As industry attitudes and consumer behaviors change, so does the challenge of sustaining a business in the fashion industry. The global health crisis has accelerated the need for retailers and fashion brand owners to reconsider the concepts of brick-and-mortar shops to meet the demands of digitally native consumers—while still maintaining omni-channel supply and ensuring sustainable production to allow for recycling. The landscape is evolving more quickly than many can adapt.

Despite these difficult new industry dynamics, fashion companies big and small still can turn these challenges into channels of transformation. Those who can observe and react to shifting buyer behaviors, regulatory changes, and the growing number of channels to market will not only gain a competitive edge, but also help assure the future success of their business.

It's not just about technology, it's all about responsibility

The technical aspect of different delivery methods described in the previous blog post in this blog series of, is of course an essential part of the factors to consider when choosing the right ERP solution for your company. However, what is perhaps even more important to understand is the division of responsibilities between supplier and customer when it comes to the different options. There are major differences between the delivery methods, but there may also be differences within the specific method.

ERP Delivery methods from a responsibility perspective

Below Håkan Strömbeck (Senior Industry & Solution Strategy Director at Infor), describes the different ERP delivery methods from a responsibility perspective. The description is made from a general perspective for all option, except for the "multi-tenant" option which is described based on how things work at Infor.

As the world emerges from a Covid-19-inspired hibernation, organizations are evaluating how to ensure the return to work is handled safely and efficiently. For many organizations, this return will be more symbolic than physical as the benefits of allowing employees to work remotely have become too obvious to ignore. For example, remember then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's communication to employees, suggesting they could continue to work remotely forever?

"If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen. If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return."

This trend is unquestionably gaining momentum as other companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and many others have formally communicated their intent to extend their remote work policies (some through the end of the calendar year).

Design your value chain for omni-channel

Today, customers expect to shop, compare, purchase, and consume on their own terms—on their own schedule, through a variety of channels, and on a variety of devices. For fashion companies, that means operating in a customer-driven economy. Not only should your marketing campaigns drive customers to the omni-channel outlets that you monitor, but your value chain should be ready to support these efforts. The omni-channel experience must be seamless and consistent, inspiring your customers to make purchases whether they’re in a physical store or online.

For your omni-channel management efforts and value chain to be in sync, you must move toward new business models that are far more collaborative, consumer driven, responsive, and quick. But how do you design a value chain so you can get closer to your customers and quickly deliver on their needs? And how do you get your value chain partners aligned to get the right products to where consumers want them—as quickly and efficiently as possible? This eBook will answer these questions and more.

Food and beverage companies face another pivotal year as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing businesses to reevaluate their supply chain and operations strategy. To combat the challenges of supply chain disruption, shifting consumer demand, and market uncertainty, many organizations have turned to technology to promote resiliency and galvanize their business processes for the year ahead.

Below are five technology trends that experts anticipate will gain popularity in the years ahead as manufacturers prioritize agility and resilience over reactivity.

The existence of Conflicting objectives means we should look at aligning the processes and systems to enable us the make the appropriate decision and tradeoffs. But Siloed thinking and the Legacy systems deficit are making this more difficult to achieve.

There is no question that the solution is to first and foremost focus on people and process as we did in the second blog, Redefining the Processes, but technology can make a real difference to enable these processes and make the people able to focus on the important issues rather than the mundane task of data gathering and analysis.

The last 30 years have seen a huge expansion of global trade. Many of the goods we consume today are made in a different continents. The chase for the cheapest production location has resulted in complex, long lead time supply chains which have significantly increased the risk of disruptions, reduced supply chain efficiencies and increased our environment impact.

Future proof your supply chain with resilient and sustainable elements

Strengthening the supply chains in preparation for inevitable future uncertainties, and the need to be more sustainable whiles continuing to be efficient requires the development of processes, systems, and structures that enable rapid adaptation and resilience in the face of disruptions.

In this blog we’re going to look at the steps organizations can take to future-proof their supply chains, and at how they can build in resilience and sustainability elements.

A recent study, considered exactly this point. The study identified several key characteristics in this regard.

For supply chain professionals in your organization to receive the flexibility and agility they need to increase speed, drive down costs, and satisfy customers, there are four critical components your company must possess. These include real-time visibility, predictive insights, prescriptive decision support, and real-time collaborative execution, all of which can be achieved through the implementation of supply chain control tower.

Deploying a network model to achieve real-time, end-to-end visibility

Visibility is the foundation of every control tower capability, with all advanced decision making and responses within the execution window relying upon the quality and timeliness of visibility. Keeping order, shipment, and inventory status updated for all parties to see in real time is critical to success., but this often proves a core challenge for control towers, since highly dynamic supply chains can change at a rate of over 50 changes per second.

Adaptability and quick turnarounds on strategy had never been more vital during a challenging decade for the restaurants and food services industry so far. The good news for many is that so many organizations rose to that challenge, with restaurant technology playing a singular role in helping them to continue to meet demand and to serve guests via multiple channels, specifically using advanced restaurant point of sale and integrations with mobile ordering.

As much as the industry landscape has been defined by challenges and disruption, it’s also allowed decision makers to consider how present conditions help to anticipate what the rest of the decade might look like. This has meant looking at the basics, the essentials for successful restaurants to best consider and the continuing role restaurant technology will play. Over the last few weeks, we’ve published several posts that explore these factors. Here’s a summary to consider.

Building a Power Team:

The first major step in the journey toward adopting a new ERP system for your organization is assembling an effective project team. A well-appointed team can help you not only select the best possible ERP system suited to meet your organization’s needs but also mitigate employee resistance and secure leadership buy-in.

Assembling an all-star team for your ERP project is critical to your implementation success, so do not take these decisions lightly.