JDA Software Group will use Google’s Cloud Platform technologies to deliver new supply chain management and data analytics services to its customers.
Under a collaboration agreement announced June 10, JDA will employ Google’s App Engine, Cloud Dataflow and related technologies as the basis for a range of upcoming services.
The collaboration between the two, announced June 10, gives JDA access to a range of highly scalable and powerful backend systems, John Sarvari, the company’s group vice president of technology, said in a guest post on Google’s Cloud Platform Blog.
“[Google] provides the technology that allows us to integrate additional data like social media, weather and IoT information to increase forecast accuracy,” he wrote. “Google Cloud Platform allows us to operate at the incredible levels of scale necessary to meet our customers’ needs.”
A platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering like Google App Engine removes many of the constraints of on-premise technology and provides the horsepower needed to process hundreds of millions of pieces of data for forecasting purposes, he said.
JDA provides retail and supply chain planning and management software and services to about 4,000 customers worldwide. Its portfolio includes contract and demand management, customer engagement, factory planning and scheduling, inventory management and warehouse management services.
Recently, JDA has begun exploring ways of incorporating big data approaches and analytics into its service portfolio in a bid to help customers derive more value from their supply chain, manufacturing and related data. Toward this goal, last October JDA established a new research and development group called JDA Labs to explore new opportunities around data analytics, product innovation and user experience.
JDA Labs will lead the development of new initiatives around Google Cloud Platform, the company said in a statement announcing the partnership. Google will also complement a newly announced JDA platform strategy called Flex that the company has said will provide better connectivity between its existing cloud and on-premise platforms and next-generation services built on Google’s Cloud Platform.
In a statement, Serge Massicotte, executive vice president and chief technology officer at JDA Software, said the company decided to partner with Google only after an exhaustive evaluation of other PaaS providers.
The partnership with JDA Software will give Google an opportunity to prove its technological prowess in the cloud infrastructure space in front of a sophisticated enterprise audience. Many of JDA’s customers are supply chain leaders recognized for their best practices in the space.
In May, Gartner named 21 of JDAs customers in its supply chain Top 25 List for 2015. The list recognizes organizations that exemplify best practices around supply chain management and optimization.
In a statement, IDC analyst Bob Parker noted that both Google and JDA have a good history of identifying and launching technologies and approaches that add value for customers. “With the founding of JDA Labs and other initiatives, JDA has demonstrated a strong commitment to research and development.” Google’s task will be to ensure that the resulting innovations reach the market faster, he said.
