Inovis Celebrates 20th Anniversary in Multienterprise Master Data Management
Inovis marks leadership and innovation in Cloud-based Master Data Management & Data Sync
Atlanta, GA — January 6, 2009 — Inovis, a leading provider of Business Community Management solutions, today celebrated 20 years of providing industry-leading multienterprise master data management and data synchronization services to thousands of the largest retailers and their vendors in North America.
The Inovis platform allows suppliers to provide information about all its products including up to 550 distinct products, supply chain or other attributes (i.e. size, color, style, product images, etc.) By entering this product information once into a cloud-based or hosted service, suppliers can make accurate and comprehensive data on entire, seasonal product collections available to all of their customers in a secure manner. The service provides highly-accurate information that serves as multienterprise master data across business communities that feed into retailers' internal merchandising, ordering, supply chain, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, accounting and other applications.
Inovis Data Sync has been the market leader in connecting apparel, accessory, cosmetic and other fashion manufacturers around the world with leading general merchandise and apparel retailers in North America. This year Inovis celebrated the expansion of its data synchronization platform in the UK and Europe with the signing of House of Fraser and the successful, early on-boarding of its community of suppliers. In addition, Inovis has seen a 5 fold increase in its support of the Global Data Synchronization Network service, now providing product data service to most of the leading fast moving consumer goods retailers and suppliers. Inovis now has opened the market for customers to seamlessly onboard data to retailers like Wal-Mart, Lowes, Best Buy, SUPERVALU, Sears and many others.
"We're proud of our long history in data sync as we partnered with our customers to drive industry adoption, innovation and geographic expansion over our first 20 years in this industry," said Sean Feeney, President and CEO of Inovis. "We look forward to accelerating our innovation and in transforming how companies manage the vast amounts of data between their organizations and their vast, global supplier communities during the next 20 years.
Later this month, Inovis will officially retire its legacy Data Sync platform to make way for the new, state-of-the art Data Sync 4.0 platform. The Inovis Data Sync 4.0 platform leverages technology and automation to enable suppliers and their channel partners (i.e.: retailers, distributors and brokers) to exchange, approve and manage accurate product, pricing and forecasting data.
Additionally, Inovis Data Sync now provides a variety of validation checks to improve data integrity, a fully operational 'open' Web Services API for realtime integration, and support for image and multi-media file formats. Customers gain efficiencies as suppliers only have to provide information once in order to reach all their key customers, without having to worry about how, when and what data each one of those key customers require.
Inovis Salutes Data Sync Pioneers—Our Customers
The first retailers to sign onto the Inovis Data Sync platform were Macys, Dillard's and Hill Department Stores. These companies shared Inovis' vision that there had to be a better way to manage the ordering, merchandising, assortment and planning processes in addition to order fulfillment and supply chain management.
The first apparel designer and manufacturer to go live on the Inovis Data Sync platform was Hart Schaffner Marx, and the company continues to be one of the largest data sync users with more than three millions SKUs on the platform alone. Other visionary suppliers that were early adopters of data synchronization were Haggar, Hanes, Levi, Maiden Form, Playtex and Vanity Fair.
"Dillard's has been focused on improving our company's responsiveness to customer demand and changing trends by developing better collaborative technologies and processes with our trading partners," said Bill Holder, Vice President & CIO of Dillard's. "Inovis has been active in supporting these initiatives, and the Inovis Data Sync platform has provided trusted supplier data to assist our systems to continue to achieve these goals."
"Well before customer mandates became the norm, Hartmarx clearly recognized the value that product data synchronization would bring—not just to companies like ours but also to our customers and the evolution of those critical business relationships," said Shouvik Dutta, Vice President of Information Technology, Hart Schaffner Marx. "Data synchronization was a transformational development for companies in an industry that required all parties to manage so many relationships based on ever-changing information."
Looking Back: Retrospective on Data Sync, Fashion, Pop-Culture & World Milestones
Having been deeply involved in the fashion and general merchandise and apparel industry for 20 years or more, Inovis has been in the trenches to see changing fashions as well as major cultural milestones.
Daniel Powter's Bad Day ruled the charts and was everywhere. Other hot musical acts were James Blunt, Sean Paul, Nelly Furtado, Shakira and Natasha Bedingfield.
Inovis launches Data Sync 4.0 and multi-year migration effort for thousands of its retail customers and their suppliers.
According to the Greg Morago of The Hartford Courant, this year in fashion was memorable for "bright colors, layering, embellishments, feminine skirts and feminine touches like flowery prints and sweet bows."
Usher had 2 offerings in the Billboard Hot 100 followed by Alicia Keys, Maroon 5 and Outkast.
According to the Marjorie Skinner of the Portland Mercury, the losing fashions of this year were mesh trucker hats, faux hawks and mullets, leg warmers and more!
50 Cent topped the charts with R. Kelly, Sean Paul, Beyonce/Jay Z and 3 Doors Down in hot pursuit.
Mary Jane Shoes, Punk and Goth and cargo pants were some of the fashion trends this year
Elton John's album, "Candle in the Wind," itself a tribute to the late fashion, cultural and philanthropic icon, Princess Diana, topped the charts this year along with albums from Jewel, Puff Daddy and Toni Braxton
Inovis' Business Community Management (BCM) creates a comprehensive view of a supply chain by integrating the technology, business processes and communication of the entire business community. By standardizing the technology and business community communication, Inovis helps companies better manage the supply chains and create sustainable value through three key avenues: increasing end-to-end visibility, reducing business-to-business complexity and automating entire trading communities.
About Inovis
Inovis is a leading provider of on-demand Business Community Management solutions that empower companies to transact, collaborate and optimize communications with their entire trading community. By standardizing and automating mission-critical business interactions, companies can dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of supply chain communication. This foundation of high-quality, reliable and secure connectivity provides real-time visibility across the order-to-payment lifecycle. The resulting actionable intelligence enables users to proactively address supply chain issues before they impact profitability, shortening cycle times, improving productivity and increasing customer satisfaction.
With more than 20 years of expertise, Inovis delivers its products and services to more than 20,000 companies over a wide range of industries and markets across the globe. For more information, visit http://www.inovis.com.
