I watch news channels on mute. The reason? I hate political pundit debates. When the nonsensical banter reaches a crescendo, I shake my head and ask myself the question of “Why?” I wonder why people are listening. Fondly I remember the days of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather with eye-witness accounts and on-the-ground reporting. Phenomenal photography brought the stories to life. In my lifetime, the 24-hour news cycle eroded the…
Daily I see one. You probably also have them in your mail. What is it? A cute press release ginned-up by an aggressive marketing group at a software company. They are noise hiding the issue that business leaders are struggling in the delivery of business results. Useless dribble. No technology or consulting company holds themselves accountable for the delivery of supply chain excellence. Here are some recent examples. Hostess Brands:…
Sharing of research on Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) showing that processes are going backwards not forwards in driving improvement.
Yawn. I spent time this week completing reference calls on the use of S&OP technologies. Seeking the next sequel in technology adoption, I want to write how the confluence of new technologies changed companies’ abilities to improve decisions. Based on the reference calls, I am not sure that this will be possible. What am I hearing? Eerily the case studies sound the same as the ones heard when I completed…
Over the last month, venture capitalists evaluating the supply chain planning market called 3x/week. I know of five companies for sale. Sharks are in the water. The calls follow a predictable pattern. The first is to identify the potential available market. I identify the size followed by a disclaimer, “The current market is smaller than the potential. Today, companies are waiting for the next evolution of planning software. The biggest…
My phone rang. Consultants, technologists and ex-analysts called to challenge my position in my last post focused on control towers. I love this type of debate. As I discussed my views of “visibility” and “control” with my many callers, I discovered that I was not clear in my post. <Sigh. This is not my favorite topic, but there is confusion in the market. The focus of this post is to drive…
Stay Connected
About Lora Cecere
Lora Cecere is the Founder and CEO of Supply Chain Insights , the research firm that's paving new directions in building thought-leading supply chain research. She is also the author of the enterprise software blog Supply Chain Shaman. The blog focuses on the use of enterprise applications to drive supply chain excellence. Her book, Bricks Matter, published in December of 2012.
As an enterprise strategist, Lora focuses on the changing face of enterprise technologies. Her research is designed for the early adopter seeking first mover advantage. Current research topics include the digital consumer, supply chain sensing, demand shaping and revenue management, market-driven value networks, accelerating innovation through open design networks, the evolution of predictive analytics, emerging business intelligence solutions, and technologies to improve safe and secure product delivery.
She comes to the stage with over thirty years of diverse supply chain experience. She spent nine years as an industry analyst with Gartner Group, AMR Research, Altimeter Group and is now the founder of her own firm Supply Chain Insights. Prior to becoming a supply chain analyst she spent fifteen years as a leader in the building of supply chain software at Manugistics and Descartes Systems Group, and twenty years as a supply chain practitioner at Procter & Gamble, Kraft/General Foods, Clorox, and Dreyers Grand Ice Cream (now a division of Nestle).
More about Supply Chain Shaman...
