Supply Chain Management: What’s Missing? August 24, 2009
Posted by Meg Sewell in Actionable Intelligence, Business Community Management, Inovis Solutions, Supply Chain Visibility, green supply chain.Tags: Business Performance Management, green, Supply Chain Visibility, The Green IT Review
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The Green IT Review posted an article last week on a recent online survey Business Performance Management (BPM) published aimed at measuring how companies are managing the complexities of supply chain demands, distribution costs and environmental concerns.
125 respondents revealed a multitude of factors that seem to be putting pressure on the executives running the value chain. Some of the issues include:
- Supply Chain Visibility: Though visibility in the supply chain is absolutely necessary formaximum profit, the report reveals a whopping 60% of all companies that have none, very low or marginal visibility across all tiers and levels of their supply and value chain. Considering supply chain visibility boasts the benefits of cost savings, better customer support, and environmental compliance, this lack of visibility is most likely putting companies at a competitive disadvantage.
- Scorecards: The survey also identified a need for better standards and key performance indicators for measuring sustainability levels of their supply chain partners. 2/3 of the respondents do not have official goals or scorecards. Without such measurable tools, these companies are not profiting from their partner relationships as much as they could.
- Green Initiatives: 76% of the respondants’ customers have reportedly not yet requested their providers to measure or reveal their carbon footprint. However, there is a silver lining. Two thirds said they expected to be asked at some point this year.
- Superior Platform: Only 20% involved in the survey currently use a single hosted platform that integrates all of their value chain network. Of those that do, 58% have seen a positive impact on value chain performance.
Many of these issues are important to remedy, and companies missing any of these significant puzzle pieces should look into effective software that can provide visibility, scorecarding, eco-friendly solutions as well as access to a single, hosted platform.
