The speed-to-market factor is paramount, particularly for apparel brands that want to both reach the market in time and liquidate the stocks before the fashion changes. This means that companies need to integrate their ERP processes with everything else. Tall order, that.

Integrating ERP with other technologies is just a starting point, according to Burstein. “To keep pace with consumer demand, all fashion technologies must be incorporated into a digital supply chain that breaks down organisational silos and enables faster decision-making. Data from PLM, supply chain management, ERP and other applications must be made available to all internal departments, vendors, suppliers, factories and third parties through a digitally connected platform in real-time. This is critical if companies want to improve speed to market and improve sell-through.”

So, planning, analytics and supply chain solutions need to seamlessly inform and drive execution through ERP solutions. Explains Charness: “The former solutions are the ‘brains’ and the ERP solutions are the arms and legs.

With speed being paramount, a plan that requires a price change, or modifying store distributions to liquidate on hands, needs to be actioned quickly, without any additional time / human resources or effort. Integrating data alone is insufficient. The future state has to provide natural workflows to merchants, with solutions behind the scenes taking care of the actions. These processes will also benefit from advanced analytics (AI / ML) that can guide the merchants quickly to review the right scenarios and then lead to action.