“Plastics” was the single word of business advice from a guest from an older generation to the young Dustin Hoffman in the movie, ‘The Graduate.’ One word that all at once seemed to describe every bit of the business knowledge the young graduate would need. Clean, tidy, packaged, and delivered with such precision that 55 years later, a faint social memory finds meaning in the attachment to that word.
Today’s C-Suite executives have much more on their minds, often far-flung from memories of a film, far removed from a dated vision of a sterile, mindless office, a different view of business life that has emerged in the past 50 years. The 1960s view, brought about mainly by the values of a previous generation looking forward to a modern age and boring almost by definition, has emerged in today’s business environment. A far-reaching, multi-geographic, multi-cultural colossus of a business universe. Typically headquartered in a major city or strategically located, these businesses serve thousands of customers or handle millions of product combinations, shipping from multiple fulfillment centers and growing e-commerce brands. An entirely new definition of a business that could never be reduced to a single word of business advice delivered in a one-off conversation at a party delivered in a single word.
The story of ‘The Graduate,’ instead of a message about business by way of a single word, is about change, systemic change where creating a stable and sustainable business environment in a complex business world is a real daily challenge. The stability we once thought of as an everyday casual occurrence has changed forever. If we have learned anything from the COVID-19 experience, it is this: nothing we held as fact is the fact any longer, no service that we perform, and no product that we buy, sell, ship, or deliver is protected, and nothing should be overlooked as we seek opportunities to gain a foothold or a business advantage in the “New Normal.”
This brings us back to our current reality in the new world. A world where giants continue to emerge from increased consolidation even in far-flung markets deep in the interior of this and many other countries. Companies that began as simply as a man and his truck are now run by corporate boards and C-Suite executives who find themselves in Multi-Enterprise Supply Chain Business Networks (MESBN) with multiple companies to run and precious resources competing for funds. Where does one begin? Is it better to reduce costs or increase revenue? Which job gets tackled first, which takes precedent, or is there an opportunity for both? Is enterprise consolidation the first order of business, a process that could take years and resources, or is multi-enterprise collaboration the way to go? What about flexibility? Is there a way to tread on more than one path?
When a business grows through extension, acquisition, and consolidation, outcomes vary, and results are mixed. Rarely does an extension, acquisition, or consolidation mean a ‘plug and play’ migration meaning that a migration path needs to be defined, and that becomes the responsibility of the C-Suite. Navigating the consolidation path, from ‘old’ to ‘new’ or several to one system, means critical thinking, tough decisions, and balance.
What becomes necessary is a multi-enterprise collaboration networks and integration platform that supports multi-enterprise collaboration and migration at every stage of execution, whether your business has grown through extension, acquisition, or consolidation. The market at large prefers a solution that is popular with the world’s most recognized brands and leading vertically integrated producers, marketers, and distributors; and one that puts them in complete control of their B2B API & EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) supply chains and delivers end-to-end visibility, limitless flexibility, connectivity & control whether single or multiple enterprise environments exist.
The market will inevitably reach for a platform that can help bridge the gaps during systemic migration and/or consolidation, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) to MRP, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to CMS (Content Management System) makes a little difference. The solution must be compatible with most migration and/or consolidation efforts. The solution must increase supply chain resilience, flexibility, visibility, and control by increasing velocity and improving the ability to respond to gaps or disruption with confidential alerting and insight. The market will seek out a complete solution, sometimes by trial and error, working their way through several solutions over the years, and will seek a solution with extensive B2B API & EDI capabilities that put them in control of their multi-enterprise supply chain business networks. The key to selection is ensuring that the business can continue supporting the existing business while integrating new relationships with multi-enterprise business process enablement and intelligent planning & forecasting.
The platform selected will use intelligent workflows that provide a robust and cohesive experience and help mitigate supply chain challenges by helping simulate the impact of internal and external drivers, then identify the next best action and help clients adjust the business plan accordingly. The selected platform will support enterprise users by coordinating business processes across multiple enterprises, environments, and solutions already in place.
The most highly desired platform solutions to bring supply chain resilience will be highly scalable cloud-native multi-tenant multi-geography B2B API & EDI hyper-scalable high-performance SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms that integrate natively with client and partner ecosystems and e-commerce channels for meeting B2B API & EDI challenges. The most highly desired solutions will allow its clients to transform and extend their organization’s supply chain, customer, and partner ecosystem while unifying channels, boosting loyalty, accelerating and advancing collaboration, and turning acquisitions into assets.
In short, multi-enterprise supply chain business network is essential to create supply chain resilience and connected supply chain ecosystem that can adapt to conditions in flux while continuing to meet customer demand by breaking down traditional silos. PartnerLinQ is committed to ensuring enterprise clients have the tools necessary to embrace collaboration and build supply chain resilience. Contact PartnerLinQ’s supply chain experts and explore how to transform your supply chain ecosystem to be more collaborative and agile.
