The Executive Spotlight series will feature several of Amber Road’s key thought leaders as they discuss what they see as the biggest challenges and trends in the GTM space.
What do you believe to be the key challenges facing your customers and their supply chains in the year ahead?
The resiliency of our customers during the recession has caused them to pursue revenue growth tenaciously while tightly managing costs. In the year ahead, many of our customers are aiming to increase their international sales through acquisitions and emerging markets. The continued challenges of complex regulations and multi-dimensional supply chains require revenue growth opportunities, partnered with efficient operations. My goal is to help our customers plan and operate profitably as they extend their global markets. As the opportunities of global markets increase, so do the complexities of managing efficient operations. By providing automation, optimization, transparency, controls and metrics, we will make it easier for customers to reach and serve new markets.
How can supply chain, as a function, better align with a company’s broader strategy?
The supply chain should be flexible enough such that it can be tuned to align with company goals. Nobody wants to be locked in to a rigid and inflexible supply chain, especially in the global world where the business complexity and economic stakes are often higher than in the domestic world. Of course, company goals may change over time due to overall economic climate or change in direction at the executive level. A company may decide to move from a customer service-oriented supply chain to a low-cost, no fringes supply chain or vice versa. Having an execution platform that is flexible enough to be easily configured to meet the desired overall business strategy is a powerful tool. A highly configurable GTM supply chain execution platform creates a solid foundation from which a company can perform and, more importantly, provides the insurance to meet the dynamic requirements of a rapidly changing global business world.
Stephanie Miles, Senior Vice President of Commercial Services, leads Amber Road’s professional services and support teams for the delivery, implementation and ongoing support services for the company’s global trade management solutions.
