As the year entered its final quarter, I was revisiting some predictions pundits had made for 2019. It’s an interesting exercise I go through every year. Estimating soothsayer accuracy is not the objective. Some predictions will be right, a few wrong and in majority of the cases it will be difficult to say – either the data isn’t there or it’s too early for any decipherable trend. Regardless of their chances of coming true, the ideas are inspiring and make a good segue to predictions for the coming year.

L: Dick Fosbury doing the “Fosbury Flop” to win the high jump gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics (Source: International Olympic Committee)
R: Illustration showing path of center of gravity in the Fosbury Flop (Source: Wikimedia Commons, Author: AlanSiegrist)

The supply chain is a complicated beast. From warehouse fulfillment through to the point of sale, there are a number of processes that can break down at any time and impact your business. Supply chain management monitors the flow of goods and services so you save time, reduce costs and provide better customer service. Here are three reasons why you need OpsVeda in 2018.

Recently archeologists found evidence suggesting that our seafaring history goes back at least 130,000 years. How our ancestors of that period navigated the vast oceans is not yet known. Till GPS, accurate clocks and reliable weather forecasts became common place, exploration was difficult and risky.

It was early 2004 and I was catching up with a friend from my college days.  He was the regional head for a Consumer Goods major in India, and told me about changes they were making to streamline operations. That included consolidating the number of stockists and wholesalers. I was puzzled because the company was known for its reach even in remote rural areas, enabled in large part by these very channel partners they wanted to terminate. Our conversation went something like this: