is a new area business and people have hopes of, at the very least, earning back their investments before the market is saturated.Paraphrasing comments from an April, 1998 interview, IBM Global Business Intelligence Solutions General Manager Ben Barns stated the organization is focused entirely on business intelligence (BI). BI appears to be coined, IBM phrase that refers to the gathering, management, analysis and distribution of information and data. Barns is predicting that spending on BI systems will exceed spending on traditional operational systems soon after the turn of the century. Barnes identified four keys to business success: Getting to market first, flexibility, choice and supply chain management. All four require BI, Barns says, as well as the technology required to distribute the data quickly. Most businesses have the raw components for BI, IBM is just going to make it work.The industry is very aware of what is happening and Council after council is forming. Advanced Manufacturing Research of Boston and the consulting firm Pittiglio Rabin Todd and McGrath (PRTM) of Weston, Massachusetts formed the "Supply Chain Council" in April of 1996 to construct a reference model. The model was to be named "Supply Chain Operations Reference" (SCOR) and was intended to give manufacturers, suppliers and retailers a frame work for evaluation their supply chain effectiveness. The counsel, back in 1996, was made up of 69 manufacturers and their mission was to develop standards for measuring supply chain performance in various industries. "The model breaks down the supply chain into four basic processes: planning, sourcing, making, and delivering, providing a common set of definitions for the elements in those processes. The model also provides benchmark metrics to measure performance, with different levels for different industries. In addition, it includes descriptions of 'best in class' management practices. A review of 200 com...
