Today has been a non-stop series of activities for this blogger as I took in the Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2010 Conference here in Dallas. One of the highlights of my day was the opportunity to meet and speak with four key executives at Infosys.

They included:

Gopi Krishnan Delivery Manager and Lead for the SCM Practice.  Readers may note that Gopi recently contributed a Supply Chain Matters guest posting regarding procurement strategies.

Atul Pandey- Industry Head- enterprise application Integration and Services

Jai Sankar- Vice President, Enterprise Solutions

In our discussions, we had the opportunity to touch upon a number of strategic topics involving global supply chains, more than I can cover in depth in one short posting.  I plan to do some post-conference postings to further explore these topics.

Key highlights of discussion included the following:

The Infosys partnership with Sterling Commerce has been a long one, dating back to the first Yantra related projects in 1995. Since that time, both companies have built what can be best described as a symbiotic relationship in extended supply chain integration and collaboration areas. Today, Infosys stands as an extension of Sterling professional services in size and scale of EDI, order management and other supply chain collaborative transformational projects.  Both parties have high praise for each other, and by my observation, truly act as extensions of capabilities to serve customer needs. Throughout this past recession, customer projects continued to go live as firms had to adjust to rapidly changing business priorities and make improvements in their business fulfillment capabilities.  Gopi provided a perspective of this year’s conference vs. last year, that within a very short period of joint development time, Sterling is now introducing more customer flexibility in deployment options and more applications related to the mobile user.

Our discussions also explored the fundamental changes underway in many retail and manufacturing oriented supply chains.  There is little doubt that with global expansion, supply chains have become far more complex.  Static roadmaps of business process needs no longer apply, since the agility needed to support cross-industry global business processes far outweighs a rigid roadmap. Industries such as high tech find themselves evolving to new supply chain fulfillment models.  Companies such as Cisco, Intel and others may well be characterized as appearing more a fashion merchandizing supply chain fulfillment model as more and more products are driven by highly sophisticated consumer tastes.  No doubt we can all look to Apple as setting the benchmarks in these capabilities with their rapid introduction and ramp-up of new products that capture the fascination of consumers and are fulfilled at multiple points in a channel.

Finally, we discussed the significance of Sterling’s announcement to offer cloud computing options in the order management and supply chain collaboration areas, an area that so many companies deem to be mission critical.  The consensus of the discussion was that cloud computing options can now be viewed as an extension of business process outsourcing (BPO).  Companies had no choice but to aggressively attack costs during the period of severe global recession. With the shift toward post recession recovery, many companies are now focusing on growing top line revenues, enhancing the customer experience or growing new service lines.  But uncertainty has not eased the continuing needs to reduce more cost across the supply chain.  For many companies, the implication is the need to now explore “thinking outside the box” in terms of overall supply chain capabilities.  What processes and fulfillment capabilities are core to differentiation in the market?  What are not? Cloud computing can provide added options for deployment, reduction in assets, or more rapid deployment.  This is a topic that merits further postings and commentary. Look for it…soon.

Bob Ferrari

On April 12-16, Sterling Commerce will be hosting its annual Customer Connection 2010 Conference in Dallas. Sterling Commerce provides technology focused on business collaboration networks with a particular emphasis on supporting order management and fulfillment processes. The conference has an interesting lineup of keynote speakers including representation from Best Buy, Hostess Brands Inc. and other companies.

Infosys supply chain management team, who is one of other sponsors of the Supply Chain Matters blog is also a spotlight sponsor for this upcoming Sterling event.

I will be in attendance at next week’s conference and will be providing live blog postings from this event, including comments via Twitter. Our coverage will include interesting interviews with supply chain practioners, consultants and technology providers as well as commentary on current and future order fulfillment business process and technology applications. If you plan on attending this conference nest week, please seek me out.  I’d enjoy meeting and chatting with you on supply chain developments and challenges.

Bob Ferrari

The following  is a guest posting that I have authored and can be viewed and commented upon on the Infosys Global Supply Chain Management Blog site.

The 2009 holiday buying season in the U.S. and indeed worldwide, presented two important learnings for the retail industry.  First, more consumers turned to online channels to perform price and feature comparisons as well as to execute their purchases.  Online channels were reported as being up 4-5% through mid-December of 2009.  One of the most significant takeaways from this year’s National Retail Federation (NRF) conference was that cost and value conscious consumers have discovered that online shopping and integrated merchandising are becoming a far more attractive option, and these same consumers demand more of these experiences.  The ability to research products, place orders online, pick-up or return purchases at the nearest local retail outlet have captured enormous interest, and consumers demand that these experiences occur without a glitch.

The second learning was that retailers stand to gain more profitability in practicing smart, lean inventory management strategies.  The notion of stocking and promoting just high-demand items, while exercising supplier contracts for quick turnaround drop ship or order fulfillment worked well for those retailers able to pull-off such strategies. Indeed, the results of such strategies are being reflected in added profitability for these retailers. In its 2010 Predictions for Retail Industry, IDC Retail Insights noted that the new winners in retail will be those who can cater to more informed customers, with immersed experiences, integrated merchandising, and instrumental execution.

The reality of immersed experiences and instrumental execution is really about discussions related to Multi-Channel Fulfillment Operations (MCO) or Multi-Channel Commerce (MCC).  The two terms are often confusing, having drastically different meanings for functional retail teams.  In his blog posting, Decide where you integrate: MCO does not equal MCC,. Gopikrishnan GR (Gopi) makes a rather cogent argument that retailers need to separate the two meanings, and focus on one building to the other.  MCC is indeed more about B2C commerce strategies related to the customer shopping experience via the web, including personalization, content and shopping cart experiences.  MCO in my view, is really about the capabilities of the retail supply chain to be able to integrate multi-channel sales and inventory fulfillment.   The imperative for retailers is to spend more time and consideration toward implementing a phased MCO strategy, one that meets the specific needs of the retail segment.

The new realities of MCO are fostering the ability of consumers to shop and place an order online or through a mobile channel, have real-time response to global inventory availability, reserve inventory, and have all order information visible to all pertinent partners in the supply chain. As Gopi rightfully points out, this is easier said than done.  In fact, many global manufacturers have struggled and spent considerable resources in implementing many similar type capabilities.  The notion of “walk first and run quickly after” have relevance, and multi-year strategy can be very common.

In my view, retailers need to take two very broad perspectives in addressing an overall MCO strategy.  The first should be the retail supply chain infrastructure and fulfillment processes that are required to effectively manage multiple-channel fulfillment.  Processes should include a comprehensive analysis of the total supply chain network, with a eye toward agility vs. latency.  Think of the means for streamlining inventory cross-docking or supplier drop-ship programs. Supplier sourcing and collaboration programs directed at rapid replenishment will be a rather important consideration. And if your retail operations include private labeling of products, network connections and information integration with contracted manufacturers are also critical considerations.  As noted earlier, optimized inventory deployment, predicated on demand intelligence, is very essential.

After process comes the technology that can best enable specific needs of MCO. The reality of this post-recessionary climate is that technology investments may have to be funded by incremental or ongoing savings in supply chain operations.  The good news for retailers is that there is much learning that can be harvested.  Order fulfillment technology providers who have demonstrated implementation experience have best practices that can be leveraged.  Multi-echelon inventory management software providers also have demonstrated the ability to help retailers implement smarter and more efficient inventory stocking and deployment strategies.  More options exist for technology deployment, including third-party or SaaS platforms. Finally, specialized consultants and system integrators with proven retail industry experience understand the nuances of how to walk before you run, and test before you go-live.

If you take one nugget from this posting, it should be that a seamless customer experience starts and ends with seamless supply chain capabilities.  While the task is complex, the rewards are the ability to be a leader in multi-channel commerce and fulfillment capabilities for customers. Profits will be the end result.

Bob Ferrari

Disclosure: Infosys is one of other Supply Chain Matters paid sponsors.

It is a sincere pleasure to announce to Supply Chain Matters readers that the supply chain management (SCM)  practice of Infosys Technologies will be a continuing sponsor of this blog during 2010.  In fact, Infosys has elevated its level of sponsorship, recognizing the increasing reach and influence of Supply Chain Matters, as well as our joint efforts to provide added thought leadership in the area of global supply chain management business process and information technology needs.

The supply chain practice of Infosys continues to be on a roll, providing supply chain clients with the ability to unlock added value from their supply chain business processes and information technology systems.  Key practice areas umbrella a wide swath and include areas of supply chain planning, strategic sourcing/procurement, elements of supply chain execution and enterprise asset management. Industry coverage is broad and includes manufacturing, retail, energy, media and financial services industries.

I first became aware of this practice in late 2005, have monitored their engagement growth since that time, and was delighted to include Infosys as a Supply Chain Matters sponsor in 2009.  During the year, I was invited to contribute guest postings regarding key supply chain and information technology strategic topics on the Infosys Supply Chain Management blog, and was pleased to exchange commentary with Gopikrishnan G.R. (Gopi), delivery manager and head of enterprise solutions and supply chain management consulting, as well as other participants(This cross-blog exchange activity will expand during the coming year and readers can anticipate guest postings and added commentary from Gopi and other Infosys senior consultants on Supply Chain Matters.  I will be attending key Infosys partner conferences in 2010, speaking and interacting with participants and providing live blog commentary, and will continue to be a guest blogger with Infosys.

Today this Infosys practice includes a healthy track record of over 400 supply chain  engagements with a 100% on-time delivery record.  This practice provides clients with unsurpassed project ramp-up capability with over 900  dedicated consultants.who can be called on to provide either functional as well as supply chain information technology expertise.  Delivery centers support a global presence, and currently include India, China, pan- Europe and North America.  Their supply chain technology skills span a variety of ERP and best-of-breed applications, with strategic partnerships that include Oracle, SAP, Sterling Commerce,ATG Commerce, Maximo and other technology alliances.  In 2010, look for Infosys to expand its presence in multi-channel selling, end-to-end order fulfillment and enterprise asset management process capability dimensions.

I am very pleased to have the supply chain management practice at Infosys as a sponsor of Supply Chain Matters and look forward to a continued joint collaboration of thought leadership and industry commentary. 

If you need additional information, you can view the Infosys SCM services profile in our About Our Sponsors page on the right-hand panel. Insure that you have Infosys on your short-list of large-scale supply chain information technology consulting needs.

 Bob Ferrari

I had the pleasure of providing a guest posting on the Infosys Supply Chain Management blog.  This posting shares some of my thoughts regarding the debate that revolves around whether companies should internally develop or buy software application addressing the support of advanced supply chain processes.

There is one common option to the constant debate of build vs. buy of IT applications supporting supply chain, and that is having proper context and strategic framework.  Strategic framework equates to the existence of a common understanding of business metrics and outcomes desired by the firm, along with a well defined and understood information architecture that addresses robust information integration across cross-functional supply chain systems, both internal to the firm, and external among suppliers and trading partners. My advice to companies that need to resolve the build vs. buy debate is to first take the time to outline common vision, business outcomes and overall information architecture that can support either continuous improvement or transformation needs.  Proper context and existence of a strategic framework of objectives makes the build or buy option far easier to address.

You can view and provide comments on this entire  posting by clicking on the following link.

 Bob Ferrari

Disclosure Statement- Infosys is a paid sponsor of the Supply Chain Matters blog.  We at Supply Chain Matters are very pleased that Infosys has chosen to sponsor quality thought leadership and commentary related to global supply chain business process and supporting technology.