Supply Chain isn’t about just buying, storing and moving stuff anymore. It’s about the process that links all of it – the glue that binds it all together.
Last year, Healthcare Purchasing News asked readers about the products and services Supply Chain professionals need to succeed and cannot succeed without having.
What’s noteworthy from what they told us? Of the 25 top responses, 15 concentrated on technology (primarily for analytics and communication), five on professional management relationships, four on data and one on the dominant product concern of 2020 – PPE. Here they are in random order.
1. Electronic/online exchange for sourcing, transactions
2. Accurate/clean, consistent, standardized Item Master
3. Motivated staff supported by the C-suite
4. Clinical analyst on staff
5. A robust ERP suite
6. An efficient MMIS
7. EDI (electronic data interchange)
8. A backorder notification system
9. Accurate and trustworthy benchmarking sources
10. Expense and usage analytics
11. WMS (warehouse management system)
12. Bar-code scanning
13. Accurate and reliable metrics
14. GPO dashboard
15. An EMR
16. Microsoft Excel
17. Smart phone
18. Mobile device (e.g., iPad, bar-code scanners, etc.)
19. Communication tools
20. Contract management tool
21. Empowerment to manage clinical relationships, product/service conversions and workflow
22. PPE
23. Data analytics and visibility into supplier sourcing and delivery locations
24. Clinical partnerships and relationships
25. Ability to network easily with professional colleagues and peers – including competitors
Next month, we show what technology-oriented processes, products or projects they would like to implement in 2021 if provided the necessary resources. No. 1 may surprise you.
