Nearly 50% Growth Predicted For Supply-Chain-Software Market

Supply-chain-management (SCM) systems could one day rival ERP systems in terms of business impact, according to AMR Research. The Boston information-technology research firm predicts the market for supply-chain software will grow at 48% annually for the next five years, with total sales of these systems reaching $18.6 billion by 2003. "New trends and market opportunities, including the addition of customer-facing, Internet-enabled, and optimal decision-support functionality, are now emerging to shape the SCM market," says Larry Lapide, vice president and service director for supply-chain strategies at AMR. Supply-chain-software sales totaled $2.6 billion last year. The market includes application software licenses and maintenance, hardware, implementation, consulting services, systems integration, and training. According to AMR, the top five SCM software firms based on 1998 revenue were i2 Technologies Inc., Manugistics Inc., International Business Systems, Industri-Matematik International Corp., and EXE Technologies Inc.