BT has launched new cloud-based capabilities for BT Trace, its portfolio of supply chain solutions designed to help organisations overcome the challenges of managing increasingly complex global supply chains.

 

BT Trace now includes a cloud-based solution that will provide a single, accurate view into complex supply chains in near real time, to see how and where changes need to be made and enable customers to improve operational efficiency, said a statement. 

 

Companies with a global supply chain deal with multiple issues, from counterfeiting and shrinkage to product recalls and perishable goods. This is typical for global companies active in industry sectors such as consumer packaged goods, logistics, manufacturing, pharma or retail for example. 

 

They need an accurate understanding of all inventory and on-shelf availability, all the while trying to comply with regulations and operate a sustainable business. Supply chain visibility is a challenge for those companies because of the multiplicity of formats, sources and partners that collect data. All too often, their various resource planning and backend systems are not even connected. BT Trace helps companies respond to those critical challenges, said the statement.

 

The new cloud service cost effectively and securely collects, stores, shares and interprets high volume event data about goods and assets moving along an extended global supply chain. The new service integrates the complex information from the various resource planning and IT systems used by global companies - and by their suppliers - to provide a single view of the whole supply chain through a customised web portal, it said.

 

Melanie Posey, research vice president at IDC, said: "Through the combination of global network and data centre reach, multi-tiered security capabilities, industry expertise, and systems integration skills, BT brings to market a differentiated value proposition to the challenging problem of supply chain management. The cloud-based capabilities announced today for BT Trace provide global companies with end-to-end visibility of their supply chains and expedite the process of transforming enterprise resource planning data into real-time, actionable business intelligence."

 

The new service has been trialled and tested with TNT Express, one of the world’s largest express delivery companies. The service developed by BT in close collaboration with TNT was implemented to help drive operational efficiency; improve customer service and optimise reverse logistics, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service