Oakland CA—Sept. 28, 2011—Capgemini, a provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services and GT Nexus, a market leader in cloud supply chain technology, has signed a joint go-to-market BPO (business process outsourcing) initiative to enable Supply Chain Orchestration.
The two companies will collaboratively work to provide customers with supply chain solutions across both North America and Europe, enabled by the GT Nexus technology platform. This is a unique combination of a tier 1 BPO provider partnering with a leading cloud supply chain technology provider. The move is significant in strengthening Capgemini’s collaborative supply chain network capabilities and its role as an independent provider of orchestrated supply chain services to a range of sectors: consumer package goods, manufacturing, telecommunications and others connecting them with shippers, warehouses, freight agents, financial institutions and logistics service providers through a managed services network.
According to Gartner Inc. “Supply chain management (SCM) technologies based on software as a service (SaaS) and the cloud will continue to gain traction, but mainly in process areas, with strong alignment to the unique characteristics of these delivery models. By 2013, the market for cloud-based SCM technology will grow by 25 percent.”
Companies increasingly need to ensure their supply chains interconnect with other complex networks so that processes can be automated across numerous enterprises and promote much greater visibility end to end. Cloud enables entirely new information sharing models so that the supply chain more closely represents the reality of a network rather than a simple chain. In people’s personal lives, social media in the cloud means that any changes to one’s status can be instantly viewed by one’s whole personal network. Equally, within supply chains, this new “single page” information model means that the orders, shipments, products, invoices, payments and supply chain events in the “on the ground” physical supply chain are represented in just one, over-arching informational supply chain in the cloud, so that entire partner networks can view and operate against a single version. For example, an order update made by a 3PL provider in Hong Kong is instantly visible to an inventory planner in Louisville.
As part of the agreement, Capgemini and GT Nexus will provide joint on-demand solutions to facilitate collaboration and visibility of trade and logistics operations across global networks in the cloud, using the “single page” information model. Capgemini will bring its BPO services expertise; Supply Chain Orchestration managed service offerings, global Rightshore resources and Platform solutions. GT Nexus will offer its cloud-based collaboration platform to help companies take advantage of the cloud to improve business agility. The partnership will help underpin Capgemini’s BPO Supply Chain orchestration capability to provide customers with: end to end process control, visibility and traceability, Enhanced Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), reduction in operating costs, increases in efficiencies and improvement in Cost of Supply Chain Operations whilst maintaining the balance of Service and Quality.
David Poole, vice president and head of supply chain services, Capgemini BPO “We are expanding our Supply Chain services providing Orchestration, Independent and Collaborative capabilities for supply chain optimization to the world’s leading enterprises. We want to partner with a technology company that offers the best functional support to our value proposition. We believe that GT Nexus has unique capabilities and our combined services will be complimentary and provide added value for our customers.”
“Increasingly, customers are looking for a single point of contact and control for managed services, and information systems and services are typically included in the solution bundle,” added Greg Johnsen, EVP and cofounder at GT Nexus. “Our agreement with Capgemini allows us to reach a broader customer base that will benefit from a truly strategic and unified business solution.”
BPO is one of the fastest growing business unit in the Capgemini Group and Supply Chain Management services is an important element of Capgemini’s long term growth plan. Capgemini’s BPO business unit is increasingly moving to become a key provider of Platform based BPO services following the acquisition of IBX in 2010, and this initiative will further strengthen this role.
