Analyst Insight: Consumers now demand that their software solutions be flexible, configurable and are able to accommodate business changes without much business impact. Enterprise software vendors have been forced to shift their dated SOA and legacy-based architecture to more adaptable and configuration-friendly solutions that allow consumers to adjust to changing business practices and processes. – Dylan Persaud, Managing Director, Eval-Source
IFS, a vendor of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) technology, has developed IFS Applications 8, the latest version of its offering for manufacturing industries.
As a leading contract manufacturer of electronics, Celestica works with a diverse supply base comprised of thousands of vendors. Six years ago, the company began a major initiative to gain better visibility and control of supplier performance, an effort that led to creation of a proprietary supplier collaboration tool known as Live Share.
In addition to technical and functional skills, supply chain managers need to hone their "soft" skills in areas like project management and change management, says Bill Seliger of R.R. Donnelly Logistics Services.
Having information and processes trapped in operational silos is a continuing problem that keeps many businesses from performing as well as they should, says Paul Boris, vice president of collaborative manufacturing at SAP, in an interview with Greg Gorbach, vice president-collaborative manufacturing, ARC Advisory Group
As a culture of "bring your own device" takes hold in the business world, solutions providers face the challenge of ensuring that their applications work well on a variety of operating systems, says Mike Maris, senior director for transportation and logistics at Motorola Solutions.
