As more people stayed in and shopped from home, e-commerce experienced a tremendous boom and is still growing. B2B e-commerce is rapidly growing as well. In fact, B2B e-commerce site sales will hit $1.77 trillion in 2022, which is a 12% increase from 2021.

Lievant, an international digital marketing agency specializing in e-commerce, can attest to this growth. Head of Digital Strategy Francisco Arinci says Lievant experienced “double-digit sales growth in the last two years,” helping B2C and B2B customers boost e-commerce sales and profitability through their e-commerce sites or marketplaces.

Agencies like Lievant that assist with e-commerce have certainly benefited from the heightened demand for e-commerce optimization and profitability. However, for these agencies’ business customers, depending on their level of flexibility before the pandemic, such growth in e-commerce is either a blessing or a curse. The uptick in e-commerce necessitates adaptable and innovative e-commerce supply chains to quickly and efficiently deliver products to customers within days, sometimes even hours. 

Arinci witnessed the strain on his customers whose “ongoing campaigns had to be slowed or stopped entirely because of unexpected supply challenges.”

What is the e-commerce supply chain?

The e-commerce supply chain is the process by which a product moves from the manufacturing facility to the customer’s desired shipping location when they place an order for the product online. The supply chain requires the necessary infrastructure and personnel to deliver the product to the customer as quickly as possible.  

3 e-commerce supply chain trends

Thanks to major online retail pioneers such as Amazon, customers expect expedient order fulfillment and delivery and a satisfactory return process–also known as reverse logistics. But there are other major ways–besides speedy delivery and returns–that e-commerce is responding to increased demand over the last couple years. 

In his book Transforming the Global Supply Chain: Cyber Warfare, Technology, and Politics, Dennis Unkovic outlines some of the major trends that are giving shape to the future of e-commerce supply chain and shipping.

Shorter chain

Unkovic notes that the supply chain in general is getting increasingly shorter in two key ways—reshoring and shipping directly from warehouse to consumer.  

Unkovic predicts that organizations will reshore their supply chains, meaning manufacturing and distribution will be moved from faraway countries to be geographically closer to the end customer. 

As a result, companies will rely less on other countries’ workforces and keep manufacturing and distribution domestic. Doing so helps a company cut down on inventory and logistics costs and brings stability to what may otherwise be a volatile supply chain.

The idea to shorten the path between manufacturer and consumer makes sense. However, as Unkovic acknowledges, trade and outsourcing are complex topics that depend on economic, technological, and political factors. Unkovic’s prediction about reshoring will be something to keep an eye on in the coming years. 

In an effort to shorten the e-commerce supply chain further, Unkovic notes that e-commerce retailers are circumnavigating intermediaries like physical store locations in order to ship directly from fulfillment centers to customers. Provided a company has a robust system of fulfillment centers, shipping directly to customers is more efficient and saves the customer money. 

However, brick-and-mortar retailers are not disappearing anytime soon. In fact, in May 2022, the growth of in-store sales outstripped online sales growth. Compared to May 2021, in-store sales recorded a 13-percent uptick, while online sales grew by only 2.2%. This indicates a continued relevance of physical store locations in spite of an increased online retail presence. 

Arinci notes that this trend led Lievant’s customers to pivot to an omnichannel sales and marketing strategy and even launch new brands to take advantage of consumers’ market exploration. 

Robotics

Unkovic highlights distribution centers’ increasing utilization of sophisticated robots to pick, move, and ship products. The warehouse robotics market is predicted to experience a CAGR of over 15% between 2022 and 2027. 

Robots help boost the accuracy and efficiency of order fulfillment by picking and packing items faster than humans can. Unkovic predicts that self-driving vehicles will eventually become more prevalent for deliveries as well.

Unkovic also raises the point that robots even help to make the workplace safer by phasing out, for example, forklifts. He notes that over 97,000 reported injuries and 100 fatalities are attributed to forklifts each year. By eliminating the need for forklift drivers, Unkovic makes the case that robotics keep workers safe. 

However, laying off workers to replace them with robotic forklifts for the sake of keeping the workers safe is not the sole solution. Rather, robotics should be part of the solution. With robotics becoming more popular in e-commerce supply chain management, organizations should proactively re-skill or upskill workers whose jobs may be replaced with robots. 

Read more at Datamation: The Robotics Market in 2022

3-D printing

Unkovic posits 3-D printing as a major disruptive force that will evolve the supply chain. 3-D printing impacts mostly the beginning stages of the supply chain related to design, material sourcing, and manufacturing by enabling production of complex designs at scale. Accelerating these beginning stages can lower initial development time and cost, which ultimately helps to get the product out to the customer faster.

Read more at Baseline Mag: HP Moves 3D Printing to the Automotive and Manufacturing Mainstream

Companies located in North America dominate this technology. Therefore, if American companies reshore their operations to North America or the US, in particular, they can reap the following key supply chain benefits of 3-D printing:

• Quickly design and test prototypes and produce small, uniform parts at scale
• Greater product modification and customization 
• Cost reduction for research and development
• More flexibility to hold less inventory, which also results in cost reduction
• More reliable supply chain due to geographic proximity between manufacturing and customers

Read more at IT Business Edge about how 3-D printing is shaking up the medical industry: How HP 3D Printing is Making Medical Supplies 

Tech solutions that optimize the e-commerce supply chain

Smart, AI-backed software solutions on the market help both suppliers and their customers gain greater visibility and control over the supply chain. 

Network visibility

When it comes to matters further up the supply chain, such as inventory and distribution, Flexe offers a centralized platform that provides network control and visibility. The platform connects customers to in-network warehouses and allows them to add more suppliers and customers to the network. 

Quality assurance

For quality control in the supply chain, Logmore, utilizes QR codes to track, analyze, and report on the condition of products during transit. Logmore’s API enables e-commerce supply chain companies to build their own quality assurance apps. This especially comes in handy for the medical equipment and food and beverage industries whose customers can monitor quality control for their in-transit items.

Logistics

In terms of logistics, smaller companies should look into Shippo. Shippo gives customers access to low shipping rates from major carriers DHL, UPS, and others. Customers can also manage their omnichannel sales in one place, automatically create shipping and return labels, and receive shipping notifications. Shippo integrates with many of today’s popular e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, Square, and Woocommerce.

Similar to Uber and Lyft, Flock Freight facilitates truckload sharing to help mid-sized and large companies expedite shipping. Using algorithms, Flock Freight shows customers the best routes available between the fulfillment center and the customer’s door. 

In addition, using Flock Freight’s service saves companies money by sharing truck space, insures their freight up to $100,000, and helps them reduce their carbon footprint. This is a great option to consider for companies who do not want to put up the investment in their own freight fleet or who want to save money by moving smaller loads in a shared space.

For companies that ship via truck, air, or water, Freightos is an international shipping marketplace that allows customers to compare freight quotes from more than 45 providers to find the fastest and cheapest shipping option. Bigger companies that operate internationally and that have the budget and flexibility to ship with different intermodal methods should consider Freightos. 

The future of the e-commerce supply chain

The supply chain will never return to pre-pandemic conditions, especially for e-commerce sites. 

Lievant, as an agency in the e-commerce space, has remained flexible and quick to turnaround deliverables as supplies became available again to its customers who could resume business in this new age of buying and selling. 

Given its comprehensive services and staff located around the globe, Lievant “really mastered the 24/7 Service Motto as it was not strange for us to have internal chats or calls with customers as late as midnight to ensure that Web Pages, e-commerce sites, or Campaigns were published or online on time.”

But what does Lievant’s case, as just one example of e-commerce’s immense growth, spell for the broader e-commerce industry?

Dennis Unkovic’s book forecasts several trends that will emerge or continue to play out in response to this growth.

• Shorter, more fragmented supply chain: global supply chain operations will become increasingly domestic to bring the supply chain as close to the end customer as possible. 

• Robotics and 3-D printing: these technologies will boom in the coming years to accelerate the supply chain for both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers. 

• Supply chain software: technology will also continue to innovate solutions to meet the evolving demands of the supply chain. Such solutions enable users and their customers to gain more control over distribution, quality, and shipping.

Read next: Best Supply Chain Management Solutions

The post The Future of E-commerce Shipping & Supply Chain appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

How did COVID-19 create supply chain disruptions?

Between factory closures and shift workers calling off sick, COVID-19 made it difficult for manufacturers to keep up with demand for many products. And when employees could come back to work, factories laid off workers or cut hours to be able to keep workers in the factories approximately six feet apart. Now that these factories can support full workforces again, they’re having trouble replenishing the workers they dismissed or lost.

Not only were there fewer workers to complete the orders, but product demands were also changing. For example, many tech companies are still facing shortages of chips and graphics cards because consumers needed the technology to work remotely and PC gaming was a hobby people could enjoy safely at home and stay connected to friends and family. Additionally, the need for cleaning products like Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer rose astronomically, and the factories weren’t prepared for the level of demand they saw.

Businesses with manufacturing plants in China suffered from increased trade restrictions and longer wait times as products had to quarantine. Many consumers purchasing from overseas countries are still feeling the delays.

Also Read: 5 Ways to Repair Your Supply Chain

Companies that demonstrated supply chain resilience

Luckily, not all companies suffered from supply chain issues. Many liquor distilleries, including Bacardi and Buffalo Trace, diverted some of their product lines to make hand sanitizer rather than liquor to meet the heightened need. 

Also Read: Industry Selling on Pause? Rethink Your Targeting

Additionally, some companies decided to start manufacturing their products domestically in order to avoid the delays that come with importing products from overseas. Nanotronics, a company that produces single patient, reusable devices that enable clinicians to follow medical protocol for non-invasive ventilation produces its product in Brooklyn, NY. “I suffered from COVID-19 myself and know first-hand how much the ventilator shortage is impacting medical facilities,” says Dr. Matthew Putnam, CEO of Nanotronics. “By manufacturing directly from Brooklyn, NY, we are able to surpass the ventilator supply chain shortage and get people the help they need.” 

Many of the largest ventilator manufacturers are located in Europe, adding customs delays on top of supply shortages for US hospitals. Plus, these manufacturers are likely to prioritize hospitals in their own countries to prevent tariffs and aid their own populations, leaving hospitals in the United States scrambling.

How to make your supply chain more resilient

Supply chain disruptions don’t have to be devastating for businesses. There are several options for organizations looking to create a more flexible and resilient supply chain.

Create an omnichannel supply chain

Online shopping has grown in recent years, and COVID-19 only accelerated that growth. Retail organizations should consider adding an online store if they haven’t already. By providing multiple channels for their customers, they continue making sales, even when stores can’t be open or have limited capacity.

Also Read: Creating an Omnichannel Supply Chain: A Macy’s Case Study

Stock up on raw materials with multiple uses

Like the distilleries did, consider diversifying your product lines when possible and stock up on raw materials that you can use in multiple products, especially if they don’t expire. Bar closures reduced the need for drinking alcohol, so the distilleries instead directed some of that alcohol towards the production of hand sanitizer. 

In the graphics card shortage, however, companies didn’t have the same luxury of stocking up. While they don’t expire in the traditional sense, the technology changes so rapidly that a manufacturer’s current stock could get outdated quickly. 

Take stock of the materials you currently have on hand and determine which of them you have multiple uses for and the equipment needed to make something else from it. While shoe factories and hose manufacturers both use rubber, the shoe factory would be more likely to have the machinery needed to make tires if there was a shortage because both tires and shoes have treads.

Use supply chain management software with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help you better navigate supply chain disruptions because it’s often able to identify them earlier than traditional forecasting methods. Rather than relying solely on historical data, supply chain management (SCM) software that includes AI examines a combination of historical data, current market trends, and external factors that can affect demand, like natural disasters. This provides more accurate demand planning levels and prevents extreme over or under-production.

Top SCM tools with AI:

• Logility
• SAP SCM
• Infor SCM
• Oracle SCM

Supply chain resiliency protects your business

Businesses with flexible, omnichannel supply chains are more likely to survive disruptions than those with rigid ones. In order to make sure your company can last through supply chain disruptions and even thrive during them, you need more than one channel through which to sell your product, high volumes of raw materials that have more than one use, and supply chain management software with AI. You might also consider manufacturing materials domestically if your factories currently run overseas.

To find the perfect supply chain management software to make your supply chain more flexible, use our Product Selection Tool for SCM. After answering a few questions about your business, you’ll get a customized list of product recommendations. It’s free and takes as little as five minutes.

The post Building Supply Chain Resilience to Mitigate Disruptions appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

To find the best supply chain management (SCM) software for your organization, use our Supply Chain Management Product Selection Tool. In as little as five minutes, you’ll get a short, customized list of product recommendations that will fit your needs.

Jump to:

• Use AI to improve predictions
• Analyze order history to identify trends
• Keep an eye on competitors
• Consider inventory elasticity
• Best supply chain management software for demand forecasting
• Better demand forecasting lowers operating costs

Use AI to improve predictions

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a critical component of supply chain management, enabling better demand forecasting and reducing overhead costs. By 2024, 60 percent of Forbes’ Global 2000 manufacturers will be dependent on AI for their supply chain. As part of predictive analytics, AI can analyze historical data, current market trends, and external market factors to make accurate estimates regarding future sales. 

Using AI for forecasting reduces the manual effort required to analyze more than one market variable at a time. Plus, it offers better short-term forecasts, allowing businesses to be more flexible. It does, however, require more data upfront than passive demand forecasting, in which businesses use only historical data to make forecasts. The maintenance requirements for the technology can be a bit more difficult than traditional prediction methods.

Analyze order history to identify trends

Past purchases can give you an idea of which of your products are the most popular and the demographics they resonate with most. You don’t have to do this by hand, though. By integrating your supply chain management software with your business intelligence (BI) platform, you should be able to automatically pull sales data into your BI tools and let the AI highlight relevant insights. 

If you’re a manufacturing business, you can also ask your customers for their sales forecasts to get a better idea of the orders they’re likely to place. However, you may have to offer small perks or incentives to get this kind of data. 

Also Read: Protect Your Company Against Panic Buying and its Effects on the Supply Chain

Keep an eye on competitors

If a competitor launches a promo or special offer for one of the product lines you carry, you may not be able to react quickly enough to win back that business. However, you can at least adjust the sales forecast to account for that lost business. You’ll also need to track competitor closures, data breaches, and any harsh weather in their area. These can cause major delays or loss of trust for customers, and they may turn to your business instead, increasing demand. 

Consider inventory elasticity

If sales of your products change substantially when the price does, your inventory has some elasticity. Let’s say you forecast high sales of a product, but the market changes, and you don’t sell nearly as many as you expected to at full price. A demand-focused supply chain management tool could alert businesses to the difference in the actual speed of sales vs. what was expected and suggest dropping the price, so the organization can sell the excess product and still make a profit instead of just throwing it all out.

Manufacturers should also stock up on raw materials that have a variety of uses because there’s a lower likelihood of them going to waste. During the beginning stages of the pandemic, we saw a lot of businesses pivot their offerings to better serve sudden rising demand. For example, several alcohol distilleries diverted some of their production lines to make hand sanitizer and other alcohol-based cleaning supplies instead of drinking alcohol. This flexibility allowed them to keep sales high without wasting the materials they already had available.

Also Read: How to Reduce Inventory and Keep Practitioners Stocked

Best supply chain management software for demand forecasting

Businesses looking to improve their demand planning capabilities should consider one of the following supply chain management tools, each chosen for the strength of their forecasting features.

Logility

Logility is a supply chain management software suite that allows businesses to automatically forecast demand for each business level while using model switching to ensure each forecast fits the production stage. It provides better insights into the patterns of new products and those with shorter life cycles. This improved visibility also helps lower operating costs by preventing businesses from overstocking inventory. By examining factors like transportation and vendor managed inventory (VMI), Logility helps businesses respond to market changes faster and become more flexible.

SAP Integrated Business Planning

SAP Integrated Business Planning is part of its supply chain management suite that improves business continuity and helps businesses handle real-time demand and inventory forecasting. With simulations, businesses can run potential demand scenarios to determine how prepared they are for market changes. And performance monitoring measures actual results against forecasts to quickly identify misalignment, so companies can adjust. SAP also offers embedded analytics, so users can get forecasting insights wherever they’re working with data.

Atlas

Atlas by John Galt is an AI-driven planning platform that helps businesses optimize their supply chain and reduce inventory costs. By consolidating supply and demand data from other sources, Atlas provides better visibility into the supply chain and enables collaborative planning and what-if scenarios. Additionally, automated workflows reduce manual labor and errors to speed and improve business decisions. Machine learning optimizes the forecasting process and provides better insights in less time than traditional forecasting methods.

Also Read: The 7 Best Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) Software For Balancing Supply And Demand

Better demand forecasting lowers operating costs

With better demand forecasting, businesses can lower their operating costs by reducing the number of items they overstock and the amount of inventory space they need. Additionally, when companies have an accurate estimate regarding the amount of product they’ll sell, they can order inventory in larger quantities at once, often getting a better price per unit. And with AI and machine learning, organizations can reduce the amount of manual work that goes into their forecasting efforts and prevent manual errors during demand planning. 

To find supply chain management software that will improve your business’s demand forecasting abilities, check out our SCM Product Selection Tool. After answering some questions about your business needs, you’ll get a personalized list of software recommendations.

Read Next: 5 Ways to Repair Your Supply Chain

The post How Supply Chains Can Improve Demand Forecasting appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

To find secure supply chain management software that will meet your business needs, use our Product Selection Tool for SCM. After answering some questions about your organization, you’ll get a short, personalized list of software recommendations.

SCM software with strong security

Businesses looking to secure their supply chain should consider SCM software that includes encryption, data isolation, single sign-on (SSO), and similar security measures.

SAP Supply Chain

SAP Supply Chain includes multi-factor authentication (MFA) and SSO, along with role-based access to verify users’ identities and ensure they only have access to what they need. Once a month, SAP also releases patch notes that highlight the latest upgrades to their security features and recommendations for any actions users need to take. Automated auditing and fraud detection tools are also available to improve both security and compliance.

Zoho Inventory

Zoho Inventory uses 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to secure data at rest and during transit, all connections to the Zoho servers require Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2/1.3) encryption. Additionally, each company’s data is isolated to keep other organizations from accidentally (or purposefully) accessing data that isn’t theirs. In terms of access controls, Zoho Inventory offers single sign-on and MFA to verify a user’s identity before they get access to the system.

Unleashed

Unleashed employs cloud-based security that replicates customers’ data each day, with backups available in case a server crashes. TLS protocol encrypts traffic during transfer to prevent attackers from intercepting data. Role-based permissions allow users to access only the features they need for their job, while the account lockout feature automatically locks a user’s account after they attempt to log in incorrectly five times. Unleashed also includes two-factor authentication during sign-in. 

SAS Supply Chain

During development, SAS engages both internal and external penetration testers to search for vulnerabilities in its software and then patches them before rolling the product out to the public. Data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, and SSO allows users to easily access the features they need without leaving the system vulnerable. For mobile connections, system administrators will have to whitelist a user’s device, allowing them to safely access the system from their smartphone. 

Standalone cybersecurity tools for supply chains

You might already have the perfect supply chain software in place and just need to make sure it’s secure. If that’s the case, consider integrating it with one or more of these cybersecurity tools.

Also Read: Why Free Antivirus Software Won’t Cut it for Your Business

Other methods of securing your supply chain

Software security is important, but human error is one of the main causes of data breaches. Train your employees on the importance of cybersecurity, and help them recognize phishing and smishing attempts, so they can avoid them. You also need to make sure that you’re applying software updates and patches when they roll out. Patches fix new or newly discovered vulnerabilities, meaning you’re putting your company at risk every day you don’t install them. 

Our Supply Chain Management Product Selection Tool is free to use, and it takes as little as five minutes. Once you’ve filled out the short survey, you’ll get a customized list of supply chain management software recommendations suited to your business needs.

Read Next: Benefits of Integrating ERP with IoT

The post Best Tools for Supply Chain Security appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Here, we’ll explain some of the contributing factors to and consequences of supply chain bottlenecks as well as how your company can optimize its supply chain management. 

Related: What is Supply Chain Management (SCM)?

Acute stressors that exploit existing supply chain weak points

The COVID-19 pandemic and cyber attacks are two major contributing factors to existing and complex supply chain problems in the US. Resulting consumer fears and perception of scarcity lead to stockpiling which only exacerbates supply chain bottlenecks.

COVID-19 pandemic

Broader supply chain disruptions are no doubt connected to the ongoing pandemic. For many companies, existing weak points in the supply chain, such as decentralized data, data duplication, and lack of automation, have become especially apparent during the pandemic. 

The average worldwide cost of shipping a container has more than quadrupled since last year. In addition, the fees for unmoved containers at the dock are going up as well, but due to related rail and trucking bottlenecks, companies are essentially paying exorbitant storage fees for their containers that have nowhere to go. These increased shipping and storage prices cause businesses to choose between going out of business or passing the costs onto the consumer through higher product prices.

Coupled with backend pain points in the supply chain, consumer demand has increased, putting even more pressure on companies to better plan how they get their product out as quickly as possible. With eased restrictions throughout the country and more widespread vaccine availability, consumer spending in the US is rebounding. While companies saw a lull in product demand in early to mid 2020, they’ve been struggling to keep up since demand began ramping up in summer 2020. Consumers are not only buying again, but they’re also overbuying out of anxiety surrounding store supply, thus exacerbating supply chain disruption. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer, for example, were particularly hot items in 2020.

Read also: 5 Ways to Repair Your Supply Chain

Cyber Warfare

Cyber attacks on supply chain networks underscore the importance of security in SCM.

In May 2021 the Colonial Pipeline, a major oil supplier to the US east coast became the target of a ransomware attack. As news of the attack and subsequent pipeline shutdown hit major media outlets, consumers rushed to gas stations which only made the oil supply problem worse. The reduction in supply in conjunction with panic buying of gasoline led to some gas station closures and a jump in the national average price per gallon, especially throughout the affected regions. 

Companies are particularly vulnerable to attacks on their software supply chain for two main reasons. For starters, third-party software products usually require privileged access. In addition, many of these products require frequent communication between the vendor and customer networks, with the vendor’s software acting as an intermediary. Malicious actors can intercept and intervene in channels of communication between vendor and customer.

The takeaway here is twofold. Do not accept a third-party software’s default access settings, as this allows potential entry points for bad actors. Also, implement a cybersecurity supply chain risk management (SCRM) strategy, such as the Software Bill of Materials (SBoM) approach. As part of your strategy, choose a SCM software, such as Infor M3, that takes security seriously and deploys regular security updates.

Read also: Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack Shows Critical Infrastructure Vulnerabilities

Planning gets you far, SCM software gets you further

Companies can and should anticipate cyber threats, but no business owner could have predicted the COVID-10 public health crisis and its far-reaching effects on the supply chain. Nevertheless, companies that invest time, money, and resources into SCM strategy and software weather crises better than those that do not plan ahead. 

Read next: Key Benefits of an Optimized Supply Chain

There are actionable steps your company can and should take to implement, if not improve, its supply chain management by using the right software and/or tools. Start by assessing which SCM tool is right for your company’s needs. A crucial, and perhaps the most labor-intensive, step in supply chain optimization is mapping. Below are a number of factors in the supply chain mapping process that various software and tools can aid with.

Read next: The Best Supply Chain Management Software & Tools 

Supply chain mapping

Start by identifying your top five revenue-generating products. Map out your supply chain for those products, from raw material to end product. The map will give you greater visibility into your company’s supply chain and will help you identify vulnerable spots to take further action on. Mapping is easier said than done and will take a significant amount of time and resources but will ultimately fortify your company against future unpredictable situations. 

For this step, it will be crucial to have all your data in one place. Alloy, for example, not only allows visibility into how SCM works with other vital functions of the company, such as production, but it also shows real-time, end-to-end data from point-of-sale up through the supply chain. Infor VISUAL is a scalable ERP solution that helps identify bottlenecks and boost scheduling efficiency through data visualization of steps in the production process and how they all fit together. 

It takes a village: cross-functional collaboration

Relevant stakeholders from procurement, logistics, and supply chain finance need to be in conversation with one another about identifying vulnerabilities in the supply chain as well as ways to patch them up. SAP SCM, E2Open, or Oracle SCM facilitate buyer-supplier collaboration. 

Make friends with suppliers…and their suppliers

Identify not just one, but a few key suppliers of raw materials at every step of the chain. Rank those suppliers from most reliable and cost-efficient to least, so that you have several back-up plans on hand. Moreover, learn what locations they’re operating in and who their suppliers are. 

Get suppliers onboard with mapping efforts

Mapping the supply chain is not an internal endeavor. Instead, it should include external stakeholders, like your suppliers. When deciding on suppliers to work with, make joint supply-chain planning a part of your contract. Identify methods to address potential disruptions and the estimated time it will take to do so. Supply chain optimization is only as good as the buy-in you get from suppliers. 

Security against uninvited links to the chain

The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack is a telling example of why security in the supply chain is critical to ensuring that your company can adapt to unforeseen challenges. Though a company cannot always predict when and how a cybersecurity attack will occur, there are still plenty of ways it can prepare and try to mitigate such risks. Fortinet offers supply chain security solutions for manufacturing and operations technology-based environments. For supply chain security in the DevOps setting, ActiveState and Tanzu are two software supply chain security solutions that ensure end-to-end protection within the software development lifecycle.

Why SCM software is crucial

You can’t account for unforeseen circumstances, but you can be proactive. Implementing SCM and choosing the right SCM software solution will take considerable time and financial investment. Yet, running a lean yet adaptable company will be beneficial in the long-term. Benefits include lower costs, more efficiency, customer satisfaction, and many more. These benefits far outweigh the costs of being reactive. Check out the TechnologyAdvice Guide to Supply Chain Management Solutions to learn more about what matters in a SCM solution.

The post Protect Your Company Against Panic Buying and its Effects on the Supply Chain appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

But, of course, Macy’s had to close their doors less than 6 weeks later due to COVID-19. As their online presence was the only presence available, their longstanding supply chain strategy, which was already starting to cause major issues within the company, needed immediate attention.

Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette stated in September 2020, “Everything on the digital agenda has been accelerated. We’re optimizing inventory placement to meet customer demand wherever and however they shop in our store.”

What’s so bad about Macy’s supply chain model?

Customers expect a strong omnichannel experience — one that integrates both the online and offline world of the retailer, enabling a frictionless shopping experience.

For retailers, the goal is to take the retailer’s replenishment cycle from days to hours and reduce inventory at stores. This way, retailers expand their use of stores to fulfil online orders and hold less inventory altogether, allowing them to dedicate more room for digital fulfillment.

Omnichannel shopping is the baseline expectation for customers, as companies such as Gap, Target, and many others have upped their omnichannel game.

And Macy’s is, er, behind.

Macy’s way of viewing their supply chain in the past was traditional: Move products from point A to point B and optimize costs at each stop along the way. Each delivery channel has its own transportation plan and technology stack, siloing all distribution and fulfillment centers.

This supply chain method was acceptable 10 years ago, but to stay afloat in the in-store and online retail spaces, Macy’s needed to make a change. Silos created major cost issues, not to mention slow speed and service in today’s two-day-delivery age.

The company’s supply chain model operated two separate warehouse networks, one for stores and the other for direct customer (online) orders. This system made rebalancing inventory nearly impossible, among other issues.

Macy’s supply chain also lacked a central platform for locating inventory at the SKU level across the chain, and the cost of goods were high compared to competitors since each private brand sold at May’s was sourced independently.

Creating a better supply chain

In 2019 Macy’s hired Dennis Mullahy, the first ever Chief Supply Chain Officer, to transform the supply chain into one that supports an omnichannel strategy.

Since then, Macy’s has made leaps and bounds in optimizing their supply flow, with COVID expediting the process.

The company is transitioning to a centralized warehouse model, implementing a flow and fold design, meaning a light initial allocation to stores and flexible replenishments. Multipurpose warehouses hold inventory, which can both replenish stores and fulfill e-commerce orders.

By having a centralized inventory, the retailer is better able to strengthen its margins and fulfill orders quicker and in the ways customers want.

“Our new model will leverage all of our assets much more productively and improve customer satisfaction by increasing speed of delivery as well as generate efficiencies in our operations and inventory utilization.” Dennis Mullahy wrote.

In addition, Macy’s is getting on board with using data and analytics to not only get items to customers faster, but also improve inventory forecasting and allocation and package consolidation.

The company plans to increase drop-shipping to boost margins in e-commerce, where delivery costs have been the largest drain on profits. They’ll also renew their efforts into Macy’s Backstage operations in order to compete with other off-price companies such as Nordstrom Rack and TJMaxx.

Behind the curve

And while these improvements are giving Macy’s the help it needs, they should’ve seen the warning signs sooner. Retailers of equal size have been making moves to change their supply chain for years now, and Macy’s is just catching up.

For example, Kohls has been working to integrate e-commerce and brick and mortar stores since the beginning of 2018. The company worked to change its purchase and inventory management system by starting with the smallest stores and working their way up.

Nordstrom has been working on omnichannel fulfillment for over 3 years, and brought in tech consulting firm Opex Analytics to help.

Walmart unveiled plans this month to install a high-tech automation system across 25 Walmart regional distribution centers through their partnership with Symbotic, a robotics and automation company — something they’ve been working toward since 2017. This system will digitize and modernize Walmart’s current supply chain facilities to enrich customer experience and support evolving demand.

But even though Macy’s may be a few steps behind, true omnichannel is a journey — and a difficult one at that. It requires a lot from the supply chain, especially in terms of speed, complexity, and efficiency. The global retailer is making strides in executing their Polaris plan by focusing more on the integrated fulfillment strategy and alternative fulfillment options and listening to what their customers want. 

The post Creating an Omnichannel Supply Chain: A Macy’s Case Study appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

But the ERP software market tends to look pretty homogenous from the outside, so it’s tough to distinguish SAP vs. Oracle ERP. These systems consolidate and streamline financial accounting records from internal business processes, sales departments, manufacturing, and complex supply chains. They also provide centralized databases that act as a single source of truth for the entire enterprise to reference when making business-critical decisions. This centralized database has also driven the increased use of business intelligence software within enterprise corporations as financial data from across all portions of the company is stored in a single location.

Both SAP and Oracle claim that they have solutions for all sized businesses who are interested in growing. While that may be true, the price point is going to be prohibitive for 3 people working from a garage. The software is worth it for rapidly expanding businesses with lots of moving parts like procurement, supply chain, and multiple locations. SAP vs Oracle is far and away the longest running and most contentious of ERP battles in the Tier I ERP vendor space for large multinational enterprise companies, and so this review will focus primarily on the enterprise versions of the software.

If you’re looking for an ERP for any sized business, there are plenty of options out there besides SAP vs. Oracle. Click on the image below or call us at 877.702.2082 today for a free consultation. Our Technology Advisors are ready to help you find the enterprise resource planning software that’s right for your company’s needs, no matter the size.

What are the Common Features for SAP vs. Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning?

Both of these ERP offerings have a highly financial focus. Many of the common features are accounting and reconciliation-based financial software that includes features to streamline the upkeep of records, consolidation across departments and locations, and integration of sales and procurement from the entire supply chain.

As Tier I ERP vendors, SAP and Oracle are ready to take on the financial and regulatory requirements of global companies. Both softwares provide support for multiple currencies and languages, settings and forms for regulatory compliance, and real-time data management across time zones. These features extend to business intelligence and advanced computing capabilities like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to facilitate faster analysis of diverse financial records and move faster toward increased revenues.

Both SAP and Oracle fight to stay on the cutting edge of technologies that improve how quickly and accurately global corporations do business. And yet they work together to host and support one another’s software on their own databases. This relationship gives companies greater freedom to choose the databases, platforms, and ERP modules that work best for them without sacrificing the lengthy records or capital investments they may have made.

The Differences

SAP S/4 HANA is an program for enterprise multinational businesses that integrate lots of different parts of the enterprise into a single platform. It covers sales, marketing, inventory, warehouse management (with integration), manufacturing, and professional services all in a single interface. The SAP marketing targets the growing omnichannel retail and supply chain industries that combine ecommerce, sales, manufacturing, and logistics from factory to doorstep.

Get Pricing

Get pricing for SAP vs Oracle: Clash of the Tier 1 ERP Titans

×

How can we contact you with pricing info?

Make sure this product is right for your budget. Our experts will be in touch with all the pricing info you need.

By clicking the button above, I confirm that I have read and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Conversely, Oracle’s enterprise ERP focuses more on how financial data moves internally within an enterprise company. Oracle’s offering invites companies to integrate data from across the enterprise and use their systems to manipulate and analyze it within their financial needs. While it contains many of the same modules as SAP (financials, project management, procurement, manufacturing and supply chain), each of these can be purchased in a single platform or separately, giving Oracle a build-your-own feel.

Get Pricing

Get pricing for SAP vs Oracle: Clash of the Tier 1 ERP Titans

×

How can we contact you with pricing info?

Make sure this product is right for your budget. Our experts will be in touch with all the pricing info you need.

By clicking the button above, I confirm that I have read and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Sales

SAP S/4HANA built sales features right into the platform where sales teams can manage accounts, build invoices, streamline procurement processes, and manage orders and contracts from the ERP interface. SAP has dismantled the traditional customer relationship management (CRM) tool and integrated its parts throughout the ERP by including customer records within the sales, procurement, and finance functions. The software assumes that marketing and customer support features like a marketing automation or helpdesk software will be purchased separately. SAP offers a full customer experience suite in its SAP C/4HANA product.

Oracle doesn’t specifically call out or designate sales tools within the ERP Cloud product, which can be confusing for sales-focused companies. However, due to the breadth of financial records the ERP manages, vital customer information is stored and managed within the ERP. Expect to find financial records, quote management, orders, and procurement tools that all can be filtered by customer. For those looking for a more traditional CRM or sales enablement tool, Oracle offers stand-alone customer experience, sales, marketing, service, and social tools that integrate with the Oracle ERP Cloud.

The promise of AI and Big Data

One of the major differences in the SAP vs. Oracle fight is the ways that they are using advanced computing technology to speed business processes across their platforms. Specifically, these companies are integrating AI, machine learning, and automation in parallel but different ways.

SAP’s HANA computing platform has promised serious upgrades to analytics and reporting across the enterprise since it was first introduced in 2008. While offered as a platform as a service (PaaS) product to the general public, the HANA database is now effectively the driver and platform upon which SAPs offerings are built, and supports the data integration and ultimately the innovations that SAP builds into all of its product offerings. What HANA has historically meant for SAP was the promise of automation, machine learning, and predictive analytics, and these tools have only recently begun to gain ground within the company’s ERP offerings.

Oracle is similarly invested in AI and machine learning, although they haven’t branded their underlying database and infrastructure like SAP. AI is embedded in many of the products that Oracle offers, including within Accounts Payable, Supply Chain Finance, and Procurement modules within the ERP offering. Like SAP’s use of the HANA platform to build intelligent data analytics, Oracle’s embedded AI features give companies access to advanced data analytics and processing within the tools they already buy, so they don’t have to make the investment to build those tools from scratch.

Let’s look at how you’ll encounter AI and machine learning within the products offered by SAP vs. Oracle.

Advanced software for financials

SAP has introduced machine learning into its financials product, where past decisions on how to categorize and handle invoices and purchase orders inform how financial statements are processed in the future. This adds automation to the workflow, reducing the manual collaboration to identify and resolve exceptions down to a list of possible recommendations.

Oracle’s integration of AI concentrates on the accounts payable product. The goal of AI integration within accounts payable is to reduce manual processes involved in checking and consolidating invoices across the enterprise. The tool then helps companies make intelligent automatic payments based on past payments.

AI and ML for supply chain

SAP uses Predictive Analytics powered by its Leonardo tool across the manufacturing and supply chain including purchasing, stock in transit, and exception management. The most exciting development in the 1805 release in 2018 is inspection lot analytics, which gives manufacturers greater control over each product lot and their overall materials analytics.

Oracle combines their smart contracts + blockchain feature for supply chain management, tracking buyer performance across many data points. This visibility into buyer data builds trust between the buyers and sellers of materials. It also lets procurement bring together vast data stores from across the supply chain where that department can build simulations to get a full picture of actual seller performance, which leads to better deals.

Big Data, machine learning, and natural language

A significant recent investment in natural language processing has produced the SAP digital assistant, SAP CoPilot, which can help managers and individuals access deep analytics and discover data quickly through natural language questioning rather than digging through reports. The SAP CoPilot tool can also be used to build purchase orders and invoices based on past orders.

Oracle offers analytics and Big Data tools that harness a company’s deep data stores and can use natural language processing for tools like database search. True to Oracle form, these tools are understated and built into the general workings of the ERP. Companies can also access these tools as add-ons and within the analytics platforms.

What can SAP & Oracle ERP offer Medium and Small Business?

You’ll also find that both SAP vs Oracle’s ERP offerings live within a larger universe of business-critical software available from these companies. Each company offers their ERP as a cloud platform or piecemeal, giving companies the flexibility to purchase the modules they need as they grow without paying for a lot of extra unused features.

Medium-sized enterprise offering

• SAP Business By Design
• Oracle ERP Cloud for midsize

Small enterprise offering

• SAP Business One
• Oracle ERP Cloud for small business

SAP offers different sized platforms for medium and small businesses, bundling together sales, financials, and supply chain features that these companies need to grow. Oracle’s ERP platform is scalable to midsize and small businesses who have outgrown a standalone financial or accounting tool. Both SAP and Oracle also offer standalone modules that can be purchased separately via monthly subscriptions for companies who don’t feel ready to take the platform plunge.

This build-your-own system of software works great to make much-needed features available to growing companies, but be careful: most of these modules come at a hundreds of dollars per month per user price tag, so the bill adds up quickly. With such an intense investment, take the time to understand what features you need and which you can live without.

Choosing SAP vs. Oracle

Enterprise and multinational businesses looking to streamline their financials, supply chain, and procurement departments would do well to fully investigate the offerings from SAP S/4HANA and Oracle ERP Cloud, including onboarding, data enablement, and ongoing support. Implementing a new ERP solution brings with it a significant investment in time and capital, and many businesses fail to prepare fully and adequately train their employees on a new ERP, which greatly reduces the overall success of the investment. Do your research, understand your company’s immediate and future feature needs, and make sure that the ERP providers you talk to offer ongoing support after the sale is complete.

Ready to start looking into ERP solutions, or want to know if SAP vs. Oracle is better for your business? Visit our ERP page to receive recommendations based on your company’s feature needs, or call one of our Technology Advisors today at 877.702.2082 for a free, 5-minute consultation.

Top ERP Software Recommendations

The post SAP vs Oracle: Clash of the Tier 1 ERP Titans appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

The pandemic highlighted major issues within the supply chain system: Manual processes created data silos, lack of automation led to lack of transparency in inventory, and multiple sources of data from different systems left a large chasm for error.

FERMA reported that 46 percent of respondents will make changes to their supply chain as a result of the pandemic. If you’re sympathizing with that percentile, are dealing with a broken supply chain that isn’t due to the pandemic, or are looking for ways to generally improve your processes, follow these 5 steps. If you haven’t already invested in a solid supply chain management solution, that should be your first step. Use our Supply Chain Management Product Selection Tool to find a SCM tool that’s tailored to your needs.

1. Unify data

IT professionals have warned us about data silos for years, and for good reason. Data needs to flow through the supply chain quickly and accurately, but companies of all sizes find they have multiple, redundant data items between their systems. Streamlining it all seems near impossible.

To unify the data, automate your intercompany data flows. This starts with collecting and transforming multiple sources of data into a unified, real-time data layer that is synchronized amongst your different systems. Streamlining these sources, which could range from product availability to regulatory compliance, will reduce the liability of redundancy.

Using a data-centric SCM tool like Alloy makes this process much less of a headache. Not only will its architecture integrate and harmonize internal data, but it will also ingest distribution partner data such as SKU identifiers and units of measure. Breaking down the walls between these data sources will unify your data and prevent data silos.

Read also: The Best Supply Chain Management Software & Tools

2. Shorten flow

Shortening your supply chain flow means reducing the process time required for activities. This could include anything from logistics and cash flow to design processes. Many global companies source, produce, and distribute products in the lowest-cost locations around the world, however far away those distances may be.

For example, a dress from Zara starts in Europe where the material is sourced. It then travels to Egypt to spin the fibers into yarn. From Egypt it goes to China to weave the yarn into fabric.

It then goes to Spain to dye the fabric, Morocco to cut and sew the fabric into a dress, back to Spain to be packaged, and then finally lands in the UK to be sold.

Not only does this long supply chain have a negative impact on the environment, it becomes incredibly difficult to manage. While this supply chain model (known as the just-in-time model) seems the most cost-effective route, it leaves companies vulnerable to global shocks. If interruption occurred — be it a devastating pandemic whose longevity is more than originally imagined — manufacturers have no material stockpile available.

Localizing the flow

The lowest cost possible should no longer be the sole variable when considering your supply chain model. The KPMG, a glocal network of firms that provide audit, tax, and advisory services, say that companies are moving away from the global-first view.

Consider obtaining onshore facilities. They will likely have lower transportation costs, and sourcing material locally means you’ll be able to respond quickly to changes in demand, cut lead times, and reduce the risk of business interruption.

Localizing and shortening your supply chain flow will allow your business to create circular systems that provide access to materials and components when needed and not be as reliant on trading partners.

3. Lean out supply chain

A lean supply chain focuses on eliminating non-value-added activities (waste) to improve efficiency and deliver better customer value. Taking steps to make your supply chain leaner can’t be half-hearted; these practices must be implemented both internally and externally and constantly monitored. Consider working toward eliminating these wastes, as outlined by GlobalTranz:

1. System complexity: additional, unnecessary steps and confusing processes
2. Lead time: excessive wait times (the just-in-time SC model contributes to this)
3. Transport: unnecessary movement of product
4. Space: holding places for unnecessary inventory
5. Inventory: excessive inventory leading to cost and clutter
6. Human effort: any activity that does not add value
7. Packaging: containers that transport air or allow damage
8. Energy: wasteful energy in the supply chain such as electricity, gas, utilities, etc.

However, we recommend taking this list with a grain of salt. Running your supply chain too lean may result in fragility between supply and demand. Finding the optimal balance between being lean and adaptable will allow for a better convergence of resiliency and efficiency.

4. Develop safety stocks

Yes, there are costs to increasing safety stock, and there is always the risk of stock spoiling, expiring, or breaking, but the long-term benefit is greater supply chain resiliency.

Traditionally, a company defines its optimum safety stock level by analyzing variations in demand history or by assessing the likelihood of a stockout based on previously set safety stock thresholds. And while this method allows your business to carry the minimal amount of safety stock and keep your capital, it makes your supply chain brittle.

Review your safety stock thresholds. As conditions change, the amount of safety stock you keep should too. To get a good baseline, review your product forecast and calculate a risk-to-cost ratio around the impact on the business if that specific product’s supply was disrupted. From there, determine the amount of safety stock needed to avoid major negative impact.

5. Plan for future disruptions

This one may seem obvious given what 2020 encompassed, but it’s tempting for some companies to consider their broken supply chain as a once-in-a-lifetime issue and neglect to learn or make improvements. Again, it’s no longer enough to be solely focused on the lowest cost.

Businesses must learn to build resilience against future shocks while mitigating the impact of the most recent one.

Planning for future disruptions looks like establishing a supply chain risk management plan. This plan should outline a strategy for as many circumstances as can be predetermined in order to minimize disruption if they were to happen. Common steps in a risk management plan include:

1. Assess and understand all risks that could potentially harm your company.
2. Assess the likelihood of each risk and the potential impact it would have on the supply chain.
3. Build contingencies. By creating and planning for “what if” scenarios, you’ll be able to better anticipate the steps needed to mitigate issues.

Planning for future disruptions means you’ll “wing it” less and take confident steps in fixing the issue more. Because rest assured, future disruptions will come.

Repair your supply chain with a SCM tool

Many of these solutions will take lots of time and resources to implement. Investing in a supply chain management tool will help organize your efforts in repairing or improving your supply chain. Use our SCM Product Selection Tool to get a shortlist of recommendations that fit your unique needs.

The post 5 Ways to Repair Your Supply Chain appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Who uses supply chain management?

Supply chain management techniques are used by companies of all sizes and in every industry. Manufacturing, retail, restaurant, agriculture, hospitality, technology, transportation, utilities, oil and gas, and healthcare all rely on other companies for raw materials, products, parts, or delivery systems. SCM software helps companies make sense of connections to suppliers and purchasers.

A supply chain has many moving parts and often combines the efforts of several different companies. As a result, SCM tools must include many customization features and integrations with other software. These features allow up to date information to pass between the interconnected parts of the supply chain.

What are the five basic components of supply chain management?

There are five main parts of supply chain management, and each of these parts create data that should be centralized in a single SCM software. The five main parts of supply chain management and the types of tools used in each part are:

• Plan: Project management, product development, and data analytics tools are used to research and develop new products or improve existing processes.
• Source: Customer relationship management (CRM), invoicing, contracting, and price compare tools are used to find and contract with the best quality suppliers at the best price.
• Manufacture: Plant management, product development, and account management tools ensure the on-time receipt of raw materials and delivery of completed products.
• Deliver: Logistics and route planning tools optimize the movement of raw materials, parts, supplies, and finished products to all points on the supply chain.
• Return: These features return unwanted, unused, or faulty products and materials to the correct provider for a refund or exchange and collect data that may be useful for regulatory compliance.

Also Read: The Best Supply Chain Management Software & Tools 2021

Why is supply chain management important?

Due to the complicated nature of each of the five components of the supply chain, a SCM software is vital to centralizing and analyzing data points from each part of the process. This is especially true for multinational companies that require strict accounting of data points for regulatory, tax, or auditing purposes.

Supply chain management software also lets companies react quickly to changing political, social, or environmental conditions that would affect the speed of production or delivery of goods. If a hurricane hits a supplier in Mexico, the Chicago manufacturer can source, vet, and arrange deliveries from suppliers in other areas that aren’t affected.

What are the benefits of supply chain management?

Many companies saw the importance of supply chain management in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shipments from China and other countries were shut down or delayed as early as January. Restaurant food supplies were overloaded when restaurants shut down, and simultaneously grocery store shelves were bare. Hospitals and healthcare providers were unable to find masks and personal protective equipment, and industrial manufacturers pivoted to build much-needed ventilators. The flexibility of these industries and their abilities to adapt to changes in their supply chain and markets were due in large part to supply chain management and the software that powers it.

The benefits of SCM software reach beyond reactionary efforts to contain the effects of a pandemic. Companies that implement supply chain management software find that they:

• Reduce costs: Companies spend less on raw materials, parts, labor, and logistics because they can quickly pivot between suppliers, get ahead of changing market conditions, and negotiate for better contracts
• Improved time to market: SCM platforms reduce bottlenecks at every stage of a product’s life cycle by smoothing organizational communication
• Greater flexibility under stress conditions: While we can’t predict every disaster, companies that have recovery plans and backup providers on hand to cover lapses are better able to successfully pivot under stressful conditions
• Improved customer relations: Companies with organizational insight into their full supply chains are in the position to make promises they can keep regarding product delivery, levels of service, and communication about delays
• Data centralization: Tomorrow’s technological advancements rely on the data companies can collect today. Using a centralized SCM system can improve data quality

It’s no secret that consolidating your software into ERP or marketing automation tools can help your team become better organized and reduce costs. But a supply chain management system goes a step further by giving companies detailed insight into how their connections with all of the points of their supply lines are connected. Understanding how an earthquake in Japan will affect the plant in Berlin or the delivery to Canada can help prevent profit loss and customer dissatisfaction.

How to choose supply chain management software

Companies should look for a supply chain management software that’s tailored for their industry and can manage the company’s unique processes. Consider your company’s budget — including the opportunity cost of not implementing the system. Then speak with a trusted partner like TechnologyAdvice who can help you find the right supply chain management software for your needs. Use our Product Selection Tool for SCM software and receive a short list of vendors who meet your company’s feature requirements.

The post What Is Supply Chain Management (SCM)? appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Here’s what you need to know about the benefits of supply chain ERP and what features to look for, plus our top picks for supply chain ERPs your company should consider.

Leading ERP solutions

What is Supply Chain ERP?

To grasp what supply chain ERP is, we first need to understand what enterprise resource planning is. In a nutshell, ERP systems pull data from different sources and consolidate it into a single platform, so users can make smarter business decisions. Most ERP systems are designed to cover all essential business departments, including finance, human resources, operations, manufacturing, sales, marketing, customer relationship management, and supply chains.

You can learn more about general ERPs in our comprehensive ERP guide.

Originally, supply chain ERPs were a product offered within the umbrella of a larger ERP system, such as SAP and Oracle. However, as more and more businesses have realized the benefits of enterprise resource planning, stand-alone supply chain management ERP solutions were launched by companies looking to specifically cater to the logistics and needs of the industry. If you only need a supply chain ERP, instead of other aspects of ERP, these stand-alone products offer a more tailored solution.

No matter your situation, a supply chain ERP can help your businesses increase operational efficiency and therefore profit—provided that you choose the right supply chain ERP, that is.

What are the Benefits of Supply Chain ERPs?

Not convinced that you need enterprise resource planning for your supply chain? Here are some of the benefits you will realize with a properly implemented supply chain ERP.

Inventory management visibility

One of the main benefits of supply chain ERP is global visibility into inventory management, which allows users to see everything in one consolidated ERP system. Having all of this information in one place allows users to make informed business decisions based on comprehensive data.

Vendor performance monitoring

Supply chain ERPs also make it easier to keep tabs on vendor performance and supplier collaboration. Not only are all supply chain partners consolidated into one place with a dedicated ERP, the analytics features allow users to drill deep into vendors’ individual performance to see what’s working and what’s not. A supply chain ERP can help identify when it’s time to move on from a certain supplier who’s no longer meeting the company’s needs.

Planning and procurement

Supply chain ERPs also help to streamline material requirements planning and procurement phases, whether you’re buying raw materials and processing them yourself or just acquiring the finished product from other manufacturers. By consolidating all this information into one ERP system, users can identify redundancies and roadblocks and work to eliminate them in order to improve supply chain efficiency (and profits).

Analytics, reporting, and forecasting

A good supply chain ERP will offer real-time analytics and reporting into the current state of your business, so you know exactly how much product you have in the pipeline. Alongside that, it should also offer a forecasting function that helps to predict future market fluctuations and decide how your business should prepare for them.

Reduced disruptions

One of the constant challenges in supply chain operations is the ongoing disruptions caused by major weather events, medical emergencies, political shifts, transportation issues, and other factors. By offering better visibility into every step of the supply chain and helping to forecast changes in supply and demand, supply chain ERPs can help reduce supply chain disruptions and promote maximum output.

Decreased costs and increased revenue

When combined together, all of these factors help your business reduce costs in the supply chain, whether that is directly lowering labor and transportation costs or helping to reduce bottlenecks and redundancies—all of which increases the company’s profit margin. Supply chain ERPs can also make a positive contribution directly to the bottom line by maximizing output, improving accounting, and more.

What are Key Features of a Supply Chain ERP Solution?

When looking for an ERP platform for your supply chain activities, there are multiple features you should be looking for. Some of the most important are:

Inventory management

Inventory management is at the core of supply chain management, which means that it should also be one of the core functions of any supply chain ERP. Any good supply chain ERP should afford total supply chain visibility at every step of the way, from demand planning to purchasing raw materials to producing the product itself to shipping it to its final destination. While stand-alone inventory management solutions are available, having it integrated into a full service supply chain ERP will help to realize even more benefits.

Warehouse management

Warehouse management is another aspect of supply chain management that is crucial in any specialized ERP. The warehouse management function should let users quickly identify goods or materials at any location of a warehouse or distribution center, whether that is stock picking, shelving, shipping, or receiving. Similar to inventory management, there are stand-alone warehouse management solutions, but you’ll benefit more from it if it comes as part of a complete supply chain ERP package.

Forecasting and analytics

Forecasting is absolutely essential for supply chain management systems. Both under- and overestimating customer demand will have a huge impact on a business’s ability to turn a profit. In order to forecast as accurately as possible, the ERP solution needs to have robust analytics that not only offers insight into the current state of your supply chain but also generates predictions for the future, which can be used to make informed business decisions about your suppliers.

Data security

As with all ERP products, a supply chain ERP should protect your data and business information from both accidental breaches and deliberate attacks. Keeping your supply chain information proprietary is key to maintaining a competitive edge, which is why any ERP solutions that you use for your supply chain needs should offer plenty of data security features, such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, and more.

Automation

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly changing the ERP world with their promises of taking over mundane tasks, thereby freeing up employees to spend their time and effort on more meaningful business processes. Supply chain ERPs with effective automation can decrease the time spent on manual tasks and reduce the changes for human error as well, further improving efficiency.

Cloud-based platforms

While most ERPs, including supply chain ones, were originally designed as on-premises solutions, more and more businesses are looking for cloud-based options that allow them to use the software while on the go. If your employees need to be able to access your supply chain ERP from different devices, then look for an ERP with a cloud-based platform. Some ERPs even offer both on-premises and cloud-based solutions, giving you the best of both worlds.

Integrations

Every single business’s need for ERP integrations is unique, so it’s important to consider both your current and future software uses when shopping for a supply chain ERP. Carefully vet each of your top contenders—even if it’s a full-stack provider like Oracle or SAP—to make sure that either their in-house software solutions will meet your need and/or that they offer integrations for your most essential programs like warehouse management and carrier management.

Other Factors to Consider When Choosing a Supply Chain ERP

In addition to the features we outlined below, there are several other factors you need to consider when choosing a supply chain ERP. One of those is the size of your business, not just today but how it might scale in the future as well. You want to choose a supply chain ERP that can grow with your company, so you don’t have to repeat the whole process all over again and transfer to yet another supply chain ERP a few years down the line.

With this in mind, you might be tempted to go for the most full-featured, advanced supply ERP that’s currently available. However, if you’re a small business, these full-scale ERP solutions that were designed for global businesses might actually be too complicated for your needs (not to mention too big for your budget).

More complex does not necessarily equal better when it comes to choosing a supply chain ERP; you want to find a balance between meeting your current needs and being able to scale with your business in the immediate future.

Related to this issue is whether or not you want a stand-alone supply chain ERP, or if you want supply chain products within a larger full-stack ERP ecosystem like Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, and so on. Stand-alone supply chain ERPs are usually more tailored to the specific needs of supply chain logistics, but it often takes more work to integrate with other software products (and some integrations might not be available at all).

On the other hand, full-stack ERP systems are more complicated and expensive to set up, but once you get them going, you have all your ERP functions under one single platform that connects seamlessly, at least in theory.

However, these more general ERP solutions may not offer all the specific supply chain features you need, and they may include a bunch of other functions that aren’t relevant to your business. Before committing to a full-stack ERP solution, make sure you actually need all the features you will be paying for.

Best ERPs for Supply Chains

Not sure where to start your search for a supply chain ERP? Here are some of the best ERPs for supply chains.

SAP Supply Chain

SAP offers multiple SCM software products that cover supply chain planning, supply chain logistics, manufacturing, product life cycle management, and more. You can combine various SAP solutions to create a mix that works for your business unique needs. These products also integrate seamlessly with the rest of the SAP stack, which is a great benefit if you already use SAP products for other ERP needs, not just its supply chain features.

Blue Yonder

Blue Yonder touts itself as the world’s leader in supply chain management digital transformations. Their solutions cover every aspect of supply chain management, including demand planning, labor management, life cycle pricing, and beyond. Blue Yonder’s Luminate platform leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide end-to-end optimization for your entire supply chain, allowing you to manage each aspect in a single place. Since it was designed specifically for supply chains, BLUE Yonder doesn’t offer a full stack like Oracle or SAP does, but it is especially tailored to the needs of supply chain management.

E2open

Many of the world’s largest companies trust E2open to help them make, move, and sell products and services around the world. E2open offers a wide range of intelligent application software suites, with one of its most popular being supply management. Whether you need help with forecasting, buy-sell management, the product life cycle, and more, E2open has got you covered with its supply chain management applications.

Manhattan Associates Supply Chain

With more than 30 years in the business, not to mention a partnership with IBM itself, Manhattan Associates has a long history of satisfied customers. Manhattan Associates offers multiple supply chain management software solutions, including carrier management, distribution overview, extended enterprise, and transportation management. Note that they separate out warehouse management, transportation management, point of sale management, and other functions, allowing you to pick and choose products as needed.

Getting Executives on Board for Supply Chain ERPs

Getting company stakeholders, especially the C-suite, on board with the idea of a supply chain ERP is absolutely essential for you to become an SCM system success story. The CEO will want to take a look at the big picture, so be prepared to explain how a supply chain ERP can help you decrease costs, improve profits, set you apart from competitors, and improve customer satisfaction. Keep in mind that if you are advocating for a full-stack ERP solution that includes supply chain as one of many functions, you’ll need to make the case for the entire ERP system, not just the supply aspect.

Your CIO or CTO will want to know about the specifics of deploying and integrating the software product. Be prepared to discuss your chosen ERP’s security features as well as the pros and cons of either an on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid solution. You should also be ready to discuss how the supply chain management ERP will either replace your existing solutions or integrate with your current software products.

Finally, your CFO will want to talk about the money, so come prepared with facts and figures about not just the costs of the supply chain ERP itself but how much money you forecast it will save you in the long run. Be realistic with your figures and be ready to explain how you got the estimates that you did.

There’s a lot of benefits in using an ERP, and there are even more benefits in using an industry-specific supply chain ERP or a TMS. If you want more options or are just starting your search, use our ERP Software Product Selection Tool. You’ll get a shortlist of recommendations that meet your feature, price, and company size needs.

The post The Best ERP for Supply Chain Logistics appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.