Frost & Sullivan Honors Quintiq for Meeting the SCP&O Needs of Diverse Industries through a Single Software Platform

- Quintiq's organic growth has enabled congruence in its technology platform, allowing it to provide several supply chain modules over the same platform

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, March 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the supply chain planning and optimization (SCP&O) software for process industries, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Quintiq with the 2014 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Leadership. Quintiq's unique value proposition lies in bundling all the components required to plan, schedule and optimize processes for any potential business model on a single software platform. The flexible core architecture enables clients across a wide range of industries to solve their planning and optimization issues, using industry-specific modules.

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"Most large-sized SCP&O solution providers address operational complexities across several industries; however, they often miss the nuances and industry applications unique to process industries," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Naveen Kumar Ramasamy. "Quintiq plugs this gap with Quintiq 5.0."

The Quintiq software platform was initially developed to meet the planning and scheduling needs in the metals industry and slowly expanded into other verticals, such as chemicals, petrochemicals, oil and gas, mining, logistics, air services, and food and beverages. Now it possesses cross-industry expertise and utilizes best practices through implementation across several geographic regions.

From the conceptual standpoint, although Quintiq's product bundling strategy looks simple, it possesses a unique architecture that balances tailor-made and commercial off-the-shelf requirements. The three-layer architecture contains a standard application suite that tackles all relevant client needs. Quintiq leverages several algorithms for linear/integer programming, constraint programming, graph algorithms, path optimization algorithms and also developed its QUILL solution that is used to model heuristic algorithms and combine algorithms.

From the technological standpoint, the Quintiq 5.0 application suite bundles several components that are well integrated with each other. The 3-tier client/server architecture consists of several components tied to transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection.

Quintiq implements the solution in different combinations of components. Based on the complexity of the customer's needs, the platform could involve just a basic architecture that involves only thin client and thin client engine, a Web-based application architecture to run with browsers, a distributed architecture to handle several users, or a multi-dataset architecture that handles distributed datasets from different servers.

"Quintiq maintains a high degree of flexibility between standardization and customization, with its architecture built in a way that the platform can be customized without any disturbance to the underlying layers," noted Kumar. "In addition, it has built specific templates for each industry, with special rules for individual customers."

Quintiq manages customer engagement through several customer service programs such as the Quintiq Academy, which offers virtual learning to customers, partners, and employees; a value scan program to assess whether customers are reaping the full benefits of Quintiq software; a system health check program to detect potential problems and solve them proactively; and a hypercare program to provide extra support during implementation or after go-live. All of these services increase customer engagement and make customers' experiences with Quintiq even more satisfying.

The strong value proposition supported by robust software architecture and deep industry domain expertise has enabled the company to grow by nearly 40 percent year on year. It also expanded its global footprint with its strong customer product life-cycle services.

Quintiq's success establishes its deep understanding of the process industry. The company's ability to respond rapidly to market needs is evident from its offer of comprehensive customer support services, which enable customers to adapt to changing market requirements. Furthermore, Quintiq has included additional features that keep customers abreast of the latest trends.

"The company's stellar value proposition, supported by strong software architecture that balances standard and customized requirements, has allowed it to build a significant, satisfied customer base across diverse process industries in different parts of the world," observed Kumar. "With a comprehensive customer support services program, Quintiq enables its customers to reap high returns on investment."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company's inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and, ultimately, customer base expansion.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.