JDA, IBM Roll Out Product Order Partnership

IBM and the JDA Software Group announced Tuesday (Nov. 11) a deal that the two argue will boost processing intelligence and order fulfillment. The idea is that the two will synchronize order capture and order management.

This approach “will reveal the true cost of fulfilling an order – including inventory and labor costs – so that businesses can more responsively adjust inventory and resource allocations and execute decisions that meet and exceed customer expectations while also serving their bottom line,” the companies said. The joint offering won’t be available until late Spring 2015, the statement said.

The companies offered this example: “When a customer purchases an outfit online from a clothing retailer, there are several dynamic factors at play that can affect the profitability of the transaction, such as: if the customer wants the outfit delivered to a home or will pick it up in store; if the item is in stock at that store or needs to be fulfilled from an alternate location; or if warehouse or store labor is available to fulfill the order in a timely manner. With the combined solutions from IBM and JDA, these issues will be resolved in the background in real-time by applying knowledge of the retailer’s inventory planning and allocation during the order processing. This allows the retailer to intelligently initiate the best possible omni-channel fulfillment decision at the moment of the sale in the most profitable manner.”