78verthepastdecade,companieshaveinvestedheavilyinwiringtheirsupplychainswithsoftwaredesignedtomanageinformationflowsamongtheirinternaloperations,suppliers,andcustomers.From1999to2002,vendorssoldmorethan$15billioninsupply-chain-managementsoftwarelicenses—thefirststepinaprocess.Andthatfiguredoesn’tincludethecostoftheexpensiveinstallationandmaintenancecontractstocome.Thesoftwareanditsdevelopers—companies,suchasSAPandOracle,thatsellapplicationsforresourceplanning,aswellassupplychainspecialistssuchasAriba,i2Technologies,andManugistics—haveattractedattentionbecausethesoftwarepromisestotrackandpredictcustomerdemandand,asaconsequence,toadjusttheflowofgoodsmoreprecisely.Whensupply-chain-managementsoftwareworks,itcanhelpcutinventorylevels,improvedeliveryschedules,andensurethatsupplymeetsdemand—allofwhichshouldmakecustomersmoresatisfied.Onesupplycha