ERP

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and refers to software and
systems used to plan and manage all the core supply chain, manufacturing,
services, financial and other processes of an organization. Enterprise
Resource Planning software can be used to automate and simplify individual
activities across a business or organization, such as accounting and
procurement, project management, customer relationship management, risk
management, compliance and supply chain operations. 

Individual ERP applications can offer software as a service (SaaS), while a

complete suite of ERP applications forms an ERP system that can be used to
effectively communicate and bring together business processes to enable a
flow of data between the applications, typically through common databases
either on-site/on-premise or in the cloud.

ERPs connect every aspect of an enterprise. An ERP software system allows

for better performance and project management that helps plan, budget,
predict and accurately report on an organization’s financial health and
processes.
 

How Does an ERP System Work?

 

The main purpose of an ERP system is to increase organizational efficiency of

an organization by managing and improving how company resources are
utilized. Improving and/or reducing the number of resources necessary without
sacrificing quality and performance are keys to effectively improving business
growth and profitability. 
ERP systems typically cover all aspects of business operations and commonly
provide:

 An integrated system
 Common database 
 Real-time operation
 Support for all applications/components
 Common user interface across application/components
 On-premise, cloud hosted, or SaaS deployment

ERP software has the ability to collect and compare metrics across
departments and provide a number of different reports based on roles or
specific user preferences. The data collected makes finding and reporting on
data faster and gives a complete view of  business performance with complete
insights on how resources are being spent. 

ERP synchronizes reporting and automation by reducing the need to maintain

separate databases and spreadsheets that would have to be manually
merged to generate reports. This combined data collection and reporting
offers valuable insight, such as where to cut costs and streamline processes,
providing the information  to make real-time business decisions.

Big Business ERP vs. Small Business ERP

In the past, “big business ERP” addressed large organizations that often
deployed onsite/on-premise ERP solutions and had an abundance of
resources to dedicate to IT and other support to analyze, customize, upgrade
and deploy their software solutions. 
The phrase “Small Business ERP” or “SME (small and medium-sized
enterprise) ERP” commonly referred to ERP software systems with business
management applications typically created to meet the specific needs for a
small to mid-sized business. 

Today, these phrases are used less frequently as the important factor is not
company size but determining if the ERP system is effectively addressing
current and future business requirements, no matter the size of the
organization.It’s imperative that organizations consider and select ERP
systems that eliminate the need for costly customizations, adapt to the rapid
pace of business change, address future technologies and meet other
identified requirements.

Types of ERP Systems: Cloud vs On-Premise vs Hybrid

There are three main types of ERP systems that function with different
deployment model options. The most common types of ERP systems include
cloud ERP, on-premise ERP, and hybrid ERP. 

 On-Premise ERP software is implemented onsite and maintained in

physical office space within an organization, hosted on the company’s
own computers and servers for full control, support and ownership of
the entire system once implemented.
 Cloud-based ERP software is a web-based solution, known as
Software as a Service (SaaS), where an organization accesses and
stores data on any device with an internet connection, usually through
the purchase of a subscription. Continual support, updates, training, and
flexible customizations supported by the software provider.
 “Hybrid” ERP software refers to a combined implementation of cloud-
based and on-premise ERP system solutions. The combination of
hosting and deployment services vary by provider. These models can
provide ERP users the flexibility to migrate between delivery models, or
integrate benefits not available existing implementation. 
Example :
Any enterprise’s planning, manufacturing, sales and marketing efforts are put
under one management system and then it combines to one single database
system.

Different phases of ERP Implementation :

1. Pre-evaluation screening :
This phase starts when company decides to go for ERP system. For this,
search for package starts. It is time-consuming process because every
package has to analyze first before reaching to any decision. As all
packages are not same and each has its own strengths and weakness.
This process should eliminate those packages that are not suitable for
company’s business processes.
2. Package Evaluation :
It is the most important phase in implementation. This phase depends on
success and failure of entire project with package selection. Most
 important factor while selecting any package is that not every package
can be totally perfect for project but at-least it should be good fit for
project.
3. Project Planning Phase :
This phase plans and designs implementation process.
4. Gap Analysis :
It is the most crucial phase in this implementation. Here, gaps are
analyzed between company’s practices and that practices which are
supported by ERP package. It has been estimated that even best ERP
package only meets 80-85% of company’s functional requirements.
5. Re-engineering  :
It is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business
processes to achieve improvements.
6. Customization :
It is the main functional area of ERP Implementation. Arrived solution
must match with overall goals of company. Prototype should allow for
thorough testing and attempts to solve logistical problem.
7. Implementation Team Training :
Now after above processes, implementation team knows how to
implement system. This is phase where company trains its employees to
implement and later run system.
8. Testing :
This is the phase where team break system. Sometimes, system
overloads or multiple users trying to login at same time etc. Test cases
are designed specifically to find weak links in system. Different types of
testing are: Unit testing, integration testing, acceptance testing, security
testing, performance and stress testing.
9. Going Live :
Once technical and functional side is properly working and testing is
done. There comes next phase i.e, “Going Live”. Once system is ‘live’, old
system is removed & new system is used for doing business.
10. End-User Training :
This is the phase where user of system is given training on how to use
system. Employees and their skills are identified and training is given to
them in groups based on their current skills. Every employee is provided
with training of job which he is going to perform.
11. Post-Implementation :
It is the most important and critical factor. Post Implementation is based
on two words- Operation and Maintenance of system. Duration of this
phase depends on training efficiency. Necessary enhancements &
upgrades are made in this phase.
Supply chain management
Supply chain management is coordination of all supply activities of an
organization from its suppliers and partners to its customers efficiently and
effectively (Chaffey, 2015; Turban et al., 2012). Electronic supply chain
management (e-SCM) is collaborative use of technology to improve the
operations of supply chain activities as well as the management of supply
chains (Turban et al., 2012). The main factors that contributed to the
transition from SCM to e-SCM are as follows:
 The need for additional reduction in the costs as well as improvements
in the processes through the expansion of the tools for modern
management in the organizations from the supplier channels to the
customer channels.
 The introduction of computerization and digitalization of the internal
functions of the organizations with new techniques, tools, and
management methods.
 The need for efficiency and agility of the organizations in order that
they can respond to the higher demands of the customers whose
growing demands and bargaining power continually increases.
 The effort to optimize the organization by having lower inventory levels
both in manufacture and distribution by, in parallel, offering supreme
quality and service.
 The deserting of vertical integration and functional oriented
organizations.
 The tendency for outsourcing of some operational functions that are
not the core of the business to other organizations specialized in that
field.
 The explosive expansion of global commerce and the opening of new
markets that only few years ago were closed.
 The e-business technologies, particularly internet, have enabled
organizations of all sizes to have a network and be closely connected
with their partners and conquer and compete for market share which
was only possible before for the large corporations.

The success of an e-SCM depends on

 ability of all supply chain partners to view partner collaboration as a
strategic asset; a well-defined supply chain strategy; information
visibility along the entire supply chain; speed, cost, quality, and
customer service;
 integrating the supply chain more tightly. Application of e-SCM can
reduce some problems in SCM through sharing of demand by
customers with suppliers as part of efficient consumer response
(ECR),
 suppliers become responsible for item availability through vendor-
managed inventory, human error reduced (checks and balances can
be built into system),
 inventory reduced throughout the supply chain through better demand
forecasting and more rapid replenishment of inventory,
 improved availability of information about potential suppliers and
components (for example through online marketplaces).

The activities of E-SCM include the following:

 Supply Chain Replenishment. Supply chain replenishment

encompasses the integrated production and distribution processes.
Companies can use replenishment information to reduce inventories,
eliminate stocking points, and increase the velocity of replenishment
by synchronizing supply and demand information across the extended
enterprise.
 E-Procurement. It is the use of web-based technology to support the
key procurement processes, including requisitioning, sourcing,
contracting, ordering, and payment. E-procurement supports the
purchase of both direct and indirect materials and employs several
web-based functions, such as online catalogs, contracts, purchase
orders, and shipping notices.
 Supply Chain Monitoring and Control Using RFID. This is one of the
most promising applications of RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification).
 Inventory Management Using Wireless Devices. Many organizations
are now achieving improvements in inventory management by using
combinations of bar-coding technologies (or RFID) and wireless
devices.
 Collaborative Planning. It is a business practice that combines the
business knowledge and forecasts of multiple players along a supply
chain to improve the planning and fulfillment of customer demand.
Collaborative planning requires buyers and sellers to develop shared
demand forecasts and supply plans for how to support demand.
 Collaborative Design and Product Development. It involves the use of
product design and development techniques across multiple
companies to improve product launch success and reduce time to
market. During product development, engineering and design drawings
can be shared over a secure network among the contract firm, testing
facility, marketing firm, and downstream manufacturing and service
companies.
 E-Logistics. It is the use of web-based technologies to support the
material acquisition, warehousing, and transportation processes. E-
logistics enables distribution to couple routing optimization with
inventory-tracking information. For example, Internet-based freight
auctions enable spot buying of trucking capacity.
The key activities of e-SCM use a variety of infrastructure and tools. The
following are the major infrastructure elements and tools of e-SCM:
 Electronic data interchange (EDI). It is the major tool used by large
corporations to facilitate supply chain relationships. Many companies
are shifting from traditional EDI to Internet-based EDI.
 Its major purpose is to support inter organizational communication and
collaboration.
 These are the corporate internal networks for communication and
collaboration.
 Corporate portals. These provide a gateway for external and internal
collaboration, communication, and information search.
 Workflow systems and tools. These are systems that manage the flow
of information in organizations.
 Groupware and other collaborative tools. Many tools facilitate
collaboration and communication between two parties and among
members of small as well as large groups. Various tools, some of
which are collectively known as groupware, enable such collaboration.
Blogs and wikis are beginning to play an important role. A major
purpose of these tools is to provide visibility to all, namely, let people
know where items are and when they arrive at certain locations.
 Identification and tracking tools. These tools are designed to identify
items and their location along the supply chain.
 

We shall discuss each of the components in brief.

1. Planning
This is one of the most important stages. Before the beginning of the entire supply chain,
it is essential to finalise the strategies and put them into place. Checking the demand for
the product or service, checking the viability, costing, profit, and manpower etc., are vital.
Without a proper plan or strategy in place, it will be well-nigh impossible for the business
to achieve effective and long term benefits. Therefore, enough time has to be devoted to
this phase. Only after the finalisation of the plans and consideration of all pros and cons,
can one proceed further. Every business needs a plan or blueprint or a roadmap based
on which the strategies are made. Planning helps to identify the demand and supply
trends in the market and this, in turn, helps to create a successful supply chain
management system.
2. Information
The world today is dominated by a continuous flow of information. In order to be
successful, it is essential that a business stays abreast with all the latest information
about the various aspects of its production. The market trends of supply and demand for
a particular product can be best understood if the information is properly and timely
disseminated through the many levels of the business. Information is crucial in a
knowledge-based world economy, and ignorance about any aspect of business may
actually spell doom for the prospects of the business.
3. Source
Suppliers play a very crucial role in supply chain management systems. Products and
services sold to the end user are created with the help of different sets of raw materials.
It is therefore necessary that suitable quality raw materials are procured at cost effective
rates. If a supplier is unable to supply on time, and within the stipulated budget, the
business is bound to suffer losses and gain a negative reputation.
It is crucial that a company procures good quality resources so it can create good quality
products and maintain its reputation in the market. This necessitates a strong role for
suppliers in the supply chain management system.
4. Inventory
For a highly effective supply chain management system it is essential that an inventory
is kept and thoroughly maintained. An inventory means the ready list of items, raw
materials and other essentials required for the product or service. This list has to be
regularly updated to demarcate available stock and required stock. Inventory
management is critical to the function of supply chain management, because without
proper inventory management the production, as well as sale of the product, is not
possible. Businesses have now started to pay more attention to this component simply
because of its impact on the supply chain.
5. Production
Production is one among the most important aspects of this system. It is only possible
when all the other components of the supply chain are in tandem with each other. For
the process of production to start it is essential that proper planning and supply of goods,
as well as the inventory, are well maintained. The production of goods is followed by
testing, packaging and the final preparation for delivery of the finished product.
6. Location
Any business, that wants to survive as well as flourish, needs a location which is
profitable for the business. Take for example, a carbonated drink factory is set up in an
area where water supply is scarce. Water is a basic necessity of such business. The
lack of water could hamper the production as well as affect the goodwill of the company.
A business cannot survive if it has to share an already scarce raw material with the
community. Hence, a suitable location, which is well connected, and very close to the
source of essential resources for production is vital to a business’ prosperity. The
requirement and availability of manpower must also be considered while setting up a
business unit.
7. Transportation
Transportation is vital in terms of carrying raw materials to the manufacturing unit and
delivering the final product to the market. At each stage, timely transportation of goods is
mandatory to sustain a smooth business process. Any business which pays attention to
this component, and takes good care of it, will benefit from the production and
transportation of its goods on time.
It is essential that a company works towards a safe and secure transportation process.
Be it in-house or a third-party vendor, the transportation management system must
ensure zero damage and minimal loss in transit. A well-managed logistics system along
with flawless invoicing are the two pillars of secure transportation.
8. Return of goods
Among the various components that create a strong supply chain is the facility for the
return of faulty/malfunctioning goods, along with a highly responsive consumer
grievance redress unit.
No one is infallible. Even a machine may malfunction once in a million times if not more.
As a part of a strong business process, one may expect the return of goods under
various circumstances. Even the best quality control processes may have unavoidable
momentary lapses. In the case of such lapses, inevitably followed by consumer
complaints, a business must, instinctively, recall the product/s and issue an apology.
This not only creates a good customer bonding, but also maintains goodwill in the long
run.

E CRM

Customer Life Cycle

What is customer life cycle management?

Your customer interacts with your business many, many times during the life
of your relationship.

 they visit your web site to learn about your offering

 speak to a sales person for more detail

 attend a product demonstration or webinar

 chat with support on questions or problems

 speak with a service rep to have their products repaired

There are four phases to the customer life cycle. The four phases include;
marketing, customer acquisition, relationship management, and loss/churn.
The marketing part of the customer life cycle is when messages are sent to the
target market to attract prospect customers.

The next phases is customer acquisition which means prospects become

customers when they place an order.

The third stage is relationship management. Relationship management is when

resell processes increase the value of existing customers.

The end stage of a customer life cycle is loss/churn when inevitably in time a
company may lose a customer.

The company then needs to establish a win-back process. The company then
needs to decide which lost customers are of most value and try to win back
their business.

A CRM system integrates all four phases of the customer life cycle into three
major processes. These processes are solicitation, lead-tracking, and
relationship management. The diagram above depicts the four phases and the
three major processes. It shows the flow of phases and what each phase
means.

Role of Data Mining in CRM

Data mining techniques in CRM assist your business in finding and selecting
relevant information. This can then be used to get a clear view of the customer
life-cycle. The life-cycle includes customer identification, attraction, retention,
and development. The more data in the database, the more accurate the
models created will be and hence more value gained.

Data mining usually involves the use of predictive modeling, forecasting, and
descriptive modeling techniques as its key elements. CRM in the age of data
analytics enables an organization to engage in many useful activities. You can
manage customer retention, choose the right segments, set optimal pricing
policies, and rank suppliers to your needs.

Applications of Data Mining in CRM

Basket Analysis
Find out which items customers tend to purchase together. This knowledge
can improve stocking, store layout strategies, and promotions.

Sales Forecasting
Examining time-based patterns helps businesses make re-stocking decisions.
Furthermore, it helps you in supply chain management, financial management
and gives complete control over internal operations.

Database Marketing
Retailers can design profiles of customers based on demographics, tastes,
preferences, and buying behavior. It will also aid the marketing team in
designing the right marketing campaigns and promotional offers. This will
result in enhanced productivity, optimal allocation of resources, and desirable
ROI.

Predictive Life-Cycle Management

Data mining helps an organization predict each customer’s lifetime value and
service each segment properly.
Market Segmentation
Learn which customers are interested in purchasing your products. Design
your marketing campaigns and promotions keeping their tastes and
preferences in mind. This will increase efficiency and result in the desired
ROI since you won’t be targeting customers who are not interested in your
product.

Product Customization
Manufacturers can customize products according to the exact needs of
customers. To do this, they must be able to predict which features should be
bundled to meet customer demand.

Fraud Detection
By analyzing past transactions that turned out to be fraudulent, you can take
precautions to stop that from happening again. Banks and other financial
institutions will benefit from this feature immensely, by reducing the number
of bad debts.

Warranties
Manufacturers need to predict the number of customers who will make
warranty claims and the average cost of those claims. This will ensure the
best management of company funds.

Techniques for Data Mining in CRM

Anomaly Detection
When you search for information that doesn’t match expected behavior or a
projected pattern, that is anomaly detection. Anomalies can provide
actionable information because they deviate from the average in the data set.

Association Rule Learning

Discover relations between data items in huge databases. With Association
Rule Learning you can uncover hidden patterns, use that to better understand
customers.

Clustering
Identify similar data sets and understand both the similarities and the
differences within the data. Data sets that have similar traits can be used for
conversion rate increases. For example, if the buying behavior of one group
of customers is similar to that of another group, they can both be targeted
with similar services or products.
 Classification
This technique is used for gathering information about data so that the data
sets can be placed into proper categories. One example is the classification
of email as either regular, acceptable email or as spam.

Regression
Regression analysis is one of the advanced data mining techniques in CRM.
The objective is to find the dependency between different data items and map
out which variables are affected by other variables. This technique is used to
determine customer satisfaction levels and their impact on customer loyalty.

CRM and Workflow Automation

Intelligently automate all processes to save time, drive sales, and streamline
processes. Automate your team's repetitive tasks, enabling them to spend more time
working on what's important.

Let’s take a closer look at how you can create your own automated workflow using a
CRM.

Step One: Identify which Processes are Worth

Automating
In the beginning, you may get the ‘automation fever’ and feel the need to automate
anything and everything. But, this is a mistake. Not only will this become a costly
ordeal, but it’ll likely bring low yields.

While the purpose of automation is to simplify repetitive tasks and remove

redundancies, you want to ensure you’re doing so in the right areas. One way to do
this is to take a look at everything you’re doing.

For example, your sales team can automate:

 Email writing (i.e. using email templates)

 Lead scoring
 Matching leads with reps (lead assignment)
 Sending follow-up emails
 Creating reports (metrics in the dashboard)
 Dialing leads
 Leaving voicemails
 Call logging
 Appointment scheduling, and more
 The results of each task should be measured to identify which are worth your while.
It’s a good idea to set benchmarks to see which processes are meeting your
standards.

While the end goal is to boost your sales, there are smaller milestones you should
set to reach it. For instance, you can measure:

 Percentage of sales teams meeting quotas

 Average deal size
 Conversion rates
 Revenue (monthly, quarterly, annually)
 Sales funnel leakage
 New leads
 Upsell/cross-sell rates
 Net promoter score

Tasks that aren’t up to par can be removed from the workflow altogether. It’s also a
good idea to speak with your staff—the ones implementing the workflows – to see
what they think of the processes and results.

Use the information you collect to determine what should stay and what should go.

Now, it’s important to note that there are certain processes that may be effective, but
are impractical and expensive to automate.

Let’s say, for example, you have a campaign where your sales team is cold-
emailing a large number of leads. You don’t want to throw out this process since it
can potentially land you paying clients.

However, you don’t want to keep wasting man hours on the low results it generates.
So it would be best to automate this process so that your team can spend time on
tasks with higher production rates.

On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to automate a process in the later stages,
especially if you have invested a lot into these prospects. But this doesn’t mean you
still can’t use your CRM workflows.

Step Two: Boost Everyone’s Performance

If you implement an automated workflow that works for some and not for others, then
you’ve failed your business. Your top focus should be on boosting everyone’s
performance.

This way, everyone can achieve great results. But you need to give everyone the
tools they need to succeed.
 When you create your workflow, it should address all the aspects of sales and
marketing. This way, both departments are able to work together seamlessly to
generate higher conversions (and happier customers).

One way to make this happen is to talk to team members who frequently over-
exceed your expectations. Interview them to see what helps them to be successful.

Some questions you can ask include:

 What’s your biggest challenge as a team?

 What are the biggest hurdles affecting your performance?
 What was your biggest accomplishment this month?
 What should we do differently in our workflow?
 What resources would help you right now?
 What should we keep in our workflow?
 What’s the biggest challenge with closing deals?
 What’s the biggest challenge with acquiring new leads?

Then try to cut out the processes that are a waste of time before creating your
workflow.

Step Three: Test, Audit, Repeat

You have your goals, task workflows, and even a support team to help identify
what’s working and what’s not.

Now, it’s time to run your tests and monitor them. Keep a close eye on your
workflows and whether or not they’re helping your sales department reach their
goals.

Testing and auditing will become commonplace until you’ve come up with the perfect
setup. But even then, you’ll have to evolve. This means more changes and
implementation to keep your sales teams up-to-date.

Step Four: Putting it All Together

At the end of the day, you want your automated CRM workflow to look something
like this:
Workflow Management: Implement automation for sales, marketing, business
processes, and standardized working methods.

 Schedules: Create schedules for one-time or recurring tasks.

 Actions: Develop a set of actions used to complete tasks—i.e. a blueprint.
 Scoring Rules: Create a scoring system for leads to ensure focus is given to high priority
prospects.
 Blueprint: Develop a documented process for your CRM system.
 Assignment Rules: Set assignment rules for records created using web forms.
 Case Escalation Rules: Create rules for determining which cases to escalate to members
in the operational hierarchy.

Major Trends in E-SCM

1. Supply Chain Digitization
Digitization of the supply chain, encompassing all efforts to integrate corporate
systems into a unified whole as well as implementing new digital technologies,
will continue to be a priority.

2. Supply Chain Solutions Will Continue to Move to the Cloud

While many organizations still rely on legacy on-premise supply chain
software, the future is in the cloud. Available in many forms, including
Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform
as a Service (PaaS), supply chain cloud computing offers flexibility, scalability
and a global reach while doing away with the need to maintain extensive,
expensive on-premise computing infrastructure.

3. Omnichannel Supply Chains Become the Norm

In response to customer demand, businesses will make big strides towards
offering a true omnichannel buying experience. Allowing customers to
seamlessly shop online or in brick-and-mortar stores, omnichannel supply
chains place greater demands on logistic and supply chains with the
simultaneous requirements of supplying individual customer orders as well as
replenishing stock at retail outlets.

4. Sustainability Is Becoming Essential

Sustainability has become one of the key global supply chain trends, with
customers demanding green products and sustainable practices.

5. Growth in Circular Supply Chains

There's a move away from the traditional linear supply chain to the circular
supply chain where . Apart from regulatory requirements for the safe disposal
and reuse of discarded products, there's a clear indication that customers
favor businesses that recycle materials, and many leading companies
are discovering additional value through circular supply chains.
6. Agile Supply Chains
To effectively compete, supply chains need to be flexible and agile, as well as
able to respond to changes on short notice. This is a radical departure from
traditional supply chain thinking that focuses on reliability, consistency and low
cost. One of the notable supply chain management trends is a switch from off-
shore manufacture to local or near-shore supply. Advantages of this include
shorter delivery times and lower shipping costs. With less money tied up in
stock, organizations can respond more quickly to changes in demand.

7. Internet of Things
It appears the Internet of Things (IoT) is coming of age. As costs fall, research
shows the number of businesses using IoT devices grew from 13% in 2014 to 25%
in 2019. The IDC forecasts 13.6% annual growth through to 2022. IoT allows
organizations to monitor inventory, automate stock reordering and keep track
of deliveries, all in real time. Sensors can predict wear and tear on equipment,
allowing timely ordering of spare parts. IoT increases supply chain
transparency.

8. Big Data Analytics and Supply Chain Logistics Coming Together

Big Data is here, thanks to the digitization of the supply chain, the growth in
IoT, and the greater availability of customer data. Companies today have
access to enormous amounts of data and are using this to generate business
intelligence ranging from understanding past performances to predicting future
trends. Using Big Data, it's possible to determine customer preferences and
market trends, as well as redefine the supply chain.

9. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

With greater access to Big Data, more organizations are turning to AI and
machine learning to simplify tasks and automate procedures. Gartner reports
that in the four years to 2019, there was a 270% increase in the number of
organizations using artificial intelligence. Predictive analytics and machine
learning algorithms are being used to improve planning and decision support
systems, identify purchasing patterns, automate tedious warehousing
processes and manage inventory. Many organizations are using AI to replace
humans performing repetitive supply tasks and to perform complex supply
chain calculations.

10. Using Prescriptive Analytics to Move Beyond the Limitations of Predictive

Supply Chain Analytics
While sometimes regarded as the new kid on the block, prescriptive analytics
is being increasingly used as a supply chain decision-making tool. While other
forms of analytics, such as diagnostic and predictive analytics, focus on past
and future trends, providing useful insights, they share a common failing: They
don't provide information needed to make informed decisions. In early 2019,
Gartner predicted the prescriptive analytics market would grow at a 20.6
CAGR to 2022, while more recent research suggests even faster growth.

11. Robotics and Automation in Logistics

As companies respond to the conflicting demands of omnichannel supply

chains, especially with regard to the need for flexibility and agility, many are
turning to robotics to speed up labor-intensive tasks. Robots are ideal for
repetitive tasks such as sorting, counting and even for fetching and carrying
products in the warehouse. The International Federation of Robots expects
demand for robots and cobots (collaborative robots) to grow by 10% in 2020,
while Honeywell Robotics are confidently investing heavily in warehouse
robotics automation.