So the latest trend in IT solutions is to slap a “cloud” label on it and market the hech out of it ! No doubt for many supply chain IT applications this makes alot of sense. However, in the world of high value, competitive advantage solutions does it ?
We make the case for S&OP that the core planning function, the scrubbed supply chain execution data and the resultant plans that there is no “collaboration” required for actual plan and its security and privacy is paramount. So do YOU want it in a cloud ? Maybe if highly secured, maybe if a private cloud but do you want the procedural logic and your unique IP of how you refine your plan shared ?
This is why we at DCRA Inc. give our clients the choice
1. To start their S&OP with a plug in hardware appliance they can use behind the firewall
2. To install logic on your own servers
3. To store data on your data warehouse using our SCE data model or the S&OP server
4. To even have access to key source code to modify and tweak to unique needs of your firm. Unique postponed inventory logic, planning bill of material aggregation, allocation A% of sourcing inventory between suppliers kept private etc.
We would also make the case that even if a cloud is selected for S&OP that running a unique instance and dedicated server per client is smart. Smart for a risk management, security, redundancy, data and procedural code clarity and more.
What do you think ? We give all of our clients the choice