Into the Blue Yonder

from MHD May 2020

ASCI

It’s a new yonder for JDA Software, who has now rebranded as Blue Yonder. Brittany Coles speaks with Antonio Boccalandro during his first trip to Australia as APAC President to discuss the importance of digital framework during supply chain disruption.

In Australian fashion, with a coffee in hand and floor to ceiling views of Melbourne CBD, Antonio Boccalandro sat down with MHD to share his professional insight in today’s unpredictable world. Antonio was appointed as APAC president for Blue Yonder, formerly known as JDA Software in February this year. He calls Texas home and has been the Latin America president for the company since 2017. Antonio has more than 20 years of global supply chain experience, and he is determined for a new challenge following his successful management and service footprint across the USA, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil.

The company is headquartered in the USA and for the past 35 years JDA Software has been heavily associated with supply chain solutions. To adapt with the evolution of traceability, software and supply chain processes, it has repositioned itself as a leading supply chain management provider by re-branding as Blue Yonder. The company’s customers in Australia include some of the country’s largest grocers, third party logistics operators and manufacturers. It’s no secret that Antonio has big shoes to fill in his new role to grow the APAC region through customer, partner and associate engagement.

Girish Rishi was appointed as the CEO of JDA Software four years ago. However, the rebranding of the company this year marked a significant change too. The recent changes have allowed strong supply chain solutions to be leveraged by analytics and machine learning. Antonio says formulating a new framework for the company has enabled Blue Yonder to establish itself as leading global digital fulfilment platform

RE-BRANDING INITIATIVE

Florence Douyere, vice president and country manager for Blue Yonder Australia and New Zealand accompanied Antonio during his inaugural visit down under as APAC president. She says the company has completely pivoted in the last four years by leveraging the capabilities of the cloud, machine learning, artificial intelligence and digital transformation.

“Our new name is a true representation of who we are today and who we want to be tomorrow,” Florence says. Antonio says the company questioned if it should continue to grow under the same name, but after internal and external considerations the company saw value in re-branding to reflect its

innovative solutions.

“We have top customers in retail and logistics across every region. What we’ve been doing in supply chain management has changed dramatically,” Antonio says. There has been major disruption to the retail market due to changing eCommerce trends and retailers are still navigating through solutions that meet their unique demands. Antonio says new product introductions, consumer product customisations and traceability have also influenced supply chain management solutions in the current market. This creates complexity and pressure on the retailer to meet demands and Antonio says these ever-changing industry trends are allowing further versatility of software in order to achieve outstanding customer experience for Blue Yonder’s clients.

SAAS TRANSFORMATION

Antonio says the company’s mission is to power and fulfil and it has fully embraced the move to the cloud. He says that Blue Yonder’s competitive advantage is utilising software-asa-service (SaaS) to power digital transformation.

“Traditionally, companies spend a lot of time and money on software. With the SaaS model, we can have you up and running quickly because of the fast business cycle,” Antonio says. Blue Yonder’s SaaS revenue backlog topped $650 million and bookings were up 51 per cent in 2019 relative to the previous year. He says the company’s cloud capabilities stems off its internal Luminate Digital Fulfilment Platform.

“It’s an essential digital framework for supply chains, as it enables any business to prepare, optimise and fulfil the right product at the right price at the right time through any channel or location,” Antonio says. “It really is the one and only digital fulfilment platform that practically every industry from retail soft lines, manufacturing, grocery, third party logistics and wholesale distribution is taking advantage of.”

The Luminate Digital Fulfilment Platform is expanding the company’s market coverage. Antonio says throughout the company’s re-branding phase, the last few years has been strongly focused on big data, machine learning, and predictive supply chain.

“The SaaS model has predictive measures, which has proven to be more important than ever. It can take the weather and even coronavirus into consideration, which is essential when providing an accurate forecast,” he says. Some Blue Yonder clients have over 200 variables to consider before formulating a forecast and Antonio says this is only capable through artificial intelligence and machine learning. He says the enhanced digital capabilities have allowed increased speed and agility that has accelerated business’ path to innovation.

“The whole industry has shifted because of disruptions and trends. We have shifted with it and all these digital changes in our company are allowing our clients to be more agile in their respective markets.” Antonio says.

MAINTAINING SUSTAINABILITY

Antonio says he is extremely proud of Blue Yonder’s sustainability. The company has been advancing its digital capabilities for over 35 years and at the same time, enhancing the three pillars of sustainability. Economic, environmental and social sustainability make up the three pillars of standards.

“We’ve been making a positive impact on the environment by keeping it as a priority focus throughout any advancements,” Antonio says. Blue yonder helps businesses improve its forecast. Antonio highlights that this process is reducing truck mileage, less packaging and waste.

“When we help customers improve a transportation plan, especially for retail and 3PL industries, we are creating an economic solution that is reducing stops and the larger carbon footprint,” Antonio says. He believes supply chain management should be fore fronting a positive impact and re-branding as Blue Yonder has revitalised the sustainability vision.

Australia’s large open space provides a unique market, says Florence. If a transport plan can minimise truck stops or if a warehouse can reduce its physical size, then energy and resources are saved and can better be

Antonio Boccalandro is APAC President at Blue Yonder.

utilised. However, Florence notes that clients who have leveraged technology are the ones who see dramatic success with sustainable operations.

“Australia is a very competitive market that can be price driven. The level of automation that is utilised by some of our major clients shows that unique challenges and objectives can be achieved when a trusted digital framework is in action,” Florence says.

NAVIGATING APAC THROUGH CURRENT CHALLENGES

Each APAC market has its own complexities. Antonio says Australian clients are as sophisticated as other Asian, American and European clients. He believes that the distance of Australia to other countries is a challenge but also an advantage but Blue Yonder is determined to grow the Australian market.

“Australia is a top market in the APAC region, it’s leading along with Japan and China,” Antonio says. Agility in the supply chain is a key performance value, and that’s where machine learning and artificial intelligence comes in. “It’s time to re-think the answers to critical questions. It’s not about reviewing processes after, it’s about asking could I have known the problem before there

was going to be one?” Antonio says. He says autonomous supply chains review variables to ensure risk management and performance objectives are met. “There is a disruption happening now, and we need to take action now. There is no point reviewing processes down the track, it can be done simultaneously with disruptions to enhance business performance during this challenging climate,” Antonio says. He believes that technology will be the driver to help the supply chain industry thrive amidst the coronavirus crisis. Antonio says he will be guiding APAC clients to visualize, provide scenario planning and predict possible disruptions through the Luminate Digital Fulfilment Platform, that will give its clients the strength to learn and adapt their businesses to the current climate.

“We call it a PCCA. You need to plan, you do, you check and then you adjust, and this process needs to happen quickly,” Antonio says. Florence says digitisation will harmonise data. “If you look at the strength of analytics, data needs to be reliable and consistent to make the right prediction. Now is the time to benefit from the digital framework,” she says.

Antonio says it is reassuring

that every market and sector will experience disruption due to current global challenges, but he is determined for the APAC region to excel and leverage growth during this time. He didn’t expect he would be Blue Yonder’s APAC president. Antonio helped triple the growth of the Latin America region and believes that can be done here too.

“60 per cent of the population

A trusted digital framework collaborates with automation to offer a sophisticated supply chain operation.

Antonio says now is the time to benefit from the digital framework.

resides in the APAC region, it is the epicentre for manufacturing, my vision is to work with clients and innovate industry 5.0,” Antonio says. “Why are we waiting on other regions to innovate first, APAC is a leading market with infinite opportunity. I’ve been very vocal on the impact of the supply chain, I’m excited to be here and grow this market,” Antonio says. ■