Supply Chain
Cleo | September 27, 2023
Cleo, the pioneer and global leader of the Ecosystem Integration software category and provider of the Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) platform, today announced availability of multiple new platform innovations designed to help organizations optimize supply chain execution through improved control, automation, and visibility of integrations between their ecosystem and their back-office systems.
Cleo President and CEO Mahesh Rajasekharan said, “We’re charting a clear path to frictionless, intelligence-driven ecosystem integration, which will be a cornerstone of our customers’ ability to optimize supply chain execution. CIC 2023 will empower organizations with the insights they need to make better decisions and improve their ecosystem relationships. Our promise to our customers and the market is simple and straightforward: We will continue to push the innovation envelope, with the goal of providing more control to supply chain executives through real-time visibility, automation, AI, and orchestration solutions.”
Cleo’s CIC 2023 platform is the company’s most powerful platform release to date and includes multiple enhancements and new functionality to support the design, operation, and management of these ecosystem integrations, including:
Improved integration design and deployment capabilities for increased velocity in time to value
Enhancements to all Accelerators, which are pre-built, out-of-the-box Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay, Grocery, and Warehousing integrations for automating X12 EDI transactions between a company’s trading partner ecosystem straight into core business applications like Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM and BC, Oracle NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Shopify, and Amazon Seller Central among others.
Ease-of-use updates to several connectors including eBay, Shopify, and Amazon to rapidly build ecosystem integrations.
Portfolio expansion for infrastructure and business connectivity with new and enhanced connectors including Amazon, Shopify, Microsoft SharePoint, Google Cloud Storage, and RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF).
Increased visibility and control to improve supply chain operations
Launched a workload prioritization solution that allows organizations to put business priority first through granular control over business-critical and time-sensitive transactions (by document type or trading partner) that ensure key customer commitments are never missed.
Enabled stronger, more informed, and more confident decision-making through flexibly customizable reporting timeframes which promote tighter alignment between reporting needs and business operations
Released advanced message search capability to discover messages faster. Enables operations to improve customer experience during troubleshooting and monitoring of ecosystem transactions.
Enhanced exception management for faster issue handling and prevention
More robust certificate management that translates to proactive measures to ensure seamless business continuity with key generation, certificate generation, and rollover
Advanced troubleshooting and granular drill-down capabilities enabling operations teams to reduce error resolution time by up to 20% -- resulting in improved ecosystem relationships.
Deeper automation and improved configurability allow integration operations personas to ensure timely delivery of transactions through automatic retries & concurrent sends of errored processes
Reimaged integration development experience and usability provides a fresh approach for developers
Refreshed user interface of the platform integration development environment, allowing a streamlined experience for self-service API and EDI integration.
Redesigned business process development experience streamlines updating and orchestrating of integrations, allowing organizations to quickly implement new integrations and make changes as their business evolves.
Extensible integration logic with a full range of custom actions that empowers users to drive efficiency through comprehensive local commands executed at the orchestration level
Optimizing supply chain execution requires breaking down functional silos, automating critical, time-sensitive business processes, increasing visibility and insights to make better decisions, and providing every organizational persona with control they need to complete day-to-day operations. The key lies in deploying end-to-end ecosystem integrations that bring together different components of a supply chain into a cohesive and seamless digital backbone.
CIC, long recognized as one of the industry’s most powerful cloud integration solutions, is currently used by more than 4,200 logistics, manufacturing, distribution and retail companies throughout the world.
About Cleo Integration Cloud
Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) is a cloud-based integration platform, purpose-built to design, build, operate, and optimize critical ecosystem integration processes. The CIC platform brings end-to-end integration visibility across API, MFT, EDI, and non-EDI integrations, giving technical and business users the confidence to rapidly onboard trading partners, enable integration between applications, and accelerate revenue-generating business processes. On the platform, businesses have the choice of self-service, managed services, or a blended approach – ensuring complete flexibility and control over their B2B integration strategy.
About Cleo
Cleo is an ecosystem integration software company focused on business outcomes, ensuring each customer’s potential is realized by delivering solutions that make it easy to discover and create value through the movement and integration of B2B enterprise data. Cleo gives customers strategic, “outside-in” visibility into the critical end-to-end business flows happening across their ecosystems of partners and customers, marketplaces, and internal cloud and on-premise applications. Our solutions empower teams to drive business agility, accelerate onboarding, facilitate the modernization of key business processes, and capture new revenue streams by reimagining and remastering their digital ecosystem through robust application, B2B, and data integration technologies.
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Supply Chain
Everstream Analytics | September 15, 2023
Everstream Analytics and Slave-Free Alliance (SFA) have partnered to protect global supply chains against modern slavery. Everstream brings multi-tier supplier discovery and AI-powered risk monitoring, while SFA provides forced labor intelligence. Together, they aim to expose and eliminate these risks and enhance supply chain capabilities. Modern slavery affects 50 million people worldwide, and its complexity makes supply chains vulnerable. Over forty percent of these victims are imprisoned in upper-middle-income to high-income nations, highlighting the universality of this issue. Everstream is committed to eradicating this issue as SFA's global strategic and exclusive technology partner.
According to Slave-Free Alliance, 77% of companies expect to find modern slavery in their supply chains.
The intricate and opaque nature of contemporary global supply networks exposes companies to substantial risks of forced labor. Within the United States, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, and the imminent EU Supply Chain Law establish a framework in which manufacturers bear responsibility for any instances of exploitation within their supply chains, irrespective of their prior awareness of such occurrences. Noncompliance may lead to hefty fines and reputational harm. This strategic partnership empowers enterprises with deeper visibility into potential risks and facilitates swift issue resolution, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations.
Tim Nelson, CEO of Hope for Justice and Slave-Free Alliance, commented,
This partnership will advance our ultimate goal of bringing an end to modern slavery in supply chains. With the help of Everstream's technology and our team of forced labor experts, we will create global strategies and provide thoughtful solutions to protect people and supply chains from the threat of modern slavery.
[Source – Business Wire]
Everstream and Slave-Free Alliance's collaborative efforts extend beyond their partnership. They are committed to sharing their insights and expertise on modern slavery risks and mitigation strategies at prominent events like the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). With this partnership, the two companies will empower organizations globally to construct ethical and compliant supply chains while contributing to the fight against modern slavery. By combining their resources and knowledge, Everstream and SFA are dedicated to significantly impacting this critical issue and helping companies uphold the highest ethical standards in their operations.
About Everstream Analytics
Everstream Analytics, a leading force in the global supply chain, is committed to redefining industry standards. By harnessing artificial intelligence and predictive analytics capabilities, Everstream Analytics empowers businesses with insights and risk analytics, glorifying an era of innovative and environmentally conscious supply chain practices. Its renowned solution seamlessly integrates with procurement, logistics, and business continuity platforms, providing a comprehensive information ecosystem and astute analysis. Leveraging a vast proprietary dataset, Everstream Analytics ensures precise predictions, enabling businesses to optimize their supply chains and transform them into invaluable business assets.
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Supply Chain
FourKites | September 20, 2023
FourKites, a leading supply chain visibility provider, has introduced a groundbreaking innovation in Fin AI, a natural language interface poised to transform supply chain management. This revolutionary technology empowers customers to unearth hidden insights, optimize operations, and streamline time-consuming tasks, such as event impact assessment across their shipment network. By harnessing the extensive supply chain data network, Fin AI significantly shifts from reactive to proactive decision-making, offering automated supply chain orchestration at scale.
Mathew Joseph Elenjickal, Founder and CEO of FourKites, said,
“FourKites is proud to be building at the leading edge of supply chain data and AI.”
[Source – Business Wire]
The company provides customers with a more comprehensive range of actionable insights across supply chains with Fin AI. Mathew added that this would empower the company to concentrate on the information and decisions and drive businesses forward. Additionally, over time, automation through Fin AI would serve as a direct extension of the capabilities of those who used it.
Supply chain managers face the challenge of navigating complex data silos and managing tasks efficiently. FourKites recognizes these hurdles and responds with Fin AI, designed to empower professionals with actionable insights, event impact assessments, and the ability to address tracking issues promptly. Leveraging generative artificial intelligence, this innovation paves the way for a paradigm shift in supply chain data exploration and decision-making. Focusing on real-time, data-driven choices, FourKites positions Fin AI as a transformative solution to industry challenges.
Fin AI's natural language interface, built on an industry-leading language model, draws on FourKites' extensive data network to provide users with the tools to:
Assess the impact of disruptive events on supply chain, allows to identify affected shipments and take remedial actions swiftly.
Diagnose tracking issues efficiently, enhancing visibility across their network.
Access product guidance spanning FourKites' suite and distill the most relevant insights into concise, actionable sentences.
FourKites combines powerful machine learning and real-time data to help companies digitize their end-to-end supply chains. More than 1,200 of the world's most recognized brands — 9 of the top-10 CPGs and 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies — trust FourKites to transform their business and create more efficient, agile and sustainable supply chains.
About FourKites
FourKites, a globally acclaimed supply chain visibility platform, has set a new logistics and supply chain management standard. With a commitment to extending visibility throughout the entire supply chain, FourKites goes beyond mere transportation, encompassing yards, warehouses, stores, and beyond. This cutting-edge platform offers unparalleled insights, tracking over 3 million shipments daily and reaching over 200 countries and territories. FourKites leverages real-time data and advanced machine learning to empower businesses to digitally transform their end-to-end supply chains.
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Freight, Supply Chain
Echo Global Logistics | September 13, 2023
Chicago-based Echo Global Logistics, Inc., has introduced automated carrier negotiations to its online carrier platform, EchoDrive. This new feature enables carriers to bid on available loads and receive instant notifications of acceptance or counteroffers, streamlining the freight booking process.
Dave Menzel, President and COO at Echo, stated,
Echo continues to pursue innovative transportation technology with our automated carrier negotiation system. This new process, combined with our advanced load-matching algorithm, allows carriers to now find available freight and book it in an automated manner within seconds, eliminating inefficiencies associated with the time carriers spend gaining access to freight.
[Source: PR News Wire]
Jay Gustafson, EVP of Brokerage Operations, highlighted the real-time feedback provided to carriers and the seamless booking experience powered by algorithmic intelligence.
Echo's automated negotiation system enables dispatchers to digitally book available shipments even if the listed price doesn't align. The platform swiftly evaluates carrier bids using a unique algorithm and responds with automated acceptances, counteroffers, or rejections. This feature operates through EchoDrive, the web portal offering real-time load access for carriers.
EchoDrive's algorithm determines bid acceptance thresholds, ensuring swift responses. This feature enhances efficiency for carriers using Echo's web portal. Echo Global Logistics is a Fortune 1000 provider of transportation and supply chain management services, leveraging technology to simplify transportation management for clients.
EchoDrive enhances freight booking efficiency by enabling automated carrier negotiations. It saves time, improves the supply chain, and provides real-time insights. However, reliance on algorithms may not always align with market conditions or carrier needs, and rapid automation may reduce personal interactions. Technical glitches are also a potential risk.
About Echo Global Logistics
Echo Global Logistics, Inc. is a leading provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services. With its headquarters in Chicago and more than 30 offices nationwide, Echo offers a range of services, including freight brokerage, managed transportation solutions for all major modes such as truckload, partial truckload, LTL, intermodal, temperature-controlled shipping, warehousing, and expedited services.
Echo's proprietary web-based and mobile app technology compiles and analyzes data from a network of over 40,000 transportation providers. This technology helps its 35,000 clients simplify the critical tasks involved in transportation management. Echo has been named one of Newsweek's Most Trusted Companies in America.
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