Perfect The ProcessesPerfect The Processes

Integration-software vendor CommerceQuest Inc. has released products that let retailers manage business processes in partnership with retail-industry application developer Island Pacific Inc.

IP Traxion, based on CommerceQuest's existing business-process-management tools and retail enterprise-resource-planning tools from Island Pacific, lets retailers automate and monitor numerous business processes, from sourcing to final sale, according to the vendors. For example, a retailer could synchronize all aspects of its product design and development cycle using IP Traxion. The retailer could model processes, assign and route tasks to roles, and monitor the process to measure its productivity. A dashboard that features red, yellow, and green performance indicators allows executives to monitor real-time performance of a given process.

The software lets major retailers more easily comply with the financial-reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by providing access to financial performance data in real time. If the end-of-the-month accounting isn't proceeding apace, the dashboard for that process could show yellow or red.

Retailers can model and automate all processes required to ensure fully stocked shelves. "Retail is one of the industries that can benefit the most from BPM software because real-time information translates directly into dollars and cents," says CommerceQuest chief process officer Ken Morris.

The software's release should help CommerceQuest build on the momentum it has gained in the BPM market. The company is set to challenge pure-play BPM software vendors such as Pegasystems Inc. and Metastorm Inc., research firm Gartner says in a report. CommerceQuest's partnership with Island Pacific makes it the premier player for retail BPM, Forrester Research analyst Ken Vollmer says. "There's no one out there with as advanced a solution specifically for retailers."

The U.S. market for BPM software was just $500 million in 2002, but IDC expects it to grow 30% annually through 2007. Says IDC analyst Dennis Byron, "It represents the next level of business integration."