Gabriela Florea

Informatics for Business Administration

Business Administration in English, FABIZ, Ist year Master

IBM named leader for Omnichannel Order Management in Forrester Wave for Q3 2016

Forrester has used in 2016 an evaluation based on 40 criteria to assess omnichannel order
management (OOM) vendors for nine of the most relevant software providers for the category:
Aptos, IBM, Jagged Peak, Kibo, Manhattan Associates, netSuite, Oracle, Radial and SAP
Hybris. The report ranks each vendor in connection to each other but also to the market by what
they bring into the eBusiness field for clients in need of omnichannel order management.

IBM and Manhattan Associates were chosen as leaders in the research, followed by Oracle,
Radial, SAP Hybris, Kibo, netSuite and Aptos as competitors, while Jagged Peak ranked as a
solid contender.

In search for vision, innovation and optimization capabilities, the retailers in the eBusiness use
order management solutions (OMS) provided by their partners. The technology of order
management systems used to pertain to supply chain professionals, but starting 2014 the online
buyers demands changed and required an integrated experience that would combine the offline
and online fields.

Numerous retailers started using eCommerce platforms to handle their omni-channel needs. The
omnichannel order management has become important for any vendor who wants to be in charge
of all channels (online, mobile, centers and stores), to nurture their clients and offer a complete
journey that lands a sale.

IBM has acquired Sterling Commerce in that direction, a company that enabled over 1 million
business interactions per year in industries such as finance, retail, manufacturing,
communications, and distribution. IBM Sterling Order Management helps with centralized
inventory, order promising and fulfillment hub to provide omni-channel support. The product
also helps enterprises grow fill rates and inventory turns and also improve customer loyalty. All
in all, this order management system helps a client make better decisions about promising and
delivering orders for customers by improving profitability and consumer satisfaction.

The eCommerce professionals are looking for the best tools, advice, insights, practices and
program optimization techniques when they choose to pay for OMS partnerships. The top OMS
vendors were chosen by Forrester based on their offering of full-functional and use to operate
tools that provide reporting and analytics which would maximize their partners revenue.

Customer expectations for anytime, anywhere order fulfillment are high: 25% of US online
adults feel that its important for a retailer to offer a buy online, pick up in-store (BoPiS)
service, and 26% already have used the BoPiS fulfillment option. (Forresters North American
Consumer Technographics Retail Online Benchmark Recontact Survey, 2015)

In the second business quarter of 2016, Forrester conducted product evaluations by interviewing
the nine vendors mentioned above. The results were made public in the third quarter of last year,
with IBM taking the lead spot.

IBMs Order Management system is being used by a big number of Fortune 100 organizations
from many industries. The companys solution was named Leader by Forrester due to its well-
developed tools which increase visibility for inventory, distributed order management and order
promising. It also supports applications associated to stores, which enables omnichannel
commerce both for online and actual stores. Over the past few years, IBM has made high
investments in the Order Management suite, which received positive client reference calls,
prompting the company to be considered a leading innovator in this area. While reporting and
analytics tools for optimizing omnichannel were somewhat limited for IBM, the organization has
recently launched a product to fill this void: the Order Management Insights & Optimizer.

Also a leader according to Forrester, Manhattan Associates has been investing in the OMS field
for the past 12 years, making an acquisition of Global Bay in 2014. The company stands out for
order capture, order pick and task management, but still faces challenges when it comes to its
number of engineers with development experience in charge of maintaining and configuring the
application.

For the Strong Performers category designated by Forrester, Oracle was also one of the company
that made an acquisition, taking over Micros in 2014. The brand integrated into its commerce
suite Order Broker (an order orchestration engine), the OMS (previously named Micros
Serenade) and the XStore POS, but has yet to completely fulfill its clients needs in terms of
vision and enhancements for OMS.

Forrester also nominated other vendors that provide for the OMS market, but who have not
matured enough in terms of total annual revenue in the field. The list included: Demandware,
Freestyle Solutions, Magento and OrderDynamics.

Forrester Wave: Omnichannel Order Management, Q3 16

2016 Forrester research, inc.

References:

1. IBM completes acquisition of Sterling Commerce, https://www-

01.ibm.com/software/websphere/announcement050410.html, accessed on 19 Janurary,
2017
2. Order Management An Omni-Channel Imperative,
http://blogs.forrester.com/peter_sheldon/14-01-28-
order_management_an_omni_channel_imperative, accessed on 19 Janurary, 2017
3. The Forrester Wave: Omnichannel Order Management, Q3 2016,
http://www.manh.com/sites/default/files/sys/en-gb/document/manh-forrester-wave-
omnichannel-order-management-q3-2016-research-report-en-gb.pdf, accessed on 19t
Janurary, 2017
4. Forrester names IBM a leader for Omnichannel Order Management, https://www-
01.ibm.com/software/commerce/digital/forrester-wave.html, accessed on 20 Janurary,
2017
5. Sterling Order Management, http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/order-
management, accessed on 20 Janurary, 2016