If your business is currently leveraging SAP APO as part of your enterprise architecture, now is the time to upgrade to Kinaxis RapidResponse. You may be asking why now and how does this make me a supply chain hero? As you know, SAP has announced their intention to discontinue support for their APO suite. This can be a scary time, especially if you have good adoption of APO within your user community. Why is it so scary for the user community? Because it means change. But, as a soon to be supply chain hero, you appreciate the changing tides of technology. This potentially scary situation is really an opportunity in disguise. You can be a supply chain hero by:
- Being a Change Agent: Kinaxis is offering a low risk upgrade program, specifically to Kinaxis qualified SAP APO customers. Kinaxis will work with you to develop an upgrade program that allows you to transition key business processes to RapidResponse without a big bang implementation. This agility gives you the opportunity to test drive an exciting solution without a financial commitment until the value of RapidResponse is proven.
- Minimizing Supply Chain Risk: You know that cyber risk leads to business risk. The RapidResponse solution is cloud-based and proven. With customers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, Kinaxis holds itself to the highest standard of security to support their government contracts. The same model is used for all Kinaxis customers, so you know your data is secure and cyber risk is mitigated.
- Setting a Business-Centric Vision: Set your vision and use RapidResponse as part of the strategy to get there. Your supply chain will thank you. Just imagine the following:
- Your users creating a scenario in mere seconds. This gives them the ability to evaluate business options at a whole new level, which means they spend more time on analysis.
- Users who are immediately comfortable with the user interface, one that displays data in a familiar, spreadsheet-like environment and easy to use reports such as dashboards and scorecards. If they are comfortable with spreadsheets, users naturally take to RapidResponse.
- Reporting and analytics, core features of the solution, enabling reporting of the past, present and future along with lightning quick calculations that give you a realistic view of the possibilities in your supply chain.
- A solution that enhances human judgment and helps the business collaborate on the best solution. RapidResponse encourages cross-functional problem solving and makes collaboration simple, helping people to come together to make decisions.
- Leaders of your organization have the capability to review real-time supply chain data in an airport on their phone, or on a tablet in the comfort of their home. RapidResponse has a built-in mobile component, so they are informed anytime, anywhere.
As per a recent post from my colleague, companies need to define a more comprehensive SCM IT strategy that will provide real ROI. You need to determine technology investments by the business outcome it can provide. This, by default, will lead you to invest in more innovative solutions then you may currently have in place. The SAP APO upgrade program may provide you with just that opportunity.
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