Some Flowers may be Perennials

February 23, 2010
12:38 am

I am a gardener. I love to spend Saturday afternoons with my shovel and trowel. Having a neighbor stop by to comment on its beauty, gives me pleasure. To get the accolades, I need to have the right mix of annuals and perennials. Annuals have bigger, brighter flowers, but they only last a season. Perennials have less flair, but are the dependable contributors season after season. It dawned on me this week, that my garden has some parallels with the Supply Chain Management (SCM) market. My recent post, Where have all the Flowers gone?, I describe the brightly blooming software start-ups that could not last the season. In this post, I want to celebrate the companies, that like perennials, have lived to see the new season.
What do Kinaxis, Logility, WAM Systems have in common? Despite turbulence in the SCM market, over the past fifteen years, they have achieved growth and profitability. They are small. They are not headline news, but each is thriving and will see the new season.

What can we learn?

Why did these three companies survive when over fifty competitors succumbed to less than optimal take-over strategies? I offer three thoughts:

Solve an industry-specific problem. Focus on serving this user group. Don’t stray. Each of the suvivors focused on solving an industry–specific problem. Kinaxis for high-tech, Logility for consumer products and WAM Systems in the chemical market. They have focused on serving their user group through networking, conferences, and steering committees. For companies that spun out of control, a common characteristic was trying to serve to wide of a market. Let’s face it. SCM is industry-specific. When a company’s focus strays to beating competitors versus serving customers, the game will soon be over.
Over-hyping leads to under-delivering. Each has stayed the course. While their roadmap’s are not the most exciting and don’t garner the highest rankings on analyst frameworks like Forrester’s Wave Diagram, or Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, they have provided consistent, reliable solutions for their target market. While these high-flyers pander to analyst community, Line-of-Business buyers are less willing today to buy promises.
It’s the balance sheet stupid. Revenue recognition issues put AspenTech, i2 Technologies, and Manugistics into uncontrolled tailspins. A healthy balance sheet is necessary to survive the season.

What do Ortec, OM Partners, ModelN, Terra Technology, Retail Solutions, SmartOps have in common? They are promising, and relatively recent newcomers (since the e-commerce bubble) to the SCM market. Each is adding their version of market innovation. However, the jury is still out on whether they are perennials or annuals. What do you think?
The jury is still out on whether the 40% of the market that has been acquired by existing entities will be milked for their maintenance stream or melded into a new solution to help supply chain leaders drive value. Follow my blog to get the latest news and updates on what this market coalescence means for you.

Is your Supply Chain AI Ready?

June 11, 2026 2:39 pm

A simple quiz to assess an organization’s AI readiness.

The pace of change is fast and furious. Every day, technology advances faster than we can digest. A great challenge to have.

Determining whether a supply chain is “AI-ready” is less about technology and more about the gray matter between the ears of supply chain leaders. Leadership, alignment, and clarity of goals matter.

Too few companies are clear on the definition of supply chain excellence. Measuring and rewarding functional metrics reduces the firm’s value. Putting agentics on top of today’s processes can make bad practices run faster, reducing value.

The toughest job for the supply chain leader is challenging existing supply chain paradigms that were defined by the limitations of decades of supply chain technologies. As the curtain lifts on the potential of new forms of technology, process redefinition is our opportunity, but only if we are clear on what drives value. (Here, I link to the Supply Chains to Admire reports to help you define value. The next report will be published on June 23rd, along with my Dynamic Benchmarking Product, to help you define value in the face of your AI readiness. More information about the launch is at the bottom of this blog.)

Case Study: A Scrappy Demand Management Approach

June 9, 2026 5:37 pm

This study of Franklin Sports shines a light on the work that needs to be done at the sales account level to challenge a retail forecast, and also highlights the importance of a new technique for a forecast engine — reinforcement learning.

Artificial intelligence comes in many forms — large language models, generative AI, machine learning, unstructured text mining, deep learning, neural networks, reinforcement learning, agents, and agentics. While the industry is wigging out about agentics, I think reinforcement learning is a great step forward in the journey of Artificial Intelligence.

Can We Side-Step the AI Spin Cycle?

June 7, 2026 3:44 pm

When it comes to combining tech, 1+1+1 should equal more than 1. The impact should be exponential. Unfortunately, today, the answer is 0.

What do I mean? Let me explain.

I find that the supply chain technology market moves slowly along traditional technology lines. Conferences are usually focused on the use of technology, not on redefining work. This bothers me. I want it to bother you as well.

Here I share some insights to drive change.

Supply Chain Health Check: The Power of an Orbit Chart

May 27, 2026 9:49 pm

An orbit chart is a powerful tool for understanding the “health” of a supply chain and its potential for improvement. The supply chain is a complex, non-linear system with limited trade-offs. The relationship between trade-offs varies by industry, region, and size. The orbit chart is a diagnostic we use in the Supply Chains to Admire work. Here I explain the use case.

Industry Solutions Should Drive Value Networks: They Don’t Today

May 19, 2026 10:06 pm

Today, companies require industry-specific supply chain solutions. The performance of 82% of the industries–I term this industry potential–is going backward while companies are trying to

Are You Writing a Check You Cannot Cash?

May 14, 2026 10:16 pm

Don’t let a well-intending, but ill-informed consultant or technologist set an expectation that you cannot meet. No when wins when there is a check written that cannot be cashed. In this case, the consultant will move to the next account leaving you holding the bag. Fight back with a data-driven argument. Help the organization think about inventory more holistically.

Supply Chain Shaman