i2 Total Channel Management Delivers Increased Speed and Customer Satisfaction

PHOENIX--The power of the Internet has enabled increasingly savvy and demanding consumers with a wealth of information and buying choices before making a purchase. Retailers, through traditional store locations, Web sites or other distribution channels, must work harder than ever before to differentiate products and obtain consumer satisfaction through superior and personalized service. i2 Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITWO) addresses specific business functions for the needs of multiple sales channels including the Web, tier-one retailers, distributors and dealers with its total channel management solutions.

i2 Total Channel Management allows brand owners to quickly enable a demand-driven approach to Web and channel management. The solutions help organizations quickly and simultaneously transform the consumer experience, achieve high product availability and drive excess inventory out of the supply chain, ultimately leading to superior customer satisfaction.

i2 Total Channel Management focuses on the core areas of point-of-sale demand sensing, key account management and intelligent selling in order to allow companies to:

• Leverage the Web to communicate with and better understand consumers
• Utilize data from key accounts to better service the account and the end customer
• Collaboratively plan and allocate supply to dealers and non tier-one retailers to reduce cost of service
• Proactively manage their brand across all channels and customers

Utilizing i2’s SCM 2.0 approach, i2 solutions for total channel management are composed of proven process playbooks, best-practice workflows and best-in-class supply chain management tools. These tools can enable organizations to quickly transform specific business functions within sales and marketing including brand management, key account management, and customer order fulfillment into significant value driving activities.

“Our customer base is looking to overcome the traditional ups and downs of the industry, as well as the not as predictable fluctuations from consumers. Total channel management capabilities offer users the collaboration necessary to more efficiently manage brands across channels and customers to provide better customer service and reduce costs,” said i2 Senior Vice President of Retail and Consumer Industries Chuck Kramer.

Traditionally, achieving speed across channel management initiatives meant sacrificing quality or increasing service costs. SCM 2.0 enables solutions to rapidly deliver results cost effectively without compromising performance or overall value. Channel management serves as one of the most critical ways a company can better serve its customers and establish competitive advantage. i2 Total Channel Management provides a set of business processes—enabled by a combination of software and services—that enables both growth and increased profitability.

"A focus on key account management can drive 5-to-7 percentage points of margin to the bottom line. i2 solutions and superior delivery capabilities have helped drive increased profitability, reduced inventory costs and improved customer service levels in rapid fashion,” said Mike Aguilar, former executive vice president, Panasonic Consumer Electronics, and principal at Intrepid Consulting.

About i2

i2 helps business leaders make better supply chain decisions. i2's flexible new-generation solutions are designed to synchronize demand and supply across ever-changing global business networks. i2's innovative supply chain management tools and services are pervasive in a wide cross-section of industries; 20 of the AMR Research Top 25 Global Supply Chains belong to i2 customers. Learn more at www.i2.com.