Riding the recession will investment in technology help you to survive or thrive?

In a recent survey by the CILT, 45% of logistics industry executives cited that riding out the recession was their main priority. Other concerns for them were: fiscal issues - keeping a lid on costs, sweating assets and maximising revenues in an increasingly competitive market and the implications of the government's green agenda. 

 
As two of the leading providers of innovative IT solutions for the Supply Chain, Belgravium Ltd and Proteus Software are already helping numerous organisations address these very issues. In order to stimulate further debate, the companies have commissioned a series of papers designed to provide supply chain professionals with an insight into the most pressing issues cited by their fellow industry managers. The papers have been prepared by leading Industry Research Analyst, Peter Lombardelli. The theme of the five papers is as follows;
 
Reading the Runes - Presenting the upcoming trends and challenge that will affect the logistics market landscape in 2011 - 2012
 
Look Whose Talking - How information technology can help logistics organisations meet increasingly tighter service levels demanded by customer
 
Can you Contain Yourself? - How I.T. can help manage and control the broadening array of responsibilities placed on operations managers
 
The Lean Machine - A simple explanation of LEAN technology, the factors that cause automation programmes to fail, and the implications for the business
 
The CRC Commitment - Examining the nature and effect of the Government's Green Agenda on the Logistics Industry
 
The papers can be obtained by e-mailing moreinfo@proteussoftware.com, or downloaded directly from a website (see below):
 
Commenting upon the new initiative, Linda Rodway (Marketing Manager, Proteus Software) stated: "We are aware of the complexity of the issues under consideration. Our response has been to distil the key themes into a series of short, yet thought-provoking, papers. We're sure that this will stimulate much internal debate and we're keen to engage with organisations in order to convey the exact nature of the practical IT solutions that we can offer." Mike Turner (Group Marketing Manager, Belgravium) adds: "The pragmatic nature of Proteus-Belgravium solutions is indeed the key factor. Continued industry debate about the optimisation of the Supply Chain is obviously a healthy scenario. However, we're also keen to emphasise that careful application of Information Technology, across the entire spectrum of business processes, is already enabling organisations to achieve bottom-line savings that will ensure their long-term survival."
 
To back up their assertion that Supply Chain Optimisation is not an elusive 'Holy Grail' for the logistics sector, Belgravium and Proteus have produced a small web site that summarises their vision and provides an indication of which business processes can benefit from the application of Information Technology.  The web site can be found at www.supply-chain-optimisation.co.uk