WebMethods, an integration and optimization software company, and Blue Agave Software, a provider of replenishment, demand management and fulfillment execution software, have partnered to target the retail and consumer packaged goods industries.
The strategy combines webMethods' ability to provide real-time enterprise-wide access to store sales information with the "timely" interpretation of store/SKU-level point-of-sale data from Blue Agave. The two say that retailers and CPG companies can "elevate their speed and ability to sense and respond" to changes in demand. This should enable customers to more effectively resolve store-level stockouts, excess inventory and forecasting issues.
"Throughout the retail industry value chain, companies are under tremendous pressures ranging from shrinking margins to fierce competition to capturing and keeping a customer's loyalty," says Arnold Huffman, vice president, global strategic business solutions, webMethods. "These enterprises are looking to be more responsive to changes in demand; however, continuous access to meaningful sales data has been a key inhibitor until this point. Our partnership with Blue Agave allows us to jointly deliver an integrated solution that provides these companies with the ability to better sense customer demand, and then transform those demand signals into actionable data, ultimately putting these organizations one step further down the road to becoming fully demand-driven enterprises."
Visit www.blueagavesoft.com and www.webmethods.com.