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Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Businesses Seek Strategic Management Tools

Strategic tools essential to drive growth, says JDA Software country manager

Increased commodity and service costs due to soaring oil prices and intense competition are driving Philippine businesses to find cost-effective ways to predict and meet the needs of their customers, said the top Philippine executive of a global software company. The macro- and microeconomic impact of the global financial crisis on the local markets are now apparent and businesses are adjusting to optimize resource and supply solutions.

The mounting issue with tainted Chinese products is also affecting trade, as China is a major source of commodity supplies, from food to manufactured goods. Philippine businesses are eyeing new retail, supply chain, and service management solutions to maximize revenue.

“Companies are focusing on demand forecasting, planning, and optimization of their supply chains,” said JDA Software Philippines Country Manager Cherokee Chamorro. ”Given increased competition, rising costs, and other macroeconomic factors, Philippine businesses are telling us their key challenge is to predict customer demand in the most accurate and timely manner possible, then execute supply chain processes to meet demand as efficiently as possible.”

The company’s solutions provide retailers and manufacturers forecasts according to buying behavior across demographics, geography, historical sales information, current market data, and buying trends, resulting in optimized supply and delivery processes.

Chamorro said, “Our solutions provide retailers and manufacturers the means to achieve their profit and merchandising objectives through optimal inventory and service levels. Our customers typically experience significant increases in market share as a result. Another benefit is lower inventory of slow-moving products by as much as 20 percent to 70 percent while increasing service levels”

According to Chamorro, JDA has demonstrated these capabilities with major clients through Asia Pacific and is now working with major Philippine companies to provide the same benefits.

Arun Grupta, CIO of HyperCITY, a member of India ’s retail giant Shopper’s Stop Group, explained the benefits his company experienced. "Before we implemented JDA’s Allocation & Replenishment solutions, it was an experiment for us to understand what customers would buy. For example, we closely evaluated our grocery products to determine what kind of categories would sell and which would not. We found that the JDA solutions are able to provide information that helps us plan our category mix a lot more effectively. As a result of better business decisions driven by the JDA solutions, some of the categories we offered two years back have been replaced by newer, better-selling categories," he said.

"Precise inventory planning is essential to HyperCITY's continued success. In the retail and food business, availability of the right SKU in the right quantity on the shelf is imperative. When the ordering is based on guesswork rather than statistics, the result is excess inventory or empty shelves. This inventory holding cost can adversely impact profitability. Additional stock also means that available space to hold the stock is at a premium," Grupta said.

JDA solutions are used by more than 5,550 retailers and manufacturers internationally, according to Chamorro. Eight of the Philippines ’ top 10 retailers use JDA’s Merchandise Management System to integrate point-of-sale and enterprise financial systems.


About JDA Software Group, Inc.

JDA® Software Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS) is focused on helping companies realize real supply chain and revenue management results – fast. JDA Software delivers integrated merchandising as well as supply chain and revenue management planning, execution, and optimization solutions for the consumer-driven supply chain and services industries. Through its industry-leading solutions, leading manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and services companies around the world are growing their businesses with greater predictability and more profitably. For more information on JDA Software, visit www.jda.com.

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