Dallas-based o9 Solutions, an enterprise AI software platform provider, today announced a joint venture with research firm Supply Chain Insights for testing outside-in supply chain planning concepts, according to a news release.
According to the release, using a reverse RFP process, a panel of business leaders, academics, and o9 leaders will select two companies to participate in the research.
This open call for businesses builds upon Project Zebra — an open-source think-tank initiative to drive supply chain improvement that began in January 2021 and was initially funded by o9.
Project Zebra’s goal is to define, test, and validate the value proposition of an outside-in approach for planning and decision-making. According to the release, 60 business leaders are currently participating in training.
“For two decades as an industry analyst, I have written about the need for outside-in processes but failed to define them to drive the required shift in the industry,” Lora Cecere, founder of Supply Chain Insights, said in the release. “I am proud to work with o9 to build a safe way for business leaders to test and learn the value of an outside-in approach.”
“Today’s supply chains are not very good at sensing, so it is difficult for them to respond,” Igor Rikalo, president & COO at o9, said in the release. “The majority of market, channel, and supplier data is available but is not used to help companies make decisions at the speed required by the business. New planning capabilities exist but cannot be leveraged to their full potential unless business leaders change their business models and planning processes. That’s why we are excited about the potential of Project Zebra and support this open call to companies to help redefine supply chain processes based on this outside-in approach and new forms of analytics.”
