As we bump up against the limits of what our planet’s ecosystems can handle, the frequency and intensity of natural and human-made disasters will increase exponentially. Second only to the skill and bravery of the people involved in disaster response, the supply chains and logistics that support those people are the next most critical component in the success of any mission.
What if all the participants in a humanitarian or disaster response mission could login to a cloud-based platform, and see real-time or near real-time supply chain operating data displayed on a digital map? What if people could use this data to quickly run simulations and explore possible responses to problems and opportunities that arise? If all could see what is happening, and all could see what works best, would consensus emerge quickly enabling more effective and coordinated action from everyone involved?
The design for this real-time logistics collaboration platform is presented in our article, “Massively Multiplayer Disaster Response Collaboration“, published by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Center for Excellence in Disaster Management, Liaison Journal, Volume 13, Issue 2, Dec 2021. The article starts on pg. 66; view it online or download a PDF copy here – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K81ShvL7gmvl1XBtVKpPR-1HdOq1VtkQ/view?usp=sharing
The organization that develops this platform will perform the roll of the central coordinator. But this coordination will be more like the way a conductor guides a symphony orchestra, rather than the way a commander controls a military unit. This massively multiplayer disaster response collaboration platform will attract people because it is easy to use, because people want to know what is going on, and see what is happening as it happens. People want to engage in real-time, and be part of the decision-making process.
In some ways this platform could be called “Disaster Response Social Media”. It will attract people for some of the same reasons people are attracted to platforms such as Facebook or WhatsApp – to communicate and be a part of the action. Yet, it will be managed to meet specific needs of people and organizations participating in real missions who are under time pressure to act in critical situations. It’s primary purpose will be to enable effective planning and day to day collaboration, not to generate clicks, advertising revenue, merchandise sales, and “likes” for various political, business, and social influencers.
Such a platform could support thousands of simultaneous users collaborating in smaller groups on different missions. This massively multiuser collaboration platform would be cloud-based and accessible anywhere in the world by people using widely available consumer technology – PCs, laptops, smartphones. Such a platform can be built today with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology.
This is a “Big Idea” SCM Globe has been working on for the last 10 years or so. We make the SCM Globe supply chain simulation app which is a step along the way. But this ideas a bigger than us or SCM Globe. Our simulation app is a proof-of-concept to demonstrate the potential of a global, real-time supply chain planning and monitoring platform. We hope others see the potential and are attracted to work with us to make this idea a reality.
Finding our way through the coming decades calls for combining human intuition, non-linear thinking, and creative problem solving with powerful computer capabilities for data collection, optimization, and simulation modeling.