The growing array of highly sophisticated tools and software solutions available to supply chain professionals across the different functional areas within supply chain management are evolving rapidly.  Organizations that are committed to transforming and optimizing their supply chain management capabilities are increasingly investing in comprehensive end-to-end supply chain management software solutions that encompass supply chain planning and execution. These solutions have been purpose built to meet the specific needs of supply chain professionals along each link in the supply chain, foster multienterprise collaboration and increase visibility from end to end.  Today’s leading supply chain management solutions typically include individual applications designed to automate and improve the efficiency of tasks required for inventory management, demand planning, supply planning, manufacturing, transportation, returns and other management functions. Along with automating many functions, these applications give supply chain managers much greater real-time visibility and insight into what is happening in all the other functional areas, allowing them to continuously update, optimize and realign in their own area in response to new data.  Organizations that choose to adopt these solutions realize numerous benefits, including increased end-to-end visibility, improved decision-making, reduction in manual errors, improved collaboration with suppliers, better risk management, more granular control and enhanced security. Despite the availability of purpose-built solutions, many organizations still use generic software tools for supply chain management. Spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel are top of the list for these organizations, since they are readily available, and most supply chain professionals know how to use them. But these programs have many limitations. They depend on manual data entry, which increases the likelihood of errors, and they also contribute to functional silos in the organization, making effective collaboration across the different areas extremely difficult. In addition, supply chain professionals who rely on spreadsheets are not able to take advantage of the many new emerging technologies and capabilities that are transforming supply chain management.