The healthcare landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and the intersection of technological advancements and shifting societal priorities has accelerated fundamental changes in the sector. Simultaneously, modern healthcare leaders recognize the value of improving access to care, enhancing patient experiences, and achieving better health outcomes.

Oracle Health stands at the forefront of this transformative journey, equipping teams with forward-looking solutions that drive the creation of a more connected and patient-centric health ecosystem. Read on as we explore the intricacies of the reinvented healthcare journey and how organizations can navigate and thrive in an ever-shifting healthcare environment.

The importance of holistic, human-centric healthcare

Holistic and human-centric care is the foundation of the modern healthcare transformation. This philosophy focuses on treating patients as individuals with unique needs and preferences. Healthcare professionals are embracing this approach by:

• Introducing personalized treatment plans that consider not only medical conditions but also unique lifestyles, preferences, and cultural backgrounds
• Incorporating mental health screenings, stress reduction techniques, and mindfulness practices into treatment
• Adopting a collaborative approach by involving patients in treatment decisions
• Leveraging technology to provide remote consultations and monitor health from a distance
• Shifting toward preventive care, aiming to address health issues before they become problems

However, empowering such personalized care requires a comprehensive view of patient health records and other critical data. Oracle Health recognizes this need and offers solutions that provide a cohesive and interoperable platform for managing patient information. Solutions built on Oracle technology also enable providers to predict health issues, personalize treatment plans, and even contribute to macro-level decisions in disease prevention.

Armed with data-driven insights — whether qualitative or quantitative — healthcare organizations gain a more holistic insight into the sector, which paves the way for crafting more effective experiences moving forward.

Combat challenges with a connected and intelligent enterprise 

While evolutions continue, professionals face a host of challenges. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the country faces a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034, along with 48,000 primary care physicians. An undersupply of skilled labor leads to increased workloads, higher levels of burnout, and potential gaps in patient care. In addition, disparities in modern healthcare access based on socioeconomic factors persist, limiting the availability of quality care to diverse populations.

Healthcare professionals also struggle with limited, on-demand access to comprehensive patient health records, hindering their ability to make informed decisions and provide timely care. Limitations include insufficient transparency in treatment options, medical history, and outcomes. All of these impede collaborative efforts among medical teams.

Finally, supply chain weaknesses persist. The pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in the healthcare supply chain, resulting in shortages of essential medical equipment and medications — compromising patient care and safety. A 2022 survey of hospital purchasing leaders from Owens & Minor pinpoints the top four supply chain issues: costs (76%), material scarcity (63%), inventory management (55%), and personnel shortages (55%).

Technology integration — from automation and intelligence process management to resource optimization — emerges today as a powerful tool to overcome these ongoing hurdles. Oracle technology plays a significant role in leveraging technology to propel the industry forward. Solutions from Oracle, for example, enable teams to connect front- and back-office functions to streamline workflows, improve resource planning, and deliver more efficient care. These integrated innovations represent Oracle’s commitment to end-to-end health operations, promoting an exhaustive and interconnected approach to healthcare management.

Sovereign cloud environments, equipped with modern health applications, speed up the modernization of healthcare infrastructure. This technological innovation ensures teams can take advantage of new advances without compromising security or regulatory compliance.

The healthcare journey reimagined

Amidst sector changes, teams must navigate complex data sovereignty laws, such as the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the European General Data Protection Regulation. While designed to safeguard patient information, such laws pose further challenges. These hurdles include cross-border data flow restrictions, interoperability, and collaboration barriers.

Oracle’s sovereign cloud solutions offer a secure and compliant environment for storing and processing critical healthcare data. These cloud solutions help teams realize the value of cloud technologies while adhering to stringent data protection regulations. Oracle Health has set out to reinvent the healthcare journey by placing people at the center of care while emphasizing innovation. This fusion of empathy and modernization serves as a driving force behind changes in the sector.

Cutting-edge solutions from Oracle leverage the power of cloud technologies and artificial intelligence, empowering healthcare organizations to:

• Improve patient care and outcomes
• Boost efficiency and streamline workflows
• Leverage holistic patient data and insights
• Capitalize on remote and telehealth capabilities
• Utilize data-driven insights to promote public health

Comprehensive tools and resources are imperative while the healthcare industry navigates a transformative era. Oracle Health is committed to offering solutions that facilitate improved access, patient experiences, and global health outcomes. Utilizing innovative approaches, forward-looking technologies, and a dedication to human-centric care, a better future for public health is on the horizon. This approach is the key to fostering an ecosystem that meets the needs of providers and patients alike.

Is your organization ready to embrace change, lead with empathy, and harness the power of innovation? Contact us today to learn more about our customized solutions and world-class Oracle Cloud expertise.

The past decade has seen an explosive adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in supply chains. This rise in new technologies has been a valuable opportunity for businesses to boost efficiency, increase customer satisfaction, and minimize costs. Read on to discover how your team can bring about a new era of efficiency and resilience by adopting these tools.

The growth of cutting-edge technology in the supply chain

Companies with supply chains at their core are quickly employing state-of-the-art technologies to support long-term business growth. The need for enhanced operational efficiency and cost reduction, the rising complexities and interconnected nature of supply chains, the exponential growth of data and analytics, and increasing customer expectations for faster deliveries, personalization, and transparency have triggered this accelerated adoption. Because the integration of technologies has emerged as a powerful catalyst for achieving success amid a rapidly changing landscape, we are taking a closer look at the principal systems utilized by supply chain organizations today.

5 Key AI and automation technologies driving supply chain transformations

Considering the ever-evolving supply chain environment, it is no surprise that teams are turning to robust AI and automation technologies to enhance efficiency and establish a competitive advantage. Here are six solutions organizations are implementing to transform their operations:

The metaverse

The metaverse — a virtual reality space — has opened the doors to unique opportunities for supply chain teams to reconcile supply and demand. Within this environment, businesses can create virtual simulations and utilize real-time monitoring that provides greater visibility into processes, facilities, inventory, and capacity.

According to the Accenture Technology Vision 2022 report, 71% of supply chain management executives believe the metaverse will positively impact organizations. These benefits include:

• Improving visibility at all stages of production and distribution.
• Boosting demand planning and problem-solving.
• Increasing connectivity and chances for collaboration.
• Empowering sustainability efforts.

Predictive analytics

Solutions that equip your company with robust analytics provide the capability to analyze historical data and up-to-date information. These tools will be a cornerstone in accurately forecasting demand, anticipating market trends, and optimizing inventory levels.

Warehouse operations teams have embraced analytics to anticipate demand fluctuations and ensure timely order fulfillment. While professionals in logistics, on the other hand, take advantage of real-time data to optimize route planning, predict transportation capacity needs, and proactively manage disruptions.

Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors

IoT devices and sensors are revolutionizing the supply chain as we know it by connecting physical assets and products to the Internet. As a result, supply chain organizations have access to real-time insights and greater oversight. In addition, using AI in conjunction with IoT applications is a powerful approach to keep your business consistently up-to-date and safeguarded against risk.

In the modern supply chain, teams are leveraging IoT systems and sensors to:

• Track the location and condition of goods during transportation.
• Monitor warehouse environmental factors (e.g., temperature and humidity).
• Optimize equipment maintenance schedules.

Robotic process automation (RPA)

Now considered a game changer in the supply chain, robotic process automation (RPA) has become an increasingly popular strategy for automating repetitive, manual tasks. These tasks include order processing, data entry, inventory management, and shipment tracking, to name a few. RPA tech is here to stay, with Grand View Research projecting the global RPA market — valued at $2,322.9 million in 2022 — to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 39.9% until 2030.

Machine learning

Today, AI applications are adopted to analyze massive amounts of data and uncover valuable insights. The patterns and trends discovered can help organizations streamline routing, identify anomalies, and improve decision-making.

It is important to remember that AI and automation technologies are not one-size-fits-all. It will be necessary to assess different potential systems and how they might fit into your unique strategy and technology stack for the best results.

What are the benefits of integrating new technologies? 

Transformative technologies that enable unique business objectives provide supply chain organizations with a myriad of advantages, such as:

• Boosting supply chain management: Cutting-edge technology equips teams with the real-time visibility and tracking capabilities needed to achieve comprehensive operational oversight. This technology enables proactive monitoring and bottleneck management.
• Improving customer experience: Solutions that support accurate demand forecasting, more efficient order processing, and timely delivery help minimize the impact of disruptions and increase long-term customer satisfaction.
• Removing barriers between different business functions: Introducing AI and automation breaks down silos and promotes cross-functional collaboration, leading to better coordination and faster decision-making in a more efficient value chain.
• Optimizing and streamlining operations: Automation is an efficient tool for eliminating repetitive tasks and promoting efficiency while minimizing human error. With AI, teams can enhance demand forecasting and inventory management to improve operational performance.
• Driving cost-efficiency: Supportive technologies pinpoint where there is room to save costs and improve resource use — maximizing long-term profitability.

Adopting AI and automation solutions successfully 

While the supply chain continues to grow more complex, market analysis from Research and Markets reveals that AI-enabled supply chains are 67% more effective than non-AI-enabled supply chains. This descrepancy is due to mitigated risks and lower overall expenses. To introduce new tech successfully, be sure to:

1. Establish a focused AI and automation strategy where you have outlined specific goals, priorities, and desired outcomes.
2. Create an environment that embraces innovation by encouraging collaboration, communication, and upskilling among team members.
3. Start with smaller pilot projects, learn from the process, and gradually scale your use of technologies.

Oracle Cloud solutions can help your organization prepare for the future by creating metaverse-ready enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. By bringing together the right teams and technology, Oracle and Inspirage can empower your business to optimize its use of AI and automation technologies.

Contact us today to learn more about our customized solutions and world-class Oracle Cloud expertise.

As supply chain disruptions and uncertainty continue, organizations have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) to safeguard their operations and stay ahead of the competition. Discover which AI technologies teams have integrated into their procedures and how these groundbreaking solutions have impacted forecasting, planning, and budgeting.   

The accelerated adoption of AI technology  

After the COVID-19 pandemic revealed how susceptible the global supply chain is to disruptions, organizations quickly recognized the need to improve agility and resilience. Teams are increasingly turning to AI tools to deliver the powerful optimization capabilities required for more accurate planning and financing — all while reducing costs and promoting sustainability. What has contributed to the widespread adoption of AI across the entire value chain? Here are some of the key drivers:

1. The increasing complexity of supply chain networks, global markets, and consumer demands has necessitated solutions that can handle massive amounts of data and streamline operations.  
2. Organizations need greater operational efficiency and flexibility to respond quickly to market changes and demand fluctuations.  
3. With large datasets available, teams need AI-powered analytics and machine learning models to extract actionable insights and enable informed decision-making.  
4. Businesses want to identify and mitigate potential disruptions and boost resilience to ensure operational continuity in the face of future uncertainties. 

Utilizing AI tools for forecasting, planning, and finance functions    

Enhancing organizational planning and management is crucial to optimizing operations and controlling costs — which is more important than ever while supply chain uncertainty continues. Consider the following AI-driven solutions that businesses are introducing to reach their goals:  

1. Machine learning models and predictive analytics
   AI-powered demand forecasting tools use advanced algorithms to analyze historical data, market trends, and other external factors. These tools enable companies to make more accurate predictions about future demand levels. Actionable insights into what is needed to maintain inventory levels and reduce stockouts support the organizational planning process.  

2. Supply chain optimization
   AI-optimization tools empower supply chain managers to maximize the potential of every facet of the business — from inventory levels and transportation costs to production schedules and demand fluctuations. As a result, these algorithms help align resource utilization with forecasting and budgeting processes.   

3. Robotic process automation (RPA)
   By deploying RPA, organizations can automate repetitive tasks within supply chain processes. These processes include everyday undertakings such as order processing, inventory management, and invoice reconciliation. According to Adobe, executives are also looking for AI to alleviate menial tasks like paperwork (82%), scheduling (79%), and timesheets (78%). Interweaving this technology into existing systems frees up human resource teams, reduces errors, and improves efficiency — inevitably enhancing planning and financing. 

4. Blockchain technology
   With Gartner reporting that 60% of CIOs plan to adopt some level of blockchain technologies in the coming years, it is clear why this has become a big topic of discussion in the supply chain landscape. Visibility has become increasingly essential, and blockchain technology enables transparent, secure, and traceable transactions across production and distribution networks. By using smart contracts and distributed ledgers to boost oversight, organizations can streamline financial planning and budgeting processes, like invoice verification, payment settlements, and trade finance.  

The potential challenges and benefits of AI-driven solutions   

Although the AI tools discussed above demonstrate the immense potential this technology holds for supply chain forecasting, planning, and financing, there are challenges that organizations must navigate in the process:  

1. Data quality and availability pose an issue as teams face limited access to high-quality information.   
2. Integrating AI tools with existing systems and infrastructure can cause hurdles if systems are non-compatible. 
3. Research consistently shows that AI systems can exhibit human and systemic biases stemming from their program and data sources. Businesses need proactive measures to ensure equitable AI adoption. 
4. High implementation costs are a common financial barrier for supply chain organizations, requiring upfront investments in more advanced technology infrastructure.   

On the other hand, when supply chain organizations overcome barriers to AI adoption and integrate this technology successfully, they can see several resulting benefits. With AI-augmented processes for forecasting, planning, and budgeting, teams can:    

• Leverage real-time decision-making: AI-driven analytics provide real-time insights and actionable data that enable supply chain executives to make informed decisions faster.   
• Enhance forecast accuracy: By quickly analyzing vast amounts of data, organizations can ensure more accurate forecasting and planning.    
• Boost risk mitigation and resilience: AI technology can identify potential risks, like supplier disruptions or transportation delays, before disaster strikes — minimizing impact and ensuring business continuity.   
• Harmonize inventory levels: With more information about demand patterns, seasonality, lead times, and market trends, businesses enjoy more efficient inventory management.  
• Optimize resource allocation: Resources are precious, and AI algorithms help ensure asset allocation, such as labor or equipment, is aligned with demand patterns and operational capacity.   

Unleashing the power of AI tools with Oracle Cloud solutions  

With the ability to provide more accurate predictions, uncover hidden insights, and ensure real-time adjustments, AI technologies promise to disrupt budgeting and forecasting in the coming years. Oracle Cloud EPM can help organizations navigate planning and financing with Intelligent Performance Management (IPM) capabilities.  

That daunting process that once took weeks to complete? Now users can finish in days, or maybe even hours, with the help of Oracle Cloud EPM. Take advantage of predictive insights and automated data analysis — not to mention features like forecast variance and bias, prediction, and anomaly insight.   

Inspirage helps customers select Oracle solutions to support their digital transformation journeys. With deep domain experience and a global workforce, Inspirage helps organizations implement Oracle Cloud enterprise performance management (EPM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to optimize long-term operations. Ready to strengthen your forecasting and financing? Contact us to learn more. 

Supply chain visibility encompasses an organization’s tracking and monitoring of goods, information, and resources throughout its entire network — from initial sourcing to final delivery. In today’s increasingly complex landscape, visibility is critical for improving customer service, reducing costs, boosting inventory management, limiting disruptions, and mitigating risk. With a greater need for visibility than ever before, supply chain organizations must focus on improving oversight and operational management in 2023 and beyond.

Recognizing the significance of supply chain visibility

Supply chain visibility shapes decision-making by providing organizations with real-time insights and robust data that can optimize operations. But, to achieve complete supply chain visibility, teams need an end-to-end view across every facet of their processes — from demand and supply to inventory and shipments.

Unfortunately, businesses face common obstacles while pursuing a more transparent supply chain. These challenges include disparate management systems and siloed teams, insufficient real-time data on operations, and poor stakeholder communication.

What are the consequences of poor supply chain visibility?

Poor supply chain visibility can have last effects on an organization. Teams can anticipate higher costs due to inefficiencies, such as excess inventory, expedited shipping, and production delays. Insufficient oversight of factors like inventory levels, order statuses, and demand patterns can lead to stockouts or poor use of resources — which drives costs and risk. Delays in order fulfillment, inaccurate delivery estimates, and lacking customer service can leave customers dissatisfied and cause potential business loss. Finally, production imbalances, inadequate inventory planning, and missed sales opportunities are commonplace without visibility into real-time demand data and market trends.

Strategies to drive visibility in 2023 and beyond 

Considering the importance of supply chain visibility for long-term efficiency and success, it is hardly surprising that organizations across the value chain are introducing strategies to boost network oversight. Some of the most common approaches to achieving this include:

1. Adopting cloud-based platforms
   Utilizing cloud-based solutions helps supply chain teams centralize data storage and access, supporting real-time information sharing across network stakeholders and enabling better collaboration. In-depth oversight of inventory levels, order statuses, and transportation logistics drives production and distribution transparency. With a report on cloud adoption from O’Reilly finding that more than 90% of organizations use the cloud — and projections of increases in the coming years — this is often a simple opportunity to enhance visibility. Scalable and cost-efficient cloud platforms are a bonus for businesses in the long run.

2. Leveraging IoT devices
   The Internet of Things (IoT) — particularly sensors and RFID tags — has taken the supply chain world by storm, providing real-time location, condition, and performance data. With visibility into the movement and status of different assets, organizations can proactively monitor and manage operations while reducing the risk of disruptions. According to Gartner’s Digital Business Impact on the Supply Chain Survey, 59% of organizations have partially or fully deployed IoT across the business, with more teams planning to do so in the future.

3. Embracing real-time data analytics
   Modern supply chain success is not solely reliant on accessing and storing massive amounts of data. Businesses also need real-time analytics to help them make the most of their unique information. Leveraging advanced analytics tools and techniques — available with most cloud ERP systems — offers organizations actionable insights into demand patterns, inventory and logistics management, and production planning.

4. Establishing collaborative partnerships
   Establishing collaborative partnerships with suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and logistics providers can go a long way toward improving visibility and resilience. The benefits of strong, collaborative partnerships include sharing data, forecasts, and plans that support aligned schedules, streamlined processes, and optimized inventory levels.

The impact of visibility on long-term supply chain operations

Visibility is a priority as supply chains become more complex and expansive. By taking steps to improve supply chain oversight and management, organizations can reap numerous benefits, including:

• Improved lead times: Organizations are better equipped to identify bottlenecks and optimize processes when monitoring and tracking products across production and distribution — reducing lead times and promoting timely delivery.
• Boosting the customer experience: Visibility solutions enable inventory tracking, more accurate demand forecasting, and better customer service. Improved order accuracy and fulfillment increase customer satisfaction.
• Better supplier collaboration: Establishing stronger relationships with suppliers by sharing real-time data and insights from improved visibility can improve supplier performance, reduce stockouts, and promote better cross-functional coordination.
• Greater productivity: Improved oversight gives teams a closer look into the unique inefficiencies, redundant tasks, and disorganized workflows impacting their businesses. Addressing these issues is an effective strategy to drive productivity and operational effectiveness while reducing costs.
• Strengthened sustainability efforts: Enhancing visibility makes it easier to identify where a company can reduce waste, optimize transportation routes, and implement ethical sourcing practices to augment sustainability efforts.

With Oracle Cloud solutions and the Oracle Fusion Analytics platform, businesses can increase visibility across their end-to-end operations. These Oracle products provide access to real-time insights, data analytics capabilities, and collaborative features that empower informed decision-making and proactive problem-solving for optimized supply chain performance. In addition, the Inspirage Enterprise Control Tower connects functional silos and disparate systems to provide deeper insights, aid quicker decision-making, and deliver actionable intelligence. If you are ready to start the journey to complete supply chain visibility, contact us to learn more.

]]> https://inspirage.com/2023/07/embrace-sustainable-supply-chain-practices-for-a-greener-future/ Wed, 19 Jul 2023 16:30:08 +0000 https://inspirage.com/?p=28216 Discover how organizations drive sustainable business practices across the supply chain, creating a greener and more viable tomorrow. ]]>

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns have taken center stage for companies and consumers. And today, the role of supply chains in driving sustainable practices has become an increasingly important part of the equation. From sourcing eco-friendly materials to optimizing transportation practices, teams hope to transform the supply chain landscape. As businesses consider their role in shaping a more environmentally conscious future, we will begin by exploring the strategies adopted by supply chain organizations to establish more sustainable logistics operations.

The state of sustainability in the supply chain 

Sustainability has become a primary concern for businesses dealing in the supply chain — and virtually every company. This issue has become more than just a moral and ethical imperative for organizations; consumers demand more comprehensive information to evaluate the products they buy. These assessments include the materials used, operational conditions, energy consumption, and carbon footprint in production.

When creating a more sustainable supply chain, Wolters Kluwer reports that 49% of all companies have established sustainability goals. Yet, despite these long-term plans from executives, few teams have the visibility, technology, or programs to reach objectives or measure progress. In fact:

• Organizations can face resistance to change from stakeholders, impeding the adoption of more sustainable practices.
• Supply chain networks are becoming increasingly complex, challenging consistent standards.
• It can be hard to access sustainable resources that are also affordable.
• Inconsistent regulations and policies are creating compliance challenges.
• Financial constraints can make it difficult to allocate funds for sustainability initiatives.

A holistic approach

Sustainable supply chain management involves more than simply addressing environmental concerns: it also requires considering social responsibility, ethical sourcing, supply chain transparency, and waste management. Here are some of the strategies supply chain organizations are introducing to build a more resilient and sustainable future:

1. Promote ethical sourcing and fair labor practices
   Teams can boost sustainability efforts by introducing more ethical sourcing practices, like fair trade and responsible procurement. These practices often involve working closely with suppliers to ensure adherence to social and labor standards — supporting fair wages, employee rights, and safe working conditions across the supply chain.
2. Optimize transportation and logistics
   It is easy for organizations to overlook the crucial role transportation and logistics play in building a more responsible supply chain. Fortunately, several strategies exist to reduce carbon emissions and overall costs, such as route optimization, shipment consolidation, and shifting to greener transportation modes like sea or rail. And, with the introduction of advanced technologies like GPS tracking and real-time data and analytics, it is easy to augment and enhance efficiencies even further.
3. Enhance supply chain transparency
   Organizations are turning to traceability systems and sharing information about suppliers, materials, and production processes to boost transparency. This emphasis on collaboration provides consumers with the data they need to make informed decisions, which is becoming increasingly important. Research reveals 94% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to companies that offer complete production and distribution transparency.
4. Implement waste reduction and circular economy principles
   Supply chain teams are introducing waste reduction strategies — including recycling, repurposing, regenerating, and product lifecycle management — to enhance long-term sustainability. Products designed for durability, repairability, and recyclability during production will empower circular economic systems.
5. Embrace renewable energy sources
   There is a unique opportunity to considerably reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact in warehouse operations and transportation by transitioning to renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. Investing in this infrastructure and working with like-minded partners can go a long way toward promoting sustainability.

The value of prioritizing organizational sustainability

As ESG and sustainability continue to be the focus of organizations across the value chain, teams can see several benefits, including:

• Cost savings: Reducing energy consumption, optimizing transportation, and streamlining operations to promote sustainability leads to significant cost savings.
• Enhanced company reputation: As consumer demand for sustainable products and supply chain transparency increases, demonstrating a commitment to corporate special responsibility (CSR) can improve reputation and attract environmentally conscious partners and consumers.
• Regulatory compliance and risk mitigation: Proactively addressing environmental and social issues can safeguard an organization from non-compliance penalties and legal liabilities.
• Supply chain resilience and flexibility: By diversifying suppliers, reducing dependence on single-source materials, and strengthening supplier relationships, teams empower not only their CSR but resilience in the face of disruptions or bottlenecks.
• Accessing top talent: Prioritizing sustainability is an effective strategy to attract and retain top talent who value environmental and social responsibility.
• Unlocking new markets and partners: As the shift toward more responsible practices becomes a key criterion for choosing suppliers, introducing sustainable strategies can unlock potential business opportunities.

Implementing advanced digital solutions to empower your sustainability efforts 

The moral imperative of improving ESG and sustainability efforts, coupled with global calls from consumers for more responsible systems, means that ignoring your environmental and social obligations is no longer an option. To address these issues effectively, supply chain teams can turn to comprehensive digital solutions that enable initiatives for change.

Create eco-friendly products, source sustainable materials, and optimize product manufacture and transport with help from Oracle Cloud applications — all while reducing costs and delivering increased service. Oracle tools — implemented by empowered by Inspirage — support more informed decision-making, streamlined processes, and proactive responses to sustainability concerns for both a competitive edge and a greener future. Download our new eBook Sustainable Progress: Global Stewardship in a Digital World to learn more.

The 2023 OTM User Conference North America is happening soon. Join the Inspirage, Part of Accenture, team in Philadelphia July 31-August 3. If you have not already done so, register now! This annual conference is not to be missed. The event unites OTM/GTM users, Oracle representatives, and other industry parties to network, share insights, and gain valuable insight into current features and future enhancements.

Logistics Leadership

Inspirage, a proud Platinum sponsor of the 2023 OTM User Conference, is excited to be at the forefront of transportation management innovation in Philadelphia this year. Our Logistics team will be on hand to share their unique insights, so drop by our booth to say hello. You can learn more from our experts in a handful of engaging sessions. During our sponsor presentation on Monday, July 31, at 10:00 AM, Bob Hart, Senior Vice President, Logistics Management, will pose questions, sharpen the focus, and help frame the future of OTM.

In addition, Alejandro Barba, Inspirage Business Architecture Manager, will co-present with Loup Logistics on Tuesday, August 1, at 2:50 PM. Throughout this session, “Alinéa – Becoming a World-Class Service Provider,” attendees will hear how Loup leveraged CPQ and OTM Cloud to deliver sophisticated order management and execution and learn about the variety of interfaces and workflow agents were utilized to drive a high degree of automation and support future business growth. OTM SIG registrants can also take part in several other sessions focusing on Inspirage client success stories, including:

• Monday, July 31 at 10:30 AM: “Utilize OTM & GTM for Vessel/Container Planning and Import Filing (ISF & Entry) with US CBP” (Inspirage, Part of Accenture)
• Monday, July 31 at 4:00 PM: “OTM at Rivian” (with Rivian)
• Tuesday, August 1 at 11:30 AM: “3PL Business Case to Move to OTM Cloud” (with RXO, formerly XPO)
• Tuesday, August 1 at 11:30 AM: “Koch Utilizing Bulk Plan + Capacity to Optimize Cost & Service” (with Koch Industries)

Finally, Inspirage will host a cocktail party on July 31 from 8-11 PM. in the Gallery at Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. Contact your sales rep to be added to our guest list. We hope to see you soon in Philadelphia!

The healthcare supply chain plays a pivotal role in ensuring the widespread availability of essential medical supplies, equipment, and pharmaceuticals to support patient care. As the healthcare industry continues to recover from the global COVID-19 pandemic, its leaders are working to address the inherent supply chain vulnerabilities revealed during the crisis and anticipate the new challenges and solutions their teams may encounter in the years ahead.

The Healthcare Supply Chain is Still Unhealthy

The importance of fostering a healthy healthcare supply chain — the interconnected network of systems and processes involved in producing, distributing, and delivering medical supplies, equipment, and pharmaceuticals — became evident amid the fallout of the worldwide pandemic. While this global event left no industry untouched, the healthcare sector, in particular, saw unprecedented challenges and disruptions. Severe fluctuations in the supply and demand of medical commodities, equipment, and essential pharmaceuticals exposed weaknesses and the fragility of these networks. These vulnerabilities left many organizations without the resources to care for patients effectively while simultaneously struggling to keep costs low as they attempted to manage supply chain disruptions.

Now, supply chain leaders across the healthcare industry are emphasizing solutions that support adaptability to avoid such detrimental ramifications in the future.

Five Challenges Facing the Healthcare Industry Today

Industries are slowly recovering from the pandemic and trying to find a new “normal.” In the healthcare sector, this healing journey will likely involve facing a few substantial challenges in the process, including:

1. Rising costs: According to the American Hospital Association, drug expenses per patient were up over 18% in 2022 compared to 2019. These rising costs, in combination with the increasing medical supplies, utilities, and labor costs, continue to strain healthcare organizations.
2. Fragmented systems and data silos: Healthcare teams, especially those working with legacy systems, struggle with disparate and disconnected processes that create data silos. Poor integration and interoperability inhibit visibility, efficiency, and collaboration.
3. Product recalls and regulatory compliance: Compliance with stringent regulatory requirements, such as quality standards and traceability, is essential in the healthcare supply chain. However, this can be incredibly daunting as standards are ever-evolving. Every year the S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) receives a striking amount of suspected device-associated issues from medical device reports (MDRs). The FDA recalled at least 60 devices in 2022 alone. Compliance issues and consistent product recalls disrupt operations, impact patient safety, and erode trust in the supply chain.
4. Lack of real-time information: Teams across healthcare production and distribution channels need real-time visibility into information like inventory levels, order statuses, and shipment tracking for effective management. However, businesses still struggle to obtain this information on demand and use it proactively to avoid inefficiencies and delays.
5. Demand variability and forecasting: The pandemic highlighted the need for more comprehensive and agile demand forecasting models that help companies keep pace with medical supply, equipment, and pharmaceutical requests.

Building a More Resilient Healthcare Supply Chain

The pandemic revealed that the traditional approach to managing healthcare supply chains left organizations ill-prepared to handle rapid change and fluctuating supply and demand — forcing teams to reassess their systems. Research from Ernst & Young found that COVID-19 triggered 60% of executives to increase their supply chain’s strategic importance.

For improved adaptability and agility, leaders in the healthcare industry are now prioritizing strategies that:

• Ensure diversified suppliers: Identifying and partnering with multiple suppliers for critical medical supplies helps businesses establish strategic stockpiles and develop contingency plans that mitigate risk. By reducing dependence on a single source, supply chain leaders can minimize the impact of disruptions as they come.
• Enable real-time visibility, information sharing, and collaboration: Companies are implementing cloud-based supply chain technologies that support the generation and utilization of advanced and actionable analytics. These technologies require investments in systems that support integration, automation, and collaboration among key stakeholders. Robust supply chain management systems and digital cloud-based solutions ultimately empower flexibility and scalability.
• Boost data-driven forecasting: Advanced analytics and predictive modeling support improved demand forecasting accuracy. These processes enable proactive planning and more efficient resource allocation that can meet variable demand while avoiding excess inventory or shortages.
• Strengthen local production capabilities: Healthcare organizations can reduce reliance on particular regions or international supply chains by expanding domestic manufacturing facilities and establishing partnerships with local suppliers. These partnerships ensure more reliable and timely access to critical medical supplies.
• Continuous process improvement: Teams must actively leverage opportunities to streamline workflows, eliminate bottlenecks, and enhance operational efficiency. It is integral to constantly evaluate solutions and strategies to create a healthier supply chain in the long term.

Looking to the Future of Healthcare Supply Chains

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated pre-existing issues within the healthcare supply chain, making visibility, resilience, and digitization the priorities of many organizations. Why? Because when staying vigilant and fully operational during crises can mean life or death, improved strategies are required to anticipate emergencies, ensure uninterrupted supply flow, and swiftly adapt to changing demands.

Oracle Cloud applications and solutions, such as those from Cerner (acquired by Oracle in June 2022), empower healthcare organizations across the supply chain to foster healthier, more efficient, sustainable, and connected networks. Implementation techniques and strategies from Inspirage supplement these solutions, providing an end-to-end suite of business processes that augment your internal capabilities and improve talent deployment.

Ready to boost resilience, improve care, increase satisfaction among physicians, drive cost-efficiency, and better position your organization to succeed amid an increasingly complex healthcare supply chain landscape? Contact us to learn more about how Inspirage can support your team today.

The Metaverse — the increasingly popular immersive virtual realm where people can connect, interact, and explore — is now an emerging reality driven by the accelerated growth of digital technologies and market demand for them. By one estimate, over 400 million unique users worldwide visit this data-driven “landscape” every month. However, with the powerful technological breakthroughs that support valuable digital experiences comes the added responsibility to ensure that people can engage in the Metaverse safely, securely, and sustainably.

What is a “Sustainable” Metaverse?

Because the Metaverse centers around the digital landscape, it holds the potential to create a more equitable and sustainable world. But, to do this, the Metaverse must integrate sustainability into every facet of design and development. With a comprehensive framework, organizations can help foster a virtual realm that balances social, environmental, and economic factors. A completely sustainable Metaverse ensures teams prioritize long-term viability, inclusivity, and responsible practices to minimize possible negative impacts.

According to a survey by Wunderman Thompson Data, 71% of people who are conscious of the Metaverse said brands need to consider its environmental consequences. How are companies creating more sustainable digital landscapes? Some of the top strategies include highlighting:

• Energy efficiency: To cultivate energy efficiency within the Metaverse, organizations are optimizing server farms, data centers, and virtual environments — helping minimize both power consumption and carbon emissions.
• A scalable and adaptive infrastructure: Sustainable virtual realms require a foundation that can scale and adapt to changing needs as they come. Creating this foundation involves implementing flexible, cloud-based systems that more efficiently allocate resources and adequately accommodate growing user bases.
• Blockchain technology: Blockchain technology, which plays a progressively significant role in establishing a sustainable digital environment, provides decentralized and transparent systems that enhance security, trust, and accountability. Leveraging blockchain to create fair and inclusive virtual economies ensures data privacy.
• Renewable energy integration: Teams may consider embracing renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power, to meet the energy demands of the Metaverse more sustainably. Clean energy remains the best alternative to help businesses reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate long-term environmental ramifications.
• User education and awareness: Developing a truly sustainable Metaverse will rely on more than just executives and supply chain leaders, but every individual across the organizational ladder. To ensure proper user education, companies can introduce initiatives that offer information on sustainable behaviors, promote responsible virtual practices, and encourage individuals to make the right choices within the digital realm.

Standards and Industry Codes of Conduct 

As organizations take steps to construct a more sustainable Metaverse, it will be essential to consider the roles of regulation, governance, and administrative responsibility to mitigate potential threats in these virtual environments. Some of the top control-related issues for regulators to assess in the Metaverse include:

1. Supporting personal data protection and preventing unauthorized access with data privacy and security measures,
2. Addressing misinformation and hate speech that can spread quickly within digital landscapes with content moderation policies,
3. Balancing the potential impacts on mental health through relevant laws,
4. Preventing fraud, money laundering, and illicit activities with systems for virtual currencies and transactions, and
5. Ensuring equal access and accommodation for individuals with disabilities and promoting inclusivity and non-discrimination by implementing accessibility standards.

Continuously monitoring prospective regulations will be critical, considering experts are already calling on players in the industry to create a “metacode of conduct.” This code would theoretically protect users from abuse, fraud, and loss until official legislation catches up.

Looking at the Metaverse through a Sustainable Lens

Not only are people increasingly aware of — and actively engaging in — the growing Metaverse, but statistics show that 38% of U.S. adults think this virtual world will improve life. These potential benefits include:

• Reduced environmental impact: Bringing sustainability to the forefront of organizational decisions minimizes the footprint caused by the Metaverse. Valuable opportunities to foster an energy-efficient infrastructure, use renewable energy sources, and optimize resource consumption will prove to be linchpins in mitigating climate change as virtual worlds expand.
• Enhanced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI): Digital landscapes provide a pathway to advanced DEI efforts. By ensuring accessibility, equal opportunities, and fair economic participation, equality and representation will be at the core of this online environment.
• Increased resilience: Fostering a Metaverse with sustainability in mind can boost financial and operational flexibility. This preparedness, along with data protection and scalability, helps teams reduce disruptions and promote long-term stability.
• Improved collaboration and knowledge sharing: A sustainable Metaverse facilitates enhanced global collaboration, cross-disciplinary cooperation, and an exchange of ideas that empowers innovation and collective problem-solving.
• Greater transparency and trust: Despite the growing recognition of the Metaverse, many individuals remain wary of this digital space. Fortunately, emphasizing sustainability promotes visibility and accountability. In addition, implementing ethical practices, data privacy, and decentralized systems helps companies build trust.

Drive Sustainability in the Metaverse with a Digitally Integrated Enterprise

Prioritizing sustainability across social, environmental, and economic factors can shape a virtual world that captivates and engages users and contributes positively to our collective future. With this in mind, business leaders are turning to cutting-edge solutions that help optimize operations, reduce waste, and minimize their environmental footprint within the Metaverse.

Inspirage can make life easier for IT and business personnel by empowering these professionals to embrace artificial intelligence, data analytics, and supply chain management. Our digital transformation expertise allows enterprises to operate effectively in immersive, interconnected digital environments that transcend physical limitations and promote sustainable practices.

Inspirage works with organizations to become agents of sustainable change, driving faster decision-making through strategic planning, process enablement, and actionable intelligence. Our team manages Oracle Cloud deployments and successfully aligns technological tools with sustainability responsibilities. If you are ready to digitally enable an integrated enterprise that supports the long-term viability and beneficial impact of the Metaverse, contact us today to learn more.

The fallout from the pandemic, in combination with economic uncertainty and unprecedented industry challenges, has forced CEOs and leadership teams to prioritize accelerated digital transformation in recent years. However, some companies are silently revolutionizing their business through a strategic approach that Accenture has deemed the Total Enterprise Reinvention.

This emerging group of industry leaders (called Reinventors) focuses on building a digital core that drives growth and enhances operational efficiency. These organizations set performance standards and achieve remarkable outcomes. As a result, they demonstrate the importance of establishing a data-driven foundation that helps businesses keep pace and remain ahead of the competition.

Digital Transformation and Total Enterprise Reinvention

Digital transformation, or the use of digital technologies to reinvent how a company operates, has quickly progressed due to the growth of remote work, rising consumer expectations, and increasingly competitive business landscapes. In early 2023, Foundry reported that 93% of all companies have already adopted or plan to adopt a digital-first business strategy. This fast-paced digital change across industries presents an opportunity for organizations to streamline workflows and break data free from silos. In doing so, they are positioning themselves to leverage advanced technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

A significant emerging concept within this digital transformation journey is the idea of total enterprise reinvention, which goes beyond isolated digital initiatives and encompasses a holistic transformation of the entire enterprise. This approach recognizes the value and growing necessity of:

• Reimagining business processes.
• Leveraging data and analytics.
• Integrating digital technologies across all aspects of the organization.

Giving inactive data a new life  

While many companies today are actively working to implement digital-first systems, some teams are not accessing the value of their data. These organizations are not in a position to leverage the insights and strategic advantages their data holds.

Why? First, the scale and complexity of modern data have become a significant challenge for organizations. The sheer volume of data generated from diverse sources (e.g., social media, customer interactions, and transactions) can quickly overwhelm traditional data management systems and processes. Moreover, this information often resides in different silos fragmented across departments, making it harder to draw meaningful conclusions. Knowing where data resides is only part of the problem; teams need systems for accessing, extracting, and analyzing it. These processes do not include distributing the insights to the right people or systems.

In the modern business landscape, data is the key to uncovering valuable insights and patterns that inform strategic decision-making, product development, targeted marketing, and personalized customer experiences. Making the most of the information a company collects will be a linchpin in driving business growth and maintaining a competitive edge in 2023 and beyond. Statistics show that companies utilizing big data solutions increase profits by an average of 8%.

Truly innovative organizations are realizing the potential of company intelligence and taking steps to achieve total enterprise reinvention.

How teams are unleashing the power of their data  

There are a few best practices that organizations can introduce to extract valuable insights and drive measurable business results from data, including:

1. Data governance: Establishing a robust governance framework helps ensure data quality, integrity, and security. This framework typically involves defining data ownership, creating standards, and implementing solutions to optimize data management processes to ensure information is accurate, reliable, and accessible.
2. Advanced analytics: Leveraging advanced analytics techniques enables teams to uncover patterns, trends, and correlations in their data that support data-driven decisions and optimized processes. According to a report from O’Reilly Media, 48% of businesses today use machine learning, data analysis, and AI tools to maintain the accuracy of their data.
3. Data visualization: Companies can utilize data visualization tools and techniques that allow teams to transform complex information into actionable visual representations, such as charts, graphs, or dashboards. This process helps simplify your data interpretation and improves the communication of insights.
4. Data integration: Disconnected data across the enterprise makes it nearly impossible to take advantage of information successfully. Integrating data from disparate sources and centralizing it into a unified data platform can provide a comprehensive overview of the data landscape. As a result, teams are better positioned to analyze data, facilitate cross-functional collaboration, and eliminate inconvenient data silos.

Ultimately, data-driven businesses are better-equipped to consistently outperform their peers, which can considerably impact market value and increase consumer loyalty.

The benefits of activated data

Accelerated digital transformation across industries drives teams to adopt and embrace enterprise reinvention strategies. By breaking down data silos and unlocking the full potential of data in the process, this holistic approach allows organizations to:

• Gain actionable insights.
• Make data-driven decisions.
• Transform their operations to meet the changing needs and expectations of customers.
• Maintain a competitive edge in the digital age.

Is your organization looking for support to create a robust, data-driven foundation to enable agility, innovation, and resilience? Inspirage’s Enterprise Data Management (EDM) practice specializes in industry-leading methodologies, tools, and accelerators to solve complex business problems and gain competitive advantage by enabling organizations to define, integrate, govern, and retrieve data. By deploying our EDM and Master Data Management (MDM) solutions, you can expect to establish a competitive advantage that you can count on to enhance your business processes.

Contact us today to learn more about our customized solutions and world-class Oracle Cloud expertise.

Organizations across the supply chain are embracing digital transformation and increasingly weaving digital technologies into their strategies. This evolution is revolutionizing how businesses operate and deliver value. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that over 80% of corporate executives across industries plan to accelerate their digital transformation efforts in the coming years. However, many companies continue to combat two main obstacles: misunderstanding the digital transformation lifecycle and not knowing where to start. The key to success involves careful planning, development, post-implementation management, and an appreciation of how digital solutions can help streamline business processes.

Evaluating your digital transformation strategy 

The digital transformation lifecycle refers to integrating digital technologies throughout the supply chain process to enhance visibility, traceability, and efficiency — all while mitigating risk. The term “lifecycle” highlights that this transformation is a continuous process that requires evaluating emerging technologies and evolving market demands.

The initial phase of an effective transformation includes a comprehensive four-step planning and analysis process:

1. Understanding the strategies and objectives of the business.
2. Assessing the current state of the organization’s digital capabilities.
3. Identifying areas of improvement.
4. Defining metrics and desired outcomes of digital change.

By laying the foundation for the entire process, careful planning and analysis become the cornerstones of successful digital transformation. Supply chain organizations can use process mapping, customer journey mapping, SWOT analysis, and creating digital transformation frameworks as the groundwork for this approach.

Digital transformation services from Inspirage give your teams access to efficient, innovative, and connected solutions that help your business realize the full potential of digital transformation, drive faster decision-making, and empower organizational leaders with critical insights. We deliver strategic advisory services, business intelligence and analytics, and more to enact real change and help you build an integrated supply chain.

According to one report, 70% of teams already have a digital transformation strategy or are currently working on one; however, establishing a thoughtful approach is only the first step in fostering a streamlined digital transformation lifecycle.

Developing a comprehensive plan for implementation

The implementation phase of supply chain transformation involves launching new digital tools, technologies, and processes to enhance operations, but how can companies encourage more effective deployments? First, those executing the plan should have the skills and expertise needed to introduce new digital systems. In light of the fact that 70% of transformations fall short of their objectives due to employee hesitation, it is critical to develop change management procedures to minimize resistance to change from all stakeholders.

Key considerations in this stage include:

• Establishing clear communication channels.
• Defining metrics for measuring outcomes (e.g., efficiency, revenue, costs, or customer satisfaction).
• Providing training and support to the teams adopting new tools and technologies.

The application and integration experts from Inspirage have the industry insights and experience necessary to help supply chain-focused organizations get the most out of their digital transformation investments in an accelerated manner. We combine unparalleled systems consulting expertise with proven methodologies, a robust arsenal of over 100 industry-focused solutions, and application proficiency to enable best practices throughout the digital transformation lifecycle.

Managing digital strategies post-implementation

Digital transformation does not end after implementation; it is an ongoing process. The final phase of the digital transformation lifecycle calls for organizations to continuously monitor and maintain the tools and technologies put in place during the implementation stage and to evaluate and refine their ongoing supply chain strategies.

A successful post-implementation strategy should include:

• Ongoing education and training to keep teams up-to-date with the latest digital advancements.
• Reviewing and maintaining the chosen digital strategies with a dedicated team.
• Gaining actionable insights into supply chain performance with data and analytics.
• Remaining agile and resilient in the face of technological change to stay ahead of emerging trends and remain competitive.

Following a transformative Oracle Cloud implementation, Managed services from Inspirage augment an organization’s internal capabilities. Inspirage offers an end-to-end suite of business process services that make life easier for IT and business personnel and allow companies to deploy their talent where it matters most.

Maintaining an end-to-end digital transformation lifecycle

By strengthening all phases of the digital transformation lifecycle, organizations can create a full-spectrum, dynamic, and agile supply chain capable of keeping pace with changing market conditions, evolving customer demands, and emerging industry trends as they unfold. A digital business study from Foundry reports that 93% of companies have adopted or have plans to take on a digital-first business strategy. This trend has led to accelerated investments in technology. Companies introducing powerful digital transformation strategies to encourage growth and competitiveness collaborate with Inspirage as they build better supply chains. Contact us to learn more about how Inspirage can support your business.

As organizations across the globe continue to navigate challenging economic conditions, which are forecasted to remain volatile for the foreseeable future, businesses are prioritizing supply chain resilience. Learn more about the potential consequences of an economic downturn on global distribution channels and how teams are building adaptability and agility into their organizations moving forward.  

The true impact of a recession on the supply chain  

Modern supply chains are increasingly complex and have faced unprecedented disruptions in recent years. Networks and distribution channels are combating several daunting challenges, including:  

• Labor shortages. 
• Global inventory scarcity. 
• Port bottlenecks and congestion. 
• Changing consumer behaviors. 
• Inflation. 
• The risk of recession.  

While recessions often take the world by surprise, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policies have led economists to believe we are due for a sharp economic downturn. After months of recession forecasts, however, the question remains, will there be a recession — and when? Unfortunately, the short-term outlook is still unclear, but according to the February 2023 NABE Outlook survey, 58% of economists believe a recession will occur during 2023.  

A looming recession could take a toll on an already afflicted global supply chain by compounding the various issues distribution channels have been experiencing. While it is impossible to predict how severe such impacts might be, here are a few ways an economic downturn could affect the supply chain:  

• Reduced demand: Recessions typically bring about a decline in demand for many products and, in turn, the price of goods. Lower prices considerably cut into the profitability of all companies. 
• Furthered disruptions: As businesses cut costs and reduce investments in production and logistics, distribution networks are at risk of delayed deliveries, shortages of raw materials, and more. 
• Financial instability: A looming recession hinders business growth as companies face cash flow challenges, reduced access to credit, and limited investment opportunities.  
• Potential supplier bankruptcies: Suppliers or manufacturers that fail to stay afloat amid a recession can cause a ripple effect on the entire supply chain — forcing teams to find alternative suppliers or risk delays in their operations.  

Building a more resilient supply chain during times of economic uncertainty 

With continued supply chain disruptions and projected recession in mind, organizations across industries require more resilient distribution channels to navigate uncertain waters more effectively. What is a resilient supply chain? It refers to responding quickly to emerging changes and operational disruptions — often by utilizing adaptable contingency planning and predictive analysis. Despite the growing necessity of a flexible and agile supply chain, Gartner reports that only 21% of supply chain organizations believe their network is “highly resilient.”  

Here are some of the top strategies organizational leaders and chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) are using to set the right course for resilience in 2023 and beyond: 

• Identify resource bottlenecks: Determining resource congestion can help guide cost-reduction efforts and prioritize risk management. CSCOs can invest in backup suppliers and alternative logistics solutions to prevent disruptions arising from future bottlenecks. 
• Make strategic decisions considering recession recovery predictions: Taking recession projections into account enables leaders to anticipate potential shifts in supply and demand patterns and adjust operations accordingly — mitigating the fallout of an economic downturn and positioning the company for long-term success. 
• Diversify suppliers and manufacturing partners: A complete reliance on a single supply source or partner can spell disaster for an organization amid a recession. Building relationships with various suppliers and manufacturing partners helps maintain a stable supply of commodities throughout uncertainty.   
• Introduce digital technologies to boost visibility and minimize risk: Solutions that offer real-time visibility into supply chain operations promote faster response times and data-driven decision-making. Oracle Cloud technology can provide a more holistic approach to managing distribution channels that support the continuity of operations during an economic downturn.  

The key benefits of a more agile and adaptable supply chain 

As CSCOs and business leaders develop comprehensive strategies to strengthen supply chain agility and adaptability, they can see several benefits as a result: 

• Cost optimization: A more resilient supply chain helps reduce costs by improving efficiency, mitigating waste, and ensuring the organization is not overpaying for materials or services.  
• Increased customer satisfaction: When teams ensure the timely and accurate delivery of products, they are more likely to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty during disruption.  
• Enhanced risk management: An agile and well-oiled supply chain helps businesses mitigate risk, reducing the likelihood and impact of disruptions caused by economic downturns and other unforeseen circumstances. 
• Improve productivity: Greater efficiency in combination with streamlined workflows from a resilient supply chain can lead to faster cycle times and reduced downtime, allowing organizations to produce more with the same number of resources — all while meeting consumer demand more effectively.  

Navigating risk with the Enterprise Control Tower 

Continuous and integrated supply chain planning with the support of cutting-edge technology is essential for organizations to navigate uncertainty and risk. Leveraging technology that minimizes the impact of inflation and a potential recession enables teams to anticipate challenges, make operational adjustments in real-time, and build the resilience necessary to keep pace with rising prices and fluctuating consumer demands.  

With the Enterprise Control Tower from Inspirage, your business can empower an agile and highly responsive supply chain by connecting functional silos and disparate systems to provide deeper insights, aid quicker decision-making, and deliver actionable intelligence. Learn how Inspirage’s Enterprise Control Tower, powered by Oracle Cloud, can help your organization improve supply chain resilience and minimize risk. Contact us to learn more. 

The fast-paced and unpredictable global business environment has made effective talent management essential to supply chain performance and productivity. Successful strategies involve going beyond the normal HR processes, such as development and recognition, to deliver an outstanding employee experience. They also call for creating a motivated workforce, likely to stay with — and add value to — your company in the long run.

A closer look at the significance of talent management within the scope of the supply chain landscape offers insights into how businesses can advance their efforts now and in the future.

What is talent management?

Talent management entails bringing compatible and capable talent on board and developing, motivating, and retaining high-performing team members for the long term — helping you reach optimal performance and productivity. When organizations take the time to implement this process strategically, it can drive business success and ensure it remains competitive.

Exhaustive talent management should touch on all critical functions of HR, including:

• Recruitment and onboarding,
• Hiring,
• Performance management,
• Engagement,
• Rewards and recognition, and
• Learning and development.

Every team member directly impacts the bottom line, whether good or bad. Prioritizing talent management is a critical factor in retaining skilled workers, increasing business performance, and helping organizations recoup investments in development. It also ensures employees are well-equipped to succeed. By one estimate, 83% of HR leaders believe the employee experience is “very important” to organizational success.

Recognizing talent as a driving force behind business success

Talent acquisition and retention have become a critical focus for businesses. The Great Resignation resulted in workers leaving their jobs in droves in recent years. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that more than 50 million workers quit their jobs in 2022 alone. As of January 2023, the unemployment rate in the U.S. had decreased to 3.4%. As a result, businesses are continuing to navigate skilled labor shortages, which poses their own set of unique obstacles.

Although supply chain processes have become increasingly digitized through advanced solutions such as artificial intelligence and automation, many industries still struggle with a lack of skilled laborers. According to a new Korn Ferry report, more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled by 2030 because there will not be not enough qualified professionals to fill them. This shortage could result in a massive $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues and underscores the need for businesses to revitalize and reprioritize their approach to talent management.

With a more comprehensive talent management strategy in place, businesses stand to reap several benefits, including:

• Recruiting and retaining in-demand talent: Boosting the employee experience with learning and development opportunities can drive worker satisfaction and enhance reputation. That, in turn, supports improved retention and more effective recruitment in the long term.
• Improving communication and collaboration: Efforts to ensure talent is satisfied, engaged, and continuously growing fosters teamwork and knowledge sharing while promoting innovation and problem-solving.
• Mitigating disruptions: Strong talent strategies build skilled and flexible workforces that help organizations reach optimum performance and minimize disruptions. This agility and resilience are critical amid supply chain volatility.
• Reducing human capital costs: Leveraging comprehensive talent management to increase productivity, engagement, and retention helps minimize human capital spending.
• Driving efficiency and productivity: Effective talent management aims to arm employees with the knowledge, skills, training, and resources that they need to maximize their performance, which serves as a boon to efficiency and the bottom line.

Strategies to enhance talent management

To ensure workforces are well prepared to meet the challenges and unpredictability of today and tomorrow, it is critical to invest in talent management efforts. Effective talent management strategies include:

1. Positioning talent as a pillar of business strategy and ensuring it is always an integral focus for the company.
2. Aligning organizational objectives with talent goals to improve workforce planning and reduce human capital costs.
3. Strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to foster a more welcoming company culture.
4. Improving training and development programs for effective upskilling that supports employee satisfaction and business productivity.
5. Adopting processes and solutions that help to optimize workforce management and forecast future labor needs and challenges.

An innovative, enterprise-wide talent management strategy aligned with supply chain priorities enables businesses to remain efficient, agile, and resistant to unforeseen obstacles. Learn how Inpsirage, Part of Accenture, helps organizations achieve those goals by contacting us.

Businesses across the globe have been navigating a seemingly never-ending array of disruptions in recent years. These supply chain challenges have heavily impacted logistics processes, distribution channels, and supplier networks. As the supply chain becomes increasingly complex and interconnected, the likelihood that barriers in one region will quickly lead to a ripple effect of repercussions in others continues to grow. With that in mind, read on for a closer look at the state of supply chains in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region today. We will explore how these trends are affecting economies around the world and the resources companies can leverage to improve and streamline production and distribution operations moving forward.

The state of the region

The supply chain in the Asia-Pacific is evolving — and quickly. A report from the Harvard Business Review reveals that 67% of APAC organizations are taking steps to transform their existing supply chain networks, compared with 52% of global respondents. Businesses in the region are hoping to transform their existing supply chains by working to remedy a variety of issues, including:

• Supply chain bottlenecks: Countries across the region are experiencing congestion that creates shortages, shipping delays, and even shutdowns. This costs businesses valuable time and increases production expenses.
• Raw material and component shortages: Shortages have become commonplace. Causes for these shortages include inaccurate lead time on the buyer side, poor planning on the supplier side, inventory inaccuracy, shipping delays, and more.
• Rising freight costs: Export restrictions, additional consumer demand, and rising inflation have increased the costs associated with product shipment.
• Infrastructure issues: Undeveloped infrastructure within the region hampers the efficient and successful distribution of commodities.

Due to the complexity of global supply chains, major disruptions to Asia-Pacific are not only a concern for businesses in this region but those across the globe. What’s more, these issues can lead to a 62% loss in finances, according to Zippia. This has quickly highlighted the critical need for organizations throughout the APAC region and beyond to consider cloud solutions — such as supply chain, logistics, warehouse, and inventory management applications — that support their distribution channels.

Is China losing its supply chain dominance?

Amid the rise of globalization and integrated supply chains, China established its place as a manufacturing powerhouse and “the world’s factory” in recent decades. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, in combination with geopolitical tensions and new tariffs imposed during the Trump administration, has begun to shift China’s position away from the center of the world’s supply chains.

For example, in December of 2022, the WSJ reported on Apple’s accelerated plans to relocate production facilities beyond China’s borders. This is only one instance of China losing its foothold in global manufacturing. The transition away from China as the APAC region’s supply chain core is leading to greater supply chain diversification in the United States and Europe. This ultimately leads to important benefits, including reducing the risk of:

• Inventory backlogs
• Longer lead times
• Inadequate supply strategies

However, the beginning of 2023 saw China’s great post-pandemic reopening, along with factories in Southeast Asia ramping up production and purchasing. With supply-side pressures easing, lower inflation rates, and improvements for Asia’s manufacturers early in the year, the region has quickly become more optimistic about the future.

India’s push to become a global hub

As China’s control over the global supply chain fluctuates, Morgan Stanley analysts predict that India, Mexico, Vietnam, and Turkey stand to benefit the most from U.S. and EU companies diversifying their supply chains. With its policy stability, skilled labor force, and high levels of digital technology adoption, India is particularly well-positioned to become an integral hub in international production and distribution channels.

In fact, with the long-term goal of becoming a well-oiled global production hub, companies across India’s manufacturing sector are looking to cut dependence on China for parts and materials. This quiet revolution comprises plans to make more components locally, improve quality and delivery, and ramp up manufacturing across a range of categories.

The India Brand Equity Foundation reports that India’s government has taken up initiatives to support those goals. The National Manufacturing Policy, which aims to increase the manufacturing industry’s contribution to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 25% by 2025, was unveiled recently. Yet these aspirations are ambitious as manufacturing only accounts for 17% of the country’s GDP. But with a renewed focus on building up its manufacturing and supply chain dominance, India is in a great position to continue taking advantage of China’s declining competitiveness.

Solutions that support a streamlined process

Shifting supply chain dominance in APAC — in conjunction with continued disruptions, rising consumer expectations, and unpredictable markets — are throwing companies off balance. In response, business leaders and supply chain managers across the region, and elsewhere, are adopting solutions that create resilient supply chains and support flexibility in the face of volatility. This includes introducing cloud-based strategies that leverage enterprise-wide data and analytics, enhancing transparency, enabling greater adaptability, and emphasizing end-to-end risk management.

Regardless of geographic location, Inspirage equips businesses with the insights, strategies, and technological expertise that integrated enterprises require in order to manage their supply chains holistically. Our team helps organizations maintain operational excellence despite the inevitability of unpredictable disruptions in global markets. Are you ready to bring the right teams and technology together to boost organizational agility and resilience? Contact us today to learn more about our customized solutions and world-class Oracle Cloud expertise.

Throughout much of history, the global supply chain’s efficiency was significantly limited by geography and, in some cases, restrictive international trade policies. Today, that is no longer the case. Free trade agreements have opened up once-closed borders for the exchange of goods and services. At the same time, businesses and consumers have come to expect that raw materials and finished products can be moved around the world on a scale and at speeds that were previously unimaginable. Regardless of your time zone, supply chain failures and innovations in one region now have the potential to reverberate half a world away, dramatically reshaping local markets as well as the global economy.

The European Union (EU), for example, accounts for approximately one-sixth of the global GDP. As a result, Europe’s supply chain has the potential to affect consumers and businesses far beyond the continent. With that in mind, here are a few insights into how the European supply chain has fared during recent disruptions — and how it may be poised to influence the global economy in the months and years ahead:

Port bottlenecks

Strains in the global supply chain have been impacting business cycles since the beginning of the pandemic. In Europe, as throughout the rest of the world, this tension quickly led to growing port congestion and delays. The lack of end-to-end traceability and digitization capabilities are additional factors cited as root causes of Europe’s supply chain woes. Although pandemic-related pressures on European ports have eased since then, other challenges — such as strikes by port workers in France and the U.K. — have placed new challenges on the regional supply chain.

Now three years removed from the COVID-19 outbreak, these conditions have improved at EU ports, but they are still not quite back to pre-COVID levels. For instance, the Netherlands’ Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest seaport, handled 435 million metric tonnes of freight in 2021. This is an increase from 2020 levels (409 million tonnes), but below 2019’s total (439 million tonnes) according to EU data. Belgium’s Port of Antwerp-Bruges also handled more freight in 2021 than in 2020, but still less than in 2019.

It is worth noting that 2023 may be the year when EU and U.S. supply chains begin interacting more closely than ever before. Trade activity between the continents has recently surged. As the Wall Street Journal reported, exports from Germany to the United States rose almost 50% in September 2022 compared to a year earlier. Finally, in 2022, U.S. ports handled more cargo per month from Europe than from China.

Shortages in raw materials and semiconductors

A comprehensive Raw Materials study conducted by INVERTO found that European supply chains are facing rapid price increases and supply shortages of raw materials. Some of the shortages seen in the European market today include plastic, cardboard, steel, tin, textile, leather, and wood. Nine out of ten companies are reporting that raw material prices will continue to have a strong impact on business performance, and 77% believe the reduced availability of raw materials will have the same effect. While the causes behind these shortages can be attributed to several key factors, dependable and unrestricted access to certain raw materials will prove a significant concern within the EU and across the globe moving forward.

In addition to a scarcity of raw materials, European supply chains have been hit by severe shortages of semiconductors. This is due to the accelerated demand for electronic products and equipment, which the available supply is struggling to accommodate — particularly within the automotive industry. Semiconductor shortages have already impacted the continent considerably, with vehicle production dropping by 2.3 million units in 2021 against initial projections. This problem is not restricted to Europe, of course. Global semiconductor shortages have had adverse effects on companies and economies elsewhere as well. In the U.S. alone, lawmakers in 2022 earmarked $52 billion to support the country’s semiconductor industry with the goal of making U.S. organizations less reliant on overseas suppliers.

Persistent inflation and poor visibility

On top of material shortages, surging prices have also gripped much of Europe. In November 2022, for example, the Euro annual inflation rate was 10.1%, up from 5%, according to Eurostat. Within some EU member states, the rate of inflation has hit record highs recently, including Hungary (25%), Latvia (20.7%), and Lithuania (20%). The staggering increases in prices, especially for foodstuffs, are largely attributable to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Both countries are major wheat exporters, and food prices have skyrocketed. As a result, businesses have been forced at times to use alternative food sources, absorb the costs, or use different suppliers, according to Eurostat. Within some EU member states, the rate of inflation has hit record highs recently, including Hungary (25%), Latvia (20.7%), and Lithuania (20%). The staggering increases in prices, especially for foodstuffs, are largely attributable to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Both countries are major wheat exporters, and food prices have skyrocketed. As a result, businesses have been forced at times to use alternative food sources, absorb the costs, or use different suppliers.

When considering a change of suppliers, however, businesses must be mindful to avoid those providing poor visibility into supply chain activity. According to the State of the European Supply Chain from FourKites and Reuters, a survey of over 450 supply chain leaders across Europe, one of the most pressing challenges today is the lack of supply chain visibility across Europe. Without a clear view of inventory and activity, businesses are susceptible to a host of repercussions including delays in delivery, loss of productivity, rising costs, inventory shortages, non-compliance, poor customer experiences, and more. Considering this, organizations across the EU supply chain are in search of solutions that offer real-time, end-to-end supply chain visibility.

Extreme weather

An inevitable challenge for the European supply chain is the weather. With climate change causing major storms and flooding to become more frequent and intense, maritime supply chains in Europe have already been impacted. Perhaps the best example is the Rhine River in Germany, The Rhine is considered by many to be Europe’s most important commercial waterway given its geographical location and the thousands of vessels that navigate the river during an average year.

For the past two years, extreme rainfall (2021) and severe drought (2022) led to massive shipping delays along the Rhine for logistics organizations and other major shipping entities. In response to climate-related concerns, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) is now requiring ships to measure their energy efficiency and start collecting data, so they can more easily track carbon emissions. IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim reports that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a significant way to both combat climate change and harden Europe’s maritime supply chains.

The new reporting and tracking requirements took effect on January 1, 2023. Supply Chain Brain noted that more of these kinds of laws and sustainability regulations are likely to be implemented over the next 10 years throughout the world — not just in Europe.

Why is a well-oiled supply chain in Europe so important?

The supply chain is the lifeblood of every product-based business and industry, and it is the nerve center of the European economy, which relies heavily on imports of parts and components from other countries. According to the European Parliament, imports of those goods recently accounted for 65% of total trade. Disruptions not only lead to delayed deliveries, increased costs, and decreased customer satisfaction but also have crippling effects on the vitality of the economy — leading to billions of Euros in lost GDP.

The global supply is highly interconnected, and Europe is a hub for international trade, with a vast network of suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors across the continent. As a result, the performance of the EU supply chain will inevitably impact supply chains around the world.

Today, businesses need tools, resources, and support that mitigate common challenges and promote a well-functioning supply chain long-term. Inspirage can help you digitally transform your supply chain, so it is highly efficient and prepared for whatever disruptions lie ahead. Contact us today to learn more about our customized solutions and world-class Oracle Cloud expertise.

On the Importance of Allies, Values, and her Grandmother’s Belief That “Winter Always Turns to Spring”

To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, Inspirage, Part of Accenture is highlighting women in the technology industry in general and at Inspirage in particular.

As part of our series profiling the women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture, we recently spoke with Jennifer Lasby, Corporate Counsel, about her path to the technology industry from law school, the power of civility, and how her grandmother’s incredible story of survival and optimism shapes her life. Here’s what she had to say…

What drew you to the technology industry? 

Jennifer Lasby (JL): After the first year of law school, students can specialize in their legal focus. I was drawn to intellectual property and business transactions because the landscape for these two areas is constantly evolving. As a child of the 1980s, I grew up with technology and witnessed how technological inventions and advancements improved daily life. As a child and young adult, I went from having a Walkman to a CD player, an iPod, a flip phone, a digital camera, and an iPhone that could do all three of these functions. Watching these advancements and learning how the legal system can protect technology has been exciting.

When you are faced with a tough professional challenge, where do you look for guidance? 

 JL: Whenever I have had an issue or experienced a difficult situation, I feel confident reaching out to my team members and colleagues for guidance and advice. Past and present, I have worked with a great legal team during my seven years at Inspirage.

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

JL: I would tell my 18-year-old self that you belong and that allies are waiting to support you and help you succeed. If you are in a place in your career where you feel your values are in conflict or your voice is ignored, don’t feel the need to settle. There are plenty of wonderful places to work where you can be seen and heard and where allies and like-minded individuals are waiting for you.

Who are your favorite women in history or women who inspire you?

JL: For me, much of my inspiration comes from my grandmother. I am a third-generation Japanese American. My grandmother was from Hiroshima and was nine years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb. She survived this atrocity, lost most of her family due to the radiation exposure, and then came to the United States only to face racism, but she forged an undaunted spirit that I draw strength. She lived by the motto, “winter always turns to spring.” No matter what adversity or hardship she faced, she always found hope. Hope is powerful, and it is something that should be cherished. I aspire to live my life with the kind of hope and tenacity that she had.

What is the most important professional lesson you have learned since you began your career?

JL: Manners always matter; when in doubt always treat others as you would like to be treated. People may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel. The lack of civility in the legal profession is a familiar thing. Many lawyers confuse rudeness with zealous advocacy. However, if I am in a negotiation and opposing counsel acts cantankerous, I have found being civil is the greatest way to de-escalate the conflict. Civility may be politeness and friendliness, but it can also be courage. To be civil is to have the courage that your actions will positively influence others and make the outcome successful.

Do you have any hobbies or passions outside of working in the tech world?

JL: I have a one-year-old and a five-year-old who keep me busy. On the rare chance I get some time to myself, I love gardening, hiking, and renovating our 100-year-old house.

As the head of Inspirage’s legal department, Jennifer is one of the noteworthy women who contribute to our shared success daily. She advises the executive leadership team on all legal matters, works closely with business development to draft and negotiate Inspirage’s commercial transactions, protects Inspirage’s intellectual property, and works closely with the security team to coordinate Inspirage’s legal compliance efforts.

The Inspirage team hopes our readers have enjoyed learning about some of the noteworthy women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture during our celebration of Women’s History Month. We plan to highlight more women making a difference in the tech world throughout the year. Stay tuned to this space for more from our fabulous team of amazing women.

On equal representation, being raised by strong women, and the book every workplace leader should read

To celebrate Women’s History Month, Inspirage, Part of Accenture is highlighting noteworthy women in the technology industry in general and at Inspirage in particular.
 

 
To conclude our blog series profiling the women of Inspirage, we recently spoke with Callie O’Grady, Human Resources Director, North America & EMEA, about being drawn to the technology industry, shaping the future, seeking out botanical gardens, and more. Here’s what she had to say…

What drew you to the technology industry?

Callie O’Grady (CO): Technologies like AI and cloud software are constantly growing and becoming part of everything we do, even when we don’t notice it. How can we build a global future without equal representation of all people? If we want the future to look like us, we need to be part of shaping it. I recognized the lack of female representation in an industry that is shaping the world we will live in. This shortage of female voices is what inspired me to jump in and be a part of the change.

When you are faced with a tough professional challenge, where do you look for guidance?

CO: I have a strong female mentor in the HR space, and I recommend this to all women. Having the perspective and support of someone who understands the professional challenges I face has been essential to my success. In addition to having an internal mentor, an external mentor is important. You can benefit from the support of both someone in your organization, as well as the perspective of someone removed from that culture and workplace. I have learned that above all the support system you chose to surround yourself with will drive your success. You cannot pick your manager, teachers, or colleagues, but you can select the people who recognize your talent and help drive your success. You should take them with you through your life, both personally and professionally.

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

CO: Follow your dreams, take risks, and know your voice at the table is just as important as any other. I was raised by a family of strong independent women. My mother, grandmother, and aunts are all incredible women who get things done. They are highly motivated, self-sufficient, and hard workers. Even with that background, I sometimes need to remind myself how worthy my perspective is in the workplace. It can be easy to lack confidence in an industry that is still heavily male-dominated.

Is there one woman in particular who inspires you?

CO: Brené Brown is an author, professor, and speaker who inspires me. I vividly remember the day I saw her speak in person, and I own every book she has written. Her writing and perspective feel applicable to every personal and professional situation I have experienced. When I face difficult situations at work, I often stop and think, “What would Brené say?” I recommend every leader or aspiring leader in the workplace read Dare to Lead.

Do you have any hobbies or passions outside of working in the tech world?

CO: My favorite hobbies involve plants and being on the water. I am fascinated by the hundreds of thousands of species of plants, and my collection of house plants has started to outgrow our house. When we travel, finding a botanical garden in a new city or country is usually my first stop. My mother’s family is from Alaska, and I grew up spending significant time around the fishing industry, on float planes, and exploring and surviving in the Alaska wilderness. Being on a boat — large or small — is where I feel most at home.

As Inspirage’s Human Resources Director, North America & EMEA, Callie leads a rockstar team who manage all aspects of HR, including onboarding, recruiting, compliance, immigration, compensation and benefits, training and development, performance management, and employee relations.

On the Importance of Role Models, Confidence, and Constantly Learning

To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, Inspirage, Part of Accenture is highlighting women in the technology industry in general and at Inspirage in particular.

This week we continue our series profiling the women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture, by sitting down with Inspirage’s Martha Conlee, Director of Finance Operations. We talked about her unique career trajectory, lessons learned in life, and how she nurtures her competitive and adventurous side when she is away from the office. Here’s what she had to say…

What drew you to the technology industry?  

Martha Conlee (MC): I started far from technology with a job in the sports/personal training industry. After a year of working in that field, I realized it was not what I wanted to turn into a career. I then had an opportunity to join Kraft Foods in an entry-level marketing role, which was my first taste of the business and technology world. I spent the next 12 years on the functional side of technology with various positions in Marketing, Finance (FP&A), and Demand Planning. I also went back to school to earn my MBA during that time.

In 2010, my husband started a technology consulting company and needed my finance background to help with back-office management. I assisted part-time, but within six months, we realized the business required my full-time attention. I decided to quit my comfortable corporate job for a technology start-up.

In 2020, after ten years of running our business as an Oracle Partner in the Enterprise Performance Management and Business Intelligence space, we were acquired by Inspirage. Since then, I have continued to work in a finance operations capacity and have enjoyed being part of the technology space. My role allows me to interact with teams across every practice at Inspirage.

What is one of the greatest challenges you have faced as a woman in the workplace?

MC: My greatest challenge was not having role models at an early age. You cannot be what you cannot see. Fortunately, I met some incredible women early in my career, many of whom held leadership positions at my companies. I saw women leading across organizations. Because of these experiences, it was easier for me to do the same and feel like I belonged.

What is the most important professional lesson you have learned since you began your career?

MC: The most important lesson for me has been that of continuous improvement. I strive to avoid stagnation and never stop learning. I am a firm believer that there is always room for improvement. I pride myself on adapting, learning from others, and being open to change. As the saying goes, “If you’re not learning, you’re not growing.”

Do you have any hobbies or passions outside of working in the tech world?

MC: Aside from attending and watching my sons (ages 16 and 14) excel at various sporting activities; I enjoy competing in Spartan races across the United States. These races have provided an excellent outlet for my adventurous and competitive side. They keep me physically and mentally challenged and allow me to participate in an active community with like-minded people. What our bodies can do is incredible if we push the limits a little each day! I also love camping, biking, and any outdoor adventure.

What are you most proud of?

MC: I am most proud of how far I have come from where I started. I grew up on a small farm in rural Indiana. My high school had less than 400 students. The county where I grew up is the only county in the state with no stop light! I was one of four kids with three brothers. We didn’t have much, and we had to work hard for everything we did have. Every penny was counted, and there was no room for extras.

After high school, I attended Purdue University and was the first in my extended family to graduate from college. I was enjoying a rewarding career in corporate America when I decided to take another chance. With two young children at home, I went from a steady, low-risk job to a high-risk new business with my husband. Together we ran a successful company for ten years.

Looking back, it would have been easy to stay close to home, not further my education, or not leave my safe corporate job. I wanted something different, so I did something different. It has not been easy, but I am proud of my choices and the life experiences I have gained.

As the Director of Finance Operations, Martha is among the many women we celebrate this month for their essential contributions to Inspirage’s success. She is responsible for finance and accounting activities, including financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, planning, analysis, invoicing, vendor management, client billing management, AR/AP, and executive accountability.

Please continue to watch this space as we use the occasion of Women’s History Month to celebrate some of the other noteworthy women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture.

While potentially disruptive digital technologies such as cloud computing, virtual reality, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) have been around for a number of years, today they are finally capable of addressing real-world concerns for both consumers and business owners alike. It is little wonder why organizations worldwide are expected to spend more than $4.6 trillion on new digital technology in 2023, according to a report from Nash Squared. That is up from $4.2 trillion in 2021. Whether utilizing machine learning to improve operational efficiency in supply chains or data analytics to better understand what buyers value during the customer experience, leveraging the latest technology now makes previously unimaginable innovation and digital transformation possible. These technologies are particularly important in the high-tech industry where embracing digital technologies is paramount. Which high-tech trends will stand out and how will businesses be investing in the future throughout 2023? Here are a few possibilities:

High-Tech Trend No. 1: Workplace Automation

In the high-tech industry, organizations can gain speed and efficiency in 2023 and beyond by automating many of their routine and semi-routine processes. Workplace automation frees up time and energy for creativity and innovation by eliminating mundane business processes. While workplace automation can involve computers doing the work of a user, that is not the extent of their use. These automation tools can also be harnessed to create business value from contextual information. They help businesses respond with speed and urgency to changing markets and demands and also delegate tasks more effectively. This technology is crucial to the creation of more efficient and effective organizations.

Another example of the way high-tech organizations are automating the workplace is through ambient computing. Otherwise known as ubiquitous computing, ambient computing is a somewhat complex concept to grasp — quite literally. That is because the technology itself is invisible. Instead, it is embedded in the users’ surroundings. Imagine, for example, a thermostat that raises and lowers the temperature within a room by “remembering” or “learning” the habits of the homeowner. Or ponder the possibility of a smartphone that tells a driver how long it takes to get to a frequently visited destination just as he or she enters the vehicle. Ambient computing is what makes these capabilities possible; it is baked into daily life.

Jason Low, principal analyst for the research firm Canalys, told ZDNET that ambient computing is very similar conceptually to internet of things (IoT) technology, which relies on machine learning to perform predictive capabilities. But there is a key difference between the two. “IoT forms a base for ambient computing, with ambient computing more focused on how devices and intelligent services interact with users,” Low explained.

In essence, ambient computing is a more nuanced form of the Internet of Things that is centered on how IoT devices go about gathering data on users. Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft are just a few of the major high-tech corporations that are either utilizing this latest technology trend in one of their consumer products (e.g., Alexa, Amazon’s Echo Device voice assistant) or seeking to expand its use through more IoT devices.

One way high-tech businesses are increasingly relying on ambient technology is by making it easier for staff to collaborate across different geographies. The pandemic was a game changer for the workplace. Due to state-mandated lockdowns, many organizations were forced to close their offices and conduct day-to-day business affairs entirely remotely. Given that work productivity often did not suffer — and in some cases actually improved — several workplaces now permit their employees to work 100% remotely. In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll, just 20% of “remote-capable” employees (those whose jobs can be done from home) work entirely on-site. Among those who have the ability to do their job from home and the workplace, 50% divide their time between the two.

But having staff in different environments can present communication challenges when work requires collaboration via video conferencing tools, such as having trouble hearing who is speaking. As ZDNET reported, more organizations are relying on ambient computing in their conference rooms to address these issues. When deployed, the technology can seamlessly amplify voices so those speaking can be more easily heard by colleagues who are working from home. Essentially, the technology allows individuals to sit anywhere they want and speak normally rather than need to sit near the computer or raise their voices. Ambient computing allows companies to work more efficiently and increases flexibility.

High-Tech Trend No. 2: Continuous Penetration Testing

Cybercrime has become so commonplace that it is only a matter of time before a business is impacted by an attack — if it has not already encountered one. Nearly all businesses, regardless of their size, are in hackers’ crosshairs. In fact, according to Check Point Research, there was a 28% increase in cyberattacks globally in the third quarter of 2022 compared with one year earlier. Ransomware, which involves hijacking or locking down an organization’s system or network until a ransom is paid, is one of the most common types of cyberattacks. The pervasiveness of these attacks — and their difficulty to deter — is why Cybersecurity Ventures anticipates victims will experience $265 billion in losses by 2031, with attacks occurring once every two seconds.

High-tech companies are often targeted by cybercriminals because of the vast array of information and data an attack can provide. Beyond traditional cybersecurity measures, such as investing in software and reminding workers to follow strict safety protocols, high-tech businesses are investing in continuous penetration testing to fight back. Unlike traditional penetration testing, which assesses the resilience of a network at a specific point in time, continuous penetration is ongoing. This is done by simulating regularly occurring attacks. According to Forbes, an increasing number of organizations are turning to continuous penetration testing as a way to blunt cyberattacks, in general, and ransomware attacks, in particular. Penetration testing can be a reliable strategy because it helps to identify vulnerabilities, improve cyber risk management, and automates security monitoring in real time rather than during one specific instance.

Leveraging automated security monitoring can also help lower high-tech businesses’ costs by eliminating the need to rely on internal staff or outside help. However, cybersecurity expertise is hard to come by. According to (ISC)², the cybersecurity industry is in the midst of a severe shortfall in experienced professionals who can meet the demand for services. It is a global problem, too, with job openings worldwide increasing by 350% between 2013 and 2021, according to Secureworks.

High-Tech Trend No. 3: Augmented Reality

Augmented reality involves superimposing the digital world onto the real world by leveraging high-tech devices. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and other video game developers all offer augmented reality products to boost the customer experience for avid gamers. But augmented reality is not found exclusively among the gaming community; it is also used by schools to enhance learning, by retailers to personalize online shopping, and by businesses to train employees. The emerging technology is expected to become even more omnipresent in 2023. In fact, Research and Markets estimates that the augmented reality market’s valuation will top $61 billion worldwide in 2023 and continue to rise from there. The high-tech industry will be one of the main beneficiaries of this emerging technology.

In high-tech manufacturing, for example, augmented reality allows companies to overcome the challenges posed by their contract manufacturers’ high turnover rates. Turnover often results in less efficient processes, more human errors, and lower productivity. One way it accomplishes this is by enabling real-time training that allows workers to visualize – rather than simply hear about – vital work instructions and processes as they perform their jobs.

Augmented reality also has the potential to significantly improve quality assurance initiatives during every stage of high-tech product development. Guided AR solutions, such as the use of 3D imagery and machine learning to simulate the workings of mechanical components, now allow manufacturers to identify and rectify potentially costly design errors before products roll off the factory floor. In addition, augmented reality can improve the data management and analytics outcomes unique to manual processes. Through process simulation and workflow tracking, high-tech manufacturers can gather and document important information about inefficient cycle times, designs, and operational metrics that might otherwise go unrecorded and unnoticed until a problem arises.

High-Tech Trend No. 4: Artificial Intelligence

As far back as 2018, 85% of Americans were using at least one product that had AI capabilities, according to a Gallup survey. Artificial intelligence, while still a relatively new technology, is in full bloom. Industry experts believe AI will continue to saturate the marketplace in 2023. One type of AI that is poised to become more prominent is no-code AI. As its name implies, no-code AI is a code-free technology that makes it easier for users to implement and test their ideas through drag-and-drop interfaces. The turn-key nature of drag and drop enables any business owner — regardless of their familiarity with AI — to take advantage of it without expert assistance.

An increasing number of high-tech companies are also using artificial intelligence as well as machine learning to strengthen their supply chains before disruptions occur. These technologies speed up time to remediation by automating product analysis. Edge computing, for example, puts the processing power of AI and ML closer to the devices they monitor. That embeds crucial insights deeper into every aspect of operations, making supply chains function more efficiently and cost-effective over the long term. AI also provides benefits after a successful product launch, such as the ability to leverage user data to enhance product-related software, customer service, and security. Many of the online campaigns and tools high-tech companies now use — think search engine strategies and chatbots — rely on AI to engage potential consumers searching for specific content online and then guide them to desired outcomes.

New technologies have long been the key agents of growth in a wide variety of industries — and will continue playing that role in the decades ahead. Yet it is safe to say that the speed and intensity of innovation, disruption, and competition in the high-tech industry are unrivaled by those in any other realm. By their very nature, research and development initiatives drive the success and profitability of high-tech enterprises, so the reliance on cutting-edge technology by manufacturers and R&D firms will only grow in the future.

Almost any high-tech organization will have opportunities to benefit from these technology trends in 2023 and beyond. At Inspirage, we offer transformational services that can help keep your business on track by bringing the right teams and technologies together to optimize agility and drive operational excellence. Contact us today to learn more or download our new high-tech eBook.

From the moment a potential customer becomes aware of your company to when (or if) they decide to make another purchase,  the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain directly impact the customer experience. Any disruptions that interfere with production, delivery, or feedback can influence future buying decisions and consumers’ brand loyalty. The relationship between the supply chain and customer experience is direct: when the supply chain breaks down, so does the customer’s experience.

Let’s examine various ways the supply chain and the customer experience are interrelated.

Heightened expectations — and pressure

A classic example is when customers wait for online orders to arrive. In an era of two-day, one-day, and even same-day delivery, buyers have very high expectations about getting their purchases in a timely fashion. For a variety of reasons related to the health of the supply chain, what they buy may show up after they expect it to. According to a poll conducted by Descartes, nearly three-quarters of consumers surveyed (73%) said they had experienced some kind of delivery issue within the last three months, including orders arriving late. More than 26% of respondents said the product came “much later than expected.”

The inconvenience of these experiences can have lasting repercussions on customer loyalty. Of those impacted by unsatisfactory delivery, about one in four (23%) said they have not ordered from the company since. And 21% indicated they lost trust in the retailer, while 16% told people they knew to avoid buying from the company. In such scenarios, it’s clear that when the supply chain fails to deliver, the customer experience suffers.

“Good enough” isn’t good enough

The customer experience can also take a hit when the merchandise consumers buy is defective, wrong, or does not fit. According to Descartes, 12% of customers who had an item delivered to them said what they received was different from what they had ordered. This past holiday season, for example, UPS processed more than 60 million returns between Nov. 14, 2022, and Jan. 22, 2023, according to estimates from the company. Of those customers who made a return, more than 20% did so before Dec. 25, complicating whether their purchase would make it back to them in time for the holiday.

A reliable and consistent supply chain is about more than just ensuring enough supply of a given item based on demand or that it arrives in the quoted window. It is also about quality assurance: determining that the order is correct and free of damage. When those expectations are not met, the customer experience suffers.

Rising costs bring value into focus

Another drag on the supply chain, as well as the customer experience, is inflation. According to the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the Department of Labor, which tracks the rate at which prices for common goods are climbing relative to last year, the CPI rose 6.4% in January (unadjusted).  While inflation has cooled off slightly, Americans still cite it as one of the top problems affecting the nation, based on recent Gallup polling data.

When the cost of living rises as much as it has, budget-minded consumers are often forced to re-evaluate how they spend their money. They must evaluate their purchases based on what they need to have and what they can live without. Inflation can also cause buyers to use different suppliers if competitors sell something similar for less. These changes in consumer behavior can create uncertainty in the supply chain as businesses try to anticipate changes in demand and adjust their production accordingly. However, a lower price point may ultimately lead to the loss of customers if the supplier switches to using lower-quality raw materials to save on manufacturing costs.

Much like managing an organization’s supply chain, creating an ideal customer experience is an imperfect science. But you can strengthen both by honing your approach to the post-purchase customer experience, i.e., all customer interactions and impressions with your company after the sale. The keys to success are found in the “Five C’s,” according to SupplyChainBrain:

1. Communication: Thoughtful, proactive communication is essential. If an item may not arrive on time, customers must be informed of this possibility before it occurs.
2. Consistency: There should be no surprises for customers concerning each buying experience. Customers’ ability to deliver feedback — or change their orders — should remain the same every time and consistently leverage the right processes and technologies.
3. Costs: Returns and the costs that result from them are impossible to avoid entirely. But you can curb them by digitizing the returns process. Instead of placing a return slip in each order, digitizing returns makes the process more seamless by increasing visibility and making it easier to deny returns that go against company policy.
4. Convenience: Customers love options, especially after making a purchase. The more you can give them — such as offering home delivery, in-store pickup, or curbside pickup — the happier they tend to be.
5. Conservation: Sustainability is not only crucial to the environment — it is essential to consumers, some of whom are willing to pay more for goods and services from companies that adopt sustainable practices in their supply chain, their workplace, or their investments.

From shorter wait times at the nation’s shipping ports to fewer “out of stock” signs at big-box retailers, supply chains and customer experiences are much better today than this time last year. While conditions have improved, they are still not at “pre-COVID” levels. By preparing for supply chain disruptions and anticipating customer experience issues before they happen, organizations can get back to some semblance of normality.

Regardless of your supply chain and customer experience priorities, Inspirage has the experience, solutions, and expertise to help you achieve operational excellence across your organization. Contact us today to learn more.

On Confidence, Being Open to Change, and Learning to Figure It Out Herself

To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, Inspirage, Part of Accenture is highlighting women in the technology industry in general and at Inspirage in particular.

This week we continue our series profiling the women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture, by sitting down with Inspirage’s Nancy Ackerman, Practice Director, EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) Consolidations. We talked about developing confidence in herself and her ideas, embracing change, and learning to be resourceful. Here’s what she had to say…

What drew you to the technology industry?

Nancy Ackerman (NA): I started my career in accounting but had an opportunity to learn about the technical side of finance due to staffing shortages in my department. We were upgrading our software, and because of our small team, I got hands-on experience with financial technology during the implementation. My transition to technology began as a user. I embraced it and really liked it. From there, it was a natural step towards the Oracle EPM consulting I am involved in today.

What is the most important professional lesson you have learned since you began your career?

NA: I would say that my most important lesson was having confidence in myself and my abilities. When I started my career, I didn’t always have the conviction that I knew what I was talking about. As I progressed and gained knowledge and skills, belief in myself was something I had to learn and practice. I trusted that my ideas were valuable. By believing in myself, I was able to accept that people can disagree, but together we can produce great ideas for our customers and clients.

When you are faced with a tough professional challenge, where do you look for guidance?

NA: My current team has worked together for many years. In addition to our professional relationships, we have also developed friendships. When I have an issue, I feel comfortable reaching out to my superiors for guidance. I also go to other colleagues to hear about their experiences and to get advice. Because of our tight-knit team, it is easy to ask for help and find solutions.

What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?

NA: I would tell my 18-year-old self to be flexible and open to change. Life has ups and downs; it is not going to be exactly what you expect. I began my career as an accountant and was determined to be a CFO someday. After my first job, my outlook shifted. Because I was open to change and willing to be flexible, good things happened. My willingness to embrace the unexpected led me to where I am today.

What is your biggest career or personal achievement?

NA: My biggest career achievement was learning how to manage other people. I always saw myself as the worker bee — the doer, not necessarily the manager. It was a challenge overcoming this view of myself, but I realized I had important lessons to share. This relates to my earlier point about confidence: knowing you’re valuable and feeling comfortable sharing your experiences was something I had to learn over time. In my personal life, there is no greater achievement than my children.

What are you most proud of?

NA: I am proud of how far I have come. I started consulting with little experience and confidence in my abilities. On my very first project – an HFM (Hyperion Financial Management) implementation – I was thrown into the deep end, but I didn’t sink. By being resourceful (and with the help of the admin guide) I was able to figure things out and complete the project successfully. Now I’ve led and designed countless projects for my customers.

Finally, do you have any hobbies or passions outside of work?

NA: I love to travel. My family enjoys visiting resorts and cruising. Our favorite destination was the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. They were so beautiful. We earned our scuba certifications and completed our dives in the lagoon. There was no need for a swimming pool during this trip. It was amazing. We had the time of our lives!

As Practice Director, EPM Consolidations, Nancy is one of the noteworthy women who makes a lasting contribution to Inspirage’s ongoing success. She has over 27 years of experience with the Hyperion suite of products with a specific emphasis on financial consolidation products (FCC, HFM & Enterprise). As an Oracle Certified Implementation Specialist for Hyperion Financial Management and Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud, Nancy has led, designed, and implemented numerous successful projects, from requirements gathering to delivery to training the end users.

Please continue to watch this space in the weeks ahead as we use the occasion of Women’s History Month to celebrate some of the other noteworthy women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture.

On Career Choices, Creativity, Her Children, and Connecting with Other Female Leaders

To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, Inspirage, Part of Accenture is highlighting women in the technology industry in general and at Inspirage in particular.

This week we continue our series profiling the women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture by sitting down with Sarah Hart, Inspirage’s Director of Global Marketing and Communications. We talked about the importance of having a female role model, being a creative woman in the tech industry, and the advice she would give to her younger self. Here’s what she had to say…

What drew you to the technology industry?

Sarah Hart (SH): Before joining the tech industry, I worked in marketing and public relations in several areas, including beauty, international higher education, retail, events, and financial management. For my next role, I was committed to joining a company with a good culture that offered professional growth opportunities and needed a marketing shake-up. I was approached with an opportunity to lead the marketing efforts for Vertical Edge Consulting Group, an EPM-specific Oracle system integrator. They needed a marketing director and a real marketing presence, so I jumped in and started building their marketing strategy from the ground up. I led all marketing initiatives — content creation, digital marketing, social media, events, and more — with the help of a part-time contract graphic designer and contributions from our consulting team.

After six years, Vertical Edge was acquired by Inspirage, an end-to-end digital transformation Oracle system integrator specializing in supply chain management. I joined Inspirage as a marketing manager, but I took on the Director of Global Marketing and Communications role just over a year later. Today, I have worked in the tech industry, specifically the Oracle ecosystem, for almost nine years. Marketing technology requires balancing creativity with concise, rich messaging that speaks to organizations’ business needs and goals. Companies now understand more than ever the role technology plays in ensuring their resiliency, agility, and scaling for the future. As a marketer, not only is it necessary to “think outside of the box,” but also to remember that “acting outside of the box” produces click-worthy marketing initiatives. This activity directly contributes to opportunities to help businesses by bringing together the right teams and technologies to optimize their enterprises’ performance.

What is one of the most significant challenges you have faced as a woman in the workplace?

SH: I recently read that women hold only one-quarter of tech jobs. The percentage was much lower when I began working in the industry. As a female working in a male-dominated workplace, it is easy to be underestimated. In addition to not being valued as an equal, few female role models existed. At times I have subscribed to imposter syndrome, questioning whether I deserved my success. The challenges I have encountered have given me opportunities to grow professionally. I am often the only female in the room, but I have equipped myself with strategies to assert my ideas and leverage my strengths. I have found my confidence and voice. It has also been a priority to connect with other female leaders in technology, including colleagues and those I have met at conferences and through professional engagements – women who serve as mentors and friends.

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

SH: I am not sure the following is something that I would need to tell my 18-year-old self, but it is something we all need to be reminded of on occasion. I have repeatedly told my children, now young adults, to be respectful and kind. I guess my ‘momma nagging’ impacted them because my youngest daughter recently wrote this in a college application essay, “In a world muddied by discord, scarred by hatred, and clouded by unacceptance, we should all express empathy and kindness.”

I would also tell my younger self to take risks while she still can. I took a considerable risk when I graduated college and moved to London at 22. Still, I would advise the 18-year-old me to take more risks before taking on significant responsibilities like children, owning a home, and paying a mortgage. Take a chance at your passion and be adventurous, whether you succeed or not. Either outcome presents an opportunity for personal growth, and you can bounce back easier without primary responsibilities attached.

Finally, consider pursuing a career or a job that ignites your passion. You will be successful if you seek a career around something that brings you joy. Gone are the days of earning a degree in a field perceived as lucrative. Today’s generation values work-life balance and relationships more than money. Do not accept a promotion based on the compensation alone. Take time to weigh its impact on your creativity, personal life, and relationships.

What has been your biggest career and or personal achievement?

SH: Having been the marketing director for four companies subsequently acquired, I chalk that up to professional success. Growing a company’s brand, goodwill, and value ultimately leads to sales. Sales are followed by growth, profitability, and valuation – critical considerations in acquisitions.

Without a doubt, raising my four children as a single mom for the past 11 years is my greatest personal achievement. All four have received full scholarships for college and have gone on to do remarkable things. My boys have graduated college. One is pursuing a career in stock trading and investing, and the other is a financial analyst. My oldest daughter is graduating in May with majors in fashion and retail entrepreneurship and communications and has earned several employment offers. My youngest daughter is in her first year of college, pursuing behavioral psychology and education degrees and living her best life! Oh, to be in college again! I could not be prouder of them.

Do you have any hobbies or passions outside of work?

SH: My hobby and passion is Interior Design. It brings out my creativity, puts a pep in my step, and brings joy to my life. I enjoy spending weekends hunting for new treasures, decorating my home, and helping my children and friends transform their homes. “Acting outside of the box” and creating something unique from scratch that is functional and aesthetically pleasing is so satisfying.

What is one of the most important professional lessons you have learned?

SH: There is no such thing as a bad idea. I tell my marketing team this often. When you are brainstorming as a group and writing down ideas, you never know what you might dream up. Your insecurities might lead you to think that a valuable idea is useless, but that idea may trigger a conversation that results in a great solution. As a more creative person on a team of people who might otherwise tend to think more “inside the box,” it is easy to let insecurity creep in. Do not let it. Own your thoughts and ideas and throw them out on the table for discussion. They have value and can very well lead to something fantastic.

As the head of Inspirage’s global marketing department, Sarah is one of the noteworthy women who contribute to our shared success daily. She works closely with our executive leadership team, Oracle partners, and business alliance networks to elevate the company’s brand, drive its growth, and achieve its strategic initiatives. Inspirage, Part of Accenture is focused on preparing companies for the next decade by embracing end-to-end digital transformation and reimagining their digital experiences. Implementing industry best practices related to fostering talent, enhancing sustainability, and leveraging the potential of the metaverse are also among the key goals that Sarah’s marketing team plays a pivotal role in accomplishing.

Please continue to watch this space in the weeks ahead as we use the occasion of Women’s History Month to celebrate some of the other noteworthy women of Inspirage, Part of Accenture.

When a capital product is sold, costs and revenue must be accounted for based on the product’s serial number for profits to be calculated. Incoming charges are added to the product cost at the time of purchasing the product, and outgoing charges (dynamic in nature) are added at the time of sales order booking.

Incoming charges include those related to customs, insurance, freight, transportation, and handling. Outgoing charges include transportation charges, installation charges, warranty charges, and free components. Incoming charges are always added at the time of purchase order, either in the form of landed cost or using accounting overhead rules. All charges must be added to the overall product cost, and they must be accounted for as costs of goods sold (COGS), which has a direct impact on the P/L statement.

Accounting for cost

Creating cost based on the serial number is a challenge because outgoing charges are not added to the product cost, but they are added at the time of the Sales Order (SO) line booking. Accounting for cost at the serial level solves part of the problem by identifying revenue based on the serial number and product cost based only on the incoming cost. Still, outgoing charges are not added to the serial as these charges are not on the product sold. That can be addressed by creating a detailed report.

Oracle’s standard functionality for costing methods includes the standard cost, actual cost, and average cost. However, serial-level costing does not work on standard cost, so the actual or average cost must be considered.

Finding a solution

As its name implies, the average cost method averages out the product cost during the SO shipment. When selling two products for one SO (i.e., one SO with one line for two quantities) there are always two different costs for those serials. That cost is averaged once the two products are shipped to the customer.

For example, if Product X has one $10,000 serial cost and one $12,000 serial cost, the COGS is generated as $22,000 — with two $11,000 lines in cost accounting. To avoid costs being averaged during shipment, it is mandatory to use the actual cost method. To get the complete product cost for a shipment, a report must be generated showing the cost of the product including incoming and outgoing charges. This report must have the SO number and the product number and include serial details.

In that scenario, the serial numbers need to be entered at the time of the PO (Purchase Order) receipts or work order (WO) completion. In addition, all incoming overhead must be added at the time of PO receipt or WO completion using overhead accounting rules. All outgoing charges must be added at the time of entering the SO (with each unit base) so that the P/L statement can be calculated based on each serial.

To accomplish that, a report must be developed with the following details:

• Product number
• Serial number
• SO number
• SO line number
• SO line price (which will be the revenue amount)
• Product base cost
• All incoming charges
• All outgoing charges (from the SO line EFF)

As a result, profit margins will be successfully calculated based on each serial number.
 

 

Inspirage can help

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether upgrading your on-prem system or moving to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

The freight industry is a vital part of the financial engine of the United States. With consumer spending representing more than two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product, the ability of trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes to transport goods to their intended destinations is ultimately what enables the economy functioning. The commercial trucking industry alone hauled nearly 11 billion tons of freight in 2021, according to the American Trucking Association (ATA). In doing so, it generated more than $875 billion in total revenue, making it the biggest mover of domestic freight.

Yet the freight industry — trucking, in particular — is dealing with several challenges. How it maneuvers its way through those challenges may have a sizable impact on whether the economic road ahead will be smooth or riddled with potholes. Here are some of the issues the freight industry is experiencing and what business owners are doing to address them.

Challenge No. 1: Ongoing labor shortage

In the wake of the pandemic and the shutdowns that ensued, many industries have struggled to find workers. For trucking companies, however, finding help has been a problem for a long time now. This is due primarily to deterring factors such as low pay, long hours, and the solitary lifestyle that it often entails for drivers. By late 2022, trucking companies needed an additional 78,000 drivers to keep up with the pace of demand, according to the most recent statistics available from the ATA. If the trend continues, the shortfall could top 160,000 by 2031.

With varying degrees of success, motor carriers have made a number of business decisions to attract and retain drivers, including boosting pay, making it easier to obtain commercial driver’s licenses, and improving work-life balance. Whether those efforts are enough to make up for the driver shortage remains to be seen.

Solution: Artificial intelligence

Some organizations are also leveraging artificial intelligence as a way to boost productivity. While fully autonomous trucks are still not commonplace on the nation’s roads, AI has allowed for the creation of advanced driver assistance technologies. They rely on a combination of sensors, cameras, software, radar, and other technologies that help drivers navigate more safely.

As the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) pointed out in a 2020 report, “the rapid pace of autonomous vehicle development has the potential to affect many aspects of trucking industry operations,” including by enhancing productivity and improving safety. There are also a number of automakers that are either building or planning to build both fully and semi-autonomous trucks. Semi-autonomous trucks are those that require human interaction to perform certain tasks related to the truck’s operation.

Aside from on-road automation, motor carriers are also using technology to manage their fleets and optimize their routes. For example, through GPS, employers can track the location and status of their drivers in real time. This enables them to determine how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B and apply that knowledge to craft more time-efficient routes and schedules. Additionally, AI is proving to be helpful in identifying available parking spaces, the shortage of which is slowing the speedy movement of freight. While lawmakers are introducing legislation designed to boost truck parking infrastructure, there are downloadable mobile apps that enable truckers to find open spots. According to the ATA, the average driver spends 56 minutes each work shift looking for open parking. This downtime translates to an average of $5,500 in lost wages per year.

Challenge No. 2: Truckload capacity constraints

Another issue that is intertwined with the driver shortage is truckload capacity. With demand for trucking services persistently high, and availability of truckers low, the current state of trucking forces motor carriers to make decisions that can affect their profitability and their relationships with customers and businesses. This dilemma is exacerbated when they lack enough trucks to move products, which is common for smaller carriers that need to be constantly aware of expenses.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello has frequently discussed this challenge in the trade association’s monthly tonnage reports, which detail the amount of freight the trucking industry hauls over time. Truckload capacity constraints have also contributed to the supply chain problems much of the world has faced since the pandemic.

“Demand for trucking freight services remains strong, but for-hire contract carriers are capacity constrained due to the driver and equipment markets,” Costello said, as reported by Truckinginfo.

In a 2022 Benchmarking Survey Report from the National Private Truck Council, limited capacity was cited as a leading pain point for the freight industry, along with driver-related issues, the cost of fuel, regulations, and a few other struggles.  Parts and equipment shortages are also contributing to the capacity crunch among truck manufacturers.

Solution: Truck-sharing

One of the ways organizations are working around this issue is through truck sharing. As the term suggests, truck sharing involves multiple businesses sharing one or more trucks for the transportation of goods, even though those items may be different in nature and have different destinations. A truck may be owned by a truck-sharing company, for example, or by another motor carrier that rents out unused space to other companies. This approach can be arranged through a truck-sharing platform or application that enables carriers to coordinate with one another. In addition to making more efficient use of resources, truck sharing can also help reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Oren Zaslansky, founder and CEO of the logistics company FlockFreight, told Supply Chain Brain that shared truck loading makes good business sense because it allows for more efficient use of existing resources. “Many goods can be put together in a very agnostic way that creates value for everyone,” Zaslansky explained.

Truck sharing also helps to reduce the freight industry’s carbon footprint by reducing the number of fuel-burning trucks on the roads. In the average year, one commercial truck emits 223 tons of carbon dioxide, according to FreightWaves. That is roughly the amount of carbon that 14 people produce in a year.

Challenge No. 3: SEC’s climate disclosure rules

Originally issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010, climate disclosure rules are a set of regulations that require publicly traded companies to reveal any information pertaining to their production processes that can potentially harm the environment by contributing to climate change. Some of these rules were updated in 2020, and they require organizations to increase their reporting on how they may be exacerbating the effects of global warming. For trucking outfits, much of that information pertains to their fuel emissions. The SEC created these rules for transparency purposes so investors can make more informed decisions and put their money toward organizations that share their values and priorities.

Even though the rules are not legally binding, the SEC can still impose penalties for companies that fail to comply.

Solution: Zero-emission trucks

Cognizant of their impact and eager to be part of the solution, some fleets are investing in zero-emission trucks or ZETs. Zero-emission trucks look like any other commercial vehicle but without exhaust. ZETs, which are powered by electricity from batteries or fuel cells, produce minimal pollutants.

Since the federal government has ramped up its spending on electric charging station infrastructure, supporters of ZETs within the trucking industry contend that it makes sense for companies to put their money toward this type of equipment. In addition to helping decrease their carbon footprint, it also incentivizes investors to put their money behind organizations that are climate-focused. Many consumers like to buy from companies that uphold sustainable business practices. As a 2020 poll from the National Retail Federation revealed, over 70% of consumers say they are willing to spend more on items or services from companies that are transparent about their production methods.

Other ways that trucking companies can be more climate-focused without reducing productivity include reducing their empty miles by adopting a full truckload strategy (FTL) and prioritizing tire maintenance, writes Emily Newton, an industrial journalist for Global Trade. Ensuring that tires are properly inflated increases fuel efficiency by reducing a tire’s resistance. “Even simple changes to business processes that help maximize the number of FTLs can have a major impact on emissions,” Newton wrote. “Employing these tactics paves the way for a more sustainable trucking industry.”

The challenges the freight industry faces are solvable through a combination of technology and improved processes. Inspirage has expertise in both areas. We bring the right teams and technologies together to optimize agility and drive operational excellence for all product-based industries. Contact us today to learn more.

On Logistics, Confidence, Fulfillment, and Family

To celebrate Women’s History Month in March (and International Women’s Day on March 8th), Inspirage highlights women who have made significant achievements in the technology industry, including those on the Inspirage team.

Some of the most important pioneers in the tech industry were women, yet women in the field remain underrepresented today. According to a recent report from the Women Tech Network citing World Bank data, women hold fewer than one-third of the jobs in technology-related fields worldwide. With that in mind, we are highlighting some of the women we work with and admire, allowing them to share their experiences in technology, starting with Inspirage’s Pam Vivio, Senior Director, Logistics Management.

Pam — who is also a member of the Oracle Transportation Management Special Interest Group (OTM SIG) Board of Directors — recently shared insight into her career trajectory, being the only woman in the room, and her passions outside of work. Here is what she had to say…

What drew you to the technology industry?  

Pam Vivio (PV): When I went to college, I had not planned to work in technology. After graduating with my master’s degree, I accepted a position with a software company that developed a warehouse management system. After working with them for a couple of years, I went to work for SeaLand. At SeaLand, I was responsible for monitoring and tracking ocean containers traveling from all parts of the world. While working here, I was introduced to technology and EDI (electronic data interchange) and gained valuable logistics experience. I then went to work for G-Log, a global logistics company, where I combined my interest in technology and software development with my experience in logistics. At the time, it seemed like the perfect fit for me. In 2005, Oracle acquired G-Log and incorporated the transportation management platform into its supply chain offering. I continue to work in logistics, leveraging innovative Oracle products to help customers overcome their most complex logistics challenges and create cost savings for their transportation networks.

What is one of the most significant challenges you have faced as a woman in the workplace? 

PV: Throughout my career, I was often in situations where I was the only woman in a room dominated by men. Early in my career, there were times when I felt intimidated. At some point in my career, I realized that I was in the room because I had the knowledge to be there, regardless of gender. That gave me even more confidence to share my expertise with the audience, irrespective of their levels.

What makes working in the technology industry rewarding?

I love working in the technology industry because it is constantly changing. Prior to the pandemic, it was difficult to explain logistics to people. Today, however, the spotlight on logistics could not be brighter. In a post-pandemic environment, companies recognize the need for advanced technology to manage their daily operations proactively instead of reactively.

Where do you look for guidance when faced with a tough professional challenge?

PV: Whether it’s a personal or professional challenge, I look to my mom for guidance. She is almost 90 years old, has lived a full life, and always seems to have the right answers. No matter how innovative technology is and how it helps us become more efficient, there is nothing quite like the advice of your mother, especially one who has witnessed so many technological advancements.

What has been your most significant career and/or personal achievement? 

PV: As I have grown, I have realized that success is important. However, I also treasure my family time. I follow Tony Robbins, who says, “Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.” I try to live by this motto since all the money in the world doesn’t buy happiness. I enjoy the work that I do in technology. Seeing a company’s goals achieved because of a role I played in implementing robust and agile technology solutions brings a sense of accomplishment and puts a smile on my face — but spending quality family time and being active and charitable in my community is what truly makes me happy.

Do you have any hobbies or passions outside of working in the tech world?

PV: I enjoy spending time with my husband and two boys, who are nine and 12. We like to participate in outdoor activities like skiing and camping and we love cooking together as a family. My husband started a chain of healthy, fast-casual restaurants several years ago that has grown to almost 50 locations. We also enjoy traveling and trying new restaurants to explore recent food trends.

As a key player on Inspirage’s logistics team, Pam works with customers across all industries delivering transformative business solutions to supply chain challenges. Inspirage is your one-stop shop for Logistics Management and supply chain solutions. Whether your organization requires assistance with a solution to manage your transportation and delivery services, ensure proper product classification, or efficiently track your inventory, Inspirage’s team of specialists has the skills, processes, solutions, and technical know-how to bring cost-efficiency to delivery, predictability to inventory, and reliability to your global supply chain. Pam is one of the noteworthy women who contribute to our shared success daily.

Please continue to watch this space in the weeks ahead as we use the occasion of Women’s History Month to celebrate some of the other noteworthy women of Inspirage.

How to account for after-sales service expenses in Oracle Cloud Maintenance

Regardless of their industry, purchased products may come back to manufacturers for preventive or corrective maintenance. Once a maintenance work order (WO) is released, the components issued and labor costs for the job are expensed out immediately — even if the WO is still in progress — and the cost of goods sold (COGS) is generated right away. However, revenue is not generated until the WO is complete and the product is returned to its owner. The potentially significant lag time between COGS generation and revenue generation results in a loss on P&L statements, which is not acceptable for most industries. To avoid that scenario, revenue and COGS must be generated at the same time. With Oracle Maintenance Cloud, it is possible for COGS to be generated when a sales order (SO) is closed. As a result, COGS and revenue are in harmony on P&L statements.

To accomplish this, the maintenance WO needs to be complete and closed. The picking and shipping process must also be completed to close the SO line. COGSs entries should be in a work in progress (WIP) clearing account and then posted to the general ledger (GL) on the SO and WO close lines. Finally, a report needs to be generated showing that the WO is closed, with components issued and resources used. The COGS entries should be associated with a WIP/clearing account instead of the COGS line itself so that COGS are not generated while the WO is in progress. Since the COGS entries are still in the WIP/clearing account, a GL API needs be used for posting the entries to the GL.

To do that, the GL date and the WO close date must match, and the GL needs to have a “Maintenance WO” category. All transactions should be available in the GL in “unposted status” so that users can review them and then post them manually. Next, the transaction in GL can be posted “status” to avoid manual intervention each subsequent time. As a result, the maintenance expense account will hold the WIP balances, and COGS will be booked only when the maintenance is completed. By eliminating COGS booking on every “Component Issue” or “Resource Absorption,” the P&L statement will be in balance.

Inspirage can help

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

Actively managing the flow of goods, services, and information from the producer all the way to the end user is a big job. Procurement plays an important role in getting it done right. In order to pump out products, businesses need the raw materials, components, and parts that are involved in fabrication. When procurement stumbles, the supply chain can crumble, as the effects of the pandemic made clear.

While supply chain bottlenecks have largely diminished, evidenced by improvements at the nation’s shipping ports, they continue to rankle procurement team leaders and other stakeholders more than three years into the COVID crisis. According to a survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business in December, nearly one in four respondents said supply chain disruptions continue to be a “significant” problem for them. Just 13% said their supply chain was back to normal.

Here are a few of the procurement trends that supply chain management and procurement team leaders can expect in the coming year.

From too little supply to too much

During the pandemic, with millions of Americans stuck at home, business boomed for product-based industries. Be it clothing, food, electronics — even toilet paper — products flew off store shelves and warehouse floors. The surge in demand was fueled by stimulus checks sent to households by the government, an infusion of cash that often caused too many dollars to chase after too few goods. Exacerbating the shortages were COVID mitigation measures imposed by business owners, often at the urging of health experts. Because the coronavirus is airborne and highly infectious, employers — such as manufacturers — erred on the side of caution and rolled back how many people they had working on assembly lines at any given time. Unable to produce as much as they would normally when fully staffed, manufacturers felt the financial repercussions, despite the frenzied pace of buying. According to a survey done by the National Association of Manufacturers at the time, nearly 80% said they anticipated reduced earnings. They were right: Year-over-year revenues fell by more than 50% in the second quarter of 2020, according to Forbes.

Fast-forward to today. While supply levels have normalized, demand has diminished, much of it due to inflation. This has left manufacturers and retailers with a glut of inventory. Big box retailers and e-commerce giants — such as Walmart and Amazon, respectively —  have all felt these impacts. Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., addressed this issue in an earnings report and described what the company has been doing to shed inventory. “The increasing levels of food and fuel inflation are affecting how customers spend, and while we’ve made good progress clearing hardline categories, apparel in Walmart U.S. is requiring more markdown dollars,” McMillon explained.

With fewer consumers buying because of sky-high prices, cash flow is becoming problematic for organizations in various sectors. Chris Kulp, managing director and leader of procurement and sourcing at Alvarez & Marsal, told Supply Chain Brain that these working capital challenges will likely become more widespread for companies in 2023, especially if inflation persists as expected. “That’s going to manifest itself in volatility in terms of company stability and financial performance,” Kulp said.

Procurement leaders will have to come up with solutions that enable the organization to pay their suppliers for the raw materials they receive without compromising their cash flow for other business requirements. Efficient procurement can help companies maintain good supplier relationships, which can improve cash flow by extending credit or other agreements that can delay payment if it becomes necessary.

More labor force woes

While procurement is predominantly focused on ensuring companies have the materials they need to produce, it also entails recruiting or retaining the people who are involved in production. This has not come easily as of late, particularly for procurement leaders in manufacturing. Driven by a variety of contributing factors — including applicants not having the right qualifications and layoffs caused by the pandemic — many manufacturers simply do not have enough staff on hand to ramp up production. According to a quarterly survey done by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a majority of employers in manufacturing are encountering this issue, as noted by nearly 76% of leaders.

Hiring has also been a sticking point for the trucking industry, which plays a pivotal role in transporting the goods companies have procured to produce their goods. If motor carriers and logistics entities cannot pick up the pace of recruitment, the driver shortage has the potential to surpass 160,000 by 2031, up from the current shortfall of 78,000, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA). In an attempt to close the gap, trucking companies are raising wages. Among truckload fleets, for example, over 90% increased what they were paying their current and/or would-be hires in 2021, according to the ATA’s 2022 Driver Compensation Study. The average trucker experienced a wage hike of nearly 11% in 2021 alone.

While pay increases have helped to some extent (e.g. the driver shortage in 2021 was 81,258), there are still more people leaving these and other blue-collar industries than joining, with the turnover rate among manufacturers hovering around 39% in 2021, according to government data. As recently as 2017, it was just 30%. Given that manufacturers often operate on razor-thin margins, Kulp warned that raising wages may cause producers to be squeezed financially in 2023. “The stickiness of wage inflation is going to be very difficult to get away from,” Kulp said.

Looking ahead, procurement professionals will need to collaborate with stakeholders to identify the skill sets that recruits must have to be successful, then work with human resources to ensure that new hires meet those talent requirements. They may also take the lead in managing vendor relationships, which may include working with recruiting firms to identify and attract top-tier talent and compensate them accordingly.

Sustainability fragility

Sustainability is no longer the province of the environmentalist movement; it is mainstream. Indeed, many consumers and investors are demanding more socially responsible business practices. They are putting their money where their mouth is, as well, buying from those organizations that uphold their values and actively demonstrate corporate social responsibility. Perhaps because of this, manufacturers are showing their support for sustainable business practices, with 58% agreeing that sustainability is critical to their ability to compete in the years ahead, according to a poll from NAM. This is up from 38% in 2021. As a result, more than 63% of respondents indicated they were “implementing extensive, corporate-wide” sustainability strategies or processes in their operations. In 2019, only 39% were doing so.

But adhering to sustainable practice is not easy. Since fossil fuels — like oil, coal, and diesel — are cheap and relatively abundant resources, implementing and maintaining sustainable business practices can be costly in the short term. Plus, since the supply chain is largely designed with traditional energy sources in mind, it can be difficult for other organizations involved in production and receiving to abide by those same practices.

One of the ways organizations are addressing this challenge is through training. For example, in an effort to meet sustainability targets — like reducing their carbon emissions, conserving resources, or protecting biodiversity — more employers are training their workers to reduce waste in their production processes. In turn, this can help with cost reduction.

They are also creating sustainability goals, then mapping out plans to meet them. For example, the NAM poll revealed that a majority of corporations have specific goals that will help them be better stewards of the planet. Setting goals helps organizations be more accountable and put a plan in place that can help them reach their aspirations.

Procurement professionals have a part to play in sustainable procurement. Sustainable procurement is a procurement strategy that can help make a difference when it comes to “greening” the supply chain. By supporting innovation, collaborating with other organizations that share the organization’s priorities, increasing transparency, and evaluating the environmental footprint of goods produced or procured, companies can reach the conservation goals they and their customers’ value.

Innovation is central to solving challenges and turning them into strengths. Inspirage is committed to continuous innovation. We can set you up with procurement solutions that drive performance and deliver results through digital transformation, artificial intelligence, analytics, and much more. Contact us today.

How to account for capital product outgoing overheads in Oracle Fusion Cloud Order Management

Whenever capital products — such as automobiles, semiconductor machines, and heavy construction equipment — are sold, any dynamic overhead expenses that were incurred need to be accounted for. Also known as outgoing charges, such expenses include transportation fees, service charges, free parts, and installation charges. These overheads, which can be substantial in nature, are considered dynamic because they may be subject to change depending on customer negotiations, company policies, and shipping locations. Because they add to the overall product cost, they must be recognized as costs of goods sold (COGS), which has a direct impact on profit and loss (P/L) statements.

However, Oracle Fusion Cloud Order Management (OM) does not provide dynamic expense coverage; it only accounts for overheads that are static in nature or based on an overall product percentage basis or so. To overcome this gap, Inspirage has developed an extension for OM that enables dynamic overhead reporting. By adding these dynamic outgoing charges to the overall COGS once the sales order is processed (on SO line close), revenue and COGS will be aligned — and the P/L statement will reflect accurate numbers.

Below is the accounting used for these different scenarios:

• Product sold to a customer (revenue recognition)

• Product sold to a customer (COGS recognition for the product cost only)

• Product sold to a customer (COGS recognition for the outgoing charges)

 
In the scenario, the SO (Sales Order) and line must be created for the product to be sold, and the picking and shipping process must be completed to close the line. The revenue must then be recognized. COGS entries are generated for the product sold, and a report must be generated showing that the SO line for the product has been closed.

To overcome the dynamic overhead, the following actions must be taken:

• Enable the EFF (Extensive Flex Fields) at the sales order line with the outgoing charges attributable to transportation fees, service charges based on negotiations, free parts, and installation charges
• All these charges must be added at the time of the sales order creation, based on unit bases rather than the total number of units sold
• The sales order line must be picked and shipped
• The line’s status must be closed
• Revenue must be recognized based on the line close
• A report must be generated showing the SO line status as closed, the customer details, and the dynamic charges for each line with the charges’ name and amount

Since accounting for these charges is not yet complete, an extension must be built to call the general ledger (GL) API, which will post the entries to GL with the following entries:

• Summary of all dynamic charges in the sales order line
• The GL date (must be the sales order line close date)
• The GL category (“outgoing charges”)
• All transactions in the “unposted” status will later be posted manually

These GL transactions, which should have the SO number and the charges to recognize, can then be put in “posted” status to avoid manual intervention in the future. As a result of employing dynamic entry in Oracle Fusion Cloud Order Management to account for sales order overheads, your P/L statement will reflect accurate numbers, as revenue and COGS are posted in alignment.

Inspirage can help

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

How and When to Use Different Costing Methods for the Same Item

Once products are sold, the revenue needs to recognized, as does the cost of goods sold (COGS). Generally, that involves using the standard costing method. Many products that have been sold may come back in for regular maintenance and services, which can be preventive or corrective in nature. If a product is a customer asset or is under warranty when a business provides after-sales services and the products are received through a return merchandise authorization (RMA), the standard cost cannot be applied because that would affect the overall inventory valuation in Asset Sub-inventory. This problem becomes more pronounced when a business receives customer-owned products which are not under warranty. In that case, products must be entered as “zero cost.”

As a result, it is important to understand how to segregate such products from new products to avoid these adverse effects. The following scenarios show the reasons for using different costing methods and their potential impact on inventory valuations.

Products under warranty

These products can be replaced with new products and can then be refurbished later. The cost of the warranty product can be predetermined — for example, 50% to 60% of the value of the new product.

Non-warranty products

These products either never had a warranty or no longer have a valid warranty and are now solely owned by the customer. If they are received in the asset sub-inventory, the standard cost will be applied, and the inventory valuation will diminish as a result. However, if the products are received in the expense sub-inventory; the nature of the transaction will be changed from asset to expense. For these expense items, the sub-inventory can be “warranty.” For customer-owned products, which must also be an expense, the sub-inventory can be a “customer asset.” In these cases, the item cost profile for the expense transactions must follow any costing method other than the standard costing method, including average or actual.

Return Merchandise Authorizations

If you create an unreferenced RMA order with “receive the product at RMA price,” the product cost will become the RMA price on the sales order. As a result, the cost of the product changes. While a warranty product may have some cost (a percentage of the RMA price), it can be refurbished later and can be sold separately. The new product can be issued to the customer as a product under warranty. A customer asset, on the other hand, can be received at zero cost.

In short, each item must have two cost profiles: an asset profile based on a standard cost and an expense profile, which can be based on average or actual cost.

The nature of the transactions changes as follows:

Selecting the Ideal Costing Method

Here are the best practices for determining and using the proper costing method:

• Create the item
• Make sure the “Item Inventory Asset Flag” is “yes”
• New products must be in the asset sub-inventory
• Customer assets must be in the expense sub-inventory
• Warranty products must be in the expense sub-inventory
• Each item must have asset and expense cost profiles
• The asset cost profile must have a standard cost
• The expense cost profile must have an average cost
• Use standard cost for new items
• The expense profile must have an “unreferenced RMA receipt cost” based on the price on the RMA order

If warranty products require replacement, send the new products from stores. The warranty products can then be refurbished and completed in the refurbished asset sub-inventory. A new standard cost can be assigned at that point.

For non-warranty items, simply receive the products into the customer asset sub-inventory with RMA prices as zero. Then create a maintenance work order, complete the work order by addressing the product issue, and ship the product back to the customer.

Either way, you can use different costing methods and have no adverse impact on your inventory valuation.

Inspirage can help

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

The financial services industry may not be the largest in the United States, but a strong case can be made for it being the most diverse. From insurance to consumer banking, mortgage origination, data analysis, and much more, the finance industry has a specialty for just about everybody. Indeed, there are over 7.6 million professionals who are employed in the financial services sector and over a half-million private establishments, according to figures compiled by Zippia. Combined, financial services within the United States on average generate more than $4.8 trillion in annual revenue, making it responsible for more than 7% of the country’s gross domestic product.

But with Western Europe representing the largest share of the world’s financial services market (40%), the domestic financial services industry has room for growth. The sector’s ability to make headway may be influenced by financial institutions, banks, lenders, brokerages, and other industry players capitalizing on opportunities to expand their customer base and turn their weaknesses into strengths — both in 2023 and beyond.

The following are some of the trends that are poised to shape the future of the finance sector:

Trend No. 1: Banks look to cash in on Generation Z with digital technologies

Ever since millennials first outnumbered baby boomers in 2020, businesses have focused on appealing to the younger demographic, particularly financial institutions seeking to expand their account holder base. 2023 is poised to be another generational turning point. That is because according to Insider Intelligence, it will mark the first time that Generation Z adults — loosely defined as those who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s — outnumber those who remain in their adolescence.

Unlike millennials, many of whom were growing up as analog phased out and the digital revolution took hold, Generation Z is digitally native. They familiarized themselves with digital technologies, tools, and solutions at a very early age. As such, their bank-related activities and relationships with money have been far different than those of millennials, Generation X, or baby boomers of the same age. This is particularly evident with respect to cash. Consumers by and large have reduced their cash use: 41% of Americans do not use paper currency during an average week, up from 24% in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center. This has been the norm for Generation Z practically from birth. In fact, the same Pew poll revealed that only 45% of adults under age 50 always keep cash on them, compared with 71% who are 50 or older. Instead, much of Generation Z leverages their smartphones for their purchasing needs by using mobile pay. They also use mobile apps to perform much of their banking, such as cashing checks or checking the balance on their savings and checking accounts.

To appeal to Gen Z as they enter the workforce, financial institutions, like retail banks and credit unions, are investing in the mobile solutions that Gen Z use for their banking needs. They are accomplishing this by creating them, improving their functionality, or promoting them on social media networks, such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Tiktok. They are also harnessing the power and reach of social media to help Gen Z sharpen their financial literacy skills. According to a study done by Credit Karma, a majority of Gen Zers (52%) use TikTok to obtain financial information, compared with 26% of millennials who use the network for the same reasons. Consumer finance expert Deborah Boyland told The Financial Brand that TikTok is a gold mine for banks seeking to expand their Gen Z customer base. It is also an affordable way to advertise.

“People actually watch the ads, enjoy them, and comment on them,” Boyland explained. “It’s a whole different advertising world.”

Trend No. 2: Automation and Machine Learning Gain Momentum

Some market watchers have predicted that a recession in 2023 could reduce investments in automation technologies after years of rapid growth. However, a downturn in the economy could have the opposite effect as more businesses seek to increase operational efficiencies and profitability by automating processes that have traditionally been time-consuming, tedious, and prone to human error. For example, technologies that enable automated workflows and robotic processes (such as intelligent document processing) have the potential to transform every aspect of a business, including the supply chain/ERP, finance, customer experience, product lifecycle management, and logistics management. Regardless of the exact technology a company might leverage to achieve automation, the keys to success are working with an experienced implementation partner who understands the business and jointly developing a detailed action plan to address your unique goals.

The finance industry is also likely to continue its adoption of machine learning in 2023 as a way to increase efficiencies and overcome whatever challenges the economy might throw its way next. Machine learning refers to the automated analysis of enterprise data, the extraction of insights from that data, and a system’s ability to change functionality without requiring any direct human supervision or direction. With machine learning informing their decisions, finance teams can increase workforce capacity, use financial and human resources more prudently, and ensure the integrity of their data. That, in turn, allows them to do a faster and better job of closing, reconciling, detecting anomalies in trend analysis, and connecting enterprise systems.

Trend No. 3: Continuing digital transformation maturity

Just as technology is constantly advancing, the same is true for financial institutions and their digital transformation journeys. Even though digital transformation has been underway for well over a decade, the non-stop nature of innovation requires that banks — and financial services as a whole — remain apprised of which solutions are outdated and need to be updated.

And while financial institutions have had success with their transformations and deployments, they have encountered some growing pains. For example, in a global survey performed by Digital Banking Report, more than 60% of financial institutions said they had only “partially deployed” their digital banking solutions, The Financial Brand reported. More specifically, just 24% indicated that the digital solutions in place had helped to significantly improve both the customer experience and engagement. Approximately 10% said they had made no progress whatsoever. The same study revealed that only 30% felt they had achieved great success with their utilization of social media.

Resistance to change may be contributing to some financial institutions’ shortcomings with respect to digital transformation. Digital transformation requires adapting and embracing next-generation technologies that are designed to be more efficient and more customer-facing. But for many in the financial industry, there seems to be a general sense of discomfort with new technology and processes, particularly for employees who have been in the industry for a long time. According to the most recent statistics available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age in the banking industry is 43 years old. More than a quarter of the financial institution workforce is 55 years of age or older. Many of these individuals were working in this sector prior to the widespread adoption of digital innovation.

In order for digital transformations to fully take hold and mature, financial institutions and their decision-makers may need to lean on change management resources that can help stakeholders better cope with new processes and learn to embrace change. As more banks implement and roll out open banking concepts, financial institutions may turn to these service providers to effectuate change and make more significant inroads in their digital transformation journeys moving forward.

Trend No. 4: Hardening data collection strategies and security methods

Similar to many other industries, financial services not only run on money but also runs on data. Thanks to mobile banking, cloud computing, and the ubiquity of smartphones and digital wallets, consumers as well as financial institutions have access to that data like never before. And while financial institutions also have security systems in place designed to protect data from cyberattackers and identity thieves, the expanded availability and sharing of data has created more opportunities for sensitive information to be stolen. The financial services industry is frequently targeted, with financial institutions experiencing a 238% increase in cyberattacks during the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, Fintech Magazine reported.

In light of the troubling trend, the U.S. government is looking to give more teeth to data-sharing rules. As soon as 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to make changes to Section 1033 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The move would impose more stringent regulations on how financial institutions handle their customers’ information, maintain it, and exchange it with other enterprises. It would also require financial institutions to ensure that their customers have the ability to access their financial data on demand.

Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, discussed some of the forthcoming changes recently at an annual summit, noting that the ultimate goal is to give consumers more power. “While not explicitly an open banking or open finance rule, the rule will move us closer to it, by obligating financial institutions to share consumer data upon consumer request, empowering people to break up with banks that provide bad service, and unleashing more market competition,” Chopra said.

He added that decentralization and greater market competition will also help improve the security of personal financial data because firms would be required to ensure that customers’ personal information was available to them through more secure methods than the ones that exist today. Currently, companies are able to access consumer data through screen scraping, which enables users to gather data from multiple accounts, often without their authorization. In short, firms that offer checking accounts, credit cards, digital wallets, and the like would have to prove how they are hardening their data collection and transmission processes.

“People would feel secure knowing that both the data holder and the data receiver follow secure practices,” Chopra added. With stiffer regulations looming, financial institutions will need to establish new processes and systems that demonstrate both to their customers and to the government how they are better-protecting data while at the same time making it more easily accessible to consumers.

With so much economic uncertainty in the air heading into 2023, it is safe to say that this could be a decisive year for the finance industry — good or bad. But it is also true that those businesses with the foresight, vision, and partnerships required to make the most of digital innovation opportunities are the most likely to continue thriving well into 2024 and beyond. The ultimate aim for the financial services sector is year-over-year improvement. Inspirage brings the right teams and technologies together to accomplish this goal by optimizing agility, enabling resilience, and driving operational excellence. Contact us today to see how we can help you grow your business.

Using EDI to support purchasing processes in Oracle Fusion Cloud

In supply chain management, procurement is a vital business process that involves multiple stakeholders — including the procuring organization, buyers, planners, sourcing managers, and suppliers — and their respective IT Systems. The procurement process requires extensive data exchanges between the procuring and supplying organizations. These data exchanges establish the roadmap for all future transactions between the two entities.

The buying process typically starts with the creation of a purchase requisition, which is converted into a purchase order. Purchase orders are communicated to the supplier via phone, fax, or email. There are multiple attributes exchanged between the two entities critical for the procurement process. They include the purchase order number, supplier, supplier site, buyer, item, quantity, price, ship-to location, bill-to location, requested delivery date, promised delivery date, payment terms, shipping method, and freight terms.

These attributes are subject to change and are managed through change order management. This makes the entire process cumbersome and error-prone. Consequently, there is a need to improve communication and simplify the change management process which, in turn, will enhance the end-to-end procure-to-pay process.

What is EDI?

EDI, which stands for electronic data interchange, enables the systematic exchange of business data between trading partners. It is an alternative to traditional approaches like using mail, faxes, and emails to communicate information. EDI minimizes users’ participation in the data exchange process because EDI documents can flow straight from the buyer’s IT system to the seller’s, thereby improving the data exchange process.

Key EDI transactions in Procure-to-Pay

In Oracle Fusion Cloud Procure-to-Pay, EDI uses multiple codes to facilitate business processes. Each EDI code resembles a designated step in the procure-to-pay cycle and can be categorized as either an inbound or outbound transaction depending on who is the recipient of the data. The codes include:

• EDI 850 - Purchase Order (outbound, from the buyer to the supplier)
• EDI 855 - Purchase Order Acknowledgement (inbound, to the buyer from the supplier)
• EDI 860 - Purchase Order Change Request – Buyer Initiated (outbound, from the buyer to the supplier)
• EDI 865 - Purchase Order Change Acknowledgement/Request – Supplier Initiated (inbound, to the buyer from the supplier)
• EDI 856 - Advance Shipment Notice (inbound, to the buyer from the supplier)
• EDI 810 – Invoice (inbound, to the buyer from the supplier)

Key considerations to facilitate EDI transactions 

The following steps can be taken to facilitate data exchanges between buying and supplying systems (assuming the procurement module is pre-configured):

• Conduct data mapping for attributes to be exchanged
• Configure collaboration messaging framework
• Enable supplier for EDI transactions
• Configure approval rules for purchase orders
• Configure change order template
• Maintain item cross-references
• Establish error handling framework

Understanding the Collaboration Messaging System

Oracle’s Collaboration Messaging Framework (CMK) enables Oracle Fusion applications to establish business-to-business (B2B) message-exchanging capabilities with customers or suppliers. It can use predefined service providers, including Justransform.com and Oracle Business Network. If one of these is being used, then all documents and messages are already set up.

Each trading partner is defined using the “Manage B2B Trading Partners” task for predefined service providers. Next, select the documents to be exchanged with the trading partner and then associate the trading partner with the suppliers participating in the EDI process.

CMK transforms B2B documents like purchase orders into an XML format and sends them to the service provider. The service provider transforms that information into a supplier-specific format which is subsequently consumed by the supplier’s order management system.

Inspirage can help

As a result, the EDI process provides extensive benefits to both the buying and supplying entities. It enables business automation, which in turn reduces costs, and offers seamless data exchange with better turnaround time on transactions. It also mitigates errors and increases data accuracy between the procuring organization and supplying entities. EDI offers a perfect blend of automation, improved business processes, enhanced turnaround time, and data accuracy. To learn more visit How You Configure Collaboration Messaging Framework or contact us today.

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

Implementing an ERP system — which involves planning, configuring, customizing, and deploying a new solution — impacts every aspect of the business, including finance, HR, sales, and manufacturing. To ensure that implementation goes well, key stakeholders need to be consulted before and during the implementation, so the entire business is ready for the change. While there is no single method to identify the right implementation strategy for any organization or enterprise, there are several factors that affect the strategy and timeline for an ERP implementation. They include:

• Company size
• Number of locations
• Business process complexities
• Number of integrations with third-party applications
• Employee headcount
• Type of industry and operation structure
• Nature of customizations
• Migration of master data and transactional data
• Change management

Depending on the selected implementation approach and the complexity of business processes, ERP implementations can take anywhere from four months to two years or more. Regardless of the timeline, choosing the right ERP partners, establishing a well-documented project plan, and properly allocating resources will determine how effective the ERP implementation is.

There are three important pillars in every ERP implementation: people, process, and technology. Most ERP implementation failures result from inadequate planning and resource management, coupled with a lack of awareness regarding risks. This failure can happen at multiple levels, affecting critical business processes that can overwhelm a technical team’s ability to manage risks and change effectively. Understanding the relationships between the people, processes, and technology involved will help determine which type of ERP implementation strategy is best suited for each project or company.

Implementation Strategies – Key to successful ERP implementations

While there are a few proven strategies for transitioning to new ERP systems, each with advantages and disadvantages, successful implementations always depend on the stakeholders working together with a shared goal and vision of business success.

These are the four most common Implementation strategies:

Big Bang approach:

The term “big-bang ERP implementation” describes a go-live scenario where a business switches from its existing legacy system to a new solution at a single point in time. The big bang approach has the potential to reduce the integration cost. In this approach, everything moves to a new system at the same time. All integration work — including any related to data management, training, and establishing processes and configurations — should be completed by the go-live date. Businesses in some industries may be reluctant to use the big bang approach because it requires too many resources to support the go-live.

Pros and cons of the big bang approach

Phased roll-out approach:

In a phased roll-out, the modules of the ERP system are introduced in a planned sequence, replacing the old system gradually. For example, a company operating in different geographic locations might roll out of the new ERP solution one location at a time. This approach has a minimal impact on the overall organization or enterprise, and one of the greatest benefits of a phased rollout is that it gives users more time to learn and adapt to the new system. In this way, older systems can be replaced gradually rather than all at once. Milestones can be set for each phased rollout based on factors such as:

• Modules and complexities
• Business units
• Geographic locations

Pros and cons of a phased roll-out approach:

Parallel adoption approach:

The parallel approach to an ERP implementation is to keep the legacy system and the new system running concurrently for a while. The amount of time for which both the systems are in operation could range from one day to several months. One advantage of parallel adoption is that it provides a safety net in case something goes wrong. The enterprise business process will not be disrupted if the new ERP system breaks down. This approach also provides number-to-number comparisons to confirm that the new ERP system is performing the necessary business process flows. This strategy is best suited for mission-critical situations that cannot survive a major breakdown of an ERP system.

Pros and cons of the parallel roll-out approach:

Hybrid Adoption Approach:

The hybrid implementation strategy incorporates elements of the parallel, big bang, and phased approaches. Hybrid strategies vary depending on the nature and size of the enterprise. Small to medium-sized organizations with very few sites tend to have simple hybrid strategies whereas large conglomerates may require more complex hybrid implementation strategies for a successful ERP implementation.

Pros & Cons of Hybrid Roll-out approach:

Inspirage can help

An ERP implementation can be a long journey, so selecting the right strategy is crucial. Once all business processes are aligned, the dramatic positive impact on ROI (return on investment) will be obvious to everyone. Working with a partner to establish industry best practices during the process creates a more seamless and speedier experience. Inspirage can guide your journey down the right path and reduce implementation costs by delivering a well-defined ERP implementation strategy and communication process.

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

Governments, business owners, and entire industries are reevaluating everything they thought they knew about the supply chain. With the effects of the pandemic revealing gaping holes in the global supply chain and presumed best practices, stakeholders are thinking outside the box toward solutions that can enable them to master supply chain management, and in so doing, improve customer satisfaction.

The metaverse may be that solution. The metaverse has become quite the buzzword in society’s lexicon these days, even though the term itself was coined in the early 1990s by a fiction writer. Yet many people are still not well versed on what it means. According to an Ipsos survey done earlier this year, fewer than one in five Americans are able to correctly explain it, and only around 40% are familiar with the terminology.

While the technology may still be in its infancy relative to technologies that preceded it, the incredible potential that the metaverse holds when it comes to improving logistics, manufacturing, and other business needs suggests the metaverse could be a major game changer for the physical world in general and business owners in particular.

What is the metaverse all about?

The metaverse, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a digital environment where users can interact with one another in a variety of ways, all within a computer-generated world. Although the metaverse is often thought of as a specific technology, it is more accurate to think of the metaverse as a combination of existing technologies that are creating a new capability or application. The primary technologies it is composed of are virtual reality and mixed reality. While these are often thought of as synonymous with one another, there is a subtle difference between the two. Virtual reality is a medium that requires headsets or special electronic equipment for people to interact with a computer-generated environment. Mixed reality, on the other hand, is the blending of the physical world with the virtual world, thereby making the latter a tool for the former — an augmented reality, as it is also known.

How is the metaverse different from virtual reality?

Virtual reality, much like the term “metaverse,” is not new. Since its inception, it has largely been associated with entertainment uses, wherein gamers can temporarily “escape” from the physical world into a digital world, saving cities from villains as comic book superheroes or leading a professional football team to a come-from-behind overtime victory.

While the metaverse can be used for gaming purposes, it also serves as a persistent digital world where more long-term engagements can take place, for both business and personal use. In addition to major tech companies — such as Meta (formerly known as Facebook), Google, and Nvidia — numerous household-name corporations have invested in the metaverse. They recognize it for what it is: a business opportunity that can fuel growth and improve upon what currently exists. Here are a few of the companies that have metaverse projects in the works or already in place, according to Tech.co and The Metaverse Insider:

• Nike
• Adidas
• Walmart
• Shopify
• Qualcomm

Investments from industry titans like these help explain why the metaverse universe is poised to be worth as much as $824 billion by 2030, up from $21 billion in 2020, according to forecasts done by Verified Market Research.

Why are so many businesses ‘all in’ on the metaverse?

The metaverse is the quintessential emerging technology; its practical use has a lot of potential, but much of it has yet to be realized. It is this potential, however, that has generated so much business interest. From improving the way the consumer shops online to enhancing employee training in professions where retention is critical, the metaverse has the potential to make existing processes more efficient and effective.

Many business executives and supply chain management professionals hold this same view about the metaverse supply chain: It has promise in ensuring that all of the sequences and processes that are involved in the production of a commodity are done more seamlessly and with greater predictability. This is made possible by simulating the processes within a virtual world first, then applying them to the real world. All these activities transpire within the digital supply chain, which is much like a physical supply chain, but in a computer-generated environment.

How is the metaverse poised to improve existing supply chain challenges?

The worst of pandemic-era supply chain disruptions may be behind us, but supply chains are far from being fully functional or back to normal. In a November 2022 poll conducted by the National Federation for Independent Business, nearly 90% of business owner respondents acknowledged that they had been at least somewhat adversely impacted by an underperforming supply chain, with nearly a third of respondents saying the effects were significant.

Here are a few ways metaverse-informed supply chain strategies may be able to help businesses revolutionize supply chain management:

Increases collaboration

By its very nature, the supply chain involves many stakeholders, each united toward a common product-based goal. Since the metaverse is a shared space where all stakeholders can connect and share ideas, it promotes collaboration and communication, both of which are key to a thriving and durable supply chain. Streamlining collaboration can help shorten the product lifecycle, so goods can be developed and delivered to end users more quickly. A shorter supply chain also reduces the risk of disruption since there is a shorter window of time between product development and delivery.

Simulate warehouse processes

In the world of retail — be it brick and mortar or e-commerce — the warehouse represents a significant component of the supply chain. Virtual warehousing facilities are possible inside the metaverse. Customized to resemble the physical world version, virtual warehousing facilities make it possible to try out certain processes and workflows, test their results, and then apply those same flows to the physical world. Instead of trying to visualize scenarios in one’s mind or via computer software, the metaverse makes it possible in a more natural, visual way, leaving less to chance.

Map out an entire supply chain network

Depending on the product or item, there are numerous processes that have to take place before it reaches the consumer, business, or some other end-user. The metaverse makes end-to-end supply chain network mapping a reality, albeit virtually. From farmer to shopper or from miner to jeweler, the metaverse can map out all of the “players” within a supply chain network. And instead of simulating only warehouse processes, the metaverse can simulate those that occur before and after the warehouse. For example, how might extreme drought affect farmers’ staple crops, such as wheat or corn? How would those impacts (e.g. reduced quality, lower quantity) influence the other members of the supply chain network?

Improve the quality of data

Decisions are influenced by data, but those decisions can be compromised if data is faulty, inaccurate, or incomplete. Because the metaverse supply chain leverages artificial intelligence to synthesize data — without the assistance of human input, which would make it prone to error — it has the potential to improve the quality of that data, thereby making it easier to predict events before they occur. This can help with business functions like demand forecasting or lead times, which are important to logistics, manufacturing, and other supply chain activities.

Inspirage provides transformational services that can fuel your business and achieve your long-term goals. One of our specialties is supply chain management. For more information on how we can help your company thrive through digital transformation and our Oracle-based software solutions, contact us today.

Expanding Digital Supply Chain Capabilities

 
Inspirage is now part of Accenture. Read more: https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/accenture-completes-acquisition-of-inspirage-expanding-digital-supply-chain-capabilities.htm.

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NEW YORK; Jan. 4, 2023 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has completed its acquisition of Inspirage, an integrated Oracle Cloud specialist firm with an emphasis in supply chain management, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The acquisition further enhances Accenture’s Oracle Cloud capabilities, helping it accelerate innovation for clients through emerging technologies, such as touchless supply chain and digital twins. Financial terms of the transaction, previously announced on September 6, were not disclosed.

 
Approximately 736 Inspirage people join the Accenture Oracle Business Group, further bolstering its Oracle supply chain skills and expanding its capabilities to help product-centric clients create interconnected, intelligent and innovative supply chain networks.

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Using Dynamic Planning Policy Profiles to Avoid Overstock

For small-scale enterprises, overstocking can be a problem. Maintaining tight inventory levels requires updating minimum and maximum quantities regularly for all SKUs in their inventory, which is time-consuming and not cost-effective. Using automation – like min-max planning in the Oracle Cloud – to update min-max values at the item level is less costly and easier to maintain.

Min-max, a replenishment method widely used in many industries, simplifies the planning and implementation of the entire inventory stock. The static min-max quantity method gives inventory and warehouse managers the ability to adjust the demand based on history or current sales. The static min-max method can be a bit cumbersome when the manager must set the minimum and maximum quantity on each SKU in the item master. Comparatively, the dynamic min-max method provides the flexibility to set the uniform policy across the SKUs in the item master. This type of policy can be holistically designed by planners and inventory/warehouse managers.

Min-max planning is a simple and easy-to-use inventory management method that does not require specific knowledge. It is a basic inventory re-ordering method that is supported by most ERP systems. Oracle Cloud Inventory Management supports the min-max inventory planning method, as well as dynamic min-max planning. Oracle Cloud introduced min-max planning in 17D.

Benefits of Min-Max Planning

The Oracle Cloud Inventory Management dynamic min-max planning method provides an automated process for updating all minimum and maximum inventory quantities, reducing the need for planners and inventory managers to maintain stocks on a daily or weekly basis. It also considers economic value by calculating economic order quantities.

Min-max planning allows you to generate replenishment orders according to your configured replenishment policies either on-demand or by using a scheduled process. It avoids manual intervention to maintain min-max values at the item level. It also requires less data handling and communication.

Key Considerations

• Min-max policy profiles are assigned to the catalog-category level, which requires creating separate classifications for all the products in the item master.
• Catalogs can be created for sales, inventory, planning, cost, etc.
• Catalogs can be further classified into subclasses, such as higher, medium, and lower.
• Conditions can be set for the categories while defining item classification; any condition can be set for the selected classification.
• A min-max planning profile has two parts: minimum quantity and maximum quantity.
• The minimum quantity needs data from planners, such as default safety stock days of cover, to check demand quantities within that period. Additional parameters which enable more accuracy in calculating minimum quantities include historical data and default daily demand for the items in the inventory. The ability to override the minimum quantity calculated by the system can be added to the policy.
• Maximum quantity requires data such as minimum plus order quantity, days of cover, and minimum plus EOQ (economic order quantity). There is also a default order option for calculations of max quantity.
• The EOQ method calculates economic order quantity and adjusts the maximum order quantity in the process.
• There is a policy profile for all items in the assigned catalog category.

Cloud Inventory Management Best Min-Max Practices

Define Item Attribute

Enable min-max planning in Inventory Management by selecting “Min-Max Planning” in the “Inventory Planning Method” drop-down menu. Then set the default min-max quantities and select a safety stock method.

Manage Min-Max Planning Classification Groups

Create classifications in min-max planning to categorize items. Similar types of items can be associated with the same class, such as those based on high, medium, or low cost. There are options to define conditions such as “starts with” for various categories, “equals” for exact categories, “contains” for a category with a specific word, and “among” for a range of categories.

Manage Min-Max Policy Profile

A policy profile in Oracle Fusion Cloud Inventory Management represents a set of rules that defines how min-max planning will calculate quantities.

Policy profiles work in conjunction with the classifications you define for min-max planning. After creating a policy profile, you assign the policy profile to a classification using the Manage Min-Max Planning Policy Profile Assignments task. A policy profile can be assigned to a classification at the organization and sub-inventory levels. You can define one policy profile and assign it to multiple classifications.

The policy type is by default min-max planning, and the policy UOM is by default units.

Calculating minimum quantity:

• Safety Stock Calculation Method by default set to Days of Cover
• History Data in Days to set the number of days limit for checking demand transactions for the specific item. History data is provided in the number of days.
• Default Safety Stock Days of Cover to calculate safety stock and provide default safety stock.
• You can override system-calculated values for safety stock and average daily demand.

Calculating maximum quantity (3 methods):

• Minimum Plus Order Quantity to set default order quantity.
• Days of Cover to set the maximum quantity of days of cover.
• Minimum Plus EOQ to calculate Economic Order Quantity.

Managing Policy Profile Assignment

Assigning policy profiles is the final step in setting up dynamic min-max planning in Oracle Cloud Inventory Management. In policy profile assignments, classification is assigned at the organization and sub-inventory levels. Based on parameters set in the policy profile, minimum and maximum values are calculated and updated for all catalog-category items.

 

 

Inspirage can help

Inspirage understands the challenges of inventory management and can help your business implement Oracle’s proven min-max planning methods to improve your inventory replenishment strategies.

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

Relative to other countries, the United States has a remarkably diverse manufacturing sector, perhaps the most eclectic of the nation’s largest industries. You name it, some manufacturing company in the U.S. makes it — from hydraulics and hardware to plastics and silverware. Because of this, companies within the manufacturing industry — and their supply chain — cannot be painted with a broad brush. Despite the apparently rampant disruption of supply chains, a recent poll led by Oracle and IndustryWeek found nearly half of manufacturers were not negatively impacted by the pandemic. In fact, many are now in a better position today than they were before COVID. That said, supply chain disruptions remain the rule rather than the exception, with nearly 80% of leaders saying it was a top business challenge for them in 2022, according to polling conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers.

A decade from now, each manufacturer will look back upon 2023 differently given their diverse makeup, but here are a few manufacturing trends that are expected to emerge or persist in manufacturing in the months ahead. As you will see, many of them involve some aspect of the supply chain.

Heavy recruitment push to continue

Although the national unemployment rate at the end of 2022 was below 4%, companies in many industries have been struggling to find individuals who can fill open roles. Manufacturing is one of those industries. As of September 2022, there were at least 835,000 job openings among manufacturing organizations large and small, based on jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If the high turnover rate in manufacturing employment continues at its present pace, the shortage could hit 2.1 million by 2030, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

As with numerous other sectors, thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost in 2020 during the pandemic. Those jobs were quickly replaced, however, thanks in part to the economy bouncing back and by robust consumer spending when lockdowns were lifted. Chad Moutray, the chief economist for the National Association for Manufacturers, told Manufacturing Dive that employers are raising manufacturing employee wages to encourage more applicants, but this effort has not been enough to close the gap.

To increase productivity and make up for lost workers, manufacturers are increasingly investing in automation, AI, and other smart manufacturing capabilities. But the future of the industry remains with the traditional flesh-and-blood laborer. Because of this, manufacturing companies need to invest in their people and ensure workers receive the proper training so they have the skill sets needed to succeed in this line of employment.

“Manufacturers must continue to lead the way in skills development if we are going to close the skills gap and make the industry more competitive,” said Moutray, who also serves as the director for the Center for Manufacturing Research.

Some of the employee skills that manufacturing companies will need to be competitive include being adept with data gathering and analysis. While these are hard skills, employers are also seeking soft skills as well, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication.

Growth in additive manufacturing

Manufacturing may be one of the oldest industries in the world, but the rapid pace of technological innovation is creating new subsectors within the field, one of which is additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing uses 3D printing technology to create a variety of applications, products, and even food for personal, commercial, or industrial use. Just about every industry has benefited from the revolutionary capabilities the 3D printer has to offer, including healthcare, transportation, restaurants, and fashion.

The processes that make three-dimensional creations possible depend on the item that is produced and may include binder jetting, material extrusion, sheet lamination, and vat photopolymerization. With 3D printing technologies becoming increasingly sophisticated, the federal government is seeking to leverage additive manufacturing for national security and military needs. Kevin DeVries, deputy director of the DoD’s Manufacturing Technology Program, noted in a statement that if the U.S. is to achieve its goal of test-firing a hypersonic missile in 2023, 3D printing will play a key role. “We need to be pushing the envelope with materials produced using the additive manufacturing processes,” DeVries said. “The science has proven it is possible, but the practice is not widespread enough.”

Relative to other subsectors of manufacturing, additive manufacturing is still in its infancy. But it is poised to grow substantially in the years ahead, potentially reaching a valuation of approximately $34.8 billion by 2028, according to Facts & Factors. That is up from $11.3 billion in 2021. The fascinating nature of the novel technology may inspire more individuals to pursue a career path in the industry in the years ahead.

Further expansion of smart factories

From phones to TVs to headphones, consumer technologies have clearly received the “smart” treatment, which in the tech world refers to innovations that allow devices to “think,” such as by employing artificial intelligence and machine learning. Workplaces, like factories, that utilize these same capabilities have gained traction as “Industry 4.0” becomes more entrenched in global economies and work processes.

Like some of the other manufacturing trends mentioned here, smart factories are not new. In 2017, for example, well-known manufacturers like General Electric, BMW, and BASF had at least one smart factory system or initiative in place or were planning one. They made these early investments because smart factories have the potential to reduce operational expenses, improve manufacturing quality, and increase overall output.

Fast forward to today, and newly launched manufacturers are using smart factory capabilities right out of the gate. Smart factory operations and techniques are expected to become more of the norm moving forward. The industrial internet of things market globally in 2021 was worth $263 billion in 2021, according to Grand View Research. Its valuation is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 23% through 2030.

AI for decision-making purposes

Artificial intelligence has become widespread among manufacturers, especially in Europe. Last year, according to Google, an estimated 79% of manufacturers in Germany and 80% of those in Italy reported using AI in their regular and ongoing operations. Perhaps surprisingly, the U.S. (63%) trails both of these countries, as well as France (71%) and the United Kingdom (66%). Including all the nations that Google polled, more than three-quarters of manufacturers have incorporated AI into their day-to-day operations.

Today, manufacturers are utilizing AI for a variety of supply chain activities, including quality control inspection, production checks, inventory management, and more. The more efficient use of resources, time savings, and potential for lower costs are making them believers. If more leading industries, in addition to manufacturing, incorporate AI into their business processes, it has the potential to boost global GDP by $13 trillion by the year 2030, according to Harvard Business Review.

Flexible manufacturing

A case can be made for high-speed internet being the most groundbreaking invention in world history. Thanks to its availability, millions of organizations were able to pivot to all-remote work arrangements, a capability that likely staved off a more long-lasting recession, if not depression. While manufacturing is predominantly a profession in which work occurs in a central location — given the machinery that’s involved — flexible manufacturing has unmoored the industry from physical spaces.

Flexible manufacturing involves leveraging work machines, material handling, or central processing computers — or a combination of all three — so organizations can maintain production, but in a broader variety of work environments. These systems can also respond to certain discrepancies that may compromise output, which provides employers greater reliability.

Given the success some manufacturers experienced during the pandemic, many organizations have maintained their remote work arrangements. According to polling conducted by Fictiv, more than 80% of manufacturing executives who allow their employees to work remotely have had a beneficial experience. It positively affected their points of view regarding flexible manufacturing and justified their investments in systems that allow for added versatility.

The trends of today and tomorrow are meant to help manufacturers build a more resilient and sustainable supply chain. Since our founding, Inspirage specializes in implementing the right systems and solutions so businesses achieve a higher standard of excellence. Contact us today and please browse some of our Customer Testimonials and Spotlights, which are real-life examples of how we deliver solutions to our clients’ operational challenges.

The healthcare supply chain is highly complex, intricate, and interwoven. Composed of several parts, processes, systems, and structures, a fully functional life science supply chain enhances patient care and satisfaction by ensuring that people have the products, treatments, and services they need to maintain or achieve wellness when sickness, disease, or other ailments strike. But if just one component of the supply chain process is compromised or encounters roadblocks — whether for pharmaceutical organizations, medical facilities, personal protective equipment manufacturers, or researchers in the life sciences — it can lead to setbacks for the entire supply chain, as events surrounding the pandemic have laid bare.

Lacking personal protective equipment inventory in the early stages of COVID-19, healthcare organizations and supply chain leaders were forced to come up with solutions to avoid exacerbating the disease’s transmissibility and compromising patient safety. With the help of the Defense Production Act — a presidential power that compels the private industry to prioritize the needs of the country — disruptions in supply chain operations were overcome, as medical facilities received the newly produced respirators, ventilator filters, N95 face masks, and other critical supplies in their time of need. If nothing else, COVID-19 proved that the life science supply chain needs some fine-tuning. Here are a few of the supply chain management trends expected in 2023 that may help the industry get into better shape.

Growth in retail health clinics

Even prior to the pandemic, at least one hospital in every state was in dire financial straits, a pattern which particularly affected community hospitals. COVID-19 proved to be the tipping point, as in 2020, dozens of hospitals went into bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg. Dozens more have ceased operations since then due to mounting debt and unsustainable patient care demand. Retail health clinics are increasingly filling the void left by rural hospitals. Many major players in the retail and e-commerce spaces — including the likes of Amazon and Walmart — are heavily invested in retail health clinics, as more of them are opening their doors throughout North America. They are joining the likes of CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, and Rite Aid, which own and operate the vast majority of existing retail health clinics.

Nate Bronstein, chief operating officer for the Convenient Care Association, told Drug Store News that this expansion is a result of more people using the businesses. “The thing with retail is it is uniquely driven by consumer demand,” Bronstein said. “As they ask for new things, you see these things arise.” The presence of retail clinics is expected to become even more widespread beyond 2023. According to Future Market Insights, the retail clinics market is expected to rise from a valuation of $4.6 billion in 2022 to more than by the end of 2028.

Businesses in the life sciences will turn to technology to plug the skills gap

Due in part to the so-called “COVID hangover,” numerous industries have a plethora of jobs that remain open. Life science is no exception. David Volk, executive director of healthcare supply chain management at the biotech firm Roche, told Forbes that with some organizations having churn rates of up to 50%, pharmaceutical companies are seeking experienced applicants.

Volk said that to pick up the slack and increase work efficiency, it is important for organizations moving forward to invest in technology. Leveraging automation, Volk stated, can help pharmaceutical companies better prioritize and allocate their resources so they are making the best possible use of the talent they have. In doing so, individuals are in a better position to share their knowledge and pivot to tasks that require critical thinking, while automation can handle tasks that are more tedious, like creating reports and putting spreadsheets together.

Investments in remote patient monitoring tools

Strides in medical treatments, technologies, research, and patient care quality have made a variety of once-deadly conditions highly treatable, including many types of cancers that at one time had low survival rates. Several of these capabilities have made it easier for healthcare professionals to deliver treatment in settings that are more convenient for the patient, such as their homes. However, chronic disease — which often requires medical intervention  — is as prevalent as ever.  According to the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, 60% of Americans live with at least one type of chronic health condition. Cardiovascular disease, for example, is responsible for more deaths per year in the U.S. than any other cause.

Remote patient monitoring is making the challenges associated with chronic conditions, such as hypertension, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, more manageable. Remote patient monitoring technology is a major innovation available to medical device manufacturers. With devices including glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, and CPAP machines for sleep apnea, remote patient monitoring brings the hospital to the patient’s doorstep by allowing practitioners to keep tabs on how their patients are doing from just about anywhere. The technology offers benefits to both the patient as well as healthcare professionals by lowering costs, improving patient care outcomes, and increasing convenience.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the social distancing measures that were in effect throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, remote patient monitoring has been increasingly embraced by healthcare organizations and insurers. According to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a leading medical journal, approximately 594 patients per 100,000 Medicare enrollees in September 2021 received care that involved remote patient monitoring, Mobi Health News reported. That is up from 91 per 100,000 before the pandemic occurred (February 2019). With more healthcare organizations adopting these technologies — and more patients aware that the technology exists — it will be incumbent upon medical device manufacturers and practitioners to help patients better understand how the data that remote patient monitoring collects is used to support their well-being. Understanding builds trust and makes it more likely that patients will incorporate the new method into the management of their health challenges in their daily lives.

“A couple of years ago, [patients] were looking at devices for personal use and collecting data,” said Waquaas Al-Siddiq, CEO of a remote patient monitoring manufacturing firm during a panel discussion at the Connected Health Summit, Mobi Health reported. “Now they’re looking at devices and technologies that are accurate and integrate within their care programs. ‘How does that information translate? How does that information get to their doctor? How does that doctor use that?’ A couple of years ago, that last piece was never really at the forefront of the consumers’ minds.”

Expanded use of telehealth services

In a similar vein, telehealth services are increasingly becoming the norm for patients and healthcare professionals, as broadband internet use and cloud adoption have exploded among consumers as well as businesses in North America and around the world. The proliferation of these technologies was an inevitability, but the COVID-19 mitigation measures likely hastened their penetration, as many organizations were forced to work in 100% remote environments during the pandemic.

While hospital and medical facilities are largely back to normal, telehealth services remain quite common. Indeed, nearly three-quarters of homeowners with children living at home say they have used telehealth at least once in the past year, including for routine checkups, wellness needs, and illness, according to Parks Associates. Most health insurers cover telehealth services. The technologies that make this approach possible has helped healthcare organizations reduce their operational expenses and overcome supply chain disruption caused by labor shortages and inventory bottlenecks involving medical supplies. As a result, telehealth is poised to expand in 2023 and beyond.

Turn to Inspirage

To optimize supply chain performance as a member of the life science business community, you need the right solutions that are aligned with your work processes. Inspirage can help. We specialize in delivering the right teams and technologies to help product-based organizations achieve their goals. Contact us today. Also please browse some of our Customer Testimonials and Spotlights, which are real-life examples in which the Inspirage team brought solutions to operational challenges for firms in a variety of industries, life sciences and otherwise.

In a highly charged political climate in which agreeing to disagree is the norm, there is at least one issue where everyone shares a common, global point of view: We all want a better, more sustainable environment. So much so, that over two-thirds of Americans say they prefer to buy from businesses that are stewards of the environment, according to a survey conducted by Gallup. Consumers also like to buy from companies that go out of their way to prioritize the health and well-being of their employees, with 8 in 10 saying this is something that matters to them a “great deal.”  

In short, buyers believe that ethics matter, which is why so many organizations are starting to develop environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) strategies and investment plans. But if you were to ask the typical person what ESG is all about, nearly half of the country (42%) would not be able to tell you. In this blog, we will discuss what ESG refers to, why it is garnering so much interest, and why an increasing number of companies are putting more of their collective energies toward creating, designing, and implementing their own ESG strategy.   

What is ESG? 

ESG refers to the business practices organizations — typically multinational corporations — are taking toward creating a more sustainable world. In addition to concrete measures that strengthen the physical environment (e.g., diminishing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing pollution, minimizing waste, buying carbon offset credits, etc.), this also refers to social initiatives (e.g., diversity, customer satisfaction initiatives, equity and inclusion, employee relations, human rights, labor standards, funding projects, etc.) as well. Governance refers to what a corporation is doing to avoid potential issues involving malfeasance (e.g. bribery, corruption, etc.) and ensuring decision-makers — such as boards of directors and senior executives — have minority representation. 

To say that the popularity of ESG initiatives is growing — both in terms of ESG investing and companies formulating their own ESG strategies — is to dramatically understate the case. In 2019, for example, inflows to ESG-focused investments totaled approximately $25 billion, CityWire reported from MorningStar data. That has since more than doubled, topping $54 billion through the first three quarters of 2021. 

Why do ESG strategies matter to businesses?  

Perhaps now more than ever before, people throughout the world are more in touch and connected with their surroundings and focused on how to make society a better place. Individuals are especially prioritizing issues like climate change, which much of the scientific community believes has played a role in the increase in extreme weather events. In the past two years, for example, 33% of Americans say they have been impacted by some kind of climate-related incident, be it a hurricane, tornado, ice storm, or blizzard, according to a separate Gallup survey. This includes 13% of West Coast residents who have felt the effects of wildfire, a phenomenon that now plagues the West every summer. 

The evidence certainly suggests extreme weather events are occurring more regularly. Hurricane Ian, which caused massive flood and wind damage in Florida this past September, was the 15th billion-dollar climate disaster in 2022 alone, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Among those affected by extreme weather, close to 80% of respondents in the aforementioned Gallup poll do not believe the government is doing enough to protect the environment, with 78% saying climate change poses a “serious threat” to their way of life. 

The climate-conscious are focused on what actions can be taken to reduce the impacts of global warming, whether that is through behavioral, social, or policy changes or a combination of all three. Since many consumers aim to patronize companies that share their concern about the environment— as the aforementioned Gallup poll highlighted — ESG efforts led by companies are a way to tell investors that corporations are trying to be a part of the solution.  

Do investors care about ESG? 

As it pertains to ESG, investors and companies have a reciprocal relationship: As business owners increasingly devote more of their financial resources and wherewithal toward improving the environment and creating a more equitable society — something their customers want — investors are buying stock in these companies, with 48% of investors saying they are interested in sustainable investing. Conversely, the growth in ESG investing is incentivizing businesses to focus on creating their own ESG strategy, if they have not already. The fact that ESG is a trillion-dollar industry suggests that investors do care about ESG strategies. 

Similar to everyday consumers, though, active awareness of ESG and ESG initiatives remains low. The poll shows that only 1 in 10 investors with at least $10,000 or more invested in the stock market are actively involved in ESG investing. Clearly, ESG investing has room for growth, particularly in the United States relative to Europe, which in 2018 accounted for roughly half of global ESG assets. But ESG is not a fad or flash in the pan; it will only become further entrenched in society over time. Bloomberg Intelligence reports that global ESG assets are poised to reach a valuation of $50 trillion by 2025 at the current rate of annual growth.  

“The trend of growing ESG is in line with our bull-case scenario, which assumes a 35% growth, and we expect $1.3 trillion entering such ETFs (exchange-traded funds) globally by 2025,” said Adeline Diab, Director of ESG Research at Bloomberg Intelligence. Diab added that roughly 10% of all global ETF flows last year were in ESG investments. 
 

 

How are ESG strategies changing companies? 

The repercussions of the lockdowns triggered by COVID-19 demonstrated just how fragile supply chains are. To strengthen them, more companies and governments are focusing on supply chain sustainability. Supply chain sustainability refers to the steps supply chain actors — like manufacturers and distributors — take toward mitigating the impacts commerce has on the environment. This includes every phase of the product lifecycle, from development to decline.   

In a post-pandemic world, 80% of companies say they have either increased or maintained momentum in their supply chain sustainability efforts. That is according to a poll conducted by the Center for Transportation & Logistics at MIT, which included responses from over 3,300 business owners and interviews with more than a dozen corporate executives. These efforts can be wide-ranging, as the supply chain has many interconnected parts and strategies. These may include using biodegradable packaging materials, reusing waste, cutting back on inventory, investing in clean energy transportation (e.g., zero-emission trucks), and collaborating with sustainable suppliers.  

ESG considerations have touched just about every industry as well. One online fashion retailer, SHEIN, announced in September that it seeks to cut carbon emissions across its entire supply chain by 25% or more by 2030. It also plans to reduce emissions from its operations by 42% over the same period. Adam Whinston, Global Head of ESG at SHEIN, said reducing the company’s carbon footprint is a priority for the company, whose popularity has exploded in recent years. “Today we’re taking a significant step forward, announcing a new set of 2030 goals that will help us accomplish emissions reduction targets for our entire supply chain over the next seven years,” Whinston said in a press release.  

Soft drink conglomerate PepsiCo is also prioritizing sustainability toward the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by working with its raw material suppliers. For example, the company announced that the regenerative agricultural practices it is encouraging growers to incorporate into their farming activities may be able to cut greenhouse gas emissions by three million tons by 2030 at the latest. Roberta Barbieri, Vice President of Global Sustainability at PepsiCo, said the company is committed to being a good steward of the environment and to encouraging others to join the movement. “We have to do more than just minimize our own environmental impact — we must influence the larger system to decarbonize along with us if society is to deliver the transition needed to avert a climate crisis,” Barbieri explained. “PepsiCo is committed to reducing emissions in our own operations and supporting our business partners on this journey by sharing best practices, building capabilities, and collaborating on solutions.” 

Many other household name companies are also involved in sustainability initiatives, supply chain-related or otherwise. Here is a partial list: 

• Coca-Cola 
• Hewlett-Packard 
• Adobe 
• Sherwin-Williams 
• Motorola 
• IHS Markit 
• Nike 
• John Deere 
• Thermo Fisher 
• Eli Lilly 
• Alphabet (Google) 
• Mattel 
• Crown Holdings 
• Yum Brands 

What is the biggest challenge for companies supporting ESG? 

The purpose of ESG is to make the planet a better place for everyone to inhabit. As well-intentioned as moving forward with an ESG strategy may be, ESG efforts are of little value if they do not actually produce change. Companies must demonstrate the results of their efforts through ESG reporting. The problem is that there are many different standards and frameworks that organizations rely on for guidance when putting ESG reports together. In fact, according to a study done by Financial Executives, 85% of companies use several ESG reporting frameworks, rather than just one. Using one would make ESG reporting more standardized.   

Additionally, a core component of accurate ESG reporting is measurement. David Correll, Research Scientist with the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, told The Wall Street Journal that because supply chains are often massive in size and scope, it is hard for companies to accurately measure whether their supply chains have made any headway in improving sustainability since they began implementing ESG strategies. “Even a simple item like a diaper can have up to 50 component pieces,” said Correll. “Something like an automobile will have tens of thousands. So brands at the ends of supply chains, particularly consumer-facing brands, really have trouble measuring the environmental and social sustainability of the thousands of disparate vendors that serve them. And this is a big struggle for managers, even managers for whom supply chain sustainability is a big priority.” 

If your organization is interested in formulating ESG strategies, Inspirage is here to help. From our supply chain experts to our data management and reporting expertise, our team is ready to help your ESG initiative pay dividends. We can help you put the right systems and processes in place to set you on the right path toward your environmental and social goals. For more information, contact us today.  

Consumer goods and retail is a forward-looking business; manufacturers and sellers are constantly preparing for what is on the horizon. As 2022 winds down, the industry is gearing up for the most highly anticipated period of the year: the holiday shopping season. From boutiques to brick-and-mortar franchises, e-commerce corporations, and more, retailers of all sizes devote a tremendous amount of time, money, and energy to this all-important time of year. They hope to sell as much merchandise as possible to deal-hunting buyers. Despite persistent inflation, they have high expectations that their efforts in this regard will pay off. Indeed, customers are poised to increase their spending by approximately 7% compared to last year, according to a recent poll conducted by Innovating Commerce Serving Communities.

But they are also looking ahead to 2023 to prepare for consumer goods and retail industry trends that may have an influence on their decision-making and how catering to those trends can improve the customer experience. If you are an organization in the consumer goods and retail space, here are a few trends to be on the lookout for in the coming months:

Growth in sustainable supply chain activity

Whether they are buying online via an omnichannel experience or in a physical store, customers are not just interested in the merchandise for sale; they are also interested in how it was made and the manner in which it arrived in stores. As a recent survey led by Gallup found, around 75% of adults in the U.S. say they care about what steps companies they patronize are taking to build a cleaner planet. Of this total, 43% indicated this was an issue they care about “a great deal.”

In addition to more consumer goods organizations rolling out environmental, social, and governance initiatives (ESG), many household names are working sustainability into their supply chain processes. In fact, Levi Strauss & Co., Great Lakes Cheese, Valvoline, Amy’s Kitchen, and J.M. Smucker Co. recently jointly purchased renewable energy from a wind farm based in Marion County, Kansas, Walmart reported. All of these organizations partner with the big box retailer and sell their merchandise at their physical and online stores as well. The 12-year agreement will enable the respective organizations to power their processes with renewable energy, enough to produce an estimated 250,000-megawatt hours annually.

Similarly, Apple is ramping up its sustainability efforts. The multinational technology firm recently said in a press release that it is working with its suppliers to fully decarbonize its global supply chain within 10 years. “Climate action at Apple doesn’t stop at our doors, and in this work, we’re determined to be a ripple in the pond that creates a bigger change,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Several other well-known brands are also showing their support for sustainable business practices. This includes the Consumer Goods Forum, which is represented by PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars, and McCain Foods among others. In a letter of intent drafted in October, the group discussed the importance of utilizing recycled plastics to help the retail industry reduce its carbon footprint. By expressing their interest, these organizations hope to be able to obtain 800,000 metric tons of chemically recycled plastics by 2030.

Consumer goods and retail organizations that actively demonstrate how they are supporting sustainability stand to benefit by positively influencing consumer behavior. People may be more inclined to shop with a green-friendly company than one that does not care how their supply chain practices affect the environment.

Continued economic uncertainty

Elevated government spending, supply chain bottlenecks, and labor shortages have all contributed to higher costs for just about everything. Americans continue to spend, though, at a robust clip. In September, the most recent month in which retail sales data is available, total retail sales rose 8.2% compared to the same period in 2021, according to the United States Census Bureau.

But with the recession expected to deepen in 2023, economists believe it is more likely than not that Americans will rein in at least some of their discretionary spending. More than half (54%) of Blue Chip economists say they expect the recession to worsen next year, the National Retail Federation reported. Furthering their presumption is dwindling consumer confidence. In The Conference Board’s October assessment of consumer confidence, the Index fell to 102.5 from 107.8 in September. That is down sharply from 2019 when the Consumer Confidence Index was as high as 140.

Given these prevailing market forces, consumer goods and retail organizations will need to right-size their inventory planning and management to remain competitive and profitable without adversely affecting the shopping experience and compromising customer loyalty. Leveraging best-in-class enterprise resource planning solutions can help with demand planning so retailers can determine just how much of a given product they need to have available based on consumer behavior over time. Moreover, shaping the demand with the right promotional strategy to align best with your operational efficiencies and supply chain constraints can further help you reap better margins and increase the customer base.

Expanded use of the physical store for ‘retailtainment’

While in-store shopping was once the exclusive channel for customers, e-commerce has dramatically changed the landscape. In fact, were it not for online checkouts, the world’s economy may have taken an even harder hit than it did during the pandemic. Point-and-click purchasing made most products easily available. And while many people continue to visit their local stores for their specific product-based needs, it is increasingly becoming a destination to explore what items they may be interested in purchasing rather than to buy a specific item.

Jacquelyn Baker, Chief Commerce and Customer Experience Officer for the marketing agency VMLY&R told The Drum that the function of the physical store has changed in the eyes of many shoppers, and the rise of e-commerce appears to have been the catalyst. “Consumers can have whatever they want, when they want, on-demand [and] digitally,” Baker explained. “For purchases beyond everyday essentials, meanwhile, the store serves more as a showroom for inspiration and ‘retailtainment’.” Baker further noted that the physical store gives consumers the ability to fully immerse themselves in brands in an up close and personal way.

Since this is something that even the most personalized online store cannot replicate, businesses within the consumer goods and retail industry should get more creative with how they arrange and embellish their merchandise to maximize the customer experience. Augmented reality — a technology that combines the digital world with the real one through a combination of visual and auditory overlays — may be worth exploring.

One company that is increasing its experiential efforts for in-store shoppers is the outdoor sports and apparel franchise The North Face. Over the next five years, The North Face plans on opening at least 70 brick-and-mortar stores in North America and potentially as many as 300 retail and partner locations worldwide, according to Retail Dive. Jason Thomas, Senior Director of Retail for The North Face, said the goal of the expansion is to provide a seamless and consistent experience for shoppers regardless of what channel they are shopping through. “This growth strategy will allow us to share our values and connect with customers on a deeper level in multiple different locations and touch points across the globe,” said a statement obtained by Retail Dive.

This is not a new endeavor for the retailer but a doubling down on its omnichannel strategy. Prior to the pandemic, The North Face revealed details on its experiential store concept planned for New York City. When the project is finished, the storefront refresh will feature reclaimed wood, granite, and low VOC paints so the 8,000-square-foot location “feels more like the brand and less like a store.”

Sourcing more locally

Thanks to reduced volume at several of the nation’s shipping ports, the consumer goods and retail supply chain is in a better place today than it was during the height of the pandemic. But it remains unpredictable, for some more than others. Furniture and appliance stores, for example, continue to have lengthy backorders for items like sofas, bedding, washing machines, and dishwashers, with some items not expected to arrive until 2023.

These lengthy lead times have played a role in diminishing import activity. Since August, import volume has fallen consistently, from 2.27 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in late summer to a projected 2.01 million TEUs come December, according to Hackett Associates Global Port Tracker. That downward trend is expected to continue into the new year, Hackett Associates further noted.

In light of high inflation as well as gas price increases, imports are cutting into retailers’ already razor-thin margins. To bring more consistency and affordability to their supply chain, consumer goods and retail organizations should consider sourcing their end-user products closer to home. Paired with supply chain management software, sourcing more locally can help shorten lead times, reduce transportation expenses, and bring more visibility to where their deliverables are at any given time.

As a forward-thinking consumer goods and retail company, you know that getting out ahead of trends can give you a leg up on the competition. Considering the future can help you put the proper pieces in place to improve the customer experience and enhance supply chain resiliency. Inspirage can help you with your efforts by bringing the right teams, technologies, and industry-leading practices together to drive your company to the next level of success. Whether it is for product lifecycle management, digital transformation, or supply chain management, Inspirage can help you build a better business. Learn more about our success, like our supply chain initiative with this consumer goods giant. Contact us today to learn more about our expertise and our solutions.

Understanding How to Use Outsourced Manufacturing as a Solution

Outsourcing manufacturing operations is a great way to cut costs and increase manufacturing throughput. There are several ways to do this by using different processes collectively referred to as “contract manufacturing.” But are they all actually contract manufacturing? As organizations start to configure their cloud solutions, they will need to have a thorough understanding of each flavor of outsourced/contract manufacturing and how they apply.

In the world of the Oracle Manufacturing Cloud, outsourced manufacturing is grouped into the following areas:

• Sourced Manufacturing from Original Equipment (OEM)
• Outside Processing (OSP)
• Drop-ship Manufacturing
• Contract Manufacturing
• Toll Manufacturing

Each one of these processes is unique. Here’s a quick breakdown of each type:

 
The best way to explain this is to set up three entities: Company A, Company B, and the consumer. Here’s a simple breakdown:

• Company A: The company contracted to produce a good or provide a service
• Company B: The primary manufacturer/company conducting business
• Consumer: The company/entity that is purchasing the product from Company B

Sourced Manufacturing – Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)

 
 
Sourced manufacturing involves one company hiring or “sourcing” another company to produce parts, assemblies, or components for the finished product that they produce. Sometimes, they may even source the finished product. Outside manufacturing is another term used to describe scenarios in which sourced or contracted materials are made outside of the company’s control. The outside manufacturer is referred to as the original equipment manufacturer, or OEM. In this relationship between the two companies, the ownership of the manufacturing process, labor, and goods solely belongs to the sourced manufacturer (Company A). The only control that the buying company (Company B) has is based on the terms of the purchasing agreement between both parties. This manufacturing model is best utilized when the sourced manufacturer can make these items quicker and cheaper than by producing those items internally.

Outside Processing (OSP)

 
 
This form of outsourced manufacturing occurs when a manufactured good is sent to another company in an intermediary step within the manufacturing process. To further clarify, Company B starts making the product and then sends it to Company A to perform a specific task. Upon completion, Company A sends the product back to Company B to perform an additional step to complete the product. A common example is a car body shop sending out a metal assembly to a paint shop to be coated with paint. (Think of a car getting its frame fixed and then painted). Once the assembly returns from the body shop, the final changes can be made, and then the assembly is completed to stock. Unlike using an OEM, this intermediary step is bookended by manufacturing operations within the main company’s facility.

Drop-Ship Manufacturing

 
 
With a “drop-shipment,” the company that makes the product ships it directly to the consumer on behalf of the selling company. In this model, the consumer buys the product from the selling company (Company B). Company B then purchases the product from the OEM (Company A). Company A will then ship the product directly to the consumer. This saves time and money for all parties involved in the transaction. The downside of this transaction is that Company B has little to no control over the quality of the product and the packaging of the item as it leaves Company A’s facility on its way to the consumer. Examples of this include buying airline tickets from a travel site or buying goods from e-bay. Amazon has its own flavor of this scenario: products are shipped from the manufacturer and never reside in one of its distribution facilities.

Contract Manufacturing

 
 
Contract manufacturing and a contract manufacturer are two different subjects. A contract manufacturer is a producer of components or products to be supplied to a commercial firm. By this definition, OSP and OEM suppliers are contract manufacturers. However, because of their process and how they are accounted for in an ERP system, they are not performing contract manufacturing.

Contract manufacturing is the production of components or finished goods by a third party on behalf of the main production company. Going back to the model, Company A is the OEM, Company B is the selling company and the consumer is the company that ultimately wants the finished product. The production schedule of the product being made at Company A is set by Company B. The completed product belongs to Company B. Company A will ship the product to Company B or to another location (ex. 3PL or drop-ship to the consumer) upon request from Company B. Company B will pay Company A for materials and labor. Storage and freight will be compensated for depending on the manufacturing contract agreement’s terms.

The following factors separate contract manufacturing from the other processes previously discussed:

• Purchasing/supplier agreements
• Collaboration and visibility into stock levels
• Communication and tracking of the manufacturing process

In this model, Company A will exist in Company B’s ERP system. Company B will publish a production schedule for Company A. Company A will review the schedule and confirm the deliverables. Company B will have a system in place to receive production updates and will be able to view the completed product at Company A. Many systems refer to this communication as supplier collaboration. Company B will own the product once it is completed — not when it is shipped as with the dropship scenario, nor when it is received as with the OEM and OSP scenarios. Industries that use this model include food services, chemicals, and high-tech.

Toll Manufacturing

 
 
Toll manufacturing is like contract manufacturing, but with one key difference: the buying company controls and owns all the materials. The only parts of the process owned by Company A are the labor, equipment, and facilities where the product is being produced. This model gives Company B the most control and Company A the least amount of liability. Company A is only charging Company B for the service and storage of goods. In this system, these processes and procedures are governed by Company B’s ERP system. Company A can manage the manufacturing process in its ERP but will need to make regular updates to Company B’s system. Company B will maintain raw material stock levels and all purchasing agreements for these raw materials and will send them to the toll manufacturer based on agreed-to schedules. They will manage the completed product stock levels and dictate where they need to be shipped (i.e., to a third-party distribution center, Company B managed facility, or directly to the consumer). This model is used in technology manufacturing, food and beverage, and agricultural industries, among others.

How to apply these techniques to the Oracle Cloud

In the Oracle Cloud, each process has its own flow and configuration, which determines what needs to be configured.

• OEM – Standard supplier set-ups; purchasing and procurement departments may make additional agreements (e.g., blanket purchase agreements).
• OSP – Supplier agreements/blanket purchase agreements correspond with the OSP manufacturing steps, which are associated with the contracted supplier. The manufacturing operation sources the labor to the service supplier (OSP). This means that purchasing and manufacturing set-ups and configurations are required.
• Drop shipment – Purchasing (PO and/or blanket agreement) and order management configurations in the cloud. There are no manufacturing setups in this process.
• Contract manufacturing – For a contract manufacturing organization, the supplier and supplier site need to be properly set up and associated with the contract manufacturing organization. Internal business processes need to be in place governing who will manage this organization and the communication channels between the contract manufacturer (Company A) and the owning company (Company B). Ideally, a supplier collaboration portal should be implemented for communication. Blanket purchasing agreements for the contract manufacturing organization also need to be set up. Item structure attachments will need to accompany the blanket agreements. Manufacturing set-ups will only have labor sourcing, as material costs are included as part of the service.
• Toll manufacturing – Same set-ups as contract manufacturing but also includes raw material sourcing and planning. Supply chain manufacturing sourcing set-ups will include material sourcing from a supplier or internal manufacturing organization (for advanced supply chains) to be delivered to the contract manufacturer location. Consigned inventory can also be configured for tracking raw material usage at the toll manufacturer.

Inspirage Can Help

The term “contract manufacturing” is associated with several distinct types of manufacturing collaborations between two or more businesses. The key to applying this correctly in the Oracle Cloud is fully understanding how each type flows through the application. Once the process is firmly established, organizations can properly configure their applications to meet their business requirements. If they fail to do so, their solutions may be too simple or complex to utilize. The Inspirage team can help your organization properly utilize the correct contract manufacturing solution in the cloud.

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s Game Changer award for SCM Service Delivery, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey. Contact us to learn more.

A solution for easily managing processes associated with credit checks and holds 

As every business owner knows, customer creditworthiness can change over time. As a result, constantly staying on top of creditworthiness can be a significant challenge. Classifying customers based on their risk level, assigning appropriate credit limits, and monitoring and controlling customer sales orders have never been easy tasks, but Oracle Fusion Order Management helps client organizations overcome these challenges. Once a credit check option is enabled for a customer in Order Management, all subsequent sales orders can undergo a thorough credit check validation at the time of order booking and again at the time of order picking.

How it works

Order Management allows users to categorize customers into low, medium, and high-risk groups based on their payment history, purchasing value, reputation, and other factors. It then assigns each customer a credit amount and automatically applies a credit check hold whenever the customer’s sales order value exceeds its assigned credit amount. Additionally, there is the option of enabling a credit check for certain customers and disabling it for others.

In addition, Order Management allows users to define the specific currencies associated with a customer’s credit limit. Also, customer orders can be placed on a credit check hold at the time of sales order booking — even though the customer has not exceeded its credit limit — by enabling a credit hold at the customer account level.

In certain cases, Order Management supports applying a credit hold on a sales order with a value that is less than the customer’s credit limit. For example, if a customer’s credit limit is $10,000 USD, users can apply a credit check hold on any order with a value exceeding $2,000 USD by entering an order amount limit at the customer account level.

Implementing effective credit control involves:

• Conducting detailed analysis of all customers for creditworthiness in order to categorize them as low, medium, and high risk.
• Identifying which customers need to be enabled for credit check control and setting their credit amount.
• Determining whether to allow order booking with credit check or allow order booking pending credit review.
• Choose whether to enable credit check control during order picking — i.e., just before shipping. (This may be appropriate if the order fulfillment cycle is longer, resulting in a considerable time lapse between order booking and order shipping.)
• Deciding whether to apply credit check holds on all orders regardless of the credit limit or apply credit check holds based on an order value limit.
• Identifying which roles can remove credit check holds.

Order Management provides the following options for credit check management:

Option #1: Screen orders at submission time
Option #2: Screen orders during fulfillment (at picking/shipping)
Option #3: Use both Option #1 and Option #2

Case folder feature in Fusion Credit Management

Whenever there is a credit check failure in Order Management, a case folder is created that allows the Credit Analyst to review the failure. When case folders are successfully closed, the order is automatically processed in Order Management. When case folders are declined, the order is automatically reverted to a draft. In a few cases, a credit check hold on a sales order can be released by a user with the appropriate permission in the case of a rush or urgent order.

Credit exposure insights

When a new sales order is submitted, Order Management will check whether the total order value is within the available credit amount. If the total order value is less than the available credit amount, the order will be booked and processed (unless it fails the credit check process). Using Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI), users can also create a custom report on customer credit exposure to ascertain the overall available credit of all customers.

Leveraging credit checks during order import

In most business scenarios, sales orders are created in Order Management via Order Import using either Web Service or FBDI (file-based data import). Oracle provides an option for either initiating the credit check process or not.

In the event of a credit hold, the customer’s primary contact will receive an email notification if that feature is enabled. Keep in mind, however, that Order Management will send email notifications when any hold is applied, not just a credit check hold.

In short, implementing a comprehensive Oracle Fusion Order Management credit check control process helps organizations minimize financial risks by categorizing all customers based on their risk levels and, ultimately, by managing cash flows more effectively.

 

 

Inspirage can help

Implementing a robust subscription management solution is key to facilitating efficient processes and generating a real impact for your business. Inspirage delivers value to our customers by achieving those results.

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

Enterprises leverage every available resource to ensure the products they manufacture surpass their customers’ expectations. They invest massive sums of money toward these efforts, purchasing the best raw materials and establishing streamlined workflow processes in their factories and warehouses. Production, however, is only half of the battle. Getting those products to the companies that sell them and — more importantly — to the people who buy them, whether they are across the border or half a world away, is the other essential piece of the puzzle.

How much you wind up spending on these distribution efforts can have a major influence on your production budget – not to mention your organization’s profitability – and one of the major influences on these costs is the spot market. If logistics management is a new corporate priority, or you are simply looking to lower your freight costs, this article can help you find better spot rates. But before we get into the specifics, let’s dig into the basics:

What are spot rates?

Otherwise known as spot-buy rates, spot rates are the price points established by the logistics companies that are responsible for transporting freight. Much like your organization, logistics entities have costs of their own, including things like fuel, overhead, labor, maintenance, packaging, and a lot more. To keep providing these shipping services, they have to be able to pay their suppliers and employees. Thus, a spot rate is a real-time quoted price from a freight services provider. It is essentially what they charge to do what they do.

How does a spot rate differ from a contract rate?

Spot rates and contract rates are similar, in that they are both representative of what organizations charge in pricing to move freight, whether it is completed by truck, plane, train, or ocean vessel. Beyond that, though, they differ. As its name suggests, a contract rate is fixed; the quoted price remains the same for a specific period, usually 12 months. The contract rate may also be tied to a particular volume or freight volume that a product-based company commits to. Organizations that have consistent freight shipping needs throughout the year often like contract rate options because it enables them to lock in a price quote from a logistics provider. They do not have to guess what they will be spending on transportation from one shipment to the next.

Spot rates, on the other hand, represent a brief moment in time. Because capacity is a constantly moving target, how much freight costs to move today may be different 24 hours from now. Due to this fact, a spot rate is a one-time price offer. Spot rates quite literally change from moment to moment based on supply and demand (i.e., capacity). In this way, the spot market is much like the stock market. The spot market is a collection of spot rates charged from one shipper to another.

Neither contract rates nor shipping rates are worse or better than the other. Which is preferable all depends on businesses’ needs and the nature of their supply chain.
 

 

How are spot rates determined?

As previously noted, spot rates are primarily affected by supply and demand, or in industry speak load-to-vehicle ratio. When truck capacity is limited with a motor carrier, you can expect pricing to be higher than if space were plentiful. This dynamic is not the only influence on spot rates for logistics. Other factors that can influence a spot quote and spot freight rates include:

• Freight weight
• The route traveled to get from Point A to Point B
• How quickly the freight needs to arrive at its destination
• Customs clearance
• Load volume
• Consolidation
• Fuel prices

Additionally, the type of vehicle that is used to transport freight can also influence what rate logistics service providers charge. Generally speaking, shipping by air costs more than shipping by road. This may explain why the vast majority of freight transportation within the United States — roughly 72%, according to the trade group American Trucking Association — is carried out by commercial vehicles.

Since there are so many options when picking a freight provider and rate type, it may not always be clear where to find the most affordable rate, but there are a few best practices you can utilize to keep your costs down, including:

Provide accurate shipment information: Carriers can provide you with the best quote possible based on the specificity of your shipping needs. Essential details to have at the ready include pickup date, commodity type, product weight, destination city or zip code, and shipment origin.

If possible, give advanced notice: The earlier you make a logistics provider aware of your shipping needs, the lower a price quote tends to be.

Request shipping during the workweek: Weekends are busy for LSPs, so ideally ship any day that falls in the typical workweek (i.e., Monday through Friday afternoon).

Ship by truck or dry van: If your products are being shipped inside the continental U.S., shipping by dry van or truck is typically the most affordable option.

Utilizing Spot Rates in OTM

When it comes to maximizing spot market rates, the flexibility of Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) is unparalleled. It allows users to leverage spot rates as well as contract rates, maximizing opportunities for on-time shipping and cost savings throughout the entire supply chain.

OTM simplifies the process of doing business with your service providers (the freight companies that move your shipments) by giving you the option of automatically sending spot bid tenders to all of them or just a select group. You can decide on a case-by-case basis. OTM also makes life easier for everyone by associating each service provider with a specific location to ensure maximum planning flexibility and by allowing each service provider to use the system’s booking, tendering, and logistics functions. During every step of the shipping journey, OTM makes it easy to take full advantage of spot market opportunities. OTM provides the capability to integrate multiple digital freight brokers to offer real-time pricing through the API rating engine. This in turn increases the service provider options exponentially. OTM allows the user to request a quote from digital freight brokers and/or directly connect during the freight optimization process.

Logistics management is a massive undertaking that can take you away from the main focus of your business. But when you have Oracle Transportation Management, you can get back to what you do best. OTM Cloud is a comprehensive solution that provides you with all the tools you need to run your transportation efforts efficiently and seamlessly. Inspirage can set it all up for you. Contact us today.

Prior to the pandemic, the supply chain was more of a back-burner issue for product-based organizations and enterprises. Of course, business leaders and decision-makers were certainly cognizant of it, but it was not their primary concern. Leaders and managers had larger issues to attend to, from cash flow, to filling open positions, to ensuring customer satisfaction.

Fast forward to today. The supply chain has made its way to the forefront – and not just for franchises and multinational corporations. As a poll from the National Federation of Independent Businesses reveals, nearly one in five small business owners points to the stability of their supply chain as their primary concern, topped only by the ongoing labor shortage and rising inflation. Since disruptions are currently the norm for virtually every industry, organizations across the globe have witnessed first-hand just how reliant they are on the stability of their supply chains. Now, more than ever, they are concerned with what can happen when a single link in the chain comes apart, be it factory closures, unloaded shipping containers at ports, shortages of raw materials, or numerous other manifestations of a broken supply chain. Many organizations try to address their concerns through the use of AI/ML and IoT, but there are some challenges associated with the data these technologies rely on to improve supply chain efficiencies. While some of these concerns originate externally, there are also internal challenges in related to the supply chain that are the direct result of poor data quality.

If only there were a way to future-proof one’s supply chain to avoid getting burned by inevitable supply chain disruption. With master data management, or MDM, there is. We will explain why master data management, paired with an MDM tool, helps ensure your supply chain only bends when it is stretched to the limit, but never breaks. In short, it is the key ingredient to supply chain resilience and performance.

What is master data management?

Master data management is a business process that involves organizations teaming up with IT to integrate and align an enterprise’s master data. This includes creating a single master record for each person, place, or thing in an organization, including data from internal and external sources and applications. There are a variety of ways to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, and consistency of a company’s data, from leveraging master data management software (i.e., an MDM solution) to establishing a data steward to assist with data governance by identifying the owners of various aspects of master data. One of the key imperatives to achieving these goals is the creation of a data dictionary. The process that is utilized largely depends on the type of enterprise data that is being collected and the purpose of the data, be it reference data, customer data, key performance indicators, or some other data source or data product.

More than anything else though, effective master data management centralizes information, providing a single source of truth to the people and organizations who are using it. Working together as data stewards, those overseeing the data can help ensure semantic consistency, especially when enterprise data comes from multiple systems or silos. Since data helps leaders make smarter business decisions, master data management facilitated through an MDM system ensures that those decisions are drawn from accurate observations and intelligence.

What is master data specifically?

As its title suggests, master data refers to data that is truly essential to the operation of the business. Without this data, a business would not be able to operate as effectively or would lack the proper context to make important decisions about what is produced, how the business is run, to whom the business sells (i.e., the customer), and where actions take place.

There are also different types of master data. While the type can vary depending on the industry, they can be broken down into four categories:

1. Parties: Organizations (e.g., vendors, suppliers) as well as individuals (e.g., customers, buyers, employees).
2. Products: The merchandise that is manufactured and sold as well as the commodities needed to make end-user products.
3. Financial structures: The assets or capital that are needed or leveraged during production (e.g., accounts, equipment, documents, currency).
4. Location: Where products are made and merchandise is sold.

Master data unifies and coordinates this information across the entirety of a business and between organizations if more than one party is required to produce something that is in demand.
 

 

Benefits of MDM

What are the core benefits of master data management and how do they relate to the supply chain?

Single source of truth
Digital transformation has led to an explosion of data, both in the type of data and where it originates. The incredible amount of data makes it impossible to fully dissect, analyze, and organize. With an MDM solution in place, data is assessed, gaps are identified, and then consolidated, validated, and cleansed so information related to the supply chain is both accessible and understandable. This is a result of better data quality. Data governance puts a continual emphasis on data quality by establishing the processes around the creation, modification, and termination/deactivation of a master data element.

Enhanced visibility
Because so much data comes from multiple sources and is often stored on different systems, it can easily fall through the cracks. This is the case for organizations with multiple departments that are siloed from one another. An MDM solution binds them all by serving as a communication bridge, enabling users to see the big picture. Transparency across the organization drives better outcomes by recognizing the potential for problems before they occur and by addressing sticking points as they happen, rather than long after the fact.

Improved collaboration
From hot tubs to video gaming consoles, end-user products are composed of thousands of parts and components, often sourced from all over the world. Lacking visibility into supply issues may create ripple effects that reverberate all the way to the end user. Master data management improves collaboration by facilitating the flow of information to the relevant parties regarding bottlenecks or departmental dilemmas, whether internally or externally. Data synchronization fosters understanding so there are no surprises when complications arise.

Optimized inventory
From the customer’s perspective, the question is not so much if they will receive their merchandise, but how quickly, as numerous organizations now promise packages by a certain date. An organization’s ability to meet promise dates hinges on the effectiveness of its inventory management, a key business process. Reference data and inventory monitoring provide teams with instantaneous insight into inventory, which allows businesses to better determine when order fulfillment will be completed. An MDM solution can also assist with traditional warehousing activities that are involved with inventory, such as picking and packing, assembly, shipment, and more.

Customer satisfaction
Today’s consumers do not base their satisfaction solely on the quality of the products they purchase; they base it on the entire experience, starting with the moment they begin to research or buy an item. Master data management software not only helps to improve production processes via better collaboration, visibility, and data quality, it can help businesses more fully evaluate customer data, enabling them to gain deeper insight into what their customers care about the most before, during, and after the sale.

With over 15 years of MDM implementation and system integration experience, Inspirage has the master data management knowledge and data integration capabilities to provide your business with that single source of truth you need to power your business and make the right decisions. For more information on our Enterprise Data Management solutions, contact us today.

2022 Gartner® Market Guide for Supply Chain Planning Solutions System Integrators

BELLEVUE, WA, USA, [October 26, 2022] — Inspirage, a leading integrator of Oracle Cloud supply chain planning solutions, today announced that it has been identified as a Representative Vendor in the 2022 Gartner “Market Guide for Supply Chain Planning Solutions System Integrators.”¹

Gartner defines the supply chain planning (SCP) system integrator market as “composed of consultants and service providers that can configure, integrate, implement, and upgrade SCP applications. SCP SIs may also offer additional services, ranging from strategy, change management, and business consulting to IT and business process outsourcing services. SIs can make recommendations and help design and drive process changes to help with vendor selection and offer a variety of implementation services.”

We believe that Inspirage’s inclusion on the list of SCP system integrator Representative Vendors recognizes several of the company’s key attributes, including our:

• Software solutions,
• Deep industry expertise, and
• Experience implementing solutions across geographic regions.

To help global customers solve business-critical challenges across the integrated enterprise, Inspirage delivers end-to-end consulting and implementation solutions that link ERP, Financials, Product Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain Management, Logistics Management, and Customer Experience solutions. The company maintains an established go-to-market relationship with Oracle, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure capabilities complement Inspirage’s core Oracle SCM business.

“We believe, the recognition from Gartner of Inspirage SCM capabilities reflects our high standard of excellence and our ability to provide businesses with the supply chain management resources they need to optimize their organizations,” said Kevin Creel, Inspirage co-founder and President, Strategy and Business Development. “We are proud to be listed by Gartner as a supply chain planning solutions system integrator Representative Vendor.”

Inspirage’s successes in the Supply Chain Management space were also highlighted by Oracle. Inspirage was the winner of the Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery in the 2021 Oracle Change Agents Partner Awards. The award recognizes Inspirage for its excellence in helping customers use Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing to meet critical business objectives such as accelerating innovation, driving digital transformation, and increasing sustainability.

¹Gartner, “Market Guide for Supply Chain Planning Solutions System Integrators” Report, Caleb Thomson, Janet Suleski, and Amber Salley [August 30, 2022]

About Inspirage
Inspirage delivers end-to-end transformational initiatives solving business-critical challenges from design to delivery to enable the digital enterprise. The company provides deep industry domain and applications expertise to deliver consulting and implementation solutions spanning Customer Experience, Product Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Finance, Enterprise Performance Management, and Digital Transformation. Inspirage partners with its customers to break down information silos and optimize performance to accelerate innovation, fuel growth, and achieve operational excellence. 

Gartner
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Trademarks
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.     

Sarah Hart, Director of Global Marketing and Communications
info@inspirage.com
+1 855 517 4250 

On the priority list of critical management activities that are central to the success of your global business, supply chain management should be at the top. Regardless of your specialty, your organization needs the resources, raw materials, and equipment to bring the goods your customers want to the marketplace. Your ability to do that efficiently is heavily influenced by how effectively you manage your supply chain, especially when it spans the globe.

But since a global supply chain is massive and multifaceted, it can be difficult to coordinate all the activities, processes, and technologies that are involved, from ideation and production to distribution and more. For this reason, it is important to drill down into the fundamentals of what global supply chain management is all about, why the supply chain is inherently vulnerable, and how you can make it more resilient to disruption.

What is global supply chain management?

Supply chain management is the process of coordinating all of the production, procurement, and logistics-related activities that are necessary for a product or service to reach its end user. Global supply chain management is distinguished by where these activities take place, where the raw materials and other resources needed for production come from, and their destination for paying customers. The actual makeup of a global supply chain can depend on a multitude of factors, depending on the product in question. For example, the supply chain for a motor vehicle, which is made up of thousands of parts and components from all over the world, is much larger than for a head of lettuce, which is bound for a grocer’s produce section. The more resources that are needed for an in-demand product to arrive in stores or at customers’ front doors, the more intricate and complex the supply chain tends to be. Global supply chain management aims to streamline every single aspect of turning raw material into a finished product to meet your customer needs.

What are the core components of every supply chain?

While every supply chain is different, they share a few common elements: people, processes, and technology.

People

Whether they are the associates working in a distribution center or truck drivers charged with delivering semiconductors to an automotive factory, people are vital links in every supply chain. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation are uniquely essential technologies that have made supply chain management more cost-effective and efficient. But they do not necessarily replace people; they just enable them to get their work done quicker and focus on the tasks that require a human touch.

Processes
Supply chain processes are the specific activities that turn raw material into a finished product. These include, but are not limited to, tasks like researching, sourcing, warehousing, transporting, purchasing, supplying, distributing, capacity planning, demand planning, and customer service.

Technology

In the global supply chain context, technologies are the tools, equipment, and other resources used to connect people with processes. When deployed successfully, technology can optimize a supply chain so supply and demand align with one another. Examples of supply chain technologies include artificial intelligence, automation, the Internet of Things, and enterprise resource planning system software. Some technologies are more specific to certain tasks, like picking and packing in a warehouse.

The challenges of a global economy

There are a lot of inherent advantages to a global supply chain. A global supply chain can keep your costs low by providing competitive prices for natural resources, ingredients, and components from all over the globe. In addition, it can give your business a leg up on the competition by increasing your inventory and access to distribution centers worldwide. A global supply chain can also greatly expand your customer base, providing more opportunities to grow and develop your brand.

But at the same time, the sheer size of a global supply chain carries inherent challenges. Many of these challenges presented themselves during the pandemic when lockdown measures interrupted work schedules and business activities up and down the supply chain.

But it does not take a once-in-a-lifetime virus to cause problems when supply chain processes are international. Other causes include:

Staffing, quality, and delivery hurdles: Recently employee shortages have played a role in global supply chain problems. If a business does not have enough workers in place to produce at a quick enough rate, this can also lead to supply chain bottlenecks. Quality can also suffer when labor shortages exist. You and your suppliers may define “top quality” very differently. If products do not reach your expectations, this can also present timing and delivery issues that can adversely affect customer satisfaction and sales performance. Finally, when manufacturing and fabrication essentials come from another part of the world, any number of complications can prevent goods from arriving on time, from inclement weather to miscommunications with logistics entities and other third-party partners.

Compliance and environmental sustainability: Virtually every industrialized nation has regulatory and oversight bodies that govern what certain products must include. Failing to adhere to these rules can frustrate supply chain processes, outcomes, and timelines.  In a similar vein, many of these requirements that enterprises are encountering are about decarbonization. With an increasing number of countries spurning fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy sources like wind and solar, governments and federal regulators are requiring businesses to track their emissions. However, as Harvard Business Review recently pointed out, disparate data collection methods and limited visibility into supply chains are resulting in inaccurate reporting. This could lead to fines or penalties from oversight entities for non-compliance.

Returns and the reverse supply chain: Whether items arrive with defects, missing parts, or ill-fitting components, you may need to send them back, slowing every other aspect of your supply chain.

As a workaround, more organizations are adopting what is known as circular supply chains. An alternative to linear, circular supply chains make it easier for organizations to reduce their carbon footprint by reusing or refurbishing discarded products instead of throwing them away. As a result, organizations not only reduce their costs but also stand to be rewarded for their environmental stewardship, whether by governments or eco-minded customers who like to patronize organizations that share their Earth-first values. Moreover, servicing the products can be a great source of additional revenue and presents opportunities to cross/upsell your products and services to your customers making the reverse supply chain a critical element of your growth strategy.

For your supply chain to thrive and overcome the obstacles thrown in its way, you need a trusted team of supply chain professionals with the skills and technologies that can empower your people and processes. Inspirage is that team. As an Oracle Platinum partner, Inspirage has the expertise, capabilities, and solutions to steel your supply chain’s resolve and enhance overall visibility with Oracle Cloud ERP applications and our long track record of successful system integration experience. Regardless of your supply chain management needs, Inspirage has you covered. Contact us today to learn more.

Join Inspirage in Las Vegas (October 17-20) to learn about Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Applications from the people who build them and the community that uses them.

Seven is a lucky number for Inspirage at CloudWorld in Las Vegas this year — that is how many of our clients are on the agenda to highlight our success guiding digital transformational journeys to the Oracle Cloud.

CloudWorld unites a global community of Oracle experts to share innovative ideas, develop new skills, and learn about the latest cloud solutions that meet businesses’ unique supply chain needs in a wide variety of industries. This anticipated annual event provides a platform for the “latest and greatest” Oracle innovations and insights.

Shared Success Stories

Inspirage and our client speaking sessions will be in the spotlight — and in demand — throughout the week, so be sure to finalize your schedule soon to guarantee a seat. Here is a quick look at what to expect:

Cohu Delivers Customer Value with Connected Quality, PLM, and Manufacturing
(Tuesday, October 18^th, 11:00 AM – 11:45 PM)
Hear how Cohu leverages Oracle Cloud PLM, Quality, and Manufacturing together with Anark Cloud to create a unitary digital thread—an enterprise product record spanning ideation, manufacturing, and the entire product lifecycle—to power their closed-loop quality capabilities and deliver value to their customers.

Craig Halterman, CIO / VP of IT, Cohu
Patrick Dunfey, Vice President of Marketing & Sales Enablement, Anark Corporation
John Kelley, Vice President, PLM Products, Oracle

Your Path to the Future of Supply Chain Decision Making
(Tuesday, October 18^th, 11:00 AM – 11:45 PM)
Get the most up-to-date view of Oracle’s supply chain planning product strategy and roadmap to guide you on your supply chain planning journey.

Vikash Goyal, Vice President, Supply Chain Planning & Collaboration Strategy, Oracle
Paritesh Sharma, Director Information Technology, Zebra Technologies

Carvana Streamlines Processes with a Custom Application Built on OCI
(Tuesday, October 18^th, 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM)
Learn how Carvana worked with Inspirage and used Oracle PaaS to develop Carli—a custom vehicle management solution—to track repair costs in near-real time.

Ramki Kumbeswaran, Associate Director, Business Applications, Carvana
Abhishek Chauhan, Inspirage
Peri Ramanathan, Oracle

Practical Guide to Transitioning Manufacturing Operations to Oracle Cloud
(Wednesday, October 19^th, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM)
With the support of SI partners and solutions from independent software vendors in the Oracle ecosystem, learn how to address your specific needs with configurations and extensions in the cloud and proven solutions in the Oracle marketplace.

Kaushik Sivakumar, Oracle
Josh Stauffer, Sr. Director, Information Technology, HarbisonWalker International
Antti Voltokari, Senior. Vice President Operating Models and Systems, Huhtamaki

Flagstar Bank Modernizes Planning and Budgeting Processes with Cloud EPM
(Wednesday, October 19^th, 1:40 PM – 2:00 PM)
This interactive question-and-answer session with our customer, Flagstar Bank, covers their migration path from their on-premises planning application to Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Planning for their financial, workforce, allocation, and reporting applications.

Damon Hrydziuszko, Vice President, Financial Systems, Flagstar Bank
John Conlee, Senior Vice President, ERP Finance/EPM

Key Best Practices to Advance Your Supply Chain Planning Strategy
(Thursday, October 20^th, 1:10 PM – 2:00 PM)
Learn how best practices such as scenario modeling and automation in modern supply chain planning can help accelerate decisions to meet demand, optimize supply, improve production efficiency, and achieve the best customer service levels.

David Crandall, GE Aviation
Roger Goossens, Oracle

Meta Transitions from Agile to Oracle Cloud PLM to Scale Their Data Centers
(Thursday, October 20^th, 2:30 PM – 3:15 PM)
Discover why and how Meta (Facebook) upgraded their existing Agile PLM solution to Oracle Cloud PLM in just eight months with Inspirage.

Alakshendra Khare, Product Configuration Manager, Facebook
John Kelley, Vice President, PLM Products, Oracle
Michael Torek, Vice President of Innovation Management, Inspirage

Looking for a registration discount?

]]> https://inspirage.com/2022/09/the-importance-of-an-integrated-supply-chain/ Thu, 29 Sep 2022 16:25:02 +0000 https://www.inspirage.com/?p=27389 From increased collaboration to 360-degree visibility, an integrated supply chain can give your business a competitive advantage. ]]>

Running a business in today’s highly charged economic environment can sometimes leave you feeling overwhelmed. To keep each aspect of your business moving in the right direction and maintain a competitive advantage, you cannot focus on any single element. You have to multitask and maintain a watchful eye on the entirety of your operation, so nothing goes off kilter.

Successful supply chain management is one of the key components of a modern, thriving business. With the supply chain composed of numerous processes, contributors, and distributors to produce a single commodity, complications in one area can have a ripple effect that winds up crashing your systems and crippling your output. In short, productive supply chain management requires ongoing collaboration with supply chain partners working synergistically. This can be accomplished through supply chain integration.

Here, we will discuss the meaning of supply chain integration, how it is achieved, and the array of advantages that emanate from a fully integrated supply chain.

What is supply chain integration?

Supply chain integration refers to the sharing of information among supply chain partners in the lifecycle of a product, from inception to endpoint. If done correctly and with the appropriate technology, supply chain integration allows contributors throughout the entire supply chain to access the same up-to-date information. That helps improve coordination, advance learning, achieve alignment, and increase overall supply chain visibility among all of your supply chain members. An integrated supply chain also makes it easier for supply chain management partners to share up-to-date information regarding a product’s development, deployment, or delivery.

But, as with life, the manufacture or delivery of a product does not always go according to plan. Circumstances arise that can compromise a commodity’s delivery to its end user in a timely fashion. The suddenness of the pandemic and resulting outbreak, for example, combined with the attempts to slow its transmission through mandatory lockdowns, led to massive supply chain bottlenecks for business owners of all sizes. In a poll done in March 2022 by the National Federation of Independent Business, more than half (51%) of respondents said supply chain disruptions had “significantly” compromised their organization’s overall performance.

Supply chain integration opens the lines of communication, so everyone is on the same page regarding the status of the product and is up to date on what comes next. In doing so, integrated supply chain management allows organizations to:

• Reduce waste (both in time and materials),
• Minimize downtime,
• Shorten product lifecycles, and
• Cut costs
• Improve end customer experience and satisfaction.

Supply chain integration and the Oracle Cloud

Supply chain integration does not necessarily have to involve technology. It can also be achieved through strategic business decisions — such as partnering with another supply chain partner —  that can reduce the links in the supply chain continuum. Or it could entail controlling more levers of the supply chain by building departments or processes internally that control materials management, order fulfillment, or inventory management.

However, taking on more roles can be a major investment, which is why organizations that seek to improve supply chain performance often take the more affordable and dependable route — utilizing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from a reliable cloud or supply chain management services provider. Collaboration is easier and visibility is enhanced when supply chain partners are integrated within a centralized system.

A classic example is a global electronic components manufacturer that brought in Inspirage to revamp and revitalize its existing ERP system and implement a cloud solution. As the company’s principal decision-makers informed us at the time, stakeholders had encountered a host of challenges that were indicative of an underperforming supply chain, such as orders arriving later than expected. Poor demand forecasting with the client’s legacy system led to numerous inventory issues that were adversely affecting the company’s bottom line.

In light of these and other challenges that were compromising the client’s supply chain operations, the manufacturer moved to a cloud-based Oracle ERP solution. Through fully configurable applications like Constrained Supply Planning Cloud, Global Order Promising Cloud, and Backlog Management Cloud, the client has since streamlined its supply chain and achieved more comprehensive supply chain management. By improving ship date accuracy, reducing manual expedites and capacity adjustments, and enabling automatic pull-ins of sales orders according to business priorities, the company was able to enhance supply chain visibility — a core benefit of supply chain integration.

Advantages of an integrated supply chain

Above all else, an integrated supply chain makes effective supply chain management easier by providing your team with more control and dexterity over all of the processes that are involved in manufacturing or distributing a product. We have briefly referenced some of the benefits that flow from supply chain integration, including better collaboration and visibility. But there are many others, including:

Better demand planning

It is said that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. This axiom applies to consumer buying behaviors in particular, as people tend to be creatures of habit. But demand planning can easily go awry, as stationary bike manufacturer Peloton learned. During the pandemic, when millions of people were working out at home because their gyms were closed, Peloton was overwhelmed with so many orders for its internet-enabled spinning bicycles that it could not keep up with demand. As a result, the bikes were back ordered for several months.

Aiming to enhance production so customers could get their orders faster, Peloton invested millions of dollars toward increasing capacity, which in part involved acquiring one of its major manufacturers. But when the lockdown lifted, demand for their products fell precipitously, as many Americans got back to their routines at local health clubs and fitness centers. Peloton’s miscalculation prevented the company from making back what it spent on capacity building. Once a $50 billion company, by 2022 Peloton had become a shell of its former self, worth around $8 billion, according to CNBC.

Miscalculating demand can lead to costly consequences. With integrated product development, manufacturing, and logistics processes, businesses can stay on top of supply and demand by identifying and adjusting to changes as they happen. The visibility enabled by supply chain integration makes this possible.

Added flexibility

A good rule of thumb in business, as in life, is to expect the unexpected. Success in dealing with the unforeseen is largely determined by how you respond to challenging circumstances. An integrated supply chain provides your business with the additional runway you need to pivot your processes when events call for a different approach.

Whether you are confronted with demand planning uncertainties, the need to improve a new product when a competitor releases one of its own or a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that forces you to find a new supplier, supply chain integration can provide your business with operational flexibility that is not available to organizations with decentralized supply chains. Before the pandemic, many supply chain management practitioners believed it made more sense to use just one supplier. But the recent past has demonstrated that relying on just one supplier is rife with risk should something happen that prevents them from conducting business as usual. Supply chain integration fosters flexibility, and flexibility fosters collaboration.

Higher earning potential

Think about all the money that you spend on production costs, including supplies, labor, partnerships, insurance, overhead, and other expenses. Then consider the loss associated with dips in productivity. When a disorganized supply chain creates a lack of communication between your suppliers and your team, you are unable to produce at the same rate. On the other hand, fewer miscues and misadventures lead to more revenue, enhanced productivity, time saved, and less money spent wastefully.

While supply chain integration makes supply chain operations easier, the integration process itself takes work. That is where Inspirage can help. We set ourselves apart from other providers because we have industry expertise in aligning supply chains for a variety of verticals and fields, from manufacturing to health care, life sciences, high tech, and more. We understand your industry-specific challenges and can help you turn those challenges into opportunities for growth by improving supply chain performance — and helping your business become a supply chain leader.

Contact us today to learn more about our solutions and what makes us a global leader in supply chain optimization.

Manage customer service with a leaner team  

High-tech equipment manufacturers want efficient engagement with their customers during sales and service operations. Offering a self-service Customer Portal is a key strategy for accomplishing that goal. The Oracle Cloud offers some portal solutions including a Digital Customer Service portal for service and Commerce Cloud for quoting and ordering, but not a complete unified experience. To address this issue, Inspirage has developed a modular Customer Portal solution that encompasses subject areas including service, quotation and ordering, sales agreement releases, installed base, document sharing, and order status tracking. Within the service subject area, for example, you can automate the process of warranty and contract checks. This reduces the number of service requests requiring manual checks by Customer Service agents before they can be assigned to appropriate departments, such as Logistics for parts or Field Service for labor.

A better way

At one company we worked with, separate legacy portals were being used for service, quotation, and document sharing and none of them were enterprise-wide. This resulted in high IT costs and an inconsistent customer experience. The legacy portals lacked a real-time link to their respective ERPs, leading to data inconsistencies and incomplete information. The legacy portal for service, for example, did not have real-time information for shipped products, associated warranties/contracts, or contract consumption figures, making it impossible to expose certain functionalities on the portal.

The solution? The Inspirage Customer Portal. With a built-in subscription engine, this single, enterprise-wide platform provides all the required functionalities and real-time links to Oracle SaaS applications. The Inspirage Customer Portal’s modules have links to the following underlying SaaS modules:

• Customer Service: B2B Service, Installed Base, Subscription Management, Product Information Management (PIM)
• Quotation & Ordering: Oracle Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ), Order Management, Product Information Management (PIM),
• Sales Agreement Releases: Oracle Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ), Order Management
• Order Status: Order Management, Inventory Management
• Installed Base Information: Installed Base, Subscription Management
• Documents: Product Information Management (PIM)

How it works

Inspirage solution manages flexible warranty durations for the same product based on sales negotiations  

Innovative high-tech and industrial manufacturing companies are always looking to capitalize on growth opportunities by embracing flexible business solutions to meet their customers’ needs. Consider the case of a leading provider of semiconductor and electronics assembly solutions with unique requirements to offer flexible warranty durations to customers at the time of a sale. Based on the product or service being sold, its warranties needed to be flexible enough to offer coverage for either an incremental duration (e.g., three months, six months, nine months) or a specific number of days.

This situation highlights the need for a subscription solution with the capabilities to entitle sales representatives to capture the specific warranty duration offered to the customer during the quote/sales negotiation — and to reference it during fulfillment for more accurate service and support tracking. To address this issue, Inspirage created a flexible warranty solution to help businesses meet and manage such challenges more effectively.

Reducing inefficiency and errors

Before the flexible warranty solution was implemented, the company’s sales team was using an Excel-based offline solution for tracking warranties. In the absence of order and asset level details, however, it was cumbersome for the team to maintain warranties in Excel. Inefficient and error-prone operational challenges inspired them to transform their business processes to Oracle’s cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) ERP solution.

As part of its transformational, end-to-end Oracle Cloud ERP solution, the business wanted users to be able to continue leveraging the flexibility that had been provided by Excel. This included allowing sales representatives to capture customer-specific warranty duration information from the time of quotation/sale. Oracle’s Subscription Management system supports only fixed duration warranties maintained at the product level. To meet this requirement, Inspirage implemented its flexible and scalable subscription solution to remove the fixed product level duration and introduce a variable warranty duration. With the help of Inspirage’s implementation solution, the business was able to sell the same product to different customers under different sales conditions with flexible warranty durations. The business also gained the ability to manage customer service/support without Master Data overhead or operational inefficiencies.
 

 

Key Considerations

Improving Revenue Projections and the Customer Experience with Oracle Subscription Management  

Businesses today need a solution that can easily track the usage of after-sales services and repairs they provide to customers under contract. They also need a solution that provides flexibility when they are offering product warranties based on the agreement established during quoting. The industrial equipment manufacturing sector, for example, has unique requirements for offering different warranties to customers. Some customers need options for warranties based on actual shipping dates, while others may want them based on the installation or customer acceptance date. The Inspirage and Oracle subscription management solution helps businesses satisfy those requirements.

Managing replacement warranties

Businesses need to track the specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) associated with each Service Request they receive. Whenever a Service Request is created for a defective part, the Service Representative must verify and ensure that the defective parts, the SLAs, and the price discount are covered in an active contract. Service Representatives also need flexibility in choosing the level of service, such as urgent, regular, part exchange, repair, or a combination of these. Inspirage’s solution helps customers manage replacement warranties in such cases. (The Inspirage solution also caters to customers who do not have contracts and helps customers manage replacement warranties if needed.)

You may also need a consolidated contract to cover multiple assets which have numerous components and sub-assemblies. Because each sub-assembly has a specific price based on the type of service, you may also need an option to provide separate invoices for each asset — or a consolidated invoice for all assets — in each billing cycle. You also have specific requirements for contract renewals with markup pricing. And your customers need reminder notifications for the expiration of warranties and for renewing contracts.

In all these cases, Inspirage leverages Oracle’s Subscription Management solution to optimize your contract lifecycle and keep your stakeholders informed.

It was great to see so many members of the extended Oracle community in Philadelphia recently during the 2022 OTM SIG User Conference. In addition to the conference itself, Inspirage’s annual reception at the Continental Mid-town was an excellent opportunity for attendees to meet with the Inspirage team, gain new insights, and reconnect with peers in person.

For the first time in a few years, we were able to mingle and chat about new ways to enhance the use of the OTM/GTM product. We would love to thank those who joined us at our Inspirage party! Speaking of parties, hats off to the 2022 OTM SIG Diamond Sponsor, Four Kites, for bringing together all conference attendees at their sponsor event at SPIN and reminding us all how awesome this conference really is.

Our theme this year was Legos. As Bob Hart, Inspirage Senior Vice President, Logistics Management Practice, noted during his sponsor presentation, “OTM is built out of many components, just like Legos. Legos inspire creativeness, teamwork, and customization – just as Inspirage does every day through our work with companies embracing new functionalities in the OTM/GTM product.”

Keep on trucking

To illustrate that point, we engaged with a Lego-savvy college student (Will McCrossan, son of Ty McCrossan, Inspirage Senior Solution Director, Logistics Management) to create a customized Lego truck that was a huge hit at our booth. Will truly embraced the Inspirage way of thinking when building that awesome truck!

It was also amazing to see so many new and familiar faces at the conference, which underscored the ever-growing interest in Oracle OTM and GTM. We particularly enjoyed attendees’ enthusiasm for learning how OTM/GTM is currently benefiting their business and their thoughts on how new functionalities will benefit them in the future.

According to Carrie Kaup, Conference Chair (and Land o’ Lakes Supply Chain Systems Analyst), “The conference brought more new customers than in previous years, and we can’t wait to see what next year’s conference will look like.”

An optimistic outlook

Here are some other insights we brought home from the event as well as a few thoughts about what they mean for Inspirage, Oracle, and our clients:

• Spot market providers continue to invest heavily in the OTM space, and Oracle is continuing its 22-year tradition of investing heavily in OTM/GTM. This is intensifying interest and curiosity among our current and future customers about what is yet to come. It also underscores Oracle’s openness to addressing your ongoing business needs.

• Inspirage Senior Consultant Victoria Kaufman’s presentation, “OTM 101 – Introduction to Core Functionality,” covered the entire end-to-end OTM process from a high-level perspective. Her well-received overview of OTM’s key functions and terminology gave us another fantastic opportunity to gauge attendees’ interest in implementing Oracle Cloud OTM. (Short version: They are extremely interested!)

• This was the first time the conference featured a woman as the keynote speaker. Pamela Barnum, JD, MPA, went from being an undercover police officer to becoming a federal prosecuting attorney. She gave us a superb rundown on how to negotiate with ease, influence with trust, and communicate with confidence. She taught us how to efficiently use our body skills to portray confidence as well as openness to communicating and negotiating — and also shared other fascinating insights on nonverbal communication. Her “3D Negotiation Techniques for Success: Display, Decode, and Detect” will come in handy in the future!

• We discovered plenty of networking opportunities and plan to continue offering bi-monthly meetings of our OTM/GTM User Group. Please send a note to pam.vivio@inspirage.com if you are not already a member so we can get you connected and provide access to this collaborative community site ASAP.

We hope we do not have to wait another year to see or hear from you. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or thoughts about working with Inspirage to move to, or continue growing in, the Oracle Cloud. In the meantime, please download our new infographic detailing the enhanced functionality of OTM and GTM resulting from Oracle’s Quarterly Update 22C to customer environments.

From aeronautics to zoology, accounting is tied to virtually every industry. As long as there is money to be made for a product or service, revenue will need to be accounted for. Accounting professionals provide important services such as filing taxes, closing books, and maintaining financial compliance, among others. But today’s accounting professionals often spend most of their time on transactional requirements and repetitive tasks, leaving them little room for making operational and strategic decisions.

Accounting automation, often referred to as Robotic Process Automation or RPA, is the solution to this issue. Whether you are entirely unfamiliar with this concept or you’ve heard about it but aren’t 100% convinced it’s worthwhile for your business, this article just may make you a believer in workflow automation.

What is accounting automation?

Accounting automation is an operational process that leverages software to automatically perform manual tasks. Otherwise known as automated accounting or accounting process automation, accounting automation software takes the work out of paperwork by seamlessly and accurately examining financial statements, computing tax filings, evaluating accounts receivable, inspecting account books, filing paper or electronic documents, and much more.

Automation and AI technology aren’t confined to the future, either; they’re the here and now. Many business owners, who either contract external accounting professionals or have an accounting department, are already automating various accounting tasks. According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the global automation software market is expected to reach a valuation of more than $46 billion within the next five years, an increase of nearly 17% compared to 2020. That’s just for automation software, never mind automation in general.

Accounting automation, or RPA, is as popular as it is today for one simple reason: It works. As is the case in other professions, time is money — the longer it takes to do something, the more it costs. This kind of intelligent automation streamlines work processes, resulting in greater productivity, efficiency, and fewer errors in recording financial data.

Let’s go over these benefits more in-depth and learn how they relate to the challenges that your accounting team and accounting professionals face:

What are the main advantages of accounting automation?

Addresses hiring challenges

In the aftermath of the pandemic and The Great Resignation, in which approximately 47 million people nationwide quit their jobs in 2021 alone, according to CNBC, many business owners are struggling to fill open roles and get more people on their payroll. Manufacturers, retailers, and the hospitality sector have all been hit hard and received a considerable amount of attention from the press. But accounting firms are in a similar bind, particularly CPAs. In an annual survey conducted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, finding qualified staff was cited as a leading issue by CPA firms of various sizes, be they sole practitioners or those with 21 or more staff members.

Since financial automation can operate on its own, tasks that would traditionally be performed by an accounting professional can be conducted via artificial intelligence. Not only that, but RPA software also improves accuracy, which saves time and reduces workloads related to financial reporting.

Increases efficiency

There’s a reason why the educational journey to becoming an accountant takes as long as it does. When numbers are involved and precision is pivotal, accounting professionals need to know what they’re doing. Their knowledge must extend beyond best practices since their assignments require a great deal of critical thinking.

But at the same time, a considerable portion of their day-to-day accounting tasks are mind-numbingly repetitive. In fact, according to a poll conducted by Kelton Global, a leading global insights firm, the accounting and finance professionals surveyed said they spent more than half of their time in the typical month engaged in repetitive tasks, activities that could be finished easily through workflow automation.

Accounting software eases workloads by systematizing monotonous accounting tasks so they can be completed quickly and autonomously. Instead of manually inputting data and transactions into a spreadsheet, which drains resources, automation does it … automatically. An automated accounting system gives accounting professionals more bandwidth to attend to the affairs requiring greater attention to details, such as client correspondence, providing strategic insights to their employers or clients to enhance revenue, and more.

Improves data quality

Accounting is a specialty; clients and business owners hire accountants because they have a great deal of knowledge about tax law, bookkeeping, reconciliation auditing, and other capabilities. But regardless of their expertise, mistakes happen, and seemingly minor oversights or transposing of numbers can result in enormous complications, even investigations by the Internal Revenue Service.

Automation helps to minimize errors by reducing the need for spreadsheets and manual data entry. This way, it reduces risk and provides more certainty in remaining error-free.

Maximizes productivity

Even though workflow automation and artificial intelligence are both already in place, many are concerned that it won’t be long before automation increases its foothold and winds up replacing large swaths of the labor force, including accounting professionals.

That is highly unlikely in accounting. Accounting software streamlines those repetitive tasks that prevent accountants from attending to the affairs that artificial intelligence can’t replicate, such as strategic initiatives, advising, assessing budgets, and consulting with other financial professionals. Thus, it complements accounting professionals by giving them an extra set of hands so they can focus on more high-value assignments and increase productivity.

Automate accounting with NetSuite

Whether you are looking to optimize your accounting practice or get the accounting portion of your operation addressed so you can focus on your area of expertise, NetSuite is a comprehensive accounting automation solution. Replete with a wide variety of features that address traditional and specialty accounting tasks – such as revenue recognition, expense reporting, journal entries, transaction matching, invoice consolidation, and more — NetSuite is the world’s premiere cloud accounting software, boasting over 31,000 customers worldwide and counting. Inspirage can get you set up with a customized implementation.

Please contact us today to learn more about this accounting automation, or RPA, tool and our other capabilities that can help your business work smarter.

Our July livestream event was so popular we’re making it available 24/7

Our recent livestream discussion — “Zebra’s Dazzling Success: Re-engineering Supply Chains with Oracle’s Supply Chain Planning and Inspirage Solutions” — was so well received that we’ve decided to make it available on-demand.

If you missed it the first time, this is your chance to learn directly from Zebra Technologies how they accelerated their digital transformation by upgrading to Oracle’s Cloud Supply Chain Planning. The cloud-based solution strategically re-engineered Zebra’s forward and reverse supply chains providing real-time business intelligence. Oracle’s Fusion framework seamlessly leveraged a fully automated and integrated supply chain foundation resulting in an enhanced customer experience and more efficient processes.

During the session, Zebra, Inspirage, and Oracle shared insights into the challenges that Zebra faced and the supply chain benefits they achieved.

A shared focus on supply chain success

“Our relationship with Oracle and Inspirage goes back 15 years,” says Paritesh Sharma, Zebra Technologies Senior Director, Information Systems. “Due to a series of acquisitions, Zebra had tripled in size. We soon realized that what had served as well until then would not be able to serve us well in the future.”

“With the dynamic nature of the modern supply chain and the challenges that we see in the world, we realized we needed a system that would allow us to scale,” Sharma says. “That’s when we made the decision to begin our journey to the Oracle Cloud.”

Enabling digital resiliency

You’ll also learn how leveraging Oracle’s Supply Chain Planning Cloud applications and Inspirage solutions – including IBP Control Tower – allowed Zebra to successfully enable resilient digital systems to reduce inventory costs while improving operating efficiencies. This is an ideal opportunity to apply the real-world lessons learned by Zebra to your organization’s journey to the cloud, so please watch it now.
 

 
Featured speakers include:

• Ankur Bhatia, Associate Vice President, Inspirage
• Paritesh Sharma, Senior Director Information Systems, Zebra Technologies
• Robert Benvenutti, Director Supply Chain Planning, Zebra Technologies
• Ram Sethuramalingam, IT Manager, Zebra Technologies
• Carol Munroe, Application Sales Manager, Oracle

Please visit our website for information about other upcoming Inspirage events.

Helping businesses keep electronic records and gain approval for critical transactions based on US FDA requirements

A desire that virtually all business professionals share is to be successful. While everyone has their idea of what success means, no one would disagree that greater productivity certainly qualifies as success. The limitless capabilities of cloud computing have enabled today’s business owners to achieve a high caliber of success. From easier, more streamlined access to data that can help them make more informed decisions, to much lower operating costs compared to on-premises infrastructure — which frees up cash flow for other business needs — the benefits of cloud migration are as voluminous as the cloud is large. Indeed, the benefits are boundless.

Who isn’t in the cloud yet?

Given the remarkable rate of cloud adoption and the litany of cloud providers, the question today isn’t how many businesses are already leveraging cloud infrastructure, but who isn’t yet? According to a study conducted in part by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, not only are the vast majority of today’s business owners taking advantage of cloud services — be it a cloud platform, the services offered by cloud providers, or a combination of both — but 81% say the cloud is “very” or “extremely” important to their organization’s long-term growth and strategies. Additionally, more than two-thirds (67%) said their organization was accelerating the rate of cloud adoption of existing or planned cloud applications, compared with 56% in 2020. To that end, almost 70% indicated they anticipate 60% or more of their organization’s infrastructure to be cloud-based within the next 24 months.

Cloud migration is self-recommending

Whether you call it cloud migration, cloud adoption, or simply cloud computing, the cloud is increasingly popular because it enables enterprises to achieve better business outcomes. From greater visibility to increased agility to cost reduction and process efficiency, the benefits of moving to the cloud are undeniable, making cloud migration self-recommending.

Few global events crystallized the indispensability of the cloud as clearly as the pandemic. Given the highly infectious nature of the coronavirus, which led to mandatory lockdowns that affected millions of businesses and hundreds of millions of employees, businesses worldwide were forced to close their locations, and employees were required to work entirely remotely. The sudden shift created a lot of confusion and upheaval for enterprises that lacked the infrastructure necessary for fully remote work environments. But those businesses already leveraging the cloud had a much easier time with the fully remote transition because all their data is shared and accessible with an internet connection.

Melanie Posey, research director for managed services transformation at 451 Research, highlighted that businesses that embraced cloud adoption before the pandemic were in a better strategic position to navigate the lockdown successfully and this has incentivized others to follow their lead. “Sectors that tended to be slow on the uptake of new technologies, such as government and education, were forced to accelerate their cloud usage so they could maintain operations efficiently during the lockdowns,” Posey explained. In 2021, more than 36% of business owner respondents in an S&P Global Market Intelligence poll said they increased their spending on public cloud services or infrastructure, compared with just 2% who spent more on non-cloud infrastructure.

What are the different types of cloud environments?

There are several kinds of cloud deployments, each with a variety of service and data storage offerings. Let’s explore some of the characteristics of each model:

1. Public cloud
   The most common, the public cloud, is generally the largest of the four offerings and tends to be used for collaborative purposes. This means that multiple users share the resources within the public cloud. How much of those resources are used affects what users spend. Oracle Cloud Applications are hosted in a public cloud.

 

2. Private cloud
   Unlike a public cloud, where the infrastructure is shared, the private cloud only allows certain users to access the cloud and use it for data sharing and storage caching needs. This access is controlled by a firewall, which tracks and prevents unauthorized user traffic from penetrating the network.

 

3. Hybrid cloud
   As the word “hybrid” suggests, a hybrid cloud refers to a blend of both the public cloud and the private cloud. In this arrangement, users can store data in either environment per business demands and preferences. For example, they may want to store their highly sensitive business information on the private cloud but use the public cloud to leverage its scalability.

 

4. Community cloud
   The community cloud is similar to the public cloud because it allows for greater collaboration. Still, the difference between it and the public cloud is that it’s typically used by organizations that share the same goals or are in the same industry. They may also be in the same community, hence the term. Businesses that use the community cloud may also have common security or compliance concerns, which will affect how the cloud infrastructure is built.

The benefits of cloud computing

We’ve briefly discussed the primary benefits of moving to the cloud, but you may still be wondering whether cloud migration is worth the transition from on-premise. Here are just a few of the business advantages that cloud providers make possible:

Flexibility
Flexibility may be the biggest perk that the cloud has to offer. With on-premises data storage infrastructure, you’re inherently bound by the physical size of the servers and can only access the data if you’re at the location. The cloud does away with on-premises infrastructure. And since it’s all internet-based, the cloud infrastructure scales on-demand to support the needs of your business in terms of storage capacity and bandwidth.

Efficiency
Working hard in business is essential, but it’s even more important to work smart. Cloud computing increases efficiency in several ways. For example, since the cloud uses remote resources, your company saves on the expenses of on-premise servers and all the equipment that goes with them, thereby increasing cost efficiency. Additionally, all the applications and data that your business requires are accessible from any internet-enabled device. This makes it easier for everyone to work collaboratively and in the manner that best suits them.

Security
In the case of a public cloud that utilizes shared space, you may think that cloud infrastructure would be compromised from a security standpoint. On the contrary, public cloud service providers have dedicated IT teams whose singular mission is ensuring that no unauthorized users are allowed entry into a cloud environment. They’re keenly familiar with what tactics are used by cyberattacks and regularly release patches that are updated automatically. With on-premises infrastructure, you’re essentially on your own.

From cost savings to quality control to mobility, today’s cloud migration benefits are innumerable. Inspirage can help you realize these advantages of the Oracle Cloud when you choose us to perform the implementation for you. More businesses are choosing Oracle Cloud Applications and turning to Inspirage to help with their cloud migration. In fact, for the fourth year in a row, Inspirage was recognized by Gartner as a global leader in end-to-end cloud computing implementations in the Magic Quadrant.

Contact us today to learn more about our cloud services and other industry vertical solutions.

Digital transformation is not the wave of the future or the next big thing; it’s the here and now. From manufacturing entities leveraging the “Internet of Things” (IoT) or “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) in their production lines to banking institutions setting up digital platforms to send and receive money electronically, digital adoption in many industries is already in place or well underway.

Digital transformation has become an existential necessity for the contemporary economic ecosystem. Large, midsize, and small businesses aren’t transforming digitally only to keep up with their competitors, either. They’re doing it because it enables them to work smarter and more effectively and take advantage of opportunities that would have been impossible a few decades ago. Digital transformation:

• Improves efficiencies in assembly lines through process automation
• Empowers small businesses and cottage industries to access the global market through modern e-commerce platforms performing customer sentiment analysis using social media data mining
• Hones in on investment strategies via machine learning
• Optimizes supply chain management via scientific analysis of available data
• Helps businesses achieve their goals and obtain results in highly challenging, highly dynamic environments

Few periods in recent years were so universally challenging as 2020 when the effects of COVID-19 threw a wrench into just about every conceivable norm. As a recent poll commissioned in part by the Institute for Supply Management found, approximately three-quarters of business owner respondents said that their supply chains were adversely impacted by the pandemic, due primarily to labor shortages and state-mandated lockdowns. Additionally, 45% said they experienced higher costs that year and more than half (51%) had a hard time shifting to partial and fully remote work environments.

Yet the survey showed that organizations that had digital solutions in place before the pandemic endured the coronavirus crisis better than those that did not. This was particularly true of digital technologies designed to support processes and outcomes like team collaboration, procurement, and remote work. In other words, companies that invested in digital solutions for inventory management, procurement, and other functions were more resilient.

“Companies that invested in a digital transformation program have found it easier to cope, to flex, and to change what they’re doing to meet new demands,” said Paul Blake, a product marketing specialist who led the research.

Here are a few of today’s top digital transformation trends, which could transform your business and its processes.

Business process automation

Of all the digital technologies and capabilities, business process automation may be the most ubiquitous. Business process automation is largely defined as the leveraging of software, hardware, and/or other equipment so routine tasks are performed more quickly and accurately. From data entry to employee onboarding to customer invoicing, business process automation reduces the hassles associated with tedious work so key employees can focus on core work. When deployed smartly, business process automation can help to improve the customer experience since more people are devoted to that goal. In short, business process automation enables organizations to use their resources more wisely.

Examples of this kind of digital technology are innumerable. From claims processing to batch processing, event log monitoring to automated order entry, business process automation reduces the legwork that’s associated with these kinds of repeatable tasks since they’re all handled by computer-based systems. Organizations leverage business process automation regularly. As a recent survey from Gartner showed, more than 75% of businesses today routinely use a combination of artificial intelligence, integration, and automation application in their day-to-day work processes. In addition to minimizing errors through predefined processes, business process automation also saves staff members’ time — a fact that is not lost on employees. Indeed, as Forbes reported, more than 50% of workers say they suspect they’d be able to cut their workload down by an average of two hours per day if some of their tasks were done by automation.

Critics of automation claim that the increased use of this type of digital technology will lead to job losses. But as a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has found, automation has not produced the kind of job losses that some projected. In fact, in virtually all professions between 2012 and 2019, employment has increased globally, even in industries considered to be highly vulnerable to job loss stemming from automation. The OECD report noted that even when other contributing factors were taken into account across countries and economies (e.g. wealth, taxes, product market regulations, etc.), the implementation of automation did not lead to reduced employment growth.

Cloud-based solutions

In many ways, the cloud has revolutionized not just the internet, but how and where businesses operate. Traditionally, when companies have needed to compile or create data, they’ve stored it all in large servers and similar on-premises infrastructure. But aside from the room that these stations take up, they’re highly complex to create, maintain, and update to keep them operating efficiently.

The cloud has changed all that. All the information that used to be stored or accessed on site is available through centrally located servers that are accessible via an internet connection. By 2025, an estimated 85% of enterprises in the United States will have a cloud-first strategy in place, Business Insider reported. But other studies suggest cloud adoption among enterprises has already surpassed this figure.

Enterprises and small businesses are increasingly using the cloud as a result of the benefits it offers, including greater security, heightened visibility, scalability, unlimited storage capacity for data, cost efficiency, and workplace flexibility. Not only are more organizations using the cloud, but they’re also often using more than one. Indeed, on average, businesses use at least two public cloud (2.6) and two private cloud environments, according to a report by InfoWorld. Finally, as noted in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Oracle Cloud Application Services, Worldwide, “by year-end 2024, 75% of Oracle application services revenue will be cloud-related as enterprises accelerate their move to the cloud in response to the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Data democratization

Another digital transformation trend that is taking the business world by storm — largely thanks to the cloud — is data democratization. Data democratization refers to the various processes that allow information to be accessible to pretty much anyone, regardless of their status within a company. Gone are the days when data was only relevant to IT professionals or business analysts assisting executives with major decisions. Data democratization enables non-specialists to not just dissect data, but to gather it as well, without requiring the assistance of someone whose background is in data analysis or data analytics.

Before these advancements, data democratization was difficult to achieve because of how data was often stored. Housed in its silos, data was typically unable to reach the appropriate people across the breadth of an organization.  Data inaccuracy was another dilemma adversely influencing the decisions made by companies. Data literacy has also held back data democratization. Data can only productively influence the decisions a company makes if it is interpreted accurately and if others examining the same data can draw the same conclusions.

Today, thanks to data federation software, virtualization, and cloud storage, data democratization is easier and more seamless than ever. For example, with data federation software, businesses can comprehensively go out and gather data so that it can be obtained from several different sources and environments, which was difficult and tedious to do previously. It can then be stored in a virtual database for later use or analysis. Data virtualization, meanwhile, uses software so anyone can retrieve and interpret data quickly regardless of how it was sourced or formatted. Cloud storage also offers protection from cyberattacks, thanks to encryption technology.

Whether you’re leveraging all of these digital technologies or seeking to begin your digital transformation journey, Inspirage can help you with the process. We deliver end-to-end digital transformation projects for product-based companies. For more information about our expertise and solutions, contact us today.

From introducing a first-of-its-kind breakfast cereal to rolling out the latest iteration of an already popular kitchen appliance, there’s nothing new about new products. Indeed, a whopping 30,000 new product offerings reach the market in the average year, according to NielsenIQ. And that’s just in the consumer-packaged goods segment. A mere fraction of these product offerings, however, gain traction with the buying public.

A critical component to the success of a product launch is the product commercialization process. Whether you own a startup company and are dipping your toe into the product commercialization process or are a seasoned CEO aiming to streamline your new product introduction or new product development workflows, this article will address your business objectives.

Product commercialization explained

Product commercialization is a branch of product lifecycle management, which involves all the activities that occur over the course of a product’s life, from conceptualization to launch to retirement. Product commercialization occurs during the launch phase of a product’s lifecycle.

To the average consumer, commercialization might seem to refer solely to advertising and marketing – the promotional work that lets buyers know that a product exists, what it does, and where to buy it. Regarding product lifecycle management, however, commercialization can include ideation, research, assessment,  development, prospecting, marketing, and more. In other words, commercialization encompasses all the processes that need to be completed before a product is ready for release. The specific activities relevant to commercialization largely depend on the type of product being brought to the market. What follows are some of the steps commonly involved in successful product commercialization:

1. Perform research: Research helps to identify what, if any, market exists for a given product or innovation.
2. Gather feedback: This stage involves soliciting the opinions and feedback of other stakeholders to determine what a new product should include to resonate with buyers, based on your market research.
3. Obtain a patent: This step entails obtaining the credentials that identify you as the inventor from a governing authority. Patent protection is crucial to your intellectual property.
4. Identify target audience: This is the prospecting stage, where you go out and identify the most likely customers for your new product offering and the best way to reach them, which includes marketing. Audience identification can be incorporated with your overall sales strategy.
5. Monitor sales performance: After product launch, monitoring sales performance can help you with production and determining whether the new product is resonating with your audience.

Product commercialization: the most consequential stage of product lifecycle management

Product commercialization may be the most consequential stage of product lifecycle management. The commercialization process is largely where all the planning takes place. This includes not just marketing the product, but conducting the relevant research and collecting pertinent feedback to determine if there is an appetite or buying interest for a new soft drink, hard candy, plush mattress, or whatever your new product may be.

The reliability of the methods and procedures used during product commercialization can largely determine the end result. And because so many new product launches wind up failing, there is a lot of room for error during this pivotal stage. However, when done carefully and accurately, product commercialization can increase profitability, expand your customer base, improve process innovation, and enhance customer satisfaction through better product development.

The right tool to bring your products to life

There are many critical components to product lifecycle management. Oracle’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) applications have them all covered. Oracle Cloud PLM helps bring your product to life, from innovation to collaboration, to commercialization and more. It enables businesses to turn their best ideas into highly profitable product offerings. Cloud PLM makes this possible by helping you connect and manage all the steps and phases that are involved in the innovation pipeline to improve visibility and alignment across new product and service offerings or investments.

The removal of cordoned-off silos helps to support greater collaboration among all the departments taking part in bringing a product to the marketplace, thereby enhancing overall productivity, streamlining communication, reducing errors, and minimizing downtime. In a demand-heavy, consumer-driven economy — where beating the competition truly does matter — more collaboration in getting products ready for launch can be the difference between coming in first with your prospective customers or coming up short.

But beating the competition is all for naught if you get something wrong with the design or concept. Oracle Cloud Product Management guards against this by allowing you to reuse existing items, trace requirements through the design phases, and validate that each new product has been designed to reduce new product introduction risks. This shortens the time to market with a product that achieves business and technical expectations and specifications.

In addition, Oracle Cloud Product Management helps your company more effectively engage with your extended supply chain, providing visibility via collaboration on product design and features, as well as integrating PLM to other imperative enterprise business processes like Quality Management and more.

Oracle’s Product Management Cloud, which encompasses everything from ideation to commercialization, allows you to seamlessly monitor and manage product specifications, component optimization, supply risk, and other key production metrics. It also unifies processes in the production cycle — such as engineering and manufacturing — that might otherwise be disconnected, thereby driving overall efficiency and cost savings.

Regardless of your specific needs and goals, our Product Lifecycle Management team will help you move from ideation to project delivery without compromising quality or missing a beat. Contact us today to learn more.

Utilize safety stock smoothing to keep product levels stable

Inspirage can help

Profitability and Cost Management (PCM) has always been a crucial part of the Oracle EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) suite. With the latest June 2022 update, Oracle has announced the launch of a new iteration of the PCM solution — Enterprise Profitability and Cost Management (Enterprise PCM). This blog highlights the key new features of Oracle EPM Cloud’s Enterprise PCM and how it differs from earlier versions, including:

Common EPM Platform:
Then: Oracle Cloud PCM was developed on an independent platform.
Now: Enterprise PCM is an integrated part of the common EPM platform.

Business Impact: Oracle Planning, FCC (Financial Consolidation and Close), and other EPM applications (except PCM) have had similar, standard approaches for several functionalities, such as the application, dimension-metadata management, and data management processes. This move now adds the Oracle Enterprise PCM application to the list, which will help customers get accustomed to a single UI for these tasks.

Additional ASO Database Cubes:
Then: Oracle Cloud PCM had a single ASO cube.
Now: Enterprise PCM comes pre-loaded with one calculation and one reporting ASO cube. It also allows the creation of up to three additional ASO cubes.

Business Impact: Proper utilization of reporting and calculation cubes will optimize overall performance. You can also use custom cubes for managing drivers or other data-enabling system administrators to organize data.

Data Forms to Load and Manage Data:
Then: Legacy data management, native file load, and the Essbase plugin of SmartView were used to load or manage data for analysis.
Now: In addition to the above options, admins create customizable data forms, EPM agent, data exchange, and data maps. The platform plugin of Smart View is also available, like other Oracle Cloud EPM applications, model views are discontinued.

Business Impact: Until now, data forms have been a significant missing piece for data collection and analysis. For example, whenever the driver data collection from various stakeholders is needed, users have had to rely on native data load, data management, or a planning application. Including data forms in Enterprise PCM eliminates the reliance on multiple instances/environments and reduces the maintenance required for data security and cross-application integration. With Enterprise PCM, you can also leverage an additional ASO cube to manage driver data and organize the overall solution more efficiently.

Rules and Rule Sets Management:
Then: Rules and rule sets were created as a part of PCM’s Point of View (POV), which determines what data to retrieve for allocations.
Now: Allocation and custom rules, as well as rule sets, will be created as part of the model.

Business Impact: You can now create multiple models for different allocation scenarios. You can also run a model against one or more data POVs together. With Enterprise PCM, you can avoid making numerous copies of the same rules across POVs. Moreover, the rule name will now be the rule member name instead of the rule ID, which will help business users to analyze allocation results effortlessly in SmartView.

Reporting and Analytics Updates:
Then: Native PCM dashboards and financial reporting for data analysis were necessary.
Now: New options are available for using the EPM Platform analytics tools, including Dashboards 2.0, Infolets, and Forms. Analysts can establish a connection to Oracle Analytics (OAC) to prepare data visualizations and dashboards. In addition, management reporting is now available with Enterprise EPM, as is Advanced Trace Allocation.

 

Source: Admin guide for Enterprise PCM
 

Business Impact: This opens the floodgates of new functionalities in reporting and analytics within the PCM solution. Data transparency and reliability have always been vital for all versions of PCM solutions. Management reporting, previously available only in Narrative Reporting and other EPM tools, will help analysts to generate reports without experience with Essbase, scripting syntax, or programming languages. The advanced multi-step Trace Allocation feature will aid business users in tracing the allocated numbers and visualizing data relationships across multiple dimensions.

 

Source: Admin guide for Enterprise PCM
 

Apart from these innovations, many other capabilities have been added to Enterprise PCM, including custom navigation flows, substitution variables, additional security, valid intersections, and more. Enterprise PCM is not just an update but an evolution of the Oracle EPM Cloud PCM application, which has opened boundless new opportunities for customers.

Inspirage can help

The seasoned professionals on the Inspirage Finance/EPM team are cloud-certified and specialize in solving fragmented and complex reporting and business analysis solutions. We facilitate your transformation to a modern finance solution that integrates your ERP systems by accurately aligning the facts with projections to drive world-class finance initiatives and business growth. Our Strategic Advisory Services can help customers evaluate the pros and cons of staying with on-premises apps versus moving to the cloud, and our Managed Services professionals ensure the success of your EPM and BI solutions well beyond the implementation phase. For additional information about Oracle EPM Cloud and to learn more about how Inspirage can help your business digitally transform its finance operations, please contact us today.

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s 2021 Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey.

In a truly global landscape, the medical device supply chain may be the single most complex one for manufacturing entities to navigate. With health care representing one-fifth of the U.S. economy, there is tremendous demand for state-of-the-art technology that can improve health outcomes, whether it’s through early diagnosis, more accurate blood pressure readings, or any number of other health solutions that medical devices have made possible. How quickly and effectively the medical device industry can get these products to market can be life-changing — quite literally.

But the pathway to distributing medical devices is a difficult one due to the costs of production, stiff competition from rival developers, and increasingly strict medical device regulation from oversight bodies. Medical device manufacturers must routinely clear numerous hurdles and regulatory requirements in order to bring their products to market, as well as expand into other geographies.

Product lifecycle management — and, by extension, PLM solutions — can make your journey to the market more of a straight line. Here’s a breakdown of what product life management is all about and how it helps solve medical device manufacturers’ biggest pain points by improving quality management.

First things first

Product lifecycle management is a process that represents the entirety — hence the term “lifecycle” — of a product’s existence. To consumers, a product’s life may seem like it begins when they first purchase the item. But to the manufacturer, the product lifecycle begins much earlier, starting at conceptualization and concluding at retirement, with development, product launch, and servicing and support representing the three phases in between. All product-based industries use some iteration of product lifecycle management, including toy companies, automakers, industrial machinery developers, home appliance manufacturers, and more.

When it comes to the stages of product lifecycle management, both the names and the number tend to vary, depending on the industry and what is being produced. The activities that occur within those phases can also be different. Generally speaking, though, there are at least five. Let’s dive into these stages a little further:

1. Conceptualization: The conceptualization phase is the seminal one. Ideation happens here, as well as requirements guiding the features and functionality of the product.
2. Development: Development is where ideas are put into practice. In this stage, the product is designed and validated, analysis is performed, and prototypes are created. This allows stakeholders to provide feedback on what, if anything, needs to be changed about the product design before moving on to mass production. “Design for X” is also critical in the development process. “X” means manufacturability, quality, compliance, and other governing parameters. Examples of relatively recent regulatory requirements for medical manufacturers include Unique Device Identifier (UDI) and EU MDR.
3. Product launch: Here, feedback on refinements is implemented and the product design goes from prototype to ready for purchase. Stakeholders collaborate with marketing entities to assist with getting the product to the market. The product design goes from prototype to ready for purchase. Additionally, commercial and regulatory requirements now come into play, which if not met, can impair the launch and sale of your products.
4. Servicing and support: Producers may offer supplementary services to end-users on an as-needed basis, such as troubleshooting and support to ensure the product works as intended and is delivering the correct results. And with regulated products, various regulatory agencies have requirements relative to how long product information must be maintained, what acceptable archive processes are, and other factors in the data retention area.
5. Retirement: This is the stage where the product is phased out because it’s reached its endpoint. It no longer works, buying trends have shifted, or improvements in technology have rendered it obsolete.

Product lifecycle management software is a tool that helps manufacturers organize product development so creations find their way to the actual marketplace, not just the marketplace of ideas. With product lifecycle management software in place, manufacturers have more visibility and control over all the phases and stages that a product goes through over the course of its life. Product lifecycle management software makes it easy to track data, share product data with other stakeholders, and make more informed decisions regarding development, marketing, pricing, and compliance across the supply chain, thanks to unifying many disparate processes.

Effective product lifecycle management is essential to medical device companies

Without a plan and the right technology, product lifecycle management is fraught with risks. According to Inc., as many as 95% of products that are newly released wind up being pulled from the market because they don’t sell well. There are also unique challenges facing medical device manufacturers in particular. In addition to financing development, medical device developers must adhere to strict quality control measures and regulatory compliance protocols established by major oversight entities — both in the healthcare industry (such as the American Medical Association) and the federal government (such as the Federal Drug Administration). Because the bar is so high, estimates suggest that only 45% of medical devices wind up being approved, according to a study published in the medical journal BMJ.

Product lifecycle management software helps medical device companies successfully bring their creations to market by supplying them with the added visibility, efficiency, and project delivery capabilities critical to product development.

The medical device lifecycle is a little different
The process of bringing medical devices to market typically takes longer than it does with other products that don’t have as many regulatory structures. This is one reason the medical device lifecycle runs longer than with other products. The phases are similar, though, and include:

1. Concept: In the ideation phase, a medical device is conceptualized, its capabilities are defined, and funding options are explored.
2. Planning: Similar to the general product lifecycle management workflow, the planning component for medical device manufacturers involves creating a prototype of the device – a design based on the needs of health care practitioners or patients – and a strategy to market the device. This stage also ensures that users’ needs align with technical requirements.
3. Design: In the design stage, engineers and manufacturers collaborate to mass-produce the medical device in question. This process is informed by feedback from users, technical documentation, design verification, and initial studies verifying that the device is safe and effective to use.
4. Validation: The validation process for medical device manufacturers is significantly more complex than for many other types of manufacturers. Medical device companies conduct clinical studies to corroborate the soundness of their devices and must comply with extensive regulations and documentation requirements before their products can be marketed to the general public or health care providers.
5. Launch: Once approved by oversight entities, the medical device is marketed and sold to hospitals, clinics, patients, or other intended users. The launch phase may also include training and support if technical know-how is required.
6. Post-market: The post-market phase represents any point after which the device has gone to market and become available for use. During this phase, medical device manufacturers continue to monitor product safety and may conduct additional marketing and customer research initiatives in the hopes of increasing future sales.

PLM software solves medical device manufacturers’ challenges

Because the medical device supply chain includes multiple players in addition to manufacturers and end-users, a lack of transparency across the landscape can present quality issues during every phase of product lifecycle management.

PLM software helps break down walls so there is easier coordination. Oracle Cloud PLM is one such solution that allows for increased visibility and agility. By leveraging Oracle Cloud PLM, every stage of a product’s lifecycle is centralized, from conceptualization to planning, design, validation, and more. Because Oracle Cloud PLM is built on a SaaS model, the solution is automatically updated with the latest features, functions, and best practices that help you manage your current devices and roll out the next big thing.

Whether you’re looking to streamline your product launch, make the regulatory compliance process easier, or improve the quality of your product lifecycle management, Inspirage can help make it all possible. We partner with companies to break down barriers and identify opportunities to drive better performance. Contact us today to learn more about Oracle’s PLM platform and our innovative Medical Device solutions.

There’s so much to do at Kscope22 this month!

Inspirage is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of ODTUG’s Kscope22 this month — and we hope everyone makes the most of our time together in Grapevine, Texas. The conference promises something for everyone, so it’s a good idea to make your plans before you get there.

Start by saving your spot at our “Wine in Grapevine!” party on Tuesday, June 21st. Share feedback and insights with the Inspirage team and your peers as you enjoy complimentary wine, tapas, and live acoustic music at Sloan & Williams Winery in downtown Grapevine from 6:00 to 10:00 PM.

Before arriving at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, you should also decide which of the eight Inspirage presentations you’d like to attend. We would love to see you at one, but feel free to sit in on all eight! You can learn more about all these sessions here.

Oracle EPM REST API for Dummies
Monday, June 20 (11:00 AM – 11:30 AM) Texas 6

REST API opens up a wide variety of new possibilities to manage your Oracle Cloud EPM platform. This session will cover adding and sorting members, updating security, migrations, and data management tasks.

Tootsie Roll’s Sweet Journey from HFM to FCC
Monday, June 20 (4:15 PM – 5:15 PM) San Antonio 4

Learn how easy it was for this beloved candy company to migrate from their on-prem HFM application to Oracle Cloud EPM Financial Consolidation and Close.

Inspirage: Enabling Oracle Cloud Applications for Finance and Beyond
Tuesday, June 21 (10:15 AM – 11:15 AM) Texas 6

Attend this session to discover why companies including Tootsie Roll, Cohu, and Flagstar Bank – among many others – have entrusted Inspirage to optimize their ERP and Finance processes and guide them on their journey to the Oracle Cloud.

LSI Lights the Way to the Cloud
Tuesday, June 21 (2:30 PM – 3:30 PM) Texas 4

Learn how LSI, an international commercial and industrial lighting company, migrated to the Oracle Cloud using Financial Consolidation and Close (FCC) to reduce close cycle time, eliminate manual tasks, and achieve other key benefits.

Flagstar Bank’s Migration Journey from On-premise to EPM Cloud
Wednesday, June 22 (10:15 AM – 11:15 AM) Texas 6

This session highlights how Flagstar’s cloud migration resolved several inefficiencies by reducing manual errors, improving accuracy, and streamlining budgeting and planning processes.

Automating Security Management in PBCS
Wednesday, June 22 (12:45 PM – 1:45 PM) Texas 5

In this session, learn how to leverage multiple tools to mass update the security in PBCS for standard dimensions, custom dimensions, forms, and business rules to greatly increase the efficiency of creating and implementing a standard security model, while also providing tools to help maintain it going forward.

Gain and Sustain Agility with Strategic Modeling
Wednesday, June 22 (2:00 PM – 3:00 PM) Texas D

Learn how EPM’s Strategic Modeling enables users to quickly model financial scenarios for fast-changing business dynamics and the uncertainties of long-range financial forecasts.

Automating Metadata & Data Load Process in PBCS using REST API
Wednesday, June 22 (3:30 PM – 4:30 PM) Texas 6

In this session, we will discuss leveraging REST API to update the Metadata and data in PBCS.

And last but not least: drop by our booth and say hello! You can find the whole Inspirage team at Booth 103.

See you in Grapevine!

Please reach out to me if you’ll be attending Kscope22. I would love to meet up to have coffee, invite you to our special Inspirage customer event, and hear about what’s on your mind these days! You can reach me at derron.mirtsching@inspirage.com.

The Inspirage team will present eight live sessions at this can’t-miss Oracle-focused event

 
Kscope22, one of the year’s most important gatherings of Oracle technology users and experts, is only weeks away! There’s still time to make room in your schedule to attend up to eight Inspirage sessions covering important technical topics related to Oracle EPM, ERP, and Analytics.

You may have already read about some of the Inspirage sessions, including “LSI Lights the Way to the Cloud,” “Tootsie Roll’s Sweet Journey from HFM to FCC,” (both presented by Nancy Ackerman, Inspirage Senior Manager, Solution Architecture), and “Flagstar Bank’s Migration Journey from On-premise to Cloud EPM,” (presented by Flagstar Bank Financial Systems Manager Damon A. Hrydziuszko and Inspirage EPM Senior Practice Director Vince Tran).

Here’s what else you can expect from Inspirage in Grapevine, Texas, later this month:

Oracle EPM REST API for Dummies
Monday, June 20 (11:00 AM – 11:30 AM) Texas 6

REST API opens up a wide variety of new possibilities to manage your Oracle Cloud EPM platform. In this session, we will cover adding and sorting members, updating security, migrations, and data management tasks. (Speaker: Dayalan Punniyamoorthy, Practice Manager, Inspirage)

Inspirage: Enabling Oracle Cloud Applications for Finance and Beyond
Tuesday, June 21 (10:15 AM – 11:15 AM) Texas 6

Attend this session to discover why companies including Tootsie Roll, Cohu, and Flagstar Bank – among many others – have entrusted Inspirage to optimize their ERP and Finance processes and guide them on their journey to the Oracle Cloud. (Speaker: John Conlee, Senior Vice President, Global Finance ERP/EPM, Inspirage)

Automating Security Management in PBCS
Wednesday, June 22 (12:45 PM – 1:45 PM) Texas 5

In this session, learn how to leverage multiple tools to mass update the security in PBCS for standard dimensions, custom dimensions, forms, and business rules to greatly increase the efficiency of creating and implementing a standard security model, while also providing tools to help maintain it going forward. (Speaker: Dayalan Punniyamoorthy, Practice Manager, Inspirage)

Gain and Sustain Agility with Strategic Modeling
Wednesday, June 22 (2:00 PM – 3:00 PM) Texas D

Learn how EPM’s Strategic Modeling enables users to quickly model financial scenarios for fast-changing business dynamics as well as the uncertainties of long-range financial forecasts. (Speaker: Vince Tran, Senior EPM Director, Inspirage)

Automating Metadata & Data Load Process in PBCS using REST API
Wednesday, June 22 (3:30 PM – 4:30 PM) Texas 6

In this session, we’ll discuss how to leverage REST API to update the Metadata and data in PBCS. (Speaker: Dayalan Punniyamoorthy, Practice Manager, Inspirage)

Remember to look for us at Booth #103, too! And don’t forget to enter Inspirage code INS22 to save $100 on your registration. Registration is still open.

Going to Kscope22?

Please reach out to me if you’ll be attending Kscope22. I would love to meet up to have coffee, invite you to our special Inspirage customer event, and hear about what’s on your mind these days! You can reach me at camille.delacruz@inspirage.com.

Oracle Recognizes Inspirage’s Adaptability and Innovation in Supply Chain Management 

[June 2, 2022] – Oracle today announced that Inspirage is the winner of the Game Changer Award for SCM Service Delivery in the 2021 Oracle Change Agents Partner Awards. The award recognizes Inspirage for its excellence in helping customers use Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing (SCM) to meet critical business objectives such as accelerating innovation, driving digital transformation, and increasing sustainability. 

Inspirage was also named as a finalist in three other categories: The Change Agent Award for Best Use of Oracle Cloud in Supply Chain, The Summit Award for Excellence in Process Standardization and Innovation, and The Inclusivity Award for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Finance and/or Supply Chain. 

Inspirage, known for digital enablement across enterprise systems and a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), has an extensive, award-winning history of customer success with Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications advisory and implementation services. As an Oracle partner, Inspirage pivoted early and invested heavily in accelerators, programs, training, and certifications to enable clients to adopt Oracle Cloud solutions successfully. 
 

 
“The Oracle Change Agent Awards recognize those who have accelerated innovation, digital transformation, and sustainability for their organizations,” said Kevin Creel, President of Inspirage. “Inspirage is honored to be named the winner of The SCM Service Delivery Partner of the Year Award.”  

“On behalf of the entire team at Inspirage, I extend our thanks to Oracle for recognizing the work Inspirage does to help our clients succeed by delivering the benefits of Oracle Cloud solutions,” said Sridhar Iyer, President, Global Consulting at Inspirage. “This reflects our employees’ high expertise, innovative solutions, and passion for excellence. We are extremely proud of our team’s accomplishments. They deserve this special recognition.”  

For additional information on the Oracle Change Agent Awards, please visit https://blogs.oracle.com/oraclepartners/post/announcing-the-2021-oracle-change-agents-partner-awards.  

 
About Inspirage
Inspirage delivers end-to-end transformational initiatives solving business-critical challenges from design to delivery to enable the digital enterprise. The company provides deep industry domain and applications expertise to deliver consulting and implementation solutions spanning Customer Experience, Product Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Finance, Enterprise Performance Management, and Digital Transformation. Inspirage partners with their customers to break down information silos and optimize performance to accelerate innovation, fuel growth, and achieve operational excellence. 

About Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is Oracle’s partner program designed to enable partners to accelerate the transition to cloud and drive superior customer business outcomes. The OPN program allows partners to engage with Oracle through track(s) aligned to how they go to market: Cloud Build for partners that provide products or services built on or integrated with Oracle Cloud; Cloud Sell for partners that resell Oracle Cloud technology; Cloud Service for partners that implement, deploy and manage Oracle Cloud Services; and License & Hardware for partners that build, service or sell Oracle software licenses or hardware products. Customers can expedite their business objectives with OPN partners who have achieved Expertise in a product family or cloud service.  To learn more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partnernetwork  

Trademarks
Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.   

Sarah Hart, Director of Global Marketing and Communications
info@inspirage.com
+1 855 517 4250 

In the days of analog operations, processing information and using it to further your company objectives were typically limited to targeted — and often costly — initiatives that involved field experts, statisticians, and data analysts. Processing large swaths of data were beyond the capabilities of most contemporary technologies and were often cost-prohibitive for smaller organizations. Digital transformation was the technology that only the upper echelons of the industry could afford. Prioritizing data analytics and digital transformation was, for the most part, a recommendation, something that was highly encouraged but not always seen as necessary for the sustained growth of the organization.

With the advent of technological innovations over the last two decades, there has been a paradigm shift in how data is processed, analyzed, and leveraged at a reasonable cost for all organizations in the economic spectrum. Today, all businesses wanting to achieve their long-term goals around growth, social responsibility, and competitive advantage are investing in digital technology — including “Internet Of Things” (IoT), “Process Filtering,” “Artificial Intelligence” (AI), “Machine Learning” (ML), and “Data Mining” — that can achieve their objectives with a few simple and smart initiatives. Now, digital transformation is not just recommended, it’s expected — especially given the pace of technological innovation and its rate of adoption, which only accelerated when the COVID-19 crisis exposed large gaps in demand speculation and the supply chain. While the setback to the overall global economy wasn’t as harsh as some of the earlier studies suggested, the pandemic nevertheless revealed myriad vulnerabilities within current business intelligence operations.

Generally speaking, those organizations that digitized their work processes and leveraged digital technology before the pandemic were able to overcome the disruptions that resulted in their supply chains and other areas of production. In fact, “digitally mature organizations” are more likely to have increased their profit margins and annual revenue growth during the pandemic compared to businesses whose processes weren’t as digitally mature. These same companies said digital transformation was central to their financial success by helping to improve the customer experience.

It’s little surprise, then, that digital transformation continues to be an important investment for businesses. As Gartner reported, in the United States alone, information technology spending is on pace to reach $4.4 trillion by the conclusion of 2022. Much of that spending is in software, such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS). And last year, nearly three-quarters of organizations in a separate Gartner poll said they were actively engaged in digital transformation initiatives (24% leading, 48% heavily involved).

To what degree are businesses investing in digital transformation?

Digital transformation means different things to different organizations, depending on their needs, goals, specialties, and the products or services they provide. For example, among banks and credit unions, digital transformation may involve rolling out mobile apps that customers can use for remote banking capabilities. For other types of businesses, digital transformation may involve leveraging digital assistants, work-from-home solutions for staff, or chatbots on their websites to help with customer concerns or questions. During COVID-19, call centers experienced substantial growth in call volume because of the lockdown measures. As Forbes reported, organizations with technology in place that allowed employees to field calls from their homes had an easier time navigating the pandemic.

But regardless of how digital transformation manifests itself, organizations have stepped up their efforts to make it happen. According to the International Data Corporation, the combined amount of money that businesses worldwide are expected to spend on digital transformation activities is poised to reach $6.8 trillion by 2023, an increase of 15.5% from 2020. By next year, fully 75% of enterprises are expected to have a “digital transformation roadmap” in place, outlining the steps involved.

But much like a standing structure needs a foundation, every successful digital transformation journey requires a starting point. And for digital transformation to be successful, your business must first begin with data and analytics. This article will help you understand why data analytics is central to digital transformation. As you’ll see, just because organizations take steps toward digital transformation doesn’t mean they’ll always be successful in those efforts.
 

 

Data analytics explained

Data and analytics go hand in hand. In fact, the terms are used so frequently together, that it spawned the hybrid term “data analytics.” Data analytics refers to the ongoing measurement and gathering of statistics, facts, observations, and other pieces of information that can be used to make smart, well-thought-out business decisions. Grouped into four forms  — predictive, prescriptive, diagnostic, and descriptive — data analytics help to identify trends, answer questions, map out solutions, explain why events happened, and draw conclusions.

Bottom line: Data analytics not only helps you make decisions with respect to your business but make the right ones since they’re grounded in actionable intelligence.

1. Predictive
   As its description implies, predictive data analytics leverages quantitative techniques to forecast potential outcomes. From machine learning to data mining to statistical modeling, such methodologies can help to identify trends, cause and effect, and patterns in behavior in terms of end results.
2. Prescriptive
   Prescriptive analytics builds off of predictive analytics; they are often used in combination. While predictive helps to identify trends, prescriptive data analytics outlines the proper course of action in light of those forecasted outcomes. Whether it’s through artificial intelligence or big data, prescriptive analytics provide possible solutions by testing the prescribed actions.
3. Diagnostic
   Whereas prescriptive and predictive analytics are more forward-looking — answering the “what?” about something — diagnostic data analytics is more historical in nature, answering the “why?” about things turning out the way that they did. This part of data analytics is where the actual analysis takes place to explain relationships from a standpoint of cause and effect. Regression analysis, data discovery, and data mining are some examples of diagnostic data analytics techniques.
4. Descriptive
   Descriptive analytics is the data type that helps to draw conclusions. Whether it’s combing through historical data, comparing and contrasting numbers from one year to another (e.g., sales, prices, subscribers, etc.), or assessing other key performance indicators, descriptive analytics answer the most questions, including what, where, when, and how many. Descriptive analytics also assists with reporting, a core function for businesses regardless of their size or industry.

Data analytics is the key to digital transformation success

Forbes has reported that just a few years ago, approximately 85% of companies that took the initial steps toward digital transformation were unsuccessful in their attempts. Michael Gale, an industry expert in integrated technology, told Forbes that part of the reason for the high failure rate has to do with the inability to help employees manage the shift in processes. In short, organizations often struggle with change management and preparing workers for some bumps along the road. “Basic awareness about those challenges is probably the key indicator of how well the process will be successful,” Gale told Forbes.

The main complicating factor, however, is not fully appreciating the indispensability of data in digital adoption. Data is essential to guiding informed business decisions. In 2019, fewer than half of corporate strategies that Gartner reviewed referenced data analytics as being fundamental to delivering enterprise value. Douglas Laney, an analyst at Gartner, said that for businesses to be successful in the increasingly digitized economy, data and analytics are must-haves. “A company’s ability to compete in the emerging digital economy will require faster-paced, forward-looking decisions,” Laney explained. Laney added that corporate heads must ensure that their staff members have at least a basic, high-level understanding of data, analytics, and data science. But this is a challenge for many companies. According to a poll from the Harvard Business Review, just 25% of surveyed workers were confident in their ability to understand and interpret data.

Establish a data-driven culture and improve data literacy

How does an organization improve data literacy? One way is by establishing a data-driven culture. This involves not only bottom-lining data so that the average layperson can understand but also helping workers see how data can help solve business problems at all levels of an organization, from the supply chain to inventory management to worker productivity.

Another way is by simply discussing data and analytics more often so it’s not a foreign, abstract concept. This may even include creating positions within the company that specialize in all things data and data management, such as a chief data officer (CDO). “Increasing data literacy inside the organization enables D&A leaders and CDOs to implement a data-driven culture which encourages the use of data in decision-making,” said Debra Logan, vice president of research at Gartner. Logan added that data analytics is “fundamental to digital business transformation and can deliver value if the CDO addresses both data and business priorities.”

Another way to both build data literacy and establish a more well-entrenched data-driven culture is by asking a series of “How many?” questions. For example, how many workers would be able to interpret traditional statistical operations, such as correlations? On the management side, how many team leads would be able to construct a business case that is numbers-based? How many managers would be able to elaborate on the output they’re getting from their systems? Would those same managers be able to explain the output of their machine learning algorithms, or would that only be something a data scientist could address? The answers to these questions can help determine the strategy needed to build a more data-literate organization.

Craft an effective digital transformation strategy with data analytics as the foundation

With the correct data analytics and actionable intelligence in place, organizations can craft a digital transformation strategy with a strong foundation. Just as digital transformation can mean different things to different people, the same can be said for transformation strategy. McKinsey & Company offers a few suggestions regarding what every transformation strategy ought to include. A prime component to success is crafting a transformation team:

• Clearly define the mission: It isn’t enough to roll out digital tools “just because” or to approach the transformation with an “everyone else is doing it” mentality. There needs to be a reason for it, one that is holistic in scope, measurable, and understood by all.
• Ensure there’s collaboration: Digital transformation can’t be in just one portion of the company. It needs to be implemented with an all-hands-on-deck style approach, involving all channels and departments. When building a digital transformation team, the membership should be similarly diversified.
• Delegate authority: While it’s important for digital transformation teams to work together, there is also something to be said for allowing members to “own” their responsibilities. Corporate leaders need to define the goal and/or mission, then get out of the way and let the team members do their thing.
• Be judicious: While a good balance of team membership is important, the composition of the team requires serious thought. For example, you shouldn’t just appoint individuals to the team because the workers you wanted weren’t available.
• Build a central team: Ideally, digital transformation teams should be complemented by a centralized team that is there to support those who are leading the effort. They can assist with coordination, allocating resources, maintaining best practices, and reviewing progress.

From developing a strategy to proofs of concept to implementation, Inspirage can help you during every stage of your digital transformation journey. Contact us today to learn more.

We’ll be connecting with the Oracle community at several important events throughout the U.S. and Europe

It’s going to be a busy summer for Inspirage, and we hope to see you during our travels. We’ll be hitting the road in June, July, and August to attend — and give presentations at — several important Oracle-focused events across the United States and Europe, so mark your calendars now. Our “Supply Chain Transformation European Tour 2022” gets underway in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 6, and you can also find us at the following conferences:

Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2022 

June 6-9: Orlando, FL

Billed as the “the world’s most important gathering of CSCOs and supply chain executives,” the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2022 is a can’t-miss conference for anyone seeking insights into the latest supply chain strategies and technology. It’s an ideal opportunity to share our deep expertise in Oracle Cloud Applications. The entire Inspirage team is excited to participate in the important discussions that will take place there about transforming and innovating supply chain strategies — and taking your supply chain leadership to the next level.

Visit us at Booth #527! And remember to take advantage of Inspirage priority code SCC13EDC to save $550 off the standard registration rate.

Ascend 2022 

June 12-15: Las Vegas, NV

Inspirage is proud to be a Gold Sponsor of Ascend 2022. This community event unites functional users, IT professionals, and industry experts for frank discussions about improving decision-making, project planning, and business operations. Presented by the Oracle Applications & Technology Users Group (OATUG) and Oracle HCM Users Group (OHUG), Ascend will deliver actionable insights, time- and money-saving strategies, and opportunities to connect with others in our global Oracle user community.

Make plans to reconnect with Inspirage! We’ll be at Booth #208.

Kscope22 

June 19-23: Grapevine, TX 

Inspirage is excited about being a Platinum Sponsor of Kscope22. Our EPM team will be on-hand to discuss all your questions about moving to Oracle Cloud EPM. Plus, we’re presenting the following eight sessions on timely technical topics related to Oracle EPM, ERP, and Analytics:

• Oracle EPM REST API for Dummies!
• Tootsie Roll’s Sweet Journey from HFM to FCC
• Inspirage: Enabling Oracle Cloud Applications for Finance and Beyond
• LSI Lights the Way to the Cloud
• Flagstar Bank’s Migration Journey from On-premise to EPM Cloud
• Automating Security Management in PBCS!
• Gain and Sustain Agility with Strategic Modeling
• Automating Metadata & Data Load Process in PBCS using REST API!

Look for us at Booth #103! And don’t forget to enter Inspirage code INS22 to save $100 on your registration.

2022 OTM User Conference

Philadelphia: July 31 – August 3

The OTM SIG community’s in-person 2022 OTM User Conference returns to Philadelphia this year, so start making your plans to attend. This conference is THE place for OTM/GTM users, Oracle representatives, and other industry parties to connect and share. Current and prospective users will gain valuable insight into current features and future enhancements while also taking advantage of great networking opportunities. Be sure to say hello to the Inspirage team and let them know what’s on your mind these days!

We’ll be providing additional details about our “Supply Chain Transformation European Tour 2022” soon, so stay tuned!

We are very excited to announce the launch of a unique Inspirage initiative coming up this Summer and Fall: The Supply Chain Transformation European Tour 2022.

This is a series of exclusive networking events hosted by Inspirage and Oracle in seven countries across Europe targeting Business, Finance, and IT Leaders involved in Digital Transformation programs. During the events, we will share ways you can bring visibility and predictability into your supply chain and flawlessly execute and deliver business value with Oracle Cloud applications and Inspirage Control Tower solutions. You will hear customer testimonials from clients who have already transformed their operations and increased customer satisfaction by deploying these solutions.

Currently, all industrial sectors face disruptions and lack the stability needed to control their supply chains. At the same time, there is a high demand for their products. Backlogs are constantly growing as suppliers are unable to deliver materials on time, and the impact on customers is huge. These companies require urgent solutions that will provide better visibility into their suppliers and their supply chains. They need the ability to react quickly to supply chain issues and predict their outcomes.

Inspirage and Oracle are pioneers in developing and implementing integrated supply chain solutions to support complex businesses where extended supply chain management and control are critical for success. Inspirage’s innovative, cross-domain Enterprise Control Tower solution is designed to provide integrated, single-source-of-truth supply chain visibility and an execution platform that complements the Oracle ERP/SCM Cloud application suite. It allows the users to remove siloed views and effectively manage risks and disruptions, predict outcomes, and control their carbon footprint.
 

 
We will kick off our tour with our first event in Frankfurt, Germany, on 6 July 2022. Other countries will follow, including Sweden (6th September), Finland (8th September), Switzerland (27th September), France (29th September), Netherlands (4th October), and the UK (6th October).

Registration is already open for the German event  — click here to register. We suggest you sign up sooner rather than later as we have a limited number of spaces available. All the presentations will be delivered in German, with the exception of the Demo session. For the additional countries following Frankfurt, please register your interest by sending an email to inspirage.events@inspirage.com.

We hope to see you at our events!

How LSI Accelerated Their Financial Consolidation and Close Processes with Oracle Cloud EPM’s FCC

This year, ODTUG’s annual Kscope conference will again bring together Oracle technology users and experts from across the country to exchange ideas and lessons learned about their enterprise-transforming digital initiatives and opportunities. To contribute to those conversations and answer questions about Oracle solution best practices, Inspirage will also be in Grapevine, Texas, where we’ll share our unique insights in eight live presentations.

One of our sessions, “LSI Lights the Way to the Cloud,” will feature Nancy Ackerman, Inspirage Senior Manager, Solution Architecture, as the presenter. She will share how Inspirage made it possible for LSI — a US-based, international commercial and industrial lighting company — to migrate from an Excel-based consolidation process to the Oracle EPM Cloud using the Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud (FCC) solution.

Better forecasting, planning, and modeling

Oracle Cloud EPM gave LSI the ability to adapt quickly to changing business and compliance requirements while reducing risk, improving controls, delivering more accurate insights faster, and significantly reducing the month-end close cycle.

Mark your calendar and plan to attend this Inspirage presentation to discover how your finance department can leverage FCC’s functionality to accelerate and efficiently orchestrate the financial close process. “LSI Lights the Way to the Cloud” takes place on June 21st from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM in Texas 4. In the meantime, check out our on-demand webinar, LSI Industries Accelerates the Financial Close Process with Oracle EPM Cloud.

If you still need to register for Kscope22, use promotional code INS22 to save $100 on your conference pass!

Going to Kscope22?

Please reach out to me if you’ll be attending Kscope22. I would love to meet up to have coffee, invite you to our special Inspirage customer event, and hear about what’s on your mind these days! You can reach me at camille.delacruz@inspirage.com.

BELLEVUE, WA – May 23, 2022 – Inspirage recently presented four companies with its 2022 Integrated Supply Chain Team of the Year Award. Each year, Inspirage recognizes clients who demonstrate the three pillars of achievement that are both critical to a successful project and facilitate improvements in integrated supply chain creation: 

• Innovation – Award recipients have taken a unique approach to solve a business challenge
• Transformation – Award recipients have driven business processes and system improvements that deliver tangible results for their enterprises
• Collaboration – Award recipients have demonstrated cross-functional teamwork across their organizations and with the Inspirage team

The Inspirage 2022 Integrated Supply Chain Partner of the Year winners are:

• Boar’s Head
• Cargotec
• DP World

 
“Boar’s Head, Cargotec, and DP World are known throughout their respective industries for innovation, agility, and supply chain optimization,” said Inspirage CEO Srini Subramanian. “Inspirage is pleased to honor these clients for their transformative end-to-end digital initiatives and the ability to continue creating value for their enterprises.” 

###

About Inspirage
Inspirage solves business-critical challenges across the integrated enterprise. We deliver end-to-end consulting and implementation solutions that link Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain Management, Logistics Management, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and Service solutions. Inspirage partners with its customers to break down information silos and optimize performance to accelerate innovation, fuel growth, and achieve operational excellence.

Inspirage is a Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and has been recognized by Oracle with numerous awards, including the Oracle Excellence Award for Specialized Partner of the Year in consecutive years from 2014 through 2019. most recently being recognized as the Oracle ERP Cloud Partner of the Year, globally. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, the company has a global presence with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. For more information, visit www.inspirage.com.

For Further PR Information, Contact:
Sarah Hart, Director of Global Marketing and Communications
+1 855 517 4250 • info@inspirage.com

Inspirage Recognized in 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant and Critical Capabilities for Oracle Cloud Application Services, Worldwide Reports

Fourth Consecutive Year Placement in the Magic Quadrant; Based on Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision

 
BELLEVUE, WA, USA, May 17, 2022 — Inspirage, the company known for digital enablement across enterprise systems, today announced it has once again been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the April 2022 report, “Magic Quadrant for Oracle Cloud Applications Services, Worldwide.”¹ Inspirage’s inclusion in the Magic Quadrant is based on completeness of vision and ability to execute.

In the 2022 “Gartner Critical Capabilities for Oracle Cloud Applications Services, Worldwide” report, Inspirage received the 2nd highest ranking in the following use cases: Supply Chain Transformation, Midsize Enterprise Transformation, and 3rd highest ranking in Technical Migration.² “This Critical Capabilities research on Oracle Cloud Application (OCA) services assesses the provider cohort’s relative capability in each use case to successfully implement OCA and deliver continuous business value.”

“This is our fourth consecutive year receiving recognition. We believe it speaks volumes about the value we provide to clients and our partners at Oracle,” said Kevin Creel, President of Inspirage. “Once again, we’re proud to be playing a significant role in the ongoing growth of Oracle Cloud application implementations worldwide. The Critical Capabilities report evaluating our proven capabilities in Supply Chain Transformation, Midsize Enterprise Transformation, and Technical Migration is, in our opinion, particularly noteworthy because of our expertise in end-to-end transformational projects for product-based companies, with a specific focus on the supply chain.”
 

 
Gartner’s Critical Capabilities report states, based on strategic planning assumptions, “by year-end 2024, 75% of Oracle application services revenue will be cloud-related as enterprises accelerate their move to the cloud in response to the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2024, 70% of large ERP deployments will be executed by predominantly remote rather than on-site implementation teams. By 2024, 60% of organizations will select integrated financial management capabilities as their preferred approach to process automation.”³

“We understand that for our customers, the speed of business today requires constant innovation cycles, visibility, resiliency, and risk mitigation,” said Creel. “Our positioning within the Gartner Magic Quadrant, we feel, reflects our continued top performance within the Oracle ecosystem and our dedication to providing the solutions our customers need to maintain a competitive edge. The investment we continue to make in solution development and cloud innovations underscores our unwavering commitment to helping customers overcome the challenges — and embrace the opportunities — they will undoubtedly encounter in the years ahead.”

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¹Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Oracle Cloud Application Services, Worldwide,” Alan Stanley, Denis Torii, Akshit Malik, Gunjan Gupta, Eric Cheung, Rajib Gupta, Published 20 April 2022.

How one of the world’s most famous candy companies migrated from on-prem HFM to Oracle Cloud EPM Financial Consolidation and Close

ODTUG’s annual Kscope conference unites a vast community of Oracle technology users and experts eager to share insights and best practices while embracing unparalleled networking opportunities. That’s why Inspirage will be in Grapevine, Texas, this June — and why we’ll be sharing our expertise in seven live presentations.

One of those sessions, “Tootsie Roll’s Sweet Journey from HFM to FCC,” will explain how Inspirage successfully enabled our client’s move to the cloud to maintain its leading position in the industry and ensure compliance using fully supported software.

Escaping the constraints of legacy on-prem resources

With Oracle Cloud FCC, Tootsie Roll reconfigured accounts and entity hierarchies, added the agility and capabilities needed to adapt quickly to changing business requirements, improved controls, and delivered more efficient reports while reducing the maintenance associated with a dated on-prem application.

In this session, Inspirage Senior Manager Nancy Ackerman will describe how Tootsie Roll’s Inspirage-led migration to the cloud resulted in a more user-friendly experience, better controls, complete operational support for internal and external reporting needs, and the necessary training to use and maintain the new system.
 

 

Preparing for success

“Tootsie Roll’s Sweet Journey from HFM to FCC” takes place on June 20th from 4:15 PM to 5:15 PM in San Antonio 4. To get ready for Kscope22 ahead of time, please read our Tootsie Roll Customer Spotlight.

Mark your calendar and register for Kscope22 today. Be sure to use the Inspirage promotional code INS22 to save an extra $100 on your pass!

Going to Kscope22?

Please reach out to me if you’ll be attending Kscope22. I would love to meet up to have coffee, invite you to our special Inspirage customer event, and hear about what’s on your mind these days! You can reach me at camille.delacruz@inspirage.com.

When it comes to global transport logistics and supply chain management, there is no such thing as “good enough.” Items, products, equipment, and other deliverables can always get to their intended destinations a bit faster than they do currently. Freight can always be processed and handled more efficiently to expedite shipment from the United States to Australia and everywhere in between. The steady advancements of technology have helped make the once impractical easily achievable. 

But the world is a very big place, and the overall supply chain is extraordinarily complex. Indeed, recent global events — namely, the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures governments have taken to neutralize the virus— have led to supply chain slowdowns and severe production disruptions. Global trade volume has diminished significantly over the past couple of years, and as economists for the trade credit insurer Euler Hermes point out and CNBC reported, production shortfalls and logistics bottlenecks are the main reasons why.  

To more effectively navigate these obstacles, global transport logistics and supply chain management teams will have to optimize their operations and leverage the very latest technological solutions. Here are a few of the technologies poised to improve global transport logistics and supply chain management capabilities in 2022 and beyond.   
 

 

Tech Trend No. 1: Artificial Intelligence

What once seemed futuristic is today highly commonplace. From navigation apps to intelligent home personal assistants and smart home devices, artificial intelligence is very much a part of everyday life. In fact, 85% of Americans regularly use solutions that contain artificial intelligence technology, according to a Gallup poll.  

Just as AI has helped make consumers’ lives easier and more convenient, the same goes for global transport logistics and supply chain management. From intelligent courier robots that assist with transport to the internet of things applications that help to mobilize freight, AI is improving process efficiencies. Robotics have proliferated over the last decade and they’re expected to surge even more in the years ahead, particularly among supply chain and logistics management teams. Valued at $1.7 billion in 2018, global artificial intelligence in the logistics and supply chain market is poised to hit $12 billion by 2027, according to All The Research. 

In terms of which AI solutions are gaining the most traction, McKinsey & Company points to the following: 

• Real-time inventory management. 
• Dynamic margin optimization of end-to-end chains with digital twins. 
• Demand planning. 

Not only has AI-assisted in the improvement of workflow processes, but it has also lowered costs. Where successfully implemented, it has improved logistics expenses among early adopters of the technology by 15% versus those who have yet to adopt AI or did so very recently, McKinsey & Company reported.  

Tech Trend No. 2: Automation

The terms “artificial intelligence” and “automation” are frequently used interchangeably. But in reality, they’re actually different types of technology. Whereas artificial intelligence is designed to perform a multitude of tasks and adapt through the power of machine learning, automation is much more specific, designed to carry out specific jobs that are pre-set. Another distinction between the two relates to the kinds of jobs they are meant to facilitate. Artificial intelligence\is for non-repetitive tasks; automation is for those that are more mechanical.  

Because global transport logistics and supply chain management involve both, automation and artificial intelligence are leveraged at roughly the same rate. Whether it’s back-end automation or the kind that is used on the warehouse floor, such as robot installation, automation is increasing in prevalence. For example, in the automotive sector back in 2000, there were roughly 25,000 robotic systems in factory warehouses globally. That number jumped to 103,000 by 2016, according to Oxford Economics.   

As much as automation has already been used for supply chain and logistics management purposes, its rollout is poised to continue. For example, according to data compiled by Statista, approximately 60% of supply chain management firms anticipate robotic process automation will have an impact on supply chains by 2025, whether significantly or moderately. Robotic process automation is a solution that automates menial tasks such as certain rule-based IT processes, system updates, and data collection. As polling done by Forrester Consulting found, nearly half of respondents (48%) indicated their employers were increasing their investments in robotic process automation in the next year. 

Another automation technology logistics solution teams are getting behind is warehouse automation. Like numerous other industries, warehousing experienced massive disruptions during the height of the pandemic, especially in North America. As the Ontario Chamber of Commerce reported in its annual Ontario Economic Report, nearly three-quarters of firms (73%) in the province that specialize in warehousing and transportation are still dealing with labor shortages. Warehousing organizations in the United States are encountering similar challenges.  

Warehousing automation is helping to fill those shortages. The warehouse automation market was worth $15 billion in 2019, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. But by 2030, its valuation could surpass $37 billion. Some of the technologies warehouse management teams are anticipated to utilize more in the coming years include autonomous mobile robotics, robotic item picking, and robotic case picking, according to Forbes.  

Tech Trend No. 3: Blockchain

A substantial portion of global transport logistics and supply chain management teams’ responsibilities revolve around documentation. Accuracy is essential to efficiency so when customers are expected to receive a specific number of orders, documentation helps ensure that the appropriate quantity is available in inventory.  

The blockchain makes this recording and storing process more seamless and secure. Used in a variety of industries and job functionalities beyond supply chain management, blockchain is basically a shared database that stores information in special blocks that are bonded with one another, hence the name. This binding process is accomplished through a process called cryptography.   

The genius behind blockchain technology, from a supply chain management perspective, is that it makes it easier and more secure to track, record, distribute, and verify data from anywhere across a business network. And, because it’s all decentralized, the blockchain increases visibility over production processes that may be outsourced to another company. 

Again, blockchain as a business solution is not unique to the supply chain and logistics universe. In fact, it’s typically associated with financial services and products like Bitcoin, the digital currency system that has gained renewed attention amid the pandemic. But it’s especially beneficial to global transport logistics because there are so many players involved. Entities that have no history with one another can verify that the information added to a digital ledger is accurate because it’s time-stamped. Thus, if something is updated, the logistics team at the other end of the digital ledger can identify when that data-add occurred. 

While more organizations are expected to use blockchain technology, Walmart, FedEx, and jewelry developer DeBeers were among the early adopters. 
 
Will the reality of driverless trucks make today’s transportation management systems obsolete? If not, will other emerging trends reshape logistics? Forbes recently turned to Bob Hart, Senior Vice President of Logistics Management at Inspirage, for answers. Read the article here.
 
Trend No. 4: Autonomous trucks

When it comes to freight transportation, particularly in North America, trucking is the top dog. According to the American Trucking Association, trucks hauled over 10.2 billion tons of freight in 2020, more than any other form of domestic transportation method. 

But like warehousing, trucking is struggling with labor. According to the American Trucking Associations, if hiring doesn’t improve notably, the shortage could top 160,000 drivers by 2030, up from the current shortfall of 80,000.  

But autonomous trucks — which don’t necessarily require a human at the wheel — could be a game-changer. While there hasn’t been widespread utilization of autonomous trucks, global transport logistics companies, as well as e-commerce giants, are investing heavily in these capabilities. This includes Amazon. As Bloomberg reported in 2021, the e-commerce corporation plans to buy 1,000 autonomous truck driving systems from a company that specializes in software for motor carriers.  

There is some question regarding how, or to what extent, the deployment of this technology could displace truckers, but government research suggests that it will also lead to the creation of jobs that rely on human input. Regardless, the autonomous vehicles market is projected to grow in value to more than $11 billion by 2028, up from $1.6 billion in 2021, according to Fortune Business Insights.  

When it comes to global transport logistics efficiency, there’s always room for improvement. If you’re looking to optimize your operations, Oracle Transportation Management Cloud is a one-stop solution. From transportation order management to shipment management to booking and tendering, as well as transportation intelligence, Oracle Transportation Management Cloud is a platform that supports the ongoing needs of shippers, receivers, logistics service providers, and many more. Inspirage can help you with the implementation that is customized to your service. Contact us today to learn more. 

Oracle Sourcing, a key component of Oracle Fusion Cloud Procurement, benefits suppliers and procurers alike by streamlining, standardizing, and automating the source-to-settle process

Overcoming challenges and improving outcomes 

Strategic sourcing is typically time-consuming and complex. Traditionally, few organizations had access to resources that allowed them to identify and exploit all available sourcing opportunities. 

That’s no longer the case. 

Oracle Sourcing is an enterprise application that makes it possible for you to drive more complete and more accurate sourcing through online collaboration and negotiation. As a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement, its integrated suite can dramatically cut your supply management costs across the board.  

Oracle Sourcing succeeds by increasing the sourcing bandwidth of procurement professionals, so they can exploit many more savings opportunities and capture more value from each. Online collaboration and negotiation make it easy for experts from multiple organizations to exchange information, define requirements, conduct negotiation, and create new contracts. Oracle Sourcing allows buying professionals, business experts, and suppliers to easily collaborate and create agreements that provide the best terms for your organization. 
 

 

How it works 

When using Oracle Sourcing, your first step involves creating a “negotiation document” that specifies the details of your negotiations with potential suppliers.  

There are several ways you can create the negotiation document and several tools to help simplify the process. For example:  

• You can use a negotiation style to control the look of the document and the features available. This is a good way to create a streamlined negotiation.  

• You can use a negotiation template to create a base negotiation document containing much of the line and supplier-related information. Once you have a template defined, you can reuse it without having to reenter negotiation information. (You must have access to the Procurement Business Unit to use this template.)  
• You can also use requisitions in Purchasing to create a negotiation document. When you use this method, the requisition information is used to create the negotiation lines.  

Regardless of the option you choose, you can create a draft of your negotiation document while you work on it and save it in that format until it’s ready for publication.  

You then utilize Oracle Sourcing’s approval management system to track and manage approvals of the negotiation document, the negotiation award, or both. In this scenario, internal reviewers view and OK the details of the negotiation document and the final award decision.   

Your next step is to create a response document that captures all the supplier information you require to ensure a complete response. If you’d like, you can also assign a reference number to your response document to use for internal tracking.  

Choosing your negotiation 

Keep in mind, too, that you can create three different types of negotiations: a Request for Quotation (RFQ), a Request for Information (RFI), or an Auction.  

RFQ: An RFQ enables buyers to collect quotes from suppliers for complex and hard-to-define items or services, such as made-to-order manufacturing or construction projects. The RFQ process is generally the longest of the negotiation processes. Once suppliers have submitted an initial round of proposals (quotes), the buyer has the power to fine-tune the RFQ and initiate detailed negotiations, as necessary.  

This process may go through multiple rounds of negotiations and quotes. RFQs can be blind (the buyer can see the quotes during the RFQ, but suppliers cannot) or sealed (neither buyer nor suppliers can see the quotes until the RFQ is closed and the quotes are unsealed). In other words, suppliers can never see each other’s quotes while the negotiation is in progress.  

RFI: An RFI is used to qualify suppliers and their goods and services for subsequent procurement activities. RFIs are used more for gathering information on goods and service provided by a supplier than to lock price information. Therefore, RFIs typically do not refer to item price or quantity. RFIs identify important item criteria about which the buyer needs information. The supplier responds by answering the buyer’s questions. The buyer, in turn, uses supplier responses to identify the group of suppliers who should be included in the subsequent negotiation.  

RFIs are typically taken to multiple rounds until the buyer has enough information to identify the supplier(s) with whom to do business. At the conclusion of the RFI cycle, the information contained in the RFI can be copied into an RFQ or buyer’s auction. 

Auction: An auction allows buyers to solicit bids for goods and services that are clearly defined, such as office furniture and memory chips. Buyers can discover new suppliers or buyers and get competitive pricing or improved service. Buyers can tailor each auction to control who can see bids during the auction, whether multiple rounds of bidding are possible, and whether partial bids are allowed.   

Many different items can be included in an auction. If the buyer permits, suppliers can view all bids submitted while the auction is open. This information generates competition and encourages suppliers to submit their best possible price. Once the auction is completed, suppliers are immediately informed of the auction results via online notifications.  

Amending a negotiation 

After publishing a negotiation, you may need to update some of the information defined in the document. This update is called an amendment. Once you create and publish an amendment, respondents are notified that the sourcing document has been amended. They are then required to review and acknowledge the amended information and resubmit their response in accordance with the amendment. Amendments can be made any time after the negotiation has been published and before you close it.  

Approving awards 

Your Oracle Sourcing negotiation may leverage the approval management system to track and manage approvals of both your negotiation document and your award decisions. As previously noted, you can approve the negotiation document, the negotiation award, or both.    

Finalizing awards 

After entering and saving your award decisions, it’s time to complete the award. Completing the award process finalizes the award decisions. Once you take this step, you can’t change your award decisions.   

Yesterday’s tools are no longer up to the increasingly complex challenges associated with a procurement organization’s ongoing sourcing initiatives. Oracle Sourcing, on the other hand, is the one-stop-shop solution that delivers the framework, tools, and resources necessary for maximizing supplier negotiation outcomes. Contact Inspirage today to learn more. 
 

 

Inspirage can help

As the Integrated Supply Chain Specialists, with recognition from Gartner, IDC, and winners of Oracle’s ERPM (Enterprise Resource Planning & Management) & Supply Chain Management Cloud Partner of the Year (Global) awards in recent years, Inspirage is uniquely qualified to be your success partner. Whether you are upgrading your on-prem system or have decided to move to the cloud where continuous improvement is built-in, our team is prepared to guide you on your transformational journey. Contact Inspirage today to learn more about the role supplier consigned inventory can play in your organization.

How Cloud EPM helped one bank reach new heights of efficiency and productivity

The highlight of ODTUG’s annual Kscope conference is the opportunity to hear real-world success stories and lessons learned shared by Oracle technology users and experts from across the globe. In that spirit, Inspirage will be hosting seven presentations at Kscope22 in Grapevine, Texas, this June. One of those sessions, “Flagstar Bank’s Migration Journey from On-premise to Cloud EPM,” will tell how Inspirage helped a client in the financial industry move to the cloud to overcome the inefficiencies and performance issues associated with its legacy on-prem platform.

Best practices in action

By implementing Oracle Cloud EPM, Flagstar was able to significantly reduce manual errors, improve accuracy, streamline budgeting processes, consolidate data, enhance the performance of calculations, and deploy best practices in income statement and balance sheet reporting.

Presented by Flagstar Bank Financial Systems Manager Damon A. Hrydziuszko and Inspirage EPM Senior Practice Director Vince Tran, the session will provide an overview of how Flagstar’s successful pivot to the cloud resulted in reduced IT costs, increased agility, and more efficient planning processes. As an added benefit, staff no longer has to be on-site to access data.

Better outcomes

Today, Flagstar is in a stronger position relative to its competitors because Inspirage helped it achieve more efficient workflows and the maximum flexibility businesses need to drive productivity. To prepare for ODTUG Kscope22 ahead of time, please read our Flagstar Customer Spotlight.

“Flagstar Bank’s Migration Journey from On-premise to Cloud EPM” takes place June 20th from 4:15 PM to 5:15 PM in Texas 6. Mark your calendar and register for Kscope22 today if you have not already. Get your Inspirage discount for ODTUG Kscope2022 now and save an extra $100 when you register. Use the Inspirage promotional code: INS22.

Going to Kscope22?

Please reach out to me if you’ll be attending Kscope22. I would love to meet up to have coffee, invite you to our special Inspirage customer event, and hear about what’s on your mind these days! You can reach me at camille.delacruz@inspirage.com.
 

In just about every industry, business owners and their consumers are experiencing supply chain frustrations. From inflationary pressures and personnel shortages to weeks-long backlogs at shipping ports, bottlenecks are having a domino-like effect on costs, work productivity, inventory, and the world economy as a whole. These realities are forcing organizations to think more critically and come up with new solutions to break these cycles. They may find the solution by investing in renewable energy, as nations, citizens and businesses are increasingly turning toward renewables as a better alternative to traditional energy sources. As a professional that depends on a healthy supply chain, here are a few of the ways that leveraging solar, wind, geothermal, and other naturally replenishing energy sources can strengthen your business.

Improves worker productivity

A major contributor to the ongoing supply chain snags is related to output. Due, in part, to the pandemic, which forced many organizations to operate with skeleton crews in light of social distancing recommendations, a number of workers have decided to move on and pursue alternative career paths. It’s a movement that has been dubbed “The Great Resignation.” As a result, there are now more job openings than people looking for work, as Reuters reported recently from government data.

Business owners that demonstrate their focus on sustainability, as it pertains to energy consumption and the sources they use, may be able to increase their hiring options by drawing more job seekers. Polls show that the environment is a top concern for many Americans. In a recent Gallup poll, nearly 75% of respondents said the U.S. should invest more in solar power, and 66% said the same for wind. Only 23% wanted more reliance on coal. Increasing the use of renewable energy can help supply chains by not only attracting more talent but retaining it as well. The key is to ensure employees are made aware of what types of energy are being utilized during the course of production.

Increases profitability potential

Supply chains can’t truly thrive if they’re lacking in demand. Just as people are attracted to environmentally responsible employers, they’re also more inclined to buy from them as well. As the study tech firm GreenPrint showed, close to 66% of Americans surveyed said they’re willing to pay more for products knowing that they were produced in a sustainable way. Additionally, 78% indicated they’re more inclined to buy products that they know are environmentally friendly or labeled as such.

Enhances competition with other green-friendly businesses

Seeking opportunities to utilize renewables in supply chain management also helps to even the playing field with household-name organizations. Following the lead of the 195 countries that participated in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, over 150 companies are pledging to pursue 100% renewable energy in their production processes moving forward. Apple, Kohl’s, Dell, Facebook, Google, Goldman Sachs, General Motors, and General Mills are among the signatories of the American Business Act on Climate Change. In addition to reducing their emissions, these organizations pledge to pursue zero net deforestation in their supply chains. Making similar commitments to sustainability stimulates competition through strategic partnerships and goals.

However, it isn’t enough to just say you’re committed to utilizing renewable energy as a means toward supply chain optimization; you have to put it into practice. Gartner recommends taking the following considerations into account to guide your strategy and approach:

From manufacturing, tech, life sciences, and more, business owners from numerous industries have turned to Inspirage for supply chain optimization and modernization. Yours could be next. Contact us today.

For the customer, the path to purchase is as quick as point and click. But when it comes to the supply chain, it’s not that simple. Made up of various people, components, processes, and parts, the supply chain — and supply chain operations – is highly interwoven and immensely intricate. For furniture, food, or fabrics to go from producer to end-user, there are a series of steps along the way, from picking to packing, sorting to shipment. 

Many of those sequences take place within the ever-expanding confines of warehousing space, which is growing not just in size nowadays, but also in number — jumping from 14,600 warehouses in 2007 to nearly 19,200 in 2020 in the U.S. alone, according to Statista. Organizations that once had one now have multiple warehouses. 

Everybody has a job to do in the warehouse to achieve order fulfillment and customer satisfaction. Whether it’s personnel who are charged with ensuring inventory accuracy or a logistics management professional who oversees the distribution process, warehouse operation is, in many ways, a supply chain in and of itself. A single disruption at one end of the warehouse can compromise the processes occurring at the other end of the facility. 

These complexities make having an effective warehouse management system indispensable. With an effective warehouse management system in place, supply chain managers have the ongoing visibility they need to coordinate the operations and logistics involved in getting products to retail stores or to customers’ front doors. 

Oracle Warehouse Management Cloud brings added simplicity to supply chain management complexity. Leveraged by a variety of logistics teams and inventory tracking vendors, the Oracle Warehouse Management Cloud streamlines the vast variety of activities that occur in today’s warehouse locations by delivering innovative capabilities and mobile solutions with an intuitive user interface.   

But before we get into the specifics of what makes the Oracle WMS Cloud so special — and how Inspirage clients have successfully leveraged it to address their challenges — let’s get a better understanding of why warehouse management is more vital today than ever. 
 

 

What makes a Warehouse Management system uniquely crucial to warehouse operation success? 

The rapid rise of e-commerce 

Prior to the internet, the typical customer had a handful of ways to purchase merchandise: in person, by mail, or over the phone. Generally speaking, though, most people did the majority of their buying in brick-and-mortar settings such as grocery stores, big-box retailers, mom-and-pop shops, and boutiques.  

E-commerce has truly been a game-changer. Whether you’re shopping on a tablet, desktop computer, laptop, or by downloading mobile apps to a smartphone, buying has never been easier or more efficient. According to Insider Intelligence, e-commerce sales are poised to top $1 trillion in 2022 — two years faster than initially predicted.  

With more avenues for customers to make purchases, warehouse managers face increased pressure to coordinate and plan so orders can be processed and shipped in a timely manner. But without a warehouse management system, order fulfillment is easier said than done, even with highly seasoned staff actively engaged in traditional warehouse activity. 

The age of ultra-convenience  

E-commerce is not new, of course, but the level at which customers rely upon the internet for their daily needs is at an all-time high. That’s largely due to COVID-19 and the long-term effects the pandemic has had on people’s shopping habits and their desire for even more convenience than they had previously. 

Willy Shih, a professor and supply chain expert at Harvard Business School, told The Wall Street Journal the coronavirus has led to greater utilization of the purchasing channels that make shopping easier and more one-stop in nature. This has made supply chain management that much more critical to satisfy buyers’ expectations.  

“I don’t want to call it a tipping point, but there is obviously a big change happening now,” Shih explained, referring to the more widespread adoption of e-commerce as an all-in-one shopping and purchasing tool. To better address and respond to elevated demand, retailers and brands are investing in the supply chain management technology solutions that streamline work processes in the warehouse. For customers to receive their purchases more quickly and conveniently, the work processes occurring within the warehouse must be convenient as well. 

One of the ways supply chain management teams are finding success with this is by leveraging robotics. Take Accelerate360 as an example. Based in Kansas, Accelerate360 is an omnichannel and logistics company that helps facilitate how checkout counters at grocery stores are set up, outfitting the service stations with magazines, pamphlets, gum, and candy. As The Wall Street Journal reports, this organization is utilizing robotics to assist with order fulfillment for grocery stores and big-box retailers selling items traditionally available at the registers. Matt Ratner, who serves as Accelerate360’s chief strategy officer, noted that these robotics have simplified warehouse operations through the power of automation.  

This is another way warehouse management system technology can work wonders. It improves workforce productivity and automates warehouse operations to enhance throughput and order processing times while maximizing warehouse space.  

Hiring woes  

Amid the so-called “Great Resignation,” a period that has led to millions of Americans leaving their current jobs in search of something more to their liking, many employers are struggling to find replacements to fill the positions that others have left. Warehouse and logistics firms — as well as businesses that rely on warehouses to better serve their customers — are among those that are hurting in this regard and are now in full-on recruitment mode. For instance, in July 2021, there were approximately 490,000 openings nationwide in the warehouse and transportation professions, according to The Washington Post. In an attempt to close the gap, household-name companies like Walmart, Amazon, Target, and Overstock.com are offering more comprehensive benefit and compensation packages, as well as sign-on bonuses and higher starting pay. They’re also encouraging current employees to reach out to people they know to see if those connections are interested in new work opportunities.  

While some companies have indeed seen applications roll in with greater regularity — evidenced by a modest decline in the so-called “quits-level,” which tracks employee turnover — others say that these inducements haven’t moved the needle enough, with openings still surpassing applicants. Indeed, based on the most recent figures available from the Department of Labor, there were 11 million job openings in December 2021 versus 4.6 million people who were looking for work, CNBC reported. 

Sabrina Wnorowski, vice president of human resources for the order fulfillment and management firm Radial, told The Washington Post that the labor crunch is not new; it’s been an ongoing issue. 

“Every year we say, ‘Wow, this is really difficult’ — and every year, it gets more challenging,” Wnorowski explained.  

The result is not only reduced output but a greater workload on the employees who are currently in place. As workers are forced to handle multiple tasks at once, quality ultimately diminishes and burnout rises. Ricardo, who works at a warehouse based in El Paso, Texas, told the newspaper that the labor shortage makes an already challenging job that much harder. 

“I feel like I’m doing the work of six people,” he said. “You know when you’re worked to the bone, and you just want to go home, eat, and sleep? It’s like that all the time.” 

This is another way that warehouse management can make up for lost time or output. The optimization of inventory operations and better coordination of merchandise movement enables enhanced workforce productivity reducing labor inefficiencies and maximizing production. 

Process redundancies 

Unlike many other types of businesses, which are downsizing and reducing their footprint, warehouses and fulfillment centers are getting increasingly larger. This has mainly been in response to the high level of demand among customers (as well as retailers) and greater competition from other logistics providers and e-commerce firms. Amazon, for example, operates well over 100 fulfillment centers in the U.S., and dozens more including those in other countries or that are in the early planning stages. Some of these order fulfillment centers span one million square feet. That amount of warehouse space leaves plenty of room for movement — but perhaps even more room for error. From the moment an item arrives in the warehouse to the time it leaves, that product goes through a series of stops, from picking to packing to receiving and more. But if there is no way of tracking or cataloging where those items have been in the warehouse supply chain pipeline, workflows get bogged down and processes are repeated when they needn’t be. Additionally, resources are wasted and customer satisfaction deteriorates when merchandise doesn’t arrive by a certain date at customers’ doors or grocers’ freezers.  

Warehouse management software solves this issue. From picking to packing to de-kitting and shipping, Oracle Warehouse Management supports and tracks all the activities that occur within the warehouse. Items get where they need to be, and you know where they are every step of the way. 

Unpredictable demand affecting inventory management 

Inventory is a vitally important component of any business’s day-to-day operations, warehouse-related or not. When there’s demand for a given product, what’s readily available in inventory ultimately determines when and how customers will receive the items that they request. 

During the pandemic, manufacturers, retailers, and producers became keenly aware of what can happen when world events throw a wrench into an inventory management system. Supply chain issues were immediately apparent and persisted for several months after the first COVID-19 infection. Shortages are still an issue for consumers, retailers, and the economy at large.  

Perhaps the best example of what can happen when demand chases after supply involves the story of Peloton, the fitness manufacturer that specializes in web-enabled spin bicycles, treadmills, and other in-home exercise equipment for consumers (as opposed to fitness centers). 

While the company has been around since 2012, Peloton became more of a household name in 2020 when health clubs around the world closed — some permanently — due to the COVID-19 crisis. Seeking an alternative fitness solution, many people turned to Peloton for their home-based bicycles, which are paired with streaming capabilities. This feature allows riders and runners to exercise with fitness instructors through their internet connection. 

Almost overnight, an already popular company achieved a greater level of acclaim, with membership levels soaring to 3.1 million and revenues rising 172% on a year-over-year basis, as BBC News reported at the time. 

But this sudden and intense increase in demand led to massive inventory challenges for Peloton. Because the company was unable to keep up with the pace of individuals buying their bicycles, customers were forced to wait for several months to receive their exercise equipment. In June 2020, for example, Peloton had approximately $230 million worth of backlogged orders that hadn’t been delivered to its customers due to those ongoing inventory and capacity problems, CNBC reported.  

Peloton certainly wasn’t the only organization that experienced inventory adversity during the COVID-19 pandemic. For months, big-box retailers and grocery stores had trouble keeping toilet paper and paper towels on the shelves amid a surge in panic buying. There was also a run on a variety of cleaning agents used for disinfecting doorknobs, tables, and other surfaces. 

Fast forward to today. Inventories have generally recovered after manufacturers made strategic adjustments to improve capacity and output. But those struggles speak to the importance of — and need for — end-to-end visibility when it comes to inventory management.  

A comprehensive warehouse management system — such as Oracle Fusion Cloud Warehouse Management — provides advanced inventory tracking capabilities so logistics teams have a 360-degree view of their inventory. This can help them determine whether supply will align with current and prospective demand. And with cycle counting, which is made possible through the power of automation, workers can perform multiple tasks at once without compromising inventory accuracy.  

Dealing with returns 

The path to purchase has gotten easier for the consumer, enabling buyers to obtain the products they want at any time and at any place. But warehouse management isn’t only about getting merchandise to customers as quickly as possible. For example, if products are damaged as a result of hasty handling during picking or packing, those items may end up coming back to the warehouse. 

Regardless of the reason, returns are a common challenge for retailers. In fact, of all the merchandise that retailers sold in 2021, approximately $761 billion of its value wound up back with the store or warehouse from whence it came, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). More than 26% of respondents to one NRF survey said returns have risen significantly compared to the volume they received prior to COVID-19. 

Returned items not only represent a lost sale, but also lead to increased costs for businesses, including those associated with restocking, additional warehouse labor requirements, markdowns, and added logistical and transportation expenses. 

 A warehouse management system accounts for the inevitabilities of returns with a comprehensive set of capabilities that are leverageable by all the parties involved in reverse logistics, including retailers, manufacturers, shippers, and third-party logistics providers. This way, supply chain management teams have a broader spectrum of visibility and more tools for bringing greater simplicity and predictability to the return process.  
 

 

Oracle Warehouse Management Cloud in action 

It’s one thing to say that a warehouse management system can improve overall warehouse operations. It’s another thing to actually put that technology into place and achieve the desired results. Inspirage makes does exactly that by implementing Oracle WMS Cloud solutions for clients in a wide range of industries. 

For example, one Inspirage client (a competitor of Peloton’s) encountered a tremendous surge in business during the pandemic. It began receiving an average of 150,000 to 200,000 orders per month, up from approximately 100,000 before the pandemic. At the time, the client was handling order fulfillment with a system called NetSuite Warehouse Management, which was integrated with NetSuite ERP. (Enterprise resource planning technology, or ERP, is a tool that many mid-size and large organizations in a use to assist with decision-making and increase visibility into their day-to-day operations.)  

While this solution had performed adequately for a number of years, it wasn’t scalable. While our client had been aware of this shortcoming prior to the dramatic uptick in demand (especially with its direct-to-consumer sales), it soon become apparent that they needed to increase production to fulfill the growing number of domestic and international. Simply put, the client’s legacy system was making order fulfillment much more difficult than it needed to be.  

 Working in tandem with the Inspirage WMS team, the client determined that a more scalable warehouse management solution was appropriate. Since its NetSuite solution was behind on licensing and versioning — which prevented the client from upgrading to the most recent edition — the legacy system’s best days were undeniably behind it. The client had decided to stick with the outdated system because integration can often take a long time and get in the way of regular business operations. However, the status quo was simply no longer sustainable.  

Our client then turned to Inspirage to perform the system integration of Oracle WMS Cloud.   

Immediate results 

The complete integration took only eight months, and the client was actually able to begin using features of the solution before the Inspirage team had even finished adding its final touches. Since custom labeling and tagging is one of the many warehousing business functions enabled by the Oracle WMS Cloud system, the client was able to immediately increase its inventory accuracy and improve its workforce efficiency on the warehouse floor. It also reduced operational costs by eliminating the need to rely on other businesses to take care of these simple, yet critical, warehousing tasks. 

Oracle WMS Cloud also immediately outperformed NetSuite Warehouse Management with respect to reporting. When the client first met with us, they described their reporting challenges and the ways those issues created communication breakdowns. Once Oracle WMS Cloud was set up, staff could more easily customize reports and coordinate other processes through the system’s drag-and-drop interface. 

All told, this fitness company is now equipped with warehouse management functionalities that will enable the firm to improve its current processes and expand at the same time. It also began planning to open a third warehouse shortly after the Oracle WMS Cloud was fully installed.  

Warehouse management isn’t about working harder; it’s about working smarter. The Oracle WMS Cloud is the intelligent solution your team needs to level up without burning out. Contact us at Inspirage and let us help you make your warehouse better in every way imaginable.