Continued from Chapter 1: The Challenges of Global Trade

Companies that rely heavily on manually intensive processes struggle to get their products from concept to creation in an efficient manner. With multiple product lines and changing consumer demands, the sourcing and production phases within the product lifecycle require close collaboration between companies and their buyers and suppliers. A lack of communication can lead to bottlenecks and increased costs. It’s imperative for companies to find a way to effectively collaborate with their suppliers to ensure success.

Organizations that successfully align with their key suppliers enjoy reduced risk factors and improved innovation, quality, reliability, supplier visibility, and cost reductions. Both sides of the business can achieve greater value, which is difficult to achieve if operating independently.

Amber Road customer Dick’s Sporting Goods has adopted new technology to automate and simplify the supplier relationship management process, making it easy for sourcing executives to make quick, informed decisions about their suppliers.