In today's world of web-based ordering, consumers expect the right products to be available all the time, delivered quickly, and for status updates to be provided at every stage of the process until the product is received. This places very high expectations on wholesalers, suppliers, distributors and retailers alike to ensure they are able to meet this demand, and they have little margin for errors and delays. The manual processes businesses have historically relied on make them vulnerable to the factors that contribute to these shortcomings and can negatively affect production, margins, reputation, scorecard performance and, ultimately, the bottom line. Because of this, supply chain executives are embracing real-time visibility and system collaboration.