Much ado has been made of the recent moves by ERP vendors Oracle and SAP to acquire their way into the SaaS space.  It is indeed high time that the big ERP players  embrace cloud computing.  Certainly, the value of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service has not been lost on next generation software and solutions players—nor, more importantly—on its users at global businesses of all sizes.

Further,  businesses haven’t limited their SaaS investments just to sales and human capital management like the recent acquisition examples of RightNow  and SuccessFactors.

Ironically, in the supply chain arena, for at least the last five years, it has been the new breed of SaaS player that has actually added more value to the very on-premise systems where Oracle and SAP dominate.

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) which informs better supply chain agility, is all about bringing together the planning process across demand and supply organizations for a single view of the truth to make better business decisions.  While the process of S&OP has been in place for a few decades, it hasn’t been until the last few years that technology—especially easy to access, implement and configure SaaS-based technology—has enabled companies to unite the disparate ERP, CRM, SCM, BI and Finance systems data to achieve their S&OP priorities. Indeed some of the world’s largest, most complex manufacturers are trusting cloud-based S&OP solutions to help them harmonize their ERP and other rigid, on premise systems and, in turn, become more agile organizations, able to cope with today’s volatile business environment.

Since cloud computing solutions have been delivering better business leverage from ERP systems, it is time that ERP vendors give cloud computing the credit it deserves and has rightly earned.

As the world grapples this month with the ripples from Europe’s debt crisis, the political turmoil in the Middle East, and the flooding in Asia, companies can’t ignore the imperative to plan for all those scenarios they’d never want to plan for. But have you?

What used to be an annual spreadsheet event is no longer an option for global businesses that have to navigate and course correct for the daily onslaught of economic, political and environmental events that could derail the best laid plans.

Supply chain complexity is multiplying as businesses become more global and interconnected. To remain competitive, organizations are changing how they source , sell and develop products. The rate of product obsolescence in consumer electronics market alone puts business agility to the test. Add to that the disruption and risk that is part of the volatile global marketplace, and business leaders recognize that the “new normal” is likely nothing like last year…or even last month. Agility is imperative; and it is keeping business leaders up at night.

Next week, On December 7th, I look forward to leading a discussion at the Supply Chain and Logistics Summit in Dallas in a workshop I will be presenting there: “S&OP: Enabling Agility and Flexibility in a Global Organization.” Sales and Operations Planning is the ammunition companies require today to combat complexity, respond to market events faster and manage risks. In this session, we will look at how companies need to create an S&OP plan, ensure that it is executed well so that the desired business performance is obtained to gain profits. In other words, S&OP is not only about the strategy but also about how the strategy can be executed.

I hope to see you in Dallas at my session or at the Steelwedge booth ,#9, to…

Webinar featuring S&OP Expert Tom Wallace
Wednesday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m. PST

Register for the webinar here!

Just as the Sales and Operations Planning practice has evolved dramatically over the past decade, so have the global market dynamics and complexities. In global business, volatility is the “new normal.” So, how do S&OP leaders adapt to that volatility and still make the best executive-level decisions that balance supply and demand, and integrate operational and financial plans?

This month’s webinar presenter, noted writer and educator Tom Wallace, asked just that question to some of the world’s best practitioners. He has collected their stories of taking planning to the next level –beyond the basics– to deliver Executive S&OP that runs the business with one set of numbers for better agility, performance and profit against a backdrop of global economic, political and environmental turmoil.

‘Taking S&OP to the Next Level’ is scheduled for Wednesday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m PST. Here, Tom will share case studies from experts who’ve used Executive S&OP to:

• support the merger of two businesses into one high-performance business unit
• serve as the basis for earnings calls to Wall Street
• help create a new business
• optimize global production plans and profits and
• make cash flow projections 18 months into the future based on operational demand and supply plans.

Tom will talk more about his belief that Executive S&OP is quite simple in its structure and logic. But in practice, he sees that this often misleads companies into assuming that the process is simple to implement, while nothing could be farther from the truth.

Following Tom’s presentation, Nari Viswanathan, Steelwedge’s Vice President of Product Marketing will use industry examples to outline the additional value of deploying Collaborative S&OP Platform technology.

Finally, get answers to all…

We recently surveyed our customers to ask how they prefer to stay on top of S&OP advances and emerging best practices.  While it’s no surprise that searching the web and reading reports remain popular activities, an overwhelming majority rate industry conferences and dialogue with fellow practitioners and vendors as a “very useful” source of information.  Great content is essential but conversation remains king, particularly in a field that’s evolving as quickly as S&OP.

To that end, we’re excited that Emerson Therm O-Disc, a long-time beneficiary of the Steelwedge S&OP solution will be speaking on the topic of planning best practices.  The presentation is part of The Supply Chain Forecasting & Planning Conference (Europe), organized by the Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning and taking place on November 17 -18 in Amsterdam. The event brings together executives from leading high-tech, manufacturing and consumer products firms to discuss the fact that S&OP has risen in importance and is now a proven way to meet demand while optimizing supply chain costs.

Of course, we all know that great conversation requires that we leap outside of our comfort zone.  So, as seasoned S&OP conference goers, we’d like to share a few pointers on how to not miss out on the expertise that might be standing behind you in line at the buffet:

* Start your morning at the coffee urn. Meet people. Coffee is a sacred rite for most conference-goers – particularly when the festivities start at 7:30 AM. Be especially nice to our friends from other time zones. They’ll be the ones drinking directly from the spigot.

* Spare yourself a visit to the optometrist. Sit upfront. The fact remains that 12 point font still finds its way onto too many PowerPoint slides. We salute the truly studious who make it…