Technology

From Silos to Streams - Collaboration & Integration Means Connection

February 27, 2013

Analyst Insight: Driving richer connectivity and communications as well as human dialogue amongst partners or team members is changing the face of business and society. We are moving from siloed enterprises to federations of partnerships and communities of ideas that think and execute in streams - not rigid processes. This is changing not only how we work, but the technologies that support us. - Sree Hameed, Vice President, ChainLink Research

Logistics Infrastructure in China Is Under Pressure

February 27, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: Pressure is mounting on logistics infrastructure in China due to increasing domestic consumption. As Chinese consumers become more sophisticated, distribution networks will have to respond with greater accuracy, efficiency and speed. The same supply chain principles that have been tried and proven in the West will, out of necessity, become more accepted in China. - Jim Serstad, Managing Director, Asia, Tompkins International

In 2013, Transfer Pricing Is No. 2 Headache for Multinationals' Tax Directors

February 27, 2013

CFO

What's been keeping tax directors of large multinational corporations up at night recently? The same issue that provided millions of dollars in tax relief a few years before: transfer pricing.

SAP Announces Plans to Acquire Inventory-Optimization Vendor SmartOps

February 27, 2013

SAP AG

SAP AG is acquiring SmartOps, the vendor of software for inventory and service-level optimization.

Chief Executive of Maersk Focuses on Improving African Infrastructure

February 26, 2013

Supply Chain Digital

The CEO of Maersk Group toured Nigeria, Angola and Ghana in a bid to focus on African infrastructure improvements. As African economies boom, infrastructure improvements become more important to turning the growth into sustainable development, and Maersk is planning to take a role in this transition.

Managing Intersection of Marketing, Operations Is Strategic Lever to Competitive Advantage

February 26, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: Simply stated, the marketing mission of any business is to profitably create "something" that a customer will buy. The operational objective of the business is to deliver the "something" to the satisfaction of the customer. The financial objective is to charge a fee equivalent to the customer's perceived value while generating a return on the capital investment the business made to create "something." - Rich Sherman, Supply Chain Discipline Expert at Trissential

Virtualization, Efficiency and Enhanced User Experience in BPM

February 26, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: Today's businesses are witnessing the evolution of business process management (BPM) applications to meet new paradigms shaped by user experience and comply with the increased number and complexity of corporate demands. The next generation of BPM applications looks to increase efficiency in all stages of process design and implementation, virtualize the work environment of its users, and enrich the user experience - thereby ameliorating their usage, deployment and development. - Jorge Garcia, TEC Senior BI and Data Management Analyst, Technology Evaluation Centers

Creating a Unifying 'Big Picture'

February 26, 2013

SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: The number one strategy for high-impact business performance is organizational and supply chain strategic alignment, coupled with effective supply chain segmentation. The hyper competitive supply chain landscape is a new normal. To compete leading organizations need to restructure in order to breakdown functional silos, create enterprise unification around common goals, and use technology and "big data" to create a "big picture" understanding of organizational goals. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

5 Steps to Better Data for Supply Chain Decision-Making

February 26, 2013

Donna Fritz, Director of Product Marketing, TAKE Solutions

In today's environment of Big Data and analytics, effective supply chain decision-making is only as good as the data influencing the decisions. Drawing actionable conclusions based on the best information possible is critical to maintaining a supply chain that is efficient and effective, but also acts as a continual driver of strategic and competitive advantage. But how can your organization ensure that the data used to draw conclusions and make decisions regarding the supply chain is clean, relevant and accurate?

Are Robots Taking Over the Warehouse?

February 25, 2013

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

It seems like a cruel joke. At the same time we hear about the return of manufacturing jobs from Asia to the U.S., we are inundated with stories about the growth of robotics, which threatens to take away those very jobs for good.