SCM2

The first article written by our new author Vivek Sood on this blog immediately exposes some interesting tidbits. First, together with earlier articles Vivek has written (before he joined SCM2.org) he shows a clear focus towards the business side of the supply chain, where my own focus is on the software that manages those supply chains. Between the two of us there will already be a more diverse set of topics to be published here. As a result it is my hope that this in turn will draw a more diverse crowd of regular readers and spark discussions with more diverse opinions.

One very clear thing jumped up at me when reading his article: where the prediction on the software side is that they are becoming more holistic, the prediction for the business side is the opposite; the trend is to focus more on the core competencies and contract or outsource the rest. If both predictions are true the only possible conclusion is that collaboration between SCM software will not just become important, it will become imperative. Parties outside of your own enterprise will now hold even more of the information you need to make optimal decisions, and you need an easy yet secure way of getting that information on a continuous basis.

An interesting series of articles that discusses this very difference can be found at the Technology Evaluation Centers blog. It is a 3 part article written by P.J. Jakovljevic in this case specifically about the Retail industry (here are the links to part 1, part 2, part 3). The title is “Act Vertical vs. Go Extinct Retailers” but the important distinction as it applies to the opposite trends signaled above are what he descibes as “Act Vertical” versus “Be Vertical”.