Visibility helps to transforms the supply chain from a series of isolated steps into connected, transparent processes that help organizations respond quickly to operational challenges and market opportunities.

At a time when supply chains are global and markets are volatile, being able to see and respond to change isn’t just a competitive advantage; it’s a must-have for survival and growth. Trend-spotters are winning the supply chain management game with next generation cloud-based supply chain solutions, while companies throttled by disconnected legacy systems and analytics applications are falling behind quickly.

Without real-time data on inventory levels and supplier capabilities, for example, identifying potential gaps, adjusting sourcing strategies, and tweaking production plans is nothing more than a guessing game. And as we all witnessed during the pandemic, that guessing game can turn into a liability quickly when outside forces take over the supply chain.

Rewind the clock a bit and its clear why supply chains fell prey to the pandemic-driven disruptions. Most business models relied on local production until globalization took hold and organizations started thinking and acting “leaner” when it came to inventory. Concurrently, the patchwork of legacy software systems that most companies relied on became increasingly disconnected and disparate.

Getting Global Supply Chains Back on Track

When the pandemic turned supply chains on end, companies scrambled to reshore and gain better control over these vital networks. It wasn’t enough to just be lean; organizations also had to be resilient. The pendulum swung in the opposite direction as inventories were fattened up and more attention was paid to being able to fulfill orders (versus just keeping inventory costs minimized).

And so, the race was on to improve end-to-end supply chain visibility. However, for most organizations that end goal was out of reach. One of the root problems? Legacy systems that were put in place to support lean supply chains but lacked the flexibility to offer insights for changing demands and requirements due to increased complexity and shifts in global supply chains. These solutions are now ripe for modernization in a world where customers not only expect their orders fast, but they also want to track those orders every step of the way.

PartnerLinQ not only helps companies solve these fundamental problems, but we also help them achieve the visibility goals that were previously out of reach. It starts with a unified data repository that is harmonized for the specific enterprise, and that connects all the systems the company has in place — including those aging, legacy systems that would otherwise create drag in a business environment that demands agile and flexible supply chains.

Companies also need to know that their data is secure, safe, and kept confidential. They don’t want their data residing in a “public” system that’s shared with others. With PartnerLinQ, companies know that their data resides on a private platform and that it’s never treated as public data. This is an important consideration in a world where new cybersecurity threats emerge daily.

An Elastic, Cloud-Native Solution

Because PartnerLinQ is elastic and cloud-native, the infrastructure behind it is both resilient and reliable. It can scale to any level in performance and manage all types of data. That data is both connected and harmonized in a way that ensures near-real-time visibility for business users who need analytics, reports, and dashboards that support good decision-making.

We recently worked with a large transportation company that has about 20,000 trucks along with data scattered across numerous data lakes and stores. Getting reports and analytics for efficient decision-making was nearly impossible — and by the time data was made available, it was too late to do anything meaningful with it. After implementing PartnerLinQ’s platform, the company was able to consolidate and harmonize these data sources with a robust canonical data model. As a result, PartnerLinQ improved the company’s access to critical information for making better decisions with improved reporting and dashboards to enhance its overall supply chain visibility.

This is just one example of how PartnerLinQ’s cloud-based platform helps organizations improve the visibility and efficiency of their supply chains. All these improvements translate into top-line cost savings, better asset utilization, and improved bottom lines. By acting as a conduit between different systems and partners in the supply chain, PartnerLinQ creates a seamless information flow and a clear, reliable snapshot of activity that fosters faster reaction times across these vital networks.

Jawad Khan, CEO & Founder, PartnerLinQ Inc.

Jawad Khan is the founder and CEO of PartnerLinQ. As the innovative force behind PartnerLinQ, Jawad guides the company in reshaping digital connectivity and collaborative intelligence within the extensive supply chain sector. His leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in ensuring that supply chains are not merely reactive but strategically positioned to respond to perpetual shifts in business demands swiftly and efficiently.

Highly configurable technology platforms help companies achieve their visibility goals, collaborate with business partners, and eliminate manual work.  

Most legacy supply chain management platforms currently in place were installed decades ago. These monolithic systems served their purpose, but they haven’t kept up with the demands of the modern supply chain. They’re not configurable, they can’t integrate with third-party applications, and they require a lot of manual intervention. 

The challenges of using legacy systems don’t end there. Updating these platforms with the latest “bells and whistles” is expensive and, in many cases, not even possible. These solutions were built to do everything, which unfortunately means they don’t do any one thing very well.  

As the name suggests, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems may be good financial and operational management tools across a compant, but they weren’t designed to manage the increased complexities of modern global supply chains. That didn’t stop ERP platform solution providers from adding a range of capabilities or otherwise acquiring other solution sets — from transportation management systems (TMS) to warehouse management systems (WMS) to order management systems (OMS) — to their software suites.  

Customers, wanting all-in-one systems, often adopted those functionalities as they were introduced, never evaluating, or considering other options by assuming simplicity with one platform. However, this approach too often results in rigid IT infrastructures for which changing one requirement requires adjusting everything else, too.  

Breaking Down Supply Chain Visibility Barriers 

While cloud ERP systems in the last couple of years have increased, on-premises solutions are still dominant within many organizations. On-premise legacy systems also weren’t designed for external collaboration — something every company needs but not all have. Where a TMS may have been built to connect with external carriers and transportation providers, on-premise WMS was designed to manage what was happening within the four walls of the warehouse.  

The notion of external business partners being able to “see” one another’s inventory positions, and then use the data to help get customer orders delivered within two or three days, wasn’t available when most ERPs were being developed. This is just one visibility gap companies today deal with daily.  

The good news is that organizations can close these gaps and future-proof their supply chains with a highly configurable technology platform. PartnerLinQ helps companies establish a common data foundation incorporating a semantic layer for every industry (including specific products, hierarchies, and transportation routes).  

Once that foundation is established, we build out the platform with the customer’s unique needs in mind, using the technology already in place and the outside applications needed to get everyone working from the same playbook. By providing that critical connectivity layer, PartnerLinQ helps companies break through the barriers of their monolithic business systems and leverage the power of modern, advanced technology.  

Connectivity barriers don’t exist only within your four walls. For that reason, PartnerLinQ creates strong connections with all third parties you need to communicate and share data with, including your business partners, customers, and software applications. The ability to integrate with these entities is a critical step to gaining full end-to-end supply chain visibility and collaboration.  

Adaptable, Flexible Architecture

PartnerLinQ offers the architecture, tools, and data companies need to connect with all internal and external stakeholders. We also offer a no-code/low-code environment that vastly speeds up implementation times and lets each person within the supply chain configure, maintain, and optimize the connections on their own.  

As a cloud-native application, PartnerLinQ’s platform is vertically and horizontally scalable right out of the gate. The same can’t be said for many other supply chain integration platforms on the market today. With PartnerLinQ, you can scale from hundreds to millions of transactions per month without having to make changes to your system.  

A Supply Chain that Stands the Test of Time 

In this rapidly evolving business landscape, the right digital strategy is no longer a luxury — it’s a must-have. Organizations that fall behind in this area risk losing customers, market share and revenue to competitors investing in their digital strategies.  

Being tied to a monolithic software platform can impede your supply chain visibility, partner collaboration, and long-term growth prospects. With PartnerLinQ in your corner, you can get all your data into one, accessible place. You can adjust on the fly as your company grows. And you can develop a future-proof supply chain that withstands the test of time. 

To learn more about how PartnerLinQ can help you future-proof your B2B enterprise, contact our team today.

Ahmed Samnan Raza, CTO & Co-founder

Ahmed Raza leads a dynamic team dedicated to shaping a robust, next-generation SaaS platform catering to customers across diverse industries. With his firm belief in driving continuous innovation, Ahmed’s team is on a mission team to ensure that PartnerLinQ platform remains at the forefront of business technology evolution. With a wealth of experience, Ahmed previously served as the Vice President of Product Engineering at Visionet Systems, Inc. His journey with the PartnerLinQ began at its inception, and over his 18-year career, Ahmed has played a pivotal role in a wide array of digital transformation projects spanning various segments of the supply chain industry. This includes impactful contributions to sectors such as retail, consumer goods, apparel/footwear, transportation, and food & beverage, among others.

Time is money in the fast-paced business-to-business (B2B) world. Each day a new B2B business partner isn’t onboarded and transacting with your company means one more day of lost sales and opportunities.  
Clunky, manual onboarding processes also keep new partners from tapping into the amazing new alliance they’ve formed. Instead, they watch from the sidelines as you jump through your onboarding hoops. 

“Fast partner connectivity is a predominant factor for growth in the B2B business landscape,” says Kerry Fogarty, SVP of Client Success at PartnerLinQ. “The faster you can get new partners up and running, the sooner you’ll be able to maximize the return on your partnership investment.” 

Why You Need a Frictionless Onboarding Process  

Complex, manual partner onboarding processes consume too many internal resources. They also delay time-to-market and force new B2B partners to “stand by” while you get your house in order. A smooth onboarding process, on the other hand, reduces administrative burden and lays the foundation for a strong, lasting partnership.  
By investing in tools that automate everything from data migration and training to user provisioning — all wrapped in a white glove service package — organizations can create a frictionless onboarding experience that benefits all parties.  
Consider these wins, achievable across the life of the partnership: 

• Improved efficiency.
• Faster time to market.
• Streamlined connectivity 
• Quicker communications
• Improved data exchange across partners.

Keeping the Data Flowing 

Because PartnerLinQ integrates directly with over 70 popular software applications like Microsoft, Dynamics, SAP, Salesforce, and Magento, all data can flow seamlessly across these platforms, giving companies a single, unified pool of data to work with.  
PartnerLinQ’s tailored service approach takes it one step further by managing communications across trading partners. “We provide a dedicated onboarding service agent who takes the burden off our customers’ in-house staff,” Fogarty explains. “By managing this on their behalf, we can target 100% of their training partners.” 

Throwing the Switches 

For a company that is replacing a legacy integration platform, PartnerLinQ manages the communication, scheduling, configuration, testing, and deployment for all existing and new trading partners.  

“We act on our customers’ behalf, letting their partners know about the platform switch and managing all of the related intricacies that go into it,” Fogarty says. “The day we go live, we throw switches and everything is up and running on our platform across the board. This significantly compresses the time-to-value.” 

Get Frictionless B2B Onboarding 

Streamlining integrations can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. Take this example: A transportation company spent about five years attempting to migrate 20% of its customer base to a new platform. What’s more, onboarding each new partner took more than 100 days apiece. 
By switching to PartnerLinQ, the company was able to speed up the integration considerably. It began onboarding anywhere from 50 to 100 trading partners twice a week in a multi-week cycle. The company can implement a new trading partner in five days or less. And it doubled the number of trading partners it works with because it’s no longer bogged down by manual, legacy processes. The company has gained significant market advantage and enjoys stronger business partnerships as a result. 

“As more companies take advantage of these types of seamless integrations, they can respond much more swiftly to market changes and shifting customer demands,” Fogarty says. “They can also keep up with and even get out in front of their competitors.” 

It’s Time To Build a Frictionless Journey 

A fast, seamless B2B partner onboarding experience helps organizations unlock the full potential of their partnerships right from the start. Isn’t it time you replaced your outdated onboarding methods with a frictionless journey that sets everyone up for success? 

To learn more about how PartnerLinQ can improve partner onboarding, reach out to our team today.

Kerry Fogarty, SVP, Client Success

Kerry Fogarty is a Senior IT executive with a proven track record in driving global IT initiatives and business value impact through technology adoption. With his extensive experience as a VP of Enterprise IT and the Office of the CIO in iconic brands like Liz Claiborne, Fifth and Pacific, Kate Spade, and Tapestry. Kerry brings a wealth of deep industry supply chain knowledge and expertise to the PartnerLinQ, Inc., leadership team. In his current role as SVP Client Success, he is dedicated to ensuring customer success through the deployment of PartnerLinQ, the industry’s premier supply-chain platform, complimenting it with toptier consulting and support services.

As a supply chain leader, you understand the challenges of navigating through disruptions while managing risk and maximizing rewards. Today, it’s more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve and explore the latest trends in the industry. This is where the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ conference comes in.

This event is a must-attend for Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) and other supply chain leaders who are looking to predict disruptions, and even use them to their benefit. The world has changed economically, socially, and politically, elevating the importance of supply chains. With the power to leverage their credibility, confidence, and commitment, supply chain leaders can profitably deliver in times of unprecedented stress and volatility.

Let’s take a closer look at what you can expect from this event:

Strategic Supply Chain Direction:

At the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ conference, you’ll gain insights, strategies, and frameworks that will help you think big and drive real impact within your organization. PartnerLinQ, one of the key sponsors of the symposium, will be available at booth number 139 to have one-on-one interactions with supply chain and technology leaders and business users. They’ll cover the whole nine yards of supply chain transformation themes, including but not limited to:

• Discussing strategic directions of supply chain to bring agility, optimize costs, and improve customer and partner experiences.
• Supply chain planning and visibility initiatives to build a more competitive enterprise in the dynamic economy.
• Developing and managing strategic sourcing planning.
• Strategies for bringing effectiveness and efficiencies in manufacturing, logistics, and distribution functions.

Invest in your Network:

The event isn’t just about gaining knowledge – it’s also about building relationships. Networking is an important part of any industry event, and the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ conference is no exception. By engaging with PartnerLinQ’s technology, EDI, and supply chain experts, you’ll find opportunities to share your ideas and experiences. We’ll build new relationships, broaden perspectives, and uncover ways to solve problems alongside other supply chain leaders.

PartnerLinQ will also be moderating a roundtable session, moderated by Deepak Das, SVP Digital Transformation at PartnerLinQ, on May 9 at 3pm EST in room Europe 6. Additionally, you’ll hear from PartnerLinQ’s SVP, Head of SaaS Products and Platforms, Ahmed Raza, on the topic “Collaborative Planning for Supply chain Resilience” on May 8 at 6:05 PM EST on Stage 1. In this session, you’ll discover how collaborative planning can benefit businesses in today’s competitive environment.

Meet PartnerLinQ Experts:

Another exciting opportunity at the event is the chance to schedule a one-on-one meeting with PartnerLinQ’s experts. This is your chance to discuss your supply chain priorities and challenges, prioritize what to accelerate, unlock resources for digital investments, make meaningful cultural changes, and so much more. No matter where you are on your digital business acceleration journey, PartnerLinQ is here to help you get to your destination faster – with confidence.

The Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ conference is a must-attend event for any supply chain leader looking to stay ahead of the curve and drive real impact within their organization. By attending, you’ll gain actionable insights that will help you mitigate risks, respond to disruption, pursue digital initiatives, and prioritize technology investments to achieve your business goals. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity – register today!

While the Great Disruption had a huge impact on health and daily lives, it also significantly influenced businesses. The largest business disruption in history left in its wake layers of adverse economic and supply chain conditions. Almost overnight, businesses the world over needed to ensure safety while simultaneously protecting their businesses and livelihoods, the latter of which remains under stress from residual disruption.

Businesses have been focusing on quick responses to mobility changes and handling crises, but now, supply chain leaders are shifting their attention to rebuilding for long-term success in the post-disruptive world. They are creating a solid foundation for recovery in the new normal.

Fissures in Manufacturing

The effects of supply chain disruptions have been keenly felt by everyone and by most accounts we are all players in a global supply chain whether directly involved in supply chain activities or not, and the impact of supply chain disruptions manifested in many different ways.

Manufacturing, for instance, is one of those industries, which faced maximum adversity from supply chain disruption . Even today, global manufacturers are facing increasing cost pressures due to shortages in the global workplace due to the initial pandemic outbreak, shutdowns, and reopening. At the same time, they are facing shortages of raw materials, ingredients, components, and packaging.

Excess demand as a result of the global supply chain disruption, continues to impact finished goods with some still hard to find, impacting costs further still. A recent study has revealed that the skills gap in US manufacturing will culminate in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030 and cost the country a staggering $1 trillion. Shortages in the workforce and increasing demand are signs that the disruption exposed a fundamental flaw in the production methodologies that dominated the past 100+ years— lean manufacturing, a process founded in the production of interchangeable parts.

When batch production techniques went “The Toyota Way,” lean manufacturing moved from concept to production and on to rival to batch production methods of years past. The lean approach was well suited to a rapidly growing global economy by doing away with excess inventories and decreasing warehousing expense.  It incentivized diversification and product innovation and boosted shareholder value.

Lean manufacturing rested on an assumption of a settled economy where irregular disruption is impossible, rules always fixed and the sun always shining. The technology evolution in the 90 years since the Japanese automaker decried batch production localized setbacks in lean supply chains kept lean technologies malleable.  The unforeseen supply chain disruption caused an unparalleled interruption of markets, factories, and products. The mandated lockdowns added shipping times and created shortages in labor in all areas of production and transportation. The pursuit of success through “lean” coupled with an unprecedented disruption acutely hurt manufacturing businesses worldwide.

Empty Tables to Empty Plates

There was some realization of hope as restaurants started reopening gradually following the ‘Great Disruption’. Relaxed restrictions meant some businesses were able to restart their takeout business or convert dining services during continuing lockdowns. Following the disruption there was a slight upturn in some geographies, unfortunately for most of us, some of our favorite spots will never return.

Long-standing supply chain pressures continue to affect the recovery phase, like many recoveries, supply chain pressures affect manufacturers, dealers, and consumers. A Reuters report found as many as nine restaurant firms and fast-food chains, including Wendy’s, Subway, and Chipotle  continue dealing with shortages of key ingredients from time to time. The ingredient shortage is indicative of the larger pressures inflicted by the disruption on global supply chains and particularly in transportation resulting in widespread product unavailability. In the absence of visibility and transparency across supply chains, industry insiders expected bottlenecks and shortages to last well into 2022, and they have.

Empty Stores to Empty Shelves

In retail, e-commerce has become a rising star with few retailers immune to stock shortages, supply channel breakdowns, and dramatic changes in consumer behavior, there has been an unprecedented scramble to shore up web store integration. A dichotomy has been observed among retailers, the first group brings in supplies from a wider supplier base, whereas the second group has more specific product requirements, such as department stores, and thus, find it more difficult to move sourcing of supply.  Initially coupled with varying degrees of lockdowns, the separation of the first and second type of e-commerce retail widened at first and became acute in fashion retailing where goods are contracted months ahead of time accounting for both changing styles and transportation.  

During this period Macy’s reported a 14.5% drop in inventory from Q2 2019 due to difficulty obtaining products. The cost of shipping goods quickly became much more expensive, leading to conversion to air freight for luxury goods. Dollar Tree, a US-based discount variety chain found difficulties with freight expenses and supply chain shortages with $185-200 million in freight costs anticipated for the 2021 season even announcing a departure from the pricing model that made their name synonymous with their business strategy. Mitigation of such a variety of factors in a complex web of supply chain activities even now has been difficult and particularly so when coupled with razor-thin margins and a complicated supply chain.

The Road Not Taken

What was once a routine, methodical industry has become chaotic; the supply chain disruption significantly affected transportation and logistics. Increased labor shortages and simultaneous increases in demand and fuel have driven transportation costs up significantly. Globalization has created a neatly demarcated system with production facilities on one side of the planet and consumers in developed markets on the other side. Transportation serves a key role particularly in western societies.

Shipping containers contribute to conundrum, with nearly 25 million in use worldwide, shippers and carriers have container availability and procurement written into their annual agreements, which have strict provisions for non-stop service and/or a minimum number of trips per week. Today, logistics managers negotiate for ship space in the spot market, where daily rates for containers are at the mercy of freight agents and carriers. Even within national borders, companies face hurdles in clearing houses and in dealing with excess demand.  Legacy solutions designed to overcome these obstacles have failed to deliver relief.

Staying Ahead of the Curve – The Value Proposition

PartnerLinQ Multi-Tennant Cloud Platform

A hybrid cloud architecture that ensures local systems can handle even the largest volumes of transactions per month

Simplified IT Infrastructure

PartnerLinQ integrates seamlessly with legacy systems and Multiple Cloud architectures.

Enhanced visibility to Address Pain Points

Real-time insights are key to deliver consistent value to consumer and partners at every touchpoint.

Integration at the Speed of Business

PartnerLinQ simplifies the partner on boarding process through its Common Processing Workflow; complemented by the Business Rule Manager, an entire migration process involving thousands of partners are regularly integrated in months and not years.

About PartnerLinQ

PartnerLinQ is a highly scalable GCP cloud-native multi-tenant multi-geography B2B API & EDI hyper-scalable high SaaS performance platform that integrates natively with partner ecosystem & e-commerce channels with native solution for meeting B2B API & EDI challenges.  Reimagine control, visibility, and transparency across your global supply chain and e-commerce. Unify channels, boost loyalty, gain complete visibility, and accelerate order fulfillment. Manage global supply chains, material planning, package sourcing, and omnichannel retail, drive growth powered by cutting-edge technologies and unlock valuable insights with Visionet products.

About Visionet

Visionet creates value-driven digital transformation tools like PartnerLinQ that digitize business imperatives and scale the highest summits.  Time-tested products for CPG & Retail, Apparel & Footwear, Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverage, manufacturing & Distribution.  

Industry Application

PartnerLinQ creates value-driven digital transformation that digitize business imperatives and scale the highest summits with time-tested products for CPG & Retail, Apparel & Footwear, Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverage, manufacturing & distribution.

Enterprise Connectivity at the Speed of Business

PartnerLinQ is the result of Visionet’s decades long industry expertise and technology leadership. Hosted on the Google Cloud Platform, PartnerLinQ is an innovative, process-centric, easy-to-use B2B API & EDI platform solution that enables API-led, cloud native integrations.  A simplified B2B communication engine that includes EDI, AS2, SFTP and real-time APIs, PartnerLinQ is a fully integrated platform and easily handles both standard and proprietary file-based formats including custom integrations. PartnerLinQ is well suited for retail, e-commerce, wholesale, transportation, 3PL, as well as distribution, digital and analog partner ecosystems helping your team achieve operational efficiency and gain real-time visibility.

Advanced Technology Leadership

The PartnerLinQ & Visionet teams share more than 34 years of experience in providing industry-focused technology, consulting, and development of innovative solutions that drive global supply chain transformation from the factory floor to the consumer’s doorstep. They share vision and a technology practice that includes leveraging the Google Cloud Platform to build, test, deploy, and manage large-scale enterprise solutions for its clients so when the leadership set out to build PartnerLinQ, it made perfect sense to build, test, deploy, and manage the PartnerLinQ integration platform from within the Google Cloud Platform.