Analyst Insight: A perfect performance means playing the right song for the right audience. This even applies to supply chain. When supply chain is one-size-fits-all, the orchestra falls out of tune, compromising quality to try to satisfy everyone. To deliver the best performance consistently, businesses need to prioritize customer demands through segmentation and synchronization. This reassembles supply chain to place customer needs at the core, allowing harmony between the business and customer. - Rodrigo Cambiaghi, Principal; Claudio Menegusso, Senior Manager; and Carolyn Dombrowski, Consultant, all with Advisory Services of Ernst & Young LLP

Dassault Systèmes, a vendor of product design and lifecycle-management software, has launched Perfect Production.

Analyst Insight: Too many retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers are in a race to the bottom, when it comes to what they charge for shipping. This is not sustainable over the long run. Those that create their own granular, real-time intelligence about where they hold inventory, understand total fulfillment costs, and have the ability to dynamically steer customers to the most profitable options, will be able to satisfy and attract customers, while creating profitable order deliveries. - Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

Analyst Insight: The orchestration of processes and information for the procurement of goods to the "last mile" delivery to the customer is a required competency in today's direct-to-consumer marketplace. The convergence of supply chain execution systems is a goal that many enterprises have yet to achieve. While some like Amazon and Walmart are well on their way, others have yet to begin the development of their strategic road map. – David Meyers, Principal - Supply Chain Technology, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: Supplier relationships and the management of them are critical to business. The strength of the relationship is two vs. one, transparency, collaboration and innovation. Real value is extracted when buyers and suppliers work together. Not surprisingly, businesses focused on supplier relationship management (SRM) lead their peers five to one in terms of value derived from their supply base. - Mickey North Rizza, VP of Strategic Services, BravoSolution

Analyst Insight: The distribution center is taking on greater importance as a driver of growth and profitability. Top companies are investing in distribution operations to drive competitive advantage and gain market share. Many are leveraging today's technology to prepare for the distribution center of the future. But there is a next wave of technologies on the horizon - from wearables to mobile manufacturing to the Internet of Things. And the tipping point for these technologies is near. - Nikko Pianetto, Group VP of Integrated Technology Solutions, Fortna Inc.

Analyst Insight: Today's strategies for managing suppliers are incomplete. Too much emphasis has been placed on using power to gain leverage over suppliers. But this strategy doesn't work in every situation and care has to be taken to architect the right kind of relationship. Power stymies the development of truly collaborative and strategic relationships. These relationships can produce outcomes well beyond what one firm can do by itself. - Karl B. Manrodt, Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Georgia College & State University

Big Data has led to a discussion of predictive analytics in supply chain management. I'm not sure we have a good understanding in the field of how predictive analytics differs from forecasting.

Analyst Insight: Sales and operations planning is a fundamental process that all retail, manufacturing and consumer products companies should have in place. Surprisingly, many companies do not have a process to formally balance product supply with product demand. Many articles and books have already been written on the technical steps which outline a successful S&OP program. These resources describe the nuances of product rationalization, demand forecasting, supply forecasting, S&OP "True Up" and executive review. - Brewster Smith, Project Manager, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: Key to driving performance and achieving your business strategy is choosing KPIs that clearly align with that strategy. This usually involves identifying three or four areas where the company needs to excel, and then defining a "balanced scorecard" of metrics that shows progress toward the business goals, as well as the trade-offs necessary to achieve those goals. - Rodger Howell, Principal, PwC's Strategy&; Derrick Austring, Director, PwC's Strategy&