The need for cost visibility

Tough competition has increased pressure on margins and shortened the windows of opportunity for new products. Manufacturers and distributors have responded by enhancing collaboration with their suppliers and other partners, necessitating supply chains that are larger, more complex and far more intimately coupled than ever before.

While this strategy offers strong potential for both lower operational expenses and dramatically faster time-to-market, it also presents significant challenges. Current systems and supporting infrastructure cannot provide a central point of visibility or comprehensive fiscal accountability for the activities occurring along the product and component supply chains. Without the ability to adequately and immediately monitor these costs, decision-making suffers and even the best-intentioned cost control initiatives may only result in costs being displaced, rather than reduced or eliminated. Ultimately, competitive advantage is lost.