What is S&OE?

S&OE stands for Sales and Operations Execution which traditionally looks at planning and execution over a near-term horizon, say 0 to 3 months, in contrast to Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) which looks at the longer term, from 3 to 24 months or more.

Traditionally, these S&OP and S&OE processes have been managed as distinct and separate - and that division was driven by a limitation in technology platforms to analyze the whole, in real time. Unfortunately, those divisions have become institutionalized and often drive inefficiencies due to silos and information lags. The real challenge is that customer demand is constantly changing, along with supply points and regulatory requirements. Manufacturing based on yesterday’s plans can create inventory that is not in demand, thus resulting in excess inventory sitting on the shelf in the form of frozen cash, and can lead to reduced revenue due to markdowns and product obsolescence.

One Network's Perspective on S&OE

One Network provides a multi-party business network with thousands of member companies that facilitates a community of business partners to share information, conduct business, and collaborate in real-time to satisfy customer demand. One Network facilitates business communications with a hub-to-hub network model, versus a hub-and-spoke model or point-to-point solution. A network-based approach enables companies to leverage a single version of the truth and share real-time data across all parties. In turn, all the companies on the network become more agile and can respond more quickly and efficiently to satisfy customer demand.