Intelligent Enterprise

TrueDemand Software Inc. and VeriSign have partnered to provide forecasting and replenishment applications with real-time data aimed at consumer goods companies and retail stores. The companies said on Wednesday they will bring the complete platform to market later this month.

The application will analyze product, electronic product code from radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and point-of-sale (POS) data to help consumer goods companies and retailers keep product moving through supply chains and keep shelves stocked. As inventory moves through warehouses and stores more frequency, less capital investment is required to deliver the correct product to consumers.

VeriSign will host the TrueDemand application. TrueDemand will feed the data through Verisign's Electronic Product Code Information Service (EPCIS) network, an interface standard that allows companies to retrieve information related to Electronic Product Code (EPC) numbers, into its forecasting application. "TrueDemand is one of the first companies to go beyond collecting the RFID data and depositing it into a middleware application," said Jeff Richards, vice president and general manager of the intelligent supply chain services business at Verisign.

Companies find it difficult to take action on information gathered from RFIDdata. But Richards said TrueDemand's application provides more then insight into inventory in stores, distribution centers and warehouses. It offers solutions, and ties the financial impact to actions based on historic sales, benchmarks and data the platform collects.

In October, VeriSign acquired Retail Solutions Inc., which provides consumer goods companies with sales data from retailers. With the technology, Verisign has begun to host RFID data for retail stores as more participate in data-exchange trials through EPCglobal Inc., a non-profit group spearheading RFID adoption.

This data is used to forecast demand and manage promotions. With help from its partner World Wide Retail Exchange (WWRE), a Web-based portal established by retailers and consumer goods companies to share product data in a consistent format. The data ranges from container size to weight to color. Through these partnerships and acquisitions, VeriSign and TrueDemand will combine RFID and POS data to forecast, calculate and replenish stock more accurately.

"Not having an application that combines RFID data with point-of-sale data is like a tree falling alone in the wood; if there is no one there to hear it does it really matter?" said Raymond Blanchard, TrueDemand co-founder and vice president of business development. "Having one without the other doesn't allow retailers to be proactive."

TrueDemand's goal is to provide what Blanchard calls "actionable business intelligence" to users across the network. It means combining science, data management and forecasting tools.

Verisign, which built a reputation for securing network transactions, can offer customers more than a communications tool. "Everyone is paranoid about communicating RFID data, but the reality is they're already hosting POS data," Blanchard said.

The ability to pull RFID data from Verisign and integrate through TrueDemand is available today. Blanchard said the service to add POS data will become available later this month. The cost for the service is determined by the number of locations, product stock keeping units ((SKUs) being tracked and employees using the tool.