Analyst Insight: The economy and reductions in demand have focused priority on tactical initiatives within the supply chain. In 2010 there will be renewed focus beyond securing distribution efficiencies and renegotiating transportation rates (2009's top actions). As we exit the recession, companies are encouraged to embrace a 4-step strategy for transformational change.

Analyst Insight: Many businesses have been paying more attention to the concept of software as a service (SaaS) and how it can be incorporated into their IT portfolios. The most commonly stated benefits -rapid deployment, lower cost, and scalability - must be balanced by other key decision criterion, such as fit, ROI, and risk.

Analyst Insight: Economic volatility has been the cause for the majority of supply chain disruptions in 2008-2009, forcing companies to put an increased emphasis on supply chain management. In today's multi-enterprise demand-supply networks, process collaboration, closed-loop integration between planning and execution, and enhanced focus on intelligence and performance management become key to success.

Analyst Insight: The recent economic turmoil has pulled into sharp focus the issue of how to manage increasingly volatile supply chains. Through late 2008 and 2009, many companies simply panicked and aggressively cut both production and productive assets. These companies are beginning to pay for those aggressive cuts as demand is now starting to increase -- straining diminished capabilities. For 2010, we offer guidance on how companies can get supply chains back in balance and get sales and operations planning right.

Analyst Insight: No one could miss the continued consolidation of supply chain planning applications in the last few years. In spite of the more traditional player consolidations, new firms and new approaches have emerged that have caught buyers' eyes, from demand creation and merchandising planning to richer analytic engines to help fine-tune forecasting accuracy, as well as on-demand delivery platforms for these solutions.

Analyst Insight: Companies no longer have the luxury of being able to expend significant resources to have a multi-phased demand management process and technology roll-out. They need to be laser-focused on the right mix of processes and tools suitable to their unique environment. The two key determinants are: type of supply chain and the planning window.