Watch Gartner Analyst Christian Titze discuss the importance of Supply Chain visibility across business networks.

Digital transformation initiatives and the need for innovation are causing enterprises to rethink their IT landscapes including business-to-business (B2B) integration. Modern B2B integration is critical for enabling enterprises to achieve goals like increasing revenue, speeding up time to market, and improving efficiencies because these outcomes are dependent on having a successful business network. B2B practitioners have two goals — enable critical business initiatives and control costs — and cloud-based B2B services have been successful in helping enterprises achieve both goals.

IDC interviewed eight IBM clients to understand how their use of IBM Supply Chain Business Network, part of the IBM Watson Supply Chain portfolio, has impacted their operations and businesses. These organizations reported achieving strong value with IBM Supply Chain Business Network, and IDC projects that their investment will yield an average three-year return on investment (ROI) of 308%, or more than $4 in benefits for $1 invested, by:

• Serving as a scalable and flexible B2B platform that supports business growth and peak periods of B2B activity, including partner onboarding.
• Enabling B2B staff time savings and efficiencies through increased B2B automation and repeatable processes and having IBM take on B2B-related activities
• Reducing the frequency of B2B-related downtime and errors
• Providing a cost-effective platform for B2B operations

IBM commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an Emerging Technology Projection: Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI)enterprises may realize by deploying an IBM Blockchain Platform and Services solution. The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of IBM Blockchain Platform and Services on their organizations.

Blockchain is an emerging technology, and blockchain-based networks offer the opportunity to develop new business and trust models; that’s why the phrase “revolutionary potential” for once isn’t out of place. Its ability to support multiparty collaboration around shared, trusted data and process automation across organizational boundaries brings benefits at many levels, starting with efficiency gains and culminating in reinventing how entire industry ecosystems operate.

IBM provides a blockchain platform, blockchain services, and ecosystem support for organizations that are looking to develop and deploy their own blockchain solutions. To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed six customers with experience using IBM’s Blockchain.

Organizations pursue early AI projects to gauge their potential in supply chain digital transformation. This research helps supply chain leaders responsible for analytics and AI to conduct a due diligence at the onset of an AI project to increase the likelihood of success.

Key Challenges
Supply chain analytics leaders without a data science background oftentimes find it hard to vet solution providers and deconstruct their AI capabilities to gauge incremental solution benefits.

Supply chain organizations sometimes underestimate the level of effort and time commitment required to support AI initiatives.

The hype associated with AI can push supply chain leaders to jump into a relationship with a solution provider without a clear understanding of their industry footprint or future roadmap.

Digital technology has come to transportation management – but its adoption is likely to be accompanied by a certain amount of pain.

Emerging technologies like predictive analytics, augmented reality and blockchain have the potential to transform supply-chain operations. Leading the charge for businesses in the digital age: edge computing.