Inventory optimization can present enormous challenges. The focus of inventory optimization is frequently on analytics, but this is only the beginning. The organization must deal with dispersed data and inventory, navigate a complicated network of locations and bills of materials (BOMs), and manage the configuration of thousands of parts. And, if organizations are still relying on antiquated technologies that don’t support robust and adaptive collaboration, organizations may be forced to make critical decisions without knowing how they’ll affect corporate-wide metrics and objectives.
Traditionally, organisations have struggled with inventory optimization because supply chain sites frequently hold excess inventory to avoid stockouts. These buffers exist to compensate for variations in supply and demand as well as inaccurate information about inbound supply and outbound demand plans, forecasts, information lead times, and actuals. In the absence of an integrated, real-time view of customer demand and supply changes, the “bullwhip effect” can occur, in which uncertainty at each tier of supply leads to inflated stock levels for each successive upstream tier. To make matters even more complicated, many organisations rely on enterprise-centric systems that can only plan and manage inventory within the silo of a single ERP instance and are incapable of optimising across multiple ERP instances within the enterprise or across the extended enterprise.
Quadrant Knowledge Solutions conducted an in-depth analysis of the Global Supply Chain Inventory Optimization solutions vendors by evaluating their products, market presence, and value proposition. The evaluation is based on primary research with expert interviews, analysis of use cases, and Quadrant’s internal analysis of the overall Global Supply Chain Inventory Optimization. This study includes an analysis of key vendors, including Anaplan, BlueYonder, E2open, Infor, Kinaxis, Logility, Oracle, QAD DynaSys, SAP, SAS, and ToolsGroup.
According to Kumar Anand, an Analyst at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, Global supply chain inventory optimization is the practice of maintaining the most ideal level of inventory, keeping the right trade-off between capital investment and service-level goals, across multiple stock keeping units (SKUs). Stock level optimization also takes into consideration the volatility, risks, and probable disruptions in the supply chain.

Table of Contents
Executive Overview
- Key Research Findings
Market Overview and Technology Trends
Factors Influencing Technology Development and Market Growth
Market Adoption Trends
Competition Landscape and Analysis
- Competitive Overview and Analysis
- Key Competitive Factors and Technology Differentiators
SPARK Matrix™: Global Supply Chain Inventory Optimization
Vendor Profiles
Research Methodologies
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