USA regulatory requirements for computer systems

In order to facihtate communications between software used by internal supply chain partners, multinational companies have tried very hard, but generally unsuccessfully, to standardize computer systems. The emergence of the Internet protocol has helped the interaction between powerful supply chain systems such as i2, Manugistics, Ariba, Oracle and SAP R/3 to name a few. The rigour and problems related to the vahdation process still remain. In spite of the complexity and regulatory requirements, or perhaps because of it, the healthcare industry remains a huge untapped market for e-supply chain. A recent study carried out in the USA by Efficient Healthcare Consumer Response (EHCR) consortium showed that the healthcare industry could reduce its overall supply chain costs by over US 11 billion (48 per cent of the current process cost) through the efficient application of collaborative e-supply chains. 

---