Darren Travers, senior account manager at AEB International, discusses the right strategy for businesses looking for IT support in international logistics. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have successfully established themselves in areas such as finance, accounting, corporate governance, and human resources. Over the years, their scope has expanded beyond the realm of business administration to also include, e.g., supply chain management (SCM) functionality. International logistics processes, however, are both complex and highly individualised, and ERP systems with more sophisticated logistics features tend to become technically more challenging to work with. Despite – or because – of ERP systems’ ever-expanding functionality and their aim to deliver it all, their usability and efficiency may be unsuitable for companies looking to meet complex demands in specialised areas like international supply chain management execution and control. ERP systems trying to keep up with specialised logistics solutions struggle with mobility and integration demands. In today’s world, mobile devices are practically indispensable, particularly in logistics, be it for picking, shipping, or goods receipts. ERP systems with logistics functionality generally do well in, e.g., warehouse management, but they may not be able to offer sufficient support and functional depth any longer once the focus shifts from standard operations to more demanding processes. These can include 3rd or 4th party involvement across various sites and systems, increased complexity of material handlings systems, integrated facility workflows including vendor management inventory (VMI), internal and external transparency and alerts on capacity and performance levels on all warehouse management mobile devices. Cross-enterprise collaboration with partners and integrating systems to exchange data throughout the supply chain has become essential in global supply chain management. But most ERP systems simply don’t contain all the data that would need to be consolidated to deliver this, and some providers now offer additional modules to try […]