Let me start this blog post with a story. I believe that supply chains build economies and save the planet. It is about value creation. I also believe that finance is the art of money changing hands until there is nothing left. Supply chain processes and financial flows often run in counter currents. Two years ago I completed a research study on supply chain visibility. When the report published it…
Supply chain excellence. It is easier to say than define. Getting it clear is important. Why? The answer makes or breaks a supply chain leader’s career and defines corporate value. Let’s take an example. When we look at the relative progress of industries within the Technology Value Networks in Table 1, you see a lot of red. The first number in a cell represents the average value for a specific…
Timeless: not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion. Last week I was on vacation in the Caribbean. I moved on island time. It is a slower, more relaxed pace. In the process, I thought a lot about the concept of time and how it affects our daily lives. Supply chains are anything but timeless. At a company, individuals define supply chain excellence based upon their own purview…
Hyperledger. Blockchain. New concepts? Yes. Get used to it. They are here to stay. I think defining the future of Supply Chain technology means that we, as supply chain leaders, need to take a hard left. We are moving at a steady pace down a road that is well-known and safe, but is not sufficient. What do I mean? Let me explain. Today’s supply chains use closed and proprietary technologies. I…
In the 1980s commercial internet providers evolved. In 2001 Steve Jobs put 1000 songs in our pocket. And steadily, over the last three decades, mobile phones changed the pace of business. In the process, the banks got bigger and business networks grew more complex. In the last decade social networks and new business models evolved. eCommerce and electronic shopping carts drove new forms of commerce. It lifted all boats in…
Holiday travel. Packed airports and the children screaming in unison. Today as I sit scrunched into a coach seat in 26C, working on this blog post and hoping to not spill my coffee on my neighbor, I dutifully type to complete my weekly post. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I give thanks for our clients and the ability to do what we do. Here I share insights on the work…
This past weekend I decompressed and turned off my cell phone. The concept of being on and available all the time– 24/7– wears on me. I spent a beautiful, brisk, Saturday afternoon building monsters with my grandson, Jake, at the local children’s museum. (I find that even building blocks hold more possibilities today than when I was a child 55 years ago.) As I sat on the cold floor holding the…
As an analyst, when technology providers acquire and divest companies, I get invited to pre-announcement conferences. In these sessions the technology providers share their rationale for the investment and invite questions. Thursday morning it was the acquisition of GT Nexus by Infor. The transaction closes in 45 days. Infor, a market consolidator of enterprise software, currently has revenues of $2.8 billion in sales and about $800 million in earnings before interest and taxes in the…
gob·ble·dy·gook ˈgäbəldēˌgo͝ok,-ˌgo͞ok/ noun: gobbledygook – language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms; nonsense Gobbledygook. As I listened to the investor relations call on OpenText’s intent to buy GXS, I heard gobbledygook. At least, this was my take. The OpenText script focused on how ECM+EIM=EIM Cloud-based Services. My reaction was, “Really?” In the analyst call I heard abstruse, technical jargon strung together to justify an outcome. I prefer…
Over the Memorial Day weekend, I stumbled on an old article that I wrote in 2001. At the time, I was a junior Gartner analyst. The piece, “CPG/Retail E-Marketplaces: The Emperor’s New Clothes?” was controversial. At a time that marketplace offerings were super-hyped, I forecasted the doom of ten e-marketplace providers. I was dubbed by my boss as the ultimate-contrarian. This was to such a degree that one of the…
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