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Tracking Your Customers and Your Supply
Chain
(Marketing Memo, October, 2001)
Collaborative commerce is an innovative software application coming
in 12-18 months, according to The Future of IT Spending - Charting
the Course, October 2, 2001 by Patrick Burton and colleagues at
SalomonSmithBarney. "Collaboration provides an environment where
businesses can share product and process information across an extended
enterprise, regardless of where (or in what form) that information resides,"
according to the analysts.
Solid market research is a precursor to collaborative commerce systems.
You can use interviews, surveys, and informal assessments to query customers,
suppliers, and distributors. Following are issues you can explore with
three key groups without having a collaborative commerce system:
Customers: Frequent communications with customers allow you
to anticipate shifts in demand and gauge the effects of recent events.
Ask about
- Changes in demand and competition.
- Your performance -- customer satisfaction with your product, company,
and support.
- Operational issues -- how well your sales process works.
- Unmet needs that you could address with a new version or another
offering.
Suppliers: Car manufacturers were short of parts because their
suppliers' just-in-time inventories were suddenly depleted following
the September 11th disaster. Besides lining up back-up suppliers, you
might want to explore the following issues with your suppliers:
- Inventory practices and customer support procedures.
- Barriers/impediments to the smooth flow of supplies.
- Pricing models used with other customers.
- Mechanisms for responding to changes in customer demands.
Distributors: Distributors can contribute significantly to your
company's success or failure. If you are considering foreign distributors,
undertake the usual due diligence process and also research local political,
economic, and even cultural factors that could affect the distribution
of your products and services. Ascertain if your channel is effectively
distributing your product, and evaluate
- Procedural or physical impediments that could limit the distributor's
ability to operate efficiently.
- Customer/market/product/technology knowledge.
- Sales practices and skills.
- Distractions, such as pre-occupation with other more lucrative product
lines.
Winett Associates can help you sound out your customers, suppliers,
and distributors so that you can facilitate change, one of the goals
of collaborative commerce systems.
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