S.
McVey
- September
6, 2000
Event
Summary
Provia Software, the Michigan-based supply chain execution software vendor
formerly known as Haushahn Systems & Engineers, recently announced that
it has completed the 500th implementation of the company's VIAWARE software.
The milestone was accomplished at Lanier Worldwide's Philadelphia distribution
facility, which recently went live with Provia's VIAWARE supply chain
fulfillment product solution. This was the third Lanier facility to go
live with Provia, with 3 more facilities scheduled to go live later this
year. Provia counts traditional single-site installations as well as installs
deployed via an Intranet to multiple sites from a central client location.
The figure is probably still conservative since the company counts installations
of multiple components, for instance WMS and TMS at a single location,
as one site.
The
VIAWARE suite of applications for fulfillment is Provia's response to
a clear trend among many warehouse management software vendors to round
out their product offerings by including adjacent functionality. VIAWARE
is composed of Provia's flagship warehouse management system (WMS) and
yard management system (YMS), an order management system (OMS), acquired
in 1999 from Logistics Concepts, a transportation management system (TMS)
acquired earlier this year from Pinnacle Distribution Concepts, its new
visibility tool, VIAVIEW, developed in-house.
Market
Impact
While five hundred is an arbitrary number, it does place privately held
Provia in good company among the leading SCE vendors, Manhattan Associates,
Industri-Matematik, EXE Technologies, IBS, and McHugh Software. Though
its exact position is unclear (since vendors rarely report client installations
the same way), the milestone is less important for ranking purposes than
it is as an indication of a growing customer base - one that can be mined
for additional license revenues. Provia's evolution from a WMS vendor
into a multi-function, order-to-delivery fulfillment software vendor is
partly responsible for its larger client base, as it has acquired clients
in two acquisitions. These are important wins for the potential repeat
business that Provia may gain when clients want to expand their IT coverage
to support order and fulfillment activities.
Provia
is by no means the only SCE vendor to offer warehouse management, transportation
management, and order management. HK Systems has grown its core offering
in WMS by the addition of all of these functions, as has IMI with VIVALDI
and EXE Technologies with its Exceed Fulfillment Server.
Provia
is distinguished rather by its unique approach to implementation services
that puts the knowledge in the hands of the client. Its Knowledge Exchange
Methodology allows clients to learn the nuts and bolts of VIAWARE in a
two-week course that precedes the start of the implementation. Use of
client resources can bring great cost savings in addition to building
expertise for maintaining the solution internally. Part of the reason
why this is possible is that Provia offers VIAWARE as a configurable,
packaged solution and discourages customizations that can quickly ensnare
project timelines.
While
a packaged approach is not for all clients, those who have chosen the
methodology have good things to say. "We took ownership of our implementations
after the second site," said Bill Cook, VP of Logistics, for Lanier Worldwide.
"With the high level of knowledge we already had on the Provia system
from the training classes and 'hands-on' approach we took with our first
two implementations, implementing our third site was a breeze. We plan
to continue this practice for our remaining implementations."
User
Recommendations
Provia has a strong value proposition for companies in third party logistics,
consumer packaged goods, high tech electronics, industrial distribution,
and retail. Prospective clients should keep in mind the packaged nature
of VIAWARE and understand that customizations will cost more.
Users
who want to host their applications internally or "rent" them from Provia
via a partner ASP can sign up for VIAWARE OMS, TMS and VIAVIEW immediately.
FreightLogic, the product acquired from Pinnacle that ultimately became
VIAWARE TMS was built originally for the Web. Provia is replicating its
technology to make the rest of its suite Internet-ready.