Unified Communication to Streamline Realtime Monitoring of Supply Chain

In a candid and exclusive conversation with Mr. Gopu Prakash - Senior Director of OMS, Managed Services at Acuver Consulting explained supply chain trends.

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Faiz Askari
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Gopu Prakash, Supply CHain
In a candid and exclusive conversation with Mr. Gopu Prakash - Senior Director of OMS, Managed Services at Acuver Consulting explained supply chain trends.

 

Faiz Askari: Unified Communication benefiting Supply Chain Management - Please share a detailed overview of this with all recent examples.

Gopu Prakash: Communication is not static or one-dimensional; it happens between multiple entities in a multitude of ways. This complexity is reflected in Supply Chain management applications as well. The only difference is that unlike humans, apps communicate with each other through messaging systems and buses.
These systems are used by different apps to share information and keep themselves updated, and they also use the same systems to engage with customers and end-users. In our world, this takes the familiar form of mobile notifications, chatbots, emails, social media, or call centres.
To illustrate this further, let me explain how one of our proprietary, in-house automation solutions monitors transactions in supply chain systems. It tracks all data regarding the product's transportation and communicates with stakeholders through multiple channels to give them a real-time overview of where the product is now and when it would reach them. This reporting system becomes critical when there is a delay due to natural disasters, political upheaval, or just mechanical breakdowns. Understanding operational or technical problems in the network ensure that they get the attention they deserve right at the beginning before the issue becomes critical.

FA: How is your company bringing an end to end visibility to its customers throughout the purchase process? What kind of technology are you using, and how is it different from the other players?

Gopu Prakash: Supply chain real-time visibility is crucial for maintaining the sanctity of the purchase process. We offer a proprietary automation solution that integrates with supply chain systems to collect crucial information to identify anomalies and notify concerned teams. We aim to find problems as soon as they occur and, in some cases, even recommend corrective action before the problem appears. Our system also automates the resolution process, making it fast and seamless.
It is crucial to have visibility across the entire supply chain. Blind spots can undermine the accuracy of the whole tracking solution. Hence the supply chain and order management applications that we implement have end-to-end visibility of all transactions, inventory, and capacity of all nodes integrated within them. This allows us to show a unified view of the entire supply chain network to the end-user.
On the client interaction side, our solution ensures optimal information dissemination via extensive use of messaging services. The supply chain systems regularly notify customers on key updates about their purchases and also provide them with the ability to look up the status of their orders or transactions using APIs exposed through user interfaces.

FA: How Unified Communications will optimize multi-site process efficiency across the entire supply chain?

Gopu Prakash: The unified communications system works as a central command centre integrating all network nodes/sites to bring a comprehensive view of the entire network in one application.  Our Order Management and Inventory Aggregation application work on similar lines; the application knows all the transactions happening in each of its integrated sites - in great detail. From the costs and lead times associated with each site to procurement, handling, capacity, storage, and shipping - the order management algorithm uses this data to efficiently allocate transactions to appropriate nodes.
The order management system doesn't stop there! It also keeps the organization informed about delays and outages within its network nodes, and it reroutes transactions using other feasible options. Basically, every stage of the lifecycle of a transaction is automated.

FA: Talk to us through the latest technologies that you are using for your customers to maintain a seamless experience.

Gopu Prakash: The most critical differentiator of our supply chain automation solution is that we catch and resolve customer orders and other transactions well before they become critical. In cases where there is an impact to the commitments to customers, the systems promptly notify them of these changes and give options to proceed further. The core idea is to keep the customers informed and in control throughout the process. In case of delays, keeping everyone in the loop pays off in the long run and significantly reduces the impact to customers.
Supply Chain Faiz Askari SMEStreet Interview Gopu Prakash