Lightwell Business Technology Blog

Logistics companies are constantly under pressure to deliver newer and more competitive services. Their customers have high expectations, drawn from experiences with online services such as Amazon, regarding the information they expect, and how they expect to receive it.

As we all know, the supply chain is already under immense pressure, and providing real-time order information can prove a headache in certain areas such as in-transit and customs.

Traditionally, these information requests have been managed using Web Services and EDI, but there are issues. EDI is great for interactions that trigger business processes, such as order and purchase order transactions, or initiating returns. However, when it comes to “secondary” interactions such as “where’s my order?” using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to make those calls is faster to set up and execute than Web Services or EDI.

Recently IBM teamed up with Pfizer to set up real-time patient monitoring for those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.

While clearly this involves a heavy dose of the Internet of Things, using devices such as sensors, mobile devices and machines, getting the resulting data to the correct medical person is crucial. 

Historically, once that information had been sent to the data collection point, whether that be a hospital data center or a third party, web services would then be used to access it for further human or automatic processing. Web services are great established enterprise communication pathways, however APIs can be enabled no matter what the size of the asset or location capability.

In the healthcare industry, electronic health record systems have become a staple. Now more than ever, companies are looking to comply with the Administrative Simplification section of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which calls for the use of an electronic system for records instead of an outdated manual one.

However, with more organizations adopting EHR systems, the time has come for them to also upgrade their file transfer solution. Although file transfer protocols may have served this purpose in the past, managed file transfer systems are now necessary to fully ensure that sensitive patient data remains confidential.

Rise of EHR

According to Modern Healthcare, 80 percent of all office-based physicians had some sort of electronic system in place for the management of health records in 2013. Research shows that the adoption of such solutions has increased over the past few years, jumping by nearly 10 percent between 2012 and 2013 alone.

Consumer Expectations Are Driving the Need for Greater Responsiveness

We’re sure that if you asked a supply chain director how much he was influenced by the Duchess of Cambridge or Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, eyebrows would be raised ever so slightly. They do, however, provide a perfect example of how consumer expectations of immediate satisfaction impact a supply chain.

Modern life clips along at an unprecedented pace, and here at Lightwell we have been discussing the comparison of keeping up with the fast pace of life—and all the information that produces—to the experience of keeping up with the supply chain.

On a personal level, when you think back ten years ago, YouTube and Facebook were just getting going, and Twitter was a gleam in someone’s eye. Phones weren’t all that “smart” with people assuming they would just get smaller, and they definitely weren’t thinking “mobile revolution.”

We’ve all been subject to the vagaries of the weather at one time or another--camping holidays, picnics and Wimbledon are all events that can be made or broken by inclement or unexpected weather. Who can forget the huge floods of late 2013/early 2014 causing large areas of the South West of the UK to become inaccessible?

This got us thinking, if you’re managing a supply chain, especially if you’re thinking about becoming demand driven, what would the business impact of these weather disasters be, and how would a demand driven supply chain cope compared to traditional one?

We’re getting excited about the upcoming IBM Commerce Learning Academy 2015 event in Dublin, Ireland October 13-16. In fact, Lightwell is a Silver Sponsor of this year’s event.

Recently, when a couple of our customers asked us whether or not they should attend, unsurprisingly we responded (enthusiastically) that they should.  We thought we would share some of the reasoning behind this in this post.

Education and Insight

Much of omni-channel success depends upon providing an enjoyable end-user experience on the different channels customers are looking to use to connect with your business. However, how can you offer this to your clients if you're unsure about what they want?

In today's business environment, the vast majority of companies leverage some sort of file transfer system to ensure the security of documents and data when transmitted internally or from one organization to another. As the threat landscape continues to grow, it becomes increasingly critical to ensure that file transfers remain protected.

However, no two managed file transfer solutions are the same. Each software platform comes with its own unique set of safeguards, benefits and challenges that the company must address. Therefore, file transfer systems are not a "select it and forget about it" technology. Considerable thought must go into the process to ensure that the company chooses the best options for its needs and deploys it effectively.

In this spirit, decision-makers should take into account these considerations and best practices when examining their file transfer solutions and enterprise security:

It's never too soon to begin examining industry expectations for the top-emerging trends. This year is key for many retailers when it came to instituting new omni-channel commerce strategies, and 2016 will see the continuation of many of these initiatives.