The Asia-Pacific (APAC) has undoubtedly maintained a firm position as the world’s most dominant economic powerhouse.

According to recent observations by the Asian Development Bank, Asia alone will remain the biggest contributor to global growth throughout 2017, highlighting the region’s unrelenting potential in terms of business development and expansion.

A flood of investments straight out of the West has considerably upped the ante for Asian organizations striving to accommodate the surge.

But with rapid progression usually comes hardship, since current systems simply cannot keep pace with the boom in business interest. Regardless of whether a company functions on a local or international basis, its existing supply chain strategy is likely to have been implemented for a much lower cost model that has since declined – not to mention the fact it would have been employed when fewer products were being introduced at a far more gradual pace.

According to research from Bain & Company, business leaders and executives are already conscious to the fact their supply chains must adhere to higher and much more sustainable industry standards. In an interview of 66 senior supply chain executives from various sectors, 70 percent claimed to consider their supply chain a key management priority, compared to just 50 percent who believed their company was actively ready to address the extensive challenges their business might now face.

Through their innovative research, Bain & Company were able to identify their participants’ most pressing concerns, which included:

• Rising costs
• Ability to handle an expansive range of products in a confident, competent manner
• Getting to grips with increasing levels of service
• Customer satisfaction ratings
• Misaligned organizations
• Shortage of talent
• Supply chain flexibility and agility

The interviews also allowed participants to analyse best-in-class performance, identifying strategic alignment, customer centricity, digitization and talent organization as areas with the most obvious flaws.

“However, in such a thorny environment, some companies are getting it right – redefining their supply chains as a strategic asset for competitive advantage,” the report explains. “These companies take the first big step of translating their company’s unique growth strategy into specific objectives for their supply chain, such as improved cost competitiveness; increased capital efficiency; and better ways to manage complexity, demand uncertainty and shortened time to market for new products.

“Amid the region’s dramatic changes, these leaders are setting up the next-generation supply chain,” Bain and Company conclude. “As they design the full network – spanning procurement, manufacturing and distribution – to deliver these new supply chain objectives, they’re positioning themselves to grow revenues over the long term while improving margins and capital efficiency.”

Here are 3 APAC pioneers offering cutting-edge solutions and services for your business supply chain management…

CTSI-GLOBAL

With supply chain management expertise that spans more than 60-years, CTSI-Global is a recognized pioneer of innovative transport solutions. With one easy-to-navigate, consolidated database, CTSI-Global assists global shippers and 3PLs with both the management and control of their supply chain system, incorporating every aspect from the physical and informational to the financial.

This intelligent, global company has maintained its position as a powerful provider of business intelligence, transport management systems and supply chain consulting services, also boasting the world’s influential portfolio of privately held freight bill audit and payment services.

By transferring the responsibilities of contract management, auditing, charges and payments to the hands of CTSI-Global’s qualified and experienced experts, you can rest assured that your company is receiving the most convenient and cost-effective solution from a respected industry player.

Not only will a freight audit and payment solution from CTSI-Global promise savings through a significant elimination of overcharge, it will also promote time-efficient practice in your business by significantly reducing the need for manual labour. Through uniquely standardized processes, CTSI-Global offers full visibility complete with business intelligence and dashboards, consistently identifying what’s been billed outside of the contract, thus saving your company precious time and money.

And CTSI-Global’s solutions and services are undoubtedly superior to market competitors, providing a number of unique perks and benefits not found elsewhere. Use of one distinct, global system, for example, means the solution has the capacity to accommodate local, legal and business requirements, something that is not yet on the cards for existing market products.

On top of this, CTSI-Global already has an extensive network of customers throughout the Asia-Pacific (APAC), promising regionally-focused insight and experience that elevates your investment. Read their full profile…

ORACLE

Oracle’s supply chain catalog is both broad and international, boasting over 420,000 customers and deployments in more than 145 global nations, earning the trust of powerful industry players throughout years of successful practice. Oracle’s Supply Chain Software Suite includes its E-Business Suite (EBS), ERP and retail offerings. This visionary product portfolio features a full breadth and depth of tools to help your business go from Point A to Z without the unnecessary stress of having to navigate different platforms.

This company’s SCM solution presents an expansive scope of capabilities to modernize operations across demand, supply, and product avenues, with features that include product life-cycle management, supply chain planning, procurement, logistics, order management, manufacturing, and maintenance management. The suite’s strengths lie in its ability to provide consolidated and feasible solutions for all the key SCM automation requirements, without a need for third-party solutions to bridge unwanted gaps.

Your company doesn’t have to host a huge operation to get the most out of Oracle’s SCM solutions, since it also supplies contemporary, complete, and simple-to-deploy cloud solutions for mid-sized and SMBs. Specifically-targeting fast time to benefit, these solutions are available as fixed-scope, fixed-price provisions that offer a strong foundation for innovation and growth. There’s plenty of support and advice to be gleaned from the company as well, as its experienced customer support and consulting teams are ready to deliver tailored support for complex IT performances.

QUINTIQ

Quintiq’s software for supply chain optimization embodies record-breaking technology, allowing you to promote the ultimate supply chain system that stays effective and relevant in an ever-changing world. This supply chain planning and optimization platform promises full visibility into every aspect of your business’s supply procedures, warranting the real-time management and optimization of production capacities, raw materials and logistics.

“Quintiq’s supply chain planning and optimization platform is built on the belief that all the algorithms in the world can’t replace your good business sense,” the company explains.

“It’s designed to give you full control and visibility, enabling you to amend the optimized plan where needed. You have the power to optimize the entire plan and the flexibility to optimize just parts of the plan. You can choose between fully automated, semi-automated and manual planning depending on your requirements at any given moment.”

And one thing you can rely on is that Quintiq’s software also instils the ability to conveniently alter and reoptimize plans at every stage of preparation, from the very spark of an idea right through to its delivery.

This visionary, industry-focused software can be tailored to every need of your company’s rules and restrictions, including production capacity, inventory and logistics constraints, and contractual requirements. This is the best feature yet, because such flexibility means you can adapt and manage your processes efficiently, in the manner that suits your company’s unique needs.

*Some of the companies featured in this article are commercial partners of Tech Wire Asia