Supply Chain Visibility and Collaboration

In HTE companies, the supply chain is the most critical component of the business. From the foundries where silicon wafers are made to the ODM/OEM and the final retail destination, all members of the supply chain depend on each other for their businesses to succeed. But without insight into what's going on, decisions cannot be made in time to mitigate problems. If forecasts change and suppliers aren't notified, inventory, profit, or both can be negatively impacted. And with the razor-thin margins in HTE, this can be a disaster.

Microsoft and its partners provide solutions that give members of the supply chain improved access to information, allowing them to react quickly to changing conditions. For example, PerformancePoint Server allows efficient planning to meet changing business conditions. The ability of Microsoft SQL Server to aggregate from any source in an organization enables online analytical processing, so that decision makers can centrally define and manage organizational business logic. Enterprise portals can be built with Microsoft technology to provide role-based data and business processes in real time over the Web. And collaboration tools from Microsoft, like SharePoint and Unified Communications, ensure that all members of the supply network are always up to date.

Proper supply chain management starts with collaborative planning and carries through to all other aspects of production. Without collaboration, good planning is difficult, and good execution is impossible. In the HTE world, where things are constantly changing and assumptions about business conditions can be obsolete before they're completely formulated, collaboration is fundamental to success.

Real-time collaboration among supply chain partners can increase forecast accuracy, balance service levels and costs, and accelerate both problem notification and problem resolution. Complete communications from Microsoft-voice, messaging, and video-provide the right tools for organizations to effectively work together. Dashboards, portals, and analytics-all in one place and using familiar Office tools-mean that the right people can work together on solutions to problems as soon as they arise and even predict problems before they happen.

Sometimes the problem isn't a lack of data, it's too much data... and not enough information. Often, different members of the supply chain use different information systems that represent data in different formats, which means that even if a business leader is able to collect all the data, he or she might not be able to understand what it means. This is especially important in HTE, where decisions must be made as soon as information is available because of the short product cycles and thin margins.

Microsoft's solutions can collect data from disparate systems and create reports, dashboards, and alerts. People responsible for making decisions can access information about the business and the state of the supply chain using familiar tools. Office Business Applications provide roll-up reporting, and PerformancePoint allows analysis of variances and monitoring of progress. These tools ensure that business leaders are informed of late-breaking changes in conditions in the dynamic supply chain.