By Melissa Clow. Originally published on the Kinaxis industry blog, 21st Century Supply Chain.

In a recent discussion with Supply Chain Brain, Benji Green, Director of Global Sales & Operations Planning at Avaya, outlines the successes that the company has achieved—and the direction it intends to take next.

Green has seen some fundamental shifts in the supply chain planning paradigm for Avaya. One involves a continuing trend toward specialization: companies focusing their efforts on research and development, while outsourcing manufacturing. Another relates to a faster product refresh rate, especially in the high tech field. “It becomes harder to predict because your lifecycle’s so short,” he says. A third trend is globalization, with an exponential increase in the number of people involved in the supply chain, and a consequent extension of order lead times. In response, companies are looking to replace their vertically structured supply chains with close partnerships.

Planners face the challenge of dealing both with unexpected short-term changes in demand and the need to create longer planning horizons. As lead times are stretched, it becomes more important to have in place detailed contingency plans in the event that things go wrong. Companies need to acknowledge that the forecast will never be 100% accurate and plan accordingly.

You can watch the full video interview here: