A VC in Vacationland

Disruptive, real time technologies will enable new revolutions in supply chain strategies and management. The ability to design mobile enterprise capabilities into new business models is one of the most interesting.  Al Delattre of Accenture first introduced many of the new supply chain design concepts around mobile enterprises in a presentation to the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum in 2004. Al and Dave have since presented these ideas at numerous other meetings.  In addition, a white paper, The Evolution of Enterprise Mobility–Five Predictions for the Future, is available on the Supply Chain Ventures web site.

The fundamental idea is that a whole new ecosystem is emerging, based on the mobility of people, inventory, knowledge capital and assets–now available anytime at any location.  Wireless capabilities, coupled with smaller, hand-held devices and wider networks will enable people to work more effectively out of the office, better track shipments and inventory, enhancing revenue growth through channel optimization and driving greater productivity as well as enabling greater collaboration with supply chain partners.

The white paper details five predictions on how mobile enterprises will evolve in the coming years and discusses how companies can take advantage of the new business models.  Here is a summary of the predictions, which are explained in detail in the white paper:

Prediction 1: Enterprise adoption of mobility will be driven primarily by people who have increasingly personal experience as consumers.

Prediction 2:  Winning companies will be those that "design for mobility" as the standard, not the special case.

Prediction 3:  The power is in the packaging–bundled solutions(and "ease of use") will drive adoption and commoditize most sub-components.

Prediction 4:  Winners will be those who use mobility to fundamentally transform the way commerce happens, not just "work unplugged".

Prediction 5:  The source of demand for mobility will likely come from unexpected sources as new value creation opportunities occur.

Enterprise mobility is an idea that is not going away anytime soon.  Figuring out how to mobility-enable a supply chain should be on the mind of executives looking to prepare for the next generation of supply chain innovations.  Check out the paper and let me know what you think about enterprise mobility and whether it can be the basis for future supply chain strategies.