B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

14.9. Conclusion
Supply Chain Management (SCM) 437
Supply chain management (SCM) is one of the most important
applications enabled by B2B integration for various industries. SCM is
a set of integrated business processes characterized by four underlying
concepts: process optimization, combination of goods, services and
information and extent of a supply chain. Companies that are positioning
themselves as next generation enterprises (NGEs) are automating supply
chain processes, which let trading partners exchange real-time information
on the planning and execution of their respective supply chains.
A B2Bi-enabled supply chain is demand driven which eliminates the
need for companies to build inventories through forecasts that may or
may not match the actual customer demand. It enables companies to
consider all constraints, including material, capacity, logistics and
financial, in real-time to best determine how to optimally plan, execute
and deliver to meet customer demands, while ensuring profitable order
fulfillment.
SCM systems provide an end-to-end solution that integrates
forecasting, planning and execution capabilities with complete supply
chain wide visibility across the supply chain, which includes multiple
distributed enterprises. A good SCM system provides seamless integration
with external applications, such as a trading partner SCM system and
internal applications, such as ERP, CRM and legacy systems. It also
provides flexibility to add-on products on a need basis.