Supply Chain Efficiency Gains

The key to supply chain integration and efficiency is collaboration and visibility. This requires real time information available to companies, customers, suppliers and their logistics service providers on a "need to know basis", within a secure data environment. Keyfort's Logistics Data Interchange Service meets this requirement.

The Logistics Data Interchange Service can be tailored to meet individual company requirements, taking data from existing company systems and making it available, via this secure hosted service, to other parties in the supply chain. Apart from the major business benefits of real time supply chain event management, there are very significant financial benefits because there is:

• no hardware capital expenditure involved, as the hosted services are available on a "pay as you go basis"
   
• no ongoing or hidden charges for upgrades and maintenance
   
• seamless integration with legacy systems
   
• additional capacity available when required.

The next big move in this direction will be the development of online facilities to promote communities of logistics companies. Companies, who will already have visibility of their transactions across the extended supply chain, will be able to collaborate to manage business opportunities and events as they occur. Keyfort and the University of Hull Logistics Institute are working together to bring this to fruition in a cost effective manner for supply chain companies regardless of their size.