For ages, the human mind has struggled with the difficulty of accepting change. The wheel, electricity, the automobile: all had their denialists.
Today, the attachment to tribal ways continues to exist within the modern workforce. The legacy systems in which companies and supply chains invested so much over the decades, and which they can’t seem to give up, have put many well behind the times.
A parallel can be seen in the early 2000s, when banks found themselves weighted down by old technologies. The situation created a sense of uncertainty that the industry and government hadn’t experienced for a generation or more.
This same fear now resides in supply chains. E-mail, spreadsheets, phone calls and other labor-intensive methodologies still dominate our way of doing business. We’re using 20th-century solutions to solve 21st-century challenges. But the turmoil of the last two years has shown that our reliance on antiquated practices is not sustainable.
Forwarders, shippers, carriers, third-party logistics providers — indeed, all of the links in the supply chain —must begin to adopt technologically advanced solutions to stave off disruptions and combat those that are beyond our control. But while the notion of replacing all our old software and technologies seems simple on paper, actual execution is far more complex, thanks to the human factor.
It’s not a matter of replacing the entire workforce with folks who are going to jump in with a tech-forward mindset. You definitely want to bring those individuals onto your team, but you also want to support those who have helped get you to where you are. Training out broken tribal ways and over-attachment to legacy systems is crucial, but blending some of those practices with modern software might be the better way.
It’s nearly impossible to wipe legacy systems completely from the industry. There are simply too many companies and supply chain functions that rely on them. For many, abandoning these practices is almost like abandoning the business and its identifying culture.
The tech-first side comes into play when repairing the broken parts of the old ways. It would be nice to work in a world where the latest technology ruled, but if that were possible, we’d all have flying cars, robot butlers and everything else from every sci-fi movie you’ve ever seen.
As with anything, change comes about slowly. Fill in the cracks of your legacy systems with forward-thinking tech applications, extend the life of what you’ve already built, and go from there.
Banks were forced to adopt new technology processes after the 2008 recession. The public’s confidence in financial institutions waned greatly, paving the way for fintech to become the norm, despite significant pushback from many in the industry. Things got shaken up, and new normals were established. When was the last time you set foot in a physical bank building?
We appear to be on our way to another recession now, due in part to the broken practices in our supply chains, as dozens of containerships sit waiting outside ports to offload their cargoes. It’s no longer sustainable to continue relying on the old ways of running businesses. Supply chains are crumbling, and while tribal ways aren’t entirely to blame, the cracks in the foundation are allowing water to seep through the dam wall, which eventually will burst.
Think of modern-day tech workers as repairmen, not the boogeyman. We want our customers to succeed. With their help, we can fill in the gaps and seal those leaks.
Jean-Guy Faubert is chief operating officer at Chain.io.
