Supply Chain Management using Information technology

It is must for any service oriented company to keep its supply chain management in the right direction and  SCM is all  about orders, inventories, sales trends, etc.

The concept of supply chain management is of great use as it enables you see how you can manage the supply chain to optimize revenues, cash flow, and customer satisfaction. There are great number of processes within SCM which can guide you towards better integration of activities keeping core business function as important.

Well companies need better SCM for reducing costs, improving their cash flow, and making sure materials and products are in stock when needed to meet customer demand. Whether it is a big company or a small company we need to focus on the SCM as it tells us what inventory to keep and information about reorder level and the lead time.It saves your time and money and proper resource utilization 

SCM is a vast field and ranges from :bills of materials, product descriptions and pricing, inventory levels, customer and order information, supplier and distributor information, current cash flow, and balance between  suppliers, transportation vendors, subcontractors and other parties.

Also , the use of a proper MIS (management information system) helps a lot in maintaining the proper SCM.

Types of software for SCM are : stand-alone software, software that integrates with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, software for specific industries from retail to construction and transportation, software to solve specific problems such as logistics, product information management, and cash flow management.

The prices also vary, depending on the functionality you need, the licensing model, and the services and maintenance options you may choose. Depending on the size of your operations and the number of users, you may run SCM software on your existing server, on a dedicated server, or you might choose to start with a hosted application that integrates with your in-house information system.

Prior to the purchase of software  make sure your business information is complete, consistent, current, and accessible. Make sure product, customer, order, and financial information is in server-based databases, centralized and secure. Set up secure mobile and remote access so that sales and service people or project managers in the field and in other business locations can view and update information immediately. It should be such that employees can access and it will allow them to see current inventory levels, orders, cash flow, etc. It is much faster than a manual process.

So choose a SCM solution that fits your needs and also measure the return on investment for the chosen SCM solution .