Reading some media reports, you might believe that the retail industry is in serious decline. But all is not as it seems.

In 2013, Michael Dell shocked the world by taking his namesake computer company private in the largest leveraged buyout since the Great Depression. He shocked it again in 2015 when he announced that the Texas company would merge with Massachusetts’ EMC, another tech industry stalwart, in one of the biggest deals in business, worth $67.7bn.

Supply chains are under tremendous pressure to perform better. The average consumer now spends considerable time researching the best prices for the products they want, they’re comfortable ordering online, and they expect swift delivery at a time that suits them.

With the emergence of new digital technologies such as Mobility, Big Data, Cloud, Business Intelligence/AI, the IoT, etc., new and more abundant sources of data are available to improve forecasting and demand management. Companies that embrace digital and transform their demand management processes will gain significant competitive advantage. While the traditional statistical forecast may serve a baseline, demand analyses must extend across functions (silos) and include many different sources of causal data. -Rich Sherman, Senior Fellow, Supply Chain Centre of Excellence, Tata Consultancy Services