The Cloud-Based Demand-Driven Supply Chain

It’s time to get your head in the cloud!

In today’s business environment, more and more people are requesting cloud-based solutions to help solve their business challenges. So how can you not only anticipate your clients’ needs but also keep ahead of the curve to ensure their goals stay on track?

With the help of this accessible book, you’ll get a clear sense of cloud computing and understand how to communicate the benefits, drawbacks, and options to your clients so they can make the best choices for their unique needs. Plus, case studies give you the opportunity to relate real-life examples of how the latest technologies are giving organizations worldwide the opportunity to thrive as supply chain solutions in the cloud.

• Demonstrates how improvements in forecasting, collaboration, and inventory optimization can lead to cost savings
• Explores why cloud computing is becoming increasingly important
• Takes a close look at the types of cloud computing
• Makes sense of demand-driven forecasting using Amazon's cloud

Whether you work in management, business, or IT, this is the dog-eared reference you’ll want to keep close by as you continue making sense of the cloud.

List of Figures xi

List of Tables xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xix

Chapter 1 Demand-Driven Forecasting in the Supply Chain 1

Chapter 2 Introduction to Cloud Computing 43

Chapter 3 Migrating to the Cloud 91

Chapter 4 Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure 117

Chapter 5 Case Studies of Demand-Driven Forecasting in AWS 221

Chapter 6 Summary 237

Glossary 253

References 255

About the Author 291

Index 293

VINIT SHARMA is a cloud solutions architect at Microsoft where he continually pushes the cutting edge of the Microsoft data platform and artificial intelligence. He's worked in IT for more than fifteen years on projects involving cloud computing, virtualization, and enabling advanced analytics solutions for global teams in R&D, sales, and professional services. He is author of numerous white papers, methodologies, best practices, and implementation guides for the SAS Institute.

Technological innovation and retail disrupters have raised the bar for consumers' expectations of on-demand shopping, and for suppliers to stay competitive today, products and services need to be at the right place, at the right time, and at the right price and quantity. In The Cloud-Based Demand-Driven Supply Chain, Microsoft's cloud solutions architect Vinit Sharma, shows you how to gain a competitive advantage by capturing, storing, and analyzing data using technology that's easy on your stress level and budget.

You will discover that the same technology and big data driving the consumer side can be used to overcome challenges on the supply-chain side. Specifically, this focused and authoritative guide takes you on a practical tour of how cloud computing can enable companies to forecast demand for sales units in order to strategically respond. In-depth coverage ensures you understand the pros, cons, and all available options of cloud-computing capabilities in order to customize the optimal approach for individual organizations.

If you need or want to provide accurate sales forecasts for supply chain optimization, no other resource on the market gives you a more complete and comprehensive way to:

• Grasp real-time sales demand, customer sentiment about specific products, locational trends, effectiveness of promotions, and much more
• Elevate your ability to respond and operate by expertly leveraging a scalable and cost-effective platform for making data-backed decisions
• Fully prepare yourself for how it unfolds in the real world through case studies with illuminating detail from SAS Institute

From an introduction to cloud computing and the top public cloud vendors to seamlessly migrating to the cloud, The Cloud-Based Demand-Driven Supply Chain is your road map to bringing any supply chain up to state-of-the-art performance.

Praise for THE CLOUD-BASED DEMAND-DRIVEN SUPPLY CHAIN

"A brilliant book that offers a thorough description of cloud computing concepts, architectures and technologies, and how cloud computing can support the value generation in connected supply chains. Sharma touches on all aspects of modern supply chains, such as demand sensing, Big Data, IoT, supply chain control towers, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, while providing detailed case studies and practical examples."
—Anders Richter, AI and supply chain expert, Knowit Decision

"A brilliant book for everyone interested in understanding the connected supply chain ecosystem — both business and technology implications. Sharma, a cloud deployment expert himself, explores all relevant areas of advanced supply chains of manufacturing organizations, covering topics like sensing demand signals, SCM control towers, and artificial intelligence, as well as showcasing case studies and practical examples. An insightful book."
—Nilmadhab Mandal, Research Director, IDC UK

FIND THE TRANSPARENCY YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN NEEDS IN THE CLOUD

The Cloud-Based Demand-Driven Supply Chain is your go-to resource of dependable guidance for improving forecasting, collaboration, and inventory optimization in ways that can lead to major cost savings and a competitive advantage. Culled from author Vinit Sharma's extensive work as principal technical architect at the SAS Institute and cloud solutions architect at Microsoft, this practical guidebook quickly puts you in a position to make and influence highly informed decisions on customizing cloud-based strategies to optimize supply-chain performance.