Every organization is struggling in order to survive in today’s competitive

marketplace. Traditional supply chain working is out going to help an

organization to cope up with market demands and customers. Information
technology (IT) revolution changed the face of supply chain which was used
to be few years back. Information technology provides an organization to
have a smart robust supply chain. The challenge lies in creating economic
value through vibrant organizations, innovations and applications of strategic
tools. Information technology plays a vital role in enhancing the supply chain
driver’s performance. It is the use of inter organizational systems that are
used for information sharing and/or processing across organizational
boundaries. There is an ever increasing need for fully integrated supply chain
management solutions which incorporate all the functionality of network
strategy, configuration of supply chain, planning of demand, transportation
and warehouse management systems for any organization. The objectives of
information technology in Supply Chain Management are:
 Reduction of the costs of operational processes.
 Information quality enhanced by eliminating human errors.
 Rapid transfer of information between organizations.
Information technology is key in supporting companies creating strategic
advantage by enabling centralized strategic-planning with day-to-day
centralized operations

E-commerce has been for a while. More and more businesses are dedicated to
World Wide Web business. However, a well designed website is not enough.
Competition is more intense in the E-commerce age. Supply chain
management (SCM) are important issues in the new age. And the true power
of E-commerce rests in the strategy of the so called electronic supply chain.
The relationship between a company and its supplier has been changed since
the processes of supply and demand becomes electronic. The E-ecommerce
business-to-business (B2B) relationship breaks the boundaries between
companies. This new cooperation model makes E-commerce become more
attractive. With advanced information technology (IT), a company can adopt
a suitable approach to link the chain. In other words, there is no best solution
realizable but there is a near optimal solution for a company to cooperate
with its supplier.

Supply chain management (SCM) has broad scope that includes suppliers,
manufacturers, retailers, and customers. SCM covers the management of
material information, and cash flows. Material flow includes the movement
of goods from a supplier to a customer. Information flow involves
transmitting orders and updating the delivery reports. Cash flow consists of
credit terms and payment schedules, According to the definition used at MIT,
“SCM is a process-oriented, integrated approach to procuring, producing, and
delivering products and services to customers. In simple terms, SCM refers to
the methods, systems, and leadership that continuously improve an
organization’s integrated processes for product and service design, sales
forecasting, purchasing, inventory management, manufacturing or
production, order management, logistics, distribution, and customer
satisfaction.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) system refers to computer-to-computer

exchange of business documents in standard format. EDI describe both the
capability and practice of communicating information between two
organizations electronically instead of traditional form of mail, courier, and
fax. EDI is often used in the process of e-procurement to precisely format
communication messages “ that represents documents other than monetary
instruments” and are transmitted “via telecommunications or physically
transported on electronic storage media.” The benefits of EDI are:
1. Quick process to information.
2. Better customer service.
3. Reduced paper work.
4. Increased productivity.
5. Improved tracing and expediting.
6. Cost efficiency.
 7. Competitive advantage.
8. Improved billing.
Through the use of EDI supply chain partners can overcome the distortions
and exaggerations in supply and demand information by improving
technologies to facilitate real time sharing of actual demand and supply
information.

World is shrinking day by day with advancement of technology. Customers’

expectation are also increasing and companies are prone to more and more
uncertain environment. Companies will find that their conventional supply
chain integration will have to be expanded beyond their peripheries. The
strategic and technological innovations in supply chain will impact on how
organs buy and sell in the future. However clear vision, strong planning and
technical insight into the internet’s capabilities would be necessary to ensure
that companies maximize the internet’s technology, World Wide Web,
electronic commerce etc. will change the way a company is required to do
business. These companies must realize that they must harness the power of
technology to collaborate with their business partners. That means using a
new breed of SCM application, the Internet and other networking links to
observe past performance and historical trends to determine how much
product should be made as well as the best and cost effective method for
warehousing it or shipping it to retailer.