Centric Software, Inc. has received the Frost & Sullivan 2012 Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion and Apparel Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).
The global research organization of 1,800 analysts and consultants monitors more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies. Based on the findings of its Best Practices research, Frost & Sullivan annually determines how best-in-class companies worldwide manage growth, innovation and leadership. The firm evaluated the Centric 8 PLM system, which it describes as enabling end users in the retail, fashion and apparel industry to work concurrently and leverage valuable business intelligence from multiple departments to achieve bottom-line results.
Frost & Sullivan evaluated Centric and competitor firms on the following five key criteria. Centric ranked higher than its competitors in each area.
Unique Features/Functionality – Frost & Sullivan cited Centric's "holistic platform for end users" and intuitive user interface in meeting product design and development needs. The firm noted that Centric's approach eliminates need for additional end-user investment to facilitate integration, helping with cost savings and return on investment.
Quality/Complexity – According to the results, Centric 8 is one of the very few PLM solutions built on single-core architecture that supports a dedicated platform for the retail, fashion and fast-moving consumer goods industry. This, says Frost & Sullivan, precludes the need to incorporate an industry vertical accelerator, and enables simplicity in design. The dedicated core platform maximizes efficiency to facilitate concurrent operations.
Customization – The evaluation cites Centric's modular approach toward design and development, providing flexibility for designers to adopt and define exclusive product development attributes for various product categories. Frost & Sullivan also notes the ability to deploy in the cloud, and Centric's Agile Deployment(SM) rapid-deployment methodology, which results in tangible results within four to six months.
Matched to Target Markets' Needs – Centric's applications focus on its target industries, and include two industry-first mobile apps.
Brand Perception – Frost & Sullivan points out Centric's brand reputation in the market, attributed to its "innovative, effective and industry-specific product offering."
"An integrated approach to PLM, coupled with robust design architecture and innovative product features, makes Centric 8 an efficient and effective solution for best meeting the PLM needs of end users in the retail, fashion and apparel industry," concludes the study.
"Frost & Sullivan's detailed evaluation and resulting findings confirm Centric's leadership as a provider of a unique PLM solution for the retail, apparel, footwear, luxury and consumer goods industries," says Chris Groves, Centric president and CEO. "Centric is committed to helping companies in those industries become even more competitive and use PLM as a best-practice application that provides bottom-line results."
Centric Software is a leading provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software for apparel, retail, footwear, luxury and consumer goods companies. With Centric 8, companies are able to cut costs and inefficiency, speed new products to market, drive margin improvement, and improve global collaboration and compliance.
