You may think supply chain and ERP infrastructure is a mature category. Well, if your definition of “mature” is creaky joints, a bloated midsection and blurry vision, you may be right. The supply chain was one of the first information system sectors to benefit from purpose-built enterprise software. Now all those monolithic, inflexible and expensive-to-maintain systems are preventing organizations from growing.

New World? Yes. Brave? That Depends on You

Meanwhile the facts on the ground have changed dramatically. For one thing, the facts aren’t necessarily on the ground. They could be in transit on the ocean or in the air. The supplier and manufacturing landscape literally circles the globe. And the relationships between suppliers, logistics, distribution and retailers are just as fluid as the oceans that frequently separate them.

Not only has sourcing become more distributed and dynamic, so has the marketplace. The path to the customer can lead directly from the factory (in the case of drop shipments) or pass through multitier distribution on its way to fulfillment as an OEM deliverable. But if your name is on that customer’s experience, you will be held accountable for its accuracy, quality and timeliness.

Even the customers themselves may not be on the ground, but in cyberspace. The same information systems that promised to cut the cost of provisioning the store on Main Street have turned into weapons in the hands of consumers who prowl the Internet, demanding custom configurations, bundled orders from multiple suppliers and overnight delivery.

A recent end-customer survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adults 18 years and older[1] showed the importance of cross-channel efficiencies in accommodating increasing customer demands. The survey, conducted in January of 2007, found that 80 percent of respondents felt it was important to have a choice of shopping online, in a store or by telephone when choosing a retailer.

It’s this last fact – the multichannel engagement with consumers – that has seized the selling end of the supply chain and now swings it like a whip. The demands on inventory management and order visibility are certainly making those mature systems show their age.

Turn and Face the Customer … in Every Direction

Of course, another definition for “mature systems” could be “core asset” or “major investment.” The simple fact is that no retailer, distributor or manufacturer is going to replace their information infrastructure any time soon. The balancing act remains one of maximum utilization of existing systems while on-boarding new capabilities with an eye toward the long-term value of any IT investments.

This is not just a technical challenge, but a conceptual one. An increasing number of IT professionals are taking a more holistic view: seeing the connections between their suppliers and customers as a continuum that embraces all their existing systems and those of their partners and suppliers that extracts every bit of value they offer, and uses that to drive the larger engine that satisfies their customers. This is multichannel selling and fulfillment.

Perhaps because it has quietly operated at the heart of multichannel interaction for almost 30 years, Sterling Commerce has now emerged as the preeminent provider of multichannel selling and fulfillment solutions: synchronizing complex order capture and fulfillment processes. We call this comprehensive integration of supply chain, ERP and CRM functionality “Business Without Borders.”

Working from a customer order life cycle hub, Sterling Commerce Multi-Channel Selling and Fulfillment Solutions enable intelligent selling and sourcing across multiple channels. But just getting the parts to interoperate is the least of it. Since our heritage is EDI systems, our perspective is one of leveraging existing infrastructure to actually accelerate transactions, increase efficiency, lower operating expenses, assure accuracy and – most importantly – increase customer revenue.

Profiting From Partnerships

A core concept of this new approach is the realization that suppliers are an integral part of the selling function: Poor suppler execution directly impacts the customer’s purchase experience. “Suppliers” may be generously called “partners.” But unless they are visible, they are just one more complicating factor in serving the end customer. Likewise, alternative channels to that customer are only partners if they’re sharing order data in an efficient, actionable and manageable fashion.

The Sterling Commerce Multi-Channel Order Management enables rapid, flexible integration of any participants in the multichannel environment. The same capabilities that enable Sterling Commerce to leverage legacy systems are applied here to integrate disparate – even proprietary – systems. The result is a streamlined multichannel selling and fulfillment ecosystem that makes each participant a contributor to customer satisfaction, not a complicater.

With customer and partner systems integrated, the continuum from order to fulfillment – in effect, a full circle – can deliver more profitable business and increased customer loyalty. That is “Business Without Borders” in action.

Finding Greater Fulfillment

Sterling Commerce has componentized the elements of the selling chain to enable implementations in a staged, systematic approach:

• Multichannel Selling – simplifies finding, configuring and ordering complex products and services and allows customers and partners direct interaction in the selling process through every available touch point;
• Multichannel Order Management – orchestrates global order and service fulfillment across multiple channels;
• Warehouse Management – enables customers to manage inventory, labor and processes for a distributed warehouse network of diverse facilities in the extended enterprise;
• Transportation Management – enables customers (shippers) to view, plan, execute, settle and analyze their inbound and outbound transportation; and
• Supply Chain Visibility – enables companies to better balance supply and demand by collecting, summarizing and displaying inbound supply information in a usable, understandable and actionable format.

The solutions in the Sterling Multi-Channel Selling and Fulfillment Suite compare favorably against conventional point solutions. But they also present a clear and comprehensive adoption path that can compound the ROI of any engagement as the client company eliminates each friction point from its sales and fulfillment operations.

Achieving Business Without Borders

As AMR Research pronounced: “Sterling is assembling a critical mass and has an opportunity to provide a platform that combines communications and collaborative functionality for the three major faces of e-business: customer-facing, supplier-facing, and logistics-facing.”[2]

Sterling Commerce has already built a client portfolio that is making the industry sit up and take notice. With the resources of AT&T (our parent company) behind us, we now rival many of our better-known CRM and ERP competitors in our ability to support selling engagements and execute once the project is approved. With major operations on six continents, we are positioned to partner on implementations virtually anywhere in the world.

Thanks to these robust global resources, Sterling Commerce is conducting “Business Without Borders” on behalf of ourselves and our partners. There now seem to be no borders to our potential.

For more information, or a personal introduction to Sterling Commerce capabilities, please contact partners@stercomm.com.

Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), helps 80 percent of the FORTUNE® 500 thrive in a global economy by solving complex business process challenges. The company’s innovative software and services integrate customers’ systems – inside and outside the four walls of the enterprise – so companies can conduct business without borders. Sterling Commerce solutions help customers adopt best practices in e-sales, supply chain execution, payment processing and businessto- business integration. The solutions also give executives and frontline managers greater visibility inside and outside the enterprise in order to improve profitability, reduce costs and minimize risk. Sterling Commerce enables businesses to innovate key processes in real time, while continuing to deploy ERP or transaction system infrastructures. With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, Sterling Commerce has unparalleled experience in retail, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, financial services, supply chain, logistics and telecommunications.

Our Solutions

Sterling Commerce business solutions eliminate the barriers to multi-enterprise collaboration so companies can optimize shared processes for competitive advantage. Built on a flexible multi-enterprise services architecture (MESA), we provide end-to-end visibility and control over the business processes you share with outside partners.

• Business Integration services for real-time access to any kind of information and a worry-free B-to-B foundation;
• Business Intelligence services for decision support, activity monitoring, event management, and reporting and tracking;
• Business Process Management services for process-driven control and faster response time; and
• Business Applications – packaged composite applications and application tool kits.

Our Industry Suites

Sterling Commerce has always had a strong industry focus, helping you solve the problems that are specific to your market and its unique dynamics.

• Banking
• Healthcare
• Industrial manufacturing
• Logistics
• Retail

Our Professional Services

Sterling Commerce is one of the few companies that can help you integrate both internal and external business processes across the value chain – and do it in smart, profitable increments.

• Strategic consulting
• Implementation services
• Post-implementation services
• Custom services
• Business process outsourcing
• Education
• Customer support
• Network hosting solutions

Our Products

Sterling Commerce products are more than software applications. They are powerful tools that help you get the most efficient collaboration out of your human and computer resources.

• Application Integration (EAI) for interoperability that enhances the utility of back-office applications and connects them with each other, with people and with the business processes.
• B2B Communications that keep you connected to virtually any protocol your partners use and that exchange information reliably, securely and in sync with your IT operations and business processes.
• Community Management that provides a 360- degree view of your trading partners, reduces the cost of maintaining and on-boarding partners and includes self-provisioning to further reduce service costs.
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) that supports ANSI X12, EDIFACT, TRADACOMS and other global EDI formats. Includes the fastest EDI translator in the known universe that is trusted by more than half of the FORTUNE® 500 with their mission-critical business documents.
• Secure File Transfer, the industry’s de facto standard for reliable delivery of mission-critical business documents.
• Systems Monitoring for improved management of large constellations of file transfer clients and proactive alerting to exception conditions and activity exceeding specified thresholds.

Almost 30,000 companies rely on our technology. And no two are the same. That’s because your needs are as unique as your business. And a year from now, they might be completely different. The important part is that Sterling Commerce solutions, services and products are modular and scalable, which is just another way of saying made for you.

Sterling Commerce enables collaboration. We facilitate community building. And we help businesses like yours become more agile. Most importantly, we help you think and operate far beyond your own four walls – where the opportunity to take the lead is greatest. We are dedicated to helping our customers in the places where they need us most. We have offices throughout the world, with over 2,000 employees and 40 office locations.

For more information on Sterling Commerce, please visit us at www.sterlingcommerce.com.

Endnotes

1. AMR Research, January 2007
2. Ibid.