Buyers Prefer A Single-Vendor Supply Chain Solution, But Does One Really Exist?

Despite a past riddled with multiple standalone SCM applications, companies today want to buy supply chain software from a single vendor. The problem? One end-to-end, single-vendor solution has yet to materialize. A select few, like Manhattan Associates, RedPrairie, and SAP have the required breadth of functionality, but there is still "white space" in each solution. And, even when a vendor can functionally fill a gap, modules are not always integrated across the entire suite — invalidating one of the main reasons for going with a single vendor. During software selections, buyers must peel back the layers to expose how well-integrated a solution really is by testing cross-functional scenarios that require data to flow across solution modules. Buyers should also prioritize the maturity and flexibility of the application's business process platform over a specific feature/function list.