Acquires supply chain execution solutions provider Optum Inc., launches new consulting unit focused on RFID and EPC
Chicago — July 6, 2005 — Collaborative extranet solutions provider Click Commerce Inc. announced it has acquired Optum Inc., expanding its solutions portfolio to include Optum's on-demand, open-standards supply chain execution solutions. Optum has more than 600 global deployments of its supply chain and warehouse management systems.
Optum, which lists such customers as Avnet Electronics, Bausch & Lomb, Eagle Global Logistics, Home Shopping Network, Lucent, NCR and Pier 1 Imports, provides solutions that track product information generated from a retailer's point of sale to a manufacturing warehouse or distribution center, and distribute that data to the decision-makers who need it.
Click Commerce said Optum's RFID-ready demand fulfillment solution will complement its existing portfolio of channel management and collaborative commerce solutions.
This acquisition creates an exciting combination of Click's channel management portfolio and Optum's supply chain fulfillment solutions, said Michael Ferro Jr., chairman and CEO of Click Commerce. We are particularly focused on extending Click's role in the RFID space, which we see as the next frontier on the supply chain optimization landscape. The Optum acquisition is the latest step in our larger strategy to assemble products that improve supply chain and business process functionality.
Bruce Richardson, senior vice president of research, AMR Research, said, Click Commerce and Optum have been pioneers in the development of collaborative business processes. Adding Optum customers, software and services will accelerate Click Commerce's ability to assemble all the necessary components for successful delivery of new customer-driven supply chain models.
Click Commerce has also launched Strategy 18, a new consulting unit that is focused on helping companies understand the impact of emerging technologies, such as radio frequency identification (RFID)/electronic product code (EPC) technology, on collaborative commerce.
We see a pressing need to bridge the gap between the strategic goal of improved trading partner collaboration and the practical realities of making it happen, Ferro said. Companies everywhere are struggling with these issues — our own customers included. We formed Strategy 18 based on our clients' requests for advice on issues such as RFID/EPC that will transform their trading relationships.
