A new survey confirms that business leaders around the world are focused on efficiencies in supply chain management as a key to competitive advantage in an ever more interconnected global marketplace.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough once called history, “a guide to navigation in perilous times.” Many lesser men have said, somewhat less famously: “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

We’ve written here about how smart organizations are using RFID technology for fixed asset management of all types, from store security to securing police equipment. Engineers have given us ways to embed a radio frequency identification tag in just about everything.

Having data is one thing. Making sense of it is another thing entirely. Without the second component, supply chain management is even worse than a guessing game because companies are forced into making bad assumptions.

You would think that organizations with the chief purpose of providing order wouldn’t need a time and attendance solution to keep timesheets fraud-free and accurate, but several recent cases show that even those who “should know better” sometimes don’t.

What if all criminal information available in all known databases could be routed through a mobile application to a single, searchable database that was accessible from an ordinary smartphone? How much better – how much smarter – would police departments and individual officers become, almost overnight?

There is something afoot in the B2B e-procurement space. Late last year, Forrester Research sized the market at an eye-popping $559 billion – close to twice the size of the B2C e-commerce market. Also, much of that activity is yet unrealized. A separate study found that only 25 percent of B2B companies have an online presence.

These days, of course, it’s possible to purchase just about anything electronically, through one-off online orders. That can save money and time. But implementing a purpose-designed e-procurement marketplace has additional advantages. In particular, it lets organizations effectively manage buyers, catalogs and suppliers. And it benefits everyone involved in the purchasing/procurement process.

The Association for Financial Professionals uncovered an interesting correlation in its most recent AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey series: a drop in payment fraud last year coincided with electronic payment methods as well as other fraud mitigation strategies, such as automated invoice management.

You don’t think they will happen – you pray they won’t – but terrible events sometimes do occur. A global pandemic with a high mortality rate. A devastating natural disaster that kills thousands or even tens of thousands. A terrorist attack. A civil war. Once the awful news has been digested, companies need to move to Plan B, and having transparency in supply chain management is essential.