Change or Become Irrelevant: A Gen Z Perspective

In this episode of Rethinking Supply Chain, Venzee CEO, John Abrams, and Diana Chen host Sarah Kirmis, formerly a member of the Venzee operations team and now working at AWS, and Matt Blattman, Venzee’s marketing intern. Sarah and Matt are both Gen Z digital natives, and John asks for their thoughts on the shift from paper-based global supply chain to the new digital space.Despite the technology we have available today, supply chain networks are still dependent on rigid, expensive, and slow paper processes. For younger generations, it can be a frustrating shock to enter supply chain management and see how outdated operations actually are. The group contemplates what is holding supply chain innovation back. Acknowledging that change in a large organization is challenging by nature, Sarah and Matt delve into the difficulties of change management, especially when it comes to corporate manufacturing. Organizing multiple teams to adopt new technical procedures is difficult, and as new generations enter the labor market and influence decision making, there is some conflict when it comes to convincing incumbents that technology is worth the initial investment.