We are very happy with our SAP system that allows us to optimize every aspect of supply chain management for our customers. According to this item in Procurement Leaders, many companies are upgrading their systems to handle the increasing complexity of the industry and meet new challenges:
Analytics and business intelligence systems designed to optimise business functions such as supply chain will be the “top-ranked” technology for 2012, market experts predicts.
According to a newly published global survey of CIOs by Gartner’s Executive Programs, firms are increasingly using such technologies to drive efficiency improvement programmes in the current fragile economic climate.
“Analytics/business intelligence was the top-ranked technology for 2012 as CIOs are combining analytics with other technologies to create new capabilities. For example, analytics plus supply chain for process management and improvement, analytics plus mobility for field sales and operations, and analytics plus social for customer engagement and acquisition,” the poll revealed.
The study, Amplifying the Enterprise: The 2012 CIO Agenda, went on to note that IT organisations will have to deliver on multiple priorities without an increase in their IT budget, as CIO IT budgets are expected to be flat, increasing just 0.5 %, with declining IT budgets in North America and Europe.
The worldwide CIO survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2011, and it included 2,335 CIOs, representing more than $321bn in CIO IT budgets and covering 37 industries in 45 countries. “Technology’s role in the enterprise is increasing. This does not mean, however, that the role of the IT organisation is increasing,” said Mark McDonald, group vice president for Gartner Executive Programs and Gartner Fellow.
“CIOs concentrating on IT as a force of operational automation, integration and control are losing ground to executives who see technology as a business amplifier and source of innovation. Effective leaders use technology, which includes IT, to strengthen the customer experience and eliminate costly internal distortions. They are using technology to ‘amplify’ the enterprise.”
He added that in the face of continued economic uncertainty and government austerity, business strategies call for a combination of growth and operational efficiency: “As reflected in the 2012 CIO Agenda survey findings, effective leaders see customers as the key factor in both of these strategic components, with the customer experience their focal point in reconciling potentially conflicting goals.
“Present economic conditions may tempt CIOs to force IT back into cost-cutting mode, but senior executives expect technology – and this includes IT – to address the tough challenges by amplifying enterprise strategies and operations.”
Taken from Procurement Leaders