Supply chain innovators have 60% better profit margins and 65% better earnings per share than their competitors. Why? They’ve identified the shortcomings of their rigid, legacy applications, and have moved toward building a modern, flexible, end-to-end supply chain that’s more suited to the dynamic challenges of today’s business world.

In short, they’ve moved to the cloud.

In a world where customer expectations are sky-high, competition is fierce and innovation, adaptability and speed to market is critical, the rigidity of a traditional supply chain doesn’t just hinder growth, it can jeopardize the very survival of your business. Cloud technology offers the flexibility and visibility you need to spot opportunities for growth along with the ability to take full advantage of them quickly, securely and cost-effectively. This blog both summarises the benefits of SCM in the Cloud from a broad perspective, and shows you how to calculate the benefits specific to your business.

So what are the characteristics of a modern supply chain and what do they mean for your business?

Visibility
Complete, accurate, real-time visibility improves almost every area of your business, from product design and production costs to quality, compliance, and customer satisfaction. In the traditional supply chain model, data is often scattered across silos, with no centralized single version of the truth, making informed decisions very difficult. With 360-degree visibility in the cloud you get the insight you need, when you need it, that will help you improve products and services, spot opportunities, identify cost savings, and track, monitor, plan and predict with confidence.

Connectivity
One of the major barriers to arriving at one single version of the truth in the traditional supply chain is the lack of integration between systems. In the Cloud, you have open and seamless integration with all your existing IT solutions from financial systems to HR, from mobile to IoT devices and more. That means vast improvements for collaboration, accuracy, efficiency, and ultimately, business performance.

Agility
Moving your supply chain to the cloud gives you the flexibility to quickly respond to, even predict, change – whether that’s in customer demand, competitor activity, supplier issues, market trends or performance. New capabilities can be added and scaled up and down almost instantly to keep your business responsive, innovating and improving.

Security
From encryption to whitelist support, the cloud offers up-to-the-minute, best-in-class security features that keep your critical supply chain data secure and protected at all times, and your business compliant with changing regulations.

Cost control
A cloud-based solution provides the automation, analytics and collaboration you need to identify savings, streamline processes, control costs, and achieve higher margins. What’s more, low upfront investments and subscription-based pricing mean no large initial outlay, and more affordable upgrades and new capability rollouts.

You know the cloud will benefit your business. But do you know by how much?

The above are the business benefits of SCM in the cloud from a broad perspective. But what about the specific benefits to your business. Can you calculate them?

Yes. And you can calculate them in real terms.

By entering just a few key stats into the Oracle SCM ROI calculator, you can work out the potential impact of moving your supply chain management to the cloud – in terms of improved efficiency, reduced costs and increased profits. And because they are based on real information about your business, the report you will generate is exceptionally accurate, with detailed figures on the following five areas:

• Savings in supply chain operations
• Increase in operating profit
• Reduction in logistics cost
• Decreased inventory carrying cost
• Curtailment of maverick spend

The tool is quick and easy to use, and you can adapt it according to your own specific business drivers. Quite simply, the more detail you put in, the more detailed the results you’ll get back.

When you know that the cloud is the way your supply chain should go, this tool will give you the hard and fast statistics to back you up. There’s even a collection of useful reading, videos and infographics to help you build a rock solid case.

Discover the real financial benefits of moving to the cloud. Test drive the Oracle SCM ROI calculator today.