09.10.07
How’s Your Company’s Integrity?
Merriam-Webster OnLine provides 3 definitions for integrity:
1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values
2 : an unimpaired condition
3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided
The short, one-word definitions are:
2. SOUNDNESS
3. COMPLETENESS
For a synonym, the dictionary suggests HONESTY.
Most companies that I’ve worked with would like these terms to be reflected in their businesses. They want a sound, complete business that is incorruptible. They want it to function as a unified whole. They want their business to be seen as honest. These are the things that can bring success and deliver stakeholder equity.
Yet, when it comes to supply chain automation and business-to-business transactions, many companies are not even close to exhibiting integrity. While this may sound like a subjective pronouncement about their staff, it is really more of an objective view of their operations gleaned through nearly 25 years of work in the integration space and supported by many analysts today. In fact, the words “integrity” and “integration” come from the same Latin root, integr- or integer, which means “entire”[1]. In some industries, B2B integration is even being replaced with manual processes that threaten the integrity of the supply chain and the entirety of their businesses.
My name is Bryan Larkin and as the strategy and marketing leader for GXS in the retail and consumer products space, I am on the alert for value chain and B2B challenges in these industries and ways in which I can help companies meet their needs. If you don’t mind terms like “holistic”, “cross-functional”, “collaborative” and “culture” when considering your business operations, this blog should help you find both bottom and top line growth and ways in which you can reduce costs – all while keeping the focus on the ever changing needs of the consumer who’s number one issue today is product availability.
Every company has their own business drivers, their own goals and their own strategies to meet them. Success means the application of best practices to those specific strategies in ways that are often unique to each company. The key is finding the technology, the people and the processes that will let you do just that.
I welcome your perspectives in a thoughtful discussion on how you see the interplay of integrity and integration in your business lives.
