Supply chain optimization is a complex and challenging task, but it is essential for businesses to remain competitive in today’s market. Zero Pro is designed to help businesses achieve their supply chain optimization goals by providing a comprehensive platform that simplifies the process and makes it more efficient.
To achieve this we need to adhere to a core set of principles that guide the development and operation of Zero Pro. These principles are designed to ensure that we deliver a platform that is effective, efficient, and easy to use.
To achieve a deeper understanding of the supply chain, we need to effectively collaborate with the suppliers.
This is often harder than it first seems. It is common for suppliers to limit their exposure to any particular buyer to a small percentage of their overall output. It is not uncommon for suppliers to manage 20+ large buyer relationships.
What this really means is suppliers are reluctant to partipate in activities that are complex and add little value to the rest of their business. When buyers design processes to collect data from the supply chain it is often designed with just this buyers requirements in mind. This becomes too complex for the suppliers to manage so there is a real need for a better, more efficient process to be implemented.
To better engage suppliers, we need to ensure that they get value from the process as well. Whilst the buyers primary goal is to get more information, this can be used by the supplier to solve their own internal requirements and potential reporting needs.
By collaborating with the suppliers, the buyer can significantly reduce their costs of managing this process.
Supply Chain optimization cannot be seen as an environmental impact exercise, but it is much more than that. It is about understanding the entire supply chain and how it operates.
We need to recognise that making changes to the supply chain carries operational risk and potential costs. To minimise the impact of this we need to ensure that we look at change in a more holistic way. This means that we need to consider the impact of changes on the entire supply chain, not just the environmental impact.
In todays modern business world, the number of variables that need to be considered continues to increase. Not until 2024 did companies consider tariffs to be unstable but this quickly changed and left companies scrambling to understand how this impacts their supply chains. If companies had a complete view of their operations this would have been managed more efficiently.
Environmental impact should be seen as an output of an optimzed supply chain rather than the primary goal - why waste time and resource reviewing a supplier that may not be a member of your future supply chain. The platform needs to support a much wider view than just environmental factors.
In order to make fundamental changes to a supply chain we need credible and reliable data about what is happening within the supply chain today and what benefits can be unlocked by making changes.
To achieve this we need to gather more data about the value add processes across the supply chain and information about how the suppliers interact with each other. This data needs to be collected from the supply chain, either through direct input from the suppliers or via the trade documentation that already exists.
To ensure the right change is considered, we need to ensure that the data is credible and reliable. This means that we need to have a certification process in place that ensures that the data is accurate and complete.
Certification is a process where an appointed third party reviews the data and confirms that it is accurate and complete. Buyers could assume the role of certifier themselves, or more commonly, they will use their company auditors to certify the data. The use of the auditor is a recent trend that has emerged in 2025 as CFO’s have realised that the carbon data coming out of supply chain analysis is more frequently finding its way into regulatory and financial reporting of which they are responsible for - and becasue it is in the financial reporting, the auditor needs to approve the data. To be effective here, the auditor is needing to understand how the data is created in the first place and they are realizing it is easier to be involved all of the way through the process rather than just at the end.
Leveraging the auditor also provides a level of risk protection for the buyer. The buyer can now clearly say that this data has been certified by an independent third party and therefore it is credible and reliable. There should also be recourse in the event of an action being taken against the company.
The platform needs to be capable of capturing and storing evidence and supporting documentation for anything within the system. Once attached to a data point, this evidence needs to be immutable and not able to be changed or deleted.
This will be key if any claim is challenged by a third party. It also further supports the certification process as it provides the evidence that the data is accurate and complete. Evidence could include receiepts, invoices, trade documentation, photographs of equipment, or any other relevant documentation that supports the data being captured.
Optimizing a supply chain is a complex task which can seem daunting. We need to break this down into smaller, manageable tasks that can be achieved over time.
To achieve this we can either start with a single product, just the first tier of suppliers, or even just understanding transportation methods initially.
If we can break this down into smaller tasks and expand over time, we can build confidence in the process and ensure that we are making progress towards our goals. We can also demonstrate regular progress to the business and stakeholders, which will help to build support for the process.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is especially true when it comes to data. We need to be able to visualize the data in a way that makes it easy to understand and interpret.
The platform needs to take the complexity of the data away from the users and visualise it in a way that allows the user to quickly understand the key points and make informed decisions.
Not only will this reduce the time it takes to understand the data, it will dramatically reduce the operational cost of trying to perform this activity manually.
Visualisations need to be clear and informative so they can be shown to key stakeholder to ratify decisions and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
To enable companies to show how they have improved over time, the platform needs to be able to take snapshots of the data at any point in time the company required. These snapshots need to be stored in a vault so they cannot be changed or manipulated after the fact.
The platform must be able to demonstrate, backed by relevant evidence, what has contributed to the change between two given snapshots. This will allow legal teams in companies to have increased confidence that the claim being made is accurate and can be substantiated.
Everyone is looking towards AI to solve all of their problems, but the reality is that AI is not a magic bullet. It can help to automate some of the processes and make them more efficient, but it cannot replace the need for human input and oversight.
When optimizing a supply chain, we need to ensure that we have a clear understanding of the data and how it is being used. AI can help to analyze the data and identify patterns, but it cannot replace the need for human input and oversight.
Every supply chain is different and has its own unique challenges. We need to ensure that we have a clear understanding of the data and how it is being used before we can start to automate the processes.
AI can help scan documents to extract some of the data but there is no getting away from the need for collaboration with the suppliers to ensure that the data is accurate and a fair representation of the supply chain. Leveraging AI too early may create incorrect outcomes when change is implemented.
The technology and data is simply not there to achieve 100% accuracy in this space. There are too many variables and unknowns that make it impossible to achieve this level of accuracy.
Striving towards this level of accuracy opens the company up to significant risk and potential legal action. It is important to remember that the goal is to make progress towards a more optimized supply chain, not to achieve perfection.
Irrelevant of size, companies will have the need to integrate functionality from the platform into their existing systems. This is a key requirement for the platform and needs to be considered from the outset.
The platform should ensure an access anywhere and anyhow mentality. Users should be able to decide whether they access via API’s or web portals, or even desktop and mobile apps. Smaller devices may offer reduced functionality but the core principles of the platform should be available to all users on all channels.