CDC Software today announced the latest in a series of acquisitions, bulking up its supply chain management product portfolio with best-of-breed global trade management software provider TradeBeam, in a deal of undisclosed value.
The addition of TradeBeam’s tools for import and export compliance filled a functional gap in CDC’s supply chain software and its ERP products, said David Cahn, CDC’s vice president of technology strategy, in an interview with Managing Automation. TradeBeam also offers portal-based supply chain visibility technology, which will complement CDC’s portal offering, which is mostly a messaging tool, he said. “This provides more of a collaboration portal around inventory visibility, order visibility, demand and forecasting visibility… so it rounded out our supply chain collaboration capabilities further.”
In addition to its software functionality, TradeBeam maintains an internal team dedicated to global regulatory content, which keeps current lists of classification codes, customs duties, fee schedules, denied-party lists, and various trade documents. Cahn characterized the internal department as unique in the supply chain software industry, where most vendors contract with outside parties to supply such information, and he said it may lead to some co-opetition down the road.
“We’re looking at other alternatives, to license it out beyond ourselves. So that’s something that we’re thinking of,” Cahn said, “but it’s nothing concrete at this point.”