If optimization is the ultimate destination of supply chains, flexis AG is the ideal starting point, and Supply Chain Media's IT Subway Map 2022 hints at this.
The IT Subway Map places flexis at the center of the supply chain management universe, and closer examination reveals a big challenge flexis is uniquely qualified to resolve.
flexis and the IT Subway Map Resolve the Same Challenge
The IT Subway Map and flexis resolve the same challenge: providing a clear path to supply chain digitalization. Here’s how Martijn Lofvers describes the problem inspiring the creation of the IT Subway Map:
“Manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers are often looking for the right supply chain applications to support their critical processes, but the supply chain software vendor market is complex and lacks transparency. With vendors claiming to deliver all kinds of solutions, often with similar names, plus a steady stream of mergers and acquisitions (and the inevitable associated rebranding), the marketplace is continuously changing.”
A clear overview of the supply chain solutions universe makes it easier to find vendors by area of concentration. However, the IT Subway Map is not a roadmap for digital transformation that leads to digital maturity, and that’s where flexis comes into the picture.
Before learning how flexis provides a map to digital maturity, it’s essential to understand the problem preventing most companies from getting there.
Gartner reports less than half of all companies have defined a supply chain digital transformation roadmap, so it’s not surprising that 70% of transformation projects fail. A survey by GEP reports that 68% of companies are modernizing their supply chains, but only 28% claim digital maturity.
If the end goal is digital maturity, it’s a forgone conclusion a company has a vision that clearly defines the destination. Most importantly, this should result in a jargon-free plan that allows stakeholders to understand personal and corporate benefits easily. Surveys like those cited reveal few companies can do this, and the results speak for themselves.
Without this clarity, a company wanders from one process improvement to the next, realizing incremental gains but unable to harness the potential of optimizing the supply chain.
Optimization is Digital Maturity
What exactly is digital maturity for a supply chain? Digital maturity is optimization. It is not about implementing the latest technology, increasing profitability, sustainability, automation, precision, resilience, agility, end-to-end visibility, or any other buzzword. These are prerequisites for optimization.
Know What Optimization Looks Like
If digital maturity is supply chain optimization, then what is optimization?
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Supply chain optimization ensures the best possible outcome for stakeholders without sacrificing quality.
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Each business must specify how to satisfy stakeholder expectations;
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defining, prioritizing, and measuring the ideal results.
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Stakeholder expectations include profitability, sustainability goals, team members' well-being, customer satisfaction, and other expectations.
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The approach is holistic and collaborative, considering effects on all processes across the business enterprise and external partners.
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The process guides systems and people in real-time to produce the optimal outcome as conditions change.
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Decision-making evaluates multiple scenarios to determine the greatest good by mitigating risks, choosing the best response to unexpected changes, and acting on better opportunities.
Create a Framework for Optimization
Achieving this wonder process is only possible if a framework, a process model, and functionality are capable of supporting these requirements. This framework must cover the four primary areas of supply chain management for optimization across each layer of planning and execution:
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Production Planning & Scheduling
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Transportation Planning and Execution
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Sales & Operations Planning
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Forecasting, Demand & Inventory Planning
These are the four areas of supply chain management the flexis suite of solutions integrates and optimizes.
What the IT Subway Map Reveals About flexis
The suite of flexis apps provides a ready-made framework for optimizing supply chain processes, and its position at the center of the supply chain universe reflects this. This framework overlays and optimizes the entire supply chain process, including the other solutions plotted on the IT Subway Map.
This powerful capability requires a more neutral and centralized position within the supply chain solutions universe, requiring greater flexibility.
The name flexis connotes flexibility. Flexibility is synonymous with supply chain agility and resilience, implying quick customization to accommodate changing demands. Developing software from a high degree of flexibility is not merely a design choice but results from deep experience over time in a wide range of scenarios.
flexis software is highly configurable, enabling quick adaption to new scenarios and technologies. Note that on the IT Subway Map, flexis are also placed along the banks of the Customize River.
Conclusion
Martijn Lofvers IT Subway Map 2022 reveals more about flexis than is immediately apparent. The placement of flexis at its center along the Customize River reflects our approach, and you could say that all lines lead to flexis and vice-versa.
Either way, the flexis framework provides a clear path to digital transformation that supports the other solutions on the Map. If optimization is the ultimate destination, flexis offers the ideal starting point.
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