How SeaSalt and Fuse are Engaging the Extended Enterprise

We’ve got a great story to tell when it comes to how Cornish fashion brand SeaSalt is using Fuse to overcome critical business problems: onboarding in a fast-growth environment, accessing knowledge at the point of need, and figuring out how to successfully measure learning-driven outcomes. These are impressive feats and we’re delighted to be driving the solution. 

We’re also extremely pleased that the story and the business benefits don’t stop there - SeaSalt is pushing the boat out when it comes to innovation in L&D, extending the use of the Fuse platform to cater to the needs of its extended enterprise. 

What does that mean exactly, and why should L&D leaders and those in supply chain management want to know more? Read on to hear how SeaSalt is maximising the Fuse learning platform and Knowledge Intelligence engine to communicate beyond company walls, achieving supply chain excellence in communications.

One Platform to Extend Communications in the Company and Beyond

Back when we wrote Help is at Hand for Engaging Your Extended Enterprise, we talked about the different audiences the extended enterprise can be made up of, referring to another of our customer business use cases - Avon. 

Avon has a vast extended enterprise of over 5 million beauty entrepreneurs spanning 53 markets, and we concentrated in this instance on the value its Fuse platform was bringing to help the beauty entrepreneurs continually learn about new products and campaigns.

But as John Leh in Extended Enterprise Learning 101 says, the audiences in the extended enterprise may also be channel partners, or value-added resellers, distributors or wholesalers who are part of your organisation’s extended audience.

In SeaSalt’s case, the extended enterprise means its partner networks, including in its extended supplier audience.

L&D for the Extended Enterprise? 

So, why on earth would it seem a natural fit to try and make an L&D platform and Knowledge Intelligence Engine double as a supplier hub? Because it works. In fact, as SeaSalt has found, it works really well. 

For retailers, as is quite understandable, supply chain management is everything. Between ecommerce and new marketplaces, the supply chain is becoming more complex than ever before. 

Communication is a fundamental pillar of understanding the moving parts of any supply chain. As the September 2021 Third-Party Logistics Study states, technology is playing a critical role within the supply chain, increasing visibility and transparency while also increasing efficiency. Technology can also improve agility and the ability to make data-driven decisions. 

Now, we won’t pretend that Fuse is the solution to effective supply chain management: there’s an entire Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multienterprise Supply Chain Business Networks that specialises in that. But from the extended enterprise point of view, we’re pleased to be helping take complexity out of supplier communications, creating a more connected supply chain ecosystem through learning. 

Using Fuse, SeaSalt’s supplier ecosystem has learning at its fingertips. SeaSalt rolled the platform out to all of its +65 suppliers in May 2021, and the hub was well received, with suppliers finding it a good way of accessing key information.

creating a more connected supply chain ecosystem

When we say ‘good information’ we do mean essential supply chain information that is helping to optimise supply chain efficiency and improve overall outcomes. 

But there is more to it than that. SeaSalt takes its ethical supply chain very seriously, with its brand, values and commitment to ethical supply and trading practices representative of its corporate identity. Seasalt was the first clothing brand to be awarded Soil Association GOTS certification for its use of organic cotton and in 2013, it won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainability.  

As SeaSalt Director of Product Technology, Compliance and Ethics Lucy Panniers says, “many businesses choose suppliers based on lead times, price and speed to market. I’m proud that Seasalt does things differently. Long term business security, product quality and supply chain integrity are all important considerations for us.”

Pre-pandemic, SeaSalt already had strong, long term relationships with its suppliers, and frequent visits. When the pandemic hit, Fuse was able to act as a readily accessible learning and communications platform to help keep the supply chain communication alive and well. SeaSalt’s strategy for working with suppliers has always been built around sustainability in its product, supply chain and wider business, and Fuse is supporting this strategy in a more optimised way than ever before. 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this unique example of what’s possible when companies get innovative in their approach to their extended enterprise learning initiatives and technologies. If you’d like to learn more about how SeaSalt is using Fuse for social learning to build community and accelerate business performance and optimise its comms with its extended enterprise, download our Seasalt case study today.