What is Supply Chain Planning as a Service?
By Roger Singh, Global VP Supply Chain Solutions, Vuealta
5 min
Published: 01 March 2022
As supply chains have become more complex many companies have turned to external sources to manage their physical supply channels. However, some of the key tasks of planning are typically left to their in-house teams and supporting technologies.
Unfortunately, that old way of working is becoming challenging. Accelerated by the pandemic, which created major unexpected demand and supply shocks, as well as the impact of changing rules and laws, supply chain planning has become significantly more complicated and time sensitive than it was just a few years ago. Companies wishing to remain competitive in the future will need better solutions in their supply chain planning than traditional tools and methods can provide.
Supply Chain Planning as a Service, or SCPaaS, is answering this need. Fast, adaptable, and more economical, SCPaaS is rapidly becoming the solution choice for progressive businesses across the globe. Yet even as this concept rises in popularity, some organisations remain unsure. Questions arise. What exactly is SCPaaS? How does it work? How is it different from traditional SCP solutions? And most importantly, is it right for my business?
Let’s take a closer look at Vuealta’s Supply Chain Planning as a Service solution to find out more.
- What is Supply Chain Planning?
Supply Chain Planning (SCP) is a planning process which seeks to manage the supply needed to support the demand requirements. It uses forecasts to develop an organization’s demand plans, driving the supply plans while optimising inventory and its delivery of goods and services from supplier to customer. Using legacy tools such as Excel or similar, SCP aims to balance real-time supply and demand. Unfortunately, many traditional SCP solutions involve significant effort, resulting in high expense, sluggish deployment, slow time to value and poor sustainability. Additionally, the ‘silo-effect’, low adaptability and cumbersome nature of many legacy tools often brings a swift fall in effectiveness that must be constantly addressed with costly upgrades and maintenance.
- How is Vuealta’s Supply Chain Planning as a Service (SCPaaS) solution any different?
Vuealta’s SCPaaS solution is also a planning solution that uses forecasts to balance an organisation’s demand, supply, and inventory with financial integration. However, unlike traditional solutions used within SCP, which are typically housed on client servers and immune to learning, Vuealta’s solutions are cloud based and use AI to evolve and continually adapt to an organisation’s supply chain needs. Additionally, traditional solutions require the customer to purchase hardware and software and retain expensive IT services to install and maintain. In comparison, SCPaaS is provided as a service (as its name suggests). There is no need for the customer to buy and maintain additional software, hardware, or technical assistance.
Key application differences:
- SCP using an Excel platform: Simple to set up, but a manual process that is not scalable. It is disconnected, error-prone, and quickly loses value.
- SCP using traditional legacy platform: Longer enablement time and complex to use. Requires lengthy training and adoption. Rigid and cannot easily be modified without significant cost. Steadily declines in value.
- SCP using traditional legacy platforms and Excel in tandem: All the same issues as above, with users typically returning to Excel for simplicity and to augment other deficiencies. Disconnected. Steadily declines in value.
- Vuealta SCPaaS: Rapid deployment. Provided as a service with Vuealta managing all aspects of IT and maintenance. Simplicity encourages high user adoption and retention. Lower cost. Higher performance and throughput. Faster time to benefits while increasing in value.
- What kind of businesses can benefit from Vuealta’s SCPaaS?
Many organisations can benefit from SCPaaS, but Vuealta’s solutions are purpose built for finished goods businesses, such as CPG, food and beverage, consumer electronics and high-volume B2B manufacturing. The solutions deliver greater visibility into demand for their products, an ability to map demand onto their supply network, and an understanding of gaps with resolution. This gives these organisations the confidence that every SKU makes a positive contribution to their bottom line.
Key value metrics
Planning cycle time
Forecast accuracy
Inventory
Customer service
Revenue + margin
Typical results
50% – 70% reduction
20% – 50% improvement
20% – 30% reduction
25% reduction in stock-outs
5% – 7% improvement
- What platform does SCPaaS use?
Vuealta’s best-in-class SCPaaS solutions have been developed with built-in industry best practices on Anaplan’s market-leading connected planning platform, harnessing the power of advanced analytics, demand sensing and AI to gain insights, assess and respond.
- Can Vuealta’s SCPaaS be modified?
Yes. While the solutions are rich and robust in functionality, they can be configured to allow for unique customer requirements. This is simply performing “configuration” and not “customization”. Additionally, the platform is powerful and flexible to support incorporating other capabilities based on customer requirement.
- How long does it take to deploy Vuealta’s SCPaaS solutions?
Since the Vuealta’s solutions come with a high degree of purpose-built capabilities, they are rapidly deployable and it is significantly faster to set up than traditional SCP solutions. Depending on client-side complexity, initiation to deployment takes an average of 30 – 60 days.
- Do I have to maintain the technology?
No. Vuealta owns the IT services and is responsible for maintenance of the application. They take care of all technical aspects of the infrastructure, which leaves the client free to concentrate on growing their business.
- Is SCPaaS more expensive that traditional Supply Chain Planning?
No. Purpose built solutions, expert finalisation, rapid deployment, quick time to value and included maintenance of the application make the Vuealta solution more cost-effective than traditional SCP. Additionally, payment by fixed subscription avoids unexpected expenses and keeps costs easy to incorporate in budget.
- Is there an example of SCPaaS in action?
Vuealta provides an all-in-one service – from collaborative demand planning, supply planning, and collaboration with trade partners, to executive S&OP. Watch the video to find out more and to discover why healthy beverages manufacturer Vita Coco chose Vuealta’s SCPaaS solution to replace their out-of-date traditional SCP platform.
- Is SCPaaS right for me?
Vuealta’s SCPaaS solutions are right for many organisations with complex supply chains and an ideal fit for finished goods businesses. Also, for organisations with dated and complex to use solutions which are disconnected or supplemented by Excel. Contact Vuealta for a confidential discovery call. Stay on top of inventory, supply, and demand. Predict and plan your supply chain with confidence.