Improved visibility into customer demand
Working with customers to understand future demand is a critical strategy for improving forecast accuracy and customer service. E2open Channel Forecast Collaboration enables brand owners to gain visibility into projected orders, collaborate with customers and partners to create joint forecasts and confidently commit to fulfilling demand.
Collaborative forecasting is not a new idea. With better visibility into partners’ planned orders, brand owners can create more accurate demand plans and improve service without the need for large inventory buffers. However, collaboration remains a daunting task. A process that works with a few partners often fails to scale across a large number. Monitoring forecasts and resolving discrepancies between brand owner and partner forecasts can be very labor-intensive and will quickly overwhelm a process managed by spreadsheets and email. Integrating disparate manufacturer and partner systems and harmonizing data can also be a challenge.
Key features
Streamlined, efficient forecast collaboration process with automated workflows
Support for the supply commitment process from brand owner to customer
Proactive issue resolution using analytics dashboards to monitor joint KPIs and alerts for exceptions such as forecast changes and forecast-commit mismatches
Data connectivity that supports rapid partner onboarding, prebuilt enterprise resource planning (ERP) interfaces and common data exchange standards
Secure role-based permissions to provide appropriate levels of access to data and processes
Key benefits
20-40%
reduction in stockouts resulting from more accurate forecasts
10-20%
decrease in excess and obsolete inventory
20-40%
reduction in business lost to competitors
10-15%
improvement in productivity
More strategic
decrease in excess relationships with partners
Collaboration that scales
E2open makes collaboration with large numbers of partners possible using process automation, analytics dashboards and exception management features. Integration capabilities and e2open’s trading partner network foster the efficient exchange of data and rapid partner onboarding.
Step-by-step forecast collaboration process
The joint planning process starts with a partner sharing order forecasts and upsides with the brand owner. The brand owner then compares its internal forecasts with the partner’s forecasts to identify any disconnects requiring resolution. The brand owner and partner work together to develop a consensus plan. Finally, the brand owner commits to the plan. Such joint planning reduces execution problems, decreases stockouts, increases revenue and improves capacity planning and utilization.
Management by exception
An exception management approach ensures that participants are alerted to potential problems without having to go through reams of data. Standard exceptions include changes to the forecast and mismatches between forecasts and commits. Configurable thresholds and severity levels for web and email alerts prevent users from being overwhelmed with unimportant notifications. Both the brand owner and the partner are alerted so they can jointly resolve issues.
Analytics for continuous monitoring
Users can monitor exceptions and performance using an extensive set of dashboards, reports, key performance indicators (KPIs) and ad-hoc reporting capabilities. Data can be viewed at multiple levels of aggregation, and waterfall charts provide visibility into how forecasts and commits have changed over time. Extensive analytics enable the brand owner and its trading partners to gain insights into the state of forecast collaboration and take proactive steps to improve the process.
Secure role-based permissions
Secure collaboration with external partners requires the ability to share data on a need-to-know basis. Channel Forecast Collaboration’s role-based permissions enable administrators to assign process roles to users and specify data access by role. This gives users the data they need to do their jobs without compromising information security.
Integration capabilities and seamless onboarding of partners
E2open’s integration capabilities overcome technical barriers to connect to a brand owner’s partners and exchange data in real time using prebuilt enterprise resource planning interfaces and common data exchange standards. E2open’s connections are many-to-many and multitenant, so they can be reused for multiple trading partners. For partners not on the network yet, onboarding options include a web portal, a business-to-business (B2B) gateway called e2open B2B Client, system-to-system connectivity and email. Partners at any tier with just a basic level of technical sophistication can be onboarded quickly and efficiently, lowering collaboration costs.
E2open Channel Forecast Collaboration gives brand owners the process automation, analytics and exception management required to collaborate with partners at scale and reach a consensus demand plan they can execute against with confidence.
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