Using the Industrial Internet of Relationships to Build Supply Bridges

TRC-2018 RAP Talk 21:10
by Allan Rienstra, SDT

The transactional relationship between buyer and seller is as old as civilization itself. While our civilization evolves at a frantic pace, a collaboration between supply and demand remain mired in the stone ages. Since before the first industrial revolution, the sales professional was tasked with a singular job; to facilitate transactions that moved assets from his company’s balance sheet to the customer’s warehouse, as quickly as possible. And since the reward for this transaction was remuneration – usually in the form of a commission or bonus – the task of successful implementation remained the customer’s problem alone. The sales professional, driven by the need to feed his family, set out in search of the next transaction. Customers accepted this arrangement, for no other reason, then that’s the way it always was. This RAP Talk presents a new paradigm for supply and demand. It challenges our community of solution providers to raise their game while scrutinizing the customer’s resistance to let them. The Industrial Internet of Relationships is about building bridges between supplier and consumer. The best bridges are built from both shores and meet in the middle. Bridges empower us to work toward an aim bigger than ourselves. To progress toward achieving the triple bottom line of economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility.