i2's Planning on Demand SaaS for growing fabless companies

DALLAS, USA: i2 Technologies Inc. announced the availability of i2 Planning On Demand, an integrated demand and supply planning software-as-a-service (SaaS) for growing fabless semiconductor companies.

The solution is designed to allow fabless companies to dramatically increase forecast accuracy and customer delivery performance while optimizing investments in inventory.

“The two most cited reasons why companies select a SaaS solution are lower up-front costs and faster time-to-value. Now that SaaS execution solutions like transportation management systems have gained significant traction in the marketplace, i2 is bringing the model to the planning side, where deployment costs and implementation times have historically been a barrier for many companies,” said Adrian Gonzalez, director, ARC Advisory Group.

“Understanding the inherent differences between execution and planning applications, i2 appears to have developed a well-structured SaaS deployment model for its integrated demand and supply planning application. This offering fills a ‘white space’ in the marketplace, a solution for companies without the IT resources and financial means to undertake an in-house deployment, and it may also serve as a stepping stone to managed services, where customers can tap into the ‘human IP’ that i2 brings to the table.”

i2 Planning On Demand for fabless companies combines i2’s extensive semiconductor domain expertise with proven applications that drive leading semiconductor supply chains worldwide. Available on an affordable, monthly subscription basis, this fully hosted and managed solution can be deployed within six to eight weeks.

Growing fabless semiconductor companies that are looking to improve business-critical demand and supply planning processes will find significant advantages with i2 Planning on Demand. Features include:

Best practice semiconductor workflows in an easy-to-use framework
With an intuitive, easy-to-use Microsoft Excel user interface, i2 Planning on Demand can enable multi-perspective consensus demand forecasting, and quick adaptation to changes in demand.

The solution also provides comprehensive supply planning capabilities for integrated front-end and back-end production planning along with rapid resynchronization of global supply and demand.

Rapid time-to-value
Since the software is hosted by i2, the production system is already mobilized for deployment at the start of the project. The non-intrusive, structured six-to-eight week implementation cycle can help customers reap returns on their investment much faster than traditional software deployments.

Low total cost of ownership
With no up-front investments in software licenses and hardware, i2 Planning on Demand is easily accessible through a Web browser. Affordable, monthly subscription payments allow customers to take advantage of advanced demand and supply planning solutions at a low cost, while minimizing risks in capital investment.

No surprises
The i2 Planning on Demand business model, based on a single monthly fee, allows customers to plan their budgets reliably and avoid surprise expenditures without the need to plan separately for software license, professional services, hardware, third-party software and maintenance costs.

“As an IP-focused fabless company begins to achieve scale, superior supply chain performance quickly becomes a prerequisite for achieving critical market share and profit margin goals. Successful companies create competitive advantage operationally through accurate comprehension of changing customer demand and rapid synchronization of global supply,” said Kelly Thomas, i2 senior vice president, Product Strategy and Planning.

“As a result, we are looking to extend the i2 Planning on Demand business model beyond the fabless semiconductor industry to other targeted industry segments in the future.”