Provia profited in 2002

Provia Software, an Atlanta-based vendor of supply chain execution software, says it completed 2002 with more than 80 client sites going live during the course of the year, resulting in one of the company's most profitable years ever.

The deployments were a combination of new and upgraded sites worldwide in the consumer packaged goods (CPG), third-party logistics, wholesale/industrial distribution, high-tech electronics, and retail industries. A number of Provia's clients also added new products from the Provia suite to their logistics strategies.

According to Steve Banker, supply chain management service director for Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group, warehouse management system (WMS) software tends to be among the most customized of enterprise applications, which often makes it more affordable for companies to forego the upgrade process and install new WMS applications. Banker adds that Provia's products require limited modifications, making it easier and more cost-effective to upgrade and realize the benefits of new features found in the upgrades.

"Provia's knowledge transfer methodology also is quite important in this process," says Banker. "This allows clients to perform the upgrades with little or no assistance from Provia. Continuing to upgrade customers is a strong indication of Provia's success in this endeavor."

According to Provia, with the December 2002 introduction of its ViaWare WMS for the Windows 2000/XP platform, the vendor now offers Tier 1, enterprise-level functionality in a single WMS for the Windows, Linux, and UNIX platforms, which should allow Provia to tap into the growing market for a Window-based WMS solution.