruptions, keep up with the rapidly-evolving market requirements and limit their exposure to cyber-security risks.


Embed more supply chain intelligence

With agility and insights at the ready, businesses can focus on improving their forecasting capabilities.

Microsoft Azure UAE Regions recently launched a range of services to accelerate the post-COVID digital transformation programmes in the region.

One key service, Azure Machine Learning, enables enterprises to build business-critical high-quality models while leveraging industry-leading Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) and integrated tools.

These solutions enabled our partners in the UAE to forecast sales, effectively manage inventories, and plan supply and risk.

By utilising ML and AI tools to analyse data, companies can visualise a comprehensive view of their business, make data-driven decisions and bring the information back to their ERP to execute and deliver seamless supply chain operations.


Out with the old and in with the new

Most enterprises deal with legacy on-premises platforms which often fail to unify information or provide quick access. Without a single source of truth, organisations can waste valuable time trying to obtain critical information.

Flexible, modern platforms and AI tools can help companies pivot nimbly to scale AI, quickly access data, and minimise supply chain disruptions.

In the UAE, we have seen sharp demand for platform migration opportunities where enterprises need to move quickly from old, outdated legacy systems with minimal disruption to business operations.

Partnering with Avanade’s factory-driven migration teams to analyse the environment as well as to automate the migration process enables businesses to quickly shift to the Azure Cloud, and start capitalising on its expanded capabilities.


Governance and data security

To maintain the privacy of collected personal data, and ensure it is safely processed, stored, and used in compliance with data protection regulations, companies need to structurally integrate data security measures into their core processes, technology, and analytics, which requires businesses to have ample data management, lineage, and transparency capabilities in place.

Implementing apt data integrity measures enables companies to dramatically improve customer engagement and lower risks by classifying data, adopting policies to continuously develop their operations, and conducting periodic audits to ensure compliance with laws and regulations.


Supply chain sustainability

To realise their sustainability goals, businesses must adopt a holistic approach by embedding "greener" practices into their tools, operating models, processes, and policies, which requires a cultural shift within the organisation.

Over recent years, the UAE saw an increase in businesses committing to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange has committed to spearheading the country’s sustainability efforts within the financial market. Meanwhile, large retailers have set sustainability performance targets (SPTs) to "green" their operations and reduce their environmental footprint.

At Avanade, our sustainable quick-start solutions help businesses transform their operations into an environment of agile innovation, enabled by advanced cloud and "green" software tools.

Moreover, our ready-to-use sustainability technology accelerators help expedite companies' sustainability journeys and align their digital strategy with the country’s ESG targets.

Second-phase state-of-the-art warehouse in Dubai South Logistics District will be located next to world’s largest airport.

DB Schenker will build its second logistics centre in Dubai, located next to world’s largest airport. The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of this new state-of-the-art logistics centre took place under the patronage of His Excellency Khalifa Al Zaffin (Executive Chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation). A large high-level delegation from Dubai South was in attendance, as were Tom Schmitt (CCO & Member of the DB Schenker Board for Contract Logistics), Karl-Heinz Emberger (CEO of DB Schenker MEA), Ako Djaf (Head of Contract Logistics / SCM for Middle East and Africa) and numerous other guests.

The 35,000 square-metre temperature-controlled warehouse, with a 3,500 square-metre mezzanine area for value-added services, is the largest investment in the history of DB Schenker Middle East & Africa. The facility will also be the first mega site of DB Schenker globally to be supplied with 100% solar power. The project is the second of three phases in contract logistics development in Dubai, with the ultimate goal of building 80,000 square metres of logistics space for DB Schenker by 2021. The facility is planned to open in the first quarter of 2019.

"Dubai is our regional hub for the Middle East and Africa and investing in Dubai South was a strategic step to strengthen our network and to complete DB Schenker‘s service coverage in UAE," said Ako Djaf, DB Schenker, Head of Contract Logistics/SCM for Middle East and Africa.

"Neighbouring the world’s largest Airport, Al Maktoum International Airport, and adjacent to one of the world’s largest container ports, Jebel Ali Port, this investment clearly cements DB Schenker’s commitment for hyper growth in the region and demonstrates our commitment to offer our customers not only best in class logistics solutions but also the best connectivity, speed to market as well as excellent logistics infrastructure," he added.

The Logistics District is an 18 square kilometre free zone that serves every transport mode, logistics need and value-adding operation in the supply chain. DB Schenker says it has facilitated the market entry of many international companies and grows together with them in this complex but also high potential region.

This has made DB Schenker one of the fastest growing logistics service providers in the Middle East and Africa region, expanding its Contract Logistics footprint across the region to reach 200,000 square metres in the last five years.

DUBAI — With more German companies in various sectors expressing interest in exploring the several trade and investment opportunities available in Dubai, cooperation between Dubai and Germany is increasing, said Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al Mutaiwee, the Director-General of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

This was revealed in a meeting earlier yesterday where the Director-General received representatives from small and medium sized companies from Germany who are interested in establishing relations with their counterparts in Dubai. The fields represented by the delegation included fashion, engineering, consultancy, management and architecture.

Mr Al Mutaiwee affirmed that such initiatives will help boost relations between the two countries. "Non-oil trade between Dubai and Germany reached $ 1.7 billion in 2002," he said and added that such efforts are being made on both sides to help achieve this goal, the best example being the Dubai-German Economic Forum the Chamber is organising to be held in Munich next May.

The delegation was headed by Hans-Werner Czerwinski, the Managing Director of the Federal Association of small and medium sized Enterprises in Hamburg, which is considered to be the biggest federal association in the whole of Europe, in terms of members. It has 120,000 companies from all over Europe, and includes some non-European countries such as China as mentioned by Mr Czerwinski.

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Mr Al Mutaiwee briefed the delegates who are in Dubai for the first time on many logistics, laws and regulations of doing business in Dubai, clearing up many misconceptions some of them had. "It is important that we get the right message across to business communities all over Europe, as many people misjudge the UAE in general and Dubai in particular according to wrong information they have been given," Mr Al Mutaiwee said.

Mr Czerwinski expressed the interests of many German businessmen to attract UAE businessmen to large projects and investment opportunities in Germany.

He mentioned a project underway in Hamburg to develop a business park over an area of 350 hectares, which is to be the largest business park in Europe. In addition, he suggested that the DCCI invites investors from Dubai to take part in this project, and for the DCCI to sign a deal with the Federal Association.