ProSight Lands Sweet DealProSight Lands Sweet Deal

ProSight Inc., which makes software for managing IT investments, said Tuesday that it has landed a contract with Hershey Foods Corp. ProSight's software fits with the Hershey IT organization's strategy to work effectively with the company's business operations, CIO George Davis says.

Hershey will use ProSight's software to manage IT purchases like an investment portfolio, providing managers with a better view of all investments across the company. The software produces graphs that color-code projects as healthy, guarded, and unhealthy based on variables such as whether the project is on budget or if it's contributing to increased revenue.

The $4.6 billion-a-year candy company appears to be betting heavily on the ability of IT to improve its business processes. During the Halloween season, Hershey began using business-warehouse applications from SAP, running on its newly upgraded enterprise resource planning backbone based on SAP R/3 4.6. Those applications are providing business and IT managers with a better view of the supply chain, Davis says. In coming months, the company's IT organization will implement systems for collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment.

The Hershey deal is a big win for ProSight, which was founded in 1998 and has yet to turn a profit. ProSight also said Tuesday that it has completed a third round of financing, raising $13.8 million from Giza Venture Capital and Genesis Partners, and has signed a partnership agreement with Fujitsu Consulting for the consulting company to offer and implement ProSight's software.