PPT isn’t enough, you need EAI as well (NPX Deep Dive #1)

As many of you are well aware by now, a few weeks ago I attended The Mpower Group‘s Next Practices Xchange. A gathering of some of the top supply management personnel from a select group of Fortune 500 companies who met to discuss how to get to the next level of supply management, the NPX participants are leaders in their fields. On average, NPX members beat the field at the macro level at supply chain visibility, risk management, strategy execution, and value creation (at least according to a recent joint survey undertaken with the IACCM that will be explored in a future post).

But today’s best is not enough to sustain value in an increasingly competitive and economically challenging global marketplace, and the best of the best know it. The supply management leaders are already working hard to figure out how they are going to maintain their edge in tomorrow’s supply chain landscape. While there are still a number of questions to be answered, they know that the first step is to understand value, that the second step is to get to value, the third step is to capture value, and the fourth, and most critical step, is to step is to execute.

But execution is tricky. It’s more than just People, Process, and Technology (PPT) that consultants have been talking about for decades. It’s more than just the following framework, which isn’t enough.

People
Organization
Talent
use  
Process
Strategy
Procedure
Tools and Templates
supported by  
Technology
Infrastructure

It’s Exploration, Alignment, and Information. It’s the Adoption, Execution, Implementation, Optimization, and Utilization of the People, Process, and Technology to their fullest potential, as illustrated by the following framework:

Information
Visibility
Metrics and Reporting
Knowledge Management
undergoes  
Alignment
Decision Process
Business Strategy
Change Management
by way of  
Exploration
Learning
Coaching &Mentoring

Technology enables the processing of information which is used by good processes that support organizational alignment with the business by people who explore next generation supply management practices and techniques and take the business to the next level. PPT goes hand in hand with EAI and neither on their own will deliver EBR (Exceptional Business Results).

The importance of the vowels in next generation supply management, and the EAI framework they define, will be explored further in future posts. The reality is that best (PPT) framework in the world is useless if you don’t execute. So master the vowels and see your organization advance to the next level of supply management.