I had a chance to catch up with Jim Shepherd, Group VP of Strategy for Plex about the recent acquisition of DemandCaster. I have asked to speak to some of the 10 joint customers, but the initial positioning is promising, as cloud vendors continue to verticalize.
DemandCaster adds cloud-based sales forecasting and inventory planning software to Plex’s strong manufacturing functionality. Too many vendors offer more general purpose BI and planning tools. DemandCaster’s founder Ara Surenian and his team bring a engineering, manufacturing and logistics pedigree.
The other thing I like about DemandCaster is the emphasis on “affordable” and a focus of replacing the “giant spreadsheet”many customers use . So much more attractive for the mid-sized manufacturer than tools which emphasize “Advanced” and expect significant premiums for that branding.
More when I get a chance to talk to some customers.