JDA’s road to convergence

JDAÆs road to convergence    When shippers and third-party logistics firms invest in mission critical systems, such as transportation management (TMS), they are in many ways linking their success with that of their systems vendor.
   Having a clear understanding of, and comfort with, that vendor’s plans for investment, development and innovation, is always important. But it’s particularly crucial when your vendor is in a state of flux.
   To say JDA Software Group and the firms it has acquired during the past five years ‘ namely i2 Technologies and Manugistics ‘ have been in flux is an understatement. Since their ‘heyday’ in the dot-com era, i2 and Manugistics were perpetually in a state of uncertainty.
   In 2006, JDA acquired Manugistics and the combination has since been successful by most accounts. JDA has invested in enhancing the TMS capabilities that the combined firms now bring to the market, and in general solidified its position as a leader in providing systems to retailers and their suppliers.
   On the other hand, the on-again, off-again courtship between JDA and i2 that played out over the past two years and eventually culminated in JDA acquiring i2 in January 2010 was more controversial for good reason. There was a considerable amount of overlap between JDA’s TMS footprint (Manugistics’ heritage) and that of i2.
   The prolonged, confusing nature of the merger negotiations only added to the uncertainty surrounding the companies and elevated the importance of creating a clear roadmap that defines how and when these two companies would bring their platforms and applications together.

Fabrizio Brasca vice president of logistics, JDA
‘We’re going to make the best of what the i2 solutions had to offer and the best of what Manugistics had to offer and converge them.’

   ‘These are not two small solutions here. We’re talking about two very large, established transportation practices,’ said Fabrizio Brasca, vice president of logistics for JDA, in an interview. ‘The Manugistics practice has a long history going back to the late ’80s or early ’90s, and the i2 practice which goes back almost as far.’
   JDA has what amounts to three roadmaps. ‘Each of the individual solutions on the core TMS side ‘ Manugistics and i2 ‘ will continue to have individual roadmaps for the foreseeable future,’ Brasca said.
   The third roadmap covers the combined solution and will eventually be the only roadmap ‘ but not anytime soon. ‘Those customers that may not be prepared to move to the converged solution over the next few years know they have something that will be invested in and continue to grow,’ Brasca said. ‘We are not dictating when they have to move or that they have to move. That will be entirely up to the customer’s discretion.’
   JDA’s three roadmaps all share two goals. ‘Create something net new and innovative to the marketplace that combines the power of both suites,’ Brasca said. ‘But the second, equally important goal was to make sure our existing and established customers using the technology today are happy.
   ‘At first we were concerned there would be confusion, but we’re seeing a lot of excitement from the customers,’ he added.
   On Dec. 7, 2010, JDA announced the release of its Logistics Procurement offering marking the first milestone on its plan to merge all the company’s applications into one cohesive platform.
   ‘The real exciting thing about this procurement release and the release to follow is that we are delivering ahead of the commitment made in the roadmap,’ Brasca said. ‘Our goal here is to continue to deliver ahead of that timeline.’
   In 2011, JDA will progress towards its next milestone, which revolves around integrating its freight order management application more closely with the TMS suite. The roadmap calls for a major event in 2012 with the next large-scale release of the core TMS application. Brasca predicts this will be the point where most customers will migrate to the fully converged JDA TMS platform.
   2013 calls for some additional tweaks to the converged portfolio. The last milestone occurs in 2014 with the integration of fleet management tools with the core TMS platform.
   The Logistics Procurement release is an interesting case-in-point demonstration of the value the combined assets from Manugistics and i2 can bring to bear. This application relies on i2’s bid management tool in combination with a contract management module from Manugistics’ heritage. In this instance there was no overlap but instead complementary tools that should prove even more valuable to users now that they are an integrated offering.
   ‘We’re going to take the best of what the i2 solutions had to offer and the best of what Manugistics had to offer and converge them into a net-new, converged solution,’ Brasca said. ‘Things like the very flexible comprehensive freight management paradigm that existed on the i2 solution combined with the investment JDA made in the Manugistics suite around the rich user interface and dashboard-driven workbenches.’
   JDA’s roadmap ‘ or roadmaps as the case may be ‘ are certainly ambitious and aggressive. But it does leave some notable opportunities for development in future roadmaps.
   ‘Right now our strategy for GTM continues to be to partner, but that is something we will evaluate going into 2011,’ Brasca said. ‘We still see (GTM) as a separate marketplace from the core TM solutions.’
   However, the company plans to continue to internationalize its TMS and related applications as part of the current roadmap. ‘In terms of the roadmap the investment will be in continuing to grow the capabilities from a TMS perspective, such as global routing and capabilities that are geographically specific,’ Brasca said.
   JDA’s TMS applications manage freight movements on six continents, so this is certainly a global operation by any measure. But different countries or regions have different nuances and quirks that certainly make it difficult for JDA’s system to apply across the globe. It’s important to continually fine-tune the TMS in each marketplace to enhance its functionality and usability.