Building a New Resilient Supply Chain

The global marketplace today can perhaps be described as volatile. Prices are on the rise, shortages are popping up unexpectedly and in unexpected places.  Many major retail grocers are expecting center store sales to increases, an indication of things to come.

While supply chains have become more extensive and interconnected, they have also shown unprecedented instability in the face of disruption. In the wake of COVID-19, the fragile stability of lean supply chains found difficulty in recovering quickly in the face of disruption.  What has emerged is a succession of supply side ripples across multiple industries. The ripples collide until at last they reach the end of the line and, similar to the domino effect, as one chain ends another begins in sequence.  Many of the assumptions upon which the lean manufacturing model was created, were undone by market and environment variables that emerged during the onset of the COVID disruption.

Organizations are beginning to accept a pretense of recovery amid a truly formidable challenge of accelerated customer demand and labor shortages, and while research indicates that retail sales can grow by as much as 10.5% to 13.5% to generate more than USD 4.4 trillion in this year, there are concerns. Having undergone unprecedented and unwelcome change throughout the past year, suppliers require stability and flexibility to tackle the surging demand. Resisting instability forms the key priority for retail suppliers, which brings focus to resilience.

21% That’s the number of respondents in a recent Gartner survey who affirmed that they have a resilient network at present. Giving context to the figure, resilience implies elevated visibility, persistent velocity in moving product from source to destination while avoiding supply chain constraints. In this current moment of volatility in the market, it is imperative for retail suppliers and retail enterprises to increase their supply chain resilience.

Becoming more resilient is no longer a luxury for supply chain leaders. The long-standing tradition of lean manufacturing and its entrenched philosophy will be the challenge to overcome. Supply chains need to be efficient as well as resilient, and practices such as redundant supply chain operations, alternative factories, and ample safety stock need to be developed in parallel with productivity and performance improvements.  Supply chains also need to maintain compliance substituting lesser performing partners for those more suited following the COVID disruption. The widespread disruptions affected supply chain monitoring and audit and while enforcement may have been relaxed, performance improvements can only be brought about by effective monitoring and accounting. In order to holistically build a resilient supply chain network, retail suppliers need specific data elements to be incorporated into their supply chain and a robust solution methodology which combines five important elements is key.

Connectivity

A surefire approach to building supply chain resilience in retail is ensuring anytime, anyone, anywhere communication, systems need to be ‘access anywhere’ supportive of SSO (Single Sign on) and active directory. Manual partner-to-partner communication requires a lot of paperwork and must be reduced in light of staffing shortages.  Manual communication methodologies lead to errors and errors mean more human intervention. Automatic and secure document flows compatible with multiple enterprise level system and capable of a variety of data interchange formats and in real time delivers resilience.

Flexibility

A significant aspect of resilience is ironing out friction within the network. A resilient supply chain must be flexible and able to fix critical issues with the least amount of effort.  ‘Fix-on-the-fly’ functionality reducing human interaction increases flexibility. An efficient business rule manager is key to incorporate such flexibility. Reusable business rules ensure seamless partner onboarding and transaction integration.  Reusable sets of business rules allow for the conservation of scarce technical resources and ease of use.  The addition of reusable rules to rule sets to overcome existing issues, and proactive alerting based on business rules means time to make a correction where and when necessary. Change, through a business rules engine can be automated and in real time. Audit functions mean changes can be rolled out, and rolled back if that become necessary.

Adaptability

Perhaps the greatest lesson that the past year has taught suppliers in retail has been the importance of adaptation. The transition to digital and the prominence of ecommerce platforms has been well documented in the retail industry. An omnichannel strategy covers all potential channels for distribution and sales. An omnichannel strategy makes sense amid market disruptions such as we’ve seen this past year and a half.  An omnichannel strategy means demand can be met with convenience and speed. While a stand-alone omnichannel strategy as a solution is one way to meet demand, leveraging a common process workflow to bring transactions in or out of the enterprise the same way every time means an increased ability to create multiple trading relationships and do so quickly. By eliminating the need for additional support or maintenance, a common process workflow takes partner on boarding to a new level while increasing the utility of business rules reduces the dependencies on map and mapping activities. Combining centralized B2B communication with such a workflow results in a highly independent system in which transactions and business processes are handled automatically, accounting for connection changes, partner onboarding, acquisitions, mergers and complete enterprise migration without adding disruption.

Accountability

With much of the COVID disruption behind, and planning and change ahead, compliance has never been more important for retail suppliers.  A flexible and effective event notification processor to stay on top of supply chain events and issues in real time becomes a valuable tool. Such rules-based processing must be backed by comprehensive audits, reports, and analytics.  Such tools must be visible across the internal supply chain operation. Transaction transportation, transformation and integration tools must include analytics to ensure consistent business operations, keeping disparate teams in touch with the latest goings-on in the supply chain domain.

The Way Forward

Accepting resilience is just the first step. The path includes overcoming challenges like supply chain and labor shortages and success in resilience is achieved by combining five key elements:

• Centralized communication across multiple methods, formats, and platforms
• Flexible business rules, business rules management, and alerting.
• An adaptive common processing workflow that simplifies onboarding and processing
• Visibility, accountability, and adaptability
• Easy access to these key elements and in one place.

A resilient path will quickly deliver an elevated level of performance, particularly important as the retail industry begins to leave the COVID disruption behind and starts to engage with the new normal.

While the number and complexity of supply chain initiatives seem to grow season after season, a few remain on the top of such initiatives.  A combined study of supply chain leaders completed by Bain & Company and Microsoft identified digital agility and resilience as top priorities in their choice of supply chain software. The study also indicated that many supply chain senior executives, who once viewed their supply chain as a “cost center,” now see them as a “strategic capability.”

What the study appears to indicate are a number of strategic areas for future-proof investment, the ability to generate granular data sets to enable in-depth visibility and provide actionable insights, and of course, an omnichannel strategy that ensures consistent customer experiences across websites, mobile apps, social media accounts, and brick-and-mortar stores.

Intelligent Technologies to Drive Smart Supply Chains

Granular data, in-depth visibility, and actionable insights naturally come together conversationally when we begin to reconstruct business strategies, post COVID-19. Solutions that store transactional details provide granular data sets, which then provide much needed visibility that generates insights across partners, customers, and channels.

When an omnichannel strategy exists, the combined insight provided by solutions that store transactional details allows for advanced customer segmentation, empowering companies to build more detailed, customized experiences based on the needs of the partner, customer, or channel populations and experiences. No wonder then that the most successful brands are looking to harness intelligent technologies to adapt to fast-evolving consumer demands and market challenges.

While some may believe a lack of resources or investment opportunities are inhibiting the next steps, supply chain leaders have begun to realize they need to proactively seek resources or opportunities, anticipate supply-side change, and be somewhat agile themselves in order to make decisions that increase sales avenues and address customer needs.

Why Customer Insight?

The market is full of options and today’s customers have an abundance of choices, many of which are just a few clicks away. Working from home has greatly reduced travel times to and from work. It follows that the general population can spend more time on experiences that engage them personally and, according to a recent survey, 75% of millennials value experiences over things.

Experience, or more specifically, a positive experience, is derived from the utility offered and a utility that offers easy access to goods and services is more preferable to price. The outcome of this level of business-critical thinking suggests that it has become imperative that brands begin to understand evolving customer desires and delivery experiences that delight, which brings us back to strategic areas for future-proof investment.

Combining strategy and future-proof investment together ensures that the customer is at the center of supply chain planning. Only those organizations that have an in-depth connection with their customers can monitor their behavior, analyze trends, and select the right channel to maximize customer reach and engagement. Sellers must ensure that products and services are available to their targeted buyers and on all channels.

Businesses with an omnichannel presence enjoy 90% higher customer retention over those that do not. Adding availability and convenience by way of an omnichannel strategy ensures consumers can switch between devices and screens to complete a task. Creating digital for targeted buyers on all channels, generating granular data sets to enable in-depth visibility, and providing actionable insights brings it all together.

Integrated Platforms for Data-Driven Supply Chain Transformation 

Cross-channel insight is not likely to be found across multiple integrations or within a
“black box” infrastructure that is several decades old. Modern organizations need modern integrated platforms that work with smart solutions and intelligent interfaces. Many modern organizations are now enhancing their processes with intelligent autonomous systems powered by digital innovations like the Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) to design a truly customer-centric supply chain.

Modern integrated platforms are AI/ML-enabled, can gather data from touchpoints across channels and partners, and deploy advanced data analytics that help analyze the information to find inefficiencies and potential ways of improvement. Such data-driven approaches help supply chain leaders forecast demand, get real-time updates across the network, and track product movement from factories to the shopping floor.

How AI Enables Channel Discovery and Optimized Delivery

Using the business needs and supply chain challenges described in this paper, we have identified five ways to introduce IoT, AI, and ML into supply chain initiatives to help companies select the most optimized integration channel and ensure uninterrupted delivery to maximize revenue generation:

1. Streamline partner onboarding: AI can automate and streamline the complex processes associated with managing channel partners, particularly if there are a lot of trading partners, a number of repeatable processes, or a large number of paper-based documents. AI helps identify repeatable processes based on a partner’s system configuration and data formats to speed up the partner onboarding process and ensure faster channel deployment.
    
2. Use business insights to pick the right channel: Manufacturers use a range of channels to sell products and, as those channels increase in number and in complexity, manufacturers need data to maximize the revenue produced through each channel. Solutions, which store transactional details and provide granular data sets, can be leveraged to deliver visibility. Visibility generates insights across partners, customers, and channels, and contributes to better decisions. Solutions that leverage real-time data from the live environment, and then use AI and advanced analytics, can help pick the right channels in which to invest. At this point, we can probably agree that better decisions lead to better outcomes.
    
3. Customize customer journeys: The world’s most recognizable and successful brands harness intelligent technologies to adapt to fast-evolving consumer demands, market conditions, and market challenges. IoT, AI, ML, big data, and easy-to-use analytics can be used to create in-depth customer profiles based on external data such as demographic models and purchasing behavior. Solutions that store transactional details allow for advanced customer segmentation, empowering companies to build more detailed, customized experiences based on the needs of the partner, customer, or channel population, where delivering a consistent brand experience facilitates customer engagement at the right moment and in the right channel.
    
4. Empower channel partners: Maximizing channel revenue also depends on how effectively supply chain partners like dealers, retailers, and distributors can attract new customers and deliver products via a compelling customer experience. A supply chain platform that provides seamless and timely integration with intelligent technologies will provide partners better tools along with the ability to deliver at the customer touchpoint.  Selecting smart solutions with intelligent interfaces empowers channel partners.
    
5. Measure performance: Leveraging access to data across channels and partners, modern organizations can effectively measure not only partner performance but their own performance in terms of sales, reach, engagement, and the depths of those engagements. Translate those processes into the selection of a new partner. Compare a partner who can process orders and invoices against a partner who can process orders and invoices, contracts, and chargebacks, and also maintain inventories; it’s a new game and works very similarly in the freight and logistics space just as well. For instance, say, you have two transportation service and logistics providers (TSLs) pitted against each other. While the first one can process shipments and invoices, the other can process shipments and invoices plus offer warehouse services such as the ability to pick, pack, and ship automatically, based on your need to supplement your business where and when needed. Selecting solutions with built-in reporting empowers your business by delivering the capacity to measure and display your own performance.
    

Toward an Automated Channel Discovery Process 

Market research has shown that digital tools can automate 80-90% of supply chain planning, and digital technologies such as AI can reduce inventory by up to 75%. In order to achieve a fully AI-powered supply chain, they will need a holistic view of all operations including application integration, along with an understanding of their business goals.

Smart solutions with intelligent interfaces deliver granular data and AI-powered platforms close the gap between channel performance and desired business outcomes. An optimized solution, one without human intervention, produces a self-driving supply chain. Such a supply chain reduces delays, costs, and losses in revenue, and delivers precision to a well-defined channel strategy.

About PartnerLinQ: Enterprise Connectivity at the Speed of Business

PartnerLinQ is an innovative, process-centric, easy-to-use integration platform that enables API-led, cloud-native integrations. It easily handles both standard and proprietary file-based formats, including custom integrations. The solution is well suited for retail, e-commerce, wholesale, transportation, 3PL, as well as distribution, digital, and analog partner extensible platform. It helps your team achieve operational efficiency and gain real-time visibility.

PartnerLinQ was designed and developed by a team with more than 25 years of deep integration experience.  The PartnerLinQ team has been providing industry-focused leadership in technology and consulting and in the development of innovative solutions that drive global supply chain transformation from the factory floor to the consumer’s doorstep. PartnerLinQ integrates natively with Microsoft Dynamics 365, while also providing robust support for more than 70 ERP systems and ecommerce platforms. PartnerLinQ is a completely integrated solution that consigns big VAN and iPaaS solutions to the past. PartnerLinQ is a modern platform with the technology of tomorrow, providing enterprise connectivity at the speed of business today.

You are probably familiar with this ‘BIG VAN’ claim repeated early and often by the champions of value-added networks (VANs):

‘The advantage of the network is the network itself.’

The claim, like all wide-ranging quotes, is to some extent only relatively true. Its validity depends upon who you are connecting with and how actively you link up with your trading partners. A closer look at the flow of goods and information within your business network will possibly reveal that no single network or VAN can address all your B2B/B2C communication needs.

While EDI and, in some instances, the VAN does help you connect, connecting with all your trading partners translates into a significantly higher ROI.  EDI today means more than simply X12; it means supporting multiple standards, formats, and transactions from X12, UN/EDIFACT, and GS1 XML trade messages to a number of non-EDI formats like JSON, flat files, text files, and proprietary XML message formats.

Read more: The truth behind the “competitive advantage” of value-added networks

EDI also means accessing a diverse set of communication methodologies – like AS2, MFTP, FTP, SFTP, and APIs – each with their own set of variables. While transaction formats and transportation methodologies make EDI more versatile, the complexity of handling such varied data formats and communication methodologies creates its own set of challenges, particularly when you consider the ‘BIG VAN’ value proposition.

The ‘BIG VAN’ value prop proudly claims that all members in your value chain are available on the same network or VAN as yours; while true to some extent, this is not an entirely accurate assessment. A VAN connection is by all accounts handy and, in some cases, necessary to interact with some trading partners. But it certainly is not everything.

The right tool with the right EDI transportation methods delivers far more effectively than ‘BIG VAN’ and at a lesser cost.

The Significance of the EDI VAN Interconnect

The ‘BIG VAN’ claim is largely backed by the EDI VAN interconnect. The interconnect is a tool that helps your value added network communicate with other value added networks and facilitates exchange of EDI transaction documents between connected pairs of trade partners. The more partners you connect with, the bigger the benefit derived from your communication network.

VAN interconnects effectively reduce friction between and among VANs, while also reducing the need for new VANs. The largest of the VANs reduce VAN-related confusion within partner networks by making claims to connect to thousands of trading partners; in effect though, ‘BIG VAN’ highlights the characteristics of EDI under which all EDI solutions and VAN partners operate. 

But what about transactions beyond X12 EDI? 

‘BIG VAN’ and the interconnect rely on a steady stream of ISA and GS identifiers within X12 transactions to move data, without which the ‘BIG VAN’ is about as useful as a cell phone without buttons.  While the VAN connection does handle X12, what about images, APIs, or XML files? These are typically not included in ‘BIG VAN’ offerings and, in most cases, require a different product altogether, adding to your overall cost.

A closer look at the VAN interconnect reveals that the reality of ‘BIG VAN’ is very different from the claim; if the interconnect connects ALL VANs then ALL VANs have the same access to trading partners, which means that ‘BIG VAN’ has a very different concern. ‘BIG VAN’ is concerned that it will inevitably be relegated to the stature of an ‘Ordinary VAN’ and without reservation. 

‘BIG VAN’ makes a big claim and living up to that claim is becoming nearly impossible.  This makes all ‘small VAN’ operators a competitive threat – why else would ‘BIG VAN’ make such claims if not to control and confuse the market? The VAN interconnect and image files remove the confusion from the claim ‘the advantage of the network is the network itself’; what else is there to the reality of ‘BIG VAN’?

The Synergy

Architecturally speaking, an EDI solution is actually made up of three components (or solution layers, if you’ll pardon the expression) – the transportation, transformation, and integration layers. While EDI is very effective when it leverages a ‘VAN’ connection, the VAN component is only a fraction of EDI, less than 30%.

Think about your VAN connection in the same way you think about how your mobile phone functions.  Your mobile phone functions by combining the services provided by the phone manufacturer, an infrastructure provider, and a telecom company; similarly, EDI functions by leveraging the synergy of these component layers to work as a synchronous whole.

Components of the ‘VAN Solution’

• Transportation. Along with VANs, this layer works using many other methodologies such as AS2, MFTP, FTP, SFTP, and APIs. Most of these methodologies have been around for a couple of decades now. Your VAN, in fact, may still be using FTP to connect you with your VAN mailbox; if it is not leveraging FTP, it is likely using AS2. Get in touch with your EDI team representative and ask, they should be able to tell you.
• Transformation. The transformation layer facilitates translation between different (EDI) formats. Formats like X12, UN/EDIFACT, GS1 XML trade messages, JSON, flat files, text files, or proprietary XML messages are transformed into formats that your ERP systems can easily understand and use.
• Integration. In the final layer, the transformed message is available to be consumed by the ERP. API connectors have been introduced in recent years to connect you with your ERP in a normalized way, much like the ODBC connector you may have used in the past.  The integration layer can be an API or a connector like ODBC or ODATA – the main emphasis here lies in providing (a) the route for landing the messages and (b) feedback that lets you know whether the order was rejected or accepted. The latter is the target, which requires the least manual input.

Do More Connections Provide More Benefits?

The key word is ‘choice’. If one network has the potential to provide a competitive advantage, do multiple networks offer even greater benefit?

The quantity of available networks is only one criteria that determines how effective your network is.  Connecting to multiple VANs is, frankly, a drain on resources, particularly when all VANs make use of the same VAN interconnect. 

While there is a need to be mindful of the connections available to your trading partners, using multiple VAN connections to stay in touch makes no sense at all. It is like having two or more cell phones or cable TV subscriptions, particularly when methodologies like AS2, MFTP, FTP, SFTP, and APIs are available.  Many of these options have low or no cost associated with them while VAN costs are subscription based and incur transaction fees that need to be paid monthly, much like that second cell phone that we referenced earlier.

The AS2 Effect

Application Statement 2 (AS2) is used for a reliable and secure transfer of data over the Internet. It provides a direct, unhindered connection with a trading partner and delivers document receipts and real-time tracking without requiring a VAN or a VAN interconnect. Your standard internet connection serves as the transportation layer; it is payload-agnostic, which means you can use the same tool to transmit images and every business has internet connectivity today. 

Unlike a VAN, AS2 does not typically have monthly charges or transaction fees. It reduces the chances of transaction failure by establishing a one-to-one transmission channel, without the need for a middle man, a VAN interconnect, or a ubiquitous VAN. Also, there is a Message Delivery Notification, but more on the MDN at a later time.

Putting It All Together

Now that we have unpacked the ‘BIG VAN’ claim, we can conclude that your EDI solution should provide more than one communication channel, has to be capable of handling a wide range of EDI formats, and MUST integrate smoothly and automatically with your enterprise systems.

We’ve also come to the conclusion that ‘BIG VAN’ cannot support the features that you need without complicating matters with additional software and subscriptions.

That’s why PartnerLinQ is different. PartnerLinQ is not a VAN; rather, it is a highly scalable, dependable, and configurable EDI and B2B communication solution. PartnerLinQ is ‘integration without complication’ that supports integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and other ERP systems. It includes an AS2 solution, FTP, MFT, and SFTP and can connect with any VAN, making it the perfect tool for B2B/B2C communication for your EDI and non-EDI partners.

PartnerLinQ also supports API-based ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Magento out of the box, providing your organization a seamless shift between EDI and API integrations; there’s nothing to add and nothing to buy, it’s all in there.

The solution also operates seamlessly between EDI and non-EDI formats – from X12, UN/EDIFACT, and GS1 XML to non-EDI formats like XML and JSON. While there are too many formats to list in a blog, this is a crucial factor that make PartnerLinQ a perfect choice for your EDI, B2B, and API integration and for smooth communication, while decreasing your reliance on ‘BIG VAN.’

The last few decades were marked by widespread adoption of computers quickly followed by automation; in fact, Industry has not stopped advancing since the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain (Industry 1.0 1760-1840) more than 200 years ago. Now the way we produce, buy, sell, and trade things is undergoing yet another series of changes, perhaps even somewhat of an upheaval.

Modern manufacturers are today enhancing their processes with intelligent autonomous systems powered by digital innovations like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). The once far off dream of smart factories is a reality; we have surpassed the targeted robotic processes and connected systems we once dreamed of and are enabling decisions without human intervention.

Our systems today, with access to more and more data, are growing smarter by the day, ensuring that our world produces more and wastes less. Industry 4.0 is no longer a buzzword, it’s a reality that suppliers and manufacturers across the globe are struggling with, each playing catch-up in a world undergoing a seismic shift.

Connecting to Deliver Experiences

Harnessing the potential of Industry 4.0 means emerging from the operational mindset. Customers today spend less time ‘gathering’ the goods and services they require as they once did and more time enjoying them. The market today is filled with choice and with choices just a few clicks away, they can spend more time on experiences that engage them personally.

Today’s consumer is all about convenience, shopping availability over price. A recent article cites 75% of millennials value experience over things and expect additional utility from the brands they patronize. The experience is derived from the utility offered by access to goods and services. It becomes business-critical for brands to understand evolving customer desires and deliver experiences that delight.

For manufacturers, factors like on-time delivery, responsiveness to demand, and seamless partner connectivity all add up to a memorable brand experience; as a result, organizations need to augment their digital supply chains across here-to-fore traditionally siloed business areas like manufacturing, planning, logistics, R&D, after-sales services, and maintenance.

The digital supply chain seamlessly connects partners along the value chain and enables organizations to fully realize their Industry 4.0 vision by accommodating design, manufacturing, logistics, inventories, and even asset management.  Industry 4.0 means connectivity and it involves wide areas of your business.

Building a Connected Digital Supply Network

Nearly everyone I talk to these days is on a path to building a connected digital supply network; while they are on the same path, the journey towards Supply Chain 4.0 is different for every business. What has become critical is an understanding of the components that make a digital supply chain reliable, flexible, and efficient.

• Customer-Centric Design

The customer needs to be the front and center of all supply chain planning. Organizations with an in-depth connection with the end-client can monitor their behavior and analyze trends and innovate accordingly. Smart solutions and intelligent interfaces capture real-time data on customer behavior from the live environment and help design customer-centric supply chain and manufacturing processes.

The product development process needs to be deeply integrated with this design concept. In fact, the entire demand chain needs to be understood, documented, retained, and related; only then can you have a deep understanding of your Order to Cash, PO to Payment business processes and realize how and where to make improvements.

• Real-Time Visibility

Siloed functional processes affect an organization’s flexibility, leading to long and cumbersome planning cycles. All too often one process ends and another begins, without bringing about an abrupt end to progress between business units.  Seamless communication and synchronized units provide a unified, real-time view of both supply and demand chains. These processes enable optimization of workflows and include inventory and other services once thought to the outside of the ‘norm’. 

Tracking these data, and further still these transactions, helps increase supply chain visibility and productivity, assisting managers and planners to make informed decisions that are based on reliable insight.

• Timely Delivery

Reliable and timely deliveries top the list of priorities for today’s customers and factors in the convenience of today’s consumer demands. Timeliness is a critical supply chain component that can make or break the customer experience; when the customer reaches for your product and it’s not where they expect it, they can very easily reach for another. Whether they’re reaching for a substitute product or another retailer, the outcome is the same; there’s an opportunity cost for your business and the consumer.

Companies that prepare to leverage Industry 4.0 capabilities can streamline logistics, guarantee better delivery experiences, and reduce out of stock conditions with seamless communication. Warehouses can monitor storage conditions, optimize delivery schedules, and quantify inventories and reorder points, which are often tragically overlooked.

By simply looking ahead to real-time weather and traffic updates with connected vehicles, we can adapt to the best routes based on supply and demand activities and ensure our products and services reach their intended targets on time, every time.

A Digital Supply Chain for Your Next-Gen Intelligent Enterprise

While the ‘chain’ metaphor explains the underlying utility of a supply or demand chain – connected and sequential – it simultaneously depicts a sense of flexibility and strength. The ‘chain’ implies a connection from one point to the next. The business environment today also requires responsiveness and agility which cannot be ignored.

Today’s digital supply network needs real-time insights that drive supply chain visibility, supply chain planning, communication, analysis, and execution – an orchestration of interactions across all critical business units, which is no longer a chain but more of a continuous strap. While the chain metaphor persists, the links previously used to identify business units fades into the background emerging as one continuous loop through which a truly flexible organization enables work and data to flow seamlessly across functional areas. This allows quicker issue detection and resolution, effectively reducing operational and financial risks.

Intelligent technologies power intelligent enterprises; when these are combined as a synchronous whole as they exist in Industry 4.0, they dramatically improve an organization’s ability to navigate the digital economy of today and deliver an experience that exceeds customer expectation.

The Importance of a Connected Supply Chain

As we put a highly turbulent year behind us, there is one lesson that businesses will take with them into 2021: be prepared for the unexpected. The chain of events that will forever define 2020 impacted businesses across industries and around the world.

The pandemic took nearly every business by surprise, regardless of scale, sending waves of disruption across most supply chains. Supply chain in general nearly came to a grinding halt due to global lockdowns and subsequent changes in consumer behavior and demand. This consequently impacted factory output, with nearly every warehousing and transportation company finding their operations, their businesses, themselves, and their families at risk.

We’re all consumers at some level and depend on supply chain leadership. Supply chain leaders have to constantly lift, shift, and adjust plans; they have to be prepared for the predictable and the unprecedented. Labor, infrastructure, cybersecurity, natural disasters, even weather and fuel, contribute to transportation disruptions.

The entire nature of the supply chain has changed with 2020, resulting in a different focus for every participant. There’s a noticeable shift from focusing on savings to increasing velocity, with an increased focus on agility and survival  – survival by way of developing collaborative and connected supply chain networks that deliver on expectations.

Focusing on Supply Chain Connectivity

A successful supply chain strategy delivers increased responsiveness and intelligence, which fuels informed decision-making and, with a modicum of luck, leads to success. Focusing on some key areas can enhance supply chain connectivity and equip enterprises to deal with what the future holds.  Electronic Data Interchange or EDI is one of those key areas.

Visibility

Businesses that rely on outdated processes and disparate IT systems across their supply chain operations struggle to deliver efficiency, responsiveness, and insights – all of which are now imperative for prolonged success. The lack of real-time access to information reduces visibility, which in turn limits the ability to respond to supply chain risk. These risks are amplified when not identified as such, or are wholly unprecedented, as the case with 2020.

A digitally connected supply chain, on the other hand, offers businesses a way to leverage communication and access the insights required to meet customer expectations, something that is just not possible with a paper-based process, or one that is highly dependent on human interaction.

Managers can more efficiently and effectively manage supply chain operations when they can see the data and understand what’s going on in near-real time. Deep insights and real-time information keep supply chain decision-makers on point at a place where they can improve performance.

Flexibility

While visibility is the starting point that provides insight, supply chain managers also need flexibility. Flexibility is what it takes to get the job done when an opportunity does present itself.  If you had visibility into the future, you might have bought into Bitcoin. If you were charting supply chain events during 2020, you would have noticed ripples.

A run on frozen food when people were asked to remain at home had a predictable impact on refrigerated food products weeks later, when an overburdened grocery supply chain struggled to resupply frozen food products.

Nearly the same impact was observed with the production of paper products where carriers transporting finished goods were repurposed to carry raw materials, not even making a dent in the overall supply of finished paper until very recently. Lastly, there’s an oversupply of hand sanitizers and a shortage of ordinary alcohol throughout the supply chain today.

Look carefully and opportunity presents itself in these scenarios again and again; insight is what drives supply chain managers to capitalize on these opportunities.

Integration

Integration of suppliers, customers, and other partners has become a critical component following visibility and flexibility; one can only be as flexible as your supply chain connectivity solution allows.

Suppliers, customers, and other partners often rely on different communication standards, data formats, and integration methodologies for consistent connectivity and communication. The result is a very intricate and complicated web of B2B and B2C networks.

While electronic data interchange (EDI) may be a preferred method of supply chain connectivity and communication, today’s competitive landscape is very different than yesterday and will be even more different tomorrow. B2B and B2C interoperability requires real-time collaboration, end-to-end visibility, and an increased flexibility among supply chain partners.

Taking Control of Your Network with a Digital Supply Chain Connectivity Solution

PartnerLinQ’s unified supply chain solution delivers end-to-end digital connectivity for your enterprise at the speed of business. It puts you in complete control by providing increased flexibility, full visibility, and deep integration into the enterprise where you need it. PartnerLinQ is a complete supply chain connectivity solution that seamlessly integrates your multi-tier global networks, channels, and marketplaces to your enterprise.

Backed by more than 25 years of integration expertise, PartnerLinQ ensures that you have a resilient and connected supply chain capable of overcoming the challenges of today and the unexpected threats of tomorrow. Purpose-built for B2B and B2C communication for your EDI and non-EDI trading partners alike, PartnerLinQ delivers true integration without complication.

• PartnerLinQ enables frictionless partner onboarding as it is easy to use, configure, and maintain.
• Centralized business rules, reporting, and alerting ensure that your team is instantly aware of any issue, allowing them to take action right from the home screen.
• Hosted on the cloud, PartnerLinQ ensures infinitely scalability and capability to process thousands of transactions per hour. There’s no hardcoding and nothing else to buy – it’s all there.

PartnerLinQ digitally connects you and your partners to bring seamless communication, unparalleled agility, and superior operational intelligence to your fingertips. It will empower you to take complete control of your supply chain network and overcome the disruptions of today and those no one saw coming. If a unified supply chain solution is what you expect from your EDI platform, talk with our experts. 

EDI is the most widely used structured electronic data exchange between organizations. However, not all EDI solutions are created equal. Instead of operating as stand-alone applications that require manual entry and their own maintenance regime, leading EDI platforms integrate seamlessly with ERP software and other business applications to eliminate manual rekeying and duplication of business information.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a powerful cloud-based ERP solution. A fully integrated EDI solution can extend this power by directly connecting your implementation of Dynamics 365 to your trading partners’ ERP systems. Decision makers need to choose an EDI solution that integrates rapidly with Dynamics 365 and takes full advantage of Dynamics 365’s analytics, workflows, and other productivity-enhancing capabilities.

In this blog post, we’ll consider several factors that are important for effectively integrating your EDI solution with Dynamics 365:

The advantage of native integration

Some EDI solutions are designed to natively integrate with Dynamics 365. If you choose the correct one of these solutions, you don’t have to worry about compatibility or security issues – everything just works. This is the best way to avoid compromises or complications during or after solution implementation.

Choose a reliable integration partner and platform

If you decide to implement an EDI solution that isn’t specifically designed to integrate with Dynamics 365, choose an integration partner that possesses in-depth experience with integrating EDI solutions with Microsoft platforms. Since Dynamics 365 runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, your partner of choice should be familiar with Azure-compatible enterprise application integration (EAI) tools and methodologies. To minimize business risk and avoid future upgrade costs, the integration platform should be highly secure and scalable.

Onboarding new EDI trading partners

In addition to the many security and regulatory concerns associated with transmitting sensitive data between organizations, each business that you partner with usually has its own set of information policies and standards. While integrating your EDI solution with Dynamics 365, make sure that the integration provides enough flexibility to accommodate these partner requirements.

Eliminate manual processes

The ROI of automating EDI processes varies depending on the frequency and importance of your data exchanges with other organizations. If you send or receive just a few documents each month, a fully automatic solution might not deliver enough value to justify the cost of implementation.

While integrating your EDI platform with Dynamics 365 will automate many manual processes, some ancillary processes might continue to be performed manually. Before you go the extra mile and attempt to eliminate these additional steps, define your specific EDI integration goals and determine the value you expect from automating each manual process. This will give you a clear picture of what you stand to gain from end-to-end automation of supply chain communication.

Data accessibility and privacy

If there are regulations or internal policies that prevent you from storing some types of business information in the public cloud, you will have to take this into consideration while planning to integrate your EDI solution with Dynamics 365. Instead of simply using Dynamics 365 or Azure cloud storage, you might have to implement a hybrid solution. These requirements add cost and complexity, so you should be aware of them before you begin integration.

Conclusion

Organizations that prepare a complete roadmap of the EDI integration process are rewarded with faster time to value, lower implementation costs, fewer delays, and higher ROI. For more information on best practices for integrating EDI with Dynamics 365, contact PartnerLinQ for a complimentary consultation.

For many enterprises EDI is the main source of how revenue flows into the business. It’s often considered the lifeblood of a company. If not done well there can be a great deal of risk and hardship.

Managing an EDI campaign requires a specific knowledge base that few have. Different from other areas of business these skills are not widely carried across the majority of today’s technical staffs. Generally companies are lucky to have a small handful of people with this unique background. This makes choosing the correct software/service provider and delivery model imperative to avoid problems that could damage customer relationships and cash flow.

Many other technology platforms that companies invest in have inherent cross training. CRM and ERP environments often have large teams of people that work on them and in them on a daily basis. This is rarely the case with EDI.

For years companies didn’t have much choice when it came to B2B community enablement. They are mandated to participate by their trading partners and this would require them to buy software and hire the appropriate technical talent. Fortunately today there are choices. Some still buy the software, maintain the environment and staff required. Some take advantage of other delivery models and offload much of the heavy lifting when it comes to EDI.

There are three general delivery models to choose from:

• On premise / self-managed
• Hosted / self-managed
• Cloud / managed service

On premise / self-managed model has been around for forty years. This is a common choice for companies that still desire to keep everything in-house and don’t assign a great deal of importance to a cloud strategy.

Hosted / self-managed model is similar. The end user still needs to maintain the staff with the required skillset. Their EDI environment may be collocated in an offsite data center but the company is still responsible for the daily maintenance of the environment, adding transaction sets / trading partners and error resolution.

With the prevalence of cloud based ERP and CRM solutions today the two models above, for some, make less sense and carry a risk of failure. Getting and keeping EDI capable people has become difficult. Companies that have made the decision to implement a cloud/managed service delivered ERP/CRM see the value in outsourcing.

When making a decision on which direction and delivery model to choose a company needs to look a three things. Does this provider line up with your cloud strategy? Do you want to maintain EDI capabilities in-house? Do you see the value and reduced risk involved with today’s cloud/managed service delivery? The answers to these three questions should help point you in the right direction. To learn more please Contact PartnerLinQ.