Digital transformation has become necessary for supply chain teams to meet customer expectations and face the competition. But most companies worry about how long it takes to see the benefits. 3 in 4 leaders mentioned that the most common challenge with digital transformation is the inability to define exact impacts, metrics, or ROI.

That's where Holocene stands out. Holocene is designed to help teams get a faster return on investment (ROI) from digital transformation in procurement and supply chain transformations. But how exactly, you may ask?

In this article, we'll share Holocene's approach and how we help you see results sooner by cutting delays, simplifying adoption, and turning everyday supply chain work into more innovative, faster processes. But first, let's understand why faster returns are even such a big concern.

Why Faster ROI Matters in Supply Chain Digitization?

Digital tools require significant time, money, and other resources to implement. If the company doesn't quickly find benefits, people will lose interest, and the program will lose management sponsorship. In the supply chain, ROI often comes from reduced costs, time saved, and more predictable and reliable operations.

A Deloitte report found that top digital transformation teams see over twice the ROI compared to laggards. Slow ROI happens when adoption is low, tools are difficult to use, there is weak or incomplete integration, or you require all your suppliers to change their work practices. Holocene fixes all of these issues.

How does Holocene deliver faster ROI for your supply chain digitization?

So, we understand the impact of slower ROI now. But how is that Holocene claims to be different? What's different, actually? Here's how Holocene helps supply chain teams get quick wins:

1. Fast Integration With Your Existing Systems

Holocene is designed to work with the systems you already use. Whether it's SAP, Oracle, or even Excel and emails, Holocene plugs in easily. We don't need a big IT overhaul to go live.

Live in 2–3 weeks: Teams can start using Holocene within days and go entirely live in weeks, not months.
No supplier onboarding required: Suppliers don't need to log into Holocene. They can continue using email or EDI. Holocene reads and tracks everything.

This means you start seeing value without waiting for a full rollout.

2. No Process Change for Suppliers

Usually, getting value from a new system means convincing every supplier to use a new tool. That slows things down. Holocene doesn't need that.

Suppliers can continue their usual process. Holocene captures data from email updates, order acknowledgments, and other sources, using AI to flag real-time risks or delays.

Faster adoption = faster ROI.

3. Real-Time Visibility

Holocene monitors every order and supplier action. It catches risks pretty early. Issues like a delay or a missed quantity can be detected automatically so your team can fix them before they affect production. Holocene's platform helps to:

Avoid urgent airfreight costs
Reduce missed deliveries
Improve on-time performance

This visibility is available from Day 1, which means fewer surprises and faster cost savings.

4. Automating the Busy Work

In procurement, a lot of time is spent reading emails, copying data from PDFs, and updating spreadsheets. Holocene’s Digital Transformation in Procurement automates these tasks.

Auto-processes supplier updates
Matches update to purchase orders
Flags change without manual work

This saves weekly hours and helps teams spend more time on strategic work, like negotiating or forecasting.

5. Better Supplier Management

Holocene’s Digital Transformation in Procurement builds a performance record for every supplier, delivery times, quality, communication. With that insight:

Shift more business to reliable suppliers
Negotiate better terms
Reduce risk and delays

The result? Faster decision-making and lower costs.

6. Reduced Inventory and Freed-Up Cash

When teams cannot trust supplier delivery, they stock up "just in case." This takes up cash and adds warehousing costs.

Holocene gives confidence through accurate, real-time data. That means you can reduce buffer stock safely.

Lower inventory = less capital locked up
Fewer write-offs from overstocking

This is a major source of real business impact at the P&L level, and because it is available quickly, the ROI and XIRR both look great.

7. One Unified Platform

Instead of juggling five tools, the Holocene provides one single source of truth system that:

Tracks supply chain actions
Automates alerts
Gives insights and dashboards

It's simple to train on, easy to adopt, and has everything in one place. That simplicity cuts training time and increases adoption – two critical factors for fast ROI.

What to Expect from Holocene and Why is it Different?

What can a company expect by adopting Holocene for supply chain and procurement digitalization? In short, quick wins that build into lasting gains. Holocene can reduce logistics costs by up to 8% without slowing down your speed to market. Consider that nearly a tenth of your logistics costs are saved relatively quickly, directly improving ROI.

Those savings come from our discussed focus areas, such as better efficiency, fewer expedited shipments, less waste, etc. It also increases your team's execution capacity (essentially, you can do more with the same team), meaning you aren't forced to hire more people as your business grows, further compounding ROI.

Early adopters of Holocene’s Digital Transformation in Procurement have noted they can focus on what truly matters instead of firefighting. For example, Holocene helped one company's team avoid wasting time on non-core tasks and firefighting, allowing them to concentrate on tactical decisions. Another company pointed out that Holocene increased the bandwidth of their team members, freeing them from document chasing so they could spend time on negotiation and strategy. These qualitative benefits translate to quantitative ones: when your skilled procurement officers spend time negotiating better contracts instead of tracking shipments, you save money and get better deals. Now, that's ROI in action.

Holocene connects to your existing tools, provides real-time insights, automates manual work, and helps you quickly reduce risk, cut inventory, and improve supplier performance.

In short, Holocene promises digital transformation and delivers value that can be measured in weeks, not months.

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Ready to see faster ROI from your supply chain? Start small, see results quickly, and scale what works. Connect today to learn more about adopting this for your business.