Escalate Software Takes On Retail Store Supply Chain Management

Escalate

Until now, Escalate's Supplier product was used for managing online businesses. The new version is also Web-based but manages the supply chain processes between store facilities and their suppliers.

The solution automates manual order communications, order status tracking, shipping processes and invoice-matching. The solution promises to cut costs by 5 percent to 15 percent, the company said.

"What we've seen is that most retailers tend to build this type of solution themselves, but we've built a solution that tracks the entire process down to service failures so you can see which vendors or suppliers are not performing and in turn causing your customer service to suffer," said Keng Lim, president and CEO of Escalate, based here.

Escalate has its own data center and hosts its applications for customers that opt not to license its products, but the company is shifting to partners, said Lim.

Future customers that want to have Escalate's applications hosted will be pointed to partners. Lim said large systems integrators are also approaching Escalate to expand their ASP offerings.

Escalate is in discussion with three large systems integrators, he said.

"Moving forward I see more and more ASPs and MSPs diverging to either become a service-only or software-only company," said Lim. "A good example of that is Loudcloud."