"Internet of Things"

From the articles this week we know that companies constantly have to adapt their supply chains to the different variables in the industry. Technology is one of the many factors that businesses consider when adapting their supply chains.

The IoT of "Internet of Things" is large driver in the determinant of supply chains today because we as consumers are constantly on our devices, computers and other technologies to purchase the things that we want. IoT makes companies have to move a lot faster to meet the demand of consumers. IoT also allows consumers to interact or customize the products they want.

The impacts that IoT is having on supply chains was summarized in the article. The key takeaways I found were:

• There will be more network connections providing more access to data. This will allow a supply chain to become more up to date and aware of inventory in real time.
• With the growing amount of data available, there will soon be technology available that can replace human judgement. It takes too much human capital to judge such large amounts of data, but technology can make it easier. 
• As more devices connect through the Internet, it leaves companies susceptible to risk of exposure.  

To deal with these impacts and adapt to a changing supply chain impacted by IoT the article recommends:

• Prepare the supply chain for an environment where demand information and a large amount of data is available in detail
• Prepare for "Big Data" and be able to use that large amount of data
• Prevent your supply chain from risk exposure 

http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/09/15/how-digital-business-disrupts-the-supply-chain/