The buzz: “Although counterfeit drug production was originally concerned with lifestyle medications treating non-life threatening conditions, the industry has expanded to produce nearly every type of medicine” (cnbc.com/id/44759526). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 10% of the world’s medicine is counterfeit, and up to 70% in some countries. Revenue: $70B as of 2010. How can this happen? Complex supply chains unwittingly facilitate entry points for blackmarket counterfeiters, impacting legitimate pharma and consumers unaware of their meds’ origins. Can new technologies stop this madness? The experts speak. Jacques Muratori, Molivitas: “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed” (M.Navratilova). Laz Uriza, SAP: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who stand by and do nothing” (Einstein). Join us for Counterfeit Drug Industry: Role of Complex Supply Chains.

The buzz: “Although counterfeit drug production was originally concerned with lifestyle medications treating non-life threatening conditions, the industry has expanded to produce nearly every type of medicine” (cnbc.com/id/44759526). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 10% of the world’s medicine is counterfeit, and up to 70% in some countries. Revenue: $70B as of 2010. How can this happen? Complex supply chains unwittingly facilitate entry points for blackmarket counterfeiters, impacting legitimate pharma and consumers unaware of their meds’ origins. Can new technologies stop this madness? The experts speak. Jacques Muratori, Molivitas: “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed” (M.Navratilova). Laz Uriza, SAP: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who stand by and do nothing” (Einstein). Join us for Counterfeit Drug Industry: Role of Complex Supply Chains.

The buzz: “We thought big data was big, but the potential quantization and tracking and administration of all classes of activity and reality via blockchain technology…hints at the next orders-of-magnitude...” (Melanie Swan). Based its hyped ability to drive end-to-end value, eliminate inefficiencies, and improve customer experience, Blockchain – a decentralized, distributed ledger payment system using cryptocurrency – is powering digital transformation for companies around the world. But not without risk. What are the pros and cons of a blockchain-enabled supply chain? Can this innovative technology truly fuel, streamline, and digitize your company’s networks? The experts speak. Irfan Kahn, Bristlecone: “It’s not just how big we become, but also how we become big!” (Anand Mahindra). Richard Howells, SAP: “It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future” (1948 Danish humorist). Join us for Blockchain Technology: A Hit or A Miss for Supply Chain Networks?

The buzz: “When you calculate the scale of costs that leak from the supply chain, it reveals astonishing waste.” (Pete Loughlin, Supply Chain Finance July 11, 2012) You bought a house years ago. Your family grew and you need to upgrade or buy a new house to fit your current lifestyle and increase your home value. Let’s apply this logic to your supply chain in the Digital Age. How was your current software implemented and is it efficiently moving production? Digital Transformation is crucial to expanding your business and meeting marketplace and competitive demands. The experts speak. Dr. Heiko Hecht, IBIS America LLC: “Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay!” (Sherlock Holmes). Dirk Lonser, Hewlett Packard: “You can't solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them” (Albert Einstein). Windie Wilson, SAP: “Great moments are born great opportunity” (Nicola Tesla). Join us for Stopping Value Leakage: Digital Transformation for Supply Chain.

The buzz: “PwC’s 2016 Utilities Industry Trend report says [the market] will quadruple by 2020 and reach $6 billion worldwide; innovation is a necessity.” (J. Johnson) Since the 20th century began, world population has grown from 1.65 billion to 7.5 billion (Worldometers.info), placing urgent demands on utilities to efficiently deliver energy, gas, water, and more to cities and beyond. How? Optimize supply chain so employees in the field and the office can meet consumers’ needs. The experts speak. Lou Aguilar, Havensight: “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple” (Dr. Seuss). Ron Schell, Metropolitan Utilities District: “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will take you everywhere” (Einstein). Karsten Hauschild, SAP: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started… secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks… ” (M. Twain). Join us for Accelerating the Utilities Industry in the Digital Age.

The buzz: “You need to start your supply chain conversation” (S&OP Manager). As the speed of the economy accelerates, so do demands on your Supply Chain: response time to suppliers, communication with customers, managing the volume of data. What to do? Digital Transformation. How? Embrace cost-effective new technology that leverages your infrastructure while guiding your business path to growth. The experts speak. Victor Gonzales, UCT: “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones” (John Cage). Irfan Kahn, Bristlecone: “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb). Erik Schrampf, SAP: ““It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things” (Leonardo da Vinci). Join us for Taking the Lead and Staying There with Digital Supply Chain.

The buzz: “A goal without a plan is just a wish” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). Sales and operations planning is a critical first step for the success of any business. The challenge? Doing it well. Best practices for a seamless supply chain: Gauge demand (avoid over- or under-stocked inventory). Optimize demand with supply. Collaborate with stakeholders and suppliers. Get buy-in across the organization. Simplify and publish the plan. “Wash, rinse, repeat.” The experts speak. Kanth Krishnan, Intrigo Systems: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing” (Theodore Roosevelt). Eric Stratmann, Albemarle Corporation: “If you can't measure it, you can't manage it” (W. Edwards Deming). Windie Wilson, SAP: “Great moments are born great opportunity” (Nikola Tesla). Join us for Seamless Supply Chain Challenge: Plan Ahead, Get Ahead.

The buzz: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.” (Steven Covey) Digitization is changing the supply chain game, driving businesses into a new dimension where accelerated response is mandatory. Take too long and risk being left at the starting gate as your competition sprints to the finish line. But simply hitting Reply without insights can be just as dangerous. At a minimum, you need rules-driven planning, what-if analysis, and intelligent inventory staging. Whose job is it to bring your supply chain management “up to speed” (figuratively and literally)? The experts speak. Jeroen Kusters, Deloitte: “Prophecy is a good line of business, but it is full of risk” (Mark Twain). Srini Bangalore, Deloitte: “In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield” (Warren Buffett). Eric Simonson, SAP: “Show me the money!” (Jerry Maguire). Join us for Digital Response and Supply Management: Are You the Tortoise or the Hare.

The buzz: “It’s not the organizations that are competing. It’s the supply chains.” (Wael Safwat, SCMAO) Feeling out of control in the planning phase of your business? You are not alone. Keeping up with complex, fast-moving markets demands world-class supply chain planning capabilities that engage and connect stakeholders across your organization. Lack of accurate forecasting and demand management can hinder growth and cause your organization to spin out of control. Our panel will share their experience with this crucial element of business. The experts speak. Ryan Szostek, Deloitte: “If I asked people what they needed, they would have said ‘faster horses.’” (Henry Ford, apocryphal). Jeroen Kusters, Deloitte: ‘Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Laz Uriza, SAP: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” (Albert Einstein). Join us for Digital Business Planning: Get a Grip.

The buzz: “Survival is optional. No one has to change” (W. Edward Deming). As we begin 2017, companies like yours face volatile demand and faster response expectations from customers, while your supply chain complexity grows as it goes global. What to do? The Internet of Things can provide vital business information across your network, enable real-time data analysis, support department and company collaboration, and offer creative ways to digitally transform end-to-end processes. The experts speak. Richard Howells, SAP: “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things” (Leonardo da Vinci). Padman Ramankutty, Intrigo: “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Rakesh Gandhi, SAP: “The dictionary is the only place success comes before work” (Stubby Currence). Join us for Internet of Things: Jump-Start Your Supply Chain.

The buzz: 'Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better' -Pat Riley. Driving operational excellence needs to be an ongoing, evolving mission for your organization. But how? Make better-informed, timely decisions based on insights from accurate and timely analytics. As the Internet of Things revolution spawns a proliferation of smart sensors, more devices are generating a flood of information and data. How can your company benefit? Establish an intelligent Analytics strategy. The experts speak. Adam Zeckel, EY: 'Start by doing what's necessary: then do what's possible: and suddenly you are doing the impossible' -Francis of Assisi. John Sullivan, SAP: 'What keeps so many people back is simply unwillingness to pay the price, to make the exertion, the effort to sacrifice their ease and comfort' -Orison Swett Marden. Tony Han, SAP: 'A fool with a tool is still a fool' -Grady Booch. Join us for Your Operational Excellence: Advanced Supply Chain Analytics.

The buzz: 'I can see clearly now the rain is gone.' The digitization of global economies has shifted traditional supply chain models. You need to access accurate, consolidated data and integrate outcomes throughout your organization real-time, in order to respond to short-term demand while keeping your eye on long-term strategic objectives and commitments. How can you manage the complexity and laser-focus your decisions on being customer-centric? Create the Perfect Order. The experts speak. Jamie Larsen, EY: 'If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change' -Max Planck. Rich Benner, Monsanto: 'Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves' -Steve Jobs. Martin Barkman, SAP: 'We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten…' -Bill Gates. Join us for Customer-Centricity through The Perfect Order.

The buzz: “A true champion can adapt to anything” -F. Mayweather, Jr. News flash for manufacturers running lean! Wake up, smell the coffee and start evolving to an athletic, agile workplace. Why? Your customers are demanding faster, more personalized production and even a lot size of one. The benefits of agility – a short Customer Order Cycle and the ability to maintain high quality standards and control costs – will enable you to meet their demands. How to get there? A holistic, flexible production process. The experts speak. Vic Braccardi, RTS: “The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them—preferably in unexpected and helpful ways” -Richard Branson-. Tony Pasquinelli, Dana: “A stitch in time saves nine”-Francis Baily. Mike Lackey, SAP: “My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them” -Bono, U2 Blog-. Join us for Agile Manufacturing: Evolving to Efficiency.

The buzz: Surf’s up. The digital modernization of your logistics network–with automated warehouse functions increasin –requires you to have end-to-end, real-time visibility into locations around the world. Why is it worth your while to hurdle obstacles to get there? The digitized logistics world can enable your company to grow faster and more efficiently into markets and channels otherwise not possible before. Ready to learn how? The experts speak. Parminder Singh, Deloitte: “All we are doing is looking at the time line from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash” (Taiichi Ohno). Matt Miller, Deloitte: “Problems are excellent guides to improvement, but only if the real problem is identified.” (The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, paraphrased) Mark Averskog, SAP: “In the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins” (Bruce Springsteen). Join us for Riding the Wave: The Digital Modernization of Logistics.

The buzz: The time has come…. Almost every company on the planet is already transforming the way they do business – or they need to! Why? Let us count the ways: Digital transformation. Resource scarcity. Demand for individualized products. The Sharing Economy. Pressure for customer centricity. The bottom line: It’s time for you to re-think every business process and take advantage of the latest digital technologies to help you squeeze dollars, time, inefficiencies, low quality, and more out of the value chain. Are you on board yet? The experts speak. Kevin Warmerdam, SAP: “Do or do not. There is no try” (Yoda, Star Wars). Richard Howells, SAP: “What’s my return on investment on e-commerce? Are you crazy? This is Columbus in the New World. What was his ROI?” (Andrew Grove, Intel). Rick Imber, SAP: “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete!” (Jack Welch, GE). Join us for Digital Transformation across the Extended Supply Chain – Part 2.

The buzz: Hum a few bars? Manufacturers: Achieving sustainable product innovation requires great discipline plus extraordinary collaboration within your company, across your stakeholder community, and with your customers. Why? Booming global competition requires you to have more product variants, faster time to market, lower costs – all while facing growing regulatory and sustainability requirements. How? Borrow a page from the music world: a PLM symphony of simplification, technology, automation, and agility. The experts speak. Alan Mendel, LeverX: “Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future” (Walt Disney). Jeff Doneghue, BUNN: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps” (Confucius). Brian Soaper, SAP: “If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong” (Charles Kettering). Join us for Orchestrating Sustainable Product Innovation: Compose Your Symphony.

The buzz: Surf’s up. The digital modernization of your logistics network–with automated warehouse functions increasin –requires you to have end-to-end, real-time visibility into locations around the world. Why is it worth your while to hurdle obstacles to get there? The digitized logistics world can enable your company to grow faster and more efficiently into markets and channels otherwise not possible before. Ready to learn how? The experts speak. Parminder Singh, Deloitte: “All we are doing is looking at the time line from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash” (Taiichi Ohno). Matt Miller, Deloitte: “Problems are excellent guides to improvement, but only if the real problem is identified.” (The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, paraphrased) Mark Averskog, SAP: “In the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins” (Bruce Springsteen). Join us for Riding the Wave: The Digital Modernization of Logistics.

The buzz: Jack be nimble, Jack be quick (Jill, too). br Businesses like yours are operating in volatile, demanding markets like never before, facing major challenges as you try to manage customer response and orchestrate a global supply and partner network across boundaries. Beyond the faster pace of product innovation and soaring demand for customized products, you’re also trying to cope with competitive, regulatory and economic pressures. How to survive? We have one word for you: agility. The experts speak. David Malik, Mondelēz International: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success” (Henry Ford). Tanguy Caillet, EY: “Plan to execute. Execute the plan” (Anonymous). Dan Miller, SAP: “No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force” (Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke). Join us for Your Market-to-Market Supply Chain: Creating Agility.

The buzz: The time has come.Major global market trends are redefining your business realities: volatile markets, increasingly complex logistics, constantly changing distribution networks, escalating competition. It’s critical to understand your supply chain maturity (or lack thereof) and focus on the right things. How? Morph your supply chain into Demand Networks. Why? Demand Networks focus on the customer, the partners ensuring you fulfill demand, and your ability to react quickly and accurately every time. Are you ready? The experts speak. Gisèle Roy, Blount: “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…’” (Isaac Asimov). Padman Ramankutty, Intrigo: “To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself” (Soren Kirkegaard). Laz Uriza, SAP: “When did Noah build the ark, Gladys? Before the rain, before the rain” (Spy Game, 2001). Join us for Your New Competitive Edge: Demand Networks.

The buzz: Chain chain chain…Welcome to our new series, where we’ll cover ESC fundamentals, implications on the buyer’s journey, how it impacts your organization’s alignment and accountability, and the struggle to measure its influence on your bottom line. Why this series? Extending the supply chain is a topic of growing concern to businesses around the globe, especially with the rapid growth of digital transformation. The experts speak. Rick Imber, SAP: “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else” (Sam Walton). Michael Yagdar, EY: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed…I’ve failed over and over…that is why I succeed” (Michael Jordan). Richard Howells, SAP: “The times they are a-changin’” (Bob Dylan). Join us for Digital Transformation Across the Extended Supply Chain.