JDA eyes visibility ecosystem

The supply chain software provider announced three visibility tie-ups to its transportation management system this week, with an eye on creating more real-time data value to marry to its robust optimization capabilities.    The supply chain solutions company JDA Software has long been known as a provider of systems that are deep and robust, with optimization engines that allow users to crunch incredible amounts of data in short periods of time.
   That includes JDA’s transportation management system (TMS), which has always appealed to users that have complex networks and lengthy constraints lists.
   This week, however, JDA announced the strides it has made to improve its real-time visibility through tie-ups with three different technology vendors (INTTRA, TransVoyant, and FourKites). The announcements came in the wake of the company’s massive user conference, FOCUS, last week in Nashville.
   In a conversation Wednesday with American Shipper, Keith Whalen, senior director of product management at JDA, said the goal of the partnerships is to provide differentiation for the company’s core transportation planning and execution tools.
   “Our opinion is that there isn’t just one provider that provides all the visibility you need across every mode,” he said. “We see providers in certain modes. Part of the strategy is, who do we need to partner with to build a larger visibility hub, but at the same time build a single entry point to onboard.”
   Whalen emphasized that faster onboarding of carriers was a key differentiator. American Shipper has in the past explored the idea of TMSs connecting users to service partners via public cloud-based networks or through different means.
   While JDA’s TMS is often grouped together with those of Oracle and SAP (primarily because they had historically been deployed on-premise and were heavy-duty systems), Whalen described the new visibility partnerships as “providing more modern visibility partners in an aggregate ‘hub of hubs’ type of strategy. We’re looking to onboard multiple partnerships, whether through traditional EDI or through more modern approaches for real-time visibility.”
   The hub of hubs approach has alternatively been called a visibility partner ecosystem that JDA sees as key in stitching together its wide range of solutions, from warehouse management, demand planning and workforce management, among other products.
   That approach, Whalen said, enables JDA to deliver greater immediate value to TMS customers that have already built EDI-based connectivity structures, while also planning for a future where things like status updates are delivered in real-time or near real-time.
   The partnership with FourKites, for example, allows JDA’s TMS users to “be able to interface with all the providers across the major carriers, providing real time visibility to equipment on the road. They do a lot of nice things in terms of current locations, and revised ETAs. They will integrate well with us.”
   FourKites provides load tracking by measuring the location of a load every 15 minutes, recalculates its ETA, and automating arrivals and departures using geo-fencing technologies.
   The TransVoyant tie-up is also interesting. TransVoyant provides real-time air and ocean transportation visibility using sensors, radar, smartphones, satellites, GPS, video cameras, and other devices to produce live and predictive insights.
   “We’ll leverage that for more accurate status updates into the TMS,” Whalen said. “It distills data streams into transactional data that our TMS can absorb. We’re seeing more interest in control towers, and part of that is comparing what is planned and what are the actuals, and what are the best remedy paths.”
   The partnership with INTTRA was first announced in February, when Fab Brasca, vice president, solution strategy, intelligent fulfillment, at JDA, said INTTRA gave JDA’s TMS deeper ocean capability.
   Brasca also told American Shipper at the time how there were more partnerships to come for JDA.
   JDA integrates with INTTRA for ocean bookings and submission of shipping instructions, but the broader visibility partnership includes data and services. INTTRA is a major provider of visibility status milestones for ocean freight shipments to other technology vendors.
   “The product roadmap is taking visibility streams and providing cost value,” Whalen said. “Things like automated re-driving of scenarios across all these modes.”