Dot-Com Failure Puts Spotlight on Supply Chain Solutions

One of the most enduring lessons of the rise and fall of the dot.coms was their failure to recognise the importance of sound supply chain management.  The ability to deliver on time is perhaps the only differentiator between companies in an arena where the competitor is only a mouse click away.

 

As a result, companies who want to become e-businesses have turned their attention to supply chain management (SCM). The new economy is here to stay and the winners are not the dot.com start-ups but the traditional companies who harness collaborative management practices and supply chain management to maximise customer service, revenues and overall profitability.

The value proposition from supply chain management is compelling for most companies. In fact IDC predicts the market for SCM software in Asia-Pacific (excl. Japan) will grow from US$222m in
2000 to US$557m by 2004.

The future of business collaborative commerce collaboration (the cooperation of all parties involved in a supply chain). To be a player, Australian companies need to ensure they have an e-collaboration solution or platform in place that will centralise their data, support their business processes and enable them to communicate easily with supply chain partners via the web and trading exchanges. Australia with its large distances between markets needs to embrace this change so that they can synchronise material flows with actual demand and maximises supply chain performance and profitability.

Supply chains will becomes more complex and dynamic. The world is moving from traditional linear chains to more complex networks that respond rapidly to demand. In the future we will see supply chain networks competing against supply chain networks and not just businesses against businesses. The Australian manufacturing sector with its understand of logistics issues and openness to employing new technology has a major opportunity.

E-collaboration solutions such as Movex from Lawson deliver on the concept of The advantage of a fully integrated e-collaboration solution is that it avoids all the complexity involved in interfacing systems when a company decides to implement supply chain management. It reduces implementation time, the overall cost of ownership and thus the risk.

These solutions incorporate the enabling technology to allow companies to share information and to optimise planning across the extended supply chain. In some quarters the uptake of collaborative ways of doing business are slow. However, we have seen many large organisations that are pushing down collaborative requirements and increased responsibilities onto their suppliers. Therefore, a wide range of companies will soon need to prepare their IT systems for this reality.

Another driver for e-collaboration applications is the need to better manage customer relationships. Indeed supply chain management is being increasingly recognised as a crucial part of customer relationship management. To remain competitive in their market place companies must deliver at the right time, the right product, in the right quantity and at the right price. If they do not, they risk losing the customer. The continual search for new customers is expensive, thereby driving the need to keep existing customers and in CRM solutions.

E-collaboration solutions offer an integrated approach to CRM that allow the management of the entire company's operations and the relationships they hold with their customers, partners and suppliers. When combined with other elements such as SCM, ERP, Business performance measurement and partner relationship management you have a e-business that is ready for the future.

By Andrew W. Dalziel, Manager of Lawson's Supply Chain Planning Centre, based in Lawson's Global Operations centre in the UK

BACKGROUND
Lawson's e-collaboration solution Movex contains customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain planning & execution (SCPE), partner relationship management (PRM), business performance management (BPM) and e-business solutions.
Movex Supply Chain Planning & Execution contains:

•        Demand Planner
•        Supply Chain Planner
•        Multi-site Planner
•        Advanced Production Planner
•        Global CTP
•        Warehouse Management
•        Transportation Management

As a result, companies who want to become e-businesses have turned their attention to supply chain management (SCM). The new economy is here to stay and the winners are not the dot.com start-ups but the traditional companies who harness collaborative management practices and supply chain management to maximise customer service, revenues and overall profitability.

The value proposition from supply chain management is compelling for most companies. In fact IDC predicts the market for SCM software in Asia-Pacific (excl. Japan) will grow from US$222m in
2000 to US$557m by 2004.

The future of business collaborative commerce collaboration (the cooperation of all parties involved in a supply chain). To be a player, Australian companies need to ensure they have an e-collaboration solution or platform in place that will centralise their data, support their business processes and enable them to communicate easily with supply chain partners via the web and trading exchanges. Australia with its large distances between markets needs to embrace this change so that they can synchronise material flows with actual demand and maximises supply chain performance and profitability.

Supply chains will becomes more complex and dynamic. The world is moving from traditional linear chains to more complex networks that respond rapidly to demand. In the future we will see supply chain networks competing against supply chain networks and not just businesses against businesses. The Australian manufacturing sector with its understand of logistics issues and openness to employing new technology has a major opportunity.

E-collaboration solutions such as Movex from Lawson deliver on the concept of The advantage of a fully integrated e-collaboration solution is that it avoids all the complexity involved in interfacing systems when a company decides to implement supply chain management. It reduces implementation time, the overall cost of ownership and thus the risk.

These solutions incorporate the enabling technology to allow companies to share information and to optimise planning across the extended supply chain. In some quarters the uptake of collaborative ways of doing business are slow. However, we have seen many large organisations that are pushing down collaborative requirements and increased responsibilities onto their suppliers. Therefore, a wide range of companies will soon need to prepare their IT systems for this reality.

Another driver for e-collaboration applications is the need to better manage customer relationships. Indeed supply chain management is being increasingly recognised as a crucial part of customer relationship management. To remain competitive in their market place companies must deliver at the right time, the right product, in the right quantity and at the right price. If they do not, they risk losing the customer. The continual search for new customers is expensive, thereby driving the need to keep existing customers and in CRM solutions.

E-collaboration solutions offer an integrated approach to CRM that allow the management of the entire company's operations and the relationships they hold with their customers, partners and suppliers. When combined with other elements such as SCM, ERP, Business performance measurement and partner relationship management you have a e-business that is ready for the future.

By Andrew W. Dalziel, Manager of Lawson's Supply Chain Planning Centre, based in Lawson's Global Operations centre in the UK

BACKGROUND
Lawson's e-collaboration solution Movex contains customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain planning & execution (SCPE), partner relationship management (PRM), business performance management (BPM) and e-business solutions.
Movex Supply Chain Planning & Execution contains:

•        Demand Planner
•        Supply Chain Planner
•        Multi-site Planner
•        Advanced Production Planner
•        Global CTP
•        Warehouse Management
•        Transportation Management

For further information on Lawson in New Zealand visit the Lawson exhibit in the ERP pavilion of iStart.

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