Körber Supply Chain Software’s Craig Moore says MercuryGate acquisition is about the customer

Earlier this month, Körber Supply Chain Software announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of transportation management system provider MercuryGate.

Craig Moore, vice president of sales, North America, at Körber Supply Chain Software, met with Supply Chain Management Review at the recent CSCMP EDGE conference and explained why adding MercuryGate makes sense from a Körber Supply Chain Software perspective.

“We’ve done a really good job over the last decade-plus of putting together a portfolio of solutions that have enhanced the work that happens inside the four walls of a warehouse,” he said. “Now we’re going to go beyond that, and there’s a really important part to that: We feel that Körber Supply Chain Software, better than any vendor, has built a true, scalable, large-scale model of true multi-channel execution fulfillment. Now [we are] enhancing that with transportation management capabilities that are brought to us by MercuryGate and that continued connection with our customer’s customer is something that we’re really looking forward to being a true champion in not just the execution of fulfillment, but then also the delivery mechanism as well.”

Moore said more customers are looking for WMS, OMS and TMS solutions, so the ability to get all those options from one company is appealing to many.

“Organizations are really focusing on, ‘I want the best of this. I want the best of this, I want the best of this,’” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ll figure out how to make it all work together. And I believe in our portfolio. We are in a position to say we have the best of all of those. They just happen to be Körber Supply Chain Software solutions. Making the acquisition and finalizing it with MercuryGate gives a North American leader in transportation management, so it’s absolutely going to help that conversation.”

Preparing for the future

There is a saying that “good companies respond to competition, great companies behave as if there is always competition.” The sentiment is simple: Don’t be complacent. And it applies to all aspects of business and life. How many businesses rest on their market leadership, only to get passed by someone a bit hungrier?

“Insightful organizations are saying, well, status quo should never be good enough,” Moore told Supply Chain Management Review at the CSCMP EDGE conference. “Are we doing enough to extend ourselves to be ready and to operate efficiently? And I think that’s the other part of what we’re trying to do is getting into conversations with organizations to say, okay, how can we help you tighten it up so that the short-term benefit is that you’re running as efficiently as possible—you’re increasing your margins. And then, the long-term benefit is that you’re ready for the next challenge.

“I think more and more organizations are running in that good company mode and the great ones, we’re not seeing as many of those right now,” he added. “And it takes a lot of courage to get out over your skis to say, we’re going to make those investments because [we don’t know if] something is going to happen? Well, we don’t know, but we’re going to be ready if it does. And can you get executive officers and board of directors on board with the investments so that you are ready for that next challenge?”

MercuryGate acquisition

From a Körber Supply Chain Software perspective, Moore said the company is looking to build out its solutions so that those companies looking to build resilience can turn to a single source for their supply chain solutions. Moore said the expansion into a TMS through the MercuryGate acquisition is about the customer, and the customer’s customer.

“It’s that journey of the consumer,” he said. “If we talk about it from the perspective of, say CPG for a moment, it used to be the consumer met it at the store. Well, they still do that, but now there’s also a consumer that expects the product to meet them at their doorstep. So that additional channel that is growing … is moving in another direction. I need solutions that empower me to be able to meet my consumer with a service-level expectation that they have that’s built on value and timeliness, and that requires supply chain execution solutions.”

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