To make an organization sustainable, a lot depends on how it handles its supply chain management (SCM). 

The UN's SDG 12, which aims to ensure responsible consumption and production, can help organizations chart the course to a sustainable supply chain. The SDG 12 promotes embracing circular economy practices to reduce waste and increase resource efficiency.

However, this transition presents several challenges, especially with next-gen technologies appearing at an unprecedented speed and scale as major disruptors. For example, generative AI has been super-efficient in easing many complex and traditional tedious work, but its energy consumption and storage have been major hurdles for organizations.

The challenge is accelerated with the adoption of technologies like blockchain, IoT, digital twins, subsets of AI such as ML, neural networks, LLMs and many more, which also rely on data that is being gathered in real time and stored in data centers. 

To become more sustainable in their energy consumption, data centers need to embrace AI-ML. For example, the ML systems of DeepMind AI have reduced the Google data center cooling electricity bill by 40%.

To overcome these hurdles among many others and embrace sustainability across the supply chain, organizations need to start from the grassroot level, while making sure efficiency and achieving competitive advantage are not compromised.

Stakeholders, such as technology partners, play a crucial role here. They understand the extended role of sustainability and how leading technologies and their right applications can support circular economy practices while bringing in the required changes to their linear and traditional ways. For example, the HCLTech-Schneider Electric green data center partnership to help customers in the Asia Pacific region.

Similarly, tech organizations also help in adopting new-age technologies — green technologies or cleantech — as a force for good. For example, the use of green blockchain, digital twins and AI can enable a sustainable digital supply chain that’s environment-friendly.

Making supply chains sustainable and resilient

A strategic partner of HCLTech for over two decades, Oracle has laid out some interesting facts as how to make a supply chain more sustainable and resilient. These are:

• Invest in renewable energy sources and switch to green energy while reducing emissions from transportation and logistics
• Increase the use of recycled and renewable materials while cutting down on wastes and embracing circular economy practices
• Increase collaborations and improve supplier relationship management, including educating partners on sustainability 
• Use data and analytics among leading green technologies while increasing transparency and reporting carbon emissions
• Implement sustainable procurement policies and green technology
• Establish sustainability goals and adopt ethical labor practices and
• Support local communities and supplies to cut down on international shipments that supply raw materials for production, including packaging materials that can be recycled and reused

At HCLTech, there are a variety of ways to look at how cleantech or green technologies can change the game for customers, while enhancing stakeholder experience and delivering across the SCM transformation value chain. 

With the motto of Act-Pact-Impact, HCLTech looks at how sustainable a technology or its implementation and application can be. Simultaneously, with its deep expertise in engineering and next-gen technologies, it prepares the customer in a way that it becomes resilient and sustainable to take the future course of actions head on.

Among the range of solutions HCLTech SCM offers, here are some:

• HCLTech role-based, single-UI platform digitalCOLLEAGUE enables businesses to utilize a truly digital workforce
• The next-gen transformation framework PROVATE identifies automation and transformation opportunities and defines risk and controls to streamline complex processes
• HCLTech’s Business Process Management suite Toscana drives enterprise-wide digital transformation
• SCORP is HCLTech’s supply chain workflow platform that automates order management and fulfillment process
• The Robotic Process Automation helps supply chain leaders transform their strategic business processes and build foundations of future scale and success 
• When it comes to AI-driven solution, HCLTech iMPACT Operations Command Center can provide actionable real-time intelligence and predictive insights across business processes
• Similarly, iMPACT analytics assist clients in optimizing growth strategies and delivering personalized experiences by providing key insights around customer and vendor behavior and purchasing and selling patterns
• An intelligent character recognition product, EXACTO™ uses deep neural networking and natural language processing to automate data extraction and can be utilized for contract management, digitization and invoice processing

Weaving digital twins smartly into existing supply chains, HCLTech offers a cognitive supply chain for its customers that increases transparency, adapts to dynamic environments and proactively manage risks and creates a self-learning network that can report disruptions with predictive capabilities and optimize operations in real time.

SAP digital supply chain transformation

Additionally, the SAP digital supply chain (DSC) transformation framework is designed to maximize the potential of new edge digital technologies on the SAP S/4HANA platform. HCLTech works closely with organizations to assess current supply chain maturity, demonstrate intelligent solutions, create DSC transformation roadmaps and provide PoCs for key areas of opportunity.

Benefits of the DSC solutions include IoT-enabled connected assets with predictive analytics, real-time data availability, KPI monitoring, end-to-end supply chain visibility, real-time BPO with improved data accuracy, optimized inventory planning and control with AI-enhanced forecasting.

These help in a variety of services that include demand and supply planning, source-to-pay, engineering support and asset monitoring, order management and fulfillment, aftermarket, supply chain risk and analytics and ESG in supply chain management.

Partnership with Oracle

Together, HCLTech and Oracle specialize in deploying AI-ML and generative AI, while optimizing Oracle SCM Cloud services. The various modules and offerings cover logistics, order management, procurement, product management, service logistics, supply chain collaboration and visibility, supply chain execution (inventory, maintenance and manufacturing) and supply chain planning. 

The Oracle SCM Cloud application unifies end-to-end business processes with changing supply chain needs of the modern enterprises. Stitching digital supply chain with product innovation, strategic material sourcing and omnichannel fulfillment, it has been lowering costs, maximizing flexibility while creating a sustainable supply chain.

The partnership has been offering a comprehensive suite of solutions for initial consultations, smooth implementation, upgrades and continuous support that are being proven beneficial to 240+ organizations globally.