Posted On October 1, 2019

Who drives decisions regarding your supply chain and logistics strategy? Is it your shipping department? Your chief operations officer? Your vice president of transportation and logistics? Or, is it external factors, like trucking shortages, rate increases, or the state of global trade?

The correct answer?

None of the above.

Your customer serves as your Chief Supply Chain Officer.

To remain competitive, companies must meet consumer expectations for fast delivery. That’s true in business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets—because while B2B customers may not expect a drone to drop off their shipment four hours after they order it, they still expect more efficiency, speed, and visibility in their supply chain than ever before.

Of course, every shipping department and logistics manager has its customer in mind when designing its supply chain. Companies that completely ignore their customers will not be in business for very long.

That said, building your supply chain with your customer in mind is different than putting your customer first.

Imagine putting your most important customer in charge of your supply chain.

Would they like what they saw? Would it be immediately clear that your first logistics and transportation priority was meeting their needs and expectations? Or, would it become immediately clear that your priority was minimizing the time, money, and strategic thinking you dedicate to your shipping department and supply chain?

Too often companies put their customer first in everything but supply chain design. Shipping departments aren’t given the strategic thinking and customer-first focus they need to become an actual competitive advantage. Instead of being proactive, companies craft a supply chain in response to consumer demand.

They inadvertently take a reactive approach that amounts to saying, “Yes, we know you ordered our product, and we’ll figure out a way to get it to you.”

Unless you are a market leader.

Market leaders design their supply chain proactively.

Market leaders turn their logistics, transportation, and shipping departments into competitive advantages.

Market leaders place their customer in the role of Chief Supply Chain Officer.

The good news?

You can build a customer-focused supply chain that will help make your company become a market leader.

You just need the right third-party logistics (3PL) partner.

The Flat World Holdings family of companies is that partner.

Our team of supply chain, freight forwarding, project management, transport management system (TMS), and custom crating experts works with our clients to put the right technology, best practices, and expertise in place to create the fast, efficient, and visible approach to logistics and shipping that your Chief Supply Chain Officer expects—or even demands.

If you are not putting customer expectations in the driver’s seat of your supply chain, you will fall behind the competition. In today’s environment, product design cannot overcome a supply chain that lacks efficiency or visibility. It does not matter how much your customer loves your product.

If they can get a reasonable substitute faster, many customers will eventually change suppliers.

Why?

They can’t afford to wait for you.

Thankfully, that doesn’t need to happen.

Partnering with our Flat World team is like hiring your most important customer to serve as your Chief Supply Chain Officer.

And it is exactly what you need to do to become the market leader in your industry.