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SupplyChainBrain

Balancing the Supplier Relationship

Analyst Insight: In recent years, due to the changing and challenging global economy, there has been much talk about the need to balance natural competitive pressures with collaborative engagement across the supply base. The trick, of course, is how to do both things - competition and collaboration - effectively. I believe it starts with trust. - Kate Vitasek, faculty, University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education, and Founder, Supply Chain Visions

March 18, 2013

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Rethinking Supplier Relationship Management

Analyst Insight: The increasingly hyper-competitive supply chain landscape requires a reassessment of "old" supplier relationships and a paradigm shift. Executives are scrutinizing old business practices, especially those related to supplier management. Manufacturers are reassessing outsourcing engagements and bringing many of them back in-house (termed "backsourcing" or "reshoring") given that many of the original reasons for outsourcing have changed. Increased supplier segmentation will force a reassessment of supplier governance, with leading companies having segmented supplier management strategies. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

March 18, 2013

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Want to Achieve Compliance? Make it Easy and Worthwhile for the End User

Analyst Insight: Spend under management and compliance rates are considered key metrics to measure the success of almost any spend management program. Companies that try to achieve those by fiat alone will invariably fall short of their goals. Purchasing organizations are much more likely to succeed if they provide tools and systems that actually make the lives of their business users (the ones who make the purchase decisions) easier, rather than simply piling on more administrative work for the end user. - Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

March 15, 2013

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The Missing Link Between the Field and Parts Management

Analyst Insight: The top reason field service agents are not able to resolve a customer issue the first time when on site is due to not having the right part to solve the problem. Thus in order to ensure that customers are happy, and beyond, top-performing service organizations in Aberdeen's recent Convergence of People and Parts research have focused on strategies to integrate field service with parts management to meet the needs of the customer and ensure profitability. - Aly Pinder, Senior Research Associate, Aberdeen Group

March 15, 2013

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Professional Services Automation and Project Management Software Are Quite Different

Analyst Insight: The software market for services has changed and is rapidly evolving. Overlap of features and functions often confuse organizations and consequently, they end up selecting the wrong type of software that they require. Organizations must be aware that the market for professional services is differentiated by professional services automation and project management and is further separated by full ERP suites or point solutions. -- Dylan Persaud, Managing Director, Eval-Source

March 15, 2013

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Business Strategy Alignment

Supply Chain Risk Management: The New Discipline of Supply Chain Excellence

Analyst Insight: After traveling around the globe for the last three years, talking about supply chain risk management, facilitating workshops, educating companies and developing a graduate level class covering the subject, I'm thoroughly convinced this new concept is becoming the new discipline of supply chain excellence. So much so that APICS, the premier society for Operations Management professionals, has developed a first-of-its-kind certificate in supply chain risk management to help identify, assess, mitigate and manage risk. - Gregory L. Schlegel, Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University, Graduate Program

March 14, 2013

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Business Strategy Alignment

Traceability and Serialization Play a Useful Role in Supply Chain Security

Analyst Insight: Highly regulated industries"”such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace, food, and chemicals"”typically implement traceability and serialization capabilities to meet regulatory requirements, quality, and recall purposes. These same capabilities can be useful in reducing theft within the supply chain. But it takes more than just technology. It requires a community that can share that information effectively and collaborate with law enforcement at national, state and local levels. -- Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

March 14, 2013

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Segmenting Supply Chains for High-Impact Analysis

Analyst Insight: Innovative and strategic supply chain segmentation is a key strategy for effective supply chain analysis, enabling greater responsiveness and the ability to focus resources. Competition requires a better identification of key supply chain segments, considering that 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of items. An additional factor adding complexity is that increasingly manufacturers are adding services as part of their offerings - termed "servitization." Effective segmentation is the key to managing these complexities. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

March 14, 2013

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Education & Professional Development

Turning a Good Job Into a Great Career

How do you go from good to great when pursuing a career in supply-chain management? James Masotti, continuous replenishment analyst with Campbell Soup, has some answers.

March 13, 2013

Big Data Is Becoming a Big Deal for Agile S&OP

Analyst Insight: Based on a survey of 160 supply chain leaders in a recent webinar conducted by Steelwedge, we found that companies captured a whopping 70 percent more data (product, supply, demand and finance) to manage their organizations in 2012. Yet, 77 percent of these businesses are not actually leveraging this data in their S&OP processes, thereby leaving "blind spots" in their decision making processes around critical supply/demand trade-offs. - Nari Viswanathan, Vice President of Product Management, Steelwedge

March 13, 2013

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