Web 2.0 Puts Supply Chains in the Fast Lane: Part II

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a two-part opinion piece by Bryn Heimbeck, Trade Tech’s CEO. Trade Tech is a global supplier of Cloud-based solutions for the logistics industry.

At the heart of Web 2.0 functionality is a rich host of capabilities that make data capture as fast as local, server-based systems.  Functions like Auto Complete for data validation and cursor paths that allow data to be captured without additional screen navigation make work faster and easier.  Additionally, navigational attributes, such as Div elements, can visually isolate a section on a screen and bring it to the foreground when requested.  This capability is behind enhanced features on sites like Netflix, where new movie selections come to the fore while the primary screen remains in the background, but is darkened.

In logistics, this functionality can be used to reduce training time and can open the door to collaboration outside of the core system with customers and vendors. Such collaboration with trading partners is critical to speeding information flows and turbo-charging the supply chain. But trading partner participation will happen only if systems employ an intuitive, simple interface—something that is far easier to achieve in a Web 2.0 environment.

Perhaps the single biggest enhancement of Web 2.0 is AJAX (Asynchronous Java Script and XML).  With AJAX, Web applications can send and retrieve data in the background without interfering with the display and behavior of the page being viewed. On Google Maps, for example, a huge amount of picture data has to be downloaded and available before the user ever asks to see it. For example, as a user looks at a map of his neighborhood, Google uses AJAX to send to his PC, in the background, information related to what currently is being viewed, such as pictures of neighborhoods to the North, East, West and South. Then, when the user scrolls in any direction, the information already is there and becomes immediately visible on the screen.

This capability has tremendous implications for supply chain management, which also requires the transmission and manipulation of enormous amounts of information.  AJAX will be critical to developing solutions that balance the power of global participation on a single system with the need for speed. 

Web-based logistics systems have become commonplace and the industry has a growing community of collaborative working environments. From the vendor portals of major importers and trading companies like Wal Mart and Li & Fung to collaborative online booking functions, these solutions are fast and easy to use. Direct interactions between parties around the world are replacing time-consuming email exchanges and sprawling spreadsheets as a means of updating purchase orders, confirming bookings and performing other vital functions..

With these changes, the focus in supply chains is shifting away from documents and onto the data that drives operations. Better quality information is gathered earlier in the process and made available to supply chain participants in real-time. At the heart of this new move forward in global computing, is the rich functionality of Web 2.0.