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supply chain management is one of the most important functions that business can have today in today's global environments and supply chain management technology can be a great way to enable supply chain management capabilities and functionality and today I'm going to talk about the top 10 supply chain systems available to you in the marketplace my name is Eric Kimberling I'm the CEO and founder of third stage consulting or an independent consulting firm that helps clients through their digital and supply chain transformations and in today's world in the 2020s the world has changed quite a bit in supply chain management has more than ever become a very important competency and capability companies that can manage their supply chains well and manage their suppliers and their costs and their overall distribution and throughput are going to do a lot better and be a lot more successful in today's day and age and technology and other types of transformation around your supply chain can be a great way to enable those types of enhancements and today I'm going to talk about what are those top 10 systems in the marketplace [Music] so in determining our top 10 list for this year there's a number of capabilities and functions that we considered there's general supply chain management functionality that we evaluated for each of these technologies things like supplier collaboration quality management a procurement transportation management logistics fleet management all those things that go into an entire supply chain those are the things we evaluated in addition to overall functionality we looked at the flexibility of the software the value the costs the benefits of the software and we looked at a number of quantitative and qualitative factors in evaluating the different systems and probably most importantly third stage is completely independent technology agnostic so the vendors had no influence over this top 10 list this is completely unbiased and free from vendor influence and it's strictly based on our experience our research our experience evaluating and implementing these systems as well as some of the other factors that I mentioned earlier so without further ado let's go ahead and get started [Music] coming in at number ten is Oracle NetSuite NetSuite is a very common ERP or enterprise technology that happens to contain some supply chain management functionality and a lot of small and mid-sized companies use the product now there are several reasons why or illness we made the top 10 list first of all it has pretty simple functionality it's easy to use it's something that doesn't require a lot of complexity so if you have a fairly standard or fairly vanilla supply chain or if you're a small or midsize organization Oracle Nets we can be a great option for you it's very commonly used in the marketplace it also does be on supply chain management it will do more ERP types of functionality like warehouse management financials HCM and other types of functions so it's not just a supply chain solution but it can also provide other technologies on top of that and like I said if you're a small or midsize company with fairly vanilla and basic supply chain needs Oracle next we can be a great option for you two other quick things to note about Oracle NetSuite one is that it is a fully mature cloud solution a lot of the systems that we'll get to here in the top 10 are maybe cloud based but they started off on premise and they're still finishing their migration to the cloud whereas Oracle NetSuite has always been a multi-tenant cloud ERP system the other thing to keep in mind is that the product is backed by Oracle which is a huge company lots of R&D dollars pretty clear roadmap and a good future for the product now the downside of Oracle NetSuite are some things that may prevent you from considering it are that if you have complex needs or if you're a larger organization or if you are looking for something more robust and something that requires more flexibility or coolness we is probably not going to be the best bet for you but if that isn't the case then it may be what you may want to consider coming at number nine is Microsoft Dynamics 365 like NetSuite Microsoft Dynamics is also a full-blown ERP enterprise-wide type of solution in addition to supply chain management but Microsoft Dynamics can handle supply chain management some of the basic functionality and things that you're gonna need for your supply chain and some of the reasons why Microsoft Dynamics excels in the space or a few things one is it's Microsoft so it has that Microsoft look and feel that a lot of organizations and employees and end-users are used to another thing that companies seem to like about Microsoft Dynamics is that it's very flexible so as compared to other systems in the top 10 list and others that didn't make the top 10 list it can provide a lot more flexibility and ability to integrate with other systems so those things combined make it a good candidate for companies looking for supply chain management solutions now d 365 tends to be better for midsize organizations so companies that aren't super large or super complex can generally handle this type of software companies that are smaller on the small side of the scale may find that d 365 is overkill or too much functionality complexity for them but if you're in the mid market and you have some fairly standard supply chain needs microsoft d 365 can be a great option now one thing to keep in mind with d 365 there's probably its biggest shortcoming is that the partner ecosystem is very fragmented there's a lot of companies out there that sell and implement D 365 and they're not all that great there's some good ones out there there's some terrible ones out there and there's a lot of in between so if you do go with the product you want to make sure you focus just as much time on finding the right implementation partner because that can make or break your overall implementation coming at number eight is a company called Plex systems you may or may not have heard of the solution but it's a company that's been around for quite a while it's a software that was built in the cloud it was built as a SAS type of solution that can support cloud implementations and it's a product that has historically been very common in the automotive industry aerospace and defense you're starting to see more companies in food and beverage and pharmaceutical use this product and the thing with plex systems is much like NetSuite and Microsoft e 365 it does more than just supply chain it also handles manufacturing shop floor automation and basic financials warehouse management some of the other capabilities that a broader ERP system would typically provide it's also pretty common in retail and distribution it's a product that you'll see more and more companies that are on the distribution side of things using to manage their supply chain facing the customer just as is the case with NetSuite it's been built in the cloud which allows it to have more mature capability and they're not in the midst of a transition to the cloud like a lot of the others in the top 10 are probably the biggest downside for Plex systems is there aren't a lot of partners out there that are supporting the products so in other words it's harder to find resources that know the product well most companies end up using Plex and their consultants directly to handle the implementation there are some partners that can support the implementation but there's not as many of them as you might find with some of the others in the top ten so that's one of the things to be aware of is making sure you understand that there's not a lot of partners out there in the base isn't quite as big as some of the other systems in the marketplace but having said all that has enough strengths and capabilities to come in at number eight on our list coming in number seven is si P as for Hana an S for Hana is a very common solution if you're a fortune 500 fortune 1000 organization or for your a large public sector organization s for Hana tends to be on most people short lists that are in one of those larger organizations and if you're a large organization with a complex global big supply chain as for Hana can be a great solution for you so think of s for Hana is that big robust global but also complex solutions so if you fit that profile si PS for honor can be a great fit now if you don't fit that profile S for Hana is probably gonna be a bit of overkill it's probably gonna be too expensive it's probably gonna be too risky for your organization but if you don't fall into that category it may be something worth considering now a couple of the things to note about us for Hana they recently acquired Arriba which is a procurement platform and your procurement technology that integrates now with us for Hana so companies that require more depth in the procurement functionality and the procurement processes have Arriba to draw from as well si P is also built on the Hana platform so when it comes to volumes of transactions and real-time access to data real-time analytics and reporting the Hana platform provides a good way to provide that insights and visibility into what's happening in your supply chain through that on a platform now probably the biggest downside or a couple of the biggest downsides for us for Hana is one I already mentioned the breadth and complexity of the software can lead to cost and risk in and potential failure and just too much complexity but the other part of it is that s for Hana at the time I'm recording this is still not as mature as some of the other products they're one of those systems they're still making that transition from the on-premise legacy solutions to cloud solutions so not all the functionality that s ap has built over the years in supply chain management is available in s for Hana at least not yet having said that sa P is a very big company they're investing a lot in R&D and they're making fast advancements in improving the capabilities but for a lot of organization it's somewhat of a leap of faith right now in deploying s for Hana to a global supply chain having said all of that that's what lands s a ps4 Hana at number seven on our list [Music] coming in at number six on our list is a company called ifs that you may or may not have heard of they're a European based organization a lot of installs in Europe but if you're outside of Europe you may not have heard of the company but they're an ERP company that provides enterprise wide software capabilities including supply chain and they're they're very good at supply chain in fact most of their companies are manufacturing and distribution types of organizations with fairly complex manufacturing and distribution and supply chain related needs the thing that makes AFS unique is that in addition to being able to handle normal supply chain types of processes it's also very good at companies that have supply chains that need to be managed in the field so companies with field services or crews or employees that are very mobile and dispersed geographically and situations where you're trying to track inventory and procurement and movement of goods and materials and work in progress across different sites or different field crews or whatever the case may be IFS has a particular strengths there the other thing that's good about ifs is they have multiple deployment options so a lot of these systems in our top 10 list or cloud only which may be perfect for many of you but some of you may still be interested in options in terms of either on-premise cloud or some sort of hybrid of both ifs at the time I'm recording this still supports multiple deployment options which can be very appealing to a lot of organizations now the biggest downsides of ifs are primarily that there isn't a big ecosystem supporting the product yet it's mostly ifs direct resources there aren't a lot of partners and implementers and resellers out there so it's a bit more difficult to find qualified ifs resources to support your implementation and then the other thing to consider is that ifs does not have as large of an base or as many customers as some of the other organizations your options in the top 10 so that may not be a deal-breaker for you but something to be aware of as well so with those strengths and weaknesses in mind ifs lands at number six on our list [Music] coming at number five on our list is a company called high jump they're a supply chain management system and product that offers not just basic supply chain but they're very strong and warehouse management so companies that have complex warehouse management needs such as wave picking and advanced labor tracking and things of that nature we'll find that high jump could be a good option the other interesting thing about high jump is they were recently acquired by a company called Korver Korver's a company that specializes in supply chain and distribution types of software and they also provide some capabilities and functionality through that parent company around freight and logistics and shipping and some other very specialized needs so companies that have complex global supply chain and logistics and freight and shipping types of needs may find that high jump along with its parent company's product offering could be a great fit we typically see high jump being used by smaller to mid-size organizations we don't see a lot of big global complex supply chain types of organizations using high jump but companies that have fairly basic distribution and overall supply chain needs tend to do pretty well with with high jump the other downside of high jump is that we've had a lot of clients comment that the software seems expensive relative to its overall capabilities and certainly we've seen through our negotiation process that that can be true however having said that every vendor can be negotiated with and many of these costs can be brought down but with all these things in mind that's enough to land high jump at number five on our list [Music] coming into number four on our list is blue yonder which used to be called JTA and this is a product that's been around for a long time very specialized niche focus solution but with a big base a lot of supply chains globally are using JTA or blue yonder some of the things that make blue yonder unique are that in addition to having basic and kind of your normal supply chain type of functionality it's also very strong at sales and operations planning so companies that are sales driven and need that back-office and supply chain visibility through their sales staff as part of the Sales and Operations planning process will find that blue yonder can be a great solution so that's one of the things that's pretty unique about the product and if you're in a situation where that's a value you may want to actually bump up blue yonder on your on your short list blue yonder is very common in retail so we tend to see companies that are in retail or companies that are distributing to retail organizations tend to find value in the product it also handles workforce management very well so that's something that not all of the other products in the top 10 list do well so if you have a large workforce and scheduling is a big challenge for you as far as either in the warehouse or other parts of your supply chain functions workforce management can be an important parts and an important value of what the product brings it also does manufacturing a shop floor planning so while it is specialized in supply chain management there's not that sort of disparate handoff to the shop floor like many of the other products in our top ten may have so it handles integrated within the product the shop floor and manufacturing aspect of your business and obviously if you are a manufacturer that could be a value to you as well blue yonder tends to have a larger ecosystem than some of the other products in our top ten list so there are more consultants more resources more implementers out there it's a more common skill set so it's a little bit easier to find people that know the product and there's a large base to a lot of big companies are using the product and it's and it's very commonly used so that all combined can make it very appealing to organizations that are considering supply chain management software probably the biggest downside for bigger companies that might be considering blue yonder is that while it does a lot of things that the other supply chain management systems don't do it still isn't a full ERP system in terms of having financials and full-blown inventory management and CRM capabilities and things of that nature it still is fairly focused on supply chain management with some South floor and manufacturing automation as well but it typically requires some sort of back-end or back-office type of system to handle things like CRM and financials and HCM and things of that nature but having said all that that's enough tool and blue yonder number four on our list [Music] coming in number three on our list is Oracle ERP cloud or Oracle supply chain management cloud like some of the other products in the top ten lists Oracle provides a full-blown ERP solution but it tends to be very strong in supply chain and its supply chain modules within the technology are very strong and very mature probably Oracle's biggest advantage especially if you're a larger organization that values flexibility is it Oracle tends to be a more flexible product than a lot of the other systems in our top 10 list particularly if you're looking at s AP or NetSuite or some other products that are harder to change to fit what your needs are what your business our Oracle tends to be the more flexible of those larger types of solutions and it provides the full-blown breadth of capability that you might need outside of your supply chain as well so things like HCM and financials and customer relationship management and other types of functions outside of supply chain another strength of Oracle ERP cloud is the analytical capabilities so anything to do with business intelligence or reporting or getting data out of the system or just having visibility into your supply chain that tends to be a big strength of Oracle products in general and their supply chain management and ERP solution is no different so if you're looking for a product that not only handles your supply chain management needs and gives you the flexibility to to modify and pivot and change your supply chain as you need to but also address some of the other needs within your business Oracle ERP cloud can be a great solution for you coming in at number two on our list is in for cloud suite along with Nexus two products from the same company tightly integrated for all intents and purposes could call it the same software but the reason we call it out is because they provide a breadth of capabilities to support some more complex in broader supply chain needs now like Oracle and s AP and some of the more ERP types of systems in our top ten list infor provides a complete ERP solution that provides everything from not just supply chain but financials and CRM and human capital management and other types of functionality but as it relates to supply chain in particular it's very strong most companies that we see implementing in for cloud Suite happen to be manufacturing and distribution in global supply chain types of organizations so it's a product that can scale up to the largest organizations but it's commonly used by mid-market companies as well if you're a smaller organization it may be a bit complex and overkill for your needs but if you're in the mid market and a bigger organization in for cloud Suite along with Nexus can be a great option now one of the really unique factors of the infor offering and supply chain management is Nexus and they have this control center they uses predictive analytics and business intelligence and just overall data analysis to try and pick up on signals in your supply chain so that you can address and pivot on those signals so that's something that's pretty unique in terms of not just being able to track what's going on in your supply chain real time right now and not just being able to look in the past of what's happening also being able to look at and anticipate potential problems or bottlenecks in your supply chain so you can improve throughput or optimize your procurement cost or optimize your cycle times or whatever the case may be that whole Nexus platform is a pretty unique and in a pretty cool way that we've seen organizations optimize their supply chains for the future another example of a difference with the infor supply chain management solution is the ability to really manage working capital to allow you more from a financial perspective to look at your supply chain and be able to maximum as your cash flow or optimize how you're paying suppliers when you're paying suppliers and that sort of thing so it gets back to not only providing a broader ERP system that provides financial capability but it provides financial capabilities specific to supply chain management needs and supply chain optimization so for all those reasons that's enough to land in for cloud suite and Nexus and number two honors coming in number one on our list is Manhattan Associates a company that's been around for a long time providing supply chain management solutions to organizations they're big in retail grocery distribution pretty large organizations with a lot of different locations of global supply chains lots of different suppliers spread out throughout the world that's the type of organization that tends to benefit from and to value the software of Manhattan associates it's also very strong in logistics and transportation so when you look at how you get your products from point A to point B or from the port to your warehouse to the stores that you might be selling to or whatever the case may be Manhattan Associates is very good at tracking the entire supply chain and helping you optimize the entire supply chain it's also a company and a product that's very well known for for innovation there's a lot of innovative stuff that they're doing as an organization and with the product as it relates to artificial intelligence and Internet of Things and overall machine learning things of that nature so there's a lot happening there with the products and part of that is because they are such a specialized company and they tend to deal with the most complex global supply chains so those two things combined allow them to really focus their R&D efforts on those types of innovations that can help improve your supply chain in the longer term the other thing that our clients tend to like about the product is that it's dotnet based which may not mean a lot to you if you're not an IT person but what that means it's an open flexible solution so you can integrate it easier with other systems it has predefined integration with s AP for example in Microsoft Dynamics for example if you need another system to support your back-office ERP and financial system it can integrate very well with those other systems they also provide multiple deployment options so they have a lot of companies believe it or not that are still on premise some of them are still using IBM iSeries some of them are moving to the clouds so they have multiple deployment options of ways that you can consume their software depending on who you are and what you're trying to accomplish now the biggest weaknesses of the product are things that should be considered as well first of all it's not a full-blown ERP system like I said so if you're a big company big global supply chain might be a great fit for you but you're also gonna have to look at what is our back-office erp system going to need to be to support that how are we gonna integrate that how's the data going to flow and that can I add a layer of complexity to the implementation that you should be aware of the other thing to be aware of are that most of the implementations are handled directly through Manhattan associates so there's not a lot of partners out there they're also supporting the product so it sort of creates this single point of failure or potential failure and that you have to use for the most part use their resources and their people for the implementation so those are a couple of downside risk to be aware of having said all of that that's enough to land Manhattan associates in number one on our list [Music] so those are the top ten systems in our analysis and a couple takeaways here and things to keep in mind one is when you're evaluating this top 10 list in addition to the strengths of weaknesses I've talked about here today it's important to think about it am I looking for a pure supply chain management system or am I looking for a broader European and depending on your answer to that or where you think you might fall that could shuffle your top 10 list that's specific to you second of all is be sure to be aware of what the strengths and weaknesses are as it relates to the type of business model you have if you're a retail driven organization your top 10 list is going to look a little bit different than if you're a back side supplier driven supply chain so depending on the type of business model you have that's going to create different different strengths and weaknesses for how well the fit that these products may be so I hope you found this information useful I also encourage you to please download our 2020 annual report of technology systems in the marketplace including ERP including supply chain management and HCM as well so that report will provide some more detail and some more guidance as you're looking to how technology might help your supply chain in your business overall I also encourage you to please like this channel provide any comments you have below if you have experience with any of these systems I'd love to hear your feedback if there's anything that wasn't in the top 10 that you feel like should be I'd love to hear your feedback on that as well so hope you have a great day and we'll talk to you soon [Music] you