SAP America, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Germany's SAP AG, has agreed to acquire Ariba, the software vendor specializing in procurement and business-to-business commerce.
For owners and managers of commercial truck fleets, real-time information on vehicle and driver performance not only helps manage operations and reduce costs, but also ensures compliance with new safety regulations, says Bobby Miller, vice president of product strategy and industry relations at Ortec.
Software AG has introduced iKnow, a visibility product for managing the order-to-cash process. According to the vendor, the new tool provides users with the knowledge and context needed to detect and diagnose supply-chain anomalies in real time.
Downstream demand signals have been available in the retail world for some time now, but it has taken a while for suppliers to take full advantage of them. Mark Kremblewski, global business expert in demand planning with Procter & Gamble, likens the situation to the mining industry, which trades in deposits of both high- and low-grade ore. The latter type is more plentiful, but it's the first that offers the biggest payback from a better use of demand data in unpredictable situations.
Agentrics NeoGrid, a vendor of products for supply-chain synchronization, has created the NeoGrid Portal. The new collaboration tool integrates existing systems within a company, creating a single point of access for managing the entire network of a client's supply chain.
CombineNet Inc., a provider of strategic-sourcing systems for global supply chains, has developed new capabilities which allow procurement and sourcing managers to manage electronic sourcing events in a single platform.
Freeing data from functional silos and making it available to decision-makers throughout the supply chain in real time is the elusive key to true, end-to-end supply chain optimization, says Kristi Montgomery of Kenco Management Services, a third-party logistics provider.
SAP AG has introduced a series of mobile applications for business users and consumers. The new tools provide real-time access to human resources, finance, sales and mobile commerce functions.