Next week we are off to Scottsdale to attend the Kinaxis annual customer conference which is termed Kinexions.  Readers will note that Kinaxis has been one of our original Supply Chain Matters sponsors, and we are thrilled to have them as a partner.  More importantly, the Kinexions event brings together an impressive collection of multi-industry customers that are practicing supply chain response management across their planning and customer fulfillment business processes.  This year also features some new and interesting speakers and events.

In our summary impressions from last year’s conference we observed the acknowledgement by those in high tech, pharmaceutical and other industry supply chains that events are moving at an incredible rapid rate of external and internal business change and the need for informed decision-making and business scenario analysis has become ever more apparant.  Likewise in supporting ongoing S&OP business processes.  We expect to hear more in these dimensions and possibly new product directions for Kinaxis in the coming months.

Stay tuned to our daily conference commentaries which will be featured on both Supply Chain Matters and the Supply Chain Expert Community.

Bob Ferrari

This has not been a good week for Research In Motion in terms of customer perceptions.  An IT hardware failure at one of the company’s three major data centers located just outside London, cascaded to a major service disruption for European customers, and ultimately impacted other regions including the U.S.  It has taken RIM three days to restore normal messaging services and financial media and the blogosphere are featuring all forms of negative commentary regarding customer perceptions.  Twitter alone has featured a self-feeding frenzy of customer negativity.

While there are valid arguments that RIM remained silent too long, give the executive team some credit for exercising a proactive traditional and social media reachout strategy.  RIM founder and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis participated in a YouTube and corporate video acknowledging that the company failed its customers and would work diligently to restore the trust built over the last 12 years.  We believe that the video expressed sincerity. Similarly, Stephen Bates, Managing Director of the UK was also featured in European and U.S. news media videos explaining the outage, steps being taken, and acknowledging RIM’s responsibility to customers.

Readers should think back to previous incidents of corporate crisis.  When a Rolls Royce engine failed on an Airbus A380 superliner with the potential for a catastrophic accident, Rolls management remained silent in the days that followed, allowing air travelers to form their own perceptions.  When Johnson & Johnson initiated numerous product recalls because of suspected quality breakdowns, there was little senior management acknowledgement and sense of urgency communicated from the top until the U.S. Congress had to subpoena its CEO. Only then, months from the original incident, was a public acknowledgement and customer apology expressed.

Social media can play a very important role in both internal and external communication and will become new means for systems of engagement. Many firms have come to understand this reality while others defer to fear of lawsuits.  We have advocated that firms consider social media in times of major supply chain disruption, when there is a critical need to both broadly communicate and a requirement for time and people sensitive connections to all those who can help resolve the problem.

We should give some credit to RIM senior management for proactive outreach.

Bob Ferrari