An integrated Omni-Channel Supply Chain from IBM and JDA

An integrated Omni-Channel Supply Chain from IBM and JDA : Together IBM and JDA will provide an integrated omni-channel supply chain that enables businesses to make smarter sourcing decisions in real time and give their customers the best buying experience possible. Both IBM and JDA announced an initiative to provide solutions that help organizations deliver engaging customer experiences by intelligently processing and fulfilling product orders in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible. Retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers today are challenged to meet the demands of empowered consumers who demand the right product when they want it at the best price through their channel of choice. As more and more consumers demand advanced delivery methods such as ‘buy online and pick-up in store,’ businesses are under increasing pressure to offer these flexible options across more channels in order to meet their customer’s expectations. Without a dynamic view into their complete supply chain picture, businesses are forced to make snap decisions based on static information resulting in inefficient fulfillment processes, shipping methods and inventory positions.

JDA is the leading provider of end-to-end, integrated retail and supply chain planning and execution solutions for more than 4,000 customers worldwide. IBM Commerce and Order Management solutions provide a differentiated commerce experience across all of a company’s business models to drive better customer engagement and increased sales.

This new initiative between JDA and IBM will provide a holistic approach to solving this problem by synchronizing comprehensive order capture and order management with precision retail planning, efficient labor productivity and intelligent fulfillment. JDA Intelligent Fulfillment and Labor Productivity solutions combined with IBM Commerce and Order Management solutions will reveal the true cost of fulfilling an order – including inventory and labor costs – so that businesses can more responsively adjust inventory and resource allocations and execute decisions that meet and exceed customer expectations while also serving their bottom line. Delivered either on premise or in the cloud viaSoftLayer, an IBM company, the solution will be part of IBM’s existing portfolio of over 110 SaaS applications and isexpected to be available by late spring 2015.

For example, when a customer purchases an outfit online from a clothing retailer, there are several dynamic factors at play that can affect the profitability of the transaction, such as: if the customer wants the outfit delivered to a home or will pick it up in store; if the item is in stock at that store or needs to be fulfilled from an alternate location; or if warehouse or store labor is available to fulfill the order in a timely manner. With the combined solutions from IBM and JDA, these issues will be resolved in the background in real-time by applying knowledge of the retailer’s inventory planning and allocation during the order processing. This allows the retailer to intelligently initiate the best possible omni-channel fulfillment decision at the moment of the sale in the most profitable manner.