Multi-Party Supply Chain Management involves processes which span customers, business units, outsourced manufacturing partners, and other value chain partners. It is imperative that multi-party SCM needs to be managed well during this era of global supply chain transformation. In order to analyze how technology enablers are helping companies manage supply chain transformation and illustrate how innovators are gaining an ROI from their technology initiatives, Aberdeen Group recent study, Supply Chain Innovator's Technology Footprint 2008 was published April 1, 2008.

Eighty percent of companies worldwide that were surveyed in December 2008 are involved in supply chain transformation, either domestically or internationally, with cost containment and customer service demands as well as green supply chain initiatives as key drivers. "The ability to respond to these market drivers is emerging as critical to a company's success. Innovative companies are creating multi-party SCM processes in order to distinguish themselves from the marketplace," says Nari Viswanathan, Research Director, Supply Chain & Logistics.

Over 805 survey respondents voiced their experience and opinions, and among them, more than 40% identified BPM, along with Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM), and Master Data Management (MDM) as the top three supply chain infrastructure technologies that are being viewed with high priority among line of business users. When asked about their top application investment areas, Supply Chain Visibility, Sales and Operations Planning and Inventory Management were rated as the top three areas of focus.

"Multi-party SCM processes for large enterprises cannot be enabled fully through a traditional packaged application approach. There is a need for a comprehensive business process layer that ties existing investments in ERP or APS systems with add-on business components that can fill gaps in capabilities." says Viswanathan.
http://www.aberdeen.com