It certainly was hot in July – heat waves across the US and Europe, and everyone’s focus on global trade. Amber Road is all over the news talking about digital best practices and solutions including where to find the value and business benefits of going digital with your supply chain, real benefits of US reshoring for manufacturers, and the answers to ethical and social compliance across the supply chain.

Most business decisions are determined by money, whether its revenue generated or potential savings. Due to increasing globalization in today’s markets, coupled with an unstable regulatory environment, global supply chains are becoming more complex than ever before. This has increased the difficulty of simple day-to-day operations, let alone optimizing costs. The current influx of multiple transportation routes and carriers, updated government regulations, and several other factors will continue to bring hardship unless a strong value chain is obtained.

Global supply chain leaders from around the world will convene in London next month for the Leaders Forum, hosted by SCM World, a Gartner community. At this exclusive event, the world’s most influential business and operations executives will share their insights and experiences in a closed-door setting like no other.

This year's Leaders Forum will focus on The Power of the Profession, identifying strategies to grow through digital transformation, lead with purpose, and inspire teams. 

One of the supply chain leaders addresses this theme is Mark Baxa, President & CEO of Fernia Creek, and former Head of Global Procurement at Monsanto, who will present "World-Class Supply Chain Collaboration, Redefined."

Supply chains have become increasingly multifaceted in recent years with more inbound and outbound borders, an increase in transportation routes and carriers, and seemingly endless changes to government regulations. At the same time, supply chain executives are challenged with confronting the accompanying risk and uncertainty with suppliers, products, cross-border regulations, and brand reputation. Potential disruptions in these areas create vulnerabilities in your supply chain, making it imperative to implement the best risk management tools and strategies.

The Key to Frictionless Global Supply Chain Execution

Whether you subscribe to the notion that blockchain-enabled supply chain solutions will see meaningful adoption this year, this decade, or never, it is impossible to deny the tsunami of investments moving the industry from concepts to enterprise-wide deployments.

Join American Shipper and Amber Road on June 28 at 2pm EDT for an upcoming webinar, Blockchain-Enabled Purchase Orders: The Key to Frictionless Global Supply Chain Execution. The hour-long broadcast will explore how blockchain at its core is a tool for systems integration and how the humble purchase order may hold the key to frictionless global trade management and supply chain execution. 

You were invited to the digital supply chain party – but are you going? Considering the added value of collaboration, analytics, automation, and flexibility, it’s a hard invitation to pass up. However, many global companies struggle to justify the cost of a global trade management solution, which is your ticket into the party.

Amber Road is excited to sponsor the ARC Advisory Group report, The Digital Supply Chain: Don’t Get Left Out Of The Party. The report looks at the digital global supply chain as a pot-luck dinner party. As the goal of a pot-luck dinner is to gather a variety of food and good company, a successful pot-luck requires planning and coordination by the host.

Consumers want speed - fashion brands need to deliver or fall behind. The need for speed trickles all the way down to product design. To stay in the game, brands need to fully transform their supply chains in order to streamline operations without sacrificing quality. From raw material order processes to supply chain visibility, brands have turned to technology to ensure flexibility, agility and visibility from conception to delivery.

Amber Road is excited to attend the 2018 Product Innovation Apparel Workshop in New York City from June 19 to 20. PI Apparel serves as a platform for technology and software providers to share the solutions that are disrupting the fashion, apparel and footwear industry.

Amber Road will kick off Day 2 of the conference with a Think Tank session: ‘There’s Money in the Material: Reducing Material Spend.’ Amber Road’s Gary Barraco, Director of Global Product Marketing, and Cheryl Layne, Customer Success Champion, will lead the session alongside Deckers Brands’ Director of Materials, John Graebin. The Think Tank will take place June 20th at 8:30AM on the second floor of the library in room 3.

Global supply chains can no longer afford to operate in traditional ways. Fax, email and phone have become outpaced by today’s rapidly changing and complex world. Technological innovations have enabled companies to replace the disconnect of traditional methods with supply chain transparency.

Surveys show that only 45% of companies have started the digital transformation, but 56% of those who have were improving profitably. That means it’s time to digitize your global supply chain and the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference is a great place to start!

Global supply chains are transforming under the pressure of today’s complex and unpredictable environment. If your supply chain has remained stagnant despite modern challenges, it’s time to consider some innovative solutions to keep pace with industry leaders. The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) 2018 Sourcing Conference is a great opportunity to discover the latest in apparel and footwear innovation.

Amber Road is a proud sponsor of AAFA’s 2018 Conference, Supply Chain Innovation: The Key To Success in the New Retail Dynamic. This year’s conference will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. from April 24 – 25.

There is no doubt that blockchain technology has the powerful potential to improve digital supply chains and global trade management. But how?

That's the question Dan Gardner, VP of Supply Chain for Lakeshore Learning Materials and co-founder of Trade Facilitators, Inc., and Amber Road’s Ty Bordner both answered during Amber Road's recent webinar, Blockchain for Global Supply Chain: Ghost in the Machine or Breakthrough Technology? Of course, blockchain is such a top topic these days that Dan and Ty's introduction sparked a ton of debate, and they were only able to address a fraction of viewers' questions during the hour-long webcast. Luckily, we've compiled their answers to these queries below. See if they've answered some of your biggest questions about how blockchain can be applied to the global supply chain, then watch the webinar on-demand here. 

• Question: Although I understand "how" this can work for the Global Supply Chain, what I don't understand is "why" it could be preferable to existing data tracking tools?
• Answer: As we all know, the global supply chain is highly complex, and there are many different types of use cases spanning the process from purchase order to payment. Not all of the processes are appropriate for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). The most appropriate use cases would have attributes which lend themselves to the need for absolute trust and exchange of value.
• Q: As a solo exporter, should I adopt this system in my trade financing operations? Can a block of documents be used for satisfying the Letter of Credit (L/C) performance?
• A: The Letter of Credit use case seems to be very compelling for DLT (i.e. Blockchain). There clearly is an exchange of value with a Letter of Credit and many of the terms and conditions of an LC can be automated as part of set of business rules (smart contracts). Of course the information representing the LC and the actual movement of the goods (BoL, Commercial Invoice, Packing List, etc.) must be in a digital form.
• Q: Contracts are confidential, but how does confidentiality/anonymity work in a distributed ledger?
• A: Blockchain (DLT) technology can be implemented in different ways. There is a concept of a public blockchain (Ex. Bitcoin) and a private or permissioned blockchain. In a permissioned blockchain only the parties that have been given privileges will be able to see confidential information.