Kinaxis at heart of Microsoft Azure ecosystem

Microsoft’s Azure ecosystem is helping businesses modernise supply chains worldwide, and Kinaxis is at the heart of this important process. 

Kinaxis provides cloud-based supply chain management (SCM) software called RapidResponse, built on prescriptive AI and automation. This provides organisations with supply visibility and resilience.

Supply chains are by nature complex, and involve many operational steps and activities –  whether this is manufacturing, procurement or logistics. 

Using RapidResponse, planners can create disruption scenarios – such as severe weather events, material shortages or major surges in demand – and use this to make informed decisions, with business outcomes, customer needs and sustainability in mind. 

Giovanni Pizzoferrato is Kinaxis CTO and helps define the technology strategy of its customers globally. 

“We are an amazing global team of engineers and experts,” he says. We are grounded in a ‘people matter’ culture built over nearly 40 years.” 

It’s a culture Kinaxis brings to its customers through Microsoft Azure, the  cloud computing platform that facilitates access, management and development of applications and services through global data centres. Kinaxis is a Microsoft Independent Software Vendor partner, and co-sells RapidResponse through the Azure Marketplace, where businesses seek out Azure-optimised software solutions.

“We work closely with Microsoft's industry verticals teams, and interoperate with the MS Supply Chain Frameworks and Cloud Solutions,” explains Pizzoferrato.

In terms of pharma supply chains, Kinaxis helps some of the world’s leading pharma companies manage supply chain complexities that are unique to areas like biotechnology, cell and gene therapy, medical devices and over-the-counter medicines. 

“The regulatory environment is very complex in pharma,” says Pizzoferrato, “so our software uses embedded, attribute-based planning specifically for this challenge.” 

He adds that “expiry management” is another critical part of the pharma landscape. “Planners use RapidResponse to get a clear view of what’s on-shelf, what’s about to expire, what the demand patterns look like and what supply plans will meet consumers’ future needs.”

Find out more about Kinaxis RapidResponse HERE

Read the full Microsoft digital report HERE.