The nation loses significant opportunities if the goals of flexibility, efficiency, and responsiveness are not attained. New products and services that would enhance quality of life may not be produced.
Interoperability of Software Systems Used by U.S. Manufacturers National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM)

Prior to the widespread use of the Internet for commercial purposes, businesses had to lease dedicated lines from phone companies at a very high cost in order to implement their supply chain automation strategy. Additionally, the communication protocols were cumbersome at best.

The advent of the Internet and the development of newer and easier-to-use communication protocols make supply chain solutions readily available to virtually all businesses.

Business Benefits of Supply Chain Automation

Reduce costs

Automation can decrease the cost of processing and handling manual documents such as invoice, purchase orders, and procurement documents.

Green

A sometimes neglected or under-emphasized benefit of automation is the the reduction of energy consumption required in manual processes. In some cases, the environmental impact not only comes from creating documents and processing manual documents but also shipping, storing, and transporting documents.

Competitive advantage

Put bluntly, if you don't your competitors will. Large customers leverage their investment in supply chain automation and favor those vendors that are willing to make the investment to move towards supply chain automation.

Operational efficiencies

Can eliminate data-entry errors, provide status inquiries from suppliers, reduce exceptions by prompting suppliers to correct their invoices before they make it into the back-end system, and promote electronic payments rather than by check.