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Tag: IT

WNS acquires The Smart Cube and OptiBuy

Posted on by Keith McKinley

WNS (Holdings) Limited, a leading provider of global Business Process Management (BPM) solutions, has acquired The Smart Cube, a leader in platform-driven research and analytics (R&A) focused on procurement and supply chain, and OptiBuy, a leading European provider of procurement platform consulting and implementation solutions. These assets are complementary to WNS’ existing offerings and strengthen the company’s capabilities in both high-end procurement and advanced analytics.

The Smart Cube

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in London, UK, The Smart Cube provides digitally led market intelligence and analytics solutions. The company’s offerings span four key areas including procurement and supply chain, commercial sales and marketing, digital and analytics, and strategy and investment research. The Smart Cube leverages its proprietary digital AI knowledge management platform, Amplifi Pro, to help clients drive improved procurement and market intelligence and insight-based decision making. The company also brings strong front-end advisory capabilities and a large European footprint to the WNS portfolio.

The company has over 800 global employees including a seasoned leadership team with CXO-level relationships, and more than 600 talented R&A specialists with approximately two-thirds holding a Master’s degree. The acquisition of The Smart Cube was completed for a figure $125m.

“The Smart Cube is proud to become part of WNS, an industry leader in global Business Process Management. Both of our firms share a common philosophy of partnering and growing with clients, and believe our businesses continue to have huge growth opportunities ahead,” said Gautam Singh, Founder and CEO of The Smart Cube. “Over the last 20 years, we have built a strong business based on delivering value for our clients leveraging our unique AI+HI (artificial intelligence + human intelligence) methodology. We are delighted to now join WNS in the next phase of our growth journey.”

OptiBuy

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, OptiBuy is a leading European provider of procurement platform consulting and implementation solutions. The company helps clients leverage the capabilities of leading 3rd party procurement and supply chain platforms including Ivalua, Jaggaer, and O9, and complements WNS’ existing offerings with platforms such as Coupa and Ariba. In addition, OptiBuy also provides consulting, optimisation, outsourcing, and training services to their clients.

Currently focused on the EMEA market, the company has approximately 90 employees including more than 40 senior-level certified platform implementation professionals based in Poland. WNS views expansion of these capabilities into the North American market as a significant opportunity.

The acquisition of OptiBuy was completed for a figure of €30m.

“On behalf of the entire team at OptiBuy, we are excited to become part of WNS and believe that the combination of our two firms will enable the creation of differentiated, end-to-end digital procurement and supply chain solutions for the global marketplace,” said Mateusz Borowiecki, managing director of OptiBuy. “We look forward to building on the capabilities we have created over the past 12 years and working with the WNS team as we help clients leverage digital technologies to drive long-term business value.”

WNS: acquisitions complement us

“Both of these companies possess unique, digitally-led/human intelligence capabilities which are complementary to WNS’ existing procurement and analytics offerings, and are also complementary with each other,” said Keshav R. Murugesh, WNS’ chief executive officer. “The Smart Cube and OptiBuy bring experienced leadership teams, highly specialised resources, and differentiated technology offerings to the WNS portfolio. These companies also have blue-chip customer bases with extensive cross-selling opportunities, and proven track records of delivering strong top line growth, healthy margins, and high levels of customer satisfaction.

“We believe that The Smart Cube and OptiBuy will significantly enhance our WNS-Denali (procurement) and WNS-Triange (analytics) solutions, and help accelerate our positioning and growth in these strategic areas. On behalf of myself and the entire WNS team, we are excited to welcome the talented teams of The Smart Cube and OptiBuy to the WNS family.”

Domino moves processes to cloud with Oracle

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Domino Printing Sciences, a global leader in coding, marking, and digital printing technologies, will implement Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite for finance, supply chain, and customer experience, offering flexibility to support its new business models, such as advanced solutions and outcome-based services, and delivering greater business insight to enhance customer lifecycle management.

With operations in over 120 countries and manufacturing facilities in the UK, USA, China, Germany, India, Sweden, and Switzerland, Domino employs over 3,000 people worldwide, and has a proven track record for excellence in the fields of coding and marking, and digital printing. In recent years the company has expanded and diversified its offerings to include new subscription-based services that provide additional value to its global customer base.

Domino’s continued growth and development necessitated a new cloud-based solution that would enable more dynamic business models and evolve alongside the organisation. After careful consideration, Domino chose to move its core business processes to the cloud with Oracle Fusion Applications.

“As we continue to expand and transform our business operations to be more digitally focused, we couldn’t think of a better partner than Oracle with its deep applications expertise and experience in delivering innovative integrated solutions,” said Alwin Rasul, ERP Programme Director, Domino. “With Oracle Fusion Applications, we’ll be able to effectively unify our business operations, enable data-driven decision making, better support our global operations, and continue to set the industry standard for printing and coding technologies.”

Domino standardises processes

With Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, Domino will be able to take advantage of the cloud to standardise processes, and manage financial, supply chain, and customer experience data on a single integrated cloud platform. The resulting end-to-end business visibility will help ensure efficient, consistent, and personalised experience across its global operations.

Domino will utilise Oracle’s analytic tools to collect, manage, and analyse data using embedded machine learning and thousands of pre-built metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to make accurate, insight-driven decisions. With quarterly update cycles, Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications will give Domino access to continuous innovation, as new features are added every quarter, without downtime or business disruption.

“The industrial printing industry is at a critical juncture amidst shifting customer preferences and demands for digital solutions. Companies need to adopt new technologies and rethink the way they run their core business processes as they tap into new market opportunities,” said Guy Armstrong, Senior Vice President of Applications, Oracle UK and Ireland. “By moving to Oracle Cloud – both Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure – Domino is well placed to continue its growth, expand its digital offerings, and further elevate its competitive advantages with the latest innovations and emerging technologies.”

BW Retail replaces manual picking with Descartes solution

Posted on by David Priestman

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has announced that Michigan, US-based BW Retail, a leading ecommerce marketing, fulfilment and data analytics service provider, replaced manual pick, pack and ship practices with Descartes’ integrated ecommerce warehouse management and shipping solution to efficiently scale fulfilment operations and improve customer satisfaction.

“BW Retail has grown rapidly to become an industry leader in end-to-end ecommerce retail brand management and logistics operations. As we expanded from one warehouse in Michigan to additional locations in Georgia and Ontario, Canada, things we used to be able to do manually we no longer could,” said Christopher Ball, Chief Executive Officer at BW Retail. “We needed to have more real-time visibility into fulfilment across our facilities and to reduce efforts to manage inventory. With over one million shipments annually today, the Descartes solution has been essential to our growth, helping us gain greater control and improve the efficiency of our operations.”

Descartes’ ecommerce warehouse management solution helps ecommerce services providers, like BW Retail, direct-to-consumer brands and ecommerce retailers gain significant efficiencies across order fulfilment processes to improve the customer experience. It helps retailers ship the right items on time, prevents overselling of existing inventory, and provides full transparency into warehouse operations. The cloud-based solution is pre-integrated with major ecommerce platforms, like Channel Advisor, Shopify Plus, Magento and others, to accelerate implementation and time to value.

Descartes solution integrates with WMS

Descartes’ multi-carrier shipping solution is integrated with its ecommerce warehouse management solution to seamlessly execute the entire ecommerce fulfilment process, improving accuracy and productivity, reducing order lead-time, and minimising shipping costs. The quick-to-deploy solution allows businesses to grow their shipping volume through advanced automation capabilities, a powerful business rules engine, and a robust set of APIs for rating, shipping and tracking. The solution also connects ecommerce companies to their parcel and LTL carriers of choice using negotiated rates or using rate discounts available through the platform.

“We’re pleased to help BW Retail improve fulfilment performance across its growing operations with our ecommerce warehouse and shipping solution,” said Troy Graham, VP Business Development at Descartes. “For ecommerce service providers and retailers alike, the combined solution drives fast, accurate warehouse and shipping workflows and this type of operational excellence in fulfilment translates into a great customer experience.”

Lydia 9 Voice Browser certified by SAP

Posted on by David Priestman

EPG (Ehrhardt Partner Group) has announced that its solution, Lydia 9 Voice Browser is again certified by SAP for integration with SAP S/4HANA and with SAP NetWeaver.

“This certification from SAP further confirms that businesses that use SAP technology can significantly enhance warehouse performance with the aid of Lydia 9 Voice Browser,” said Tim Just (pictured), CEO Voice Solutions at EPG. “Lydia 9 Voice Browser also ensures they have complete control over their voice application. Our solution has been offering these features since 2009.”

Lydia Voice is a pick-by-voice solution that can be accessed using Lydia 9 Voice Browser. Ensuring a simple integration process, Lydia 9 Voice Browser is compatible with a range of SAP modules, including SAP Extended Warehouse Management rapid deployment solution. Customers benefit more from enhanced performance than with other integration methods thanks to its standardised design and simple system maintenance. Modifications and upgrades can be implemented flexibly and reliably.

With Lydia 9 Voice Browser, Lydia Voice can be integrated into a company’s existing SAP environment without the need for middleware. This intelligent online connectivity ensures maximum efficiency in warehouse processes. The process logic is SAP-based, giving customers a crucial advantage: all standard SAP functionalities can be utilised, and changes can be implemented by their own SAP team with a great deal of flexibility.

Lydia 9 Voice Browser offers multi-modal functionality for Lydia Voice. Users can also access infographics and enter data simultaneously via voice command, touch, scan or keyboard. Thanks to its online connectivity, the technology also offers functions such as real-time stocktaking to track current warehouse inventory, while also facilitating optimised warehouse replenishment and enhanced order-picking efficiency.

SAP Integration and Certification Center (SAP ICC) has certified that the integration software for the product Lydia 9 Voice Browser integrates with SAP S/4HANA and with SAP NetWeaver using standard integration technologies. SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite designed to act as the digital core, helping customers drive digital transformation across their organisations.

 

Trimble acquires Transporeon

Posted on by David Priestman

Trimble has agreed to acquire Transporeon, a leading cloud-based transportation management software platform, in an all-cash transaction valued at €1.88bn. Transporeon’s software platform provides modular applications that power a global network for 145,000 carriers and 1,400 shippers and load recipients with an integrated suite of best-in-class sourcing, planning, execution, monitoring and settlement tools. Trimble will acquire Transporeon from Hg, a leading software and services investor and current majority shareholder in the business.

Transporeon’s open platform integrates with more than 3,000 global ERP and transportation management systems, enabling a dense network to facilitate more than 25 million on-platform transports in 2022. Transporeon helps customers increase competitiveness, lower costs, reduce waste and solve complex freight problems through automation, real-time insights and network participation. Transporeon operates predominantly in Europe, as well as in developed markets across the Americas and Asia.

Consistent with its cloud software model, Transporeon has a strong financial profile with recurring revenue representing over 90% of total revenue, with extremely low churn and net retention consistently in excess of 110%. Transporeon will be immediately accretive to Trimble’s revenue growth and margin profile, and has generated profitable growth over the past 15+ years, through various stages of the economic cycle.

Trimble and Transporeon are highly aligned

“Transporeon is a leading market player with a large TAM, profitable growth and a platform focused on connected supply chain infrastructure, all of which are highly aligned with Trimble’s Connect & Scale strategy,” said Rob Painter, CEO of Trimble. “Under the leadership of Stephan Sieber and the talented management team, Transporeon has exhibited rapidly increasing network density and an accelerating customer adoption curve. Its solutions are deeply integrated with carriers and shippers, and we are confident the platform will play an increasingly important role in the modernization of supply chains globally. We look forward to working together to enhance and expand on the company’s significant growth trajectory, and to offer enhanced TMS platform solutions to Transporeon customers in Europe and to Trimble customers in the North American market.”

“I am incredibly proud of our team’s dedication and commitment, which has culminated in this exciting transaction,” said Stephan Sieber, CEO of Transporeon. “We have built a remarkable platform and sustained profitable growth to become a leader in this attractive market. This transaction will give us the runway to take what we have created to the next level by uniting our powerful European platform with Trimble’s North American carrier-focused platform. I’m excited to be part of the Trimble team for this next phase of growth.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.

Loftware achieves Zebra Technologies validation

Posted on by David Priestman

Loftware, a global leader in enterprise labelling and artwork management solutions, has successfully completed Zebra Technologies’ Enterprise Testing Program for its Loftware NiceLabel suite of labelling and print solutions. This designation indicates to customers and partners that Loftware NiceLabel was successfully tested, confirming its performance and functionality with Zebra’s industrial thermal transfer printers.

Zebra’s Enterprise Testing Program enables eligible channel partners to test the interoperability of their software and hardware solutions with select Zebra mobile computers, scanners, printers, RFID solutions, and software to meet user application-specific needs. Validation status ensures that all aspects of Loftware’s NiceLabel software, including features utilised on Zebra devices, work in harmony to deliver a superior end-user experience, thereby supporting customers’ mission-critical labelling and printing needs.

“We’ve worked closely with Zebra Technologies’ expert engineering teams over the last 15 years, and we’re thrilled to have recently completed the highest level of testing for our NiceLabel suite of products,” said Paul Vogt, Loftware Vice President of Channel and Alliances Programs. “NiceLabel software gets the most out of your Zebra printer because we power every feature available – there’s nothing that you need or want from a Zebra printer that we don’t optimise.”

Loftware hosted in secure platforms

Loftware NiceLabel, hosted in the most secure cloud platforms, offers businesses everything to manage  labelling processes, in one easy-to-use system. Designed for rapid deployments at one site or across multiple locations, it is an ideal solution for mid-sized or growing businesses. Users can be up and running in minutes while having everything they need to manage their entire  labelling process, from label design and template management to printing. It allows organisations to integrate  labelling with key business systems to create a more efficient  labelling process. Users can start small or local, and easily expand the system to multiple locations.

Zebra is described as an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge. Loftware is a proud Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partner in Zebra’s award-winning PartnerConnect programme.

CargoWise connects with IAG Cargo

Posted on by David Priestman

WiseTech Global has announced that IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group (IAG), is now directly integrated with CargoWise, enabling freight forwarders to efficiently choose, book, confirm and change shipments, in real-time from within the industry’s leading logistics execution platform.

IAG Cargo uses the freight capacity of passenger aircraft of IAG, which consists of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer lingus and LEVEL. With five airlines, and over 500 aircraft it’s a model that provides IAG Cargo with great capacity and a truly global network. IAG Cargo has become one of the largest cargo operators in the world, serving key sectors of the global economy including ecommerce, tech, manufacturing, automotive, pharmaceutical and aerospace.

Direct data connection with IAG Cargo’s operational data allows CargoWise customers direct access to schedules, dynamic rates, capacity and allotment bookings. The integration also allows CargoWise users to easily change digital bookings without leaving the application, supporting IAG Cargo’s Destination Digital strategy.

CargoWise helps digititalsation strategy

John Cheetham, Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Cargo, said: “Connecting through CargoWise is another exciting partnership strengthening the digital development of IAG Cargo. This partnership is the latest step in our journey to transform the way we do business, making it easier than ever for CargoWise customers to book their freight directly with IAG Cargo.”

Jorre Cobelens, Vice President – Logistics Data and Connectivity, WiseTech Global, said: “We are pleased that IAG Cargo has joined the growing group of leading cargo carriers that integrate with CargoWise, supporting our industry digitalisation and integration strategy. This direct digital data exchange helps increase data security, data quality and simplifies the eBooking process between parties.

“CargoWise customers, including 10 of the top 25 global freight forwarders who have either completed, or are in progress of, global rollouts of the CargoWise platform, will have access to IAG‘s dynamic rates, schedules and services for key routes between Europe, Asia Pacific, and North- and South-America fulfilling an important part of our global network needs.”

Jamieson accelerates digital supply chain journey

Posted on by David Priestman

Kinaxis Inc., an authority in driving agility for fast, confident decision-making in an unpredictable world, has announced that Jamieson Wellness Inc. is using Kinaxis to bring concurrent planning to its supply chain, supporting company growth and helping to achieve its global business objectives.

Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Jamieson Wellness is Canada’s leading consumer health brand with its portfolio of innovative natural health brands and variety of VMS products under its Youtheory, Progressive, Smart Solutions, Iron Vegan and Precision brands. Jamieson Wellness is leveraging Kinaxis’ RapidResponse platform to gain end-to-end visibility and real-time agility needed to react quickly to any disruption.

“Over the last few years, we’ve seen just how volatile supply chains can be when they aren’t equipped with the right tools. As a leader in our industry, we knew we needed to accelerate our supply chain transformation to continue to thrive,” said Andre Teixeira, VP of Global Supply Chain, Jamieson Wellness Inc. “We aligned with Kinaxis and its concurrent planning technique, and we look forward to working with them to increase our service levels, optimise our inventory and gain manufacturing efficiencies.”

Jamieson finds balance

With Kinaxis, Jamieson Wellness has the ability to find balance in all aspects of the demand and supply plans, by taking into consideration material constraints, production capacity and market volatility. RapidResponse, provides the ability to run multiple simulations and collaborate in real-time giving the agility and flexibility needed to react to market volatility and changes in demand.

“Demand for a product can change drastically, and many companies experienced unpredictable change in demand due to the pandemic and since,” said John Sicard, Kinaxis CEO. “The ability to plan, adapt, and react quickly to changes is what will differentiate industry leaders from their peers. We are thrilled to work with Jamieson Wellness and support its digital supply chain journey and helping them gain a more resilient supply chain.”

 

QUIZ solves its returns challenge

Posted on by David Priestman

British clothing company QUIZ expects to deliver over two million packages by the end of next year. Higher volumes of shipments inevitably lead to higher volumes of returns and, if not managed efficiently, this can become expensive and time consuming to manage.

To help it achieve its target, QUIZ has extended its partnership with nShift, a global leader in parcel delivery management software. QUIZ began working with nShift in 2020, using its Delivery management service. It has now added nShift Returns to its portfolio to more effectively manage the rate of parcel returns – an issue that is faced by fashion retailers throughout the sector.

Research shows that between 30 and 40% of clothes bought online are returned to the seller. With more of us than ever shopping online, it’s vital that returns are managed as efficiently as possible. Data from analytics company GlobalData predicts that by next year, the returns market in the UK will cost businesses £5.6bn.

“We wanted something that’s dynamic and can be tracked all the way through the delivery and returns process”, said Haroun Saleemi, head of e-commerce, QUIZ. “The systems we have at the moment are dated and are not designed for the volume or velocity of orders going through our system – especially when you consider the level of service quality our customers expect.”

QUIZ saves staff time

The combination of both using nShift Delivery and Returns is expected to realise huge improvements to QUIZ. It anticipates saving 25-30% in staff time alone due to expected reductions in time handling both ‘Where is my order’ and ‘where is my return’ queries from customers. This will enable its customer service teams to dedicate more time to customer care and be more proactive in spotting and mitigating any issues helping to improve the customer experience as a result.

The addition of nShift Returns will provide notifications to each customer on precisely where their return is in the process while dynamic tracking numbers mean QUIZ will have visibility of every step of the delivery and returns process – something it has not previously been able to do. The addition of nShift Returns also means QUIZ can provide QR codes from the different carriers to customers enabling freedom of choice in return options.

Richard Anderson, Chief Customer Officer, nShift, said: “Customers want choice in how, when and where their orders are delivered and have high expectations of a seamless returns process. But giving customers the delivery and returns experience they demand risks becoming costly and time consuming for the brand. With nShift, brands like QUIZ can automate the book and print process and more easily offer a digital returns experience which is more convenient for customers and easier for warehouses to manage.”

The move to digitising labels in delivery and returns is also the first step in QUIZ going paperless – an objective it expects to achieve by late 2023. This is because it will remove the need for printing in the packing process and the associated printer requirements and maintenance.

Dakosy software handles imports to Switzerland

Posted on by David Priestman

From 1st January, 2023, shipments of goods from Switzerland must be declared electronically to German customs with a presentation notification. This affects shipments that cannot be handled by a customs declaration before presentation or a through transport procedure, as well as certain other non-standard procedures.

The logistics and transport company Transco Süd, headquartered in Singen, specialises in the handling of imports from Switzerland and is the pilot user for the new customs procedure at the main customs office in Singen. Dakosy’s customs software ZODIAK GE was successfully used for the tests.

The transitional period for the special regulations on imports from Switzerland, for which a customs declaration without a Previous Administrative Reference document was up until now possible, will expire on 31st December, 2022. The reason is that the provision is no longer compliant with the Union Customs Code. Therefore, as of 1st January, 2023, the electronic presentation notification/summary declaration will be mandatory for imports from Switzerland into Germany.

Julian Gräble, Head of customs clearance at Transco, had the new customs requirement in his sights well in advance: “We updated our processes to the new procedure at the earliest point possible. In order to safeguard our Swiss operations, it was essential for us to integrate the mandatory pre-declaration at an early stage. This was also one of the factors that prompted us to choose Dakosy’s customs software in May 2022.”

Ongoing process optimisation software

In the ZODIAK GE customs software, the function of presentation notification/summary declaration is already defined as standard, as it has been required at seaports and airports for some time.

“The early introduction of the software enabled us to test the application as a pilot user for the IHK Hochrhein-Bodensee at the main customs office in Singen,” highlights Gräble. Accordingly, he is relaxed about the changeover. But the time up until the launch is also to be used efficiently in the pilot environment, Gräble reveals: “Working together with Customs, we will continue testing until the end of the year in order to be able to carry out process optimisations, which will then also take effect starting 1st January, 2023.”

Reliability crucial to core business

The new procedure must run smoothly from the very first minute of operation. After all, at Transco’s border offices in Basel, Thayngen, Singen and Constance, customs clearance for goods transports between Germany and Switzerland is part of its core business. Every day, more than 30 customs declarants work here to prepare the necessary export, import and transit documents for cross-border transactions.

“With the large volumes involved, we need reliable, high-performance customs software that is also aligned with our digitalisation strategy,” explains Gräble and continues: “ZODIAK GE is very stable, clearly structured and designed with future growth in mind.”

For the coming year, Transco plans to make customs handling as automated as possible. The company plans to launch new forwarding software, into which ZODIAK GE will be integrated. Using the BOX interface from Dakosy, the data required for customs clearance will be transferred from the forwarding system to ZODIAK GE, where the customs declarations will then be completed and transmitted to the customs authorities.

The feedback from customs can also be transferred via ZODIAK GE to the Transco system through an automated process. “So far we have had only good experiences with Dakosy, so we’re pleased to be taking this next digitalisation step together,” Gräble concludes enthusiastically.

 

 

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