Chicago, May 22, 2003 – MaxQ Technologies announced today a new initiative with Microsoft® Business Solutions to provide prepackaged, fully integrated solutions optimized for two targeted vertical markets: Consumer Packaged Goods Suppliers and Industrial Distributors.
The scope of this cooperative arrangement will include technology integration, cooperative marketing, and delivery channel integration, thereby providing customers with the benefits of both a strong robust platform and highly customized line of business functionality.
The new solution-driven target market initiative is being driven by Microsoft Business Solutions and MaxQ Technologies (MaxQ), a highly recognized Microsoft Business Solutions Certified Independent Solution Vendor (ISV) that has in-depth knowledge of the business needs of these target markets. MaxQ has extended the capabilities of the Microsoft Business Solutions product line to meet the unique needs of these markets.
The combined solution addresses some of the key challenges facing the consumer goods and industrial distribution markets today – the ability to accurately forecast demand, the need to maintain currency with vendor and customer mandated EDI compliancy demands, and the cost and complexity of total supply chain management solutions. The new solution helps users improve responsiveness to their customers while at the same time lowering the overall supply chain management costs. By building advanced supply chain management functionality on Microsoft Business Solutions applications, customers now have the option of an easy to use, easy to implement, and affordable solution to some of their most pressing business challenges.
“Microsoft Business Solutions and MaxQ have created a winning combination of vertical channel and product offering excellence for the mid-market,” said Tom McHale, industry marketing manager for distribution, Microsoft Business Solutions. “We are particularly pleased that we can get the best of both worlds under this new arrangement – the safety and stability of a proven technology vendor, combined with the specific knowledge of our industry provided by a local service provider.”
Organizations are already successfully using the new offering. “The new system reduced the time required for forecasting by more than 70%,” said Lisa Reed, Sales Administrator, Franzus Company. “And our forecasting accuracy, which was typically only 50% to 70%, is now 90%. It has given us the capability to be more responsive to customer demand and virtually eliminated the risk of lost sales due to out-of-stock items.”
The tightly integrated solution can help mid-market organizations within the Consumer Packaged Goods Supplier and Industrial Distributors markets to become more productive. “This solution is bringing something productive for everyone in the organization, whether it’s sales analysis, systematic reporting or automatic email communication to customers. Every key business process we have will benefit from this solution,” said Phil Shaltz, president of Shaltz Fluid Power. “We did so much manually that will now be totally automated, down to checking the Internet for freight charges and automating our credit card process.”
These new offerings are available now through a nationwide network of authorized MaxQ and Microsoft Business Solutions reselling partner organizations.
“This unique initiative encompasses delivering to a national network of channel partners everything they need to be more successful in penetrating these markets, including complete marketing, sales, situation fluency, and implementation training,” said John Pavain, president of MaxQ.
