The overall supply chain industry has evolved dramatically in the last five years, he says, with many shifts being caused by upswings in such business evolutions as globalization. Of course, as the supply chain has become more global, it has gained in complexity: lead-times are longer, transportation has increased as a percentage of the cost of goods sold, and hand-offs between partners are fraught with much more risk. While many companies are fully "globalized," many are still "maturing" to the process, Gaurav says. Second, many are trying to adapt to a demand-driven world. More and more, branded manufacturing companies are using point-of-sale data to gain control of their shelf-level inventory. Forecasting, replenishment and promotions planning are very important components of a successful supply chain, but lend a greater degree of complexity to matters as well especially as companies shift from push to pull models.
Third, many companies are striving to finally out of the silos that exist in their organizations. They require enterprise synchronization across all the departments if they are to optimally manage all of their processes and gain the so-called single version of the truth.
Collaboration is the fourth major change in logistics, and one of the greatest needs. "The need to work together as a value chain is still very important," says Gaurav.
The need to adapt to change is just as great for software developers as it is for their client, he says. One of the most important developments is in the use of hosted solutions. Gaurav's company offers both licensed and on-demand version of its solutions, and it's imperative for a customer to correctly determine which version is right for its needs. "At the end of the day, the total cost of ownership has to be determined by the user."
