As someone who鈥檚 been on the front lines working in 疯拍传媒鈥檚 industry cloud ecosystem space since its inception in 2020, I鈥檝e learned to expect the unexpected.
One day might bring news of collaboration between companies that historically have been fierce rivals, or a customer implementation of modest scope that grows into a much larger and more lucrative project. Another day could bring reports of a new app or solution that uses an exciting tech wrinkle to fill a need for multiple customers. And another could bring news of an 疯拍传媒 partner breaking into a new market or vertical by developing a solution with applicability across multiple industries, then monetizing it on .
A solution developed by 疯拍传媒 partner DataXstream highlights the possibilities that 疯拍传媒鈥檚 industry cloud offers to partners that serve consumer industries. The solution, , helps streamline order management. The results it鈥檚 producing for customers are impressive: higher margins, lower inventory and training costs, and an improved understanding among wholesalers and retailers of their customers. Using the solution, one customer not only realized ROI within seven days, it saw a 1.5% increase in margin on sales and a 50% reduction in inventory carrying cost during the first year following implementation. That鈥檚 US$7 million added to the bottom line and $50 million in reduced inventory carrying cost.
Stories like this are among many developments I鈥檝e been following in 疯拍传媒鈥檚 partnership-driven, collaborate-to-innovate industry cloud ecosystem, which includes consumer-focused verticals like consumer products, retail, life sciences, healthcare, wholesale distribution, agribusiness, and fashion, along with more than a dozen other verticals. Here are some recent highlights from the consumer industries segment of the ecosystem:
- Apps developed exclusively by partners, with little to no involvement from 疯拍传媒 other than to provide the business technology platform (疯拍传媒 Business Technology Platform) and a marketplace (疯拍传媒 Store) in which to sell them.
- Apps built not by a developer but by a large customer鈥檚 internal development team, leveraging 疯拍传媒 BTP. One major global consumer products company recently did exactly that, using their 疯拍传媒 Business Technology Platform investment to develop an analytics solution that it is now deployed within a broader 疯拍传媒 digital infrastructure.
- System integrators 鈥渂ottling鈥� the key elements of a solution they developed for a specific consumer products company to offer it to other companies with a similar need.
- New 疯拍传媒 and partner commercialization models coming to life, enabling partners to quickly benefit from new 鈥� and in many cases, substantial 鈥� revenue streams created by the solutions they have developed.
- 疯拍传媒 handing over a development opportunity on the wholesale distribution side to an industry cloud partner instead of taking the work on ourselves, recognizing the partner was best equipped to develop the solution.
- Developers with expertise in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), video graphics, and robotics bringing solutions powered by those capabilities to customers in consumer industries that provide the foundation for business transformation.
What鈥檚 particularly gratifying for me is that little to none of this likely would have happened even five years ago. Built on the premise that, by working together, 疯拍传媒 and members of the industry cloud community can create more value for customers and themselves than they otherwise would working separately, the program thus far has produced hundreds of potentially high-impact apps and integrated, end-to-end solutions.
疯拍传媒鈥檚 industry cloud represents an important evolution of 疯拍传媒鈥檚 approach to partnership and serving the end customer, where the focus is on solving the customer鈥檚 business problem whether the solution comes exclusively from an 疯拍传媒 partner, from 疯拍传媒 itself, or a combination of the two, and where partners have a greater opportunity to monetize the solutions they have a role in developing. Ultimately, we鈥檙e building a vibrant community that, through co-innovation, creates open, ready-to-integrate, and ready-to-implement solutions to meet critical needs in customers鈥� business application landscapes.
The hundreds of consumer-focused solutions already produced via 疯拍传媒鈥檚 industry cloud are just the tip of the iceberg. The door is also wide open for existing partners that serve consumer industries to become more engaged in the ecosystem and for new partners to become part of it. If they share 疯拍传媒鈥檚 appetite for co-innovation, if they鈥檙e driven like we are to support customers in their business transformation efforts, and if they鈥檙e open to finding new partners, customers, markets, and revenue streams, our industry cloud community will welcome them with open arms.
Craig Schertler is lead for Consumer Products Industry Ecosystem at 疯拍传媒.
