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Highlights In This Issue
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Kurt's Corner
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They Said It
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TradeCard News |
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The Buzz From Media and Analysts |
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Customer Success |
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Upcoming Events
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Welcome to TradeCard's new quarterly e-mail newsletter. If you think that a friend or colleague would like to receive this e-mail newsletter, ask them to sign up by visiting: http://www.tradecard.com/resources. | ||
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| Highlights In This Issue | ||
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| Kurt's Corner | ||
Kurt Cavano, CEO of TradeCard The summer has come to an end and the weather is finally cooling off, but the pace here at TradeCard remains as hot as ever. Last quarter was yet another quarter of double-digit growth in volume processed by the TradeCard platform and our community of partners, buyers and suppliers continues to grow apace. Things are moving fast outside of the TradeCard community as well. The US trade numbers continue to amaze. July imports hit $188 billion and exports were $120 billion for a monthly trade deficit of $68 billion. The continued concerns over terrorism are adding to the complexity of moving goods across borders. Companies that never sourced outside the US are franticly scouring the globe in search of low cost locations. Companies that have always sourced overseas are consolidation their vendor base to focus on quality, delivery as well as cost. Change, change and more change...But it sure keeps things interesting... Over the last year we have continued our significant investment in the three key asset areas of TradeCard: our network of customers and partners, our technology and product offering, and our people. We are well positioned to continue our rapid growth path and stay ahead of the changes that are driving global trade. Customers and Partners We've signed strategic partnerships with banks in emerging regions of the world, such as ICICI Bank in India and ITS in Central America, to bring new financial services to growing areas of the world. The partnership with ITS, for example, will fund a consortium of Central American banks to improve trade efficiency in CAFTA countries. We view Central America as an up-and-coming source for global trade in the near future - and we will be there when it happens. Technology and Products Earlier this year we unveiled an Early Payment Program for invoice discounting. This has been another huge success and customers throughout the TradeCard community have embraced the program. It's programs like these, along with our pre- and post- export financing, and AR financing, that mix into the TradeCard offering to make a difference for buyers and suppliers. We're starting to hear more and more analysts and reporters in the media talking about the importance of merging the physical and financial supply chain in global trade. We've been saying this for years. To hear others in the market getting it and understanding it, tells us that our technology and offerings are ahead of the curve and moving in the right direction. The recognition we're receiving also comes from beyond the TradeCard community. Global Finance Magazine named TradeCard the World's Best Online Trade Finance Provider 2006, based on transaction volume, scope of global coverage, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies. This is our sixth consecutive year winning the award. Apparel Magazine has recognized our accomplishments too, in its annual Software Scorecard. TradeCard was ranked #1 software vendor in retail and apparel in areas of service quality, ease of installation, ease of upgrading and ease of administration and maintenance. We were named in the top three for overall performance, customer satisfaction, and quality of support. It's All About the People As we move into the final quarter 2006, it's an exciting time to be a part of the TradeCard community. Out technology and offerings, our partnerships and customers, and the people here at TradeCard have put us all in a position where big things are on the horizon. There's so much going on right now in the world of global trade and the world is really becoming a smaller place to conduct business. As global trade continues to evolve, it continues to move closer to the TradeCard vision: The merging of physical and financial aspects of the supply chain; the synchronizing of cash, goods and data to ensure the arrival of shipments and payment at the right place and the right time. I thank you all for being a part of TradeCard's progress and success. Looking back at where we've come since the start of the year, you can't help but be excited for the future. | ||
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| They Said It | ||
Notable Quotes From the Past Quarter [Having one version of data] has been the most powerful thing. And we can make it electronic, so we can share it with anyone...We can all work together and develop processes that work across departments. We don't have to look at things just from a finance perspective. We can reach out to other departments who are using this information on the same platform, and find reconciliation points that work for both of us. --John Bailey, Director of Finance, Columbia Sportswear
The TradeCard Platform and SourceView suite will help us reduce costs by automating purchase order management processes from PO issuance through chargebacks. TradeCard will also enable us to better manage events in the supply chain including vendor compliance and goods receipt reconciliation. --Gary Bowen, CFO, OGIO J. Jill is a forward looking retailer that has clearly grasped the TradeCard vision of synchronizing the physical and financial supply chain to optimize the flow of cash and goods. TradeCard automates payments based on terms set up by the user and allows suppliers to know what day they will get paid for a shipment. As a result, all parties involved in a transaction are better able to forecast cash requirements. Financial services available on TradeCard enable paperless invoice financing programs that help suppliers get paid faster, including cash management tools that provide central access to information and opportunities to further reduce costs. --Kurt Cavano, CEO, TradeCard on J. Jill go-live This is a prime opportunity for companies in CAFTA countries to be far more effective in managing their financial supply chains and to be competitive with companies in China and the Indian Subcontinent. Working with ITS, we're expanding our presence in [Latin America] to enable more businesses to connect with exporters and importers across the globe. TradeCard's combined technology and financial services will increase supply chain speed, responsiveness and efficiency by offering direct access to competitive funding, a vast global trade network, and a local support team - all through an easy-to-use technology platform. --Kurt Cavano, CEO, TradeCard on working with ITS and CAFTA countries | ||
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| TradeCard News | ||
Latest Announcements from This Quarter OGIO SELECTS TRADECARD TO DRIVE GLOBAL TRADE EFFICIENCY AND GROWTH Top gear bag designer OGIO has become a member of the TradeCard Platform and has opted to acquire TradeCard's SourceView visibility suite. OGIO will implement TradeCard to generate new process efficiencies that will eliminate paper-based, manual processes and automate transactions from order to payment. OGIO will leverage online financial services to support its growth. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/ogio.html. -------------------- TRADECARD HELPS J. JILL AUTOMATE PAYMENT PROCESSES, CUT COSTS, AND STANDARDIZE GLOBAL TRADE Multi-channel retailer J. Jill has gone live on the TradeCard Platform to optimize financial transactions in its global supply chain. J. Jill's rollout was completed in less than 90 days. TradeCard's unique offering of technology, extensive trade network, financial services and global support enables its users to obtain complete visibility from procurement to payment, streamline discrepancy negotiation and better manage payment authorization. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/jjill.html. -------------------- TRADECARD PARTNERS WITH CENTRAL AMERICAN BANK CONSORTIUM TO EXTEND PRESENCE IN CENTRAL AMERICA TradeCard has partnered with Innovative Trade Services Corp. (ITS) to develop a fund comprised of Central American banks and other financial institutions to offer pre- and post export financing to TradeCard members in CAFTA-DR countries, which include Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and El Salvador. ITS will manage the fund - the Central American Fund for Trade (CAFTrade). The partnership supports the ongoing growth of Central American trade by providing financial services and a technology platform for secure, automated transactions with buyers and suppliers located outside the region and throughout the world. To read more, go to http://www.tradecard.com/news/pressreleases/cafta.html. | ||
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| The Buzz From Media and Analysts | ||
Learn what's new in the financial supply chain management space -------------------- APPAREL MAGAZINE: COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR'S RIGHT AND LEFT HANDS ARE TALKING
When $1.2 billion Columbia Sportswear adopted the TradeCard platform in 2004, it approached the implementation as a finance project, with a goal of automating its financial transactions processes for a paperless and more efficient system, and improving its bottom line through early payment programs that would help its vendors while generating income for Columbia.
"We didn't try to sell the implementation of TradeCard companywide," says John Bailey, director of finance. "We didn't say: 'This is TradeCard and it's going to solve all of your problems.'"
Nevertheless, TradeCard kicked off its relationship with Columbia by meeting not only with finance but also the firm's manufacturing and supply chain teams. And Columbia came away feeling that TradeCard "definitely understood our business, and could explain to us what they thought the synergies would be across the organization down the road," says Bailey. Some two years later, Columbia's financial supply chain has been automated - "a very successful project," says Bailey - and the company is finding that the benefits of its visibility and real-time data are spreading into other areas by allowing different departments and partners to plug in to what others are doing. Automating the financial supply chain has brought consistency and better quality information - for all parties involved - to the procurement-to-payment process. Now, all data is accessible in electronic form, which "provides points of reference that we didn't have before," says Bailey. To read the full article, go to http://www.parsintl.com/pdf/11870-A-Tradecard.pdf. -------------------- HOME FURNISHINGS BUSINESS - SOURCING ADVANTAGE Sourcing from regions that provide the lowest production and labor costs is not as simple as once thought. The furniture sourcing landscape continues to change and the low cost region of the day has become a moving target. The low cost region "target" is constantly moving in response to economic conditions, trade regulations, and unexpected disasters. Today, the low cost region may be China. Tomorrow it may be Latin America. What's the answer? Agility of operations. Being agile means doing business in more regions at the flip of a switch. This requires automation and synchronization of processes. Traditional manual and paper-based processes lead to time consuming mistakes that make transactions inefficient. In the accounts payable area this is a major issue, where paper, e-mail, faxing, and data re-keying consumes time and resources. Processes are slow, directional changes are tedious and time consuming, and flexibility is limited. When you think of the complexity of the furniture supply chain - buyers, various suppliers, and banks in different regions managing multiple documents in multiple formats in multiple languages - you realize there's a lot of hands touching each transaction. Manual processes prevent any type of agility in decision-making, and a single error in the chain of a financial transaction can set an order days behind. -------------------- INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS FOR RETAILERS Over the past 20 years retailers and suppliers have spent huge amounts of cash and resources investing in their supply chains. Efficiency, cost savings and just-in-time operations have been the primary goals of numerous ERP, warehouse management and logistics technologies. To an extent, they've been successful. Productivity has improved, supply chains are more efficient, and companies have become leaner. However, an area has long been overlooked where hundreds of billions of dollars in savings remain untapped. Where does this hidden savings exist? The financial supply chain. We've all spent years tightening the physical supply chain, yet businesses have failed to recognize the benefits of automating and optimizing credit and financial flows. Rather than clumsily pushing funds along the supply chain, financial automation unlocks savings and enables better use of working capital. The movement of money, not just goods, across the trading network is a fresh look at supply chain optimization. Automating the enterprise back office is not enough. The complexity of the retail supply chain, including factories, warehouses, distribution centers, buying agents, financial institutions, logistics companies and rep offices, offers a potential growth area. Significant savings can be found by marrying the financial and physical supply chains to automate back end processes, from order through payment. This requires the removal of manual processes and paper from financial processes. Processes remain slow, inaccurate and opaque as long as paper exists in any part of the supply chain. Data often needs to be captured multiple times and unnecessary errors occur. As a result, goods and materials move more slowly and cost more. To read full article, click here -------------------- CONSUMER GOODS TECHNOLOGY ARTICLE ON OGIO'S SELECTION OF TRADECARD TO STREAMLINE OPERATIONS
Bag designer OGIO will implement the TradeCard Platform to generate new process efficiencies that will eliminate paper-based and manual processes, automate transactions from order to payment and leverage online financial services to support the company's growth. TradeCard's SourceView will provide event tracking functionality to control the movement of goods in the supply chain and enable visibility to eliminate PO delivery surprises. "The TradeCard Platform and SourceView suite will help us reduce costs by automating purchase order management processes from PO issuance through chargebacks," says Gary Bowen, CFO of OGIO. "TradeCard will also enable us to better manage events in the supply chain including vendor compliance and goods receipt reconciliation." Article is available at http://www.consumergoods.com/cgt/pages/news072606.shtml | ||
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| Customer Success | ||
Komar Webinar Hi-Tec Webinar | ||
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| Upcoming Events | ||
SCM Logistics Summit, October 16-19th, Singapore High-Tech Supply Chain Summit, October 26-27th, Shanghai | ||
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