Agility has emerged as a crucial differentiator as companies increasingly compete on a global scale. That's why IBM has defined new "Key Agility Indicators," or KAIs, intended to help businesses measure how well they are sensing and responding to fluctuations in customer demand and proactively monitoring key business processes. Announced today as part of a four-part release, the KAIs are generated by a new IBM Benchmark Wizard tool that measures the performance of business processes compared to industry norms. The first set of KAIs is for supply chain environments, but IBM says it will introduce a KAIs for a range of vertical industries over the next year.
"The question is, do you have ability to make changes within the timeframe that it matters," says Sandy Carter, Vice President of Services-Oriented Architecture and WebSphere Strategy. "We started with supply chains because it cuts across multiple industries and it's an area in which agility is vital because you have to respond quickly to shifts in supply, demand and production."
