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A Benefit of Supply Chain Network Design and Analysis to Consider
Jill Hays, Senior Supply Chain Consultant : 28 July 2010 / 10:25 AM : 0 
The complexity of a network design and optimization study significantly increases when components such as multinational business units and third-party logistics/services are added. But then, so do the opportunities for increasing operational efficiencies and gaining a more in-depth knowledge and understanding of the respective supply chain.
One often overlooked, often intangible benefit of completing a Supply Chain Network Analysis Project is the key learning's. The data collection and project development process are great opportunities for organizations to collaborate and learn.
Take for example, a project where a major corporation’s existing supply chain network evolved over the last several decades, with the last major change made in the 1990's. It is in short, a legacy network with all the commonly associated benefits and pitfalls. The catalyst for the study is the sudden closure of one the distribution facilities, due to catastrophic weather. Several options for a future supply chain infrastructure could be considered. During the study, several sub-projects, including a truckload utilization study were undertaken based on key learnings and findings exposed during the data collection and analysis stage of the study.
The data collection and analysis portion of any major supply chain optimization project is ...
Posted in Supply Chain on 28 July 2010
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Tagged: Business Impact Analysis Business Modeling Business Value CPG Retail Supply Chain
Getting Started with Collaboration
Chris Couture, Principal Consultant : 22 July 2010 / 11:18 AM : 0
Welcome to Web 2.0. Just when you’ve seen the final “click here” hyperlink cleaned off the department’s web site, your boss rushes in, going on about great new things he read on a blog. His excitement peaks as your adrenalin level spikes – you’ve just heard “…collaboration…”, plus “…new software…” and “…you!”
Relax! Whether you’re aware or not, you collaborate every day. Adding technology to the mix, be it a new ERP collaboration suite or Google Docs – can make collaboration much more effective. As with many new initiatives, the chosen approach truly makes the difference between failure and success. Pursuits of simple, quick successes give you and your team good experience and set the course for continued collaborative effectiveness.
Here’s one way to get started.
First, review the activities you do that require involvement of others. Which ones require you to pass documents, communications, pertinent information back and forth with a handful of colleagues? Which ones require that you make decisions collectively? Which lead you to a specific end or met goal?
Make a list of those activities. Then, for those listed, consider the people involved. Which do you work best with? Who do you find to be easiest to communicate with, least likely to have a sidebar agenda, most likely to focus on the goal rather than the per...
Posted in Higher Education on 22 July 2010
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Tagged: ERP IT Strategy Collaboration Web 2.0 Enterprise 2.0
Scripted Demonstrations in a WMS Selection: The Moment of Clarity
Cal Petty, Supply Chain Solutions Director – WMS/TMS : 14 July 2010 / 7:12 AM : 0
Your company has performed all the necessary due diligence and determined there is sufficient payback to proceed with acquiring a warehouse management system (WMS). Now what? How do you select the best product for your needs?
For some this is the beginning of a lengthy journey involving internet research, possible trade show attendance, purchasing analyst reports, contacting vendors, and on and on and on. When I talk with companies about their selection process, inevitably the process leads to a few software vendors coming in to do product presentations. Might I be so bold as to suggest we abolish all standard product presentations in the WMS market? My associates in the software sales space will surely protest. However, I believe it will not only save wasted customer time but will allow them to spend less time in airports, planes, trains, transfer buses, cabs, etc. Even better the time could be spent preparing for more scripted demonstrations … the focus of this blog.
As a side note, I discourage this selection “journey” as there are qualified consultants who live in the WMS marketplace every day and can help you quickly develop a quality list of possibilities that fit your company. I estimate that quality selection assistance averages only about 5% of total WMS implementation project cost.
Nuances of each WMS product are...
Posted in Supply Chain on 14 July 2010
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Tagged: Supply Chain WMS
CRM vs Social CRM – What is the difference?
Thomas Wieberneit, National Manager CRM Practice : 09 July 2010 / 12:09 PM : 0
Just looking at the terms, Customer Relationship Management and Social Customer Relationship Management are sharing the same roots; Social CRM is either a limitation to or an enhancement of (traditional) CRM – or is it something entirely different?
Let me take a brief view at what CRM and Social CRM are and are not and then come to a conclusion.
CRM – Customer Relationship Management – is a business strategy. If you do research on the web you will find many definitions with their own tweaks. What most of them have in common is that they all say that the strategy is about the customer and about how to engage a customer so that the company applying the strategy
As such, a CRM strategy covers all relevant actions to market the right products to customers, sell the products and potentially provide service afterwards.
CRM by no means is a technology, although sometimes this is still in the minds of people. A CRM application/system merely enables and supports the business in pursuing its CRM strategy. The system does this by providing the necessary tools to perform the necessary tasks and by provi...
Posted in CRM on 09 July 2010
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Tagged: CRM Multi-Channel Retail Social Networking
Turning Disorganized Data into Actionable Information
Frank Rinaldi, Senior Business Intelligence Leader : 30 June 2010 / 9:25 AM : 0
Welcome to my SAP BusinessObjects blog. I will be presenting a series of real-life case studies where CIBER has used BusinessObjects software to solve clients’ data challenges.
Case 1 – Turning Disorganized Data into Actionable Information
Problem: Our public sector client was collecting volumes of information in their county social services department, but there was no system or tools in place that would allow management to easily aggregate and analyze information needed to track their department’s performance.
Proposed solution: CIBER proposed to build a centralized data warehouse which pulled metrics from across the counties IT systems into one place. BusinessObjects was proposed as the tool for building a semantic and visualization layer. The end product to the business user was a series of web-based dashboards with drilldown capability, so that not only could managers get an overall view of how well they were serving the public’s needs, but could easily drill down into the detailed information in order to investigate any trends or outliers in the summarized data.
Detailed Description of Solution:
Posted in SAP on 30 June 2010
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Tagged: Business Intelligence DW / BI Architecture Information Management
Mergers & Acquisitions: Impact on Supply Chain Management
Doug Zopfi, Principal Consultant, Supply Chain Services : 30 June 2010 / 9:11 AM : 0
In today’s highly competitive, global economy corporate mergers and acquisitions have become commonplace. Although the pace of M&A activity has slowed during the current economic downturn, companies with sufficient cash reserves or secure financing will still take advantage of opportunistic acquisitions at bargain prices. Business drivers for these actions will vary from company to company, but some of the most common drivers include:
Regardless of the business driver(s) that have triggered the merger or acquisition there are at least three major issues that need to be carefully designed, planned and executed in order to maximize the benefits of the respective action:
Posted in Supply Chain on 30 June 2010
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Tagged: Business Value Change Management Consolidation IT Strategy IT to Business Alignment Organizational Change Management Supply Chain
Was your WMS Implementation Successful? 5 Key Indicators
Alex Parfenov, Principle Consultant : 16 June 2010 / 9:15 AM : 0
Today, many companies have acknowledged the necessity of state-of-the-art warehousing automation and inventory control by investing in warehouse management systems. Some companies invested in an off-the-self, standalone WMS; others in a WM module of an ERP package; and finally some chose to develop a system in-house. While some could argue the merits of one approach versus another, they all can lead to success if tackled properly.
Unfortunately, the market is full of examples of poor or incomplete implementations where the full potential of a WMS is not realized. Often, the small subtleties of the customer’s business that were poorly understood by the implementation team escalate into significant obstacles in order to operate the system and the warehouse. In other cases, latent bugs remain after the implementation team is disbanded. This can require frequent IT involvement, or even affect system and data integrity.
Listed below are several signs that your WMS is not firing on all cylinders and indicate your system can benefit from a professional tuneup.
Posted in Supply Chain on 16 June 2010
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Tagged: Supply Chain WMS
Some Useful Views of Metadata
Tom Finneran, Principal Consultant : 14 June 2010 / 10:40 AM : 0
Most IT practitioners recognize the importance of metadata but not all can describe it’s value. Gartner has stated these benefits of metadata management:
CIBER recognizes four views of metadata:
- Business View – What Business people need to know.
- Solution Analysis, Design, and Development View – What IT people need to gather and know
- Operational Inventory View – What does what, where, and when on what platform
- Operational Transport View – What is needed to move data to the right place at the right time
The metadata models discussed herein may be considered simplifications. There may be entities and relationships that may be added to the ...
Posted in Enterprise Integration & IT Strategy on 14 June 2010
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Tagged: Business Intelligence
Let’s take the next step and take our company to Mobile…But how?
Siddhi Pathak, Project Manager : 08 June 2010 / 9:17 AM : 0
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Ok..so we all already know how rapidly the Mobile Market has been growing and a lot of companies are jumping to the next level by taking their products/services/information over to Mobile. Look at the first blog here for appealing reasons to be on Mobile Web. Mobility is the mantra -> the speed at which new mobile websites are launching is very similar to the dot com boom.
Are you still stuck with that old traditional desktop site and do you still believe that it’s going to be enough for your business to sustain in the market with an ever-advancing technologically savvy customer base? If you answered “Yes” to that question...well maybe visiting a Mobile Web Blog isn’t a good idea after all. If you are ready for to revolutionize and jumpstart with the flow or even be ahead of your competition then here are a few tips for you.
The first big question on your mind is probably what do I put on the Mobile Website? And the answer is going to be dependent upon your or your company’s needs. If you do not have a product or service that’s mobile ready yet, you should at least have a Mobile Website that presents your company’s information and demonstrates your mobile presence; in the interim plan your mobile strategy. Some of the pointers below may hel...
Posted in Project Management on 08 June 2010
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Tagged: Application Architecture Mobility Twitter
Benefits of a Network Optimization and Design Study
Jill Hays, Senior Supply Chain Consultant : 02 June 2010 / 11:56 AM : 0
A network optimization and design study is essentially the modeling of multiple “what if” scenarios, enabling a greater understanding of the current network resiliency and resource utilization, as well as understanding the potential for improvement. With the increasing pressure to lower supply chain operating costs, while simultaneously increasing customer service levels—coupled with the increasing complexities of today’s dynamic supply chains—many organizations are turning to network optimization as a key strategy to achieve these objectives and create a robust supply chain of the future.
Network Optimization and Design can help a company cut costs, balance customer service requirements and improve productivity by understanding:
Posted in Supply Chain on 02 June 2010
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Tagged: Supply Chain
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