HAHT Commerce Inc. has announced its new demand chain management suite designed to provide all the functionality manufacturers need to manage sales and marketing processes across multiple channels.
The new Suite 7.0 Demand Chain Management solution builds upon HAHT’s traditional core strength in sell-side e-commerce systems while adding features across the entire customer lifecycle. It also includes pre-built integration with SAP AG and J.D. Edwards & Co. ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems.
With the new suite, manufacturers can integrate, analyze and improve business processes between channel partners, distributors and customers to reduce marketing and sales costs, said Rowland Archer, HAHT’s president and chief executive officer (CEO).
“It’s about looking at all my business processes and figuring out how to do them more efficiently,” Arhcer said. “How do I get more important to the channel partner and tie their business processes into mine?”
In addition, because of the pre-integration into ERP systems, users will not have to duplicate business logic like pricing that already exists in ERP systems, he said.
“A lot of the companies that started with a channel management focus [require that] a marketing person create all these relationships that are in your ERP system into their system,” Archer said. “We’re handling both the relationship piece … and the transaction piece with one set of software.”
Demand chain management is a forward-looking model that incorporates and evolves the functionality of sell-side e-commerce, partner relationship management, channel management, and content management, said Sheryl Kingstone, a senior analyst for the Yankee Group. HAHT is recognizing this evolution and has created a product roadmap to support demand chain management, she added.
The suite includes new product and brand information management features, including those that support high-volume e-mail marketing campaigns and contact list management. In addition, it has expanded order management functionality including native wireless support and a guided selling and configuration interface. The suite also includes a new business intelligence module designed to analyze transactional and behavioral information gathered from the Web, service desk and sales force to optimize business processes and personalize customer experience.
“Our business intelligence is not just for the HAHT applications; it’s really for the whole view of the customer wherever that data is,” he said.