Retail demand planning is, to a great extent, a game of numbers. But the store that relies entirely on hard statistics is likely to be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Analyst Insight: Business process management has changed immensely within the last few years. Last year, many new vendors emerged in all industries and verticals due to SaaS business models. The BPM market is rapidly evolving to include a combination of products services and software bundled into one deliverable in a turnkey solution. As the race to zero continues, vendors will have to discover what customers are willing to pay for. – Dylan Persaud, Managing Director, Eval-Source

Analyst Insight: Alignment is the positioning of parts so they are in their proper position to run correctly – as in car parts. Alignment is also the ability to optimize the business results by aligning people, programs and business processes. According to Supply Chain Insights, Alignment continues to be one of the top three supply chain business initiatives in 2015. – Mickey North Rizza, VP Strategic Services, BravoSolution

Analyst Insight: A major reason the majority of start-ups and mergers are destined to fail is that companies are not aligned when it comes to determining the nature of their business, what they want to achieve and how they will achieve it. Misalignment can happen both internally and externally and almost always translates into frustration and failure. – Kate Vitasek, Faculty, University of Tennessee's Center for Graduate Executive Education programs.

Analyst Insight: Optimization. It sounds simple enough, but when was the last time you thoroughly reviewed your supply chain, and more specifically, the transportation network and associated cost structure for complete optimization? Optimization has many spokes, yet the goal is to improve service and reduce costs. For many companies this awareness is event-driven, occurring only when something negatively impacts the supply chain such as congestion at ports or anywhere along the transportation network, supplier issues, or an imbalance in inventory. – John Haber, President & CEO, Spend Management Experts

Analyst Insight: Companies spent over $400bn on external management consultants in 2013 with a majority on strategy development and implementation. This figure shows companies struggle to develop and retain strategy as a skill in the talent toolbox. As a pioneer of process engineering and continuous improvement, supply chain has already proven to be an organization that can break complex problems down into simple, repeatable steps. It's now our turn to do the same with strategy. – Matt Davis, SVP Research at SCM World

Analyst Insight: With stories of Ebola and Boko Haram dominating the news, it would be easy to dismiss Africa from a supply chain perspective. Risk is clearly high and traditional reasons to engage supply chain - either for low-cost sourcing or new market entry - may seem absent. The truth, however, is that many supply chain leaders should start thinking now about how to engage this vital emerging market. - Kevin O’Marah, Chief Content Officer, SCM World

SupplyChainBrain and JobsInLogistics have joined forces in 2015 for the specialized purpose of:

Analyst Insight: Car ownership in developing economies is on the rise. By 2020, annual world vehicle production could reach 85 to 90 million units. That will mean another 75 to 100 plants, each producing around 300,000 cars a year, will be needed, essentially in or close to the world's fastest-developing countries. Automakers have to create new global production strategies to serve these multiple diverse markets. – Pierfrancesco Manenti, Vice President, Research, SCM World