 "Microsoft, Infosys Create Alliance Focusing On Supply Chain Visibility")
Helping manufacturers manage their increasingly complex global supply chains, Microsoft and Infosys Technologies have forged a new go-to-market alliance around improving supply chain visibility and collaboration. The two companies are jointly launching a set of solutions, services and a ‘centre of excellence’ to help manufacturers build next-generation supply chains with improved performance and better visibility across their enterprises and trading partners.
According to a new Infosys/ Microsoft survey* released recently, half of business decision-makers within high-tech manufacturing companies report increasing complexity in their global supply chains. In fact, nearly two-thirds report growth in their number of products, geographies and suppliers. As a result of this complexity, the average supply chain professional spends roughly 25 percent of his or her time finding and re-working supply chain data to get it to the required level of granularity and format.
“In today’s high-tech supply network, lack of visibility can be a significant hurdle to effective planning and execution,” said Tyler Bryson, general manager, US Manufacturing and Resources Sector, Microsoft. “Most of the supply chain challenges can be traced to factors such as poor collaboration, inadequate tools and technology, and challenges in getting the right data into the right format – and into the right people’s hands in a timely fashion.”
To tackle these challenges, Infosys and Microsoft will jointly bring to market solutions that provide capabilities for performance management, analytics, collaboration and event-based exception management. These include specialised modules that provide data and intelligence for supply chain professionals to manage performance of after-sales service, procurement, inventory and demand management functions. The Infosys Service Performance Workbench and Infosys Procurement Workbench modules are available immediately, with others to follow. The modules contain pre-built intellectual property and accelerators in the form of process frameworks, data models, analytical tools, best-in-class performance metrics and key performance indicator scorecards tailored for specific supply chain roles.
The joint solutions also include proprietary connectors developed by Infosys and Microsoft to help facilitate the integration of these modules with existing business systems, such as enterprise resource planning applications and supply chain execution systems.
Supply Chain Centre of Excellence
As part of the alliance, Microsoft and Infosys have also launched an online supply chain centre of excellence at http://www.nextgenerationsupplychains.com. This Web-based portal will serve as an online community for manufacturers and trading partners to receive updates on Microsoft and Infosys solutions, discuss supply chain issues and perspectives, access productivity tools for professionals, and more.
* Infosys/Microsoft ‘High-Tech Manufacturing Supply Chain Survey 2009’
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