Amazon Supply Chain and Logistics
AWS Supply Chain Test Drive Simplifies Adoption to Explore Business Benefits
In the fast-paced world of supply chain management, where economic shifts and evolving customer demands create constant pressures, efficiency and adaptability are essential. Organizations are increasingly seeking automated solutions to reduce manual processes, enhance efficiency, and improve overall performance. As previously discussed, the AWS Supply Chain solution provides the benefits of increased visibility and actionable insights driving cost optimization and agility. The solution provides functions like Demand Planning, Supply Planning, and Insights to streamline core supply chain functions and help businesses adapt to changing market conditions. Adopting a new solution comes with its own set of challenges, which we explore in this blog. From integration with existing workflows to addressing operational needs without disruption, organizations need to navigate these complexities with confidence to fully realize the solution potential.
Mitigating adoption challenges
Adopting a new supply chain solution is a significant decision, often accompanied by practical considerations. For example, how well the solution will integrate within the existing organizational processes, whether it will address the specific operational needs, and if the implementation will not disrupt the current workflows. Understanding a solution’s potential without fully committing is challenging, making it difficult for businesses to evaluate if it truly aligns with their goals, resources, and processes.
To address these common adoption challenges, AWS Supply Chain’s new test drive feature provides a hands-on trial environment designed for speed and ease of exploration. With test drive, organizations quickly familiarize themselves with AWS Supply Chain, experiment with different configurations, run scenarios, and assess the user interface.
This interactive experience allows customers to explore the end-to-end capabilities of AWS Supply Chain—from data ingestion to demand and supply planning, and insights generation. Test drive enables businesses to experience the solution’s benefits firsthand:
- Simplified setup: Pre-populated datasets for Automotive, Healthcare, Retail, and Utilities industries enable organizations to start testing the solution immediately, without the need for data collection, preparation or solution configuration. This allows customers to focus right away on assessing ASC’s value.
- Responsive experience: The AWS Supply Chain test drive provides a live-like setting that adjusts to the day it’s accessed. That is, automatically updating forecast dates, inventory projections, and replenishment schedules to simulate real-world planning timelines. This responsive setup creates realistic and scenario-based insights, allowing planners to experience decision-making processes similar to those in day-to-day operations, as if they these happen today.
- Immersive exploration: Test drive offers businesses a secure, interactive environment to explore AWS Supply Chain modules firsthand. Users access the interface, test configurations, and understand data processing workflows, gaining insights into ASC functionality. This hands-on experience supports a smoother transition to full implementation due to already familiar user experience and solution settings, helping teams feel confident in the solution’s fit and value for their specific operations.
Test drive guide
For the purposes of this post, you have the following prerequisites:
- AWS account and AWS Supply Chain instance set up.
- The ability to create and modify AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles to create policies and permissions.
Starting the test drive feature is a smooth, one-click process designed for easy access.
Step 1: access the test drive. Once logged in, navigate to the AWS Supply Chain landing page and click the test drive switch.
Step 2: select an industry. Choose from pre-populated industry datasets including Automotive, Healthcare, Utility, or Retail.
Step 3: explore the modules. Select the Demand Planning, Supply Planning, or Insights module and begin exploring and testing common scenarios in your industry. Visualize Machine Learning powered forecasts, replenishment plans, and risk assessments to see how the system performs under different conditions.
Demand Planning: Generate forecasts based on simulated industry demand patterns, and experiment with adjustments to see how AWS Supply Chain can adapt to support your specific demand planning needs.
Supply Planning: Generate replenishment timelines and customize supply rules to view purchase plans for raw materials and finished goods, as well as replenishment recommendations. Assess how AWS Supply Chain manages inventory in alignment with your business needs.
Inventory Insights: Access and explore inventory projections, network visualizations, lead-time variations, and risk assessments based on industry scenarios. Assess how these insights align with your operational needs and determine AWS Supply Chain’s potential fit for your business.
With these simple steps and functionality to test “how can we” scenarios, the test drive feature empowers customers to assess AWS Supply Chain’s capabilities firsthand and envision how they would work for their businesses.
Conclusion
AWS Supply Chain supports a wide range of industries and supply chain functions. As non-exhaustive examples, it assists with demand forecasting in retail, inventory planning in pharmaceuticals, risk assessments in automotive supply chains, and supplier management in utilities. As a one-click offering, the AWS Supply Chain test drive feature provides an easy starting point for organizations looking to modernize their supply chain operations. The test drive feature helps businesses to explore, quickly and easily, the potential adoption of AWS Supply Chain. By providing a flexible environment with pre-configured datasets and industry-specific modules, test drive allows customers to experience the service potential with minimal preparation and in parallel to existing operations. While test drive is not a substitute for a full implementation, it simplifies the evaluation phase, helping businesses assess AWS Supply Chain as a potential solution to meet their needs.
AWS Supply Chain is available without any up-front licensing fees or long-term commitments. The test drive feature extends this flexibility by providing a hands-on trial environment for both AWS Supply Chain customers and organizations exploring AWS Supply Chain for the first time. Visit AWS Supply Chain to learn more and get started and explore the AWS Supply Chain Workshop for a self-paced technical walkthrough