Business Networking in the Modern Age

Networking between businesses has never been easier than it is today.

Time was once when representatives of local businesses had to drag themselves away from their concerns to attend meetings of the Chamber of Commerce or the local business forum and, whilst that method of personal interaction is still vitally important for the purpose of knowing who's who in your local business community, there are now so many different ways of keeping in touch with others within either your neighbourhood or your niche.

The latter is so very important. It has always been fairly easy to interact with business people operating a few yards along your own street. Traditionally it has been more difficult to get in touch with others operating in the same line of business as yourself who might be based in some other part of the country, or indeed in another country.

Social media like Facebook and Twitter, along with business focused resources such as LinkedIn, have proved to be valuable. They have almost literally brought the world home to your computer screen. Today it is so easy to communicate with anyone anywhere else in the world that we very much take it for granted.

But why would we wish to be in contact with other business people anyway? Particularly those with whom we are competing in the same finite and frequently scarce market?

This question needs to be looked at from different scenarios. If you were the manager of a public house, for instance, and another similar enterprise was located next door to your own (unlikely though that may be in this day and age) then your neighbour and yourself would clearly be in competition with each other. If however the other premises were situated a few streets away you would in all likelihood share many of the same customers, those who move around from place to place. You would have a shared interest in maintaining the popularity and the standard of the neighbourhood for incoming visitors, and in identifying troublemakers and sharing intelligence on such things as drug taking and other anti-social behaviour.

Of course most neighbourhoods will be host to a wide range of completely different and varying business interests. Once again these will have a mutual interest in raising the appeal of the area in which they operate so as to encourage more visitors from outside who will, it is hoped, use all the services and patronise all the shops and retail outlets. They will have a mutual interest in eradicating crime such as robbery, vandalism and anti-social behaviour that invariably has the effect of deterring custom.

Networking Leads - Justify

Savvy networkers can take their networking to the next level by joining exclusive networking groups. There are strict criteria and certain groups attract specific members according to profession and industry. Weekly meeting facilitate the process of exchanging business, resources and relationships. One of the main purposes of these groups is to generate leads and contacts for their members.

This article is one of four in a series which concentrates on building the right leads and creating a networking advantage.

Justify Getting the Lead

Once you have obtained a list of leads or contacts, the next step is to follow through. Be cautious of how you do business and associate with others. A good exercise may be to justify or list the benefits of getting those particular leads. Look through your business plan or goals and find out how this contact lines up with your marketing plan.

One good way to get started is to make a list of expectations for getting the leads. Find ways of building these contacts to improve your business, business processes or career endeavors. Find parallels of how those leads can create more profitable and beneficial connection. Ask questions which can be tracked and are measurable.

Look for the value in pursuing the leads. Are they going to be easily workable and obtainable? Are they going to generate the business or connections which you desire? Can they be acquired in a timely manner or cost extra time and energy? Is the lead worth the extra time and energy? Can you afford to spend that kind of time and energy without sacrificing your other obligations or agendas? Evaluating these types of questions gives you insight on how to approach the matter without bearing much risk.

Networking Leads - Juggle

Individuals, who find networking beneficial, tend to join exclusive networking groups to enhance their networking agendas. These groups provide a structured support for building business and social relations. They are organized through weekly meeting and are selective in their membership and guests who are invited. The main purpose of these groups is to generate leads for advancement and growth.

This article is one of four which illustrates on how professionals can obtain quality leads for business and social success.

Juggle Multiple Leads

Networking is a tool for business as well as an art form. It requires skill and ability for even the most professional of individuals. Once you have obtained your list of leads or contacts, the next step is to properly follow up. The method in which you follow up can determine the success rate of achieving favorable outcomes among your lead pool. It may be wise to contact multiple leads at one time to gain momentum and consistency.

This requires you to be diligent and focused on your approach methods. Create specific ways of how to reach out to your leads and stay in contact. Draft a chart or sheet which lists information about each lead and the progressive steps of the connections. Make notes of best ways of interacting with the leads once you have made the initial contact. Be specific in how you log in responses, leave messages and take notes during conversations or meetings.

Although it can be considered a tedious task, the more organized you are the better. Reach out to group members to find the best practices. Share thoughts, ideas and resources which are useful and relevant to the process.

Benefits Of Networking

Networking provides numerous benefits. Networks are easier to install than ever before. In spite of the technical nature of this in-depth network coverage, just using networks is easy and the benefits quickly become obvious.

Simplified Resource Sharing

Resource sharing is easier over a network; whether the network uses a peer or client/server configuration is immaterial.

1) Shared Disk Space

Networked computers can share their hard disk space with each other. At first glance, this doesn't seem momentous; after all, many computers have large hard drives. But it's not the file-storage capabilities that are important here - it's sharing applications and files. It is satisfying to be able to find a copy of a file you require, copy it to your desktop computer, and work on it without leaving your chair.

2) Shared Applications

Although sharing files is an important reason for networking, sharing applications is another, equally important reason. Shared applications can be as prosaic as using a copy of Microsoft Word stored on another user's drive or as elaborate as a groupware application that routes data from user to user according to complex preset rules.

A groupware application (also called groupware or collaborative software) is an application that enables multiple users to work together using the network to connect them. Such applications can work serially, where (for instance) a document is automatically routed from person A to person B when person A is finished with it, or it can be software to enable real-time collaboration. IBM's Lotus Notes software is an example of the former, and Microsoft's Office has some real-time collaborative features.

3) Shared Printers

A third aspect of resource sharing is shared printers. Standalone printers-that is, printers attached to computers that aren't networked-represent a significant capital expense. Printers typically also cost a lot to run; they consume ink or toner when they print, and inkjet and toner cartridges are typically expensive.

4) Networking Is Faster

Given everything else that has been said here, it seems obvious that networking is faster than not networking. And, in fact, it is faster. Just think about it:

. No more printing memos-use email!

. No more running from desk to desk to check everyone's availability for a meeting-use the group calendar!

. No more wondering whose Rolodex has the name of the person you need to call-you can get it from the contact database.

. No more racing around from computer to computer to get the file you need-just copy or open it from the network drive.

Networking Tips For the College Student

Networking is becoming increasing popular on the collegiate scene and many students are taking advantage of its valuable benefits. College students are networking at campus social events, volunteer/community activities, lectures, conferences and career fairs. College students can also branch out and start to build social and professional relationships with their business counterparts for ongoing success. Although it may appear that students have limited funds, limited time and limited resources, this article is designed to shatter those false theories and provide opportunities for college students to excel in their networking endeavors!

Listed below are tips and suggestions which are practical for college students who are networking and want to build relationships for academic and career advancement.

The Great Follow Up

College students are encouraged to follow up immediately after meeting professionals, business people and other college students at networking events. Follow ups can be in the form of email, phone calls or written correspondence. The follow up should not only be timely, but also professional and meaningful for both parties involved. In the follow-up make sure to include the reason for following up and the purpose of building a relationship.

On Campus Activities

College students should be very proactive in their networking objectives and initiate one-on-one gatherings. It is an excellent way to build relationships and develop their networking skills. Although college students tend to operate on limited funds, here are a few suggestions of how they can approach their business counterparts for success meetings.

Art / Cultural Shows On Campus

We recommend that college students invite professionals and colleagues to art, cultural and social activities on campus. Most of these events are free and if they are after hours, your business counterparts might not have to pay for parking. It is a great opportunity to show your business counterpart around the campus and inform them of various activities within the student body.

Lunch on Me

College students can also offer to meet up with their business counterparts on campus and have lunch at the cafeteria or at a nearby restaurant. Depending on the eating situation, students can use their student id card or meal plan to cover the meal expenses. Yes, if you are inviting someone to breakfast, lunch or dinner, it is your responsibility to pay. The other person may be courteous and pay for their half but do not always assume the latter. It is a sign of respect, etiquette and kindness.

Head of the Class

Another great way to build relationships, is to invite your business counterpart to sit in on one of your favorite classes or lectures/speeches. It would be a great learning experience and you can use that opportunity to introduce your counterpart to your professor, friends and other college/university staff. You can also use that opportunity to ask to be invited to social and business events of your business counterpart.

These are excellent ideas for building relationships, taking initiatives and moving towards your networking goals. College students should also remember to follow up in a timely manner, be punctual for all events and meetings and to be professional in their social and business dealings with their business counterparts.

Networking Memberships - Upload

In order to gain the most of your networking endeavors, it is key to join a professional networking group. These groups have an existing and workable model for creating a strong and efficient network with like minded individuals in a business atmosphere. The structure, mission and representatives of the group are the needed ingredients for a successful networking experience.

This article is one in a series of four articles which explores the dynamics of memberships in quality organizations. Individuals can learn important tips for maximizing their participation and efforts.

Upload Your Expertise into the Group

We live in a digital age and use the computer and online technologies for practically everything in our lives. This should also run parallel with your social and business endeavors. As a member of an organization, focus on adding value and relevance to the group. Besides paying your dues and attending events regularly, seek out ways to market your expertise to improve the quality of the organization. One suggestion is to set up a meeting with the director or president of the group and explain your initiatives. Create a list of your strong character and professional traits, or a list of services or products which you or your company offers. Follow up with an exchange system for implementing the services or distributing the products.

Although this can be viewed as a form of solicitation, make clear your objectives and intent for the meeting. This could be facilitated through a bartering or vendor relationship. There are several ways to create a partnership or association to get more involved and engaged within the group. Do not limit your interactions to just the leadership of the group. Find ways to connect and partner with fellow group members and associates. These types of alliances foster business and economic growth and attract potential new members

Networking - For Window Cleaning Business Owners

As a window cleaner you might have a hard time opening up, maybe talking to others in the window cleaning industry, or others in another industry. Well I have some BIG news for you, things need to change. This article was written to show you how important networking can be if you harness the power it holds. Have you ever heard the saying "it's not what you know, its who you know"? Of course you have. This saying is very true especially in the times we live in. I know many who have degrees in a field or spent many years studying at popular schools and end up jobless or working a "normal" job that any high school applicant could have landed. Then on the flip side you have ones who are just out of high school and have high end paying jobs or careers because they "knew someone" - THAT right their is an example of how important networking is for you personally as a window cleaner.

Six degrees of separation (also known as the "Human Web") points to the fact that on average everyone on the entire planet is friends or acquaintances 6 steps away from any other person. So basically you know someone who knows someone 6 times over who knows Obama or even Lady GaGa. How can you use this to your advantage? If you take time to know a guy who does pressure washing in the next city over, you think he can refer you to a well paying client? If you talk to the guy at the donut shop who's dad owns 3 story commercial building with dirty windows wouldn't you agree that you already have an advantage or "your foot in the door" over any other window cleaner to take care of that building? If you make friends with another window cleaner in the same area and give him a job you just didn't want to do or couldn't take care of don't you think he would return the favor sometime in the future? These are all examples of how you as a window cleaner can network with other window cleaners and other people in general.

The other day a window cleaner from San Diego was looking for help on a large commercial job out here where I live. I offered to help him. It turns out he has TONS of experience in commercial low rise and high rise buildings, I had the privilege of learning from him throughout the day. My interest in focusing on commercial buildings for my business grew. This window cleaner knew the owner of a popular water fed pole company who could sell me a brand new 60' Full Carbon fiber water fed pole for $700, originally $2,800. I know doubt gave the guy a call. Towards the end of the work day this window cleaner from San Diego decided to sub contract the job out to me, I would be making $1,000 on my own in one work day every three months. Turns out the guy who manufactures the water fed poles needed help with his website, I was happy to help him and he ended up giving me the pole for FREE.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter have become a mainstream part of the American and world pop culture. "Social networking" is the term used to describe websites where people set up their own personal web page, use this to meet new friends and reunite with old friends, and otherwise create a network of friends and contacts on the Internet.

Online social networks have become a way to keep in touch with your oldest friends in the world, share your love of games, network for love, reignite old romantic flames, or even further your career through business networking. Because tweeting and Facebooking provides such a variety of advantages and options to such a wide range of people, social network sites have become a mainstream online phenomenon.

Facebook

Facebook is the site people wanting to contact old classmates and childhood friends use. When you establish a page, you'll get friend suggestions according to your current address, your childhood addresses, and the schools you attended. Once you start to add friend, you might receive suggestions from their list of friends, so that you have an ever-expanding network of people you might have known throughout your life. Eventually, you tend to reunite with dozens, if not hundreds, of old friends and acquaintances.

Another aspect to Facebook is the tendency people have to meet their old boyfriends and girlfriends online and catch up on old times. Often, the nostalgia for a lost love turns into a reunion of another sorts, or people who had mutual crushes in their teen years or college days end up hooking up for romantic relationships, to see what might have been or fulfill a long-standing fantasy. This has led one preacher to deride Facebook as a "portal to infidelity", though it should go without saying that the vast majority of people on Facebook are more interested in telling you about their kids, their spouse, and their latest trip to the grocery store. (Also, that particular preacher turned out to have a past far seedier than your average Facebook fancy.)

Twitter

Twitter gives people the ability to send short, pithy "tweets" to all the people in their online network. Each tweet only contains 140 characters or less, so brevity is key on Twitter. Submitting links to favorite online stories or re-tweeting other people's tweets is a way to show people what it is you care about, as well as show what you're following on the computer.

Since a few athletes and politicians began tweeting, and since a few of these celebrities got into trouble for posting on Twitter something they didn't entirely think through, Twitter has become a place to follow mini-scandals. A number of celebrities have become big Twitter phenoms--Ashton Kutcher most famously.

MySpace

MySpace was the first huge, mainstream social networking site. MySpace began as a portal for bands, musicians, and musical artists to find jobs, bandmates, and other career opportunities. At a point, My-Space morphed into a portal for a mainstream audience, including millions of teens and tweens. While Facebook and Twitter have surpassed MySpace in the social consciousness these days, this is still a massive web presence still impacting the culture.

Linked In

LinkedIn specifically caters to business professionals wanting to find job, meet business contacts, and otherwise advance and network in the career field and business world. With 85,000,000 people linked into the site, this is a place anyone with a commercial venture, business skills, or need for a job should have a page on.

There are a huge number and variety of social network websites out there, and you should view LinkedIn as the type of niche sites available out there. If you have a particular hobby, interest, or venture in mind, you can probably find a web address that lets you network socially online in this field of interest.

Successful Business Networking

Are you serious about building your business through networking? Then you need an approach designed to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

It seems obvious that the purpose of networking is to find prospects, right? So you scout the room, identify the most likely candidates, launch into your 30-second intro and follow up with the ten reasons why you should get together for a meeting next week.

On the odd occasion this may net you a sale, but for the most part you'll just be met with glazed eyes and a blank expression. Because the other people in the room have come, not to buy, but to sell their own products or services.

How do you get to the point then, where your networking contacts start buying from you, rather than trying to sell to you? Follow these tips, and you'll be well on your way:

1. Settle in for the long haul.

Networking is not a speedy promotional solution. It's a way to build a network of business contacts who know, like and trust you; a network of people you stay in touch with, and become friendly with.

Once you have that network, you will start to find that you're receiving business, leads and referrals from all directions.

2. It's better to give than to receive.

Concentrate first on bringing value to the people you meet, and to the groups you join. Your listening skills, and your willingness to offer free advice and assistance, or to make connections will make you much more memorable than your elevator speech ever will.

For every person you meet, ask yourself the following questions:

· What are their objectives and goals?
· How can I help them achieve those objectives?
· How might they benefit from connections with other people I know?
· How could they benefit from my information or ideas?
· What can I do right now to be helpful?

3. Stay in touch.

Without follow-up your networking activities will be waste of time and money, and yet it's the easiest step to ignore.

Again, though, if you follow up with a sales message you'll turn people off. Rather, try following up with some advice on a challenge mentioned at last night's meeting; or a link to a website your contact may be interested in. Try putting them in touch with someone they should meet.

You'll be establishing yourself as someone worth knowing, and definitely laying the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship.

4. Use Social Media.

One of the easiest ways to invite people to stay in touch these days is to invite them to join you on social media. It's an invitation that is non-threatening and widely accepted, and it gives you the perfect vehicle with which to stay top of mind as an expert in your field.

5. Be Clear.

Finally - and yes, it's just as important as all the above - be clear about what your business has to offer.

While you're building those relationships and helping other people, it's obviously crucial that you are communicating clearly what your own business is, and what solution you provide:

· Create an elevator speech that succinctly states (a) what problem you solve, (b) how you solve it, and (c) for whom.
· Take printed materials that are professional and branded. They should summarize what you do, and provide details of websites, social media sites and other sources of information.
· Follow-up with communications that are clearly branded with your 'signature' or tagline, explaining what you do.
· Use social media and internet marketing activities designed to establish you as an expert in your field.

Above all, remember to think of networking not as an opportunity to go out there and sell, but as a platform for building mutually beneficial relationships. The long-term benefits of those relationships will far outweigh the short-term gains of an occasional sale - and you'll have more fun!

Social Networking For Business - Building Business Relationships On Facebook

The inevitable evolution of maintaining personal relationships, or even making personal relationships via social networks, leads to using social networking for business. Building business relationships on Facebook, for example, is an excellent way to introduce yourself to people all over the planet with like-minded interests. New business prospects and potential product buyers can be just a few clicks away on the Internet.

How To Start Social Networking For Business
Beginning with a computer, an Internet connection, and a Facebook account, one of the best places to start social networking for business is to join Facebook Groups. Building business relationships by joining Facebook Groups is a nice way to grow your social network.

Prior to becoming a member of a particular Group, you should be able to list the reasons for joining that specific group. After all, joining a Facebook Group, whether it be for social networking for business or any other intention, that doesn't support your initiative will only contribute to information overload - something we all hope to avoid! So, in order to find appropriate Facebook Groups to join, start by identifying your type of business - what are you marketing and how might someone search for and find information about it on Facebook? The very best way to figure this out is to do it - open up your popular search engine in your browser and start searching just like anyone else would do. For example, if your business markets and sells weight loss products and dietary supplements, someone might search for "nutrition", "health", "wellness", or "weight loss". These search terms are called keywords or keyword phrases. Take note of those that result in relevant results, especially Facebook Groups. When you find relevant Facebook Groups, assess them as described below since, after all, if you found them by searching on keywords or keyword phrases connected with your business or product, other people doing the same searches are those with whom you're looking to build relationships!

If you do not find relevant Facebook Groups while searching via your favorite search engine in your browser, using the collection of relevant keywords you noted in the previous step and type them, one-by-one, into the Facebook search bar and search! Searches within the Facebook site itself will list all Facebook Groups associated with your keyword or keyword phrase. If any of the resulting Groups seem interesting, click on the Group name to "enter" the Group.

Review Facebook Group to determine individual social networking for business relevance
While reviewing the Group page, note recent member postings, number of members, Group descriptions, number of people who "like" the group, and corresponding materials. You can find this data on the Group's "wall". I recommend NOT joining just any Group. Again, you want to avoid - at all costs - the chance of information overload. So, if, based on the descriptions and member postings, this Group seems to be a good place to attempt social networking for business, ensure that the Group is current (people are actively posting, communicating, and networking) and that the number of members and "likes" are appropriately large (by this, I mean that given the popularity of your business, there are a large enough number of followers to make it worth your while to join). If all the numbers seem appropriate and acceptable and the group fits your business interests, join the group!

Now that you are "on the inside," it's time to network. Social networking for business starts the same way as networking online and offline - say "Hello!" Make yourself known to your fellow members by saying "hello" in a wall post, a status message on the Groups wall. Your message will be seen by everyone who visits the page and even those who have linked their email account to Group messages. Having to chase after all relationships can be time-consuming and tiring, if not unsuccessful, so make everything you say instructive. At the very least, do so because it will be sandwiched in between other members postings and you want to stand out and attract relationships to you.

How to Network: An Advanced Networking Technique for New Financial Planners Who Want to Survive

As a brand new financial planner or life insurance agent, you might be surprised when you start networking (the company will insist). You'll meet people, they'll smile, you ask what they do, they'll ask what you do, and then you tell them. They'll stop smiling. They'll drop your hand and they might even take a step or two back.

See, they've met a lot of financial planners who haven't taken the time to read or learn anything about networking. Those other guys think that business networking events are a place to meet prospects, hand out their card and get appointments to "get to know each other" which really means that they want to start filling in the blanks in the prospect form that the company provides.

No one likes this. And since networking is actually a process that is not selling, but instead a way to get to know, like and trust other people who you might do business with someday, their blunders are working against you.

How do you start networking with people who are way ahead of you, who have met plenty of your colleagues who have almost ruined the process for you? Surprise them - in a good way. Don't try to find out what life insurance they have, or if they have a 401k or even if they have money at all (well, hopefully they have a little bit but don't ask!).

Here's an idea that will really blow their mind and will possibly make you a friend for life. Tell them that you promise to not ask them for their business for a year. Write it down on your card: I promise to not promote anything that I sell until X date. You can tell them that you will provide them with ideas and suggestions but onlyif they ask you first!

This will help them feel incredibly safe. And they'll be open to a real relationship. Make it a joke. Laugh about it, then suddenly get all serious and tell them, "No really, it is vitally important to me to build relationships first. If you decide at some point that you very much want to do business with me, I would be honored. But until then, I pledge to never bring it up."

P.S. This requires that you have other means of bringing in business, such as advertising, seminars, articles and other marketing strategies so that you don't starve in the meantime.

Beth Bridges has attended over 2,000 networking events in the last 7 years as the Membership Director and Chief Networking Officer of a large west coast chamber of commerce. She has successfully used variations on this technique over the years (even though people always love a Membership Director).

"Making Your Supply Chain a Competitive Advantage: Implementing S&OP" If you receive errors when attempting to view this white paper, please insta

There are as many definitions of S&OP as there are practitioners and consultants (maybe more). Here's one we've found applicable across many businesses and industries:

Sales and Operations Planning is a continuous, structured process for managing the supply chain so that supply is balanced with demand in accordance with the business strategy.
It incorporates Demand Planning, Supply/Demand Balancing, and Inventory Management subprocesses which meet monthly and interact continually to create and execute a single set of integrated plans.
It provides continuous monitoring of performance vs. plan and a disciplined way of responding to changes to minimize disruptions and maximize the bottom line. The process culminates in a monthly meeting at which

recent performance vs. plan is reviewed, and
plans and alternatives for future sales and operations are presented to senior management for decision-making / approval.

The definition is deceptively simple, perhaps, until you examine the details. Let's point out the most important points, so you can compare with your business' current state:

Continuous, structured process
Single set of integrated plans
Subprocesses&8230;interact continually
Disciplined way of responding to changes
Senior management decision making/approval

Continuous, Structured Process

S&OP is not just a monthly meeting. Nor is it something you do sporadically and only when there's a crisis to address. Occasional flashes of brilliance are great, but you can't count on them to run a supply chain. S&OP is a way of managing the entire supply chain for dependable, reliable, reproducible results.

S&OP is also a structured process. The same set of steps and subprocesses are repeated each month in preparation for the "Executive S&OP Meeting." Meetings are scheduled a full year in advance, to avoid calendar conflicts. Charts (very similar month to month) are issued beforehand and minutes afterwards. Action items have both responsibilities (who) and timetables (when) attached, and are reviewed at the following meeting.

While entire organizations may be allowed to participate by teleconference, the speaking roles are clearly defined in order to keep the meeting focused and brief (1 to 1 ½ hours). All the hard work either has been done before the meeting (generating plans, alternatives, pros and cons, assumptions) or will be done afterwards (executing the plans and monitoring for adherence to plan). Anything unusual or controversial has already been communicated, so that there are no surprises at the meeting itself.
Single Set of Integrated Plans

Here is the heart of the S&OP process, often referred to as "one set of numbers" or a "single version of the truth." In businesses without an S&OP process, even those which may have some sort of demand and/or supply planning in place, all too often each function has its own set of spreadsheets containing its "version of the truth."

Finance is working off a set of numbers all its own, instead of a dollarized version of the S&OP plan. Sales may or may not have a forecast. Operations may or may not believe it and so may decide to "adjust" it to what they think is more realistic. Or perhaps no sales forecast is provided, so that operations are forced to do the best it can to outguess demand and produce accordingly.

Pity the poor business (true story) in which the demand planner found out that his plant was going to be down for three weeks. He was stocking out of product right and left when, half way through that time, he finally called the plant. He had assumed they were having mechanical problems ' but learned that they'd decided unilaterally to go down for inventory control. Obviously, there was no S&OP process in this business.

So how do you get to a single set of integrated plans? That's where the subprocesses come in.
Subprocesses . . . Interact Continually

The Demand Planning, Supply Planning (also called Supply/Demand Balancing), Inventory Management, and Financial Planning subprocesses are not strictly sequential and are definitely not independent of each other. Each has a cross-functional component.

The Demand Planning meeting, for example, should include a representative from supply planning. Why? Suppose Sales proposes to double the amount of product X it sells for next month. The supply planner may be able to say without reference to anything but the knowledge in his head that supply of product X is very tight, and there's no way operations can supply double the usual amount next month. Or suppose Marketing wants to pull the introduction of a new product up two months earlier than previously planned. The supply planner may be able to say right away that the equipment required can't be installed within that time frame. By having supply planning represented in this meeting, we can prevent a lot "looping back" to revisit earlier stages in the planning cycle. This is why it's so important to have cross functional representation in each subprocess meeting. In addition, it's important to have each function hear and understand the discussions to comprehend "where the other side is coming from" instead of just looking at the final output and wondering, "What in the Sam Hill were they thinking?"

Similarly, at each step of the way, finance needs to be identifying gaps between plans and the Annual Budget or other financial commitment to the corporation. Specific plans to fill these gaps ("hope" is not a plan) must be devised and responsibilities and timelines assigned.

Once a monthly set of plans is approved, communications among the subprocesses continue throughout the month as there are fluctuations and variations from plan.
Disciplined Way of Responding to Changes

Having a "single set of integrated plans" doesn't mean blindly following the plan all month if, for example, expected demand is not materializing, or demand for one product is much higher than expected. What it does mean is that when the "continuous monitoring" detects such deviations, there is a structured, defined way for all plans to change together.

Depending on business policy, this may mean a quick re-cycle of the whole monthly process in mid-month. More efficiently, it may mean that under pre-defined circumstances (e.g., deviation of more than X% from plan), the demand planner and supply planner together, say, may be empowered to collaborate informally with the other supply chain stakeholders and then change the operational plans. In such a case, they would also be obligated to inform all other supply chain participants ' sales, finance, inventory management, top management, etc., of the new plans. The details of the changes, their causes and outcomes, would be reviewed at the next S&OP meeting.
Senior Management Decision Making/Approval

The S&OP meeting itself is not just (or even mainly) for reporting how you did last month. Its reason for being is for decision making by top management. The top business manager, be it CEO or Division Manager or General Manager, is a must-have attendee. All other top management (sales, finance, operations, etc.) must either attend or send a delegate empowered to make decisions in his/her place. The meeting cannot be hamstrung because Joe couldn't make it. Also present, of course, are the Demand Planner, Supply Planner, Inventory Manager, and Finance representative, along with the S&OP Coordinator (who may be the same individual as one of the other roles) who has prepared the slides and made sure all the necessary pre-work and communications are done.

Each month, the S&OP Coordinator presents the integrated plans decided on by the team, along with the assumptions behind them. If there are unknowns to be considered (e.g., there may be a strike four months from now which would idle two of our three plants), then alternative scenarios and the pros and cons of each should be prepared in advance. The art of being the S&OP coordinator is guessing in advance what sort of questions management is likely to ask and being prepared with the answers (How soon do we need to start building inventory if there is a strike? How much will we have to build? What will it cost us? How likely is the strike? If we build the inventory and then there is no strike, how long will it take us to work it off?). Each and every month, top management has a decision to make, even if it is only to approve the single set of integrated plans presented by the team.
Why should a business implement S&OP?

Tangible Benefits

Traditionally, S&OP has been seen as a way of reducing costs ' and indeed, it does that admirably. A study by consulting firm PRTM showed that best-in-class companies typically run with 50-80% lower inventories than the median, while providing 15% higher on-time deliveries and 40-64% shorter cash-to-cash cycle times. Sunsweet Growers, the world's largest producer of dried fruit, reduced its production overruns from 30% to 12% after implementing a full S&OP solution. In addition, they eliminated costly overtime, improved schedule stability, and decreased changeovers.

Perhaps more importantly, S&OP is now being seen as a way to increase the top line as well as to cut costs. Rhodia Eco Services, a $230 million dollar division of global chemicals giant Rhodia, Inc., implemented a full S&OP process which enabled it to improve its overall capacity availability from 85% to over 90%. The increased capacity allows Eco Services to respond more quickly to last-minute changes in demand and to gain market-share.

Aberdeen Group, in its March, 2005 "Investing in S&OP: High Value Opportunities," reported that its research indicates that a typical $500 million revenue/year business investing in upgrading its S&OP processes can gain an average of $25 million/year in gross margin.
Intangible Benefits

One of the greatest intangible benefits of a well-run S&OP process is the increase in organizational effectiveness ' and corresponding decrease in unnecessary pressure on individuals in supply chain functions. Instead of firefighting, these professionals now have time to think proactively about continuous improvement opportunities.

Crises occur much less frequently than before, because the planning process itself creates visibility of potential problems far enough out that alternatives can be developed and contingency plans evaluated and approved.

This is key to the "competitive advantage" we mentioned: it's difficult to put a dollar value on preventing the train from wrecking, but it's far, far better and cheaper than cleaning up after it. You didn't disappoint a customer. You didn't miss your numbers because of out-of-control inventories. As a result, your stock price didn't fall. It's difficult to put a number on being proactive, but it's not at all difficult to recognize the benefits.

Sometimes, once things are running very smoothly, someone will ask, "Why do we need to keep having these monthly meetings?" The answer, of course, is that the process which culminates in the monthly meeting and the consensus path forward which comes out of it are precisely what keeps everything running smoothly.
Why start with S&OP instead of, for example, with scheduling?

Sometimes businesses think that their biggest "pain point" is something very deep in the supply chain process, such as plant scheduling. Why should such a business begin with S&OP implementation instead of plunging directly into improving scheduling?

The answer lies in the description above of the nature and benefits of S&OP. A business needs a coherent plan ' including an agreed upon forecast ' before it can really benefit from improving execution steps. If, as if often true in businesses without an S&OP process, manufacturing distrusts the forecast and schedules based on its own guess, an improved scheduling process could result in simply making more of the wrong stuff. Solving the underlying problem of agreeing upon a "single version of the truth" to be used throughout the supply chain must precede improving execution steps if the business is truly to optimize its supply chain.
What has to change for S&OP to work?

For most companies, effective S&OP means an entirely new way of managing the supply chain. It means that jobs are going to change ' everyone's job. Here are just a few of the key areas that must change.
Data Visibility

One of the necessary prerequisites for a robust S&OP process is the visibility of data. In many businesses, even a single inventory planner, for example, may not be able to easily view his worldwide inventories. With S&OP, many people in many locations can view these inventories, in order to promise orders, plan production, monitor warehouse capacity, etc. Just the data visibility itself tends to allow businesses to improve their inventory levels.

"Data visibility" also implies usability, meaning that paper reports don't cut it. One custom film business had twenty-five voluminous paper reports generated daily from its order entry/inventory system, but no on-line visibility. No one had time even to sift through all these reports, much less to try to understand and correlate the data. Organizing this data so that it could be delivered electronically as useful information gave this business the starting point for developing an effective S&OP process.

Finally, data visibility is necessary for data-cleanup; your decisions can only be as good as the data on which they are based.
Sharing Data and Decision Making

There is no "need to know" in the supply chain. An effective supply chain requires much more open, honest communication than before across functions and hierarchical levels. Decisions have to be made more quickly, using a wider range of data, and considering a wider range of alternatives ' and the decision-making authority needs to be pushed as low as possible in the organization. Furthermore, since supply chain personnel are generally already juggling more data and alternatives than they can possibly analyze, enabling technology will be necessary to allow such broader-based decisions to be made.
Re-inventing Reward Systems

Frequently, the incentive systems in functional silos within a supply chain reward behavior which optimizes the metrics for that silo but suboptimizes the business as a whole. For example, sales reps are frequently rewarded for exceeding forecast (which wreaks havoc with supply), while manufacturing is rewarded for maximizing yield, regardless of whether the pounds they are making are the ones the business needs. Incentives need to be redesigned to recognize that everyone, regardless of function, needs to work toward "optimizing the whole, not the parts."
Education on the Big Picture

If everyone is to cooperate on "optimizing the whole," everyone needs to understand the impact of his/her actions and data on the rest of the supply chain. For example, one business found that its customer master contained "Rubbermaid" spelled 8 different ways and "IBM" spelled twelve ways. Obviously, if different customer numbers are associated with each spelling, and if a computer system is generating a statistical forecast by customer, there will be 8 or 12 forecasts, respectively, where there should be one apiece.

Once the CSRs who maintained the customer masters were made aware of the impact of their entry of "duplicate" records, they were much more careful to search for existing entries with similar spellings before creating new customer masters.
Business Process and Technology

Business processes are the way people go about accomplishing given tasks within an organization. Frequently these processes have grown up over time, but no one remembers anymore why that particular process is done that way: "That's the way it's always been done." The old process may have been the best one possible at some point in time with the data and systems available ' but as circumstances changed, in all probability the processes have not kept up.

As the business has grown and the rate of change in the marketplace has increased many-fold, the old, manual processes must give way to new ones which leverage "best practices" and take advantage of newer technologies in order to respond rapidly to changed circumstances.

Changing technologies without changing the business processes which surround them is one of the surest ways to get the very least "bang for your buck." The greatest system in the world is worthless if no one uses it. If business processes are not truly, deliberately, and openly changed (and documented), people will slip back into their old, sub-optimal ways of doing things as soon as no one is looking.
How does one go about implementing S&OP?

The "Big Bang" approach to business change is a sure-fire path to failure. Instead of changing everything at once, which merely maximizes pain and risk, take smaller steps with clearly defined benefits so that the organization can absorb each change at its own pace before moving on to the next. We recommend the following five-step approach:

Understand Your Demand and Its Variability.
Analyze Your Inventory and Position It to Support Demand.
Create a Collaborative Demand Planning Process.
Build a Quantitative Framework for Balancing Supply and Demand.
Institutionalize the S&OP Process.


1. Understand Your Demand and Its Variability.

Every business' demand patterns will differ, and every business needs to be aware of just what its demand pattern is in order to most cost-effectively serve its customers.

Using at least two years of sales history, answer these and similar questions appropriate for your business:

Which products/customers are most variable/difficult to forecast, or cause the most production problems if the forecast is too low?
Which products have only a few customers?
Which products would be appropriate for MTO (Make to Order)?
Which customers provide the shortest lead-times? What problems is this causing in the supply chain?
Which customers/products are most profitable? Which are getting the best customer service? (The answers may surprise you!)
How can shipment history in the ERP be used most effectively for statistical forecasting, and at what level of aggregation?

What new business processes do you need to put in place to ensure that analyses such as these are repeated on a regular basis?

Top Ten Considerations For Choosing A Server Virtualization Technology

The playing field for server virtualization has become much more crowded over the last few years. Competition is always good for a market as more choices always push vendors into providing better products at more competitive prices. It can be very time consuming to digest each vendor's marketing materials to come to the right solution for your organization. This checklist provides a list of the main considerations and basic differences between the technologies to provide a starting point for technology evaluation. The three main technologies discussed in this analysis are: hardware virtualization, para-virtualization and OS virtualization.

Technology Overview

Hardware Virtualization

Hardware virtualization is probably the most commonly known technology, including products from VMware, Parallels and Microsoft. The technologies are designed to support multiple types of OSs on a single server and are characterized by technology that virtualizes hardware resources in order to manage and dedicate them to Virtual Machines on the server.

Para-Virtualization

Para-virtualization is similar to hardware emulation because in concept it is designed to support multiple OSs on a single server. The only implementation of this technology today is the Xen open source project. Xen customizes the operating system to provide more efficient processing and lower overhead which results in better performance than hardware emulation.

Os Virtualization

OS virtualization is a third approach to virtualization and has been implemented by SWsoft's Virtuozzo and Sun's Solaris Containers. The concept is based on a single OS instance, which provides a leaner more efficient architecture and a single OS per server for management and updates. The main limitation is that it does not support multiple OSs on the same server so it is intended for organizations that are consolidating or deploying multiple virtual servers on a single Linux, Windows or Sun physical server; Solaris Containers obviously supports Solaris while Virtuozzo supports both Linux and Windows. SWsoft Virtuozzo for Linux product does support multiple Linux distributions in the guest virtual servers.

Ten Considerations

#1Management Tools

Many organizations undertake virtualization projects because they can quantify the hard costs of hardware sitting in data centers at 15-20% utilization rates. While hardware and environmental costs are considerable, the administrative costs for managing servers are the largest cost component. Administrative tasks include OS and application updates and patches, backups, installations and provisioning.

The management tools available for each solution vary widely. Some solutions have very few tools available and may be extremely limited. There are many excellent toolsets available with the more mature products.

The process of moving a physical server to a virtual server can be daunting task, particularly if the server is critical to the business. Most of the vendors have tools that help in the migration process, and there are some external vendors that have provided tools for moving not only from physical to virtual, but between virtual environments and even from virtual back to physical. The ability to evaluate a physical server for resource utilization trends to predict and configure an adequate virtual server is rated as the most important component for physical to virtual transition, even above the simple requirement of moving data reliably to a virtualized server. The resource trending capability is only available in a few select P2V tools.

#2. Virtualization Level

Para-virtual and hardware virtualization solutions virtualize the technology from the hardware up to the OS. OS virtualization sits on top of the OS, virtualizing a single instance on a server and taking advantage of all of the underlying hardware technology. Hardware virtualization looks exactly like a dedicated server, ten servers consolidated onto one will still have ten plus one underlying OS.

OS virtualization requires only a single OS instance, although in certain cases OS variances are supported. With the ease of deploying virtualized servers, hardware virtualization sites have actually seen an increase in the number of virtualized servers, beyond what would have been approved on a single server basis. With the complete OS and application structure of each virtualized server, the management workload for IT teams has gotten even larger, rather than decreased with these types of virtualization solutions. OS virtualization deploys on a single OS per server, limiting it to a single OS type, but in the case of management this is quite beneficial.

#3. Performance

Why is processing overhead important? It affects the performance of the application, and ultimately the end-user's satisfaction. Only non-production or non-critical applications should be loaded in a virtualization infrastructure that is high in processing overhead. The processing overhead of virtualization solutions ranges from 1% to as much as 60% between the different product offerings; the virtualized application could perform at near native performance or so slowly it is unacceptable by the end-user. The products in each virtualization technology category vary largely for performance, but generally, the hardware virtualization has the most performance degradation, and the OS virtualization has the closest to native performance.

#4. Density

Many customer virtualization projects are a result of examining server utilization rates which typically are as low as 5-15%. Raising server utilization rates can considerably reduce total cost of ownership of data center resources. Often the new servers that house the consolidated servers are robust with high processing power and capacity, and a single additional virtualized server makes a fast impact on the return on investment analysis. Some virtualization solutions have limitations on the number of virtualized servers allowed on a single server, and other solutions cannot support many virtualized servers based on their architecture and high overhead.

OS virtualization technologies are unique in addressing utilization. There are no limitations on the number of virtualized servers allowed on a single physical server, and the efficient architecture enables many more virtual servers to be supported with adequate processing power on a single physical server which can deliver significantly higher actual "useful" utilization (utilization that does not include overhead as part of it) and associated maximum performance/price ratios and ROI.

#5. Platform Support

Virtualization technologies abstract the virtual servers from the underlying hardware. However, that does not mean that any hardware is supported by the virtual infrastructure. Hardware virtualization and para virtualization in particular have to support each piece of hardware, from straightforward CPU chips to obscure video cards. OS virtualization technologies by definition are built on top of standard OSs and therefore automatically support all of the hardware that the OS supports making them easier to deploy with fewer conflicts. In addition to baseline hardware support, some technologies are able to leverage full hardware technology capabilities inside of virtual machines including full SMP support, 6 bit processing, up to 16 CPUs and up to 6 GB of RAM.

#6. Migration

One of the largest benefits of virtualizing a server is abstracting it from the hardware layer and enabling it to move between servers. Migration capabilities allow cloning or moving a virtualized server from one physical server to another. The benefits of migration include:

Eliminating downtime for hardware upgrades or issues
Avoiding downtime as a result of software changes
Moving virtualized server to a more or less powerful server as requirements change

Many virtualization solutions have cloning or migration capabilities but they vary considerably in capabilities, restrictions and cost structures. A very high-end solution that allows zero-downtime migration is extremely costly and requires a SAN, while another available solution provides near-zero downtime on any networked server as a part of the basic software package. Assess the importance of migration and how it will be used to determine the best it for your environment.

#7. Resource Management

The three technology categories approach resource allocation in different ways. Hardware virtualization and para-virtualization virtualize hardware resources for dissemination to each of the residing virtual servers. The products have varying levels of flexibility for assigning and changing resources. Some resources are dynamic and able to change in real-time, while others require a server reboot or at least virtual server interruption. These two technologies actually assign a virtualized hardware resource to a virtual server; virtualized resources can have limitations such as limited CPU and memory that can be assigned to a single virtual machine

OS virtualization has flexible resource management. Resources may be changed in real-time without interrupting the application or the virtual server. SWsoft in particular allows bursting, which allows unclaimed resources on the server to be used by any virtualized server requiring resources.

#8. Isolation & Security

Each of the technologies has a different approach to isolation and security. The most basic component of a virtualization solution is partitioning. Each virtual machine must be completely isolated so that processes, DLLs, and applications do not affect others on the same server.

The technologies change access points and different components of a regular server so attacks are less likely to be a problem for virtualized servers. Along the same lines of isolation, security between the virtual machines on the same server is also critical. Each of the technologies has a different approaches to these areas, and with the exception of XEN and Solaris Containers, have been tested extensively by enough customers to validate effective levels of isolation and security.

#9. Intended Virtualization Deployment

The top three server virtualization deployments are testing and development, server consolidation, and disaster recovery.

Testing and development organizations were the first to deploy virtualization technologies because the need for developers to use many different operating systems made it quite difficult to manage the associated costs. For development organizations that need different operating systems, one strong option is hardware virtualization. Para-virtualization has plans to support multiple operating systems but hasn't launched that capability. SWsoft's Virtuozzo for Linux does support different Linux distributions on the same server, but does not mix OS families. For testing organizations that need to be able to quickly create many servers for stress testing, most of the technologies would be sufficient although some have much faster provisioning capabilities.

Server consolidation (involving existing applications and/or new applications) is typically done on servers in production supporting live applications and data. The two most important considerations for server consolidation are processing overhead and server utilization. The best technology suited for server consolidation is OS virtualization because it has low overhead and servers it enables has therefore significantly higher utilization.

Disaster recovery solutions are a very common virtualized server deployment. Many organizations find that fully available and redundant systems are too costly for disaster recovery. Virtualized servers that can be activated, booted and made primary servers in a limited amount of time are rapidly becoming the cost-effective and more manageable disaster recovery solutions of choice. There are differences in the technologies regarding boot time and there are other tools and components that may be purchased to supplement server availability.

Business Community Management

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Introduction

Many companies have realized significant value through automating their supply chain with B2B processes. B2B has made an impact and added value, yet inherent problems exist within the traditional model that prevent it from being a sustainable solution in today's business environment. New business challenges arising from everexpanding communication standards, and changing customer expectations and the demanddriven economy have created a need for a new approach that goes beyond B2B.

Business Community Management is a strategic vision that creates a comprehensive view of the supply chain by integrating the technology, business processes and communication of the entire business community to facilitate end-to-end supply chain visibility.

This white paper will examine the current state of B2B communication; detail the steps needed to mitigate the challenges created by B2B; and outline the concepts behind Business Community Management as a new way to approach your business-to-business communication.
The topics included in this whitepaper are:


I. The Current State of B2B
II. Business Community Management: A Comprehensive Approach to Supply Chain Communication
III. Inovis: Your Partner in Comprehensive Business Community Management


The Current State of B2B

After years of implementations, initiatives and mandates, various levels of supply chain communication processes are in place in the majority of large companies operating within the global economy. Companies have realized incredible value from B2B automation.

For example:

A global automotive company and Inovis customer reduced costs by 54% using Managed Services to automate the majority of its supply chain operations and customer communication.
Another national retailer and Inovis customer realized savings of 40% after automating most of its trading community.

Although B2B has delivered significant value, there are a host of business challenges inherent to B2B automation. Combined, these problems prevent B2B automation from being a sustainable solution for moving ahead in today's changing business environment.
Complex technology

Often, B2B initiatives were driven by the need to comply with a certain mandate or meet specific operational requirements, resulting in a piecemeal chain of systems and leaving communication gaps within the supply chain. Therefore, many companies are working with legacy applications and silo solutions that are not interoperable. There is no easy way to synchronize the data from each system to create a comprehensive view of the supply chain. Silo tools create barriers to working within multiple formats and standards, resulting in lost business, missed growth opportunities and further eroding value.

Additionally, B2B technology itself has built-in complexities arising from communication issues with AS2, AS3 and VAN mailboxes, erroneous data exchange as well as trading partner connectivity problems. These problems are commonplace and drain resources. In fact, according to a 2006 GS1 study, most businesses spend between $40 and $80 per error to resolve problems with item data and invoicing data.

Furthermore, connectivity issues are typically recurrent which creates a reactive environment, shifting focus from core business operations toward lower impact issues, wasting time and creating unnecessary productivity costs.
Implementation challenges

Implementing B2B initiatives places large demands on time and resources. Often, implementations run into challenges and time delays created by disparate systems and outdated, inaccurate data. Additionally, each trading partner presents a unique set of circumstances and technology capabilities, which requires additional time and resources to solve. These issues place constraints on already tight budgets and timeframes.
Automation demands and limitations

Today there is a clear business mandate for automating 100% of your supply chain. However, companies face several hurdles in meeting this goal. The first limitation is budget, as companies are being asked to automate more partners with fewer dollars and cycle initial realized savings through several rounds of automation. Another limitation comes from the fact that companies must drill down to the second and tertiary level of suppliers and partners to achieve complete automation. Partners at these levels often lack the willingness or the technology sophistication to tie in to an automated supply chain.
Business Community Management: A Comprehensive Approach to Supply Chain Communication

Considering the challenges that have arisen from B2B processes and the additional business demands posed by changing customer expectations, volume increases and multiple communication formats, companies must reevaluate their supply chain communication processes and adapt. It has become clear that an evolutionary B2B development cannot solve for these multiple issues; companies must make a revolutionary change to achieve an optimized communication solution.

A new view on supply chain automation widens the focus to include the business community of partners and customers that actually make the supply chain operate. Business Community Management (BCM) integrates the technology, business processes and communication of the entire trading community to create end-to-end supply chain visibility.

Three key steps help mitigate the challenges created by a traditional B2B methodology:

Increase Visibility

According to a 2006 AMR study, over 20% of all orders across all industries are in error. Complete end-to-end visibility into your supply chain is essential to successfully manage the increasing complexity of today's B2B environment. A fully optimized business community delivers a comprehensive, real-time view into all B2B collaboration-across all formats and technologies. This level of visibility equates to actionable intelligence that businesses can use to minimize delays and costs associated with errors, stock-outs and chargebacks.

With increased visibility, a business and its partners can move beyond the transaction level toward a more granular item-level of reporting, which enables them to quickly recognize errors and make adjustments in real time, instead of after the fact. A visibility component that allows all members of the community to easily track and view key performance indicators (KPIs) and scorecards helps transform B2B information exchange to a new level of integrated collaboration.

Streamline Processes

Supply chain communication is rife with challenges as companies begin automating their trading partner communities. Trading partner automation is a critical step for reducing complexity in B2B communication, yet the difficulties and pitfalls of disparate systems, unique business requirements and overlapping business methodology make this goal time-consuming and cumbersome to achieve. Streamlining trading partner automation by using proven processes that account for business differences and technology variations can considerably reduce ramp-up time.

For example, a multimedia company we worked with reduced the time it took to onboard partners from 5 days to 15 minutes. Following a repeatable process ensures that the planning, implementation and testing stages of an automation initiative are encompassed in the strategy from the beginning. This eliminates downtime caused by unforeseen complications and results in smoother, faster deployments.

Automate Your Trading Community

The Business Community Management platform is designed around a community where all partners are automated. Complete automation facilitates faster and easier communication which creates new synergies and opportunities to collaborate earlier in the lifecycle of a product.

Trading partners come in all shapes and sizes and have varying levels of technology capabilities. To facilitate strong community enrollment, your partners need flexibility and options to participate at a level that works within their business framework. Utilizing a modular set of applications enables partners to leverage the technology they need and quickly begin realizing the value automation delivers. Flexible access fosters higher participation and faster adoption of the BCM solution throughout your community.

The Business Community Management solution provides the foundation for increased collaboration that deepens trading community partnerships. By removing the complexities and costs associated with a traditional B2B solution, BCM drives greater product innovation, increased speed-to-market and greater levels of customer satisfaction and retention.
Inovis: Your Partner in Comprehensive Business Community Management

The Business Community Management solution builds a framework around the complexity that exists in B2B communication to create true end-to-end supply chain visibility. Business Community Management represents the revolutionary change that companies can embrace to optimize their supply chain and realize sustainable value. Inovis has created a suite of modular applications to enable your company to efficiently and cost-effectively leverage comprehensive Business Community Management across your operations.

Inovis offers three distinct, yet integrated, service areas built on the foundation of secure, reliable communication backed by a Tier Four Data Center. Together, the service areas of Communication Networking, Automation and Visibility and Governance deliver all of the applications to support business community processes and collaboration.

Inovis delivers economies of scale that help your business quickly access new solutions while driving automation across your entire trading partner community. With Inovis as your partner, your business can move beyond the challenges of B2B and begin leveraging the supply chain communication solutions delivered by the BCM solution.
About Inovis

Inovis is a leading provider of on-demand Business Community Management solutions that empower companies to transact, collaborate and optimize communications with their entire trading community. By standardizing and automating mission-critical business interactions, companies can dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of supply chain communication. This foundation of high-quality, reliable and secure connectivity provides real-time visibility across the order-to-payment lifecycle. The resulting actionable intelligence enables users to proactively address supply chain issues before they impact profitability, shortening cycle times, improving productivity and increasing customer satisfaction.

With more than 20 years of expertise, Inovis delivers its products and services to more than 20,000 companies over a wide range of industries and markets across the globe.