Analyst Insight: In 2010, as we began to offer a supply chain risk management class at Lehigh, our body of knowledge continued to expand and migrated into a very effective methodology to review, evaluate and benchmark a company's end-to-end supply chain maturity and inherent risk. The methodology encompassed 100 questions-of-discovery across 10 tenets of the supply chain resulting in a Red, Yellow & Green "spider diagram" profile of a company's supply chain maturity and inherent risk. – Gregory L. Schlegel, Founder, The Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium, and Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University

Analyst Insight: Delivering a seamless customer experience will demand a more comprehensive approach to inventory visibility across the entire supply chain. Gone are the days of "offline and online" inventories. Retailers must determine how they will create and leverage one view of all of their inventories, where any location now may become a source to fulfill a customer's order. – Melanie Nuce, Vice President of Apparel and General Merchandise, GS1 US

Analyst Insight: The term "supply chain visibility" is bandied about, but it lacks a consistent definition. There are many forms of visibility and companies use the term with many different definitions. The first step is getting clear on the definition, and the second is gaining clarity on the technology options. While most companies have made progress in supply chain visibility within the four walls of the enterprise, today, supply chain visibility in the extended supply chain is still in its infancy. – Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights

Last year, I attended a thought-provoking supply chain conference hosted by an industry analyst organization. The agenda was packed with interesting supply chain topics - cost-to-serve strategies, supply network optimization, S&OP integration, demand shaping tactics, etc. However, the event gave almost no attention to the foundation upon which advanced supply chain planning and execution strategies rest: supply chain integration.