Simple trust, simple truth
Trading partners must develop trust between each other as a basis for any technology based collaboration
The key determinant is trust. Developing trust can only be done in stages and is established, over time, by starting with simple tasks.
This certainly goes against the prevailing opinion held by many of the supply chain software vendors. They hold that everybody should plug into a single planning engine or adopt a common process. Many of these exercises are very complex and so are hardly appropriate for building trust. They are also very expensive due to the implementation and configuration time scales. Is it any wonder that supply chain collaboration based on this approach has only involved a couple of first tier partners?
Also the premise that everybody can effectively plug into a single instance of an application is hampered by another misconception. Suppliers often work with a number of manufacturers, each having their own unique processes. It is unrealistic to assume that they can all use the same work flow. Also, suppliers would find it impossible to configure their process flows to each individual customer, as it would go against their need to consolidate operational processes in support of high volume throughput. The more customers they gained, the greater the problem becomes.
A more effective approach is to begin sharing the information that is readily available to trading partners via more traditional methods, such as phone and fax. If this information is made available through a more accessible mechanism such as the Web, it need not require lengthy integration exercises. By ensuring that clear benefits are accrued to the participants at an early stage, a strong basis for trust and information sharing is established.
Over time, companies will begin to align their processes to support increasing collaboration between themselves and their trading partners. This will eventually reach the point where interoperability becomes straightforward and this is when the collaborative community actually becomes an applications ‘platform’. On such a platform all manner of complimentary applications and services can be provided, each providing additional value and new opportunities.
The evolution of collaborative platforms such as described above, will resemble the emergence of the telephone networks. Interconnection generated an explosion in demand, but more importantly, provided a platform that now supports all manner of services beyond the imagination of the original designers. The extent of their ambition ran to expecting that ‘every town in America will have a telephone!’. Collaborative supply chain platforms should also be charged on a similar basis to phone bills, i.e. by a transactional or subscription based monthly fee.
An effective supply chain collaboration solution should therefore be available to all members of the community as a service via the web, rather than requiring the installation of dedicated servers with each trading partner. In essence, available through any phone or network socket.
So are such services available today? What might they look like?