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The Right Technology at the Right Time
The demand for true supply chain visibility has never been more apparent than with the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent rifts in availability of goods and supplies.
There is a lot of media coverage on supply chains and their failings. Many suppliers halted operations. Several plants shut down. Supply shortages headlined the nightly news. Companies struggle to get real-time supply chain information to make informed business decisions about procurement and planning. Can current technology offer an answer to gaining full visibility or is development required?
In recent discussions with prospective clients and stakeholders, Activ was asked, “are we the right technology at the right time?”
Short answer—emphatically, yes!
The long answer is that Activ’s cloud-based, multi-tier platform, ActiVate, handles virtually any digital transformation to get the right information to the right stakeholder at the right time.
Right technology
So, what does that mean for supply chain visibility? Connect suppliers/trading partners. Normalize the data. Create a single system of record for orders, customers, facilities, inventory, shipments, financials and more. That integration allows visibility and facilitates rapid identification of events and exceptions. Now, synchronizing supply chain processes from beginning to end with full visibility becomes possible.
ActiVate does whatever needs to be done to transform the data being processed into useful information. The good news is that happens with little to no intervention by any trading partner. The data model allows the platform to gather, track, and disseminate data; and the required information gets to the correct parties at the correct time. The addition of a self-reporting and dashboarding tool allows Activ’s customers to get to the answers they need sooner.
Many small to midsize companies run their supply chains using a mix of spreadsheets requiring manual data entry and rudimentary systems with limited access for users. Real-time, end-to-end visibility into their supply chains seems an impossible dream. Larger enterprises typically use sophisticated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to manage their supply chains. The problem is that ERPs are generally great for managing task-based operations using internal data, but they have gaps in managing relationship-based operations using external data. End-to-end connectivity and supply chain visibility remain a challenge.
Right time
The recent focus on supply chain visibility and the importance of that visibility mandates changes in operations and procurement as companies ramp up efforts to not only deliver to promise (DTP) but also ensure available to promise (ATP) goods and supplies—and to provide full visibility throughout the supply chain.
For companies concerned about budgeting for new technology and consulting fees, the advantage of a platform as a service (PaaS) solution enables budget-friendly subscription service versus upfront capital investment. Little investment coupled with the ability to service anyone anywhere with cloud technologies, and yes, Activ is right where we need to be with the right technology at just the right time.
The short and the long of the right technology at the right time is a subscription-based platform as a service (PaaS) solution that gets the right information to the right stakeholder at the right time.
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