female shopkeeper looking at her work tablet
Read Time, 2 min.

In a powerful storm, a tree that does not bend is likely to break. In 2020, the pandemic put storm-like forces on global supply chains – and many of them simply broke. There were shortages of many household items and commercial supplies, with many retailers forced to ration sales of some products. 

This showed how interconnected our world is, and how fragile many supply chains really were. We discovered that lean, just-in-time, highly optimized supply chains weren’t built to cope with such complexity and volatility. One of the most important areas of supply chain resilience is gaining end-to-end visibility, which relies heavily on data.  

With our ecosystem partners we make a range of insight-focused tools available including demand-sensing technologies and predictive AI. These help to empower supply chain planners to act quickly and mitigate issues in an agile manner by making it possible for them to collaborate effectively with key stakeholders. 

  • o9 teamed up with confectionery and chewing gum manufacturer Perfetti Van Melle to transform its supply chain. The o9 Digital Brain Platform provides end-to-end supply chain visibility and scenario planning integrated with financial information, material requirements planning, distribution planning, and multi-echelon inventory optimization. 
  • Blue Yonder helped Morrisons to reduce out-of-shelf incidents by 30% and has reduced inventory holding by 2-3 days on average. Its Blue Yonder Luminate Control Tower has also helped DIAGEO to improve the bottom line by reducing inventory by 10% and expediting costs by 30%. 
  • SAS has been working with Barilla to improve global inventory productivity and enable Barilla’s production to be more agile in response to demand changes. Learn more about SAS Intelligent Planning Cloud. 
  • Toolsgroup enabled Alessi to improve forecast accuracy by nearly 90% and customer service levels by 7 points, while freeing up working capital. Toolsgroup Service Optimizer 99+ also helped the business expansion from Franke resulting in significantly improved forecasting process stability and a 50% reduction to execute forecast and demand planning, while improving the forecast accuracy. 
  • Board has been supporting Coca-Cola European Partners to automate business planning processes and optimize reporting for full visibility of supply chain activities from production to delivery, and Burberry to streamline assortment planning and replenishment and has been supporting key decisions as part of Burberry’s buying and planning process. Learn more about Board Intelligent Planning Platform.

Empower Retail Success with Azure Marketplace

Empower your retail business with the full range of apps available on Azure Marketplace. Uncover the keys to success.

Discover more related articles per industry:

Education

Finance & Insurance

  • a view of a city

    Harvesting data helps save water

    With more than 140 years of history, the financial service company Ibercaja is deeply invested in the north-east region of Spain. In order to support its rural clients and solve the local water scarcity problems, the company now helps farmers to digitally transform their crop management. Key to this transformation are “Internet of Things“ enabled […]

  • Two people wearing a suit and tie smiling at the camera

    Why the bank of the future is in the cloud

    Financial services company Belfius will transfer all of its banking services to the cloud over the next seven years. This initiative is an important pillar in the company’s strategy to adapt to the changing needs of its customers – making its processes more cost-effective, safe and sustainable. This is a pioneering step for Belfius. In […]

Government

  • a woman sitting on a sidewalk

    How to digitally transform citizen services

    “Having a website, call centre and information desk isn’t enough. Citizen services need to be streamlined to empower citizens and government employees alike.” The eBook ‘The digital transformation of citizen services’ is honest in its appraisal of the urgent challenge facing governments worldwide, whose citizens expect their digital experiences to match the quality of those […]

  • a close up of a mans face

    AI is driving value across businesses in Europe – so why is only 4% of the public sector seeing real impact?

    In April 2018, the European Commission adopted its first AI strategy, laying out a vision for how AI could transform the public sector. The strategy revealed how new machine-learning technologies and data tools can improve public services, reduce costs, provide staff with new skillsets and drive efficiencies. And yet, for the vast majority of public […]

Healthcare

Manufacturing

  • Two field workers fixing airplane turbines

    IoT connected field service has tapped into a new economy of satisfaction

    There’s something to be said for how modern convenience has altered customer expectations globally. As the world rapidly moves towards digitisation, traditional values―such as price and product loyalty―are cast aside in favour of curated service experiences. In the field service industry, this has become an area of concern for continuous customer satisfaction and business growth. […]

  • 9 ways to turn your field service centre into a profit centre

    9 ways to turn your field service centre into a profit centre

    A service that generates more profit than cost: it’s the ultimate goal for any organisation. We’ve listed a few tips below to help you make this dream a reality. 1. Know what you’ve got to offer Knowing what you’ve got to offer and knowing how (potential) customers view your story are important elements in marketing […]

Retail

Discover more related articles per dossier:

Customer Stories

  • Potato producers benefit from sensors (IoT) and AVR’s technological innovations

    Potato producers benefit from sensors (IoT) and AVR’s technological innovations

    In Roeslare (Roulers in French), better known by the name “Potato Valley,” potato producers have a particular fondness for AVR’s machines and technologies, which mean they can plant and harvest potatoes more efficiently. More and more of AVR’s machines are equipped with sensors that are connected to the internet (IoT This technology provides farmers with […]

Digital Transformation

Security & Privacy

Tips

  • Person using gear to visualize a conversation

    From data to value: creating meaningful customer engagements

    It is hard to predict future trends, opportunities, or challenges. Keeping up with the increasing pace of change is both difficult and crucial for sustainable business. Whatever happens in the future, technology will be a key enabler of resilience and successful transformation.  This is particularly true in the retail sector, where being one step ahead […]