Analyst Insight: 2009 painfully taught organizations the value of having a flexible, modular, agile supply chain - from planning through to execution. Companies learned that being prepared for uncertainty with the right people, processes and technology can be the key to business survival. CPG companies that have maintained and developed their talent, redefined their processes and strengthened their supply chain capabilities can look forward to a rewarding, yet challenging, 2010.

Analyst Insight: The performance benefits of mobile devices and voice technologies in order fulfillment are well-established, and their usage is a hallmark of Best-in-Class performance. RFID, however, is still maturing in this space. What it does provide, especially for manufacturing and transportation, is added traceability both inside and outside the warehouse.

Analyst Insight: Don't be fooled by the dismal lack of progress in government venues on climate-change agreements or environmental legislation. The smartest companies are already pushing the frontier to bigger and bolder green agendas to gain competitive advantage, with the added benefit of enhancing their reputations for true corporate responsibility.

Analyst Insight: The current advantaged freight rates in LTL/Truckload modes that most companies have secured during the down economy will not last. Tomorrow's leaders cannot rest and must begin to embrace collaboration tools and technology to support process improvements around the linkage of key partners both internally and externally and to embrace integration as the key to process improvement and transformation.

Analyst Insight: PLM applications have grown up in engineering or technology-oriented value chains where product and technological complexity required a much firmer grasp of specifications and proactive lifecycle management, but a number of market trends suggest PLM applications might offer important capabilities to process manufacturers.

Analyst Insight: 2009 was filled with mergers and acquisitions led by mega mergers. During this time, the definition of "pharmaceutical company" evolved, as the big players began morphing into global health care providers. As the evolution continues, processes for integrating multinational supply chains, new product lines, and rationalizing LSP contracts will challenge even the most capable and visionary supply chain executives.

Analyst Insight: Economic volatility has been the cause for the majority of supply chain disruptions in 2008-2009, forcing companies to put an increased emphasis on supply chain management. In today's multi-enterprise demand-supply networks, process collaboration, closed-loop integration between planning and execution, and enhanced focus on intelligence and performance management become key to success.