Analyst Insight: The software market for services has changed and is rapidly evolving. Overlap of features and functions often confuse organizations and consequently, they end up selecting the wrong type of software that they require. Organizations must be aware that the market for professional services is differentiated by professional services automation and project management and is further separated by full ERP suites or point solutions. -- Dylan Persaud, Managing Director, Eval-Source

Analyst Insight: After traveling around the globe for the last three years, talking about supply chain risk management, facilitating workshops, educating companies and developing a graduate level class covering the subject, I'm thoroughly convinced this new concept is becoming the new discipline of supply chain excellence. So much so that APICS, the premier society for Operations Management professionals, has developed a first-of-its-kind certificate in supply chain risk management to help identify, assess, mitigate and manage risk. - Gregory L. Schlegel, Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University, Graduate Program

Analyst Insight: Highly regulated industries"”such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace, food, and chemicals"”typically implement traceability and serialization capabilities to meet regulatory requirements, quality, and recall purposes. These same capabilities can be useful in reducing theft within the supply chain. But it takes more than just technology. It requires a community that can share that information effectively and collaborate with law enforcement at national, state and local levels. -- Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

Analyst Insight: Innovative and strategic supply chain segmentation is a key strategy for effective supply chain analysis, enabling greater responsiveness and the ability to focus resources. Competition requires a better identification of key supply chain segments, considering that 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of items. An additional factor adding complexity is that increasingly manufacturers are adding services as part of their offerings - termed "servitization." Effective segmentation is the key to managing these complexities. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

Analyst Insight: Based on a survey of 160 supply chain leaders in a recent webinar conducted by Steelwedge, we found that companies captured a whopping 70 percent more data (product, supply, demand and finance) to manage their organizations in 2012. Yet, 77 percent of these businesses are not actually leveraging this data in their S&OP processes, thereby leaving "blind spots" in their decision making processes around critical supply/demand trade-offs. - Nari Viswanathan, Vice President of Product Management, Steelwedge

Analyst Insight: Neither a lack of cogent definitions re: what these services and technologies are nor confusion in pricing models is slowing down interest in cloud, SaaS and on-demand solutions. Our research shows a consistent increase in buyer adoption of enterprise and consumer applications - cloud-accessible - from desk top, smartphones and tablets of all size companies in all industries. - Ann Grackin, CEO, ChainLink Research

Analyst Insight: For the past 30 years, sales and operations planning (S&OP) has been espoused by the Oliver Wight organization based on its founder's concepts. It has manifested itself to include inventory (SIOP) and has morphed into integrated business planning (IBP). However, only within the last five years, has it been heralded and crossed the chasm to mainstream business practice. We think it may only be the tip of the iceberg though, not the core solution to step-change improved performance. - Rich Sherman, Supply Chain Discipline Expert at Trissential

Analyst Insight: Sales and operations planning (S&OP) still remains a challenge for many organizations. In Aberdeen Group's recent report, S&OP: A Critical Process for Superior Performance, we identified that more than half of the companies (56 percent) that are not best-in-class do not yet have a formalized S&OP process in place. The question becomes "Why and what are the differences between best-in-class and all others?" The answer can be found by examining differences between them for process and organizational capabilities. - Bryan Ball, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Aberdeen Supply Chain practice

Analyst Insight: Software has become extremely effective in tracking and tracing the smallest detail. In actuality, enterprise software vendors have incorporated recall management and best practices into their software. Organizations often lack the necessary policies and procedures to facilitate reverse logistics processes, but software is not one of the deficiencies. -- Keean Persaud, Managing Director, Eval-Source