{Super SCM Makers} Ekart: Tech Shaping Next-Gen Supply Chains

Mani Bhushan, Chief Business Officer, Ekart asserted that technology is leading the narrative and influencing business decisions now, more than ever. Technological investments in supply chains are likely to accelerate even more, and demand for new technology solutions to streamline operations is increasing steadily. “With supply chain businesses actively striving for greater digital integration, the emphasis is on capacity building to establish an efficient network that will aid in the development of a more robust logistics ecosystem,” he explained.

To briefly name a few trends that he is currently witnessing:

• Investment in technologies that aid in greater transparency across the value chain
• Accessing real-time data for better forecasting
• Sustainability to have a larger impact on business operations
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) run business operations and real-time tracking to help optimize processes and reduce the chance of errors, increasing efficiency and customer-value
• Warehousing gaining momentum

Deploying Tech in Operations

Ekart is leveraging technology to optimize its entire supply chain – from route optimization for the quickest transit of the cargo across the country to the best last-mile delivery route planning within the city. It has developed an ‘Address Intelligence stack’ that helps improve the address quality with auto-suggestions and prompts for incorrect addresses at checkout and raises alerts to the shipper regarding any address issues, thereby improving the customer experience and helping reduce costs. The intelligent address stack identifies orders with RTO/ fraudulent history and automatically revokes COD options. On the other side of the value chain, the address stack helps prevent any fake updates.

“Overall, process improvement driven by analytics is at the forefront of improving customer experience and reducing unit costs, and we constantly innovate to provide our customers with best-in-class solutions,” noted Bhushan.

Overcoming Supply Chain Issues

An efficient supply chain and logistics network is required to acquire items from thousands of vendors, optimize inventory management, and assure timely delivery – it becomes one of the key challenges while catering to a broad consumer market like India. In order to meet these challenges, Ekart has significantly invested in its transport management system. India-specific mapping technology helps keep track of its trucks in real-time even when they are in remote villages.

“This enables us to tell with pinpoint precision as to when a truck covering thousands of miles will arrive at its destination. We are also optimizing our warehousing infrastructure by increasing capacity utilization of our facilities,” he added.