Majority of Attendees Rely on Implementation Platforms from Optiant’s Strategic Partner, SAP®, to Derive Significant Supply Chain Improvements

BOSTON (May 17, 2006) - Optiant, the leading provider of inventory planning and optimization solutions, recently held a Supply Chain Management Thought Leadership Roundtable at its headquarters in Burlington, MA. The interactive discussion featured executive attendees from leaders in the supply chain management industry including: SAP, AMR, Accenture, MIT and IBM.

The event was lead by Dave Anderson, managing director of Supply Chain Ventures and Lora Cecere, research director supply chain planning and execution for AMR Research. Anderson provided a high-level overview to attendees on the convergence of supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM). Anderson stressed the value of creating more responsive and resilient supply chains to better align with more profitable customer relationships. Cecere provided insight into the overall market adoption of SCM and pointed out who’s leading the charge in this industry and why.

“The event provided an excellent platform for thought leaders in the field of supply chain management to have a dynamic discussion on the emerging themes in the industry,” said Jonathan Colehower, Optiant’s CEO. “Our goal was to facilitate an interactive, informational session between attendees to discuss where the industry is headed. The event was a tremendous success.”

Two major themes emerged from the roundtable discussion:

• There is accelerated convergence between demand influence and demand response.
  More and more, executives are realizing the critical nature of supply chains to bottom line performance and growth. New technologies such as multi-channel supply chain optimization, real-time customer and supply chain data systems and automatic replenishment are emerging to create tighter supply chains. The melding of SCM and CRM technologies makes it easier to shape and respond to demand; however, this cannot be fully realized without the adoption of a responsive and resilient supply chain.
• Growth of the market is determined by organization adoption.
  While 75 percent of North American manufacturing and distribution organizations have a supply chain function, slow adoption of optimization technologies continues to be a bottleneck for achieving optimal supply chain results. Outside influences, such as government and commercial compliance, and adoption by top corporate organizations will lead the charge to building more resilient supply chains. Additionally, top priority on risk management and cost reduction within the organization will continue to build the case for making significant supply chain improvements.

Optiant's solutions optimally balance resources, total costs, and customer service across the supply chain to deliver greater profitability, increased customer satisfaction, more efficient use of capital, and a resilient supply chain that fully handles uncertainty in supply and demand. Optiant has transformed supply chains for the world's leading manufacturers including Black & Decker, Gillette (a Procter & Gamble division), Henkel, HP, Imation, Intel, and Sonoco.

Delivering millions of dollars in returns, Optiant's industry-focused solution certified for integration by SAP generates quantifiable business results within 90 days of implementation. The solutions are based on award-winning research from MIT and decades of experience dedicated to the identification and realization of supply chain efficiencies. For more information, please visit www.optiant.com.

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