Aims to provide accurate cash-level data to reduce trade disputes, lower cost of goods, improve profitability
San Mateo, CA — December 9, 2004 — Retail industry solution provider Notiva this week debuted its new platform designed to serve as a single source of accurate financial data for retailers and manufacturers with the goals of reducing trade disputes, lowering the cost of goods and improving top-line revenue.
With shipments often containing upwards of thousands of line items, making sure each invoice matches the original purchase order has traditionally required a tedious, inherently error-prone process. Managers from multiple departments at both the retailer and the manufacturer would get involved in disputes that could take months to resolve as each side of the contract challenged details and requested revisions.
Notiva said its solution interfaces with existing enterprise systems and then analyzes electronically stored and organized purchase orders, invoices and delivery receipts; automatically matches data across all documents; and, based on user-set rules, sends automated alerts of any discrepancies to the appropriate managers.
By allowing retailers and suppliers to electronically view the same documents and the same data, Notiva said its cash-based collaborative bridge software platform provides transaction synchronization that facilitates collaboration between the two parties on the final cash settlement for all their transactions.
The Notiva platform includes a suite of applications that provide three main areas of functionality:
Notiva said that by automating the workflow and giving retailers and manufacturers collaborative visibility into their financial supply chain, the solution offers such potential gains as reduced disputes, decreased deduction-processing time, improved retail store in-stocks, improved accounts payable productivity and overall profitability. In addition, by actively managing deductions, companies can potentially minimize the need to restate earnings, and they can generate more detailed financial records to ensure corporate compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.
"Retailers and manufacturers have been nickel-and-diming each other for years without realizing how many dollars that constant bickering is costing them," said Joshua Greenbaum, principal with Enterprise Applications Consulting. "Operating on razor-thin margins, the retail industry has longed for a way to reduce costs, manage risk, and improve profitability for all trading partners. Notiva is well positioned to become the catalyst for a cultural shift in the retail world that would enable both sides to better serve their customers."
Notiva offers a pricing model that scales based on the volume of trading partner transactions. The Notiva software platform is available immediately.
Founded in January 2000 and headquartered in Santa Mateo, Calif., privately held Notiva is funded by August Capital, Canaan Partners and U.S. Venture Partners.
San Mateo, CA — December 9, 2004 — Retail industry solution provider Notiva this week debuted its new platform designed to serve as a single source of accurate financial data for retailers and manufacturers with the goals of reducing trade disputes, lowering the cost of goods and improving top-line revenue.
With shipments often containing upwards of thousands of line items, making sure each invoice matches the original purchase order has traditionally required a tedious, inherently error-prone process. Managers from multiple departments at both the retailer and the manufacturer would get involved in disputes that could take months to resolve as each side of the contract challenged details and requested revisions.
Notiva said its solution interfaces with existing enterprise systems and then analyzes electronically stored and organized purchase orders, invoices and delivery receipts; automatically matches data across all documents; and, based on user-set rules, sends automated alerts of any discrepancies to the appropriate managers.
By allowing retailers and suppliers to electronically view the same documents and the same data, Notiva said its cash-based collaborative bridge software platform provides transaction synchronization that facilitates collaboration between the two parties on the final cash settlement for all their transactions.
The Notiva platform includes a suite of applications that provide three main areas of functionality:
- Notiva Match and Reconciliation: An automated match of invoice, purchase order, receipt and other key financial elements of the supply chain, this transaction synchronization application leverages algorithms to automate what typically is a very labor- and time-intensive function, thus eliminating manual errors and administrative costs. Using the solution, reconciliation can be accomplished in less than five minutes, Notiva claimed, potentially a huge savings considering that the typical retailer processes hundreds of thousands of invoices a year.
- Notiva Collaborative Settlement: This application provides automated, closed-loop collaboration between retailer and manufacturer to enable the final reconciliation. Reconciliations frequently can drag out for months as the retailer and manufacturer sent stacks of documents back and forth. Notiva said its solution automates this process, providing both parties with an online reconciliation tool. Using shared data, they can collaborate on a final reconciliation and final cash transaction, and generate one set of accurate, mutually agreed-upon financial data.
- Notiva Analytics: Notiva's dynamic, diagnostic analytics leverage one set of agreed-upon data to set shared metrics and measure the effectiveness of those metrics throughout the fiscal year. Mirroring physical events in the supply chain, these financial analytics enable trading partners to spot less efficient areas in the supply chain and take appropriate action to improve their business processes, the solution provider said.
Notiva said that by automating the workflow and giving retailers and manufacturers collaborative visibility into their financial supply chain, the solution offers such potential gains as reduced disputes, decreased deduction-processing time, improved retail store in-stocks, improved accounts payable productivity and overall profitability. In addition, by actively managing deductions, companies can potentially minimize the need to restate earnings, and they can generate more detailed financial records to ensure corporate compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.
"Retailers and manufacturers have been nickel-and-diming each other for years without realizing how many dollars that constant bickering is costing them," said Joshua Greenbaum, principal with Enterprise Applications Consulting. "Operating on razor-thin margins, the retail industry has longed for a way to reduce costs, manage risk, and improve profitability for all trading partners. Notiva is well positioned to become the catalyst for a cultural shift in the retail world that would enable both sides to better serve their customers."
Notiva offers a pricing model that scales based on the volume of trading partner transactions. The Notiva software platform is available immediately.
Founded in January 2000 and headquartered in Santa Mateo, Calif., privately held Notiva is funded by August Capital, Canaan Partners and U.S. Venture Partners.