EMPOWERING THE WHOLE SUPPLY CHAIN

One of the best things about our supply chain accreditation scheme is that you don't have to be technically savvy or knowledgeable about industry standards to be a winner. For our team of judges it is just a matter of assessing whether an organisation, wherever it may be in the supply chain, is optimising the use of technology to achieve a limited number of business goals: automating business processes (for recipient as well as sender) to increase efficiency; using automation to improve customer service; and paying due regard to the environment by reducing the amount of waste manual processes tend to generate. Any company which can do these things to the best of its ability is worthy of a supply chain accreditation.

What may not be so easy - especially for busy managers of small publishing or bookselling operations - is to express on a fairly complex application form what drives a supply chain strategy which ticks all these boxes. That's why we have this week launched a simple six or seven point questionnaire, free (I hope) of jargon and technical stuff, suitable for independent booksellers and publishers who have wisely decided to outsource their distribution to professionals. The initial response has been heartening, showing that at least to some extent we have achieved our objective.

Of course we wouldn't expect such organisations to be part of the BIC community, even though they unknowingly use BIC standards every day of their lives: but we do believe that it is our job to empower every part of the supply chain and work with partner organisations like the PA, BA and IPG, and with our members in the systems and services providers' sector - who routinely deliver BIC standards through their products and services - to remind the industry that efficiency in the supply chain is the route to prosperity.

AFTER E4BOOKS...

E4books was one of our most successful campaigns, raising the profile of e-commerce at a crucial period of change and development; but we have decided that so much has happened in our industry since e-Day (1 May 2008) that it's time to move on.

We've been working hard to devise a supply chain accreditation scheme which keeps the flame of e4books alive but also recognises how much has changed. We shall be announcing the details in the next few days. The most obvious changes will be for publishers, where technology - back when e4books began in 2004 - belonged mostly in distribution centres rather than in the publishing office itself. The new scheme will seek to reward technical innovation throughout the publishing process.

Watch out for more information on this in the next few days.