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Importance of Supply Chain Management Software

From ensuring that your products reach your customers to preventing disruptions to your operations, supply chain management is critical for your business.

Supply Chain Management Software - Importance

What is Supply Chain Management and why is it important?

Supply chain management is managing the complex process of transforming raw materials into final products or services and the logistics for getting these into the hands of the consumer. It includes a wide range of activities, such as:

Sourcing: Finding and procuring raw materials and other inputs.
Manufacturing: Turning raw materials into finished goods.
Warehousing: Storing finished goods until they are needed.
Transportation: Moving finished goods from one location to another.
Distribution: Delivering finished goods to customers.
Customer service: Handling customer inquiries and resolving problems.

When companies manage their supply chain strategically and effectively, the results are lowered costs, streamlined workflows, and satisfied customers.

The Importance of Supply Chain Management

In recent years, supply chains have been disrupted by a number of factors, including the pandemic, global upheaval, and economic instability. This has made it more important than ever for businesses to have effective supply chain management strategies in place.

Effective supply chain management can help businesses to:

Improve visibility and flexibility across workflows: This means having real-time data about the status of orders, inventory, and shipments. This information can be used to make better decisions about production, transportation, and inventory levels.
Reduce operating costs: This can be achieved through a number of ways, such as optimizing transportation routes, reducing inventory levels, and negotiating better prices with suppliers.
Increase predictability and resiliency: This means being able to anticipate and respond to changes in demand and supply. This can help businesses to avoid stockouts and delays.

There are a number of software solutions that can help businesses to improve their supply chain management. These solutions can provide businesses with the visibility, flexibility, and insights they need to make better decisions and improve their bottom line.

Introducing Supply Chain Management Solutions

Supply chain management is a complex process that encompasses:

– the procurement of raw materials

– the manufacturing of products

– the storage and distribution of goods

– the delivery of products to customers

To help keep all these moving parts in sync, you need an efficient business management tool, such as a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

Like the hub of a wheel, modern ERP software is a centralized data solution. It connects a business end-to-end, integrating every function, process, and workflow and ensuring that each one drives smoothly forward. Data from every department streams into and out of the ERP solution, giving team members access to the updated, accurate information they need to successfully do their jobs. The ERP solution automates and simplifies critical activities, including SCM tasks, so your teams can focus on more important, higher-value work.

“[With SCM software], logistics operations are more efficient, and so is the way we receive and process orders.” – Clyde Attard, Sales Division Manager, P. Cutajar & Co. Ltd.

Challenges of the Software

As with any new system implementation, supply chain management software can bring challenges. For instance:

Cost: It can be expensive – particularly because SCM is complex and may require more than out-of-the-box functionality. Customization fees add up quickly, as do the per-user costs most systems charge.
Complexity: the software can be complex to use, and businesses may need to invest in training for their employees.
Data integration: CSM software requires integration with a variety of other systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This can be a complex and time-consuming process.
Security: Supply chain management system can contain sensitive data, such as customer orders and financial information. Businesses need to ensure that the software is secure from cyberattacks.
Change management: Implementing supply chain management software can require significant changes to business processes. Businesses need to carefully manage the change process to ensure that the software is adopted successfully.

Despite these challenges, supply chain management software can offer a number of benefits to businesses. By carefully considering the challenges involved, businesses can make informed decisions about whether or not to implement supply chain management software.

"To have 100 percent visibility to everything no matter where we are in the world is invaluable."

Keith Ford, President

Eagle Fence Distributing

The Benefits of an ERP Solution for Supply Chain Management

For your SCM needs, an ERP solution delivers some impressive benefits.

Greater Visibility Across Global Processes

With an ERP solution at the center of your operations, you have visibility into every aspect of your supply chain processes. You can see what’s happening locally and globally in real time. With personalized dashboards and customized reporting, you can address potential pain points with pinpoint precision—before they even pop up. This ensures products are made correctly, orders are delivered on time, and satisfied shoppers become loyal customers.

Higher Data Accuracy

Data is knowledge, and the more data you have, the more informed you are—unless the data is incorrect. Employees are human, and even the most careful and detail-oriented among them will make occasional mistakes. An ERP solution automates data entry, algorithm calculations, report creation, and more, improving your business’s accuracy and eliminating your teams’ concerns about making costly mistakes.

Lower Overall Costs

Automated supply chain workflows reduce your reliance on time-consuming, manual tasks. An ERP solution automates most inventory, purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, scheduling, and accounting management processes, so operations can be run remotely and/or on autopilot. This means the business can keep charging forward—even on weekends and holidays—while you and your teams maintain a healthy work–life balance. With an ERP system, you can work smarter instead of harder, increase efficiency, boost the bottom line with powerful automation, and lower overall operating costs.

More Creative Teams

By using an ERP solution to automate manual, repetitive, time-consuming tasks, you’ll release your teams from the limitations those tasks impose on their roles and foster individual creativity. Employees can then focus their efforts on value-adding work. This results in innovative thinking that optimizes your business operations and will ultimately give you a leg up on the competition.

“Acumatica with Orbis DSD has given us a competitive edge when it comes to sales capturing and logistics. We see this as a business enabler.” – Clyde Attard, Sales Division Manager, P. Cutajar & Co. Ltd.

“Cottingham uses Acumatica for the entire supply chain and finance operations, including both the Acumatica Financial Management and Distribution Management suites.” – Cottingham (Customer Success Story)

“Because we didn’t realize we already had something in another warehouse, we would buy things we didn’t need and carry excess inventory. In addition, we relied on internal knowledge for special pricing because the old system could only keep track of a few items. We’ve really taken the human element out of things like special pricing and leaned on the Acumatica system, which has paid a lot of dividends.” – Brett Davis, Operations Manager, Bob Davis Sales

Download Supply Chain Automation Guide

Types of Supply Chain Management Software

SCM software can be divided into several types, including warehouse, transportation, and customer relationship management solutions.

Supply Chain Management Types

Warehouse Management: With warehouse management software, your warehouse processes—from organizing your space and managing inventory to fulfilling orders, scheduling labor, and more—are fully automated and can be managed from a central solution through personalized, role-based dashboards.

Transportation Management: Transportation management software governs the movement of a business’s physical products from the warehouse to the customer. Whether you’re shipping by truck, plane, boat, or train, transportation management software optimizes delivery schedules, assists with documentation, automates shipping processes, and more.

Customer Relationship Management: A critical component to any supply chain process is your relationship with your customers. Customer relationship management software stores contact, opportunity, customer account, and customer transaction information in one place, enabling team members to access updated, accurate information they can use to service customers effectively.

Key Takeaways

Supply chain management software helps businesses of all sizes and industries across multiple stages, from raw materials to delivering it to customers. Through comprehensive ERP solutions, businesses efficiently manage the intricate details involved in this complex process.
The benefits of an ERP solution with supply management software delivers powerful benefits, including greater visibility, higher data accuracy, lower overall costs, and more creative teams.
Choosing the right SCM software today by doing intensive research into the product and the software vendor will prepare businesses for tomorrow’s challenges.

FAQs

How do I choose the right supply chain management software for my business?

Selecting the best software is a critical task. First, you need to determine which features and functions your business needs. Once you’ve identified these core requirements, you can start your ERP research process. The goal is to find software that offers the functions you need while culling software that is too expensive, too complicated, or unable to meet your business requirements. You have to research your options, learn what each could do for your business, and choose a software vendor you can trust. You should also evaluate what software analysts and real users have to say about the solutions you’re considering.

What are the most important features that supply chain management software should have?

Every business is unique and how they manage their supply chain needs may differ, which means every business may deem some features more important than others. Even so, there are a few core features that every SCM software should have, including:

Data management.
Warehouse management.
Inventory management.
Order/supply/sourcing management.
Transportation management.
Collaboration tools.

The software should also provide business intelligence and risk management tools, so you can use the ERP data to identify supply chain pain points, generate valuable insights, and make informed decisions. All this should be wrapped in an intuitive, customizable platform that can scale with your business as it grows.

How do I implement supply chain management software?

This goes back to the idea of having a vendor you can trust. SCM software implementations are typically spearheaded by software vendors, who use their knowledge and product expertise to help you install the solution and train/support users. Before signing on the bottom line, you must assess, not just the quality and fit of the software, but also the quality and fit of the vendor.

Some questions to ask before investing in specific software include:

Does the vendor have a clearly defined implementation plan?
Does the vendor provide a detailed list of implementation costs?
Does the vendor have a reputation for successful implementations?
Does the vendor receive high marks for customer service?

If the answer to all of these questions is “yes,” then you can trust the vendor to walk you through the implementation process successfully.

Is cloud-based supply chain management software a good fit for my business?

Because of the pandemic, inflation, international unrest, and more, supply chain problems have radiated globally—bringing labor, resource, and equipment shortages, lengthy shipping delays, and rising costs. Fortunately, businesses that have invested in cloud-based supply chain management software have been able to quickly pivot in response to the conomic instability. This has made it more important than ever for businesses to have effective .

With cloud-based supply chain management software, companies have immediate, anytime, anywhere access to their data, allowing them to make strategic business decisions quickly. They enjoy a 360° view of their operations, can quickly and easily make strategic business decisions, and can manage every aspect of their supply chains from a single, comprehensive platform.

Cloud-based software is a good fit for any business that wants to adjust to ongoing supply chain challenges and thrive in the midst of them.

What are the future trends of supply chain management software?

Supply chain management software is already a sophisticated and robust tool, but there are advancements on the horizon. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to be used to automate repetitive tasks. Businesses will be focusing more sharply on supply chain risk management, and there will be a continued push for increased supply chain sustainability. Other trends include advanced data analysis features and enhanced visibility into every aspect of supply chain operations.

Featured resources

eBook

Prepare for the Warehouse of the Future with Acumatica Distribution Edition

Checklist

Distribution Management System Evaluation Checklist

Whitepaper

KPIs for Distribution

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From ensuring that your products reach your customers to preventing disruptions to your operations, supply chain management is critical for your business.

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