Order information is also fed into warehousing, inventory and delivery data which can be accessed by all members of the supply chain to coordinate their business processes. When the UPS driver shows up at your office or home, he or she captures your signature, verifying delivery of the flyrod. That same company can also turn to UPS to help finance its growing enterprise. In fact, with our newly formed UPS Capital Corporation, we may even finance their inventory and accounts receivable. Five years ago, most business planners could not even imagine such a world.
Time is compressed and the economic effects are magnified.
Today's information and supply chain revolution will change our lives as significantly as the industrial age did a century ago. And this brings me to my second point. In this new business model, there is no room for human, technical or political inefficiencies. That's because the power source fueling electronic commerce and integrated supply chains is the consumer. Customers now have at their fingertips the ability to research products, compare prices, select features and even gain financing - all within a fraction of the time it used to take through traditional channels.