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What this means is that a total value of $1.3 trillion dollars and 8.5%
of the total value of the United States economy revolves in some way
around inventory fulfillment.
THE GROWTH OF
economy has already begun.
SUPPLY CHAIN
regarding the dearth of workers in the logistics space. First, there
was the Christian Science Monitor reporting on the hiring of 194,000
workers between Toys R Us, Kohls Corp, and Macys. Then, Fortune
reported on the need for 1.4 million supply chain workers by 2018. Trying to solve the problem of exponential demand by throwing
Both articles attest to the logistics industry playing a greater role in bodies at it or customizing an inadequate system represents a linear
the modern global economy. way of thinking that does not alleviate pressure on the modern supply
chain.
THE CHALLENGE OF EXPONENTIAL
Where the traditional supply chain was invested in optimizing the
GROWTH AND PATCH-WORKED LEGACY movement of goods along a path to a distinct point of sale, todays
SYSTEMS digital world has multiple points of sale. The path has evolved into a
collection of disparate webs with every customer sitting at their own
With the amount of money involved in the logistics industry, one respective center.
would think that supply chain professionals would have leveraged
infrastructure that supports flexible inventory management and The practice of customizing legacy inventory management
adequately meets the challenge of digital fulfillment. technology to fulfill sales is misaligned with the realities of
omni-channel, E-commerce and digital ordering.
However, every year, the logistics industry leaves money on the
table. Hundreds of thousands of employment positions and orders
are left unfulfilled. Truck driver shortages seem insurmountable. As
we witnessed at the end of 2015, high seasons are unsustainable.
Demand regularly exceeds supply. And worst of all shelves are left
empty for no discernable reason to customers.
THE REASON?
Put simply, yesterdays inventory infrastructure has outlived its
use. Businesses using traditional supply chains lack the flexibility
to keep up with consumers who are able to instantaneously place
orders across a variety of channels, and who expect to receive their
purchases from a variety of places.
MANAGING INVENTORY
Knowing where inventory is at any given point and time down
to the unit is the single most important challenge a logistics
organization needs to solve at scale.
Only inventory software that is inherently scalable to match the 1. SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE
scale of ordering will offer this kind of visibility into inventory. For companies that need scalable enterprise-grade fulfillment,
packaged SaaS offerings exist that can offer functionality and
A customized legacy system simply will not be able to do this. scalability at a fraction of the cost of legacy, on-premise solutions.
These packages offer streamlined software that offers industry
best practices as standards and if a business can refrain from
And as markets and technologies change rapidly, the need for
customization, they can be implemented and live and running in
upgrades will never end sooner or later something will change. weeks. This is by far the most cost efficient solution and offers the
greatest level of flexibility and scalability.
This ultimately becomes an IT problem. Gartner states that 42%
of an initial cost of an application is going to be spent annually on 2. MAINTAIN A HYBRID SYSTEM
maintenance. That cost will be dispersed between enhancements,
bug fixes, and operational costs. Hybrid deployments offer scalability and an illusion of control, but
they require redundant infrastructure costs. With hybrid deployment,
businesses can stabilize and maintain their data information on-
Considering the amount of the original application these costs premise while delivering needed functionality via online user
quickly become detrimental to any company. They represent huge interfaces. protocols render information unusable by anyone except
outlays of financial capital. you. And the data centers they are built on -- Rackspace and
Amazon -- enjoy security that most on-premise solutions can only
dream of.
Have you budgeted 42% over the next few years? How expensive
was your legacy software? One million? Two million? Three million
dollars? Have you budgeted 42% of three million dollars for the 3. ON-PREMISE TECHNOLOGY
lifetime of your software? Have you really set aside $1.26 million If the idea of using the qualities of the Internet to solve supply chain
dollars a year on maintenance? challenges at your company is a nonstarter to decision makers,
then continuing with on-premise solutions is your other choice. Just
The more complex and older your software is, the costlier changing it know that, though you are able to customize everything you want
to whatever level of complexity you desire, you will also have to
will be. maintain that software. Keep Gartners 42% in mind and budget
accordingly.
Keep in mind; this money does not address your primary challenge.
That problem has not changed. Orders are growing exponentially
and will soon be automated. You need the flexibility to manage your
inventory the same way down to the unit.
Since 2008, the LogFire Cloud has been used by supply chain
companies around the world to manage inventory through its
enterprise-grade, cloud-based, web application.
HOW THE LOGFIRE or sizing for seasonal or peak processing times or business growth
and expansion as well as extensible for leveraged integration with
other systems and connectivity with ones suppliers, trading partners,
CLOUD CAN HELP stores, customers and others, for improved visibility, collaboration,
value-add, and total supply chain management.
ABOUT LOGFIRE Enhanced in-store multi-channel management system with real-time
inventory visibility to storefront and backroom inventory. Connected
LogFire is transforming inventory management for The New to the store POS system, each in-store SKU can be replenished
Fulfillment Economy. Its the only solution that combines the speed based on inventory levels set by item. True SKU visibility across an
and savings of the cloud with the richer functionality of an installed entire network of stores allows retailers to fulfill orders from anywhere
WMS. The LogFire platform was built from the ground up by leading based on end-client preferences.
supply chain experts who wanted to give retailers, 3PLs, wholesalers,
and others an inventory-everywhere view of their supply chain By integrating multi-channel inventory management with visibility
without the endless integration and upgrade costs of traditional across all business channels, companies can manage multiple
solutions. The strategy worked. Today, LogFire is recognized as a channel strategies from the same physical facility like never before.
Visionary by Gartner, is one of the fastest growing companies in the Companies are able to know, with precision, the status of all
U.S., and has offices around the world. inventories. The result is improved service and profitability.
Since 2007, The LogFire Warehouse Management Cloud has been With the LogFire Warehouse Management Cloud you can control the
used by businesses around the world to deliver inventory solutions cost of fulfillment, increase efficiency, and align your technology with
that integrate with existing systems across the supply chain and give the reality of the digital marketplace. Visit us online and see how you
users complete visibility into their entire supply chain network. can start delivering inventory at less cost today.
02/2016 Version. Copyright 2016, LogFire and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only, and the contents hereof are subject to change
without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and
conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document, and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or
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