One problem: Many of the road signs along the way are now obscured, or difficult to understand.

That’s why now is a great time to take a step back and assess where you are and where you’re going.

The biggest influence to take into account: the role of IT in improving your supply chain performance.

But instead of IT spending, expect pressure to “make do and mend,” experts caution. You’ll be called upon to make the best use of what’s already in place. This means there’ll be little discretionary funding available, but you’ll still need to find some money (perhaps under the couch cushions!).

You’ll still be expected to squeeze a few pennies out of procurement, logistics and distribution functions.

One idea: You might switch over to a pay-per-use technology license, rather than an annual contract.

Three areas experts have targeted as ripe for change:

• Supply chain flow management. In response to pressure to improve lead-time indicators and supplier flexibility, you’ll be expected to work with tech vendors that offer detailed analysis and higher visibility of business functions.
• More efficient inventory management. More supply chain operators will be asking vendors to integrate their tools as part of operations, and might even begin purchasing software services from vendors.
• Production and distribution management. Supply chains will need to ramp up contingencies for a growing number of “what-if” scenarios, to be even better prepared to react quickly when conditions change.

There are three “game-changing” technologies that will have a major impact on supply chain operations in the coming years — or even months, in some cases.

Supply management is an ideal environment for exponential growth in technology, experts advise.

Essentially, we’re looking at a snowball effect: Once it starts rolling, it’ll get bigger and bigger.

Three key areas:

Robots. Don’t worry about The Terminator showing up to unload trucks on your loading dock. But robots that are capable of performing industrial chores are expected to grow from 2 million in 2007 to more than 9 million this year. Some companies are already using them on the warehouse floor.

Robots bring three distinct advantages:

• reduce labor costs
• decrease the cost of customization and on-demand production, and
• change cost considerations in outsourcing.

One warehouse manager offers this testimonial. Among the benefits (there are many more):

For each $20,000 robot his company purchases, it saves about $2 million over its expected lifespan. The robots don’t get tired, don’t make mistakes, don’t complain, don’t need vacations — they work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Computers. They’re getting better, bigger (in function), more efficient, and easier to use. As computers become more affordable, more supply chain operations will have the power to change directions on a dime. Production changes will be less of a hassle and headache, as solutions are easier to come by.

Nanotechnology. Scientists have learned to manipulate the atom, and they’re beginning to create practical applications. The possibilities are boundless. In supply chain operations, nanotechnology could revolutionize RFID applications — or even make them obsolete.

A recent survey of more than 300 supply chain execs revealed some interesting observations:

• Only one in 10 (11%) responded that supply chain planning and execution were handled as a single, joined process.
• More than half (57%) said there was some integration of supply chain planning and supply chain execution, and
• Nearly one in three supply chain managers said there was little if any link between supply chain planning and execution.

You might think that these stats reflect a lack of interest among supply chain managers in integrating planning and execution. Nothing could be further from the truth:

92% of the pros responding to the survey said it was critical to achieve better integration in the next 2 to 3 years.

As today’s business increasingly turns to running lean and just-in-time inventory processes, more companies will be expected to plan well enough to react and then handle even more demanding requests.

The biggest barrier, as is in so many cases, is communication.

That’s where the survey from CSCO (Chief Supply Chain Officer) Insights offers a four-step progression toward achieving optimum communication across departments of any given company.

• Baseline: Poor planning between sales and ops; disconnect between supply chain planning and execution
• Phase I, the Basics: Improved feedback between planning and execution; consolidated view of customer/internal demand; closer link between ops and sales
• Phase II, Real-Time Supply Chain: Real-time visibility; networks designed to react immediately, metrics for making/supporting decisions
• Phase III, Sense & Respond Networks: Multi-level visibility; new organization methods for supply chain planning; looking ahead to new supply chain technologies

Or, in this case, what comes first?

Companies are slow to warm to doing more B2B transactions over the Net, mainly due to security concerns. But it’s nearly impossible to resolve security concerns and put business minds at ease unless there’s enough transaction traffic driving the effort and establishing a reliable track record.

Raising the stakes and complicating this dilemma:

The whole situation plays out against the background of the Internet, where the legit businesses and enterprising hackers constantly jockey for the superior position.

It’s enough to make you long for the good old days, when cash was king and credit was paid off regularly.

Well, maybe not long for those days. But it certainly is much more complicated today, as the advantages of doing business over the Internet are balanced by new perils.

Basically, there are three types of losses a business faces when it begins transactions online:

• property loss or damage
• business interruption, and
• extra costs.

As cybercrime becomes increasingly lucrative, a worldwide black market for information has developed.

The attacks are growing more sophisticated as well, as cyberthugs try to sneak in your back door through your vendors and other businesses with access to your system.

It used to be that staying up to date on your browser’s security parameters and employing a commercial security service was enough to keep you protected.

It’s still important to stay on top of your browser’s security updates, but as the attacks have become more sophisticated, the defenses must keep pace.

Some of the recent counterattack suggestions include:

• Segmenting your company’s data into clearly defined zones, so certain breaches can be isolated and limited
• Training your people who are involved in areas where data theft is a distinct possibility. Less than 15% of breaches are detected by “insiders.”
• Acquiring “memory snapshots” to use in forensic investigations of cybercrime, and
• Limit how much information — and influence — can be accessed through “smartphones” or other devices that can easily end up in the wrong hands.

While plenty of folks are still relying on other electronic check payment options, online bill-paying is certainly gaining momentum.

This can be valuable information for businesses seeking to widen their ability to accept on-line payments, or for other businesses that want to get on-board and handle more electronic check payments by taking them through the Internet.

Specific stats, according to The Electronic Payments Association (a/k/a NACHA):

• The transaction volume for on-line bill payments and similar actions grew 16.5% — 552.1 million transactions — in the final quarter of 2008 when compared with the final quarter of 2007 (474.1 million transactions).
• Not only is there significant growth over the previous year, it’s also a noticeable change from the previous quarter. The number of 4th quarter transactions in 2008 was up 5.6% over the number of 3rd quarter transactions.

One key factor in this growing trend, no doubt, is the improving nature of transaction security.

The better it gets, the more businesses you’ll see sign on.

When more businesses sign on, that naturally sends a message to other businesses that it’s effective.

Sure, most companies have the usual safety nets in place, such as limiting transaction amounts and requiring that at least two staffers are involved in every transaction.

But the smarter the security, the bigger the challenge for people possessed with rattling your cash cage from the inside.

We all know that the vast majority of people who have access to your company’s financial transactions are honest, decent, hard-working souls. They value their jobs and the stability of their employer.

Still, if the temptation exists and there’s even a hint of vulnerability, you could be in trouble.

These days, some of the kids will bust into something like your company’s financial records just to prove that they can do it.

The stakes and the risks have gotten even higher in this day and age, as economic pressures are forcing companies to cut corners in the name of doing more with less.

Some real-life shortfalls uncovered by security pros:

• Audit groups not trained to deal with fraud
• User passwords (necessary to transfer accounts) taped to a computer monitor
• Polling a number of employees on ways to commit financial fraud — and only one in 30 asked why the pollster would want to defraud the company
• Ease of use emphasized over effective security protocols
• Implementing “blank” passwords for easy access
• “I know my teams is loyal,” and,
• Who gets the audit reports? At one company, they were directed to the one person who was committing the fraud.

But proponents of taking procurement processes on line are quick to point out that in the long run, the savings from this investment can be significant.

As part of building your case to consider e-procurement, start selling its benefits to your suppliers.

There are three big selling points:

• When a supplier receives your purchase order automatically into its order management system, the supplier saves time and trims labor costs. No longer will people be forced to hand-enter information into the supplier’s ordering system, which will greatly reduce the incidence of errors.
• The increased accuracy that comes from no longer hand-keying information into the system will help make sure the suppliers’ customers get their orders more quickly.
• The final benefit is that because there is no longer a delay in getting orders into the supplier’s system, products will be delivered faster and the supplier will develop a reputation as being extremely responsive to customer needs.

Chances are, people at your company will want to know the estimated Return on Investment for automating procurement processes.

The best that experts can speculate is that a good e-procurement system will save 5% to 10% of your annual spend. Your own ROI will depend on your annual budget and the vendor you select for the e-procurement system.

Well, don’t start counting your chips just yet.

Turns out that most of that positive tune is just speculation, experts caution, as there is no hard evidence at this time to back it up or refute it.

Even more acute: Some folks — around 37% — expect to see a return on their investment in just 12 months.

The main problem is essentially a “chicken and egg” situation.

In order for RFID to take off and deliver a desirable ROI, it has to be proven that RFID is capable of doing it. And the only way of demonstrating that is by more people implementing RFID. But more won’t implement it until … You get the picture.

Or, perhaps even more specifically, an example of how success breeds success — but success is in relatively short supply at this point in time.

One big question: What really is a good ROI for specific systems, in specific settings?

RFID generally is implemented in two types of systems: closed loop, self-contained in one area of a business or supply chain; and open loop, an implementation that stretches across companies.

The problem, some industry experts point out, is that companies that have successfully implemented RFID and realized a positive ROI are reluctant to share the information.

In many companies, that’s changed.

Now, people are starting to figure out that an efficient supply chain is directly linked to a company’s overall performance.

Successful supply chain operations usually have four aspects in common:

• Making decisions that benefit the entire company, rather than staying on the departmental level. Guidance for making these decisions can be found in Key Performance Indicators and Key Risk Indicators established for your individual company.
• Opening the doors and creating high visibility into all aspect of supply chain operations.
• Ensuring that all purchasing decisions are made strategically, and
• Getting buy-in from senior management to put a priority on supply chain performance, especially when it comes to involving other departments.

While this good news for supply chain pros, the brighter spotlight means that all you do will be more closely scrutinized.

What this all means is that today, it’s imperative that you create the time to take a step back and assess the big picture, despite the ongoing day-to-day pressure to perform.

That’s why the producers of Warehouse Management Systems are going to the trouble of pointing out silver linings, as a way of helping you prosper through a lean time.

Now’s a great time to upgrade your WMS or even buy a new one, they proclaim.

Figuring out what this means to you is a two-step exercise.

First, you need to determine if your current WMS is starting to hurt inventory operations more than it helps. That’s the first step in making a pitch to spend money in order to save money.

Three questions to ask:

• Are necessary supports and upgrades becoming increasingly expensive?
• Is your current WMS vendor up to par? Will it be able to support you over the next five years?
• Finally, does your existing WMS hamper your supply chain’s ability to remain competitive?

That leads into the second major step in evaluating your WMS.

Too many companies take the approach that a WMS is finished when it’s installed and up and running.

To get the most out of your WMS, it needs to be updated in conjunction with your operational needs.

But there are two critical areas that must keep up with the times. You need to take a step back and determine if you’re getting enough bang for the buck with your current WMS, in these two critical areas:

• Labor management. In many warehouses, labor is the biggest cost. Are you getting the most out of how workers are deployed, and how they spend their time? A WMS should be able to help improve labor efficiency in your warehouse.
• Slotting. A solid WMS should help you maximize your use of space, and help determine the most efficient travel routes for workers. Both of these pay off in the long run, by making the best use of space and of labor.