1. Forward: Are You Still
Forecasting Items?
Understand Why
Demand Occurs.
Build a Continually
Optimized 365-Day
Demand Plan
Achieve Inventory
Alignment Across
Channels and Echelons
Collaborate Internally
and Externally
Get More from
Your Team and
Your Technology
Consider your Supply
Chain Realistically
Get Your Head in
the Cloud
Research from Gartner:
Magic Quadrant for
Supply Chain Planning
System of Record
Conclusion
Forward: Are You Still Forecasting Items?
1
2
2
3
4
4
5
5
6
41
What would you rather know: How
many items sold yesterday, or what
your customer will buy tomorrow?
For as long as supply chain management
has existed, retailers and distributors
have tracked one thing: the item. Nearly
everyone talks about the item’s demand,
and building a forecast based on what
the item is doing. But what if you’ve been
forecasting the wrong thing?
The fact is, items don’t really “do” anything.
They don’t sell themselves. They don’t make
decisions. They don’t really even have a
history. It’s the customer who has history,
who buys, who makes decisions, who
influences your stock levels. Any statistics
you have on the item does not derive from the
item, but from the customer. The customer’s
behavior is what you should be tracking. But
until the era of Big Data and sophisticated
analytics, tracking and predicting behavior
was not possible.
Today every detail of a customer’s transaction,
along with the factors influencing their buying
decision is available. You can now know what
causes customers to buy. We can discover the
influencing factors. And, in some cases, you can
even create those factors. This information is the
key to accurately forecasting demand.
Big Data and the ability to analyze customer
transactions have revolutionized the understanding
of customer demand, providing visibility and
precision on a whole new level. The days of death
by averages, estimates and assumptions are over
because now you can start to unravel the factors
influencing customers to buy. Most importantly,
the resulting precision means enhanced product
availability for your customers at the lowest
possible cost to your organization.
Source: Blue Ridge
How to Supercharge Product
Availability Without Inflating
Inventory
If you are interested in increasing sales and eliminating excess inventory without
sacrificing product availability, here are 7 keys that will get you incomparable results.

2. 2
1. Improve Forecast Accuracy by Segmenting Demand
CHALLENGE: When it comes to improving
demand forecast accuracy, it hinges heavily your
ability to understand the customer better and
translating that deeper understanding of the
customer into precise supply chain planning that
improves both sales and margin.
A demand forecasting model should not be
judged by how many forecast methods it has, but
rather by how effectively it predicts customer
behavior. In particular, identifying influencers that
impact customer behavior can move you closer to
the holy grail of predicting the customer.
2. Build a Continually Optimized 365-Day Demand Plan
CHALLENGE: What if you could optimize inventory
for an entire year, not just one order at a time?
Would you plan differently if you could see both
the big picture and the details simultaneously?
Like a hawk high in the air, what if you could see
the entire landscape as well as the mouse in the
weeds-- your entire year’s inventory as well as
a daily view? When you have a clear picture of
present and future – demand, supply, inventory
levels, and supply chain constraints - you can plan
with exceptional precision. This brings you one giant
step closer to the ultimate goal of the supply chain –
meeting customer demand at the lowest possible risk
and cost.
SOLUTION: Create a precise, economically optimized,
365-day (or more) demand and supply plan and
continually revise it based on the latest data.
Every single customer transaction is influenced by
causal factors. The truth is that causal simply identifies
what causes, or influences a shopper to buy something.
When you know “why,” you have a much better chance
at accurately forecasting “what” “when” and “how
much.”
SOLUTION: With the vast data available today,
influencing factors can be analyzed, and if significant
enough, defined as a forecast segment that removes
the mystery from the demand forecast and highlights
the reason for demand.
By accumulating each transaction and analyzing them at
a granular level, you can produce accurate forecasts by:
• Identifying which demand is relevant in predicting
future demand
• Establishing the causal factors that influence
customer demand, and their impact on the total
forecast
• Accounting for rate, pattern, randomness or trends in
customer demand and how they impact the forecast
BOTTOM LINE: You need software that analyzes
customer data, not just aggregate sales data, allowing
you to get a precise prediction of what that demand
will be and create the most cost-effective plan to meet
demand.
Source: Blue Ridge

3. 3
Here’s how:
1. Forecast and segment demand
2. Factor internal and external lead times into the plan
3. Cover demand based on optimal order schedule
4. Calculate safety stock that precisely meets
service and product availability goals
5. Build precise order forecasts that fulfill all forecasted demand, prevent stock-outs, and excess inventories
6. Adjust for special order considerations
7. Reconcile orders to comply with supply chain constraints like supplier minimums, store order schedule, etc.
Source: Blue Ridge
3. Achieve Inventory Alignment Across Channels & Echelons
CHALLENGE: The misalignment of inventory starts
with how customer demand is typically captured and
is compounded by using the wrong demand signal to
translate demand to upstream tiers.
Rolled-up historical point-of-sale (POS) data, or historic
store orders – even with an understanding of stores
inventory excess or shortage – is fundamentally the
wrong data for producing a demand signal to generate a
forecast at any DC, or supplier that provides fulfillment
to the store or forward selling location directly servicing
the customer.
Stores, distribution centers (DCs), and suppliers each
need to have their own distinct demand forecast.
The forecast must represent how demand will occur
in these locations. For that reason, DC and supplier
forecasts will never be accurate if they are a statistical
average based on the sales in the store or shipments
from the DC.
SOLUTION: DC and supplier forecasts must be
a deterministic forecast of the actual orders that
lower echelons will place, considering future stock
positions, order schedules, optimizations and
constraints that will shape the orders.
How? By translating the truest source of demand
– customer demand – into a forecast of fully
calculated inventory replenishment orders from
the stores, DCs or other serviced tier.
This order forecasting method yields the proper
demand signal for each upstream tier, assuring
inventory alignment across the supply chain which
minimizes out-of-stocks and inventory excess.
The supply chain alignment enabled by increased
planning accuracy produces operational and
financial impact that is game-changing.
Source: Blue Ridge

4. 4
4. Collaborate Internally and Externally
CHALLENGE: Strong coordination and
communication between you and your suppliers
can lead to customized approaches to meeting
demand that improves the profitability of supply
chain operations in both companies. Traditionally,
the labor-intensive nature of collaboration has been
a big obstacle to the success of these
initiatives.
To collaborate on a demand plan,
companies need to be able to
share more than a simplistic
demand forecast.
SOLUTION: A cooperative
relationship is much easier when
you lay out the precise details of
when, what and how you’ll actually
order in an easily accessible format.
With precise projections of future orders
to your suppliers, you can export and share
your realistic demand plan.
Just as critical as sharing your demand plan with
your supplier, is adjusting your demand plan
considering supplier availability or production
constraints. Communicating with your suppliers
to understand their capacity goes a long way in
ensuring product availability for your customers.
Many supplier constraints are predictable, as they
relate to holiday, seasonal or production schedules,
and can be identified well in advance of an order.
These production and availability schedules should
be incorporated into your supply chain planning
solution and adjustments made automatically
to future orders to assure fulfillment in the
most accurate and cost-effective fashion.
When it comes to a more sudden
supplier capacity issue, your solution
should be able to act quickly by
identifying secondary suppliers and
even sending automated requests
for quotes. This eliminates the need
for manually identifying secondary
suppliers and conducting cumbersome
comparison price quality and availability
checks.
Companies who adopt a collaborative approach
experience fewer out-of-stock scenarios and fewer
unexpected expenditures on last-minute orders to
cover what could have been a predictable supplier
constraint.
Source: Blue Ridge
5. Get More From Your Team and Your Technology
CHALLENGE: “What decisions can technology
manage better than humans, and which
activities are better managed by humans than
technology?” This should be the question that
drives your internal operational process.
For example:
• Is there a way to automate the internal transfer
of inventory already in your supply chain to
locations that need it?
• What about building orders to supplier
minimums or logistics constraints?
• Can allocation of insufficient quantities be
taken off a user’s plate?
These questions and many more are addressed by
people today. For greatest benefit, they are best
handled with an eye toward maintaining product flow,
while minimizing risk and cost. That is something
that quickly extends beyond your people’s ability to
calculate.
Getting more out of your technology solution means
freeing up people to do what they’re better equipped to
do: more intuitive and strategic tasks that affect your
company’s bottom line.
SOLUTION: Let machines do what machines do best. You
need a comprehensive supply chain planning solution that
automates both core and complex tasks and eliminates
imprecise manual processes that may currently absorb
much of your team’s time.
Source: Blue Ridge

5. 5
6. Consider Your Supply Chain Realistically
CHALLENGE: Many companies have found out the
hard way that even a massive team of forecasting,
planning and replenishment professionals can’t
possibly optimize every SKU/location constantly
without the assistance of technology. Technology
solutions can optimize all of your items considering
current conditions, bringing predictability,
responsiveness and sustainability to your business
that you have likely not seen to this point.
Of course, there is a big difference between
theoretical optimization and optimizing in the face
of reality. Optimization in itself assumes “ceteris
paribus,” or all other things being equal. The
problem is when it comes to supply and demand,
things never remain equal.
Even with all of the data, technology, and analytics
available, precision supply chain planning is a moving
target. The reality is that supply chain conditions can
change like the weather, literally. Whatever the cause,
disruptions occur, and new opportunities or company
strategies arise. You must optimize within the
constantly changing conditions of your supply chain
reality. That is what yields constant results.
SOLUTION: The secret to staying ahead of these changes
is to have the technology that is capable of optimizing
constantly, rather than just once or periodically. You
need software that is flexible and powerful enough to
automatically optimize in response to the most pressing
supply chain conditions.
Source: Blue Ridge
7. Get Your Head in the Cloud
CHALLENGE: Surprisingly, much of the traditional
supply chain planning software on the market
today incorporates a dangerous accumulation of
assumptions, averages and estimates in the way they
forecast demand, plan inventory and generate orders.
Traditional systems are limited to these methods
because of their legacy architecture. These methods
were necessary when these solutions were designed
decades ago, but result in calculations that actually
increase risk in the dynamic and complex commerce
environment of today.
SOLUTION: Get a true Cloud-native architecture that
delivers much-needed economies of scale. With the
Cloud, you can work with extremely large data sets
and perform complex operations across that data
without making massive investments in hardware
that spends nearly all of its time underutilized. For
example, producing precise order forecasts for every
day, for every SKU and location, while optimizing
across echelons, for a 365 day demand plan and
considering supply chain constraints would be cost-
prohibitive without a cloud-native platform.
Source: Blue Ridge

6. 6
Research from Gartner
Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System
of Record
To help companies in their search for suitable SCP
solutions, Gartner research reveals that the best
way to analyze SCP technology — to find the best
fit — is to consider three key questions:
1 What type and level of planning is the business
looking to support now and in the future?
2 What type of technology is required? Is it
foundational to support planning visibility
and integration, or does it need to be more
advanced and differentiating to enable the
necessary business capabilities?
3 As supply chain environments evolve, what
type of planning environment will the SCP
technology need to support in the future? What
mix of planning capabilities will be required to
support the future environment in the best way?
With increased clarity around the answers to these
questions, a company is in a good position to
make an informed choice as to which type of SCP
technology it requires as part of its overall SCP
technology roadmap.
This Magic Quadrant is focused on analyzing the
market for SCP SORs (the foundational planning
layer) that support the "integrate" maturity
stage (Stage 3 out of five stages) of demand
and supply planning processes today and in
the future. This is an area that Gartner finds
many companies are investing in to provide a
strong foundational planning layer on which to
subsequently build their more differentiating and
innovating capabilities. Choosing an SCP SOR
is a key decision — not just to provide planning
integration and visibility across a supply chain,
but also to provide a critical steppingstone in an
SCP technology roadmap that will help enable
the business's future SCP aspirations. To be fully
effective, an SCP SOR is deployed, at minimum, at
the supply chain level (as opposed to functionally
or geographically). It is best practice to not blend
different solution sets or vendors within an SCP
SOR to prevent fragmenting the end-to-end (E2E)
planning capability too much.
This Magic Quadrant examines vendors that
provide supply chain planning system-of-record
solutions. Supply chain and IT leaders can use this
research when evaluating and selecting an SCP
system to underpin their journey to Stage 3 SCP
maturity and beyond.
Market Definition/Description
(Please note: The analysis contained in this
research is accurate as of 1 July 2015. Due to the
dynamic nature of the market, use standard inquiry
for the most updated information on vendors and
products.)
The supply chain planning (SCP) market was worth
$3.65 billion in 2014 and is projected to grow
at about 8% per year. The SCP market is made
up of a large array of planning solutions that
range from supply chain design and modeling,
through sales and operations planning (S&OP)
and down to manufacturing scheduling and all
points in between. The planning solutions may be
foundational in providing good-enough planning
capabilities, through those that enable business
differentiation, to those that help a company
innovate the way it performs aspects of its
planning.
A significant component of the SCP market
covers the various operational-level demand and
supply planning solutions, such as SCP systems
of record (SORs), which are used to support up to
and including Stage 3 planning maturity. Gartner
estimates this part of the market was about $2
billion in 2014. It is forecast to grow between
3% and 6% per year during the next five years
(this forecast is modeled on the supply chain
management [SCM] and SCP forecast, and is not
published elsewhere).

7. 7
Gartner's definition of an SCP SOR includes seven
key functional capabilities. An SCP SOR should be
able to support and integrate the Stage 3 planning
processes of:
• Stage 3 S&OP
• Demand planning, including collaborative
demand planning
• Inventory planning, including collaborative
inventory planning
• Replenishment planning, including
collaborative replenishment planning
• Order planning/promising
• Production planning
• Manufacturing scheduling
In addition, an SCP SOR should be sufficiently
competent in nine key technical capabilities (that
is, (nonfunctional capabilities) to ensure that the
planning functionality listed above can be utilized
effectively across an E2E supply chain:
• Process management
• Unified data, process and analytical models
• Scalability to handle large global planning
models
• Performance management and analytics
support
• Collaboration support
• Ability to deploy segmented SCP models
• Master data management (MDM)
• Integration to transaction systems
• Ability to propagate plan changes easily
across an integrated planning model in a 24/7
environment
A planning SOR is, in effect, the planning data
repository for a well-defined, E2E enterprise supply
chain. As a company moves into the integrate stage
of planning maturity (Stage 3 in Gartner’s five-stage
maturity framework), its view of what constitutes
an SOR typically changes. The key difference at
this level of maturity, as opposed to earlier levels,
is the evolution of an identifiable planning SOR.
This SOR is usually distinct and separate from the
transactional SOR, which is typically encapsulated
in various ERP systems. In essence, the SCP SOR
helps to establish a single version of the truth
for the supply chain plans, regardless of what the
underlying ERP landscape looks like.
Today, an SCP SOR is typically implemented
across a complete enterprise supply chain, which
increasingly means a global deployment, and results
in the need for a single instance of the planning
software — at least at the E2E supply level and
increasingly at the global level. In the future, the
deployment of an SCP SOR will be increasingly in
the context of multienterprise supply chains, along
with the convergence of planning and execution
capabilities (that is, respond planning), to facilitate
more demand-driven, responsive and agile planning
in the short-term horizon across extended value
chains. This will result from the continued maturing
of supply chains beyond Stage 3, and from the
need to leverage the SCP SOR (with the addition of
appropriate SCP systems of differentiation [SODs]
and systems of innovation [SOIs]) in support of Stage
4 and Stage 5 planning process maturities.
There have been some significant changes in vendor
positions since the last iteration of this Magic
Quadrant (please use the historical comparison
feature in the interactive Magic Quadrant on gartner.
com to see the relative movements). From being
a mature, fairly stable market, the SCP market has
continued a phase of significant development.
This is being driven by the changing priorities and
associated needs that end users are placing on
SCP vendors. This is especially relevant for the SCP
SOR subsector. Those vendors that are leveraging
technology advancements more quickly in line
with user requirements are making the most
progress. Also, the weightings of several criteria and
subcriteria in this iteration of the Magic Quadrant
have been changed to reflect the importance
that users are currently putting on the various
capabilities these criteria are designed to model.
For details on the criteria and subcriteria, see the
Evaluation Criteria section.

8. 8
Source: Gartner (July 2015)
FIGURE 1 Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning System of Record

9. 9
Vendor Strengths and Cautions
Adexa
Adexa is a private U.S.-based vendor that focuses
on selling SCP software, with a particular focus on
high-tech industries and electronic supply chains
that represent more than 60% of its revenue.
Strengths
• Adexa has a strong focus on its SCP solutions
and is investing in R&D at an above-average
level. It has above-average coverage in the
configure and optimize planning categories.
• It has above-average functional strength in
demand and supply planning, and it has above-
average capabilities in nonfunctional areas,
such as unified data, process and analytical
models, supply chain segmentation support,
and integration to transaction systems.
• It has an above-average installed base size. Its
customer references have an above-average
tendency to deploy a single instance of Adexa,
along with an above-average level of Stage 3
(or higher) planning maturity. Based on vendor
references, Adexa’s median project budget
is below average compared with the other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
• Adexa’s customer references report above-
average overall satisfaction levels with a strong
likelihood to select again and with the level
of business benefits achieved. During the next
12 months, Adexa customer references have
above-average buying intentions.
Cautions
• Adexa’s vision for the future of SCP SOR is
below average, particularly in areas such as
respond planning, leverage of in-memory
computing, support for multienterprise planning
and support for SCP SOI analytics.
• Due to its historical focus on discrete
manufacturing companies, it has below-average
support across the process manufacturing and
distribution-intensive segments.
• Adexa is below average in terms of the number
of regions it has users in and the number of
third-party implementation service providers
it has. Functional penetration tends to be
below average across its customer references.
Its customer references report above-average
service-to-software ratios and implementation
timelines.
• In the operations criterion, Adexa’s customer
references report a below-average level of
satisfaction, particularly in its roadmap and
the availability of third-party implementation
services. It also lacks a full cloud option.
Arkieva
Arkieva is a private U.S.-based vendor that focuses
on selling SCP software with associated consulting
services.
Strengths
• Arkieva’s customer references report an above-
average level of overall satisfaction with an
above-average likelihood to select again and
with the level of business benefits achieved.
They also have an above-average level of Stage
3 (or higher) planning maturity and above-
average likelihood to have deployed a single
instance of Arkieva.
• In terms of its vision for SCP SOR, Arkieva
understands the role of respond planning,
the need for real-time analytics and support
for supply chain segmentation. It has built
out its capabilities in areas such as S&OP,
multiechelon inventory optimization (MEIO)
and demand sensing.
• It has a strong focus on its SCP products and
is investing at an above-average rate. Arkieva
is above average in its demand and supply
planning functionality and also in most of the
other nonfunctional components of an SCP
SOR.

10. 10
• In the operations criterion, it has above-
average customer reference satisfaction
rates, particularly in its roadmap, domain
expertise, its own implementation services
and availability of third-party implementation
services, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
Cautions
• Arkieva is below average in its plans for
multienterprise planning support and use of in-
memory computing. Across the three planning
categories of configure, optimize and respond,
Arkieva has below-average coverage.
• The future buying intentions of its customer
references are below average during the next
12 months and for the following 12 months as
well.
• From an industry perspective, Arkieva has had
a focus on the specific process industry sectors.
Consequently, it has below-average coverage
in the discrete manufacturing and distribution-
intensive segments.
• Arkieva has below-average regional coverage
and number of third-party implementation
service providers. It has above-average service-
to-software ratios.
Barloworld Supply Chain Software
Barloworld Supply Chain Software is a global
supply chain software vendor headquartered in
the U.K. and is a division of the Barloworld group
of companies. It covers strategic network design
and tactical optimization through its Cast and
Cast Flow products, as well as covers demand and
operational planning with Optimiza. Barloworld
Supply Chain Software launched a rewrite of its
Optimiza product on a new platform in 2013; after
an initial transition period, all new customers are
now offered the new Optimiza product.
Note: Following the completion of research on
Barloworld Supply Chain Software for this Magic
Quadrant, the vendor was acquired by LLamasoft
on 3 November 2015. This Magic Quadrant reflects
the evaluation/research on Barloworld Supply
Chain Software.
Strengths
• Barloworld Supply Chain Software has a strong
geographical presence across all main regions,
as well as a good implementation service
network.
• Based on vendor references, Barloworld Supply
Chain Software’s median project budget
is below average compared with the other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant. Typically, its
customer references report lower-than-average
implementation timelines and above-average
levels of customer satisfaction. Its references
also value Barloworld Supply Chain Software’s
domain expertise and TCO.
• The vendor also has good design planning
capabilities through its network design and
inventory optimization capabilities.
• Its SCP functional penetration has improved
to be above average across its customer
references. This indicates that the vendor’s
solution deployments have moved toward
being less functionally/departmentally oriented
than previously. This is reflected in the buying
intentions of its customer references during the
next couple of years that are above average.
Cautions
• A below-average percentage of Barloworld
Supply Chain Software’s customer references
are at Stage 3 (or higher) SCP maturity, and/or
use a single instance of the software to support
their SCP processes.
• Barloworld Supply Chain Software’s demand
and supply planning functional strength is
slightly below average across the vendors
evaluated in this Magic Quadrant.
• Its product roadmap is not as strongly focused
on the nonfunctional requirements of an SCP
SOR as are the roadmaps of some other vendors
in this Magic Quadrant. It is below average in
areas such as its vision around multienterprise
planning and its support of SCP SODs and SOIs
for its maturing user base.
• The vendor’s SCP SOR market understanding is
below average, with a lack of depth in its vision
for real-time analytics and respond planning.

11. 11
Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge is a privately held U.S.-based
vendor that is focused on distribution-intensive
(particularly retail) companies. It has traditionally
focused on demand planning and replenishment
using a multitenant cloud-based platform and,
more recently, brought to market increasingly
sophisticated supply planning capability.
Strengths
• Blue Ridge has above-average overall customer
satisfaction scores across its customer
references. Customer references have an above-
average likelihood to select Blue Ridge again
and an above-average satisfaction with the
business benefits achieved.
• The vendor has above-average customer
reference satisfaction in the operations
criterion, particularly in areas such as its
roadmap, its domain expertise, availability of
third-party implementation services and SaaS-
based pricing.
• Blue Ridge has an above-average score
related to the product criterion. This is mainly
through its above-average customer reference
satisfaction levels for the nonfunctional aspects
of an SCP SOR. Its references have an above-
average level of functional penetration aligned
with an above-average likelihood to have
deployed a single instance of Blue Ridge for
their SCP needs.
• It has a strong vision for the capabilities and
architecture of its SCP platform that aligns well
with Gartner’s vision for the SCP SOR market.
It has a strong focus on its solution and is
investing at above-average rates. The future
buying intentions of its customer references
during the next 12 months are above average.
Cautions
• Blue Ridge has focused traditionally on the
distribution-intensive sector but is starting
to move into other areas. Consequently, it is
below average in terms of industry coverage.
• Being a small vendor, it has a below-average
number of regions where it has an installed
base and third-party implementation service
providers. It has a below-average number of
overall SCP customers compared with other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
• It has a below-average level of references at
Stage 3 planning maturity compared with other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
• This is a relatively young SCP product vendor,
and it has yet to develop out a strong range
of planning capabilities across all three
categories of configure, optimize and respond.
Its functional coverage in all three of these
categories is below average for the vendors
analyzed in this Magic Quadrant.
Demand Solutions
Headquartered in the U.S., Demand Solutions
is owned by Logility (which, in turn, is owned
by American Software). Because the Demand
Solutions product set is separate from the Logility
suite, Demand Solutions appears to most users
as a stand-alone vendor, so Gartner evaluates
it as such. Demand Solutions has been offering
SCP solutions for many years, and in 2009, it
launched a rewrite of its SCP product known as
DSX, utilizing the latest Microsoft .NET technology
stack, alongside its existing DS1 product. As of
today, all net new customers are offered the DSX
product.
Strengths
• Demand Solutions’ geographical coverage
is very strong through direct or indirect
channels, supported by a strong network of
implementation partners.
• Demand Solutions’ customer references
expressed positive degrees of satisfaction with
expected or achieved business benefits. The
vendor was about average for overall customer
satisfaction, as rated by its references.
• Its Microsoft-based DSX solution has a strong
architecture to provide an integrated SCP SOR,
particularly for its strategy to leverage a cloud-
based option. Based on vendor references,
Demand Solutions’ median project budget
is below average compared with the other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
• Customer reference satisfaction with Demand
Solutions in the operations criterion is above
average, and it does particularly well in
satisfaction with its own implementation
services and the availability of third-party
implementation services, geographic coverage,
and TCO. It has below-average service-to-
software ratios.

12. 12
Cautions
• Demand Solutions has a below-average level of
its customer references at Stage 3 (or higher)
planning maturity. Additionally, its references
have a below-average single-instance
deployment pattern compared with the other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant, primarily due
to some of its references being on its older
architecture.
• Its customer references’ functional penetration
is below average, along with customer
references’ buying intentions during the next
12 months. However, these buying intentions
do pick up in Year 2, probably indicating a
delayed maturity improvement with users.
• Despite its new platform and architecture,
Demand Solutions has yet to fully recognize the
role that in-memory computing, multienterprise
enablement and advanced self-service analytics
will play in the future of SCP SOR.
• Although having reasonable functional
coverage in the optimize planning category,
Demand Solutions is lacking in configure
planning capabilities.
FuturMaster
FuturMaster is a privately held France-
headquartered vendor that focuses on selling
SCP into the French and U.K. markets and,
increasingly, into Asia/Pacific, Brazil and China,
where the majority of its R&D is now based. It has
traditionally had a strong focus on the food and
beverage, cosmetic, and healthcare industries.
Strengths
• FuturMaster has a strong focus on its SCP
solution set and is investing at an above-
average rate into the development of its SCP
capabilities. Based on vendor references,
FuturMaster’s median project budget is below
average compared with the other vendors in
this Magic Quadrant.
• Its work with Beijing University around machine
learning and other advanced analytics is of note
and could eventually play into more advanced
analytics in the SCP solutions.
• FuturMaster has been expanding its
geographical customer base with customers in
multiple regions and has recently signed a deal
with BearingPoint for global implementation
services.
• Overall satisfaction of its customer references
is above average, with strong presence of Stage
3 (or higher) planning maturity. Customer
references are also satisfied with frequency
and ease of upgrades, product roadmap and
FuturMaster’s own implementation services.
Cautions
• FuturMaster’s customer references have
a below-average level of single global
deployments of its software. This is probably
indicative of FuturMaster being in the early
stages of moving from a regionally deployed
solution to a global one.
• FuturMaster is above average for its service-to-
software ratio and the time to implement.
• In terms of functional coverage, it is below
average in all categories of configure, optimize
and respond. Although it has a reasonable
number of customers globally, its functional
penetration is below average across its
customer references, as are the references’
future buying intentions.
• In many ways, FuturMaster offers a traditional
planning solution, and it lacks a clear and
aligned vision for how to take the solution
forward to meet the future planning needs of
organizations.

13. 13
GAINSystems
GAINSystems is a privately held U.S.-
headquartered vendor that has focused on the
spare/service parts planning market for many
years, and it has been progressively spreading
out to discrete manufacturing industries. It has a
single unified solution with a range of planning
capabilities offered — whether natively through
the platform or as options.
Strengths
• GAINSystems has an above-average vision
and strategy for its SCP solutions that
incorporate respond planning, real-time E2E
analytics, a strong technical architecture,
the use of in-memory computing and supply
chain segmentation support. Additionally,
the vendor’s vision for enabling SCP SOIs,
global planning support and multienterprise
planning are above average.
• The vendor has a strong focus on its SCP
product and invests at an above-average
rate into the development of its solutions.
The solution is above average in the product
or service criterion — particularly in supply
planning functionality, process management
and availability of additional SCP SODs.
• Based on vendor references, GAINSystems’
median project budget is below average
compared with the other vendors in this
Magic Quadrant. It has below-average
service-to-software ratio and implementation
timelines. References rate their overall
customer satisfaction above average, along
with their likelihood to select again and the
level of business benefits achieved as above
average.
• Its customer references rate their level of
satisfaction in the operations criterion as
above average, particularly in roadmap,
domain expertise, the vendor’s own
implementation services, TCO, and frequency
and ease of upgrades. Customer references’
functional penetration of GAINSystems is
above average, as is the level of Stage 3 (or
higher) planning maturity and incidence of
single-instance deployment.
Cautions
• GAINSystems’ customer references have below-
average future buying intentions in both the next
12 months and the following 12 months.
• GAINSystems is a relatively small vendor. Its
overall viability as a vendor is below average,
along with its installed base spread across
regions and the number of its third-party
implementation service providers.
• Its coverage across the three categories of
planning (configure, optimize and respond) is
currently below average.
• Its industry coverage is patchy, being below
average in both the process and discrete
manufacturing segments.
Infor
Infor is a U.S.-headquartered, privately held business
application vendor. It launched a new S&OP solution
in 2010 and has subsequently been bundling
more of its planning solutions around that under
the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) name. It is
currently redeveloping its legacy demand and supply
planning applications.
Strengths
• As a global vendor, Infor has impressive service
and support reach across all the main regions.
It is above average for regional coverage and
number of third-party implementation service
providers.
• Based on vendor references, Infor’s median
project budget is below average compared with
the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant. It
is below average in terms of implementation
timelines.
• Functionally in both demand and supply
planning, Infor is above average, and it has
above-average viability for its SCP product line.
• Infor’s SCP products increasingly take
advantage of its overall vision and strategy to
support development in areas such as integration
to the Infor ERP portfolio, collaboration (through
the use of the Infor Ming.le social collaboration
capability), performance management (through
the use of the Infor Intelligent Open Network
[ION] Business Vault), and evolution of its
cloud solutions.

14. 14
Cautions
• Overall, Infor’s vision for SCP is below average
compared with the other vendors in this Magic
Quadrant. It has a more traditional view of
planning and has yet to figure out how it will
provide, for example, stronger respond planning
capabilities. Although it is above average for
its demand and supply planning capability, it is
below average for most of the other subcriteria
in the product criterion.
• Future buying intentions of Infor customer
references are below average in the next 12
months and the following year, compared
with other vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
Its customer references rate it below average
in the operations criterion — notably, in
satisfaction with geographic coverage,
roadmap, domain expertise and implementation
services (both Infor’s and the availability of
third-party services).
• Infor SCP provides vertical industry support for
the following: food and beverage, consumer
goods, chemicals and pharmaceuticals,
distribution, logistics providers, high-tech and
electronics, and automotive. Consequently,
it has a below-average breadth of industry
coverage across the three broad categories of
process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing
and distribution-intensive verticals.
• Infor’s customer references report a below-
average level of overall satisfaction, along with
below-average satisfaction rates for likelihood
to select again and level of business benefits
achieved. Its references have a below-average
level of Stage 3 planning maturity and a
below-average incidence of single-instance
deployments.
JDA Software
JDA Software is a private U.S.-headquartered
vendor that has grown to be the world's largest
best-of-breed supply chain software company
— by a substantial margin. Its latest merger
brought the old JDA and RedPrairie companies
together in late 2012. Its SCP portfolio is
primarily a combination of legacy Manugistics,
i2 Technologies and native JDA-developed
capabilities.
Strengths
• JDA Software has a strong vision for how to take
its SCP solutions forward to meet the functional
needs of end users. Its recent work in the areas
of respond planning, in-memory computing and
cloud (particularly its June 2015 announcement
around Google Cloud Platform), and support for
supply chain segmentation are examples.
• The formation of JDA Labs, to support innovation,
bodes well for users looking for a provider that
can leverage its foundation capabilities into SCP
SOIs. Its references have an above-average level
of maturity at Stage 3 (or higher) and are more
inclined to have implemented JDA as a single
global instance than the market average.
• As a global player, JDA Software has strength
in its user base, geographical breadth and the
third-party implementation service options it can
offer. References report an above-average level of
customer satisfaction with JDA Software.
• The functional breadth and depth of its demand
and supply planning capability is above average.
It has a large customer base, with reasonable
functional penetration across its customer
references.

15. 15
Cautions
• JDA Software is rated below average in the area
of the operations criterion, with its references
scoring it particularly lower in satisfaction
with its roadmap, availability of third-party
implementation services, TCO, geographic
coverage, and frequency and ease of upgrades.
• Despite a broad and deep product portfolio, JDA
Software customer references’ future buying
intentions are average in the short term but
below average in the second year.
• In the sales execution/pricing criterion, based
on vendor references, JDA’s median project
budget is above average compared with
the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
Additionally, its service-to-software ratios are
above average.
• JDA Software’s level of R&D investment in its
SCP SOR solution is below average.
Kinaxis
Kinaxis is a public Canada-headquartered vendor
with a long history of supporting the high-tech
industry, but it has recently been expanding
successfully into other vertical industries (such
as pharmaceuticals/life sciences and industrial
manufacturing). Its origins were in the respond
planning category. Over time, it has built out
its capabilities more into the optimize planning
category. It has started to develop configure
capabilities with its new MEIO capability. All
capabilities are delivered through a single solution
called "RapidResponse."
Strengths
• Kinaxis continues to excel in the respond
planning category allied with its cloud-only
approach, leveraging its proprietary in-memory
database. Its SCP functional capabilities are
now about average across the market, but its
vision for what an SCP SOR solution needs to
look like is strong.
• Kinaxis’ references have above-average levels
of satisfaction with RapidResponse, would
select it again if given the choice, and are
satisfied with the level of business benefits
achieved.
• The vendor’s references have above-average
satisfaction in the operations criterion, notably
in its roadmap, the vendor’s domain expertise,
geographic coverage (particularly in North
America and EMEA), its cloud offering, and the
frequency and ease of upgrades.
• Kinaxis’ customer references have strong future
buying intentions both in the next year and
Year 2. This pattern is indicative of companies
at which the solution is readily adopted by the
user community while delivering easy-to-use
and good-enough planning functionality across
an E2E supply chain.
Cautions
• Customer references are less satisfied with
Kinaxis’ in the operations areas, such as its
availability of third-party implementation
services and overall TCO.
• Being a public vendor, Kinaxis has a below-
average level of R&D investment into its
solution. This may impact the speed at which it
can invest in new technologies and capability
compared with the many privately held vendors
in the SCP market.
• Kinaxis has a below-average number of SCP
customers, which reflects its still relatively
smaller size.
• Its penetration into the different industry
sectors is patchy. It does well in discrete
manufacturing companies and has started
to appear a little more in deals in process
manufacturing companies; however, it does not
target — and therefore is almost nonexistent —
in distribution-intensive companies.

16. 16
Logility
Logility is a U.S.-headquartered vendor owned
by American Software. It is known primarily for
its Logility Voyager Solutions planning suite. It
tends to develop its own functionality, although
it acquired Optiant for MEIO capability in 2010. In
2014, it acquired MID Retail to add capabilities
such as allocation, assortment and merchandise
planning.
Strengths
• Logility has been working on its vision and
development of Voyager. It is above average
in terms of its developments in respond
planning, supply chain segmentation support
and integration (through its partnership with
AdapChain), along with its move toward
supporting more multienterprise planning. It
has an above-average level of R&D investment
into its SCP solutions.
• In the product or service criterion, Logility
is above average in all functional and all
nonfunctional components of a current SCP
SOR and scored the highest of all vendors in
this Magic Quadrant. It also scored the highest
Ability to Execute score in the Magic Quadrant.
Voyager is well-liked by its references, scoring
above average in overall customer satisfaction
and level of business benefits achieved, as well
as likelihood to select again. Based on vendor
references, Logility’s median project budget
is below average compared with the other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
• Logility’s references tend to have above-
average levels of functional penetration, along
with above-average levels of single-instance
deployments, and they span multiple industries
due to Logility’s vertical strength.
Cautions
• As it competes in larger deals, Logility’s typical
implementation timelines are above average
when compared with other providers evaluated
in this research.
• The future buying intentions of its customer
references (during the next 12 months and the
following year) are below average compared
with the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
• Logility is below average in vision areas, such
as real-time analytics, enablement of SCP
SOIs that use the planning data captured in
its SCP SOR, and its future use of in-memory
computing.
• Among the companies Gartner surveyed,
Logility is below average in customer reference
satisfaction with its own implementation
services and availability of third-party
implementation services.
NeoGrid
NeoGrid is a privately held Brazil-headquartered
vendor. It is well-known in Brazil and Latin
America for its integration brokerage services,
supply chain planning and supply chain visibility.
Since 2008, it has been expanding geographically
and functionally into supply chain planning with
customers in North America, Europe and Asia/
Pacific.
Strengths
• NeoGrid’s vison for SCP SOR is strong in areas
such as respond planning, integration planning
platform with a unified model, and integration
and support for multienterprise planning.
• Based on vendor references, NeoGrid’s median
project budget is below average compared
with the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant.
It has below-average service-to-software
ratios and above-average strength across
the three industry categories of the process
manufacturing, discrete manufacturing and
distribution-intensive segments.
• NeoGrid has an above-average customer
reference satisfaction rate in the operations
criterion, particularly in the vendor’s own
implementation services, its cloud offering,
TCO, and frequency and ease of upgrades.
• Although a relatively unknown vendor
outside of Latin America, it has built up a
sizable installed base, leveraging its roots in
integration brokerage services.

17. 17
Cautions
• NeoGrid is below average in demand and
supply planning functionality — specifically
in areas such as order promising, and
manufacturing planning and scheduling. It
is also below average in a number of the
nonfunctional components of an SCP SOR,
such as availability of SCP SODs, process
management and collaboration support.
• Its references report a below-average level of
overall satisfaction with NeoGrid, along with
a below-average likelihood to select again
and below-average level of business benefits
achieved.
• NeoGrid has a below-average level of
penetration across its references, and its
references have a below-average level of Stage
3 (or higher) planning maturity and below-
average tendency to deploy a single instance of
NeoGrid.
• The vendor has a below-average level
of coverage across the three planning
categories of configure, optimize and respond.
Additionally, it has a below-average number of
regions where it has customers and a below-
average number of third-party implementation
service providers, for which its references report
a below-average satisfaction level in availability
thereof.
OM Partners
OM Partners is a private Europe-headquartered
vendor that specializes in the process industries. It
delivers its SCP capabilities through its integrated
planning solution, OMP Plus.
Strengths
• With its solution set — OMP Plus — its strategy
for respond planning, its use of in-memory
computing, and some of the multienterprise
work it has been doing, OM Partners has an
above-average vision for its SCP SOR solution.
• OM Partners has presence in an above-average
number of regions, along with a good number
of third-party implementation service providers.
As a vendor, it has above-average viability,
focus on, and investment in, its SCP solutions.
• The vendor has above-average strength in its
demand and supply planning functionality,
and its typical implementation timelines are
below average across the vendors in this Magic
Quadrant. Its references rate it above average
in the operations criterion, particularly in its
roadmap, domain expertise and availability of
third-party implementation services.
• Its references rate OM Partners as above
average for overall customer satisfaction and
likelihood to select again. Additionally, they
show above-average future buying intentions
in the next 12 months and the following year.
They also have an above-average tendency
for single-instance deployments of OMP Plus.
Based on vendor references, OM Partners’
median project budget is below average
compared with the other vendors in this Magic
Quadrant.
Cautions
• Due to its relatively tight process industry
focus, its cloud offerings are not as evolved as
some others. Also, it is below average in terms
of its coverage of industries outside of its core
industry in process manufacturing.
• Although it has capabilities in all three
planning categories (configure, optimize and
respond), OM Partners' breadth of coverage is
below average. Its functional penetration also is
below average across its customer references.
• OM Partners has a below-average level of
references at Stage 3 (or higher) planning
maturity.
• Typical service-to-software ratios for OM
Partners are above average.

18. 18
Oracle
Oracle is a U.S.-headquartered, public global
business application vendor with an extensive
portfolio of SCP solutions collectively known as
Value Chain Planning (VCP). VCP contains a mix
of Oracle-developed and Oracle-acquired SCP
solutions. Oracle is rolling out a new cloud-based
offering (Oracle SCM Cloud), which will have
significant planning capability included. As the
new cloud-based planning capability is yet to be
released, Oracle's position in this Magic Quadrant
is based solely on its current VCP suite.
Strengths
• The vendor is financially strong, with an
excellent global presence and implementation
partner network.
• Overall, its SCP functionality is above average
in both demand and supply planning and
in support areas, such as availability of SCP
SODs, scalability (enhanced with its in-
memory approaches) and process management
capabilities.
• Its customer references show some strong
usage patterns for Oracle VCP. There is an
above-average level of references at Stage 3
(or higher) planning maturity, with references
showing a strong inclination to deploy Oracle
VCP as a single global instance to support E2E
planning.
• Across the three major functional categories
of configure, optimize and respond, Oracle has
good breadth and a good level of functional
penetration across its references within a large
overall installed base.
Cautions
• Based on vendor references, Oracle's median
project budget is above average compared with
the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant. It
has above-average service-to-software ratios,
and its implementation timelines are typically
longer than average.
• Oracle's references report overall satisfaction
levels as below average. Additionally, its
references report a below-average likelihood
to select again and below-average level of
business benefits achieved.
• Oracle's references rated it below average in
the operations criterion for all the subcriteria
besides availability of third-party implementation
services and geographic coverage. It particularly
suffers reference dissatisfaction in its own domain
expertise and implementation services, its limited
cloud offerings for Oracle VCP, and the frequency
and ease of upgrades.
• Oracle is below average in some of the
nonfunctional aspects of a good SCP SOR —
namely, support for supply chain segmentation
and collaboration.
Quintiq
Quintiq is now part of Dassault Systèmes, a French
software company with international operations;
the acquisition was completed in September 2014.
Quintiq has focused traditionally on manufacturing
planning in the metals industries and in discrete
industrial manufacturing, workforce optimization,
and logistics and transportation planning. The same
technology platform is used across all three sectors.
Under Dassault Systèmes' ownership, it is expanding
into more traditional Dassault Systèmes industries,
such as aerospace and defense, and mining.
Strengths
• Quintiq has a strong vision for its SCP SOR
capabilities in areas such as cloud, respond
planning, use of E2E analytics, use of in-memory
computing and support for multienterprise
planning.
• Functional penetration is about average across its
customer references. The future buying intentions
of its customer references for both the next 12
months and the following 12 months are above
average.
• As part of Dassault Systèmes, Quintiq's financial
viability is above average, and it has an above-
average regional coverage and a good number of
third-party implementation service providers.
• Quintiq's functional strength in demand and
supply planning is above average. Based on
vendor references, Quintiq's median project
budget is below average compared with the other
vendors in this Magic Quadrant. References report
an average likelihood to select the vendor again.

19. 19
Cautions
• Quintiq's references report a below-average
level of overall customer satisfaction and a
below-average satisfaction with the level of
business benefits achieved.
• The vendor's references scored it below average
in the operations criterion, particularly in areas
such as roadmap, domain expertise, its own
implementation services and the availability of
third-party implementation services, and TCO.
• Its references have a below-average level of
Stage 3 planning maturity and below-average
level of single-instance deployment. It has
a below-average coverage across the three
planning categories of configure, optimize and
respond.
• As it often competes in larger deals, Quintiq has
above-average service-to-software ratios and
implementation timelines.
SAP APO
SAP is a Europe-headquartered, public global
business application vendor with a portfolio of SCP
solutions. Its Advanced Planning and Optimization
(APO) product has historically served as its SCP
SOR offering. In April 2014, SAP announced that
it would bring to market a new range of SCP
products (known as SAP Integrated Business
Planning [IBP]), to initially supplement its APO SCP
SOR and eventually provide an alternative SCP
SOR, which leverages its Hana platform. SAP offers
a combination of SAP APO and SAP IBP, depending
on customer requirements. However, in all cases to
date, SAP APO plays the role of the SCP SOR, with
SAP IBP capabilities used as supplementary SCP
SODs (particularly for S&OP). There is integration
between APO and IBP. SAP has announced that
standard maintenance will be available for APO
until 2025. Users will need to make a choice
between SAP's APO SCP SOR and IBP SCP SOR,
which is why these two offerings are reported
separately. See the Notable Mentions section for
commentary on SAP IBP SOR.
Strengths
• SAP APO has a good breadth of focus across
all three main industry categories (discrete
manufacturing, process manufacturing and
distribution-intensive companies). Its references
have an above-average level of Stage 3 (or
higher) planning maturity.
• SAP is a financially strong and global vendor.
It has SAP APO users in all regions and a large
network of third-party implementation service
providers. It has the largest user base of all the
vendors, and its APO references report above-
average functional penetration.
• SAP has been able to leverage its in-memory
capability (Hana) to help some APO users
improve performance in areas such as planning
runtimes and user accessibility to better
analytics through the use of Hana for liveCache
and Supply Chain Info Center on Hana.
• SAP has increased the attractiveness of APO
by offering supplementary SOD components
from its new IBP solution. This will help to
prolong the useful life of SAP APO for many
users. Its customer references report future
buying intentions during the next year as below
average but above average in Year 2.
Cautions
• SAP APO will continue to receive
enhancements during the next 10 years, but we
believe the level of R&D going into APO is now
significantly less than the investment SAP is
putting into SAP IBP.
• SAP APO has a below-average level of
capability, as defined by the product or service
criterion. It is below average in demand-
planning functionality, as well as in terms of
the degree of unification of data models across
the suite, scalability, process management,
supply chain segmentation support,
collaboration support, global planning support,
MDM, and performance management and
analytics, as rated by its customer references.
• References report their overall customer
satisfaction with SAP APO is below average,
with less likelihood to select again given
the choice and below-average realization of
business benefits.
• Based on vendor references, SAP APO's median
project budget is above average compared with
the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant. It has
above-average service-to-software ratios and
implementation times. Its references are less
likely to have deployed a single global instance
of SAP APO.

20. 20
SAS
SAS is a U.S.-headquartered, private global vendor
that is best-known for business intelligence (BI)
and analytics solutions. In recent years, it has
leveraged that heritage to introduce some products
in various parts of the SCP market.
Strengths
• With its strength in data mining and analytics,
SAS is above average in its vision for real-time
supply chain analytics, the development of
SCP SOI-type analytics and the leverage of
technology trends, such as cloud and in-
memory computing.
• SAS is above average in the product or service
criterion but only for the nonfunctional
components of an SCP SOR, particularly
in areas such as collaboration, support for
global planning, availability of SCP SODs, and
performance management and analytics.
• Although SCP solutions are only a small
part of SAS's overall business, its level
of R&D investment is above average. Its
references report an above-average level of
user satisfaction in the operations criterion,
particularly in its roadmap, domain expertise,
and its own implementation services and
availability of third-party implementation
services.
• Its references have an above-average level
of overall customer satisfaction with SAS.
References also report an above-average
satisfaction with the level of business benefits
achieved. SAS has an above-average level
of references at Stage 3 (or higher) planning
maturity.
Cautions
• From an SCP perspective, SAS is below
average in terms of the number of third-party
implementation service providers it has.
• In terms of SCP SOR demand and supply
planning functionality, it is below average. It
also has below-average coverage across the
three planning categories of configure, optimize
and respond.
• SAS is above average in its service-to-software
ratios and implementation times.
• It has a below-average SCP customer base for
its Demand-Driven Planning and Optimization
suite (although it has a large installed base
for its demand-planning solution). References
report a below-average level of single-
instance deployments. Its industry strength
is below average in the process and discrete
manufacturing segments.
Slimstock
Slimstock is a private Netherlands-headquartered
vendor that has a significant presence in Western
Europe and has recently been expanding outside of
that region. It has a finished goods planning focus,
particularly for the retail and wholesale distribution
sectors. The product is called Slim4.
Strengths
• Slimstock references report an above-average
level of overall satisfaction. They have an average
likelihood to select Slimstock again if given the
choice and an above-average satisfaction with
the level of business benefits they achieved.
• Based on vendor references, Slimstock's median
project budget is below average compared with
the other vendors in this Magic Quadrant. It has
below-average service-to-software ratios and
implementation timelines.
• Its references have an above-average level of
Stage 3 (or higher) planning maturity and an
above-average tendency to deploy a single
instance of Slim4. Slimstock has a good
representation of regions in its overall installed
base.
• Slim4 is an integrated solution, with strong
integration to the more advanced functionality
that Slimstock brings to the market. Its
references are particularly satisfied in areas
such as its roadmap, domain expertise, its own
implementation services and the availability of
third-party implementation services, TCO, and
frequency and ease of upgrades.
Cautions
• Slim4 has the feel of a traditional planning
solution and is not yet well-aligned with
Gartner's view of what the future will likely be
for an SCP SOR. It has yet to articulate a strong
vision around cloud, respond planning, the
use of in-memory computing and support for
multienterprise planning.

21. 21
• Slimstock is below average in the product or
service criterion. It is below average in demand
and supply planning functional strength,
its selection of available SCP SODs, supply
chain segmentation support, performance
management and analytics, and MDM.
• Its industry strength is focused on distribution-
intensive companies, with limited penetration
into the process and discrete manufacturing
companies. Slimstock has below-average
supply planning capabilities, in which it lacks
production planning and scheduling.
• Although Slimstock has good installed base
numbers, it has below-average functional
penetration across its customer references.
This is partly due to its narrower functional
scope in supply planning and partly due to its
below-average coverage in the three functional
categories of configure, optimize and respond.
Steelwedge
Steelwedge is a U.S.-headquartered private vendor
that has been known mainly for its cloud-based
collaborative demand planning and S&OP focus.
Recently, it has been pulled increasingly toward
tactical and operational planning, reflecting the
market's desire for closer alignment between
S&OP and SCP. At the time of this research, its
deeper operational supply planning capability was
delivered through a partner; the company has since
invested heavily in building out this capability in
its core platform and will deliver this directly in
the future. A new CEO arrived in late 2014 with a
strong supply chain IT and operations background.
The new CEO has a vision to make Steelwedge a
real force in the SCP market, not just S&OP, and
it has implemented changes to address perceived
weaknesses.
Strengths
• Steelwedge has a strong vision for where it
wants to take SCP SORs, which aligns well
with Gartner's vision for the SCP SOR market.
The use of consumer-grade technologies to
dramatically improve performance and user
experience, along with the type of planning
being performed, should be of interest for
both enterprise planning and multienterprise
planning.
• Steelwedge's management team, under new
leadership, now has a strong focus on the SCP
SOR market and the necessary developments
required to deliver a competitive product. The
company's level of R&D investment is well
above average.
• Customer references' future buying intentions
are above average during the next 12 months
and also in Year 2. Steelwedge has an above-
average number of third-party implementation
service providers. Its references have an above-
average level of Stage 3 (or higher) planning
maturity.
• Its cloud-based offering and pricing structure
invoke above-average satisfaction levels from
its references. Based on vendor references,
Steelwedge's median project budget is below
average compared with the other vendors in
this Magic Quadrant. Implementation timelines
for its cloud solution are also below average.
Cautions
• Due to its concentration in the consumer
electronics and high-tech verticals, Steelwedge
is below average in terms of its coverage in
the process manufacturing and distribution-
intensive verticals. It is also below average in
terms of the geographical regions it currently
serves, with current customers in North
America, Europe, China and Japan only.
• Its references report a below-average level
of overall satisfaction, have a below-average
tendency to select Steelwedge again and report
a below-average level of satisfaction with
business benefits achieved.
• Steelwedge is rated below average, by
its references, in the operations criterion,
particularly in areas such as its roadmap,
domain expertise, its own implementation
service and availability of third-party
implementation services, TCO, and geographic
coverage. Its references report below-average
incidence of single global deployments for SCP
SOR.
• Functionally, Steelwedge is below average. It is
about average for demand planning but below
average for supply planning. It lacks SCP SODs
and full supply chain segmentation support.
Reference customers' levels of satisfaction are
below average with regard to Steelwedge's
ability to integrate to transaction systems,
MDM, and performance management and
analytics.

22. 22
Syncron
Syncron is a Europe-headquartered private vendor
that focuses primarily on planning and order
management for the aftermarket and spare and
service parts sectors.
Strengths
• Syncron has a strong architecture that
integrates its components together well and
provides a good cloud-based platform for its
users with support for global multienterprise
planning duties.
• It has a reasonable selection of third-party
implementation service providers that users
could use if required.
• The penetration of Syncron across its customer
references is above average, and these
references report above-average satisfaction
with its transaction system integration
capabilities.
• Syncron is focused on its core market of
aftermarket and spare parts.
Cautions
• Probably due to Syncron's narrow focus, the
future buying intentions of Syncron references
are below average.
• It has a narrow industry focus, with below-
average coverage in all three industry clusters
(process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing
and distribution-intensive companies). It has
below-average coverage of the major global
regions in terms of deployments.
• In terms of the capacities of Syncron as an SCP
SOR provider, it has below-average functional
levels and below-average nonfunctional aspects
of an SCP SOR.
• Syncron references show a below-average level
of Stage 3 (or higher) planning maturity, with a
below-average level of global single-instance
deployments. Overall customer satisfaction of
its references is also slightly below average.
ToolsGroup
ToolsGroup is a private U.S.-headquartered vendor
that is best-known in the U.S. for its finished goods
inventory optimization solutions; in Europe, it is
better-known for its operational demand and supply
planning capabilities. It has an integrated planning
platform called SO99+.
Strengths
• ToolsGroup has an above-average vision and
strategy that incorporate respond planning, cloud,
advanced analytics and segmentation, all of which
leverage its integrated, data unified, planning
platform.
• It has a strong focus on SCP, particularly around
how to leverage more advanced analytics to
improve planning performance and automation. Its
references have an above-average level of Stage 3
(or higher) planning maturity and single-instance
deployments.
• It has built up an above-average customer presence
across the regions and has a good number of
third-party implementation service providers.
Its references have an above-average level of
functional penetration.
• Its customer references rate their overall customer
satisfaction with ToolsGroup above average, along
with their likelihood to select again and with the
level of business benefits achieved. Additionally,
these references have above-average satisfaction
in the operations criterion, particularly in domain
expertise, its own implementation services and the
availability of third-party implementation services,
TCO, and frequency and ease of upgrades.
Cautions
• Across the three planning categories of configure,
optimize and respond, its current coverage is below
average.
• Its industry strength is focused on distribution-
intensive companies and those with demand
complexity. Consequently, it has limited
penetration into process and discrete
manufacturing companies.
• ToolsGroup's vision in areas such as use of in-
memory computing and support for multienterprise
planning is below average.
• Its level of R&D investment in its SCP solution is
below average.

23. 23
Vendors Added and Dropped
We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for
Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets
change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix
of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or MarketScope
may change over time. A vendor’s appearance in
a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope one year and
not the next does not necessarily indicate that
we have changed our opinion of that vendor. It
may be a reflection of a change in the market
and, therefore, changed evaluation criteria, or of a
change of focus by that vendor.
Added
• Adexa
• FuturMaster
• GAINSystems
• NeoGrid
• Slimstock
Dropped
• AspenTech — We did not include AspenTech
because we do not see AspenTech having
sufficient presence in the SCP SOR market. It is
seen more often as a production planning and
scheduling SOD vendor.
• E2open — We did not include E2open because
it did not meet all our inclusion criteria this
year. See the Notable Mentions section.
• IBM — We did not include IBM because we do
not see IBM having sufficient presence in the
SCP SOR market. It is seen more often as either
an SCP SOD or SCP SOI vendor.
• Manhattan Associates — We did not include
Manhattan Associates because it did not meet
all our inclusion criteria this year. See the
Notable Mentions section.
• Triple Point Technology — We did not include
Triple Point Technology because we do not see
Triple Point having sufficient presence in the
SCP SOR market.
• TXT e-solutions — We did not include TXT
e-solutions because the vendor confirmed that
it no longer focuses on the SCP SOR market;
rather, it focuses on the S&OP SOD market.
Notable Mentions
The following vendors were fully evaluated as
part of this Magic Quadrant’s research process.
They failed to satisfy one or more of the inclusion
criteria and so could not be placed in the Magic
Quadrant. However, they are all players in the
SCP market to some degree, or they are doing
some interesting things from an SCP technology
development perspective. A shortened summary of
them is included below.
E2open
E2open is a U.S.-based vendor that is best-known
for its work in integration brokerage and supply
chain visibility in the high-tech industry. In July
2013, it acquired icon-scm, a provider of SCP
functionality, to add planning to its portfolio.
E2open has an above-average vision for its SCP
SOR capabilities, particularly in areas such as
respond planning, cloud, integration and support
for multienterprise planning, and the need for
real-time analytics. It has above-average customer
reference functional penetration, and its references
report above-average buying intentions in the 12-
to 24-month period. E2open's references report
a below-average level of overall satisfaction with
a below-average likelihood to select again and
below-average level of business benefits achieved.
It has a below-average level of SCP SOR functional
and nonfunctional capabilities. The vendor has a
below-average satisfaction rate from its references
in the operations criterion, particularly in its
roadmap, domain expertise, its own and the
availability of third-party implementation services,
TCO, and geographic coverage.
Manhattan Associates
Manhattan Associates is a U.S.-headquartered
public vendor that is best-known for its warehouse
and transportation management solutions. Through
its acquisition of Evant several years ago, it
acquired a demand planning, inventory planning
and replenishment planning solution set that is
focused on finished goods for the distribution-
intensive industries. Manhattan Associates has a
good number of third-party implementation service
providers and is financially strong as a vendor. Its
references rate the vendor above average in terms
of overall customer satisfaction and the likelihood
to select again and the level of business benefits
achieved. While the vendor has a compelling
vision for the convergence of supply chain
planning and supply chain execution, its vision for
an SCP SOR is below average, particularly in areas

24. 24
such as support for multienterprise planning and
the use of in-memory computing. Its references
report above-average service-to-software ratios and
implementation timelines.
One Network Enterprises
One Network Enterprises is a privately held, U.S.-
headquartered vendor of a cloud-based supply
chain visibility execution and planning platform.
It has roots in i2 Technologies (One Network
Enterprises is based in Dallas and has several
former i2 employees) and started with a focus
on the short-term, executional time horizon,
particularly logistics and transportation, before
moving more into SCP. One Network Enterprises'
vision for an SCP SOR is generally above average,
particularly in respond planning, use of a cloud
platform, single integrated solution, and support
for multienterprise planning. Its references report
an above-average level of overall satisfaction,
along with an above-average likelihood to select
again and above-average level of business benefits
achieved. One Network Enterprises achieves
above-average functional penetration across
its references. Its customer references report
above-average service-to-software ratios and
implementation timelines One Network Enterprises
has a below-average level of its references at
Stage 3 (or higher) planning maturity, a below-
average likelihood to deploy a single instance and
below-average overall number of customers.
Outperform
Outperform is a privately held, Europe-
headquartered SCP vendor. It focuses on the
process manufacturing sector, particularly food and
beverage companies, although its solution is also
successfully used in other industries. It provides
a broad range of configurable SCP capabilities
through a single integrated solution. Outperform's
vision for an integrated solution set is above
average, particularly as to how its more advanced
S&OP SOD capability works with the underlying
SCP SOR. The future buying intentions of its
references are strong, being above average for both
the next 12 months and the following year. It has
a narrow industry footprint and is below average in
its overall coverage across the industry groupings
of discrete and distribution-intensive. Outperform
is below average in terms of the regions it has
customers in, the number of those customers and
the number of third-party implementation service
providers it has.
Relex Solutions
Relex Solutions is a Finland-headquartered
private vendor that is best-known in Europe for
its finished goods forecasting and distribution
planning solutions for the distribution-intensive
industries. Generally, Relex has an above-average
vison for its SCP SOR, particularly in real-time
analytics, the use of in-memory computing
and support for supply chain segmentation.
It is above average in the functional and
nonfunctional components of an SCP SOR. Its
overall customer satisfaction level is above
average for its references. Relex has some global
clients, and its solution is strong for retail and
wholesale companies. Although Relex is very
focused on SCP, its level of R&D investment is
below average. Its functional coverage across the
three planning categories of configure, optimize
and respond is below average, as is its level of
Stage 3 (or higher) planning maturity across its
references.
SAP IBP
SAP is a Europe-headquartered, public global
business application vendor with a portfolio of
SCP solutions. In April 2014, SAP announced
that it would bring to market a new range of SCP
products, leveraging its Hana platform known
as SAP IBP. Currently, SAP offers, depending on
customer requirements, a combination of SAP
APO and SAP IBP, with integration between
the two. This section is specific to the use of
SAP IBP as an SCP SOR only. SAP's IBP vision
for SCP SOR is above average, particularly in
respond planning, use of cloud and in-memory
computing, use of a unified data, process and
analytical model, and support for supply chain
segmentation. SAP is focused on this new SCP
SOR as it leverages Hana. Consequently, it has
an above-average level of R&D investment
going into its new planning platform. As far as
Gartner can ascertain, no one is currently using
SAP IBP as a full SCP SOR. It is too new and
doesn't yet have the breadth, depth or maturity
of functionality to be successfully deployed as an
SCP SOR. Initial use cases for SAP IBP modules
are as supplements to SAP APO as an SCP SOR,
particularly in areas such as MEIO and S&OP.

25. 25
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
To be included in this Magic Quadrant, each vendor
had to meet criteria related to the following:
• SCP market presence: The vendor should
have a minimum SCP annual license and
maintenance, or subscription fee, revenue of
$13 million.
• SCP deployments: The vendor must have a
minimum of 35 fully implemented customers
using multiple functional modules from its SCP
solutions.
• Global coverage: The vendor must generate at
least 15% of its SCP software license revenue
from outside its headquarters region (for
example, the Americas, Europe/Middle East and
Asia/Pacific).
• SCP functional coverage: The vendor should
have reasonable (combination of RFP and user
satisfaction scores) SCP SOR functionality
coverage and depth in at least four of the seven
key functional areas of an SCP SOR (including
developments or public announcements
up until 1 July 2015). The vendor’s solution
set, user feedback and RFP responses were
compared with a Gartner standard-weighted
SCP SOR RFP. The seven SCP SOR key
functional areas are:
1 Stage 3 S&OP
2 Demand planning, including collaborative
demand planning
3 Inventory planning, including collaborative
inventory planning
4 Replenishment planning, including
collaborative replenishment planning
5 Order planning/promising
6 Production planning
7 Manufacturing scheduling
• Technical capabilities coverage: The vendor
must have reasonable (combination of RFP
and user satisfaction scores) depth in at least
six of the nine key technical capabilities of an
SCP SOR (including developments or public
announcements up until 1 July 2015). The
vendor’s RFP responses and user feedback
were compared with a Gartner standard-
weighted SCP SOR RFP. The SCP SOR technical
capabilities are as follows:
1 Process management
2 Unified data, process and analytical models
3 Scalability to handle large global planning
models
4 Performance management and analytics
support
5 Collaboration support
6 Ability to deploy segmented SCP models
7 MDM
8 Integration to transaction systems
9 Ability to propagate plan changes easily
across an integrated planning model in a
24/7 environment

26. 26
Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute
To help assess the capabilities of the vendors
evaluated in this Magic Quadrant, Gartner has
supplemented the seven top-level Ability to
Execute criteria with a number of subcriteria.
Each subcriterion was specifically chosen to help
distinguish the different vendors by providing an
SCP-SOR-relevant assessment against a Gartner
standard. Statements regarding vendors' strengths
and cautions that relate to "averages" (either
above or below) refer to the vendor's subcriteria
scores as compared with the average across all the
vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant.
Product or Service:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to support
a reasonable proportion of the functional areas
required for an SCP SOR, as defined in Gartner’s
reference model for SCP SOR. These functional
areas can be either through native capabilities
or via OEM agreements/partnerships. This is
also the vendor’s ability — via the technology
and architecture of its solution — to support
a reasonable proportion of the nonfunctional
requirements of an SCP SOR, as defined in
Gartner’s reference model for SCP SOR. The
weightings for the subcriteria below were user-
determined.
Subcriteria:
• The breadth and strength of the vendor's
demand-planning functionality, compared with
a Gartner SCP SOR standard and combined with
a satisfaction rating based on vendor references
• The breadth and strength of the vendor's
supply planning functionality, compared with a
Gartner SCP SOR standard and combined with a
satisfaction rating based on vendor references
• The availability of planning SODs to
complement the SCP SOR capability, especially
in the areas of demand sensing, advanced
S&OP and MEIO (that is, the top three SCP
SODs, based on user interest as determined by
Gartner inquiry)
• The degree to which the data, process and
analytical models across the SCP SOR offering
are unified to support E2E planning compared
with a Gartner SCP SOR standard and combined
with a satisfaction rating based on vendor
references
• The scalability of the SCP SOR in order to cope
with large and increasing planning model sizes
compared with a Gartner SCP SOR standard and
combined with a satisfaction rating based on
vendor references
• The process management capabilities
compared with a Gartner standard and
combined with a satisfaction rating based on
vendor references
• The level of collaboration support, especially
for internal planning collaboration across the
supply chain, compared with a Gartner standard
and combined with a satisfaction rating based
on vendor references
• The solution's ability to support global planning
needs, including the need to provide 24/7
planning availability across regions, compared
with a Gartner standard and combined with a
satisfaction rating based on vendor references
• The sophistication of any MDM capabilities
inherent in the SCP SOR compared with
a Gartner standard and combined with a
satisfaction rating based on vendor references
• The level of performance management and
analytics support offered by the vendor,
including the degree to which these analytics
are configurable by the user, compared with
a Gartner standard and combined with a
satisfaction rating based on vendor references
• The level of capability to integrate to a range
of different transaction environments compared
with a Gartner standard and combined with a
satisfaction rating based on vendor references

27. 27
Overall Viability:
Viability includes an assessment of the vendor’s
financial health; the financial and practical
success of the vendor; and the likelihood that
the vendor will continue to invest in the SCP
SOR product being evaluated in this Magic
Quadrant, offer the SCP SOR product, and
advance the state of the art of SCP SOR within
its portfolio of products.
Subcriteria:
• Vendor's financial rating
• Vendor's SCP SOR product viability
Sales Execution/Pricing:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to provide
business value compared with the price it
charges for software and services in deploying
its SCP software as an SCP SOR. The criterion
examines the vendor’s pricing level in relation
to prevailing SCP SOR market levels, the amount
(and, therefore, the cost) of the implementation
services relative to the SCP SOR software cost,
and the typical implementation times (and,
therefore, an approximation of how quickly it
takes to realize business value) to deploy key
SCP modules.
Subcriteria:
• Median SCP project budgets based on vendor
references
• Typical professional service-to-software ratios
• Typical implementation times for software
deployments
Market Responsiveness/Record:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to respond,
change direction, be flexible, and achieve
competitive success as the market and
requirements for an SCP SOR evolve. This includes
the degree to which a vendor can cover all the
potential planning functional requirements across
the three key categories of SCP functionality —
that is, configure, optimize and respond.
A vendor’s market record is also reflected by two
other factors. The first is how many customers
it has globally (although, above a threshold,
this diminishes in significance). The second
factor is the extent to which its customers are
using the vendor’s solutions across all their SCP
requirements (that is, the vendor’s degree of SCP
functional penetration).
Subcriteria:
• The degree to which a vendor covers all
the functional areas included in the design
planning category
• The degree to which a vendor covers all the
functional areas included in the optimize
planning category
• The degree to which a vendor covers all the
functional areas included in the respond
planning category
• The total number of SCP customers a vendor
has
• The degree to which a vendor has been able
to penetrate its installed base across the
different SCP functional areas based on vendor
references

28. 28
Marketing Execution:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to create
mind share with companies that are looking for
capable SCP SOR solutions for potentially global
deployments. It also involves the clarity, quality,
creativity and efficacy of programs that are
designed to deliver the vendor’s message in order
to influence the SCP market, promote the brand
and business, increase awareness of the products,
and establish a positive identification with the
SCP SOR product in the minds of buyers. This
should result in a higher percentage of a vendor’s
customers using its SCP solutions to support
Stage 3 (or higher) SCP process maturity, and in
an increased incidence of users deploying the
SCP SOR solution as a single instance to support
integrated E2E SCP.
Subcriteria:
• The degree of evidence that a vendor's
references are at Stage 3 (or higher) planning
process maturity
• The degree of evidence, in its customer
references, that the vendor's SCP SOR solutions
are being deployed as a global single instance
to support E2E integrated planning
Customer Experience:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to provide a
sufficient number of quality references to prove the
viability of its product in the SCP SOR marketplace.
Of particular interest are customer references that
demonstrate broad (or even global), large-scale
deployments of demand and supply planning
functionality across at least an enterprise supply
chain, within a single instance of the planning
software. This demonstrates scalability and the
ability to support a strong planning foundation, and
provides the means to support a pathway to higher
planning process maturities. This manifests itself
as the use of SCP SODs (such as MEIO, S&OP and
demand sensing) to support these more mature
planning processes.
Relationships, products and services/programs that
enable clients to be successful in deploying an
SCP SOR will be evaluated. Of particular interest
are the references’ overall satisfaction with the
vendor’s solutions and services, the likelihood that
they would select the same vendor again if given
the choice, and whether the references achieved
the desired business benefits on implementation.
Subcriteria:
• Overall customer satisfaction level of vendor
references
• The likelihood of vendor references selecting
the same vendor again (for the same
requirements)
• The level of business benefit achieved
by vendor references compared with the
anticipated level
Operations:
This criterion refers to the vendor’s ability to meet
its goals and commitments. This includes aspects
such as satisfactory ability to provide internal
professional services resources, or to partner with
system integrators or other service providers to
provide customers with SCP domain expertise,
suitable pricing models, deployment options, easy
upgrades, and acceptable TOC. The weightings for
the subcriteria below were user-determined.
Subcriteria:
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
product roadmap
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
SCP domain expertise
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
own implementation services
• Vendor reference satisfaction with availability
of third-party implementation services
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the SCP
SOR's TCO
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
global coverage
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
cloud deployment options
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
SaaS-based pricing
• Vendor reference satisfaction with the vendor's
frequency and ease of software upgrades

29. 29
Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Product or Service High
Overall Viability High
Sales Execution/Pricing Medium
Market Responsiveness/Record High
Marketing Execution High
Customer Experience High
Operations Medium
Source: Gartner (July 2015)
Completeness of Vision
Market Understanding:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to
demonstrate a strategic understanding of how the
SCP market is evolving to include the provision
of suitable and capable SCP SOR solutions today
and in the future. This is also the vendor’s ability
to articulate how it will translate emerging SCP
SOR requirements, changing SCP environments
and technology trends into suitable products and
services. Vendors that show the highest degree
of vision listen to and understand buyers’ wants
and needs, and they can shape or enhance those
wants and needs with their product vision. This
SCP SOR market understanding will also include
the vendor’s approach to meeting the emerging
needs for alternative deployment options
(especially cloud), the planning speed and
scalability to support global deployments, the
eventual convergence of planning and execution
to increase responsiveness, and the ability
to provide real-time analytics to support E2E
supply chain performance. Statements regarding
vendors’ strengths and cautions that relate to
“averages” (either above or below) refer to the
vendor’s subcriteria scores as compared with the
average across all the vendors evaluated in this
Magic Quadrant.
Subcriteria:
• Vision for respond planning to help drive
planning/execution convergence at the SCP
SOR level
• Vision for the use of cloud for scalability and
planning speed at the SCP SOR level
• Vision for real-time analytics at the SCP SOR
level
Marketing Strategy:
This criterion is the vendor’s ability to demonstrate
that it has a well-articulated strategy for SCP
SOR market expansion and revenue growth. Key
elements of the strategy should include a global
plan, internal investment priority and timing,
appropriate partner alliances that will result in
a clear position on an integrated SCP platform,
and the availability and utility of appropriate SCP
SODs to support users’ move into Stage 4 planning
process maturities when required by the business.
Subcriteria:
• Vision for SCP as an integrated planning
platform
• Vision for the level of relationship between SCP
SODs and the SCP SOR
Sales Strategy:
This criterion is the strategy for selling the SCP
products; it uses the appropriate network of
direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and
communication affiliates that extends the scope
and depth of market reach, skills, expertise,
technologies, services and the customer base.
A good sales strategy should translate into
customers’ short-term and medium-term future
buying intentions for additional SCP SOR and
SCP SOD modules in support of their integrated
SCP requirements and evolving planning process
maturity.
Subcriteria:
• Vendor references' buying intentions across
SCP SOR and SCP SOD functional areas in the
next 12 months
• Vendor references' buying intentions across
SCP SOR and SCP SOD functional areas in 12 to
24 months

30. 30
Offering (Product) Strategy:
This criterion examines the vendor’s ability to
clearly articulate to Gartner and to the market
a “statement of direction” for the next two to
three years that will keep pace with (or surpass)
Gartner’s vision for the SCP SOR market. The
vendor understands the major technology/
architectural shifts that will be required by
the SCP SOR market, and can communicate a
believable plan to leverage them and deliver
appropriate solutions. This may also include any
migration issues that these shifts may create for
current customers — for example, a vision that
can address how the vendor’s SCP SOR technical
architecture will evolve, how and where emerging
in-memory computing (databases) will be used,
and how the vendor intends to support supply
chain segmentation requirements across design,
planning and response.
Subcriteria:
• Vision for the technical architecture of SCP
SOR, for the associated SCP SODs, and for the
support for future SCP SOIs
• Vision for the use of in-memory computing
(especially in-memory databases)
• Vision for the execution of supply chain
segmentation strategies across the design,
planning and response phases of supply chain
segmentation
Business Model:
For the SCP SOR market, this criterion is reflected
in how the management team appears to prioritize
its SCP portfolio and solutions (between the
different SCP modules as well as across different
solution portfolios, if the vendor sells more
than just SCP products), and what level of R&D
investment is being made into the SCP solutions
and underlying technology.
Subcriteria:
• Vendor management team's focus and priority
on its SCP solutions and portfolio
• Vendor's level of R&D spend on its SCP
solutions, as measured by the percentage of
revenue allocated to R&D
Vertical/Industry Strategy:
This criterion looks at the vendor’s strategy to
direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the
specific needs of individual market segments,
including vertical industries. The degree of
required industry specialism is different across the
various SCP functional areas. The need for industry
specialism tends to reduce toward the demand-
planning side, and to increase toward detailed
manufacturing planning and scheduling processes.
The vendor must articulate how it will balance
the needs of different vertical industries across its
SCP portfolio. Key for SCP solutions is the vendor’s
focus on three industry groupings:
Process manufacturing:
1 Consumer goods
2 Food and beverage
3 Pharmaceuticals
4 Paper and pulp
5 Oil and gas
6 Metals
7 Chemicals
Discrete manufacturing:
1 Automotive
2 Industrial manufacturing
3 High tech/electronics
4 Aerospace and defense
5 Mining and construction
6 Medical devices
Distribution-intensive:
1 Telecom companies/utilities
2 Aftermarket
3 Retail
4 Wholesale/distribution

31. 31
Subcriteria:
• Strength in process manufacturing vertical
industries
• Strength in discrete manufacturing vertical
industries
• Strength in distribution-intensive vertical
industries
Innovation:
This criterion examines the vendor’s ability to
articulate how it will innovate its SCP products
and services to meet the evolving needs of an SCP
SOR. These needs fall into three broad categories:
• The need to support global enterprise
deployments, including scale, speed and
availability
• The need to provide a suitable pathway
from the base SOR capabilities into SCP SOI
capabilities (which will be mainly focused on
advanced, real-time analytics leveraging the
data in the SOR)
• The eventual need to effectively support
multienterprise deployments across extended
supply chains
The vendor should be able to articulate how
its vision (and innovation strategy) for an SCP
SOR supports a customer's journey to mature its
planning processes with the help of a relevant
enabling technology. This technology should be
in the form of SCP SODs and SOIs that can be
deployed effectively alongside the SCP SOR to
maximize business value and ease of use.
Subcriteria:
• Vision for an SCP SOI strategy
• Vision to support multienterprise planning at
the SCP SOR level
• Vision to support global 24/7 SCP
Geographic Strategy:
This criterion considers the vendor’s strategy to
support customers in all the main world regions
to ensure successful global deployments of its
SCP SOR software. The vendor’s strategy should
direct resources and skills to meet the specific
needs of geographies outside the “home” or
native geography — directly or through partners,
channels and subsidiaries — as appropriate
for those geographies and markets. This is
reflected by the geographic spread of customer
deployments and the extent of implementation
services (the vendors’ and third parties’) to support
deployments.
Subcriteria:
• Global reach of customer base across seven
regions (North America, South America,
Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle
East, Africa and Asia/Pacific)
• Number of third-party implementation partners
Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Market Understanding High
Marketing Strategy High
Sales Strategy Medium
Offering (Product) Strategy High
Business Model Medium
Vertical/Industry Strategy Low
Innovation High
Geographic Strategy Medium
Source: Gartner (July 2015)