In a recent webinar presented by Eka and partner AXCELERUS, we explored the key issues faced by customers in the agriculture industry and discussed how modern businesses can address these challenges.
The top 5 issues identified by customers were:
Each of these key issues impact a number of common business objectives for our agriculture clients, but supply chain management is especially critical in today’s competitive global markets. Agriculture companies need more transparency, efficiency, and accuracy throughout each stage of the value chain, from trade capture and procurement, to transportation and logistics, to risk management and reporting, to accounting and settlements.
View the recorded webinar to learn more from featured speakers, John Schimelpfenig, Executive Principal, at Axcelerus, and Michael Schwartz, VP & CMO at Eka.
The traditional agricultural industry business model divides functions into separate operational and transactional activities, often using numerous tools such as CTRM and bulk handling systems, and disconnected spreadsheets to manage operations and develop reports. This approach creates silos between procurement/logistics, plant management, commodity trading, risk, and corporate accounting. Typically there is no integration among the multiple systems used in each different department or location. Over time, this causes a continual erosion of the bottom line margin and is detrimental to a company’s profitability.
The new business model focuses on improved decision-making, profitable operations, and operational efficiencies to drive competitive advantage. Complex markets, multi-asset operations, and global distribution channels are driving agricultural companies to move toward a more integrated approach that provides a unified view of the entire agriculture supply chain.
It is no longer sufficient for agriculture trading companies to rely solely on spreadsheets and siloed systems of the past. Success will require the ability to capture real-time information throughout the value chain and respond quickly to volatile markets and new opportunities. With a next-generation commodity management solution, such as Eka’s InSight CM – Agriculture platform, all of your CTRM, bulk handling, and supply chain activity can be managed in a single, integrated solution to optimize decision making.