Sterling Commerce has announced several new products to support selling, fulfillment and mobile applications. It has created hosted, or software-as-a-service versions of Sterling Order Management and Sterling Multi-Channel Selling. As a result, the vendor's entire Selling and Fulfillment Suite is now available to customers "in the cloud." Its hosted strategy offers two options. On-demand applications can be hosted by Sterling, with users accessing them under a pay-for-use subscription model. Or, Sterling can also host managed services, aiding customers in the customizing of technology and the management of upgrades. Multi-Channel Selling allows companies to create a unified buying experience across all channels. Order Management orchestrates global order and service fulfillment across the extended supply chain. In connection with the announcement, Sterling has made available version 9.0 of its Selling and Fulfillment Suite. The update includes a new Business Center, which allows users to centrally manage product data, pricing, promotions and catalog taxonomy. Other enhanced workflows allocate customer orders based on various priorities such as channel and customer type. At the same time, Sterling is providing access to the Selling and Fulfillment Suite and Business Integration Suite from mobile devices. A new "Collaborate to Innovate" program helps customers to define their mobile needs and strategies.
