Industry Insights
October 19, 2020
Digital and analytics technologies offer a way to create value by optimizing the highly complex supply chain in agriculture.
November 22, 2018
The concept of digital twins is not new. Digital twins refer to the digital representation of physical objects, and for more than 30 years, product and process engineering teams have used 3D renderings of computer-aided design (CAD) models, asset models and process simulations to ensure and validate manufacturability. NASA, for example, has run complex simulations of spacecraft for decades. Now it's also transitioning into Supply Chain...
November 07, 2018
During the past five years, an average of 31.1 percent of respondents to annual Deloitte polls say their organisations have experienced supply chain financial crime—particularly fraud, waste or abuse—in the preceding year.
Yet, in a 2018 poll, just 15.1 percent of respondents report their organisations are using (3.9 percent) or piloting (11.2 percent) BlockChain to help mitigate financial crime risks in their supply chains.
November 07, 2018
-
In an omnichannel world where visibility is so important, a recent study by OrderDynamics reveals that only 44.1% of retailers worldwide give consumers access to inventory visibility online, a significant drop from last year’s report of 68.4% of all retailers.
How predictive maintenance is changing IIoT
September 27, 2018
In every industrial process in existence today, one of the most important parts of the system is the predictive maintenance department. Shell has noted that predictive maintenance can add a number of benefits to a company, including saving time and money, as well as developing a safety architecture that can potentially save lives. It's because of these distinct benefits that large companies are looking towards predictive maintenance in order to increase their production and decrease downtime. It's no longer a case of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it," because ensuring machinery doesn't break down is by far the more financially beneficial methodology.
Two-thirds of companies consider Excel a supply chain system...
August 16, 2018
-
Excel spreadsheets remain a popular tool for supply chain management among innovators and late adopters alike, as 67.4% of respondents to an Adelante SCM survey said they used the tool.
August 02, 2018
How you source, produce and ship your company’s wares can have a significant impact on its profitability, yet many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) underestimate the value of a finely-tuned supply chain.
July 29, 2018
Supply chain collaboration in discrete manufacturing creates a variation of benefits....
July 26, 2018
Young management consultants may be novices, but they’re sold as experts. Conversely, even experienced consultants, who legitimately present themselves as experts, still feel like novices when they embark on a new project.
July 22, 2018
It’s time for supply chain leaders to step out of the shadows. New technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI) offers the potential to deliver hyper-relevant, hyper-personalised customer experiences at speed and scale. But new evidence suggests that few supply chain executives are leveraging AI to deliver such experiences and thus drive growth in today’s disrupted markets.
June 28, 2018
Supply chain inefficiencies and miscommunication through “Chinese Whispers” are costing UK businesses over £1.5bn in lost productivity according to analysis of industry data from digital freight forwarder Zencargo
June 27, 2018
There is an increased pressure on supplies of soft drinks, chicken and frozen food. And it’s all down to reduced levels of available carbon dioxide after three of the four production plants in the UK were temporarily out of action....
June 25, 2018
A small company wanted to sell whole chickens, but the lower income household members near the shop couldn’t afford the up-front costs of an entire chicken nor would it keep in the absence of refrigeration. The solution? Change the portion size of the product and work with the business owner to market small individual packages of chicken parts at a more affordable price.
June 11, 2018
There are certain areas where resilience is consistently taken into account. Sourcing is an example, where it is accepted practice to use multi-source contracts to reduce the potential of a single point of failure.
June 07, 2018
Data is everywhere today, but that doesn't mean it's always useful. This article provides insight in how to increase Supply Chain Visibility...
May 28, 2018
How can you foster innovation within the supply chain? The four principles put forth in this article can provide a foundation for implementing new ideas in a way that is successful and can be replicated across your business
May 09, 2018
A supply chain digital twin could be critical to the survival of your business. How?
April 17, 2018
The 2018 MHI Annual Industry Report outlines the barriers to building the 'NextGen Supply Chain' and how to overcome them
February 27, 2018
Designing supply chains based on the segmentation of products and customers helps companies profitably meet different channel and customer requirements. This overview of segmentation success factors and a case study of The Clorox Company's value chain segmentation program explain how it's done.
January 16, 2018
The BCG report of 2018 has identified that between 30-40% of organisations believe that digital innovation disrupts business operations...
November 14, 2017
Combining digital applications with operational changes helps yield significant performance improvements that stand the test of time.
July 11, 2017
When we speak to supply chain leaders about innovations in their supply chain, it’s not always about drones, self-driving trucks, or automated warehouses. To the contrary, it’s often about rethinking how we view our operations, leverage all our stakeholders, and in the end, deliver the best experience to the customer.
June 13, 2017
Finance & Accounting needs to continuously adapt, however there is a major technology that is often misunderstood by finance professionals that could dramatically change the game for the Finance and Accounting departments
July 06, 2017
One of the largest and most comprehensive trials of blockchain technology for global supply chains has just successfully ended with a new Australian-developed blockchain security architecture, TBSx3 potentially raising global supply chain security to a military grade as a standard feature, delivering some true Supply Chain Innovation.
July 03, 2017
Many international corporations and FMCG companies like Walmarts, Co-op… are utilizing blockchain to its supply chain management. You should, too. Let’s see why....
One of the most important business areas in any industrial facility is, of course, the supply chain. This is the point of operations that not only determine distribution efficiency but also the quality of the product a customer buys. Supply chain man1agement is a key component of productivity and this has necessitated a paradigm shift in the way it is done. One of the most significant changes is the adoption of modern technology to enhance efficiency and accountability in the entire supply chain.
Nine out of 10 chief information officers are investing more heavily in innovation, according to an annual survey by recruitment firm Harvey Nash Group and accounting firm KPMG. Should this be replicated across the end-to-end organisation?
This SAP article of 15 July 2016 addresses the need for innovation in one of the most core organisational process, being Procure to Pay. Even more than 6 months later this is still very relevant!
This is a well written BCG article describing the radical changes that will impact most organisations...
Too many companies avoid embracing innovation due to fear of change. This is your roadmap for success in operational innovation.
Operational innovation can make the difference between a company's success and failure today. In fact, many startups are built on ideas that don't reinvent the wheel but simply introduce better, more affordable or more practical ways of creating the wheel. For established companies relying on age-old processes and tried-and-true methods, the need for innovation is often painfully obvious.
Too many companies avoid embracing innovation due to fear of change. This is your roadmap for success in operational innovation.
February 20, 2017
This attached report provides insight (KPMG) around the trends and challenges in the Global FinTech industry.
January 14, 2017
How can you increase the effectiveness of your Supply Chain Operations?
January 08, 2017
CES 2017 is full of robotics and automation. However, how does CES 2017 influence our business operations and what can we learn from CES 2017?
If you're looking to transfer these innovations in your business, please contact Unique Excellence as the leading authority in the Operational Innovation space...
January 02, 2017
What are the key financial technology innovations that will influence the finance and accounting executives in 2017?
November 15, 2016
BlackLine (Nasdaq: BL) took the No. 323 spot on Deloitte's 2016 Technology Fast 500™ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America– marking the seventh year in a row the financial controls and automation software company has made the prestigious list. The 2016 rankings are based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2012 to 2015.
For more information select the link below...
November 17, 2016
In the last few years, RPA (Robotic Process Automation) has been on the rise. The following article provides an interesting view on how organisation transition beyond their ERP solutions and use RPA to further innovate their application landscape.
For more information, select the "Read More" button below...
May 15, 2016
Interesting article from Deloitte's describing how robotics and automation starts to enter the "business world".
April 28, 2016
CFOs and their finance teams are taking notice of the next wave of digitalization. They are looking to transform the finance function by applying the latest technology innovations that can give their companies a competitive edge in the digital economy.
The article highlighted key themes emerging from a recent global survey of more than 1,500 finance professionals in large and midsize firms, conducted by CFO Research and sponsored by SAP. Titled “Thriving in the Digital Economy,” the survey sought to gain an understanding of what finance professionals from all levels see as the source of their future success...
April 21, 2016
This article provides an interesting view how Operational Innovation should change the fundamental approach in how organisations address innovation in their organisations...
For more information, select the following LINK
April 21, 2016
This article from 12 years ago provides insight how large successful corporate organisations have introduced Operational Innovation to transform their companies...
Operational innovation should not be confused with operational improvement or operational excellence. Those terms refer to achieving high performance via existing modes of operation: ensuring that work is done as it ought to be to reduce errors, costs, and delays but without fundamentally changing how that work gets accomplished. Operational innovation means coming up with entirely new ways of filling orders, developing products, providing customer service, or doing any other activity that an enterprise performs.
There are many successstories. They are well known for two reasons. First, the stories are worth telling: Operational innovations fuel extraordinary results. But the stories are also repeated because there are, frankly, not many of them. Operational innovation is rare. By my estimate, no more than 10% of large enterprises have made a serious and successful effort at it. And that shouldn’t be.
Executives who understand how operational innovation happens—and who also understand the cultural and organisational barriers that prevent it from happening more often—can add to their strategic arsenal one of the most powerful competitive weapons in existence.
This article provides proof that even today, 12 years later, many organisations are not capable to introduce Operational innovation effectively...
Introducing Agile Business Transformation to take your first effective staeps towards Agile Innovation...
April 03, 2016
In the last few months, there have been a large number of Agile-based transformation initiatives to drive effective change in large organisations. Agile Business Transformation is one of the business focused transformation processes to introduce effective change.
For more information around how Agile Business Transformation can assist your organisation to fully transition towards Agile Innovation, please visit the following LINK
How can Global Business Services and Shared Services prepare for a digital future?
February 23, 2016
Mckinsey has provided insight in how organisations can use Global Business Services and Shared Services to complement their efforts to build innovative customer experiences. Companies should consider ways to digitise back-office functions to further optimise company performance...
January 31, 2016
The article describes clear insight in what you would wish you knew as a corporate executive, that you would only know if you have been an entrepreneur. It provides a view on what you can learn from the entrepreneurial business environment that might assist you in corporate life...
January 10, 2016
The CFO is overseeing a sea change. New digital technologies are putting paid to the way that finance departments have traditionally operated, enabling greater productivity, and a new role within organisations. According to analysis carried out by Accenture, by 2020 80% of traditional finance services will be delivered by cross-functional integrated teams.
Over the course of 2015, we saw CFOs navigating the early stages of this seismic shift around Big Data, Technology (incl. Cloud, etc.) and hiring challenges. In the next years will see finance departments face new challenges in driving organisational and business change. This article provides some of the organisational trends that would create further effectiveness across finance and operations over the next years....
January 07, 2016
Many change leaders feel that Agile, Lean & Scrum methodologies require a higher compliance and governance model. However, the difference between these "new" methodologies and the traditional project managers, is that the skillset of the participants of Agile, Lean & Scrum are different and more cross-functional then in the traditional environment. This allows faster, more efficient and more effective result driven change, which is often not achieved in the "traditional method"..
Last year, Scott Span wrote an very relevant article (still applicable today) in how a client of him requested for the Agile project management project to be expanded with additional change management expertise. As he mentioned, he got to thinking, as he already was! Although the request was more focused around managing change for the impacted stakeholder groups – he was already using agile and scrum principles to manage the project – he highlights that those principles embrace many of the same things...
December 22, 2015
Gartner has researched the need for organisations adopt an overall agile culture. The aim of this "new" agile culture is to make it easier for organisations to go to market with ideas more quickly than ever before. That culture also paved the way toward success in a key area for digital and conventional businesses: attracting and retaining talented people.
More and more organisations recognise that to compete in today’s "digital" age, agile is no longer optional. “Agile culture and behaviors can be a source of competitive advantage,” said Remi Gulzar, research director at Gartner. “That culture requires new organisational and leader behaviors,” he explained.
November 29, 2015
A new report released November 30, 2015 by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on behalf of BSI identifies a worrying gap in the capability of firms to maintain long-term growth.
The global study of business leaders[1] reveals that just one third (29%) trust that their firms have fully embedded resilience practices, and less than half (44%) expect it to be the case in three years’ time. This is despite 88% believing that resilience is a priority for their organizations and indispensable for long-term growth (80%).
December 13, 2015
Harvard Business Review has provided very good insight in the many theories about negotiations. What may work perfectly when you’re doing a deal with a company in your own country, might not be as effective abroad. In today’s globalized economy you could be negotiating a joint venture in China, an outsourcing agreement in India, or a supplier contract in Sweden. If so, you might find yourself working with very different norms of communication. What gets you to “yes” in one culture gets you to “no” in another. To be effective, a negotiator must have a sense of how his counterpart is reacting. Does she want to cooperate? Is she eager, frustrated, doubtful? If you take stock of subtle messages, you can adjust your own behavior accordingly. In an international negotiation, however, you may not have the contextual understanding to interpret your counterpart’s communication—especially unspoken signals—accurately. In my work and research, I find that when managers from different parts of the world negotiate, they frequently misread such signals, reach erroneous conclusions, and act, as Tim Carr did, in ways that thwart their ultimate goals....
December 13, 2015
Delloitte's research around global in-house centres that continue to scale, provide new considerations in how organisations should adopt a new operating model to generate exponential strategic value from their investments. The GRID (Global centres with “global” talent pools, global process ownership, and financials that are competitive around the world, Responsiveness via adoption of enabling technologies and application of predictive analytics, Integration into a global delivery network based on collaboration and interaction with other “nodes”, Dynamic through on-demand service delivery, value-linked measurement systems, and faster, empowered decision-making) provides a framework for global in-house centres to go beyond “better and faster,” fostering collaboration and innovation among all players in the extended shared services network....
December 01, 2015
In Boston Consultancy Group’s tenth annual global survey of the state of innovation, 79% of respondents ranked innovation as a top-three priority at their company...
Asia Pacific CEOs are used to balancing short-term upheavals in various markets against the promises across this region to generate new business. This year, through the PWC survey, it has become clear that this balancing act got tougher..
November 15, 2015
From adoption to transformation. The evolution continues. Last year the news was that cloud was being used for mission-critical workloads. Cloud’s now firmly established as a reliable enterprise workhorse, and what’s most interesting is how it’s driving transformation. Organisations are using cloud to create new customer experiences, re-engineer their business processes and find new opportunities to grow...