> iTunes has revolutionized the way we buy and consume music
> Amazon has reinvented the way we read books
> Groupon have inject hysteria into the process of bargain hunting on the Web.
> Go to www.reebok.com/Customize , www.nike.com/iD, or www.miadidas.com, to design a pair of sneakers.
> Shirts My Way asks users to submit their exact body measurements for a shirt tailored to fit.
> MixMyGranola lets you choose all the fixings that go into your granola mix.
> Chocri lets you create your own chocolate bar.
> Heinz will let you add custom labels to ketchup bottles.
> Personalized M&Ms are now available with your face, or a company logo on them.
> SAP has even found an orchard that lets you customize apples (see picture)

So, how will social networking affect businesses and supply chains? We are seeing a lot of marketing to end consumers, and thus new channels to drive demand, but how can we improve our supply processes? Can we leverage social networks to drive benefits across our end-to-end supply chain processes?

Enter the social and mobile network

With an estimated 1.2bn people (20 per cent of the world’s population) on social networks, we are at a point where social software capabilities need to be prevalent throughout enterprise systems. And increasingly, we are accessing this social network through mobile devices.

In 2010, the installed base of mobile PCs and smart phones exceeded that of desktop PCs and about 20m tablet devices (e.g. iPads, ) were sold. By 2016 this number is estimated to rise to 900 million, or one for every eight people on eartth.

Is your supply network ready for the Social Network?

At the recent CSCMP Annual Global Conference there was a session on Social Media in Supply Chain Management where the question was posed “Is Social Media in Supply Chain Management a Waste of Time?” The moderator, Adrian Gonzalez wrote a great summary of the event in his logistics viewpoint article.

As the examples above show, to this point social media has been used mostly by business-to-consumer (B2C) to enable companies to promote their brands and market their products to consumers. From a business perspective, the “early adopters” are young professionals who already use these tools (such as facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and blogs) in their personal lives, and the focus has been largely on enhancing external communication, awareness and thought leadership.

Now we are starting to see leaders leveraging social networks for more business-to-business (B2B) processes. Collaborating with customers, suppliers, outsourced manufacturers, LSP’s and other partners. www.socialtimes.com reported that the “Use of social networks by the Fortune 500 companies has seen explosive growth in 2010, with 83% of the companies using at least one of the social media sites.”

A recent report by Buddy Media and Booz & Company identified Facebook (with 850 million users, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that 94% of respondents regard it #1), Twitter(77%) and YouTube (42%) as the top three preferred social media platforms for brands to utilize. This information does not mean that the functionality of other social media platforms, including blogs, and enterprise systems like Moxie Software and Yammer are not valuable to enhance external communication and collaboration (See 11 Predictions for B2B Social Media in 2011).

SAP recently announced the acquisition of Crossgate to instantly connect SAP customers and their business partners to networking at the enterprise level. Crossgate helps companies connect with any trading partner by joining the network once and linking with prebuilt business partner profiles. This is a full-service alternative, which eliminates the need for costly point-to-point integration. It lowers costs and enables further partner participation in B2B initiatives.

There is also a huge opportunity to improve internal communication and collaboration between co-workers and across functional groups and departments. We at SAP leverage SAP StreamWork to bring together people from different locations, regions and departments to “get everyone on the same page”. We use this collaboration tool to share documents and data, and collaborate with a structured approach with tools for brainstorming and decision-making.

It is not a case of IF social networks will have an effect on your business and associated supply networks. It is a case of WHEN.

As one of the executives on the CSCMP Panel commented “Five years from now we won’t be talking about social media in supply chain management–it will just be supply chain management”.

The advent of social networks is offering a whole new wave of opportunities. As ever, it’s what you do with these opportunities and how you manage them that will make the difference.

Richard Howells

Originally posted on Forbes.com

IBM is replacing Danone’s existing network to increase the flexibility and responsiveness of its business-to-business (B2B) commercial interactions to improve its overall customer experience.

Part of IBM’s unfolding Smarter Commerce portfolio, IBM’s Sterling Collaboration Network, is being rolled out across Danone’s global business units, each including multiple sales and distribution points and factories. The large-scale deployment involves the onboarding of up to 600 trading partners to the IBM network and management of nine million messages a year.

The project supports the full spectrum of Danone’s order-to-cash processes, including ordering, invoicing, delivery and logistics. The solution provides traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) across a diverse range of formats required by Danone’s partners, allowing third party data to be integrated with Danone’s warehouse data.

IBM’s solution was selected by Danone to improve flexibility in its ability to respond to the individual needs of its customers, which include large retailers. By delivering real-time visibility and control over the business processes shared with its community of customers and partners, IBM’s Sterling Collaboration Network brings Danone accuracy and speed in responding to customer demands, largely enhancing the customer experience.

“IBM’s Sterling team was quick to react to our requests for increased flexibility in meeting trading partners’ needs,” said Hans Vollebregt EDI solutions at Danone Information Systems. “The company also has a proven track record in Europe in providing B2B integration as-a-Service. And the team’s willingness and ability to meet our needs is what made all the difference in our choice of a B2B partner.”

Danone also looked to gain greater reliability and availability from its B2B network provider to lower costs. The increased B2B network reliability ensures that Danone does not suffer any downtime in its B2B operations, while enhanced visibility improves performance and control over operations. Coupled with the ability to onboard new Danone business units and trading partners quickly, these improvements drive down costs for Danone.

“Success in the fast-moving consumer goods sector depends entirely on the ability to communicate immediately and effectively with different partners across the supply chain to gain control over processes and inventory,” said Ronald Teijken, IBM EMEA manufacturing industry executive. “With its large trading partner network, Danone will reap the benefits of providing an optimized trading network with streamlined business processes.”

For more information, visit: http://www.ibm.com/press/smartercommerce.
Contact(s) information

Mike Azzi
IBM Media Relations
914-766-1561
azzi@us.ibm.com

Willemijn Steegenga
IBM Media Relations
+31 20 560 5794
Willemijn_Steegenga@nl.ibm.com

“We have the most powerful distribution mechanism that has been created
in a generation,” Mark Zuckerberg, Founder Facebook at the launch
of the 2006 Connect Platform

Many new technologies are converging simultaneously. It resembles the wild, wild west. For many companies, so many things are happening simultaneously, that it is hard to chose how to get started. In the words of one respondent, “I feel like a hamster on a treadmill. It is hard to get off the treadmill to stop to think what combination of tactics will add the MOST value.”

It includes:

Geospatial. Geospatial data combined with point of sale data to deliver a tailored response to the shopper when they are in the store. The data enables insight on not only what you bought, but where you were when you bought the item. And, what your shopping behavior was prior to the purchase. This is redefining couponing. Examples include Groupon a new social couponing company, Get Satisfaction a new rewards program for purchases, Shopkick that rewards you for going into a store, coupons tendered through your Garmin device in your car, and specialized shopping baskets in the stores to tender special offers.

Gaming. Social gaming to enhance the shopping experience, but also unleashing a new opportunity to learn more about a consumer through their gaming behavior.

Mobile Applications. In 2011, 50% of the populations in modern trade countries will have smart phones. Mobile applications in combination with 2-D bar codes can personalize the shopping experience in new ways.

2-D Bar Codes. Direct personalization of the shopping experience through 2-D barcodes to the shelf to either differentiate the product, communicate how to better use the product or connect with gaming to energize the shopping experience.

Virtual Currency. Virtual currency linking the socialgraph, the gaming experiences and the new social commerce sites together. It is a new way of seeing what shoppers really value. Check out the selling of Facebook credits at your Target or 7/11 stores.

Shopping with Friends. Consumers trust their friends. They want to shop with their friends. The Socialgraph enables this new type of shopping experience on Facebook or in a bricks and mortar experience.

Facebook as a Channel. As the conversation is enhanced by commerce, companeis are adding storefronts to their Facebook pages. Community recommendations by friends turns into shopping with friends for enthusiast purchases–hobbies, cosmetics, toys–enhancing the customer experience.

Results from the Research

It has been fun to study. Five months of research culminated last week at Altimeter Group’s sold out event: The Rise of Social Commerce. In an attempt to understand the dawning of this new channel, I drove the research, developed the agenda and delivered the keynote (check it out at http://www.riseofsocialcommerce.com/community/expo-the-rise-of-social-commerce/). I will publish the final report next week.

So you might ask, why is a supply chain gal like Lora Cecere interested in understanding the early days of Social Commerce? The reason is simple. It is an exciting new world of possibilities. It is a both a new channel and a new way of doing business. It is reshaping value chains. More than ever, retailers are now manufacturers and consumer products manufacturers can now sell directly to loyal shoppers. The power is shifting to the shopper. The digital consumer now has the power of the value chain in the palm of their hand, but more importantly, it allows a company to have a direct dialogue with a consumer in a more meaningful way.

I interviewed 53 companies, and as I did the interviews, I could see that they were at very different stages of development. The progression of understanding follows four stages:

Let’s be Social. In this stage, the organization is social for social’s sake. The deployment of the technologies are primarily in marketing and the strategies are very brand-centered; and consequently, not very effective.

Enlightened Engagement. As social maturity evolves, companies have new opportunities for direct dialogue. It enables dialogue and customer service, new product launch, and community development.

Store of the Community. Direct involvement of the community in product assortment, category definition, and demand shaping activities.

Frictionless Commerce. The redefinition of the shopping experience based on mobile, social and ecommerce capabilities that culminate in a TRUE cross-channel experience.

In the interviews, 20% of companies were actively working on social commerce strategies in 2010, but 83% have it on their agenda for 2011. It is NET new spending driven by the line of business leaders. Only 22% of companies have IT leading the charge. However, only 5% of companies have active involvement by the supply chain leaders. My goal is to help supply chain leaders capitalize on this opportunity.

Why should the Supply Chain Leader care?

While marketing colleagues are optimizing the tactics above, and defining new ways to use social to shape demand, promote awareness and energize the shopping experience, it unveils new opportunities for the supply chain team that I find that they are largely unaware of.

Redefinition of customer service. Organizations really don’t have customer service. If you ask what does your customer service department do, you will find that most take orders. There may be another department that receives customer complaints. But, the ability to listen and learn from shoppers and enhance the shopping experience through the integration of social technologies–twitter feeds, Facebook fan comments, private networks, syndication of review data–allows a 360 degree view of the digital consumer for the first time. The ability of the organization to think outside in and engage the shopper in a meaningful dialogue. it unveils the opportunity to listen, to have a meaningful response and to learn. For me, this is exciting.

New ways to sell to loyal shoppers. The concept of anticipation of needs through the social graph is also fascinating to me. Let me give you a personal example. I am going to be a grandmother. I am so excited to be a grandmother, but only my social connections know the full extent of my excitement. For the first time in 20 years, I am a shopper for all things baby. I am also a quilter, a knitter, and an avid crafter. Imagine how a smart company could use this information to anticipate and deliver some exciting offers to me to shape demand. The socialgraph enables unique insight on changes in lifestyle, community sharing, and tailored offers.

Channel proliferation. We have talked cross-channel for years; however, in my shopping experience, Nordstrom comes the closest to having a true cross-channel experience. For most companies, the e-commerce and bricks and mortar channels are separate and distinct. But now we have channel proliferation with M-commerce through mobile and social commerce through Facebook. This channel proliferation will force companies to rethink their supply chains. It will give rise to a new wave of supply chain execution applications. A new bar will need to be reached for inventory accuracy the need for a more real-time signal of inventory in the extended supply chain. Removing data latency on inventory movement will become a new corporate focus.

A new need for new type of supply chain transparency. When we communicate all the way to the shelf with the shopper, a new level of supply chain transparency is needed–especially on manufacturing and quality data– to convey the brand promise for health and wellness, food safety, organic, etc. This driver will redefine manufacturing execution systems and force the integration of bill of material, process quality data, and specification information in a new way. It will also tie manufacturing execution systems to supply visibility. Supply chain execution will no longer JUST be about order fulfillment.

Summary

It is happening. It is exciting, and can redefine value chains. Unfortunately, for 95% of companies that I interviewed, it is ONLY happening in marketing. Here is my plea. Please rethink your supply chain strategies for 2011 to welcome the digital consumer. We have talked about the need for shopper-centric supply chains for a decade. Don’t pass up the opportunity to be a pioneer in making the dream a new reality.

Lora Cecere

George’s Email Signature:

George Muha
Vice President Sales
CHTL Logistics
p (973) 747-5924
e gmuha@chtl.net

Helpful Links for Your Supply Chain: Reduce Concealed Damage * Avoid Weight & Inspections * What Does FOB Mean? * How To Calculate Freight Density * Google Tools That Help Your Supply Chain

Follow Me: Twitter * Facebook * LinkedIn

You’re right- it’s all the links at the bottom! But note that they are not advertisements. They are pointing to several popular articles I’ve written over the last several years that I feel could be useful to customers and potential customers. My signature also points readers to my Twitter account, where I Tweet several times a day on relevant freight topics that will help my customers and potential customers.

John Hancock proved that a simple signature has the ability to get a lot of attention with his signing of the Declaration of Independence. An email signature offers an opportunity to bring a lot of attention to the good things your company is doing in supply chain.

In the time since I started doing this, the number of visitors to my site has quadrupled. But more importantly, I feel that people view me as someone who is more than simply a sales person, just looking for the next order. That is because the links in my email bring value.

HOW THIS COULD BE USED FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

The reason I just shared this little technique with you is because I think it is a terrific way to create a ton of value to any supply chain. Just think about it for a minute; how many emails are being sent from your company to customers and potential customers in any given day?

Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that the average person at your company sends about 100 emails a day (which I don’t think is a stretch for most sales, customer service and purchasing people). Now let’s say that there are 20 sales, customer service and purchasing representatives in your company. That is 2,000 emails a day that are reaching customers and potential customers. Over the course of 260 working days in a year, that is 520,000 emails being sent out in a year. Opportunistically thinking, that is 520,000 times you could be delivering extra value to your supply chain.

WHAT SORT OF MESSAGE SHOULD WE PUT IN OUR SIGNATURE?

The message you want to put in your email signatures is up to you and your company. However, I would highly suggest not making it a sales pitch. Remember, this is about creating value to your supply chain. So you need to ask yourself what will bring value to your supply chain in the eyes of customers and potential customers.

I would recommend that the messages be individually based on the specific department. Each department works with a different audience, so it makes good sense to curtail the signature’s value to the particular clients they are dealing with on a daily basis.

In other words, customer service people are usually interacting with your customers. So adding a signature tag links that direct them to “how to track shipments,” “how to get your product faster,” or to a “FAQ page” would be a logical way to go.

Sales people are usually dealing with potential customers. Perhaps their email tags could point your customers to an article a big publication wrote about your firm. For purchasing, maybe you’d want to direct links to your FOB terms. For accounting, a link to credit scores could be useful.

A good technique for efficiently directing people through the use of email signatures would be using an analysis of the most common inbound calls each departments get. For example, if sales people are constantly getting calls on the latest overstock items, then add a link to the overstock page of your website.

If customer service is regularly getting calls related to questions of when products get shipped, then put a line in the signature that says “Every Order is Shipped the Same Day or Next Day, Guaranteed!” I think you are getting the idea.

HOW POWERFUL IS THIS TECHNIQUE?

I think this is technique can be very powerful if it is used in the right way. The true expert with regard to this idea was Hotmail. Back in 1996 they had 500,000 registered users. In less than a year they grew to 12,000,000 by simply putting a small advert at the bottom of all emails.

That Hotmail case study is a lot of fun to tell. I am sure many of the readers of this article are familiar with that story. However, it is amazing how many people are not using the potential that their signatures offer. In fact, it’s important to note that there are still an enormous amount of crazy people in the business world who are not even putting their contact info in their signature.

The fact that most email programs allow you to add a default signature is a lob pitch right down the middle of the plate. Now swing and hit the ball out of the park with this idea.

If you would like to book George Muha to visit with your company or association meeting on this topic or any other topic that he writes about contact him at george@freightsavingstips.com.

Featuring Aberdeen’s Nari Viswanathan, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Supply Chain Management and Bob Heaney, Sr. Research Analyst, Supply Chain Management, the comprehensive agenda will feature the latest research and case studies demonstrating the SCM strategies that are reducing costs across the enterprise and driving business growth.

Confirmed presenters at the 2010 Supply Chain Management Summit include:

• Burris Logistics, Edward Krupka, Jr., CIO
• Cisco Systems, Karl Braitberg, Vice President, Demand Management
• Fresenius Medical Care North America, Wally Stone, Vice President, Business Solutions
• Honeywell, Seema Phull, Vice President, Supply Chain Strategy
• Intel, Frank Jones, Vice President Technology and Manufacturing, GM Customer Fulfillment, Planning & Logistics
• Linksys, a Division of Cisco, Mark Payne, Vice President, Operations
• Logistics Resources International, Juan Rubio, Vice President
• Supply Chain Network (SCN)/SLP, Jeff Ashcroft, Principal Facilitator
• The Brick, Owen Wiberg, Vice President, Inventory and Logistics
• Walmart, Kelly Abney, Vice President, Corporate Transportation

Aberdeen’s Summit will recognize one organization as the 2010 Aberdeen Achievement Award Recipient for Best-in-Class supply chain accomplishments. The winner will be selected based on the following nomination criteria: process excellence, executive stewardship, business evolution, innovation in technology and performance excellence.

For additional information on the summit, visit http://summits.aberdeen.com/index.php/SCM.html.

Technology vendors can sponsor the SCM Summit and showcase their products and services to SCM decision makers. For summit sponsorship opportunities visit,

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Supply Chain Management Research.

About AberdeenGroup, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to AberdeenTM for insights that drive decisions.

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Aberdeen Group Confirms Expert Speaker Line-up for Annual Supply Chain Management Summit

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