World Trade - October 2008 - (Page 30)

SUPPLY CHAIN SURVIVAL GUIDE Supply Chain Software Morphs Into Enterprise Management Dedicated best-of-breed versions are giving way to broader networked models. BY AMY ZUCKERMAN I n many ways, i2 Technologies is the poster child of stand-alone dedicated supply chain management technology. Founded in 1988 with the vision of “helping businesses make more intelligent decisions by using information resources,” the company quickly grew to a market leader in the supply chain space with marqueename clients like Texas Instruments, 3M and Ford. The advent of the Web began to change the landscape for stand-alone ‘best in breed’ tech nology. By the late 1990s, industry observers were questioning whether companies like i2 would survive but, after a momentary blip, the company continued to prosper and expand. In recent years questions again surfaced about the viability of stand-alone supply chain software, with the i2’s future subject of speculation. Indeed, there was talk that the company might be sold with its software licensing business declining in the face of mounting competition from the larger enterprise resource planning (ERP). Of its independent viability questions were answered late 2008 this summer when the company—after months of rumors— announced it would be bought by JDA Software Group. Just weeks before the deal, CEO Pallab Chatterjee was marketing the company’s “Supply Chain 2.0”, a broader networked model that would enable (in principle) more real-time enterprise-wide data and decision-making. The i2 saga reﬂects a technology sector very much in ﬂux. “In an industry that continues to consolidate, scale matters,” conceded Chatterjee in the press release announcing the sale. And announcing the purchase, Hamish Brewer, JDA CEO acknowledged the threat the ERP vendors posed to stand-alone players. Once dominated by the best-of-breed vendors, the supply chain management arena is transitioning to a world of ecosystems, networks and platforms to help customers manage the complexities of global supply chains with integration into the core business platform. The arc of technology is being given added urgency by the difficult economic climate. With customers 30 WORLD TRADE OCTOBER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - October 2008

World Trade - October 2008 Contents Tune Up Your Supply Chain Globalization: The Real Competitive Threat Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Shippers and Providers Collaborate to Take on a Challenging Economy Tweaking the Supply Chain to Optimize Value and Minimize Cost Supply Chain Software Morphs Into Enterprise Management Can Warehousing Really, Truly Be Strategic? Everybody is Global Between the Devil and the Deep The Hidden Costs of ‘Free’ Translation Blowing Smoke

World Trade - October 2008

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