Maersk is closing its TradeLens joint venture with IBM that began in 2018. It was intended to enable port operators, customs authorities, freight forwarders and importers to track containers and their contents. The system was designed to substantially reduce the inefficiencies and delays created by paper-based systems used for customs, trade finance, tariffs and taxes as well as supply chain and logistics management. The initiative was designed to cut supply chain latency by reducing the time...
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Topics:
Operations & Supply Chain,
blockchain,
continuous supply chain,
operational data platforms
The cloud has come to dominate many business software categories, but until recently, enterprise resource planning for manufacturing and product-focused organizations has been a notable laggard. Cloud-based systems can be less costly to operate, perform better, be more secure and shift maintenance and update chores from the IT department to the vendor, freeing IT teams to concentrate on more strategic needs.
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
continuous supply chain,
digital finance
Ventana Research recently announced its 2023 research agenda for Operations and Supply Chain, continuing the guidance we’ve offered for nearly two decades to help organizations across industries derive optimal value and improved outcomes from business technology.
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Topics:
Continuous Planning,
Product Information Management,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
continuous supply chain,
supplier relationship management,
Property Technology,
Continuous Supply Chain & ERP
Kinaxis recently announced it has acquired a Netherlands-based company, MPO, a cloud-based software offering that orchestrates multiparty supply chain execution. The combination is designed to enable Kinaxis to extend its concurrent planning platform to handle core elements of supply chain execution. Kinaxis acquired all the shares of MPO for approximately US$45 million, with some of the final consideration dependent on performance. MPO will continue to operate as a standalone business, but...
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Topics:
Business Intelligence,
Business Planning,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
continuous supply chain,
AI and Machine Learning
Several years ago, I noted the importance of gaining resilience in managing supply chains. The world had entered a new era of trade following the financial crisis of 2007, as multilateral relationships were steadily fragmenting. For decades, sourcing and supply chain management was focused almost exclusively on achieving the lowest cost, and the world’s trade environment supported this approach. However, I observed that the new era of trade, supply chain planning and execution, would be more...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Continuous Planning,
Business Planning,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
continuous supply chain
A couple of years ago, I started talking about a “New Era of Trade.” Its starting point was the world financial crisis in 2007, but the evidence that we were experiencing a shift only became obvious years later. I think “new era” is a better description of what’s going on than calling these bilateral ructions a “trade war.” I avoid that latter term because I believe it should apply to an environment that truly merits such a description, one similar to the period from the late 1920s and well...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Predictive Planning,
continuous supply chain
One of the challenges of being a practically minded technology analyst is squaring the importance of “the next big thing” with the reality of what most organizations are doing. For decades it’s been the case that “the next big thing” in the world of information technology is easily several years ahead of where most organizations are in their use of technology. And before most organizations can realize the benefit of some whiz-bang technology, they frequently need to address a range of more...
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Topics:
Human Capital Management,
Marketing,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Sales Performance Management,
Financial Performance Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Digital Marketing,
Work and Resource Management,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
robotic finance,
Predictive Planning,
revenue and lease accounting,
Subscription Management,
intelligent sales,
AI and Machine Learning
In late February I attended Spark, the Scout annual user group meeting. This was the third and likely the last such meeting, as Scout was recently acquired by Workday. Scout’s users represent a new breed of purchasing managers and executives looking to change the role of the purchasing department. This change is critical for businesses. Saving money is the essential job of sourcing and purchasing departments. But departments can go far beyond that, helping support product and go-to-market...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
expense management,
Financial Performance Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
purchasing,
sourcing