TradeEvolution - Global Trade Transformation Consultants

Supply Chain Advisory Services

Global trade is undergoing waves of structural change that are redefining and transforming the nature of supply chains. New infrastructures are emerging featuring electronic documents, instant communications, collaborative trading partners, adaptive supply chains, full order-to-pay cycle visibility, aggregate financing across trade lanes, triggered payments, and more. The goal is to optimize every facet of the order-to-pay cycle for all the participating trade parties.

Buyers, suppliers, and their trading partners are coalescing into streamlined closed trading communities connected by collaborative processes and enabling technology. Banks, in turn, must align their processes, products, and technology to serve these communities, or risk being left behind. Banks that successfully align with its customers will become valued members of their trading communities.

The following are some of our key Supply Chain Advisory services offered by TradeEvolution:

4 Getting Started - Supply Chain Training

4 Engage Customers - Understand Their Needs

4 Analyze Customer Needs and Propose Service Offerings

4 Validate Service Proposition with Customers

4 Evaluate Service Delivery Options

4 Prepare the Business Case

4 Implement and Rollout the Services

Getting Started - Supply Chain Training

More than ever banks need to understand its customers and their needs. But don't be surprised if the bank's account officers are uncomfortable talking to their customers about supply chain needs, and don't be surprised if they wouldn't understand their customer's supply chain needs if they heard them. Supply chain has been outside of the traditional "trade finance" dialog that customer and banks have had over the years. The bank's officers need to understand the conceptual framework and terminology of supply chains to put their customer's needs in context.

TradeEvolution will conduct training workshops to prepare the bank's trade business managers and account officers to meaningfully engage customers with confidence.

Engage Customers - Understand Their Needs

TradeEvolution will work with the bank to identify a cross section of customers to engage. The assessment team's objective is to listen to, understand and document the customers needs, both explicit and implicit. Executed effectively, such ‘fact-finding’ will open the door to an entirely new dialog between the customer and the bank. TradeEvolution's role is to design, facilitate and these sessions in order to uncover customer needs and drive out new business and service opportunities.

Analyze Customer Needs and Propose Service Offerings

TradeEvolution compiles the needs identified by individual customers in the previous step. These are confirmed with the customer and other team members. Needs are then analyzed and consolidated into grouping that align with possible service propositions. High level designs are created for the proposed services. TradeEvolution then works with the bank to prioritize and refine the service propositions.

Validate Service Proposition with Customers

The bank selects the proposed services to validate and customers to validate them. The assessment team then walks the customer through the proposed service soliciting customer feedback. TradeEvolution adjusts the proposed services as necessary and the bank reviews service priorities.

Evaluate Service Delivery Options

For each service of sufficient priority, TradeEvolution will determine and evaluate the available options for providing the service. Depending on the service, options such as, outsourcing, 3rd party software (licensing or on-demand), building, or operational changes may be viable. For the top options the evaluation includes functional coverage (gaps with service propositions), high level costs, contractual considerations, and vendor/provider assessment. TradeEvolution will present these options to the bank, and work with the bank to choose the option for each service to move forward. Then develop more detailed implementation cost, ongoing cost and revenue estimates for the chosen options.

Prepare the Business Case

TradeEvolution will support the bank's preparation of the business case for the proposed services. Assistance in projecting implementation costs, ongoing costs, and revenues may desired.

Implement and Rollout the Services

Depending on the services and delivery options, implementation may include design, development, and testing of application software, interfaces, or modification of existing software. New or modified operations processes may have to be designed, reviewed, trained, and implemented. If third party services are used then interfaces may be required to them, and joint testing performed. TradeEvolution's business and integration services insure that the services are delivered with the value and capability required, and to the degree practical, that the architectural groundwork is laid for future services in mind.

If desired, TradeEvolution can assist in initial customer rollout with training and customer support.