In my role with Logility, I have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of companies and executive management teams around achieving their supply chain goals and prioritizing their initiatives. On a number of occasions, I have encountered a CIOs with a strong operations background combined with an understanding of how the supply chain can directly impact working capital and company profitability. These CIOs have a direct impact on helping their company properly align their technology investment to support strong operational performance.

Often these CIOs ask me to explain the differences between supply chain solutions from an ERP provider versus Best of Breed solutions. If the CIO views their primary objective as a partner to the business, this conversation is always engaging. However, if the CIO’s view of the supply chain is focused on their ERP solution, I am usually asked “don’t we already have that?” These CIOs are more aligned with identifying “one throat to choke” and often they have bought into the theory that supply chain solutions from their ERP provider are robust and well integrated based on the latest technology industry analyst report.

That’s why I was so interested in the research Lora Cecere, founder of Supply Chain Insights, published in a blog post last week. The research presents some interesting data and asks the question — “Was Integrated Planning a Hoax?” Lora’s post is intriguing and supports our own data which shows Logility customers deploy faster and realize a quicker ROI when compared with ERP supply chain deployments (referred to as ERP Expansionist by Lora Cecere), and for that matter other Best of Breed implementations. Every situation though is unique and Supply Chain Insights has invited you to share your own experience in a quick survey at http://bit.ly/1i2XqDv.

What do you think? Was integrated planning from your ERP provider a hoax?

Was Integrated Planning a Hoax?
By Lora Cecere, Supply Chain Insights