Embedding Analytics Enables Customers to Improve Decision-Making and Optimize Business Performance Across Complex Supply Chain Processes

Sterling Commerce, an AT&T company, makes real-time intelligence in the supply chain a reality with its new business intelligence (BI) strategy for Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, the company’s collaborative supply chain applications. As part of the strategy, the company is the first in the industry to embed BI into the foundation of a supply chain application as a way to expedite its ability to deliver intelligent applications and simplify ongoing maintenance. 

Embedding BI

The company’s strategy is to make applications smarter by embedding BI into critical supply chain processes. In this way, the applications will provide customers with the data about key performance indicators (KPIs) they need to drive business performance and improve decision making processes.

Inquiry-to-cash process

Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, which manages the entire inquiry-to-cash process across all selling and fulfillment channels, has leveraged these capabilities to enhance how users make critical decisions by providing all available information regarding performance to enable customers to:

• Make process improvements by leveraging reports and dashboards of historical data “on the process”
• Improve decision-making “in the process” with real-time context-sensitive information at the point of execution
• and Automate decision-making and/or modify a selling and fulfillment process flow by leveraging embedded BI to “drive the process.”

Leverage analytics technology

“When you look at business intelligence, most companies offer capabilities that report on the process, focused on trends, not real-time execution data. The key is to leverage analytics technology to provide data to users when they are engaged in the process, enabling the applications to drive processes, rather than simply report or alert on them,” said Cory Wiegert, vice president, Applications Product Line, at Sterling Commerce.

Leapfrog any other supply chain provider

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