host posted on May 26, 2010 06:40
More supply chain clouds on the horizon
I wrote a few weeks ago about how
supply chain processes and cloud computing are a strong match, and I received quite a bit of feedback from companies, both vendor and user, that agreed with my perspective. As a result, I believe we’ll continue to see new and interesting use cases emerge.
One recently announced effort comes from GCommerce who is working with Microsoft. GCommerce working in concert with Microsoft’s cloud services team is developing a Virtual Inventory Cloud (VIC) designed to address many of the inefficiencies related to handling special orders in the automotive aftermarket. GCommerce has been a key technology provider for this segment, developing and donating B2B commerce specifications that have been widely adopted. The VIC will allow parts manufacturers to create a virtual inventory that distributors and retailers can review and order from, instead of the highly manual process that exists today. The ordering process is still managed through existing channels, including GCommerce.
GCommerce has had the VIC vision for some time, but it’s lacked the application and data platform to implement its multi-enterprise solution in the cloud through its normalized, canonical data model. Doing this at scale for broad adoption was also another hurdle. That’s where Microsoft comes in. The VIC was developed using Microsoft’s SQL Azure platform using the Super Specification that GCommerce donated to the industry and has been widely adopted,. Microsoft sees the opportunity to extend its cloud services business with supply chain patterns like VIC, leveraging its ecosystem of partners and the core capabilities of the Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
I spoke with the CIO of one of the early adopters of the VIC, and he said the decision to work with GCommerce and Microsoft was a no-brainer. His company has developed a strong working relationship with GCommerce already, and it knew the magnitude of the problem. It expects this new offering will have a material positive revenue impact on its business in short order.