A new era will dawn for education in Enterprise Intelligence (EI) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) as a result of a pending partnership between Global Technology Business Intelligence (GBI) and SAPICS, the leading provider of knowledge in production, operations and supply chain management.
Since EI is still a rather new concept in South Africa, joining forces will ensure that the best available retail knowledge and contacts on the side of SAPICS and the technology to deliver the concept on GBI's side are put to good use to marry the strategic intent and operational processes of organisations.
Di King, national sales manager of Global Technology said the lack of experience in enterprise intelligence in the retail market, has given rise to discussions between Alwin Swales, marketing director of Global Technology Business Intelligence (GBI) and SAPICS. "The annual SAPICS Conference and Exhibition is the premier educational event in Africa for Supply Chain Management (SCM) professionals, offering practical and relevant information on the total supply chain. SCM has come under the magnifying glass lately as an area for business process improvement to drive costs down across the total supply chain and not only in isolated areas," said Swales.
This view was echoed by Jan de Ruyter, managing director of SAPICS. "We need to take a holistic approach to and view of business, production, operations and supply chains to ensure that we retain and increase our competitive advantage locally and internationally. Effective and relevant education is the lifeblood for sound economic growth and development in the country and in the interest of education and economic growth, we need more such partnerships," he said.
He added that manufacturing, retail and other concerns, need to achieve strategic as well as operational goals and therefore have to get rid of inefficiencies and unnecessary costs from the supply chain process. Conventional Business Intelligence used to support the decision making process in organisations, but EI goes further. It is the establishment of an intelligence platform that addresses data, analysis and application integration to provide a single version of the truth to an organisation, which in turn empowers an organisation to articulate and execute business strategy effectively.
"GBI, suppliers of business intelligence to these sectors are already assisting a number of organisations affected by SCM issues by implementing effective solutions to help them achieve their ultimate goal. It therefore makes sense for SAPICS and GBI to join forces to educate professionals in these sectors more effectively, especially including enterprise intelligence and everything it entails in our training. The concept of EI encourages enhanced visibility into the supply chain, which is vital for any business," he said.
Ms King added that with the new generation business intelligence tools now available it has become possible to narrowcast information to targeted supply chain professionals, thereby enabling proactive distribution of the right information, at the right time, to the right person, irrespective of their location or the tools they are using.
With EI, there are manifold benefits to effective supply chain management:
* The first and most logical is lower costs throughout the supply chain.
* Adequate stock translates to improved customer satisfaction.
* Reduced inventory means lower operating costs and higher margins, which is the ultimate goal for anyone in industry.
* Agility in the supply chain means companies can be attuned to marketplace trends and to respond to them faster than before.
* It enables collaborative planning.
* There is a significant reduction in nonvalue added costs and everything that fails to add value gets dumped.
* The percentage of on-time deliveries is boosted.
* Fewer broken promises through accurate forecast delivery dates.
* Reduced cycle times.
* Enhanced customer relationships.
King added that this partnership between GBI and SAPICS would also add value throughout Africa, as a result of GBI's active involvement in many countries in Africa. The 24th Annual SAPICS Conference is currently underway at Sun City. Speakers include local and international gurus in SCM:
* Terry Lunn CEO of Terry Lunn Enterprises in the USA and winner of the best speaker award at the World Conference in 1997.
* Nancy Wendorf, project manager at General Dynamics Decision Systems in the USA, Sherrie Ford and Steve Hollis, Principals and Change Partners in the US.
* Jurgen Tietz, owner of ANDA in South Africa.
* Marc Wilson, head of E-Business, Gemini Consulting SA.
* Iponeng Malope, principal inventory controller at the Botswana Power Corporation.
For more information: Chris Visser, SAPICS, 083 5566 521, chris@visario.co.za
About SAPICS
SAPICS is a leading provider of knowledge in production, operations and supply chain in South Africa, specialised in the manufacturing and service industries. It is the South African custodian of two internationally recognised certification programmes, the Certificate in Production and Inventory Management and the Certificate in Integrated Resource Management.
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