Elemica highlighted on Gartner’s First-Thing-Monday newsletter

On the Road for the Elemica Sourcing and Supply Chain Conference and Oracle OpenWorld by Dennis Gaughan

I spent the last two weeks traveling to events, part of a swing that will have me on the road for most weeks until November. The first stop was Houston, where I spent a day at Elemica's Sourcing and Supply Chain Conference. Having recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, Elemica is one of the survivors from the trading-exchange hysteria that erupted during the dot-com era. It endured by being very focused on the chemical industry and delivering key capabilities to its core set of customers.

The day in Houston was filled with opportunities to hear some of Elemica's marquee customers talk about how they're using the platform to better connect their trading-partner communities. Like other trading platforms, Elemica earns its keep by helping with the connectivity piece, but many customers spoke about how they're beginning to take advantage of the more advanced application functionality the company offers to augment trading-partner integration.

This trend is consistent with what Gartner sees from other vendors that have similar platforms. Customers need to get the connections established and running smoothly, then they look to applications that leverage the data flows and provide visibility to that information to support better planning and forecasting.