LOS ANGELES—Subhankar Bhuttacharya is a senior consultant with Infosys’s media practice. Co-author of a much-downloaded article white paper, “DVD Supply Chain: The Emerging Challenge to Media Profitability. Bhuttachayra will be a co-panelist on the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy (ESCA) June 20 session “Containing the Returns Menace.”

Here, in this third and final part of a Q&A, he discusses the spread of RFID in relation to DVD and the importance of information systems.

Where does RFID fit in the scheme of things?
RFID can be used to track consignment. However, I am not sure how it can benefit the industry on a large scale. If you consider theft prevention as a business case then you need RFID in each DVD, and that may cost some money. You need to work out the economic cost benefit.

How important is information systems to supply chain management?
This is the holy grail of Supply Chain. To begin, you need a robust forecasting engine. This needs to be integrated thoroughly with the VMI system. And you need a very good business intelligence framework. You need to constantly analyze what is going on and feed your business partner on the new intelligence that you have gathered. In this industry, time is of the essence. Hence, the technology infrastructure needs to be completely integrated. You also need to know what’s going on with other entertainment business windows like Video on Demand. It still may not be the time to integrate the two systems, but an analysis on VOD sales pattern is a must to understanding what is happening in the DVD market.

How can retail help us with category management of our products?
Retail has a long history of category management. The processes in the retail industry are highly mature. Hence, there is a lot to learn from them. Having said that, I must add that, retail chains except fashion retailing, do not face this level of supply chain complexity. Also fashion retail is not mass market. Hence, while there is a lot to learn from retail, home video has to evolve itself. In terms of home video’s complexity, there are not too many parallels in the retail market today.