New supply chain solutions from Manhattan Associates and IBM
Working from IBM's open technologies and Manhattan's supply chain software, the two are strengthening their partnership.
By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/30/2007
An expanded partnership between supply chain management software supplier Manhattan Associates and IBM is focused on providing holistic supply chain business solutions.
The companies, which have worked together for 15 years, will now collaborate on customer services using Manhattan’s suite of supply chain planning and execution applications built on top of IBM’s open standard WebSphere and information management technologies.
The benefits: IBM technology gives end users the ability to integrate new applications into their existing infrastructure. That reduces the time to implement mission critical applications, minimizes the risk of integration and lowers the overall cost of ownership.
The end result: Holistic supply chain business solutions. Companies can more easily design global supply chain solutions that connect suppliers, contract manufacturers and third-party logistics (3PL) providers, and end customers.
“The decision for a supply chain solution used to be made at the plant or DC," says Mark Hanny, vice president of independent software vendor alliances for IBM. “That was a siloed approach. Today, those decisions are being made at the boardroom level. They’re not purchasing a warehouse or transportation management solution. They’re trying to create a business solution that gives them a competitive advantage. They need applications that work together to enable their processes and deliver value.”
IBM and Manhattan are hardly strangers.
They already share 1,000 customers globally, according to Jeff Cashman, Manhattan’s senior vice president of business development. “But until now, that relationship has been built around Manhattan selling IBM’s hardware in the marketplace,” says Cashman. “We’re now collaborating on a go-to-market strategy built around vertical industries, technology and geography.”That breaks out as follows.
Vertical markets: IBM and Manhattan will concentrate their efforts in the verticals where Manhattan excels, including retail, consumer goods, manufacturing and third-party logistics providers.
Geography: The two companies are already strong in North America. Now, they will ramp up their joint sales efforts across Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
Technology: Manhattan will deliver the products in its business process platform, known as Logistics Event Management Architecture (LEMA), on IBMs WebSphere Application Server, Message Broker and Transformation Extender.
“This is a very different strategy from what the other ERP (enterprise resource planning) and supply chain management suppliers are telling their customers,” says Hanny. “They are taking a proprietary approach and asking customers to rip out an existing architecture and replace it with their business platform. Since IBM and Manhattan are both embracing open standards, we’re telling the market they can seamlessly connect their existing systems with their vendors, their transportation providers and their customers.”
Talkback
Related Content
Related Content
There are no other articles related to this article.
View All Blogs
