Maximizing the ROI in Supply Chain Planning

The evolution of Supply Chain Planning (SCP) is now in its third decade.

Over the past 30 years, many technology vendors have come and gone; but supply chain planning, as organizations grow more complex, is now more critical to drive corporate performance.

The need is greater, but the barriers for adoption remain.

There are three barriers that are consistent through the evolution of the technologies.

1. Acceptance of Optimization. For many organizations the use of optimization, and the deployment of “black boxes” to guide decision making, is uncomfortable. Companies are slow to trust advanced optimization and the output from planning systems.
2. Reward Systems. Organizations reward the urgent, not the important. Planners need time to plan. The use of the technologies drives the greatest value when companies build effective planning organizations. Creating an effective environment to maximize SCP investments is dependent on leadership.
3. Use of Excel. The greatest obstacle for the use of SCP is the Excel spreadsheet. What many leaders do not recognize now, but they will over time, are the limitations of the Excel spreadsheet to model the complex supply chain environment that exists today. Since planning teams are now groups, not individuals, the required collaboration and sharing of plans in larger organizations is not possible using an Excel spreadsheet.

When the organization is in place, the change management issues are tackled, the right leadership support is present, and technologies are deployed correctly, the Return on Investment (ROI) of SCP is an impressive 7-12 months.

As seen in this study, a greater ROI is possible when companies deploy industry-specific Best-of-Breed solutions (as opposed to extended solutions from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) providers like SAP and Oracle). In addition, the use of newer forms of network design technologies, to enable the modeling of velocity and variability within end-to-end networks, offers even greater ROI opportunities.

In this study, we share insights on these findings to help you and your organization drive a faster and more impactful ROI for your business.

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For your participation in this survey, Lora Cecere, Supply Chain Insights Founder & CEO, will provide a free one hour consultative call with you and your organization to review the results and discuss your own talent strategies.
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