Logistics technology: GT Nexus, Capgemini partner up for cloud-based endeavor

Cloud supply chain technology services provider GT Nexus and Capgemini recently announced they inked a joint go-to market BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) initiative to enable what it described as “Supply Chain Orchestration.”

Through this effort, the companies will collaborate in providing customers with supply chain services in North America and Europe powered by GT Nexus’ technology platform.

GT Nexus officials said that through this partnership is focused on ensuring that shippers’ supply chains are “interconnected with other complex networks so that processes can be automated across numerous enterprises and promote much greater visibility end to end,….with cloud [enabling] entirely new information sharing models so that the supply chain more closely represents the reality of a network rather than a simple chain.”

The potential of cloud computing has tremendous implications going forward, too. According to research from Gartner Inc., the market for cloud-based SCM technology will grow by 25 percent by 2013.

GT Nexus and CapGemini said that they will provide shippers with joint on-demand solutions to facilitate collaboration and visibility of trade and logistics operations across global networks in the cloud, using the “single page” information model. Capgemini will bring its BPO services expertise, Supply Chain Orchestration managed service offerings, global Rightshore resources and Platform solutions. And GT Nexus will offer its cloud based collaboration platform to help companies take advantage of the cloud to improve business agility. Shipper benefits cited by the companies include: End to End process control, visibility and traceability, Enhanced Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), reduction in operating costs, increases in efficiencies and improvement in Cost of Supply Chain Operations whilst maintaining the balance of Service and Quality.

“What a cloud platform brings to the mix is that it takes away the proprietary [nature] of technology,” said Greg Kefer, GT Nexus Director, Corporate Marketing, at last week’s Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Annual Conference in Philadelphia. “Typically in the past a shipper would go out and buy a legacy-based technology platform and maintain it with servers and an IT operation. With cloud, those legacy systems don’t work because supply chain is inherently an inter-company business.”

And for inter-company processes, he said cloud is more efficient when linking and sharing supply chain-related data.

As an example, he cited when a shipper enters a purchase order. In order to find things like related documents or inventory to that order, one of the challenges in the past was that technology vendors put the data processing capabilities at the nodes, as opposed to in the middle—of the cloud.

“This is an environment shared by many people and what you are getting is economies of scale,” explained Kefer. “Supply chain goes a step further, because cloud allows you to access data regarding to 3PLs or suppliers or other needed data sources outside of your company. There is openness to it while being secure at the same time and enabling things that were not possible before.”