Manugistics Charts the Course for e-Business Success
e-Compass(TM) Framework Quickly Guides Customers Through
Transformation of their Supply Chain into e-Chain
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Manugistics Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: MANU), today introduced a comprehensive framework, e-Compass(TM), to help businesses quickly and easily transform their traditional supply chains into e-chains. An e-chain effectively leverages the Internet in both the supply side and sell side of an enterprise to deliver Intelligent Commerce across the extended supply chain. Manugistics e-Compass addresses a serious question being asked by every executive today---How do I rapidly position my enterprise for competitive advantage in the era of e-business? The framework guides companies through five levels of e-chain development, empowering them to select the appropriate electronic commerce strategy to achieve competitive advantage at each level.
Nearly 900 companies worldwide have rapidly realized significant financial results by utilizing Manugistics' supply chain management solutions. Leading companies are now moving to the next step, shifting their focus to intelligent, optimized, real-time collaborative relationships across all their trading partners. This shift in focus ultimately drives corporate growth through improvements in both the online customer experience and the traditional sales channel, while simultaneously lowering supply chain costs. To achieve these goals, e-Compass outlines a framework for corporate evolution through five levels of development -- from supply chain fundamentals to Intelligent Commerce within synchronized e-chain communities.
"After working with a number of customers to implement our e-Chain Solutions, it quickly became apparent that their business processes looked radically different in this new era of e-business," said Jeff Holmes, senior vice president at Manugistics. "Building on the strength of our original Supply Chain Compass, e-Compass brings a proven framework to the marketplace that enables clients to tackle the organizational and process changes required to transform their supply chains to e-chains."
"Manugistics continues to be a leader in the supply chain management marketplace -- as demonstrated by the e-Compass model. Senior-level executives are searching for answers on how to best use the Internet to leverage their investment in supply chain technologies," said Stan Elbaum, managing director at Benchmarking Partners, a Cambridge, Mass.-based consulting firm. "This model provides companies with a strategic context to make informed decisions on how to best leverage their enterprise and supply chain technology solutions to develop a tailored approach for accelerating the use of the Internet for supply chain management."
e-Compass enables companies to effectively manage the changes in technology and organizational focus, achieving competitive advantage through each level of e-chain development. The pace of the transition is tailored for each company during an e-chain opportunity assessment. e-Compass charts five levels of development:
-- Level I: The Fundamentals -- The driving goal of the organization in this level is to produce dependable, consistent, quality products at the lowest possible cost. In order to accomplish this goal, companies in Level I typically focus on automating existing functions and tasks. External communication with trading partners is usually through fax and email.
-- Level II: Cross-Functional Teams -- Companies moving toward Level II concentrate on serving the customer, specifically focusing on order fulfillment. Companies in this level are beginning to consolidate their supply chains in some areas, such as combining distribution and transportation into logistics, and manufacturing and purchasing into operations, with the ultimate goal of better meeting customer demand. During this level, companies are limited to connections with key trading partners using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards.
-- Level III: Integrated Enterprise -- Companies in Level III focus mostly on efficiency. The driving goal is to be highly customer responsive, leveraging the ability to quickly deliver high-quality products and services, at the lowest total delivered cost. Level III companies become highly responsive by investing in operational flexibility, as well as integrating their internal supply chains, from the acquisition of raw materials to the delivery of product to the customer. Level III companies have a predominately internal focus, often using Intranets to integrate the enterprise.
-- Level IV: Extended Supply Chain -- As companies move into Level IV, creating market value becomes increasingly important. Companies implement a strategy of increasing market share by achieving "preferred partner" status with key customers. The driving goal is one of profitable growth, which they accomplish by providing customer-tailored products, services, and value-added information, which differentiate them from competitors. Level IV companies move beyond simple communication with trading partners to intelligent, optimized Internet-enabled collaboration that involves a dynamic exchange of information.
-- Level V: e-Chain Communities -- This level focuses on market leadership. There is a consolidation of companies into true e-chain communities whose members share common goals and objectives across and among enterprises, using technologies such as the Internet. Level V companies streamline their business transactions with their partners to maximize growth and profit. The level V company practices Intelligent Commerce, having fully transformed their supply chain to an e-chain.
Headquartered in Rockville, Md., Manugistics Group, Inc. is the leading provider of solutions for customer-centric supply chain optimization and has the largest global client base of any supply chain provider. The company's solutions are used by nearly 900 companies to improve the flow of product within and among companies from raw materials or parts through manufacturing to delivery of product to the end customer. Manugistics' solutions uniquely allow its clients to create and optimize their supply chains around their customers and are quick to implement, adapt easily to change, and deliver rapid results. Its clients include leading companies such as Campbells Soup, Compaq, DuPont, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, International Paper, Mobil Oil, Nestle, Timberland, United Distillers and Vintners, and Wal-Mart.
Manugistics, the Manugistics logo, and working as one and Open Application Integration (OAI) are registered trademarks while OAI/Net, Supply Chain Compass, and e-Compass are trademarks of Manugistics, Inc. All other product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Additional information about Manugistics can be found at the company's site on the World Wide Web, at manugistics.com.
SOURCE Manugistics Group, Inc.
CO: Manugistics Group, Inc.
ST: Maryland
IN: CPR
SU:
06/16/99 10:22 EDT prnewswire.com |
