A FEW WORDS ABOUT THAT SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM) CHALLENGE OF YOURS

Schedule it. Ensure it meets regulatory/compliance standards. Ship it. Track it. Update it. Confirm its successful arrival. It’s been said that nothing happens until something is sold. Tick-tock. Tick-tock, there goes another twenty-four-hour period.

In the past, this little scenario above had the potential to bring on mild indigestion in some and nail-biting in others, depending on temperament. Today, the process has become a bit less hectic IF you’ve chosen the right business solution software. Being in business, you know the age-old expression, time flies, better than most.

Because fact is, for anyone who runs and/or manages a successful commercial enterprise, time is everything! And they think the NFL is the only tough profession. In the just as competitive arena that is B2B, shrewd decision makers know that anything that can actually save you time is a clear benefit for their business. To extrapolate this out further, you could say, saving time is a business value.

The Back Story

Supply Chain Management (SCM), often simply referred to by its three-word acronym, made its way into our spoken lexicon during the early 1980’s. Keith Oliver, a business advisor for Booz Allen Hamilton, coined this business-speak during a sit-down interview with the Financial Times.

By the mid-1990’s, supply chain management had gained considerable traction; so much so, SCM became a kind of de facto short-cut in communications by busy operations managers, when discussing forward and backward business flows. You can think of it as a much scaled-up version of an assembly-line.

Like Henry Ford, the process works because everything is streamlined. Costs are reduced by sourcing from specialized vendors with whom a company has good relationships with. By allowing them to focus on their core-competencies, an organization can improve its bottom-line.

Innovation Moves Mankind Forward

Like time itself, the many focused, creative individuals who work in the technology sector have never stood still. Whether hammering out code from a converted garage turned smallish office, creativity took hold to reduce business-process complexity. Information technology will continue to lead the way.

This technological solution is called: track and trace software. It’s not new, but it has been improved upon considerably. Top-tier corporations now rely on the computer software heavily, because they understand the benefits that are to be gained. It’s now an integral part of how they move goods and services all over the world. This software shines when moving critical items like pharmaceuticals upstream, were they must be maintained at consistent temperature-controls. And something I feel is worth a look.

A Day in The Life

In the hustle and bustle within the B2B arena, every day is different. New information comes in. New higher-ups to report to. A newly implemented newfangled appliance/widget/gadget/app you’ll need to master or download on-the-fly. And yes, a single telephone call from you-know-who and suddenly there’s a whole new way of doing things. All the while, you must manage this in a timely manner and still meet the expectations of your existing customer base. For those of you in the business, you are one who knows.

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