Insight, Inc., a vendor of supply-chain planning software, has created an application that incorporates marketing and supply-chain strategy and operations. Jointly developed with Dybvig Consulting, Insight Integrated Enterprise Strategy (IES) builds on the functionality of Insight's flagship product, SAILS 21. IES helps executives to balance corporate resources so as to maximize profitability, the company said. Instead of assuming fixed demand for a given planning scenario, IES bases its conclusions on marketing campaigns, in which the cost and demand impact of proposed marketing strategies are considered alongside supply-chain strategies and costs. The tool assigns targeted marketing expenditures to those markets, channels and products with the greatest margin, given available or potential supply-chain capacity. Subject to client-defined limits, the application can remove resources and demand from unprofitable markets, channels and products. In the process, says Insight, it avoids the independent preparation of marketing and supply-chain strategies. Processes taken into account include procurement, manufacturing, distribution and marketing. Among the costs factored into the software's calculations are those related to transportation, warehousing, duty, taxes, port handling and in-transit inventory.
Insight, Inc