Virtusa bridges the supply chain visibility gap via WisMO 2.0

The quest to modernize your supply chain starts with gaining complete visibility of the chain, as we concluded in our 2023 HFS Horizons report on supply chain services. We also found that building dynamic control tower (or command center) solutions is critical to gaining this much-needed visibility. Most supply chain providers leverage leading control tower cum command center solutions from leading independent software vendors (ISVs) such as Blue Yonder, Oracle, and Kinaxis.

On the other hand, a few providers are trying to build and offer more effective, prescriptive, and predictive control tower solutions with the promise of having significant advantages over commercial off-the-shelf solutions. In the same vein, Virtusa is trying to make inroads in this lucrative market through WisMO 2.0 (Where is My Order), a process- and technology-agnostic command center that leverages a data lake and is built with Pega and blockchain technology. It promises expedited information flow and decision-making capabilities across the supply chain ecosystem.

WisMO 2.0 attempts to solve the business and technology challenges associated with commercial solutions

Most commercial off-the-shelf solutions are functionally siloed and fail to provide end-to-end visibility. There are also concerns about data ownership, such as who owns or can view it. Additional complications include the tech team needing resources trained and certified on the chosen command center tool and the multiple permutations and arrangements required to make the command center work with existing processes, tools, frameworks, and technology stacks.

WisMO 2.0 was designed on Web 3.0 principles, providing easy integration with major enterprise resource planning (ERP) technologies, including Oracle, SAP, and Infor. Throughout the movement of goods, WisMO can give visibility to all stakeholders, such as manufacturers, distributors, and logistics service providers (see Exhibit 1). All the transaction details reside on the platform so stakeholders can view, issue, and download invoices and process payments at any time.

Additionally, if there’s a breach of a service level agreement (SLA) or expected time of arrival (ETA), all stakeholders have access to the same real-time dashboard that allows them to analyze and take adequate measures. They also receive real-time notifications on order receipt, order validation, order processing, warehouse, shipment, delivery, invoice, and payments. WisMO 2.0 also integrates with the Pega Customer Decision Hub to create persona-based predictive and prescriptive analytics, allowing personalization and process improvement.

Exhibit 1: WisMO can be leveraged across the entire logistics function of a supply chain

Source: Virtusa, 2023

WisMO 2.0 targets the retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), pharmaceutical, high-tech, and automotive industry segments. With the solution’s capabilities, clients can expect increased business velocity, analytics-driven decision-making, creation of digital records with data protection, and, more importantly, more robust relationships among the various ecosystem players owing to a transparent and automated process.

Although it’s early days, the prospects for WisMO 2.0 look promising

WisMO 2.0 does not have any live customers yet. However, Virtusa conducted a proof of concept for a life sciences device manufacturing firm, implementing WisMO with Virtusa’s CogniSense IoT platform. The purpose of this POC was to monitor the end-to-end transportation of the client’s medical devices, ensuring controlled temperature and humidity. Virtusa has carried out multiple variations of the POC.

WisMO 2.0 is currently listed on the Pega marketplace. Virtusa and AWS are working on a strategy to integrate WisMO 2.0 into AWS native solutions and alternate BPM options, and Virtusa is discussing deploying WiSMO on additional hyperscalers.

The Bottom Line: Clients looking to future-proof their supply chains should test promising command center solutions like WisMO 2.0 for enhanced visibility, greater control, and stakeholder transparency.

Virtusa’s WisMO 2.0 promises to be a comprehensive command center solution that can help enterprises combat most traceability challenges and develop trust among various supply chain stakeholders.