In-Memory Computing for Supply Chain Management: What, Where and How…

addtoany linkedin

The recently published Gartner report, The Impact of In-Memory Computing on Supply Chain Management (Payne, T., 21 October 2014), describes the potential of in-memory computing (IMC) for supply chain management (SCM) including supply chain planning (SCP) applications, as follows:

“By 2018, at least 50% of global enterprise companies will use IMC to deliver significant additional benefits from investments in SCM, and especially, SCP.”

As awareness of the potential for transformational benefits from IMC grows, companies are asking tough questions about how, where and what type of IMC-enabled supply chain applications they should deploy. This is important because, according to Gartner’s research, the potential “benefits will vary by organization size, functional domain, industry and supply chain maturity.” So while the list of advantages of IMC technology is significant - and includes performance and scalability improvements, facilitation of advanced analytics, and process innovation - like any technology investment, the impact to your specific environment will depend on the chosen solution approach. Gartner outlines three styles which include:

  • Native IMC: These applications are “developed from inception on the basis of IMC design principles”
  • Retrofitted for IMC: These applications were “originally designed on traditional technologies (for example, RDBMSs), but are now replatformed on top of an in-memory data store”
  • Hybrid IMC: These applications “use IMC design principles and technologies only in part, usually to store (at times, only temporarily) and process the most performance or scalability sensitive application data, or to support real-time analytics”

Interestingly, the Gartner reports states:

“The maximum transformational benefits will come from native IMC, because this approach allows organizations to leverage IMC to drive completely new ways of working in line with the company's supply chain transformation efforts.”

Kinaxis RapidResponse uses a Native IMC approach. With RapidResponse, the analytics code is directly compiled into the database engine where it has direct access to the data and the various data relationships. The speed and scale that this provides is valuable because it enables businesses to develop new and improved processes capable of delivering breakthrough performance improvements. If you’re evaluating IMC-enabled supply chain applications to determine how your organization can get the most benefit this Gartner research report is a must-read! It sheds light on the business value that in-memory computing brings to supply chain management in general and provides key findings and recommendations on the potential of IMC across functional domains, industry verticals and solution types. It’s only available for a limited time, so be sure to read it today. P.S. With a 25+ year history of developing in-memory computing technology, we’ve talked about this topic before, so be sure to also check out some of our other posts:

 Source: Payne, T., The Impact of In-Memory Computing on Supply Chain Management, Gartner, 21 October 2014.

Leave a Reply

CAPTCHA