Digital transformation: more than a trend, a priority

Consentio
January 24, 2024

Resilience, sustainability, competitiveness, attractiveness... are all necessities in today's economic, political, social and environmental climate. Fortunately, the adoption of intelligent, tailored digital solutions by fresh produce companies can help with complex issues such as inflation, climate, food waste, traceability, transparency and staff retention.

While these challenges are real and complex, they are also opportunities to change and evolve, leading to creativity and renewal. And this is precisely where Consentio sits, supporting the sector in its digital transformation. With proven benefits for companies and the supply chain, digital technologies offer a world of opportunities and are emerging as indispensable allies providing integral, scalable and impactful solutions.

Picture: Consentio

Why should you start or continue your digital transformation? Here are just a few reasons:

• To control costs - by rationalizing purchasing and optimizing logistics flows

What can be done in the face of soaring raw material and packaging prices and ever-increasing salary costs? Apart from the obvious remedies such a bulk-buying there are further economies of scale to be achieved by optimizing logistics flows. Automating purchasing and sales processes reduces errors, improves communications, and streamlines workflows. It also allows transactions to be monitored and analyzed, leading to better informed decision-making, which impacts all aspects of the business.

Read also:

Fresh produce supply chains: why automate? | Consentio

The important role of the department manager | Consentio

• Mitigating risks - by anticipating difficulties and leveraging your customer and/or supplier portfolio

How to secure supplies and guarantee food safety in an unstable global context? Digital solutions deliver transparency by providing the capability of sharing data in real time at every level of the supply chain. They also help with traceability as a digital record of each transaction is available as required. And with better information instantly available digital solutions will help you anticipate potential risks. Moreover, in sectors where the quality of buyer-supplier relations is fundamental, digital platforms offer an always up-to-date view of the supplier and customer landscape, enabling you to adapt your offer, manage your interactions and exchange information instantly.

Read also:

Climate and resilience: working for the future of agriculture | Consentio

Ensuring Business Continuity: The Importance of Technological Solutions | Consentio

• Reducing food waste - by buying 'just right' and speeding up exchanges

Fresh produce is by definition perishable! The volume lost or thrown away each year has become unacceptable to consumers and the entire supply chain who now share a common goal… to reduce food waste. Digital solutions have a massive role to play. A transparent information super-highway, with more informed decision making will result in improved purchasing (buy what you need when you need it… ‘just in time’ not ‘just in case’), improved trading and more efficient transport and logistics. resulting in faster delivery of the correct products to the right destination, with considerably reduced losses.

Read also:

Food waste: the big deal | Consentio

Online buying and selling of fresh produce aims to reduce food waste | Consentio

• To attract talent - by modernizing some of the less sexy aspects of the sector, while preserving ‘know-how’ and enhancing human relations

Most would agree that the fresh produce sector has not historically been at the forefront of technology adoption. It is a sector that relies on personal contact and trust. But this is changing; Consentio has proven that communications, personal contact and trust can be enhanced by the adoption of digital technology. And as the technological wave starts to sweep across the sector, so ‘bright young things’ are being attracted to work on the digital transformation.

Read also:

"Embracing digitalization means valuing people" | Consentio

"Selling a digital solution means helping our customers to manage change" | Consentio

• Prepare for Sustainability by collecting relevant data

This is a broad topic, but it includes reducing the ecological footprint, making more environmentally aware choices, and responding to customer need. All in the fresh produce eco-structure need to embrace sustainability. Digital solutions don’t differentiate between societal pressure and environmental awareness, but they make it possible to establish a dialogue around these themes by acting as a vector for relevant data.

Read also:

Why take an interest in sustainability data? | Consentio

Consentio welcomes the challenges thrown up by the fresh produce sector as challenges are an opportunity to create ground-breaking innovative solutions, and this imperative is at the very heart of the Consentio ethos.

Please do contact us if you have questions or problems that might yet become opportunities! 

We are here to help and support you with your digitization project, no matter what shape of form that takes!

Read it or stream it fresh produce industry insights every week.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.