Business owners swear by co-creation. But they struggle with evolving customer expectations, disruptions, and hurdles brought on by opacity in supplier networks and lack of actionable data.
If you fall in this category, you probably want to diversify your list of reliable suppliers or mitigate stockouts with robust vendor management. The answer lies in supply chain collaboration software.
Read on to find out the top supply chain management solutions, their collaborative prowess and their limitations.
Compare Top Supply Chain Management Software Leaders
Article Roadmap
Our team of writers and analysts at SelectHub is committed to giving you the best recommendations based on our data. To make our list, products had to meet two criteria:
- Closely match the topic
- Earn a top-5 analyst score in our selection platform
Our analyst scores are based on an in-depth research process using primary and secondary sources. This includes SelectHub Analyst Briefings, direct communication with vendors, and reviewing materials such as user reviews, product brochures, specification sheets, case studies, user manuals, and technical documentation.
Our platform’s Scoring Engine processes the research and computes the analyst score. The score also factors in platform settings such as industry and company size.
The Best Supply Chain Collaboration Software
Deep and sustained communication lies at the heart of supplier relationship management. Perfecting this SCM niche will translate to benefits like
- Supply chain risk management
- Supplier performance scoring and accountability
- The continuous inflow of raw materials
- Multi-tier visibility
- Shorter lead times
- Cost-effective last-mile delivery
Knowing what software can do for you isn’t enough; you’ll need to understand the capabilities they won’t bring to the table. That’s how you’ll decide whether to invest.
We’ve put together a list of the top five supply chain platforms to guide your search.
Compare Top Supply Chain Management Software Leaders
NetSuite ERP
NetSuite ERP offers strong supply chain collaboration features for smooth cooperation and real-time information sharing between supply chain partners.
The Oracle Supplier Portal helps suppliers review and respond to order forecasts, promoting transparency and proactive decision-making. Additionally, NetSuite’s Procurement module offers robust vendor management features, simplifying the vendor relationship lifecycle.
The vendor portal lets you monitor vendor performance, ensuring accountability, continuous improvement and better collaboration.
Its stand-out harmonization of upstream supply from multiple tiers reduces disruptions in the downstream supply chain. It enhances visibility and resilience by merging supply information into multi-tier supply plans.
Manage vendors from a unified dashboard. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Supplier or Vendor Portal — 100
- Purchase Contracts Management — 100
- Vendor Performance Tracking — 100
- Multi-Location Supply Planning — 100
- Demand Forecast Simulations — 85
Top Benefits
- Enhance Visibility: NetSuite ERP’s main advantage is the potential for clients to build solutions suited to their specific needs. It also enables visibility across workflows, driving transparency across divisions.
- Manage Business Processes: Gain more control over company processes. The supply chain portal guarantees your clients receive the same experience regardless of their sales funnel placement.
- Build Workflows: Internal workflows are helpful because they automate or streamline a variety of business operations, which boosts output. Omnichannel engagement and more precise financial management are two major advantages.
- Gather Real-Time Insights: NetSuite ERP’s personalized, real-time dashboards boost internal insight development. This practice can cut down on time spent organizing and sifting data to create useful solutions.
- Enjoy Low Cost of Ownership: NetSuite reduces costs by removing IT expenditures (both upfront and over time). It also offers automatic updates.
Primary Features
- Source Management: This supply chain collaboration’s consolidated supply portal guarantees compliance throughout the procurement process. Its forecasting capabilities can revise projections in response to real disparities.
- Sales Order Management: Automation speeds up invoicing and order management and reduces manual errors. It also integrates with other departments like finance and fulfillment.
- Production Management: The module integrates with CAD and PLM solutions. This feature supports quote development, contract renewal tracking and cost estimation.
- Transportation and Logistics: Its solid integration with IoT functionality promises continuous real-time visibility of transportation units. The logistic functionality provides inventory estimation based on historical data for accurate ordering practices.
- Manufacturing Accounting: This tool includes most fundamental accounting functions, like forecasting and invoicing. It can also help you figure out tax payments depending on variables like revenue and location.
Limitations
- NetSuite needs technical expertise and might be more expensive than its competitors.
- The initial setup and ongoing maintenance costs are high.
- The platform requires significant training and user adoption measures.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Demand Sensing — Not Supported
- Collaborative Supplier Scoring By Team Members — Not Supported
- Procure-To-Pay Analytics — Not Supported
- Replenishment Planning Analytics — Not Supported
- Sales And Operations Planning — Supported With Integrations
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder bills itself as a supply chain operating system, and comes with plenty of supply chain collaboration tools. It prioritizes scalability, customizable processes, optimal UI/UX dashboards and real-time data sharing. It enables synchronized supplier networks, increasing visibility and facilitating continuous interaction between businesses and suppliers.
Its emphasis on interoperability and sweeping visibility promotes effective collaboration for improved supply chain performance and customer satisfaction.
Distribute proper supplies across your distribution network with Blue Yonder. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Supplier or Vendor Portal — 100
- Purchase Contracts Management — 100
- Vendor Performance Tracking — 100
- Multi-Location Supply Planning — 100
- Demand Forecast Simulations — 100
Top Benefits
- Optimize Inventory: Gain a competitive edge by coordinating inventory logistics, strategy and execution for service, manufacturing, and distribution. You can also adjust inventory and stocking tactics to improve multichannel customer service.
- Control Sales and Operations: Overcome supply chain obstacles to maintain sales and operations schedules, increase output, and combine planning and execution. Establish measurable cost, revenue and margin goals.
- Manage Finances: Link enterprise-wide strategy planning to clear collective goals through merchandise financial management. Set up omnichannel, consumer-centric financial rules to manage inventory productivity and profitability.
- Handle Assortment: Combine customer purchasing preferences, assortment lifecycle planning, in-depth analytics, pre-packing and sizing optimization into a sleek workflow.
- Streamline Warehousing: Support warehouse optimization with real-time transaction processing, selection and storage techniques, integrated labor standards, and directed task management. Warehouse tasking modules help you discover operational issues and execute single-task operations.
Primary Features
- Control Tower: This supply chain collaboration platform provides insights for real-time data analysis and responses from a wide ecosystem and third-party sources. It uses machine learning to manage supply chain disruptions through cooperation, network-wide visibility and automation.
- Logistics Network: A digitally empowered logistics network connects companies of all sizes across the supply chain. It provides vital data to support a market-driven consumption strategy and logistics services.
- Transportation Management: Control available assets and boost profitability while sharpening your competitive edge. Speed up processes by handling inbound and outbound logistics, integrating carrier-supplier collaboration tools, and addressing problems.
- Network Design: Coordinate planning and execution to optimize the supply chain, improve financial performance and meet customer expectations. Its network architecture accelerates sustainability and durability while lowering operating risks and expenses.
- Workforce Management: Increase retention via flexible scheduling alternatives that boost employee engagement and meet the changing needs of a diverse team. Its personnel management solution helps increase associate productivity, boost corporate performance and reduce attrition.
Limitations
- The implementation process is time-consuming.
- The learning curve is significant for beginners.
- It has a low processing speed and occasionally freezes.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Collaborative Supplier Scoring By Team Members — Not Supported
- Non-Conformance Tracking — Not Supported
- Dynamic Demand Segmentation — Moderately Supported Out of the Box
- B2B Communication Platform — Moderately Supported Out of the Box
- Build Plan, Resources and Capacity Utilization Matrix — Moderately Supported Out of the Box
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Epicor SCM
Epicor facilitates vendor engagement by employing its supplier relationship management (SRM) features to improve supplier management and promote decision-making.
It builds a single source of truth for managing supplier dashboards, analytics and achievements. Communicate outcomes and data with suppliers to drive collaboration and achieve critical goals.
Epicor promotes collaboration across the value chain by combining well-managed data quality processes with cloud-based business intelligence tools. It also provides a supplier portal to protect businesses from risks, highlighting its commitment to solid vendor participation and risk management.
Use organic communication to prompt EVA to seek information and take action. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Supplier or Vendor Portal — 100
- Purchase Contracts Management — 100
- Vendor Performance Tracking — 100
- Multi-Location Supply Planning — 100
- Demand Forecast Simulations — 100
Top Benefits
- Manage Supplier Relationship: Unlock tools for purchasing agents, buyers, and procurement professionals to get estimates for subcontract services or raw materials from vendors. Find the best materials by filtering and sorting RFQ criteria based on price, lead time, available inventory and quality rating.
- Optimize Inventory: An intuitive web interface integrates consensus demand and inventory management, optimization strategies, and robust forecasting. Identify and correct inventory imbalances, evaluate operational performance and sharpen forecast accuracy.
- Connect Commerce Channels: Accelerate online business growth with a comprehensive eCommerce solution that integrates with Prophet 21. Advantages include mobile access, real-time inventory counts, B2B and B2C channel support, site analytics, and sales rep tools.
- Improve Customer Service: Increase the sales lead-to-close ratio, automate workflows, accurately predict sales and support at-risk customers. Meet customer demands by tracking purchasing habits.
- Manage Material Handling: Advanced material management lets you create electronic material requests, dispatch them and track inventory movements. Expedite processes with a material handling interface, order prioritization and sales order allocation.
Primary Features
- Purchase Management: This supply chain collaboration platform offers automated purchasing tools, supplier approval, order and supplier tracking, and multiple location receipts. It enables improved cash flows, on-time delivery and higher profit levels.
- Electronic Data Integration: The tool provides B2B integration solutions, including electronic data interchange, flexible data integration and database translation engines, to cut costs and boost productivity. EDI-managed service on demand connects customers with business partners.
- Inventory Planning: Use the demand planner to select an accurate prediction model for goods that account for seasonality, trends and event-driven/promotion demand. Inventory optimization supports policy decisions by letting people communicate, cooperate and track the impact of policies.
- Shipping and Receiving: Get a centralized interface to monitor incoming and outgoing products. This system enables container and receipt tracking, customer and miscellaneous cargo tracking, freight management, bill of lading printing, and more.
- Barcoding: Consolidate designs using intelligent templates, ensure regulatory compliance and get secure document control. Epicor BarTender enhances security, safety and efficiency by automating barcodes, printing and managing labels, RFID tags and more.
Limitations
- It lacks support for complex issues.
- The system runs slow, affecting overall performance.
- Implementation and upgrading is cumbersome.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Collaborative Supplier Scoring By Team Members — Not Supported
- Build Plan, Resources And Capacity Utilization Matrix — Supported with Additional Modules
- Demand sensing — Not Supported
- Lifecycle Planning — Not Supported
- Planned vs. Actual Orders Comparison — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Infor Supply Chain Management
Infor SCM caters to supplier collaboration and risk management. Its focus on real-time data sharing and automation is consistent with the needs of today’s dynamic business environment.
Its supplier relationship management (SRM) capabilities enable responsive supplier alignment and help with timely delivery.
Furthermore, its emphasis on network-wide digital communication promotes proactive supply assurance and process automation, allowing organizations to tackle supply chain complexity with agility.
Infor enables multi-tier forecast and collaboration. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Supplier or Vendor Portal — 100
- Vendor Performance Tracking — 100
- Multi-Location Supply Planning — 100
- Demand Forecast Simulations — 100
- Purchase Contracts Management — 85
Top Benefits
- Manage Supply: Customers can collaborate and exchange information with multilevel suppliers depending on predictions, commitments and plans. Minimize stockouts and revenue losses by securing supply through digital commitments, continued engagement and early issue detection.
- Increase Visibility: Supply chain visibility ensures consistent inventory availability while improving order accuracy and ETAs. It provides real-time visibility through IoT data and improves speed, quality and cargo availability statuses beyond EDI.
- Improve Costs and Collaboration: Order management and automated document preparation create cleaner, more compliant transactions. Avoid stockouts with regular updates about supplier network management concerns. Global payment and chargeback management boost performance and strengthen relationships.
- Enhance Forecasts: Achieve forecast accuracy using probabilistic forecasting techniques and a highly collaborative demand planning platform. It offers performance dashboards to acquire deeper insights and a consumer-grade user experience to boost productivity.
- Centralize Control: Layer in-context intelligence with predictive insights to enable customer-centric and proactive operations. Read and respond to dynamic signals using in-network data, trade partner connectivity and superior data science.
Primary Features
- Supply Planning: Configurable supply planning solutions simplify tactical, strategic and operational planning. Balance product mixes, plan sites, include shelf-life limits into build-ahead strategies, and select optimal formulas based on demand and material availability.
- Warehouse Management: Integration with 3D visual analysis and embedded labor management improves efficiency and minimizes complexity. The supply chain collaboration platform includes advanced features and B2B and B2C fulfillment capabilities to boost productivity, order accuracy and flexibility.
- Production Scheduling: Constraint-based production scheduling improves resource use, reduces downtime and increases capacity. Modeling options let manufacturers respond to changes, manage demand and supply, and adjust plans through automated optimization and visual planning boards.
- Infor Nexus: This single-instance network combines financial and physical supply chain functions. Detect and respond to a wide range of changes using applications that integrate advanced planning, finance and execution capabilities.
- Demand Management: Machine learning and artificial intelligence help you forecast and meet demand. Give retail stores enhanced strategies for financial planning, demand projections, assortment planning, lifecycle pricing, replenishment optimization and more.
Limitations
- Infor SCM requires significant time and resources for initial configuration and data migration.
- Out-of-the-box reporting may not match your exact requirements, necessitating customization or third-party solutions.
- Integrating with current systems can be difficult and requires specialist knowledge.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Bill Of Materials — Supported with Additional Modules
- Collaborative Supplier Scoring By Team Members — Not Supported
- Material Requirements Planning (MRP) — Supported with Additional Modules
- Demand-At-Risk Drill-Down Visualizations — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Manhattan Supply Chain
Manhattan Supply Chain provides a secure conduit for trading partners that ensures seamless and safe internet access. It promotes agile decision-making and a synchronized supplier network for quick reactions to market shifts.
Its emphasis on better visibility into supply targets, limits and needs enables educated decisions and proactive disruption management.
Its powerful document management capabilities support secure data sharing, which is critical to supply chain integrity. The platform also makes it easier to acknowledge and negotiate purchase orders (POs) to improve communication and foster collaboration.
Manhattan SCM lets you monitor the health of your networks. Source
Highest Rated Features According to Our Data
- Supplier or Vendor Portal — 100
- Purchase Contracts Management — 100
- Vendor Performance Tracking — 100
- Multi-Location Supply Planning — 60
- Demand Forecast Simulations — 60
Top Benefits
- Improve Data Visibility: This supply chain collaboration platform offers a bird’s-eye view of vital processes. Data from these tasks enables effective planning and informed decision-making.
- Balance Costs: It balances and reduces transportation and inventory expenses while maintaining service standards.
- Reduce Errors: Reducing errors lowers the expenses and increases client loyalty. Automate tiresome manual processes that require employee input.
Primary Features
- Warehouse Management: Manhattan provides distinct warehouse optimization abilities. Use the option to improve inventory allocation and accuracy across all critical warehouse tasks.
- Transportation Management: Reduce shipping and transportation expenses by implementing a set of management solutions aimed at streamlining delivery. This platform has features suitable for the global mobility business, such as multilingual and currency support.
- Value-Added Services: Companies providing kitting and other value-added services can access services based on these processes and continue to offer them.
- Inventory Management: This tool provides significant inventory optimization solutions. Use them to minimize inventory while also identifying sluggish products that are taking up valuable shelf space.
- Integrations: Numerous integration options facilitate the flow of information between suppliers and customers. Other inclusions simplify everything 3PL providers require to operate.
Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data
- Bill of Materials — Not Supported
- Collaborative Supplier Scoring By Team Members — Not Supported
- Demand Forecast Simulations — Supported with Additional Modules
- Replenishment Planning Analytics — Supported with Additional Modules
- Demand-At-Risk Drill Down Visualizations — Not Supported
Platform:
Company Size Suitability: S M L
Why Is Collaboration Important?
Rising energy costs, logistical barriers and supply chain instability are the rules of the industry. Automotive, manufacturing or construction businesses are vulnerable to supply-side shocks, ultimately leading to stagflation.
To combat this, both legislators and customers are asking for more diverse and transparent supply chains. Deep, cross-stakeholder communication is critical for delivering these goals.
A diversified supplier base promotes innovation by introducing new products, services and approaches. It also fosters healthy competition among suppliers, improving pricing and service standards.
Committing to conducting business in different marketplaces can benefit all communities’ economic progress.
Oliver Wyman indicated that 85% of corporations in the United States had dedicated supplier diversification initiatives.
Supply chain planning is nothing without access to precise and up-to-date data. Sharing data and working with suppliers and partners helps parties reach a consensus and enhances forecast accuracy. Andrew Grella, the CEO & Founder of Formen Inc., agrees:
A high level of forecast accuracy can lead to a reduction in inventory costs and improved customer service because businesses can prepare and arrange for demand more efficiently.
“Another metric […] is order cycle time. This measures the amount of time it takes from when an order is placed by a customer until it is delivered […]. If businesses are able to reduce their order cycle time, they can respond to market changes more quickly and improve customer satisfaction.”
Compare Top Supply Chain Management Software Leaders
How To Choose the Right Supply Chain Collaboration Platform
Traditional business intelligence solutions rely on ERP extracts that have poor data quality and quickly expire in volatile settings. The above solutions will only deliver value if they integrate seamlessly without disrupting existing workflows.
Furthermore, much of the valuable data in operations management is housed in shared Excel files, notepads or emails.
Supply chain collaboration platforms need a wide view of all the data and store the history of challenges and solutions for easy access.
So there you have it: integrability and automation are vital. Let’s see which other features you should look for.
- Real-Time Information: Select a system that helps you identify which suppliers to contact, internal handlers and at-risk clients. Advanced supply chain collaboration platforms can enhance data with user-generated configuration tables for contextual information on suppliers, equipment, BOMs and customers.
- Contextual Messages: Your system must provide a complete record of escalation tickets, issues or individual item comments. It should also reduce the feedback loop between teams via an individual comments module and notification alerts.
- Scenario Simulations: The right collaboration software includes simulating options for alternate plans for proactive measures. Invest in software that supports on-the-fly supply modeling, including pull-ins, push-outs and fractional deliveries.
- Security and Compliance: Your software must consider situations when suppliers can’t deliver on time due to quality challenges, regulatory issues, ethical concerns, geographical barriers or natural disasters. Additionally, look for ISO-certified platforms that comply with GDPR.
Measure the Success of Your Collaborative Effort
Finally, we come to a crucial yet overlooked aspect: measuring the depth of your collaboration. Consider our expert-backed approaches:
Key Performance Indicators
Establish KPIs to assess partnership success. Periodically assessing progress and leveraging insights to find areas for improvement is enough.
James Wilkinson, the CEO and co-founder of Balance One Supplements, guides us with specific KPIs:
Supplier Lead Time (SLT), which measures the time it takes for raw material or finished product to get to you. Ideally, this number should hover between 45-60 days in most industries. The Vendor Fill Rate – hopefully at 95% or above – is your deduction barometer: it tells you how responsive your vendor is; analyzing these two numbers informs you how to tweak your strategy to make sure your eCommerce operation is running smoothly, with inventory turnover ratio between 5 and 10 suggestive of a fit supply chain – quick enough and timely enough.”
The Collaboration Index
This tool uses collaborative approaches for sharing data, decision synchronization and incentive congruence. The index assists supply chain actors in assessing collaboration levels and seeking ways to improve performance.
Return on Investment
Measuring prospective value delivery, average implementation and total project success rates provides a high-level assessment of the value of supplier partnership.
According to Gauri Manglik, CEO & Co-founder of Instrumentl, knowing the projected return on investment (ROI) is essential:
If you can show quantifiable cost savings from increased visibility, shared forecasts, joint transportation, and other collaborative initiatives, then you know the partnership is working. Maybe you cut inventory costs from improved planning. Perhaps transportation spend went down through consolidated shipments. You have to track the hard numbers to prove it.”
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Next Steps
As businesses journey through the ever-changing world of market expansion and technological innovation, the need to maintain a smooth and efficient supply chain becomes clearer.
Improve operational agility, maximize resource use, and strengthen relationships with supply chain partners by using the capabilities and benefits of leading solutions.
Check out our free comparison report for a side-by-side review of leading SCM platforms to see which are best for supply chain collaboration and find your perfect system faster.
Did we miss out on any must-have features? Tell us in the comments!
SME Contributors
With nearly a decade of entrepreneurship and beauty industry expertise, Andrew Grella is the founder of Formen Inc. Driven to fill the void in the market for men’s makeup, he developed user-friendly, efficient products for both on and off-camera use. He has helped the company gain a strong online presence and secure 50+ retail locations globally.
James Wilkinson is the Co-founder and CEO of Balance One Supplements, a manufacturer and online retailer of premium dietary supplements. Balance One has recently expanded into international markets, diversified spending in paid social media, and scaled up its experienced marketing team.
Gauri has dedicated her career to building intuitive and delightful user experiences. As CEO and a Co-founder, she has led Instrumentl to serve over 2,000 nonprofits today, making it a favorite tool among grant seekers for unifying grant prospecting, tracking and management.
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Comparison Report: An interactive analyst report with comparison ratings, reviews and pricing for Supply Chain Management software