IT is at the forefront of improving and enhancing the value chain. First, the value chain uses technology already in place. The value chain also uses emerging technology. In the InformationWeek Research survey, the Internet was second to EDI as the most popular supply-chain platform. Wis. He's using the Internet to expand his customer base beyond his traditional franchisees to directly interact with end users.
Some technologies hold great promise in expanding the value chain.
Enterprise resource planning systems, such as those from Baan, PeopleSoft, and SAP, offer a technology standard that value-chain partners can use as a platform for communication and interaction, something that was missing when enterprise software was all homegrown, proprietary systems. Expanding the limits of the supply chain is what the value-chain equation is all about. IT is playing a big part in redefining and re-energizing that equation. John Soat is news editor at large.