Integrated information and communications technology (ICT) and increased industry-wide collaboration have emerged as key to mitigating South Africa's supply chain challenges and ensuring the nation maintains competitiveness in a "global village".

Stakeholders in South Africa's supply chain industry "have no choice" but to identify and address key issues or face being "left behind", South African Shippers Council (SASC) executive director Dr Beverley Waugh said on Thursday.

Speaking at a T-Systems-sponsored Transport Forum, in Midrand, she said high costs, infrastructure bottlenecks, supply chain inefficiencies, skills and education, bottlenecks in customs and admininstration processes at borders, workforce health, crime, security and corruption, besides others, remained South Africa’s biggest obstacles in global competitiveness.

A survey undertaken by the SASC found that infrastructure quality, increasing costs and operational inefficiencies were among the top concerns in South Africa.

Saha International Southern Africa CEO Neil Frost warned that, if South Africa failed to improve its competitiveness, it would become an importer as opposed to an exporter and would end up as a consumer and not a supplier.

There was a critical need to lower the cost of doing business and boost efficiencies and service levels, with industry collaborating for innovative, flexible and integrated solutions.

Connectivity, information platforms and improved communications flow were able to address many of the challenges, Waugh commented.

T-Systems solution architect Tony Willis said at no point in time had there been "so many technologies" merging simultaneously, adding that leveraging ICT through the latest generation technologies could achieve all South Africa’s ambitions of improved collaboration in supply chain.

ICT could increase supply chain visibility and eliminate system failures, as well as lower costs and – therefore, the financial impact on business.