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SAP Upgrade Strategies in 2010
I just downloaded a copy of Panaya’s annual SAP Upgrade survey. Panaya is a very cool company that has built a business model around helping companies upgrade their SAP applications. I love their annual study, because it is one of the few sources of practical information about what companies are really doing with their SAP [...]
Read moreAre Car Manufacturers About to Take Build to Order Mainstream?
Over the past year there has been a significant increase in the number of companies looking to introduce build-to-order rather than build-to stock inventory management systems. This increasing trend has been confirmed by the number of visitors I have been getting to my last blog on this subject which I wrote early last year. This [...]
Read more100% Air Cargo Screening Set to Take Flight
August 1, 2010 marks a defining moment for supply chain security. Starting that day, all cargo uplifted via passenger aircraft in the US must be screened or inspected per the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA)‘s Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP). No exceptions. It is not common knowledge to many that as much as 22% of [...]
Read moreDude, where’s my signal?!
Four recent events are clearly undermining the most successful product launch of iPhone4. First, given the predictable brand loyalty of the fan-boys network, AT&T and Apple chocked on pre-orders. AT&T could just not take the surge in web-orders. Despite this hiccup, Apple did manage to sell 1.7 million units within 3 days of its launch. [...]
Read moreQuestioning the AMR Top 25 Supply Chain
I am fortunate to have the opportunity to moderate a live Question & Answer session about the AMR Research Top 25 Supply Chain later this week with Kevin O’Marah, GVP of Supply Chain Research. AMR published the most recent version of their annual supply chain rankings a little over a month ago. For the third [...]
Read moreCollaboration in the Supply Chain 2010
On June 15th during the Chief Supply Chain Officer Summit, I participated in a panel discussion entitled The Importance of Supply Chain Collaboration in the New Normal. The panel included Reuben Slone, EVP of Supply Chain at OfficeMax and Douglas Kent, Chairman of the European Leadership Team for the Supply Chain Council. During the course [...]
Read more3PL Summit and Chief Supply Chain Officer Forum
I attended the 3PL Summit in Atlanta last week. This conference was organized by EyeForTransport - a provider of Logistics and Transportation-related information and services and attracted executive-level participation from several leading third-party logistics companies (3PL), Shippers, Retailers, Manufacturers and technology providers that serve the global logistics industry. The 3PL Summit was co-located with the [...]
Read moreEDI Basics – a New Beginning
I have been with GXS for just over four years now and when I joined GXS in April 2006 I was keen to learn more about EDI and how companies use it to exchange electronic business documents. Now you would think that as EDI solutions and services have been around for over forty years that [...]
Read moreSurfing the Demand Trends…
20 Apr 2010. Catastrophe strikes 42 miles SE of Venice, Louisiana. Historic BP Oil Spill. Duration: Unknown. BP engineers sweating to seal the oil leak. Gulf coast economy experiencing a ‘free fall’. Close to 1 million projected job losses in the next 5 years. Closure of gulf waters fueling the price-increase of local sea food [...]
Read moreRisky Business Part 4: A Whiteboard Video Series
Every day, business critical files are lost and stolen, wedging companies between a rock and a hard place. The Risky Business Whiteboard Video Series reviews many of the security risks around important files and explains how companies can avoid these potential threats with Managed File Transfer. In this video, I discuss the qualifications for a safe and reliable password as well as [...]
Read moreWhy AT&T Should Not Have Suspended Pre-Orders for iPhone 4
Last week’s decision by AT&T Wireless to suspend iPhone pre-orders is a big mistake in my opinion. Both Apple and AT&T already have significantly underestimated demand for the new device, which is not surprising given that the iPhone4 is arguably the biggest product launch in history. But by cancelling pre-orders they are introducing further entropy [...]
Read moreThe iPhone 4 Pre-Order Scenario
One week ago, Apple’s new iPhone 4 became available for pre-order unleashing chaos in the mobile phone supply chain. Demand for the new device was ten times higher than expected resulting in a series of order management and inventory challenges for AT&T, Apple and its partners. Over 13M AT&T subscribers visited the company’s web site [...]
Read moreAutomotive B2B Developments at Odette25
Last week I attended the Odette Conference in Munich Germany. The conference is targeted at all B2B, ICT, Supply Chain and Logistics professionals across the automotive industry. This is the fourth time that I have attended this conference since I have been at GXS and although the conference has downsized since my first conference in [...]
Read moreStarbucks Coffee Company – Now an AS2 Certified Software Product?
Last week the Drummond Group announced its most recent round of AS2 certified technology vendors. Many of the usual suspects were included in this group of 19 technology vendors. But there was one newcomer, which caught my attention – “Starbucks Coffee Company.” You might ask – Why would the world’s largest and most successful coffee [...]
Read moreContaining Risk From Container Shortages
It appears that several corporations have been overtly cautious in forecasting demand and responding to the ‘green shoots of economic recovery’ that we’re experiencing currently. Ocean carriers have recently announced that improved consumer demand and the resulting increase in procurement activities will cause a significant shortage of shipping containers for the upcoming 2010 peak shipping [...]
Read moreAS2, Drummond Group and Cake
Today, we raise a toast to Drummond Group, who celebrates the 10th anniversary of their AS2 Interoperability Certification. Birthday cake for all. We’re happy that Inovis BizManager was certified as completing the AS2 Interoperability Certification (AS21Q10) alongside a number of other software solutions. AS2 messaging (RFC 4130) continues to be the standard for business networks [...]
Read moreSecrets of the Shanzhai – How Counterfeiters can Beat Apple to Market
In my last post, I described the Shanzhai bandit phone manufacturers which have successfully beaten Apple to market with a fake version of its own product, the iPhone 4G. Shanzhai also managed to introduce an imitation iPad called the iPed simultaneously with Apple’s international launch. The Shanzhai enjoy tremendous advantages over traditional brands in the [...]
Read more111th EDIFICE Plenary – Value Chain Collaboration in the Telco Industry
Over the past couple of days I have been attending the 111th EDIFICE Plenary. The subject of this plenary session was ‘Value Chain Collaboration in the Telco Industry’. EDIFICE is an industry association that helps to drive B2B standards across the high tech industry sector. Each year they hold a number of plenary sessions to [...]
Read moreJaguar Land Rover Extend Their Manufacturing Operations into China and India
Since Jaguar Land Rover was taken over by Tata Motors of India in March 2008 they have been on a roller coaster ride. Trying to sell luxury cars during an economic downturn and selling large 4×4 vehicles to an increasingly ‘green aware’ consumer have both been a challenge. However earlier this year JLR started to [...]
Read moreWhen Counterfeits Beat the Real Product to Market – iPed and iPhone 4G
For decades Western brand owners have been battling counterfeiting versions of their products in emerging markets such as China. Companies in industries from pharmaceuticals to home entertainment have shifted their product launch strategies to counter piracy threats. Some have pursued simultaneous worldwide launches as a strategy. By launching in emerging markets and developed economies, brand [...]
Read moreDriving Away Supply Chain Risk: Wal-Mart Style
Wal-Mart continues to find ways to seek and destroy sources of Supply Chain Risk. In a recent development, they want to take the driver’s seat, gain greater control over exogenous factors and achieve further cost reductions by controlling all transportation activities. In February 2010, Wal-Mart announced a new “Supply Chain Reliability Program”. This initiative was [...]
Read moreTracking Terrorists on B2B Networks – SWIFT EU Data Privacy Debate Continues
In my last post, I outlined how the TFTP (Terrorist Finance Tracking Program) administered by the US Central Intelligence Agency has been leveraging data from the SWIFT network to identify money laundering activities of terrorist cells. The program was made public back in June of 2006 by the New York Times. Nonetheless, in 2010 it continues [...]
Read moreCan Excel help S&OP Excel?!
Having spent significant number of years professing the need for continuous Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), it was sheer co-incidence that four of my customer meetings in the past seven days involved conversations on topics that in some ways impacted S&OP, and most importantly around Excel being used as its technology enabler. The meetings raised [...]
Read moreTFTP – A Government-to-Business Bulk Data Transfer Utility
The tech sector headlines over the past few weeks have been dominated with discussions about privacy policies of Facebook, Google and Yahoo both in Europe and the US. Why doesn’t anything controversial like this ever happen in the B2B e-Commerce sector? You might be surprised to learn that consumer and business privacy issues do arise [...]
Read moreCrowdsourcing Forecasts in the Apparel Market
I recently came across a crowdsourcing model, which I believe has potential to disrupt traditional demand forecasting approaches in the apparel segment if widely adopted. The case study involves a web-based company called Threadless.com, which is an online retailer of T-shirts targeted towards teenagers and Gen-Y consumers. In other words, Threadless sells a fast-fashion, short [...]
Read moreRing of Fire: Time for G2G Standards
Last week, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel seemed to echo the sentiments of John Donne when she said; “if the euro fails, then Europe fails.” Even if you’re not familiar with John Donne’s meditative quote, “No man is an island; entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent…” I think you can easily [...]
Read moreOnline Grocery Shopping Lists – A Better Demand Signal than POS?
For almost a decade, Point-of-Sale (POS) data has been considered the gold standard for demand signals in the retail supply chain. Analyzing last week’s sales or yesterday’s sales can help to identify low inventory positions thereby preventing an out-of-stock situation. But POS transactions are historical by nature. And historical demand patterns will not always provide [...]
Read moreFarewell to Allison Tobin
Today is a sad day for GXS as we will be the losing our Director of Corporate Communications, Allison Tobin. She has elected to pursue another marketing role specializing in Electronic Invoicing Presentment and Payment (EIPP) and Supply Chain Finance at another company. Allison has been with GXS for six years leading our public relations and [...]
Read moreEBICS – A Case Study in B2B Standards
In my last post, I discussed the EBICS standard which is being widely adopted in the German and French banking system. The name EBICS stands for Electronic Banking Internet Communications Standard (EBICS). EBICS is a replacement for two legacy standards, BCS (Germany) and ETEBAC (France) which are being decommissioned in the next year. The EBICS [...]
Read moreOil Spill Will Strain the Financial Supply Chain Too
Nearly 3 weeks after the devastating explosion that sunk the Deepwater Horizon rig, killed 11 workers and touched off the current spill that is pumping 200,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, the costs are adding up in more than just dollars and cents. In a wonderfully concise piece with facts [...]
Read moreEBICS – The Standard for Corporate-to-Bank Communication?
2010 is an exciting time in the world of B2B integration standards for the European banking sector. In this case, I am not referring to the continued rollout of SEPA in the EuroZone, but rather the extended reach of EBICS. EBICS is a highly secure file transfer protocol being used in the French and German [...]
Read moreCaterpillar and ISO 20022 XML
Earlier this week in Peoria, Illinois Caterpillar Inc announced a very impressive set of earnings for Q1. The construction and mining equipment manufacturer raised its profit and revenue projections for 2010 citing strong export demand for heavy machinery abroad including emerging markets such as China. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Washington at the NACHA Payments 2010 conference [...]
Read moreGreen Supply Chain 2010
Last week I had the opportunity to present on the topic of Green Supply Chain 2010 at the American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA) Hardlines Technology Forum (HTF) with Bryan Larkin. Bryan is a former GXSer who now is the Chief Supply Chain Strategist for Digital Management Inc. In our presentation we explained how Corporate Social [...]
Read moreDoes Your Supply Chain Have An Early Warning System?
New Predictive Intelligence-Based Financial Industry Risk Ranking Offers A Great Model for Global Supply Chains The dust, or ash cloud if you prefer has all but settled from the recent Icelandic volcanic eruption. An eruption that grounded flights yet gave flight to heightened awareness of the need to intelligently predict and respond to business disruptions. [...]
Read moreThe Irrational Supply Chain
Feb 11 2010: Super snowball buries mid-Atlantic. Panic creates a race for perishables, retailers struggle to replenish, and supply chains gets a hiccup. Apr 14 2010: Venire, videre, vincere. Eyjafjallajokull erupts, spews ash, and conquers the European air. Air travelers get stranded, inventory-in-motion stalls, and supply chains gets disrupted. Current: The so-called neck-to-neck ‘Acts of [...]
Read moreEarth Day 2010 – What are the Latest Green Trends in the Automotive Industry?
So Earth Day is upon us once again, its 40th anniversary. Given the importance of Earth Day to mankind and the global economies I was expecting a rush of press releases from the car manufacturers to link in with what is recognized as the most important day in the ‘green calendar’.
Read moreBuilding a Smarter Grid
Earth Day is here and so today I continue my series of posts on climate change. See my earlier GXS posts on Cap and Trade, Energy Spend Management, Local Sourcing and China’s Environmental Progress for related articles. One of the important topics I have not discussed is the “Smart Grid,” which environmental advocates believe to [...]
Read moreIn Search of a True Green Pill
Consumerism has been nourished and nurtured by the underlying economic principle that a progressively greater consumption of goods is beneficial to the collective economy. Behind such a free market of commercially-minded demand-driven supply chains is the heavily-priced tag of a ticking time bomb in fine-print, nothing short of an aneurysmal hemorrhage, that threatens to wipe [...]
Read moreMercy Mercy Me: Funding and Ecology
If you’re a child of the seventies or even the eighties, you probably remember hearing the Ecology Song. What? The title doesn’t sound familiar. Well, that’s probably because like most people you know it by its more common name, Mercy Mercy Me. You can probably hear the refrain right now: Oh, mercy mercy me Oh, [...]
Read moreClimate Change in China – How Manufacturers are Responding
Just two days until the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. There have been number of great GXS posts in recent days on the issues of sustainability. See Pradheep Sampath’s post on Greenwashing, Mark Morley’s post on Iceland’s Volcanic Ash and Melanie Ligon’s on the Greening of Retail. No discussion of the environment would be complete, however, with a look at how [...]
Read moreSustainable Sustainability Eliminates Greenwashing
As we mark the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2010 retailers, manufacturers, transportation providers, governments and think tanks are besting each other to demonstrate their green credentials. Trade publications and the discerning public however are quick to detect attempts at greenwashing – a term that has now come to describe corporate messaging [...]
Read moreCarbon Credit Markets – Scale will Require B2B Integration
In my last post, I discussed the concept of Cap and Trade systems as a strategy for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Today, I will continue the discussion with a focus on carbon credit markets, which are the key enabling platform for Cap and Trade legislation. Exchanges are specialized types of securities markets in which [...]
Read moreEarth Day 2010 and the Volcanic Ash Cloud Effect – a Timely Reminder to Develop Greener Supply Chains?
There have been many great disaster movies in recent years, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and Deep Impact, but even the Hollywood producers could not have written a script to describe what happened in Europe over the past few days.
Read moreThe greening of the retail supply chain is a real grass roots effort!
With Earth Day rapidly approaching, it seems reasonable to expect that I’d like to take a look at how the earth is moving under the feet of the retail industry. It’s no surprise that across all sectors of retailing and consumer products manufacturing, companies have embarked on sustainability initiatives. Most believe that saving money (it’s [...]
Read moreCan Cap and Trade Save the Environment?
Earth Day is less than one week away so I thought a post about climate change and the environment would be appropriate. One of the hottest topics in sustainability in 2010 is the proposed Cap and Trade systems that many nations are considering. Cap and Trade systems are one of the many mechanisms government can [...]
Read moreAvatar DVD Launch – The Supply Chain Challenges
Two weeks from today James Cameron’s Avatar will hit the shelves at retail stores. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards and broke previous box office sales records making Avatar the highest grossing movie of all time. As a result, retailers and studios are expecting strong consumer demand for the DVD on its April [...]
Read moreApple’s iPad and the Supply Chain
Rumor has it that Steve Jobs sent a letter out to every journalist and blogger last week, with the expectation that any self-respecting technology pundit should feel compelled to write about the iPad shortly after its launch date. It must be true, because the euphoria surrounding this weekend's Apple iPad launch is unbelievable. I feel [...]
Read moreUnwrapping the New Daimler and Renault-Nissan Alliance
In my last blog entry discussing Geely’s acquisition of Volvo Cars from Ford, I highlighted a new trend that was starting to emerge across the global automotive industry. Far Eastern automotive companies, keen to get a better understanding of western automotive technology, were starting to embark on acquiring western automotive companies. Meanwhile the extensive M&A [...]
Read moreGeely acquires Volvo Cars, what will this mean for the global automotive industry?
On 28th March 2010, Geely signed a $1.8Billion deal with Ford to acquire their Volvo car business. Now this is significant for two reasons, firstly it represents the largest deal that a Chinese automotive manufacturer has made to acquire a western car company. Secondly it also brings to an end a 20 year cycle of [...]
Read more2010 Census and the Supply Chain Imperative
"Stand up, and be counted" is how the Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census urges action, as the April 1, 2010 US census date approaches. This year, it will be the twenty second time that the federal government enumerates all US residents, as part of this constitutionally-mandated decennial activity. In addition to politically [...]
Read moreManaging Transformative Insurance Reform
Earlier today, US President Barack Obama signed into law a healthcare reform bill that will mandate major fundamental change in how the insurance industry does business. The battle for reform has been contentious and in some cases downright ugly, but regardless of political persuasion, it will soon become a reality. Across the marketplace, every pundit is commenting [...]
Read moreB2B Automation Across the Manufacturing Industry
B2B automation can mean different things to different companies. For example some companies will say that they have automated B2B processes but very few have applied B2B solutions across every business process that may be operating across a manufacturing operation.
Read moreIs your Supply Chain Fit or Fat? Go, LEAN IT!
Incident 01 – I recently stumbled upon a fitness magazine at a gym that carried an elaborate article on how to trim the fat and get lean by taking a few magical pills. The marketer’s extravagant promising note appeared convincing enough to allure a substantial crowd to fall for the quick-fix trap. But what captured [...]
Read more5 Ways Rotterdam Rules Will Transform Global Trade
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, commonly known as the Rotterdam Rules, recently received its 20th signature – just one month after the treaty was formally signed in the Dutch city of Rotterdam on Sep 23, 2009.This 20th signature sets the stage for the [...]
Read more10+2 Importer Security Filing (ISF) – Here Comes the Enforcement
It is here! The US Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) is going ahead with enforcement of its Importer Security Filing (ISF) regulation, commonly referred to as 10+2 from January 26, 2010. This regulation is in important component of the Department of Homeland Security's quest to secure borders and to enhance supply chain security. However, [...]
Read moreLonging for a Shiny New Apple
On weekends, I carry a rather sturdy bag that serves as a combination laptop carrier and purse which can sometimes as you can imagine make finding anything inside a challenge. A few weeks ago, I was out and about–running errands with my handy-dandy laptop in tow. During one stop, I had to pull the laptop out of the bag completely to [...]
Read moreB2B e-Commerce and the Mechanical Turk of the Supply Chain
Many IT and supply chain executives operate under the assumption that once you connect your ERP systems to those of your trading partners via B2B e-Commerce information flows seamlessly through the value chain enabling superior levels of demand planning, inventory management and supply chain execution. While this is a reasonable assumption, a closer examination of [...]
Read moreThe Semi-Automated Supply Chain
How would you respond to the question “Have you integrated your supply chain?” Very few companies would answer “No.” Most would state “We do EDI or RosettaNet or SPEC2000….” But what does that really mean? Many companies that engage in B2B e-Commerce limit their usage to only a subset of their trading partners. For example, [...]
Read more80% of Manufacturers Experience 1% or Greater Error Processing for Supply Chain Transactions
In 2009 GXS worked with AMR Research to conduct a study on the inter-relationships of B2B e-commerce deployments and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects. One of the issues we explored was the level of exception processing required for supply chain transactions that flow directly from a B2B gateway into an ERP system. AMR’s study found [...]
Read moreProprietary MFT – The Hotel California Effect
I was speaking to a colleague in the industry earlier this week who likened the challenges with large file transfer to the Hotel California. You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave. There are no open, Internet based standards for large file transfer. Instead, companies wishing to exchange large files with their [...]
Read moreWhich Technology Trends will Drive Growth in the High Tech Industry in 2010?
The high tech industry is emerging from one of the toughest economic downturns for years and many high tech manufacturers are hoping that 2010 will be a year of growth for the industry. Over the past twelve months many CIOs decided to postpone technology refresh projects and now that the worst of the economic downturn [...]
Read moreGrocery Market Everywhere, Nor a Milk or Bread to Shop…
The critically acclaimed 3-part “Supply Chain Winter Olympics” series, directed by Steve Keifer (VP Global Marketing at GXS), is a big hit now at the DC Supply Chain festival. Meanwhile, riding on its success wave, here’s my review of the flick. Trust me; there are no spoilers in here. Following the historic mid-Atlantic Snowmageddon 2010, [...]
Read moreThe End of Cash: Not so fast
For years, I have noticed more and more frequently that I don't have any money. Or rather I don't have any cash. Usually this realization comes when I'm getting ready to travel since like everyone I need to keep a few dollars on hand for tips and/or to buy a snack on a long flight. But [...]
Read moreSupply Chain Winter Olympics – Part 3
In my last two posts, I described the other Winter Olympics which has been underway for the past two months. The past 60 days have witnessed some extraordinary meteorological activity around the world. Consequently, logistics providers, manufacturers and retailers have been performing Olympic efforts to keep merchandise in stock across the supply chain. In Part [...]
Read moreThe End of Cash: Not so fast
For years, I have noticed more and more frequently that I don't have any money. Or rather I don't have any cash. Usually this realization comes when I'm getting ready to travel since like everyone I need to keep a few dollars on hand for tips and/or to buy a snack on a long flight. But [...]
Read moreA Proactive Recall Solution, Constructing the Calling Bell – Part II
It’s about time the defensive driving courses across the globe start including lessons on how to tackle the ‘Drive-by-Wire’ challenges. The Toyota recall was soon followed by Honda’s expansion of a previously announced recall due to lingering concerns on airbag hazards. Blame it on the supplier who provided the faulty part or the software program, [...]
Read moreThe Supply Chain Winter Olympics – Part 2 – Snowmaggedon
I live in the Washington DC metropolitan area which has witnessed bitterly cold weather and unusually high snowfalls in the past two months. The second big storm of the season hit over the past weekend. 32 inches of snow fell in less than 48 hours on Saturday (Feb 6) and Sunday (Feb 7). On a [...]
Read moreWal-Mart Starts Enforcing “Must Arrive By Date” Deductions
Suppliers penalized with 3% invoice deductions for non-compliance from Feb 1, 2010 Walmart, in what many consider to be their most stringent delivery requirement yet, has from Feb 1, 2010 rolled out an initiative that would penalize suppliers for non-compliance with their new "Supply Chain Reliability Program". This new effort is aimed at ensuring that [...]
Read moreImproving Visibility Across Toyota’s Supply Chain
It has been an interesting few months watching the recall related events unfold at Toyota. What started out last October as a simple recall to sort out a problem with an accelerator pedal getting stuck underneath the floor mats of their cars has now turned into Toyota’s largest ever recall. Toyota emerged from the recent [...]
Read moreMicrosoft’s AIF XML for Dynamics Users—The Long Tail of B2B
Most of the examples of the Long Tail of B2B e-Commerce Standards that I have highlighted over the past few years focus on industry associations. For example, Aviation Fuel Data Standards, Green Coffee XML and the European Steel Industry’s ESIDEL. However, there are numerous examples of vendor-driven XML standards as well. In this post I [...]
Read moreThe Supply Chain Winter Olympics – Part 1
Less than two days remain until the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. On Friday the world will gather to watch athletes from over 100 countries join for two weeks of intense competition. But a less publicized and perhaps equally dramatic type of Winter Games has been already underway for the past 60 days [...]
Read moreRetail themes for 2010 – it’s all about the customer
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show. It is always unforgettable to make the pilgrimage to New York City in January for this annual event. This year, not only was the show content relevant, exciting and thorough, but the weather was sunny and bright. It [...]
Read more3 Lessons Banks Can Learn from Starbucks
I am a Starbucks junkie. While I've never ordered a caramel macchiato, mocha frappuccino or a half-caf anything, I'm the type of customer that retailers like the giant Coffee house count on to keep the lights on, the baristas cheerful and the stockholders happy. I own 2 sets of Starbucks branded mugs and regularly give gift cards to [...]
Read moreCarpEDIem – My New Squidoo Lens – A Companion to the EDInomics Blog
Last year the new lens I introduced a Squidoo lens focused on “Implementing a B2B e-Commerce Program.” Today, I am introducing a second lens entitled CarpEDIem. Why a second lens? CarpEDIem has a different mission than the B2B e-Commerce Lens. In CarpEDIem, my goal was to highlight the importance that B2B e-Commerce plays in the global [...]
Read moreWouldn’t it be nice to have a Calling Bell for a Recall? – Part I
As I read the recent recall notice by Toyota for the gas pedals, I questioned myself if I should have written my previous blog the way I did it because Toyota was a data point when I referred to supply chain operational excellence. Before I pronounce a verdict upon myself, here’s a few top attention-grabbing [...]
Read moreB2B Challenges Across the Manufacturing Industry
The global manufacturing industry has been through a significant period of change over the past couple of years. The most recent economic downturn has led many manufacturers to re-think their business strategies and look for ways to streamline supply chains and of course reduce costs.
Read moreComing Attractions: B2Bank Communication
One great thing about long weekends is that they offer me a chance to catch up on things. But when it's rainy and overcast, one great thing to catch up on is movies. I mean going to the theater…real movie time not just renting a DVD and drifting off halfway through the film. This weekend, purely by chance, I happened [...]
Read moreSix Degrees to B2B e-Commerce – e-Book
Last Year, I introduced a series of posts about how every activity in your life is no more than six degrees away from a process that is supported by B2B integration. Wikipedia defines Six Degrees of Separation as “The idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two [...]
Read moreWhere are the Transformational B2B Supply Chains?
Welcome to my latest blog ‘KiloBites’, a quick-read on what’s new and what’s next in the world of B2B Integrations and extended Value Chains, all in less than 1000 words. The intention is to shed more insights into our future growth drivers and burning platforms in the industries that we operate in. This is not [...]
Read moreB2B E-Commerce from 2010 to 2020 – Predictions for the Next Ten Years
Each of the past few years, GXS has published a list of predictions for the coming year. With the start of a new decade, we have taken a different approach this year. Instead of issuing predictions about just 2010, I asked a group of eight GXS Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to offer their opinions about [...]
Read moreCould Community Source be a Better Approach for Supply Chain Applications?
In my last GXS post I described the relatively small number of B2B integration vendors which have embraced open source. I this post, I will discuss a type of open sourced called "community source" which I think has high applicability for the supply chain and B2B integration. In community source a group of companies (versus individual users) unite to develop [...]
Read moreCold Forecast
It sounded good. "Come to Florida for the weekend and get out of the cold". Given the temperatures in the Midwest–the week of snow and the below 0 wind-chill–this idea sounded more than good. Florida in January versus January in Ohio…I didn't need to be asked twice. Time in the Sunshine state…yes indeedy. Imagine it…swimming [...]
Read moreOpen Source in B2B Integration
There are not many examples of Open source in the B2B integration space. Many corporate end-users and service providers are running B2B platforms on open source software such as Apache’s web server, Sun’s MySQL database or the various distributions of the Linux operating system. But very few vendors have introduced open source models for their [...]
Read moreHow Would Larry King Host a B2B Related Talk Show on TV?
Well first of all I would like to wish you a Happy New Year, I hope you enjoyed the holidays!, I expect like me you may have over indulged on food over the holidays and no doubt seen many hours of television over this period.
Read moreB2B e-Commerce Past, Present and Future – The Webinar
Two weeks ago, GXS published its look back at the Technologies which influenced the Past 10 Years of B2B e-Commerce. As a supplement to the Look Back and our Look Forward (coming in January), I have recorded a webinar which offers my perspective on how B2B Past, Present and Future. The webinar examines how B2B [...]
Read moreEnabling B2B Growth in 2010: What role will banks play
The curtain has come down on 2009 and it's not a show that most of us would pay to see again. While we didn't see another giant like Lehman Brothers collapse, we ended the year with 140 bank failures in the US alone, unemployment that was above 10% in some countries and consumer confidence that although improving still with plenty of room [...]
Read moreHow Data Synchronization could help to Reduce Wrap Rage
Although Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, my holiday spirit is often dampened by a little mid-morning Christmas Day angst. I suffer from a disease known as “Wrap Rage.” The disease affects millions of people around the world, but there are no medications available to manage the symptoms. My outbreaks are usually [...]
Read more2009: The Year of Too Much Information
For the past decade, I've ended the year by sending a family newsletter with my Christmas cards. For the most part–love them or hate them–holiday newsletters were a longstanding tradition. But as I sat staring at my computer screen last night, I realized that this year I had little new to share. Now that doesn't mean I [...]
Read moreFrom Outsourcing his B2B Infrastructure to Adopting Web2.0, it has been a busy year for Santa Claus
Well it has been just over a year since I reported on how Santa was planning to outsource the management of his B2B environment to GXS. Project Dasher, (as the B2B outsourcing project was called) would include on-boarding numerous trading partners, linking to several Present Distribution Hubs around the world, provide integration to an SAP [...]
Read moreJaguar Land Rover Design a New Sledge for Santa Claus
Last year Santa chose GXS to manage his B2B infrastructure in order to try and streamline his present sourcing and delivery service. I posted a blog last Christmas that explained the core components that made up Project Dasher, Santa’s code name for his Outsourced B2B environment.
Read moreWill the World’s First 4G Network Accelerate the Adoption of Mobile B2B?
The 14th December 2009 was an important day for the mobile telecommunications industry, it saw the launch of the world’s first commercial 4G network. There have been many 4G network trials around the world over the past couple of years, but the new 4G network developed by TeliaSonera , which has been setup in Sweden [...]
Read moreDid You Send Your Suppliers a Holiday Card?
There are six days until Christmas and my Outlook inbox is beginning to fill up with electronic holiday cards from vendors. About 50% of the cards I received this year are from companies I don’t even know. I guess they are trying to sell me marketing services. It has been common for many years to [...]
Read moreB2B E-Commerce in 2010 – Poised for Growth, Challenged for Resources
A few months ago we asked AMR Research to conduct a survey with IT and Line of Business Executives at 120 manufacturing companies in North America. One of the questions we asked the survey audience was to comment about how their B2B programs had been impacted by the macro-economic recession. Not surprisingly, most of the [...]
Read moreImproving the Management of Inter-Continental Automotive B2B Transactions
Today’s automotive industry has operations in all major economies around the world. Whether it is in the more established markets such as North America or Europe or the newer automotive markets such as China, India or Russia, each region has had to establish communities of trading partners to support the new car manufacturing plants.
Read moreB2B E-Commerce – A Look Back at the Past 10 Years
Each of the past few years, GXS has published a list of predictions for the coming year. But with less than 20 days remaining until the start of a new decade I thought that we should take a different approach this year. I asked a group of eight GXS Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to write [...]
Read moreWhat Google Could Do for the Supply Chain
Last week I finally was able to get my 1 year old daughter vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus. There have been widespread availability issues with the vaccine throughout the US. When a batch of supply is delivered there is a mad frenzy of parents who line up outside the medical facility as if they [...]
Read moreWhy Amazon.com has the Best Demand Forecasting Data
In my last post I discussed one of the key disadvantages of demand forecasting techniques used in today’s supply chain. The demand signals being analyzed by many companies are Point-Of-Sale transactions from yesterday’s or last week’s consumer purchases. Using POS data is an improvement of their demand forecasting techniques of the 1980s and 1990s which [...]
Read moreBeyond POS – Looking Forward, Not Backwards for Demand Forecasting
In my last post, the Most Important Day of the Year for B2B e-Commerce, I discussed how the first full week of December is the time that publishers of movies, music and video games typically reserve for the launches of their best new titles. And suppliers of these products are critically dependent upon obtaining Point-Of-Sale [...]
Read moreThe Most Important Day of the Year for B2B e-Commerce
Yesterday, December 8th was the most important day of the year for B2B e-Commerce. I say this, not because of the “game changing” GXS-Inovis merger, but because of the concentration of pre-holiday product launches that occurred. The Tuesday in the first full week of December is the time that publishers of movies, music and video [...]
Read moreTriple-A (AAA) Supply Chain Webinar – Survey Results
We had over 300 attendees join us for the Triple-A Supply Chain webinar last Thursday. During the webinar we asked the audience to provide some insights on their adoption of Triple-A supply chain strategies as we enter 2010. I have tabulated and analyzed the results, which are summarized below. You can also download a copy [...]
Read more“10 years” of global data synchronization – a look back
As you have already observed, I placed “10 Years” in quotes. This is because I submit that the roots of data synchronization really go back about 20 years, so I am making an up-front caveat before you read further and wonder why my story starts so much further back!
Read moreRFID Grows Up, but at its own pace
Like many parents, I spend a fair amount of effort trying to help my kids avoid the painful mistakes I made in my life, and I usually fail utterly. This is because most of life’s important lessons are learned “hands-on”, and no matter how much you trust others, there are simply some things you must [...]
Read moreHas your company appointed a Chief Social Networking Officer yet?
Well I guess the Chief Social Networking Officer (CSNO) role will be created at some point!, after all in recent years a number of new CXO level positions have been created to help manage the extended enterprise. In June for example, at a conference in London, I heard IBM talk about the importance of the Chief [...]
Read moreDr. Hau Lee’s Triple-A Supply Chain
One of the best strategy concepts that I have encountered in recent years is Dr. Hau Lee of Stanford University’s Triple-A Supply Chain. Dr. Lee originally published his research findings in a Harvard Business Review article back in October 2004. Even though the concept is five years old, I consider it to be extremely relevant [...]
Read moreIntegration Smackdown: Documents versus API in B2B
I have been focused of late (a rare luxury for me) on exploring the integration technologies to the emerging cloud computing providers — especially the SaaS guys. Last week I attended Dreamforce 2009, which was an absolutely fantastic experience. Salesforce.com has posted a bunch of the material on the site, and it is worthwhile. While [...]
Read moreB2B e-Marketplace for Dummies Book Series Re-Launched
I’ve just learned that the popular B2B e-Marketplace for Dummies series is going to be re-launched just in time for Black Friday and the December holidays. The publishers are hoping to capitalize on the nostalgia many former entrepreneurs and venture investors are feeling following the 10-year anniversary of the Internet marketplace era. The four part [...]
Read moreModernization vs. Innovation: Getting Ahead in the Era of the New Normal
For the past 18 months (or there about), analysts, journalists, bloggers and sometimes people who are all three rolled into one have discussed the need for change and reform in the financial services industry. Regulators and government leaders have taken turns at the mic to discuss their particular brand of change and/or reform but for [...]
Read moreTen B2B IPOs I would like to see in 2010 – Part 2
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been well above 10,000 for several weeks now. And six new public offerings came to market this week as the capital markets continue to rebound, which begs the question what does this mean for B2B e-commerce providers? In my post last month I outlined the first five (out of ten) [...]
Read moreRecord Cash Holdings by Large Corporations makes B2Bank Integration More Important than Ever
The Wall Street Journal published an excellent article on November 3rd about how companies are holding more cash on average than any time in the past 40 years. “In the second quarter, the 500 largest nonfinancial US firms by total assets, held about $994 billion in cash and short term investments, or 9.8% of their [...]
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