A glimpse of hope for the Food Supply Chain in the COVID-19 era

The spread of COVID-19 is a reality that cannot be ignored by the economies around the globe. There has already been a significant impact to various sectors of the economy affecting daily operation, sales, and profit; while for specific vertical markets, such as Tourism, the impact is huge.   

The Food Supply Chain is another sector that’s been affected in multiple ways by the new reality, including an increase in services’ cost, an increase in demand, new operational practices in supply, and also in health safety practices for the personnel. How the pandemic has affected enterprises related to the Food Supply Chain is being reported in this blog, partially based on a survey conducted recently by OPTIMUM.

98% of the participants responded that their business was affected, while 91% responded that the impact was huge or significant. Only a minor percentage reported that their organization was not affected at all by the pandemic.

In a question to executive personnel related to the mitigation measures within their organizations, most participants responded that remote working has been introduced while there was a clear need to revise their processes based on the new status. An important outcome of this chart is the large percentage (31%) that responded that either there are plans for investments in technology, or investments have already been made. OPTIMUM’s managing director, Apostolos Theodoropoulos, commented:

“The impact on organizations varies a lot depending on the market sector {…}. The decision of the organizations to reside to technology for better handling the situation {...} indicates the enterprises’ maturity and capability to overcome the crisis.”

What is evident is that we are indeed in the middle of a crisis that affects everyone, including the Supply Chain. However, organizations show willingness to overcome this crisis by investing in technology and, given that SOFIE aims to provide technology solutions that will be of use also to the supply chain, this is something that can bring SOFIE in the spotlight!