Maximizing ROI from Technology

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the January-February 2013 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

January-February 2013

Supply chain management has a host of rules that most managers live by. But in certain cases, say authors Robert Sabath and Rich Sherman, true innovation comes only when those conventional rules are broken. By clearly understanding the nature of the rules and the details of your supply chain, you can know where and when rule-breaking makes sense.

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Since supply chain technology emerged on the scene a few decades ago, practitioners have been interested in what’s available, how it can improve their operations, and, more personally, how it will affect their job. And up until comparatively recently, the articles and industry events that addressed this technology focused on these aspects: What’s hot, how can I use it, and how will the technology affect me.

Those questions remain as relevant as ever, of course. But now, more and more we’re seeing another issue capturing mindshare, namely, What can we do to maximize the ROI from our technology investment?

In fact, in just about every technology-related webcast that SCMR has conducted over the past two years, the ROI question has been one of the very first asked by attendees. Maybe it’s a sign of the economic times, which are still less-than-robust. Or it could be a more cautious approach to expenditures of any kind. In any case, all segments of the supply chain community—users, vendors, consultants, and academics—would likely agree that it’s a positive development.

This article will offer some practical advice on how to build a solid business case for investing in supply chain technology and, once you’ve made the investment, how to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. We’ll also introduce some interesting findings from a recent survey that SCMR conducted on what readers are doing to capture maximum ROI from technology—and where they could improve.

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