This was a very busy week in logistics software news, with many announcements made at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention & Expo. In case you missed it, here is a quick round-up of some of the announcements this week (all of the vendors below are ARC clients):
- Descartes Unveils Comprehensive Logistics Suite for Retailers
- Descartes and Motorola Announce Latest Intelligent AVL Solution for Retailers Available on MC75 Device
- Infor Gives Retailers Easier, More Flexible Path to Global Workforce Task Management
- Oracle Launches Oracle® Global Trade Management
- Oracle Delivers Oracle® Transportation Management 6.1
- Sterling Commerce Goes M-Commerce, Unveils New Mobile Apps for Retailers
- Manhattan Associates Announces Zero Disappointment Retail™
- Manhattan Associates Unveils First Forecasting Method For Intermittent and Seasonal Demand
- RedPrairie integrates Execution Management with Enterprise Workforce Management solution
- LeanLogistics Releases LeanSource™ Do-It-Yourself Transportation Procurement App
No time or space to comment on all of these announcements today, but here are my general observations:
Many segments of the retail industry were hit hard by the recession last year, but the bet is that this will lead retailers to invest more in supply chain and logistics technologies to generate additional cost savings and productivity improvements, particularly at the store level. As I wrote about last year, Workforce/Labor Management is one of the technologies that tomorrow’s industry leaders are investing in today and I expect this trend to continue (see “Technologies to Maximize Labor Productivity in Logistics”).
The use of mobile devices and mobile apps is another growing trend that we wrote about last year (see “Mobile Internet and Supply Chain: Bigger Than Most Think”). The announcements this week by Descartes and Sterling Commerce are the first of many related to mobility that I expect this year.
The launch of Oracle’s Global Trade Management solution, which the company developed on the same platform as its TMS, further validates the decision we made years ago to include GTM functionality as part of our TMS definition. It also validates another trend: how software vendors are transforming TMS from a fragmented collection of applications to a unified platform where users across the enterprise and value chain can execute role-specific processes via configurable user interfaces, workflows, and web services (see “The Expanding Footprint of TMS”).
Finally, the release of LeanLogistics’ “do-it-yourself” application brings the logistics software industry a step closer to the vision we outlined in “An App Store for Logistics Software”—i.e., where a transportation manager, for example, could browse through various applications, such as an appointment scheduling app or a widget for financial settlement, buy them online using a credit card, download them, run some quick installation wizards, and off they go, on the road to improved productivity and cost savings. Will this model succeed and define the next phase of software-as-a-service? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Just a reminder: You can stay up to date on the latest logistics news by visiting the News Roundup section at the Logistics Viewpoints website.
Have a great weekend!
