How B2B Integration Drives Superior Supply Chains 

IDC Manufacturing Insights recently conducted a worldwide study of over 270 enterprises across multiple manufacturing sectors (automotive, high-tech, and CPG) covering eight countries on behalf of Open Text, a global provider of enterprise information management solutions and services. The objective of the  study was to understand the role B2B technologies can play in today's manufacturing organizations and to evaluate the impact on their supply chain processes. The key findings of this white paper are highlighted here:

 Today's challenging marketplace is exposing the limits of many  manufacturers' supply chain practices, which fail to properly address  market demand variability and the need for more agile business  operations. In particular, manufacturers are realizing these issues will only  worsen going forward, and they are ready to launch transformational  initiatives in their supply chain strategies.  

 As manufacturers strive to develop globally optimized supply chains that  are more reliable, responsive, and agile, they are aware that real-time  data exchange with trading partners can only increase in volume.  

Despite the growing need for information exchange, only less than 50% of  companies can be defined as "high adopters" of electronic information  exchange processes.   

However, survey results show that a number of best‐in‐class organizations  are taking B2B to a new level as the key integration tool supporting value chain collaboration. This entails adopting a more dynamic process that is  collaborative, in real-time, and based on modern technologies such as  cloud, mobility, Big Data analytics, and the Internet of Things.   

The research demonstrates that this can bring real benefits to  manufacturers; an analysis of supply chain metrics shows that evolving  the B2B process significantly impacts business performance, regardless of  the industry. In particular, metrics such as customer order delivery time,  perfect order, inventory turnover, time to market, new product launch  failures, cash‐to‐cash cycle, days of sales outstanding, and invoice  processing time are all positively impacted by a more mature approach to  B2B that entails more collaborative processes supported by modern  technology.