Sage Clarity
Leading Collaboration Technology in Manufacturing

Advances in the collaboration landscape have consistently proven beneficial to companies across a range of industries. Specific to the manufacturing sector, the need to combine intelligent technology with suitable communication processes has become a growing necessity. Vendors must be able to effectively share information with plant operation personnel, and teams must have the ability to streamline data inputs and outputs in a meaningful way. As collaboration continues to be thelynchpin to successful, cost-effective manufacturing operations, companies with technology and industry acumen are stepping in to lead the charge.

Complexities in the sector are vast, namely the sheer amount of data compiled on a daily basis, the numerous sources of this data, and the richness of the information. As a serial entrepreneur with a focus on bringing innovation to the market, CEO of Sage Clarity, John Oskin explains the strategy behind providing viable solutions for these distinct industry challenges. Oskin states, “Our vision is to enable supply chain collaboration with analytics as common a technology as email.” Sage Clarity provides not only advisory services to its clients, but also assists enterprises with shifting methodologies

surrounding how organizations are able to leverage data through quality analytics and streamlined collaboration.Oskin expounds, “We are developing a methodology and technologies to fully enable supply chain visibility and collaboration—providing real-time dynamic information facilitating responses to rapidly changing conditions across a supply chain.”

Sage Clarity presents a bevy of solutions for its manufacturing clients, including One View for supply chain metrics, Quality Management, and Manufacturing Intelligence. Oskin states, “Collaboration has moved beyond email and simple conversations. We developed our own collaboration engine and we can also integrate with other collaboration platforms, such as Microsoft’s Yammer.” One View, for instance, utilizes a proprietary real-time analytics platform to enable rich collaboration across business units. Members of a supply chain team have the capability to review a key performance indicator in the platform and embed that into a Microsoft Yammer conversation. Teams across a range of departments can use that Key Performance Indicator(KPI) from any device to productively share insights in a consistent, simple manner.

Sage Clarity can also help redesign business metrics to include updated KPIs, and assist in a com-prehensive assessment of how each KPI moves an organization forward. Oskin explains that the use of Internet of Things(IoT) concepts integrated with a rich set of applications focusing on supply chain analytics affords c o m p a n i e s the ability to leverage “the ocean of big data in manufacturing.” He continues, “By providing real-time capabilities, we focus on shallow-dives, quick reviews of information relevant and pertinent to the objectives of the business.”

By providing real-time capabilities, we focus on shallow-dives, quick reviews of information relevant and pertinent to the objectives of the business

An example of collaboration solutions can be seen in a large food and beverage manufacturer seeking to improve supply chain operations. Oskin says, “Sage Clarity provided a platform for real-time analytics using data from plant-floor systems, supply chain systems, quality systems, and a collaborative framework.” Utilizing this framework, cross-functional teams, from shop floor operators to senior management, were able to access pertinent information necessary to make course corrections within the supply chain quickly and accurately.

Looking ahead, Oskin sees a greater reach in meeting the needs of manufacturing organizations in the realm of collaboration. As the industry moves more toward mobile technologies, the company is well positioned as it continues to develop a library of metric applications that organizations can use for collaboration. Oskin concludes, “What is exciting is that we work with the best and brightest from industry and academia to apply innovation, but with a solid business purpose.”