by Sudeepa Nair

Created on: March 25, 2009

Supply chain management software vendors provide applications and service to organizations keen on utilizing information technology to help manage their supply chains easily. Traditionally the supply chain software market was divided into supply chain planning systems and supply chain execution systems. Supply chain execution systems include Transportation Management Systems (TMS), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Manufacturing execution Systems (MES). But gradually, ERP vendors have begun supplying execution systems and vice versa. Top supply chain software vendors, today, offer a more holistic solution to organizations while simultaneously providing customized solutions for different industries like retail, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, hospitality etc. There are several consulting firms that track the supply chain software market and every year they come up with a list of the top vendors in this space. Two notable research firms, Gartner and AMR, are widely referred to in the software industry. Let us have a look at their top SCM software vendors list for the year 2008.

Gartner provides the list of top 5 SCM software vendors by revenues in 2007. The software revenues as defined by Gartner includes revenues from new licenses, updates subscriptions and hosting, technical support and maintenance. The report states that There is greater need for vendor services to help support, improve or tune applications to meet business needs, environments and processes'. As per Gartner, SAP leads the pack with 22.4% ($1.3 billion) of the SCM software market share. The others are as follows: Oracle (16%), JDA software (3.9%), ARIBA (2.7%), Manhattan Associates (2.6%). Interesting to note here is that, while SAP and Oracle are ERP providers who also offer supply chain management solutions, JDA software is a pure-play yet comprehensive supply chain systems provider and Ariba focuses on the procurement function. Manhattan Associates provide supply chain execution systems like WMS and TMS.

AMR research expects the SCM software industry to grow by 2.5% in the years 2007-2012. According to AMR, RedPrairie seems to lead the pack in terms of growth rate showing a 24% growth in revenue, although the list is still led by SAP and Oracle. RedPrairie provides supply chain execution, store management, logistics, and warehouse management software that companies use to manage their supply chains. Its applications monitor and control all phases of the supply chain, from inbound logistics and inventory management to order fulfillment and transportation. It also provides collaboration tools to help companies interact with trading partners.

References: www.mmh.com (Modern materials handling)

www.cio.com

www.hoovers.com

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