DSCI Explores Order-To-Cash Transformation with APQC
The most successful enterprises will emerge from the pandemic with nimbler, digitally transformed supply chains, and a heightened focus on meeting the requirements of the “New Customer” — lightning-fast delivery, tailored products, and a superb customer experience. But meeting the expectations of the New Customer will require an enterprise to excel in supply chain performance and at order fulfillment to ensure their operating and financial models support each other.
The Order-To-Cash (O2C) process is the end-to-end set of business processes starting with the receipt and fulfillment of a customer order through invoice and cash collection. Effectively managing the O2C process can be a key differentiating factor for B2B and B2C businesses in today’s demanding markets. Alternatively, errors in the O2C process can impact lead times, inventory, shipments, cash flow, and of course, customer satisfaction.
To share best practices and key learnings for the O2C process, the Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI) is conducting joint research with APQC, a leading authority in benchmarking, best practices, and process improvement.
This research will advance the understanding of supply chain and O2C interdependencies and customer impact. “Excellent execution of the Order-to-Cash process allows an enterprise to truly understand the needs of their customers, and to translate those needs into supply chain requirements,” said Kathy Colucci, a DSCI Fellow.
By surveying more than 150 senior executives of large global companies, DSCI and APQC will be able to understand how they are handling their O2C process in terms of governing, measuring, automating, and improving it as an end-to-end process. We will identify the practices that lead to better results.
“Order-to-Cash is a critical end-to-end process that, when optimized, creates a seamless value chain from customers to the business, said Marisa Brown, Senior Principal Research Lead at APQC. “We are excited to partner with DSCI on extending our knowledge of current O2C approaches and opportunities.”
In addition to the survey, DSCI and APQC will present several case studies showcasing different steps of the O2C transformation to provide deeper insights and benchmarking for those executives interested to know more.
This initiative is a further commitment by DSCI’s research to focus internal operations on the customer. We are excited to work again with APQC on critical dimensions of our seminal work “Digital Supply Chains: A Frontside Flip.”
The results of this research will be shared over the next few months.