October 01 2007

Poor supply chain integration hampering growth

9 out of 10 European retail and manufacturing businesses are struggling to automate the order-to-fulfilment cycle, as a result of major application integration challenges, according to research from Sterling Commerce. As a consequence, process gaps are preventing 72% of companies from adding new sales channels to target growth market opportunities.

Some 57% of the UK IT Managers who responded said they lacked a consolidated view of data across their supply chains.

50% said they felt confident they could track orders in real-time, a key requirement of efficient order-to-fulfilment.

1 in 5 admitted to gaining no competitive advantage at all from their IT systems.

David Hogg, retail CPG solutions manager, EMEA at Sterling Commerce said: "As the pace of today's business environment continues to intensify, businesses are coming under increased pressure to effectively meet customer requirements for greater access to order information across multiple channels and, more importantly, for orders to be fulfilled on promise, whether in the business or consumer domain.

"These results strongly suggest that UK businesses are facing a dual challenge; not only is poor integration having an impact on internal efficiency but it is actually adversely impacting their ability to respond quickly to changing market demands, such as profitably launching a new sales channel or on-boarding new trading partners."

Emma Herrod