Squeezing the global supply chain further

Even in the best of times, companies are always looking to save money and improve time-to-market.  The global outsourcing of the manufacturing supply chain, and even the information supply chain, that has occurred over the past decade embodies the desire of organizations to move as fast as possible in the most cost-efficient manner.

In most scenarios, conventional wisdom suggests that, at this stage of the game, the supply chain has been squeezed for all its worth and there's no optimization left to be had.  In this case, conventional wisdom is wrong.  While the connection between global sourcing and wide-area data services may not be obvious to many people, real-world examples of how customers are strategically leveraging the technology to improve business throughput is becoming more prevalent in how CIOs and technology architects consider WDS solutions. 

Looking at a couple scenarios reveals an untapped opportunity for many businesses today. One example is a leading steel manufacturer with offices spread out globally.  They were able to tie their design engineers into a global PLM solution improving application access speeds by up to 10x and slashing the amount of time required to complete designs and get them loaded onto the plant floor.

Another example -- one of my favorite customer stories is about a software gaming developer who was pushing source code to India from the U.S. on a daily basis and it was taking over six hours to push the code (this developer also happens to make some of my favorite PS3 games). After deploying Steelhead appliances, they were able to push the code in less than 15 minutes. 

What does it mean for today's enterprise to squeeze a supply chain that they thought couldn't get any tighter?  It translates into faster time-to-market, tighter integration with suppliers and partners scattered around the world, and a competitive edge in the marketplace. While this notion of shrinking the world even further, or making it even "flatter," may come across as a stretch, it's pretty clear that the business benefits are there for companies who are looking to fix something that seemingly isn't broken. 

Would love to hear about some of your experiences working with global partners and where the pain is for your companies.  Can WDS help your company move faster?