As the global marketplace continues to experience rapid growth, intelligent supply chain management is crucial to business success. Supply chains have become increasingly complex in order to keep pace with consumer demand. Historically, each step of the supply chain would operate individually on different systems from different vendors, resulting in a fragmented process with a significant margin for error. In today's market, that practice is no longer a viable option.

According to Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, "The idea [that] I'm going to get multiple vendors to [compete] and mix and match them in a way that I create this procurement leverage - I'm telling you I think when you look at history, now over 25 years, it hasn't worked."

The innovations offered by cloud supply chain management platforms (SCM) are moving businesses away from an outdated way of operating and, instead, allowing each supply chain member to collaborate through one autonomous, unified platform, which is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.