Five Way AWS Integration Delivers Supply Chain Transformation

ketteQ CEO Cy Smith notes that supply chain operators are continuously bogged down with information collection and data analysis, even as a swift and vast array of new technology upgrades continue to increase reaction time and boost strategy capability. The costly challenge of knowledge worker productivity, spelled out in a venerated 2001 IDC report, still plagues the industry, but powerful solutions are here. Smith recently shared five ways AWS integration is creating a vital boost for data collection speed and critical connectivity and how ketteQ is bringing these advances to clients.

AWS Connects All Systems, Speeds Analysis

AWS not only has the infrastructure and the hardware, but a lot of software utilities and analytical tools that make it easier to connect various applications and easier to collect data all in one place and analyze the data said Smith, who has watched companies continue to struggle to keep up with critical data and plan real-time response. There can be millions of data collection points that supply chain organizations need to make and analyze to operate efficiently. Data that used to take a day or so to process can now be collected and analyzed so much faster.

AWS gives operators instant access to much swifter computer power. You could literally be processing thousands of supply chain scenarios each night and come back in the morning with real-time recommendations, added Smith. ketteQ realized an AWS integration would deliver faster and more scalable infrastructure and analytical tools to clients, allowing them to connect all the dots along a supply chain faster. Harnessing AWS computer power allows supply chain operations to be much more nimble, accurate, and effective. As a member of the AWS Partner program, ketteQ focuses on its solutions while delivering the most up-to-date software through AWS integration.

Better, More Accurate Real-Time Forecasting

To get a product to a customer on time, there may be 30 to 50 steps that the product must take along a supply chain. Additionally, there may be any number of scenarios that can throw forecasting off. Operators must know what data is needed to ensure the proper function of each step or account for a sudden scenario shift in real-time. Let’s say, for example, that you thought you needed 1,000 units of a product, but your sales rep just sold 1,500 units, explained Smith, and there may be 300 existing customers waiting.

Suppliers need to source raw materials, additional units must be produced, and product must be shipped. Along the way, operators must be able to account for unpredictable impacts, such as a shipper who gets caught in a convoy in Canada. The combination of scenarios is endless – far too many for a human to account for quickly. ketteQ eliminates unnecessary human touchpoints, harnessing the speed and power of integrated computer systems to account for inventory shifts and enabling operators to stay ahead of unpredictable outcomes. AWS offers a single location where all data can come together and be viewed in real-time so that critical adjustments can be made quickly.

Working in the Cloud Eliminates Need for Constant Tech Investment

One CIO revealed that his company had more than 450 operational applications to support, said Smith. Often applications get added overtime to resolve one issue or another. It can become completely unmanageable and a nightmare to support. ketteQ better integrates existing systems so there is seamless communication. With AWS integration, you don’t have to build your own database or have a massive IT staff to keep all systems running.

As a cloud-based platform, AWS offers hyperconnectivity between all systems and offers continuous upgrades, eliminating the need for constant and costly investments in new software. Managing IT can be a huge distraction. ketteQ’s AWS integration takes that off the plate and allows a company to focus on being number one. IT departments do not have the bandwidth to upgrade constantly or replace systems every two years, but AWS does. If you are on the cloud, you are on a system that gets updated all the time, Smith added. As companies grow, this allows them to scale.

Integrated Systems Can Erase Human Error

The average knowledge worker is still spending what amounts to an unbalanced amount of time on information collection, distribution, and data analysis, notes Smith. For anyone supply chain operation scenario, the worker may be looking across multiple applications, getting on the phone with suppliers, seeking out the same information from multiple locations, and trying to reconcile data.

Top that with simultaneous shifts in the journey of a product from the shelf to the customer, such as order cancellations, and you have decisions being made on data that may suddenly be inaccurate. Computers can reconcile data faster, keep up with real-time shifts in data and eliminate human error in the process. AWS integration with supply chain systems can make everything much more efficient, leveraging computers to do what computers are good at while allowing humans to focus on what they are best at – building relationships with suppliers, understanding how to sell product etc… Taking out human touchpoints along the supply chain vastly increases efficiency, accuracy, and profit-leading results.

AWS + Salesforce Integration Significantly Increases Capability

As we were building ketteQ, we knew we didn’t want to build from the ground up, said Smith. We are the only digital supply chain platform built on Salesforce, which gives our supply chain organizations extended, configurable capabilities with familiar, trusted systems. Adding the integration with AWS increases the visibility and reporting capabilities we can offer, not to mention access to a whole suite of data science algorithms, so we can focus on significantly advancing automation capabilities.

The pairing of these integrations allows us to deliver the latest technology platforms that will continue to improve over time with no need to rip and replace legacy systems or hassle with costly software upgrades. Our solutions can be adopted one at a time to fill in the gaps within legacy systems, or as part of a full integration upgrade, allowing our customer’s limitless scale potential.

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