Analyst Insight: Retail continues its massive digital evolution; we no longer should look at e-commerce as a separate activity for retailers. Consumers are only concerned about commerce. The lines between different retail channels have blurred, consumers expect retailers to service their demands and needs regardless of which path they decide to leverage with the retailers. Retailers' supply chains must keep pace with these digital changes. -- Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: CRM as we know it has been turned on its head, but its importance has never been greater. In the late 1990s, CRM systems such as Onyx and Seibel were state of the art and were built to better organize and capture the plethora of data that sales teams were creating. Through the internet, the ability to share data with large and diverse teams was unprecedented. Unfortunately, digital has changed this. CRM is no longer robust enough for today's demands, but its core value has never been more important. - Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: Consumers want the same experience regardless of what supply chain is in play. Consumers' expectations are growing and now the brands must be more cognizant of their supply chains and how it supports the brand. The dynamics between CPG - retail - consumer has changed drastically. Consumers no longer distinguish between channels and therefore CPGs themselves must be more proactive to manage their role in this ecosystem. - Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: Not too long ago, many supply chain professionals were skeptical of adopting a SaaS delivery model for their solutions. There was a hesitancy to move their solutions off premise, into the cloud and pay a subscription. How times have changed. Supply chain solution providers are all moving to the model or designing native solutions that are cloud-based. - Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: For both B2C and B2B, cloud technology is nothing new, but for supply chains the adoption has assumed a more guarded pace. That is to be expected: supply chain professionals are accustomed to operating in a world built on legacy applications and bolt-on point solutions. The promise of the cloud had been elusive, but supply chain systems are beginning to take advantage of the business model changes afforded by cloud solutions. - Guy F. Courtin, Vice President, Research, SCM World