Modeling Cloud Computing Integration with E- Supply Chain Management Ahsan Chaudhri, Anita Ajmiri, and Jaishree Asarpota Email: {ac Abstract—This paper proposes a conceptual framework model for integration of cloud computing with the e-supply chain network. This integration can potentially allow firms to leverage the benefits inherent in a cloud computing environment and thus, enable organizations to optimize their cost and operational efficiency of management of their electronic supply chain. A cloud based environment can greatly enhance e-SCM success by creating information visibility along the entire supply chain; improving speed, cost, quality, customer service, and amalgamation of all e- SCM activities into a unified, accessible and virtualized platform. The e-SCM activities can be modeled after the cyclic view in order to improve the conceptualization of integration of e-SCM with cloud computing Index Terms— (ICT) I. INTRODUCTION Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the ‘design, planning, execution, control and monitoring of supply chain activities with the intention of creating value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging world- wide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally’ [1]. By extension, e- SCM involves managing all supply chain electronically. The e-SCM processes can be identified as activities associated with the flow of materials, information and services from suppliers of raw materials to the end customer via product and service processing and warehousing [2] managed electronically. In order to effectively manage the complexity of supply chain, many firms have adopted a strategy of utilizing sophisticated IT for the purpose of facilitating large information flow and thus, creating greater competitive advantage [3]. This development has led to the era of e-SCM. Cloud computing is estimated to become a $150 billion business by 2014 end, projects Gartner Research, and will potentially grow to more than $24 billion by 2020. Cloud computing is defined as ‘a type of parallel and distributed system of… interconnected and virtualized computers that are dynamically presented as one or more unified computing resources’ [4]. A cloud consists of several components such as clients, data centres, and distributed servers with a high capacity for fault-tolerance, Manuscript received July 25, 2014; revised July 12, 2015. availability, accessibility, scalability, and reduced over- heads [5]. II. CYCLE VIEW OF E-SCM Cycle view of SCM proposes a series of cycles: customer, replenishment, manufacturing and procurement cycles, wherein, activities are performed at the interface illustrates the stages in electronic supply chain management (e-SCM) as conceptualized in this paper. Activities like collaborative product design and development (both inter and intra-firm), scheduling, service options and contacts could be placed in a cloud based environment and managed electronically. Furthermore, all stages of the product development process can be shared over a secured cloud-based network including product specific information, marketing information, test results and customers feedback etc. This allows for real-time online access to these data for all supply chain partners. We have thus extended the cycle view of SCM to the management of electronic supply chain management (e-SCM). Various stages of e-SCM have been described below. Figure 1. Stages of e-supply chain cycles (adapted from Gibson, & Edwards, 2004) [2] A. E-Customer Order Cycle The customer order cycle sits at the interface between the customer and the retailer. This is the first stage in e- 56 Lecture Notes on Information Theory Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2015 ©2015 Lecture Notes on Information Theory doi: 10.18178/lnit.3.1.56-59 Business Department, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates haudhri, aajmiri, jasarpota}@hct.ac.ae e-Supply Chain Management (eSCM), cloud computing, Information and Communication Technology of two successive stages of each cycle [6], [2]. Fig. 1