165 R E TA I L & CG to manage inventory and order fulfilment processes. “Retailers generally look at inventory as being in a static position – products are either in stock, in transit or order,” says Bassani. “During the pandemic, the in-stock position of many retailers suffered because they didn’t have insight into the inventory situation of their suppliers. However, we’re increasingly seeing that it’s more important for them to have some type of promise accuracy than to have products physically in stock. “Suppliers that had greater control over production and make-to-order processes, or those who were more ‘vertically contained’ in software, were able to react to changes better than those using archaic methods – like emails and phone calls – for inventory status updates. The latter approach led to missed promises and ultimately caused more consumer pain than having a more realistic ‘ships in one to two weeks’ message, which is possible with connected systems.” Implementing the right planning software is critical. “We often joke that Microsoft offers the world’s best planning software, basically because everyone uses Excel,” says Bassani. “That said, there’s been a substantial amount of progress in this area over the past five years as companies move up the technology stack and out of ad hoc workbooks. Regardless of which technology providers a retailer or CG chooses, it’s important that they consider the interoperability of the solution with their data estate.” Bassani advises that retailers and CGs ask several key questions when choosing supply chain solutions. “Are they trying to solve a foundational or point-in-time problem? Is their current enterprise resource planning (ERP) system good enough, or do they need a full digital transformation? Would that digital transformation require a move to cloud computing? What would need to be true to make this the right time for investing in new solutions? Which companies would give the organisation the most option value down the line?” Microsoft collaborates closely with an extensive ecosystem of partners to deliver the technologies retailers and CGs need to strengthen and futureproof their supply chain operations. “We are committed to building marketleading solutions for businesses in need of supply chain transformation,” says Bassani. “However, it’s presumptuous to think that one source ERP system can do it all and be nimble Retailers can use technology from Microsoft and its partners to monitor their supply chains and gain real-time insights into inventory, order fulfilment times and more
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