Control Tower Tech Evolves Beyond Visibility Tools to Automate Supply Chain, Nucleus Research Value Matrix Finds

Control towers are becoming more critical in managing the supply chain from end-to-end

Control tower technology has become a highly strategic, central resource in managing the supply chain and helping organizations to become more competitive, Nucleus Research finds. The latest Control Tower Value Matrix shows vendors developing tools that go beyond visibility to now integrate automation and collaboration capabilities within the supply chain.

Day-to-day management of supply and demand offers an opportunity to create value by providing customers the flexibility to adjust to unforeseen issues that impact service delivery, inventory levels and replenishment.

Leaders in this year’s Control Tower Value Matrix include E2open, JDA Software, Kinaxis, One Network and SAP.

“Control tower technology was developed to provide better visibility and a centralized view for supply chain management. Customers who have deployed the latest solutions are able to integrate data from systems across the enterprise that were traditionally siloed. Leading vendors are starting to automate processes and enable easier collaboration with trading partners and suppliers to ultimately improve overall efficiency. That’s making customers more agile and significantly more competitive,” said Seth Lippincott, analyst at Nucleus Research.

The report also finds customers are extracting increasing value from control tower solutions due to enhancements in functionality. Supply chain managers no longer require constant oversight to accommodate for every new supply chain event, instead leaning on machine-learning algorithms that can execute rules-based actions to rectify issues without manual intervention. For some vendors automation capabilities still have room to improve, however enabling customers to spend more time making strategic decisions rather than managing the day-to-day issues within the supply chain can deliver value and efficiency across multiple tiers of an enterprise, including inventory, orders, shipments and forecasting.

“As these trends usher in the next generation of control tower solutions, vendors will be able to differentiate more on the quality of their analytics and on the value their machine learning and automation delivers,” said Lippincott. “And the Leaders in this Value Matrix are already well on their way to doing that.”

See the full report at https://nucleusresearch.com/research/single/control-tower-technology-value-matrix-2017/

About Nucleus Research

Nucleus Research is a global provider of investigative, case-based technology research and advisory services. We deliver the numbers that drive business decisions. For more information, visit NucleusResearch.com or follow us on Twitter @NucleusResearch.