It's been said that companies in the supply chain can use three things to break down the silos that traditionally separated their differing functions: transparency, time and trust. The first of the three, transparency, is a tricky thing to foster. And it's getting trickier. Over the past few decades, many companies have worked to create systems and processes that allow them to share information on basic business activities - such as the status of shipments - without tipping their hands too much about sensitive business objectives. Historically, the flow of information between parties in a supply chain was limited to whatever was crucial for carrying out an effective and efficient transition of shipments from supplier to customer. That included things like purchase orders and basic in-transit information.
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