How has that changed since our inaugural Supply Chain Management BPO Blueprint in 2014?<\/span><\/p>\nAlready back in 2014, we could see many of the Ideals of As-a-Service nascent in the offerings of the service providers. But over the last two years we have seen a massive uptake in interest and investment in this offering by the service providers. Today, having a strong supply chain management offering is a way of showing commitment to the evolution of BPO from legacy delivery models to one that exemplifies as-a-service and clients are responding as well. Supply chain management growth rates at 20%-plus are well above the market norm and that is encouraging further attention and investment in this market as well. In 2014, service providers (and clients) were just starting to see how Control Towers\u2014which can provide an end-to-end process view of operations in a supply chain\u2014were important to service delivery. Two years later, it’s clear that this is fully recognized and so we are seeing a heightened level of investment in Control Tower solutions across the market. Service providers and clients are also seeing that, whereas in 2014 just getting visibility into the supply chain through a Control Tower was valuable, today it’s about modifying the processes around these solutions so that either party can intervene in the supply chain process when the analytics show an emerging problem and take actions to mitigate what might previously have been significant business impacts.<\/p>\n
In 2014, many service providers and clients talked about how they were looking ad-hoc at issues and trying to solve problems before they impacted the processes. They weren\u2019t calling it design thinking then but that\u2019s what it was. Today, many service providers are calling this out and embedding a formal design thinking methodology into the way that service providers and clients work together over the life of a contract.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s also different since 2014 is the realization that other emerging trends such as IoT, 3D printing and intelligent automation are going to have major impacts on today\u2019s supply chains and that the processes of tomorrow will be significantly different than in the past. The last few years really were about service providers and clients working together to determine what an end-to-end supply chain looked like. Now, in 2016, that is changing to working on how that end-to-end process view will need to continue to change into the future.<\/p>\n
Tell us, Charles, which service providers are leading this market today?<\/span><\/p>\nOur HfS Blueprint methodology assesses service providers against a variety of criteria related to Execution and Innovation capabilities of the service providers based upon buyer reference calls, market interviews, RFI submissions and detailed market briefings.<\/p>\n
The service providers in the As-a-Service Winner\u2019s Circle are the providers that\u00a0scored highest on both Execution and Innovation and included: Accenture, arvato, Brightstar, HAVI Global Solutions and OnProcess. These service providers stood out for the excellence of delivery operations, the depth of domain and process expertise, the inclusion of client feedback, the comprehensiveness of their vision for supply chain solutions and the effective utilization of accessible and actionable data to deliver business outcomes.<\/p>\n
We identified two service providers as Execution Powerhouses\u2014Infosys and TCS\u2014that excel today in execution of supply chain management services and are making investments in innovation that should enhance future operational solutions as well.<\/p>\n
Our High Performers, which captured a balance of strengths between Execution and Innovation, numbered six and included Capgemini, Entercoms, EXl, Genpact, Wipro and WNS, with some service providers really pushing the boundaries on overall innovation in the marketplace and all offering capabilities to meet the needs of today\u2019s supply chain management buyers.<\/p>\n
Finally, we also identified a High Potential service provider in HCL\u2014new to our 2016 Blueprint. HCL is using a depth of capabilities in IT and engineering to deliver platform-based supply chain management with domain expertise.<\/p>\n
What recommendations do you have for enterprise buyers looking at Supply Chain Management As-a-Service?<\/span><\/p>\nOur overall recommendation would be to jump in and test the waters if this is new to any enterprise. The offerings from service providers are maturing rapidly and the levels of strategic commitment and investment have never been greater. This will be one of the major growth offerings for the years to come and enterprises have a chance to shape those offerings to meet their own needs today.<\/p>\n
Having decided to take the jump, adopt a design thinking mindset when it comes to assessing the issues in your supply chain and what solutions might be most suitable. Sitting down with your prospective service provider(s) to better understand the business context in which your current processes operate and what can be done to realign or reimagine those processes to achieve different and\/or better business results is always an exercise worth undertaking.<\/p>\n
Having made that jump, we encourage buyers to not test using labor arbitrage models from the past but to push for as-a-service solutions. With all the current (and future) business challenges enterprise supply chains face, it’s important to secure solutions that are flexible and agile and which can grow to meet your needs as they evolve over time. Don\u2019t settle for a long-term fixed model of solution delivery that might work in F&A or HR because\u00a0it won\u2019t work here.<\/p>\n
Along the way this year and beyond, also ask the service provider for insight into how 3D printing, IoT and other innovations are likely to impact the supply chain processes you have in place today. Use quarterly business reviews and other interactions with service providers to review their vision for the evolution of supply chain management as a service.<\/p>\n
Having embarked on a collaborative journey together using design thinking, continue to push your service provider and your own team to be more collaborative, more visionary, more inclusive and more trusting together. Extend this same new mindset to how you think of data and physical security to make sure that your policies on security aren\u2019t coming with unnecessary costs to your supply chain. Address the enterprise pain points of supply chain and realize the resulting business outcomes is easier in a close partnership than in a closed-off zero-sum mindset relationship. So, work with your service provider(s) in a manner that facilitates long-term mutual success.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s our take on the state of Supply Chain Management As-a-Service at the start of 2016. Please share your thoughts with us as this fast growing and dynamic segment of the As-a-Service Economy continues to evolve.<\/p>\n
Charles Sutherland\u00a0can be tweeted at\u00a0@cwsuther<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nHfS readers can click\u00a0<\/i><\/b>here<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to view highlights of all our 35 HfS Blueprint reports.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n HfS subscribers\u00a0click here<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0to access the new HfS Blueprint Report: Supply Chain Management As-a-Service<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HfS supply chain process expert (among other things), Charles Sutherland has finally done what no other analyst has done before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,78,836],"tags":[739],"ppma_author":[19],"yoast_head":"\n
Supply Chain Management clears the path to As-a-Service with Accenture, Havi, OnProcess, arvato and Brightstar leading - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n