{"id":1280,"date":"2022-07-25T15:22:26","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T14:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.scantrust.com\/?p=1280"},"modified":"2022-08-04T10:17:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T09:17:12","slug":"five-steps-to-digitizing-your-product","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.scantrust.com\/five-steps-to-digitizing-your-product\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Steps To Effective Product Digitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

Businesses today are experiencing a significant shift in the way they produce and distribute goods. This new wave is called Ind<\/a>u<\/a>stry 4.0<\/a> and is characterized by automation and data exchange. These, in turn, are made possible by connecting physical objects and digital assets, implying the need for product digitalization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

The blurring of boundaries between the offline and online worlds is part of the product digitalization process<\/a> \u2014 and it\u2019s changing business models as we know them. No enterprise that produces goods can escape the disruption that Industry 4.0 brings. Different industries need to embrace product digitalization, from farming to fashion, to make the most out of technologies like the Internet of Things and big data analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

It may be challenging to imagine digitizing a product, though, mainly using traditional or natural production methods. How do you put a digital stamp on organically grown tomatoes? How can you turn a wheel of cheese into a digital asset?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

This line of thinking comes with a misconception about digitalization. Digitalization is not just about adding digital information to a physical good. It\u2019s about transforming your business model, operations, and supply chain<\/a>. Gartner defines digitalization<\/a> as \u201cthe use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

Below, we’ll talk about the steps you need to take to digitize your products:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n Why you need to digitize your products\n <\/h2>\n\n\n

According to PwC<\/a>, a highly digitalized supply chain and operation can bring companies efficiency gains of 4.1 percent annually and boost revenue by 2.9 percent per year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

A digital supply chain gives you a competitive advantage in many ways. One is that it allows you to track and trace your products as they move from producer to buyer to distributor until it reaches the end consumer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

Armed with such data, enterprises can identify trends and anomalies, improve supply forecasts, and spot inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution processes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

You will know exactly where products are in the supply chain, whether they\u2019re making a journey across an ocean or being held up at customs. You can understand where products are purchased or quickly identify batches of defective goods. You can identify warehouse operators that fail to store goods at the correct temperatures or shipping partners that send items to the wrong destination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

Another reason to digitize your products is simply that digitalization is inevitable. That means that it\u2019s an expensive risk to wait and see what everyone else is doing as an enterprise. The most strategic step is to adopt digitalization now. As Ernst & Young points out, \u201cit has been established that disruptive technology deployment has been one of the most effective ways of gaining competitive advantage, increasing efficiency, and driving business growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n How to digitize your product\n <\/h2>\n\n\n\n \n \"Product-Digitalization-CPG\"\n\n <\/picture>\n <\/figure>\n\n

As we\u2019ve discussed, digitalization is not just about connecting a physical good to a digital asset, but that is part of the picture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

Different companies may vary in how they implement digitalization, such as the physical tools they use and the choice to integrate blockchain into the process. But there are essential steps to digitizing products.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n 1. Identifying your goals for product digitalization\n <\/h2>\n\n\n

When identifying goals for digitalization, look beyond supply chain managers. Consider your entire operation and discuss digitalization with different departments. What types of data insights do marketing, category, and brand managers need? How can digitalization help with gathering these data or deploying strategies relevant to these insights?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

For example, category managers might be dealing with a surge of counterfeits that ruin their brand reputation. Digitalization can help sellers and consumers identify authentic products by scanning a non-reproducible QR code.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

A multinational convenience store chain might not know who is buying their prepared meals. They can integrate digitalization into their existing app. Users of the store\u2019s app can scan the packaging of the ready meals to pay online or score points. Because the users are registered on the app, this simple scanning gives marketing managers insights into the types of consumers who are buying their prepared meals in different countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n 2. Physical aspect\n <\/h2>\n\n\n

The first step is determining the most suitable way to place a digital asset on your physical product. The most obvious answer might be the product packaging, as it offers printable space visible to people working along the supply chain and end consumers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

If it isn\u2019t practical or feasible to print directly on the package, the next solution would be to use printed labels or product tags.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n 3. Embedding\n <\/h2>\n\n\n

The next step is to add a tamper-proof physical unique identifier on the physical aspect. This usually comes in a barcode, a QR code, a complex sequence of numbers, or a sensor tag \u2014 or a combination of two or more of these.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

The critical step here is to make sure that the digital ID is not easily replicable so that you can avoid counterfeits and fraud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

One way to do this is through 3D-printed, readable sensor tags. You can also use secured QR codes<\/a> that lose detail when copied, which means reproductions won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n 4. Enabling\n <\/h2>\n\n\n

To do this, you need to register and activate the tamper-proof physical unique identifier digitally. The digital ID should then be connected with the appropriate digital asset by entering it into a database or blockchain. This transforms the physical good into digital data. A shampoo bottle is no longer just a bottle of shampoo; it is a digital record in your system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

Cloud registration creates a record of the identifier and associates it with all the data that belongs to it. On the other hand, registration in a blockchain creates an immutable digital twin. The identifier effectively “lives” in a blockchain and can no longer be modified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n 5. Making use of the data\n <\/h3>\n\n\n

A company may have massive amounts of data but still fail to improve its operations, customer service, and bottom line. That\u2019s why the digitalization process is incomplete without data analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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To thrive and compete in the era of Industry 4.0<\/a>, businesses need to track, monitor, and analyze product-related data to optimize supply chain management and improve the customer experience. That means a digitalized supply chain must also come with business intelligence capabilities.<\/p>\n

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The types of metrics that your business intelligence tool reports would depend on each depar<\/p>\n

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The types of metrics that your business intelligence tool reports would depend on each department and its goals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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For example, you can track:<\/p>\n

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