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( votes)How Cloud Security Can Become the Least of Your Worries
A new trend is increasing in e-commerce supply chain business models. And while most business operations that are managed in the cloud today seem to be moving towards less complexity, this new model — which partners different companies to handle e-commerce, outsource manufacturing and Third-Party Logistics (3PL) as part of the supply chain — can create greater cloud security complexities through multiple data connections. With several partner systems to account for, it can become a challenge to maintain an agile supply chain and critical cloud security.
A trusted solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, coupled with an Electronic Data Interchange (“EDI”) solution, can help you manage resources and inventory, resolve any product issues quickly, mitigate delays and ultimately accelerate your time to market all while ensuring transactions are handled in a secure, compliant environment.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management unifies your data, but if you work with multiple supply chain partners, you must also create secure connections to the third-party systems, and that means multiple connections to manage individually. If you work with an EDI partner, they broker all the additional connections to your partners to enhance visibility and real-time data access across the entire supply chain.
Some of the questionable areas of this business model that pose possible security concerns include:
- How will you manage multiple data connections?
If you don’t integrate with an EDI, you may be the one responsible for managing multiple processes and systems, and doing so in a secure manner. You as the seller must communicate with multiple providers in the supply chain electronically. If for example you sell on four online stores, work with a manufacturer and three 3PLs, this would require a standard data integration from Dynamics 365 to EIGHT different partners involved in the supply chain.
- How do you synchronize data across all systems?
You need to keep track of all data surrounding the sale. This needs to be communicated to the manufacturer to get the product produced, and to the 3PL to get it distributed to the right place. Issues like shrinkage and lost orders need to be easily communicated as well.
- How do you capture the data you need to track data analytics?
You need to have access to all the data that supports your internal analysis. You may lack visibility to your inventory, but buyers will want to know what you have in stock in real time. Inventory and raw materials are with your manufacturers and 3PLs. You also need to tie invoicing and properly categorize all the costs through inventory and costs of goods sold to various sales channels. Then there is the question of how to get access to financial data such as sales territory, regions, and product types sold.
Here’s how Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can integrate with EDIs for process improvement to simplify logistics, supply chain management and ensure compliance and security.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can serve as a centralized management point to stay connected and streamline your operations, build agile processes, and optimize resources to consistently deliver your products on time. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management features the robust capabilities you need to optimize inventory, warehousing, fulfillment, material sourcing, and supply chain logistics.
If you work with multiple partners, instead of creating multiple connections and potential security risks, you can work with an EDI partner that provides one simplified, centralized place to manage and broker all the traffic and transactions back and forth between Dynamics 365 and your various suppliers. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management integrates with the EDI software to enhance tracking of all your transactions, inventory management, and fulfillment.
EDI partners already have the connections and transactions established with all the common trade partners in the supply chain. They work with all the online e-commerce sites and common 3PLs and can easily build a new connector as you need.
Security may not be at the top of mind when trying to keep your e-commerce supply chain operations running smoothly, but it will bring business to a halt if it falls by the wayside. Between the multiple levels and global standards of security provided by Microsoft Dynamics 365 and EDI, you can rest assured that your supply chain operations have a secure foundation.
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JourneyTEAM was recently awarded Microsoft US Partner of the Year for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (Media & Communications) and the Microsoft Eagle Crystal trophy as a top 5 partner for Dynamics 365 Business Central software implementations. Let us share more about the cloud security features Microsoft Dynamics 365 and an integrated EDI system like TrueCommerce can bring to your eCommerce outsource business model. We can provide demos and full custom introductions. Contact JourneyTEAM today!
Article by: George Sagen – ERP Solution Architect | 801-938-7821
JourneyTEAM is an award-winning consulting firm with proven technology and measurable results. They take Microsoft products; Dynamics 365, SharePoint intranet, Office 365, Azure, CRM, GP, NAV, SL, AX, and modify them to work for you. The team has expert level, Microsoft Gold certified consultants that dive deep into the dynamics of your organization and solve complex issues. They have solutions for sales, marketing, productivity, collaboration, analytics, accounting, security and more. www.journeyteam.com
