How can the hottest CIO get a return from SCM and

How can CIOs benefit from SCM and CRM

cio's next major challenge will be how to coordinate the company's sometimes conflicting CRM and SCM goals

in nearly two hours, the project leader who supervised the implementation of it supply chain of a consumer goods company described a magnificent blueprint for us. The whole supply chain process structure is clear, the upstream and downstream partners and it suppliers are ready, and the business status is consistent with the IT investment. The work of coding and first demonstration has been put on the agenda, and all the questions seem to have reached the ideal answer. The CIO is very satisfied with this, and I feel the same

subsequently, the CRM project leader of the company also made a recent work report, and his performance was also very wonderful. His team has successfully investigated the CRM objectives and implementation of other companies, and the results show that the way they segment the market and provide services to consumers has high cost performance. He predicted that this would delay the deployment of the CRM project by 90 days, but its implementation would prove to be competitive. By creatively adjusting the spot supply system and customer service training, real business results will be achieved. The CIO once again expressed satisfaction, and I was also impressed. With excellent staff, excellent creativity and good expectation management, our work can be said to be perfect

but just after the dinner, a problem began to bother me: there was no connection between the two statements! Supply chain management and customer management seem to exist in two parallel areas of business value. In the design and implementation of supply chain decision-making, customers did not participate at all; The supply chain is also completely irrelevant to the CRM implementation plan. During the one-day meeting, this fact was ignored and did not attract everyone's attention. For accidental reasons, the next day I talked about my ideas with another CIO who was responsible for other CRM display projects. So I asked him how he planned to connect the new system to the supply chain, and the answer was, "we won't do that."

the vice president of a Fortune 1000 company with a supply chain import amount of $66.79 million also gave a similar answer: he never planned to connect the market CRM system with a well functioning SCM network. He seems to be confused about this problem: "the method of managing suppliers and consumers is different."

his statement is beyond doubt. However, the future construction of those ERP manufacturers (especially SAP) is based on one view: ERP is the perfect combination of customer relationship management, supply chain management and financial management. Billions of money have been put into it like gambling, and I doubt it. After all, the reasons for requiring companies to reengineer their business processes around software are different from those for allowing customers to voluntarily enjoy customer service (I am by no means picky about sap. Siebel has also experienced a difficult process to integrate the value theme of "sales automation system" into the current CRM project)

let's take Dell company as an example again. As one of the two top PC Companies in the world, Dell's "order based production" business model undoubtedly integrates the supply chain and demand experimental force. The effective measurement range is 2% - 100% FS; Chain. This model caters to the operational requirements of Dell, its customers and key suppliers. In fact, if Dell managed the supply chain and CRM as separate system entities, it would never operate as it does today. The business model of "order based production" requires the establishment of a strategic framework that effectively combines customers and suppliers. The "supply chain" owned by Dell has always coexisted in the same environment with its clear customer needs

of course, Dell's business model is not applicable to all enterprises, which strongly supports the development of the national economy and the construction of national defense science, technology and industry. Wal Mart has adopted different business models and achieved success. No company on our planet has been able to beat the world's largest retailer. It makes profits by controlling more SKUs (stock keeping units). Wal Mart's understanding and implementation of supply chain management has not yet been recognized by the industry and competitors. But as long as you stay in Wal Mart's distribution center for a few hours, your heart will be filled with awe

obviously, the flexibility of Wal Mart's supply chain makes the "low price every day" strategy suppress the creation and reform space and business influence of CRM. These characteristics in the design and manufacture of new aircraft come from the low price strategy. Therefore, low price is the principle for Wal Mart to construct and invest in it system

only stupid or arrogant people will try to surpass Dell and Wal Mart. However, the continuous success of these two industry giants under the guidance of it has prompted CIOs to rethink the value of enterprise supply and demand system architecture. Of course, you can sacrifice responsiveness to customers in exchange for optimization of the supply chain. For example, if you cut some distribution centers and reduce inventory, it may save 25% of the cost for the enterprise. However, this decision may reduce the responsiveness of the company to customers, because then they will face the problem of out of stock. But the sacrifice may be worth it. Because the cost paid for additional inventory may be greater than the sales loss caused by shortage. The question is which choice is more in line with the ultimate goal of the enterprise

the theory that CRM can be optimized without losing the effect of supply chain management is simply heaven's night talk, and vice versa. You can't have both fish and bear's paws. On the contrary, I may get a 20% bonus from the customer who brings the most revenue. However, this is based on the fact that the five largest suppliers can meet the punctuality requirements of customized products. Suppliers are likely not willing to do that, because it will put their other customer relationships on the cusp of the storm

at the commercial level, the key to making a judgment is whether the enterprise is facing high-profit transactions or inefficient transactions. At the technical level, once a decision is made, can the strategic structure and execution of the enterprise make the enterprise respond quickly and produce high cost performance in business transactions. Let's clarify the question again: can enterprises get higher business returns from SCM and CRM, or from the combination of the two

in my opinion, one of the most important roles that CIOs will play in the future is to promote the top management of enterprises to determine whether SCM and CRM are complementary or competitive. The challenge for CIOs will be to ensure that the organizational information strategic architecture can address this issue (regardless of the final decision)

if you are Dell, you have understood the commercial value of supply-demand coordination; If you are Wal Mart, you have realized that asymmetric investment in the supply chain means a crisis of global competition. But if you are target? GM, Ford or Toyota? If you are P & G? If you are Citigroup or fidelity? The answer is not so obvious

in the end, enterprises will have to spend more time and think more, and use more originality to decide what procedures to adopt to realize the optimization of supply chain and CRM. Different enterprises will draw completely different conclusions. Even if the enterprise adopts the same business model, it will be a personalized process to decide how and where the customer network should be connected with the supplier network. It can be said that the successful realization of this decision-making process will be an important challenge faced by CIOs, and it is also the ultimate difference in enterprise value. (end)