iTradeNetwork Brings Headquarters to Park

By Barbara Lewis, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Company Streamlines Supply Chain Communication for Retailers, Food Industry

iTradeNetwork is a company on the move, working with a drive and a passion to make life easier for its clients as it provides simple software solutions to the supply chain challenges of large retailers and food service companies.

Founded in 1999 by software experts from Silicon Valley, iTradeNetwork has developed web-based supply chain management technology where buyers, sellers, carriers, brokers and all others involved can communicate in real time about real issues with the simple click of a mouse.

"We are an ASP, an Application Service Provider," says Vice President Chuck Gragg. "Our customers can log on to a hosted server and retrieve whatever data they require. They can make changes to orders, notify retailers or grocers of problems with a shipment, or complete whatever other supply chain function they need to perform. A huge advantage is that they can do all this at a fraction of the cost of developing and maintaining their own software system.

How does the technology work? Gragg explains.

"For instance, if Safeway, one of our clients, needs extra pallets of PepsiCola, one of our vendors, for a promotion, the procurement clerk merely goes online to our site and makes a the change to the order. I call it 'touch it once' simplicity. In the past, this would have been accomplished with a series of phone calls, faxes, word of mouth, etc. that were inherently inefficient. Now, anyone who can use a computer can master iTradeNetwork quickly."

iTradeNetwork allows supply chain participants to address specific issues immediately. In the past, if a crop of asparagus in Stockton were not ready for shipment to a Bay Area grocer when the truck arrived, the grower would often substitute another product, broccoli, for example, for the asparagus. However, the grocer who was expecting asparagus would not know until the shipment arrived that he was receiving broccoli instead. Using iTradeNetwork, the grower or carrier can notify the store immediately of changes and spare the grocer last-minute adjustments and negative reactions from irate customers who saw an asparagus special advertised.

"A critical benefit here," adds Gragg, "is that everyone involved sees every entry at the same time in real time, whether it's an order change, a new phone number, a schedule adjustment, etc. It's the concept of 'common truth' that assures all players that they have identical information and can act accordingly."

iTradeNetwork moved its headquarters to 5959 West Las Positas Boulevard in Hacienda last month. At its new location, about 70 employees manage the company's core business functions as well as all software development and integration. "We don't outsource," notes Gragg. "We develop all our technology right here in Pleasanton.

"We are committed to meeting our customers' expectations and, to date, have solved many of the problems that have plagued them for decades: outdated infrastructures, slow order processing, ineffective software, inefficient logistics, and limited procurement and selling opportunities. We've given them on-demand, completely collaborative, workflow software."

Today, iTradeNetwork is the leader in its field with more than 6.2 million unique product codes continuously synchronized between 4,400 trading partners. By the end of 2007, the company expect those numbers to grow to over 8 million items, between 7,000 trading partners, facilitating over $210 billion in commerce.

Photo: iTradeNetwork's brain trust includes (l-r) Chuck Gragg, VP Sales; Jim Corbett, VP Integration and Operations; Rob Bonavito, CEO; and Zia Zahiri, CIO.

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