JDA has strengthened its mobile offering through two sets of initiatives. The first is the release of two new mobile applications JDA Buyer and JDA InStock. The second is a the new new JDA Certified Mobile Alliance Program which allows vendors to certify their mobile applications against the JDA supply chain and omni channel retail solutions. One of the first alliance partners is REPL Group.
JDA Certified Mobile Alliance Program
REPL group was founded in 2007 and is now a platinum partner of JDA. They work across retail, logistics and manufacturing and have a division REPL Digital that specialises in the development and integration of online, mobile and in-store digital solutions for retail. Mike Callender REPL Group founder and CEO commented: “REPL prides itself on being a flexible, agile and creative organization that is able to understand and solve user experience challenges quickly and cost-effectively.
“Companies like ours are well-placed to complement JDA solutions and enhance their functionality by developing bespoke user experiences in response to specific customer requirements. We already enjoy a longstanding partnership with JDA, and we believe this mobile program will deliver even greater advantage for JDA, REPL and our many existing and future joint customers.”
The new JDA Certified Mobile Alliance Program enables third party applications such as REPL Digital to be validated against JDA applications. This ensures that partner solutions meet a level of quality that ensure a degree of future proofing. The certification process ensures that the user experience is consistent with other JDA applications improving the chances for the application to be rolled out seamlessly by the partner
New Mobile applications from JDA
JDA also announced two mobile applications, JDA Buyer and JDA Instock. JDA Buyer is only currently available from iTunes for iOS devices while JDA Instock is available on Apple, Android and Windows devices. JDA Buyer enables buyers to take images of products, either offline or online then add notes and tag different styles or colours so that the information can be fed back into the various planning processes within JDA software.
JDA InStock integrates with JDA Demand & Fulfillment and JDA Flowcasting, helping users to access their data while mobile. Aimed at replenishment planners, managers and directors it ensures that the time to order for stock replenishment is minimized. This helps to ensure that retail stores have sufficient stocks to maximise turnover and profit.
Conclusion
It will be interesting to see how quickly JDA can expand the program to include other partners and ISV’s. However the solution is still a long way short of the variety available on either NetSuite or Salesforce’s app stores. It will be interesting to see how challengers such as GT Nexus (now owner by Infor), Manhattan Associates and Epicor look to react as JDA looks to expand its ecosystem wider.
Paula Natoli, vice president, product management, JDA commented: “At JDA, we know and understand the importance of mobility in the enterprise and continue to strengthen our mobile capabilities to arm customers with the visibility, convenience and efficiency mobility offers, because on the go workers need customized applications at their fingertips based on their task, role and use case.
“Mobility no longer stops at the consumer experience; it extends to the enterprise supply chain more and more. Whether it’s a store associate on the floor, a district manager overseeing multiple stores, a buyer, a field sales representative, a category manager, a transportation planner or carrier, or the chief logistics officer, mobility plays a vital role in driving efficiency in managing today’s complex, omni-channel supply chains.”
While Gartner reported a decline for JDA in their latest report from 2013 figures they still remain the third largest SCM player. It will be interesting to see whether in introducing more mobile partners into their ecosystem they can make up the lost ground on SAP and Oracle.
