Centric 8 PLM has added a slew of new features that leverage Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies such as cloud, mobility, and artificial intelligence to attract customers and support long-term relationship building

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 7, 2018 — (PRNewswire) —  Based on its recent analysis of the global product lifecycle management (PLM) software market for retail, fashion and apparel, and consumer goods, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Centric Software with the 2018 Global Product Leadership Award. Its Centric 8 PLM solutions have excelled in offering complete visibility and control across the fashion and retail industries' value chain and, importantly, supported the quick delivery of new products. Centric solutions form a unified platform that efficiently operates and manages various components across the value chain ecosystem, including product development, design, planning, merchandising, testing, sourcing, procurement, production, and distributor teams or retail. Its incorporation of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-based features, such as a cloud platform, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and analytical capabilities provide customers with an innovative end-to-end digital experience that empowers them to drive strategic business decisions.

"With Centric 8 PLM, a leading North America home décor company  expanded its product line and increased its stock keeping units (SKUs) by 50 percent, reduced new product set-up time from a week to just two days, and simplified the process of adding direct-to-consumer online. All this was achieved by optimally utilizing the existing resources," said Kiravani Emani, Industry analyst. "Significantly, in the current era of digitalization, when consumers require faster access to the newest collections, Centric 8 PLM helped in reducing product time to market and eliminated additional operational costs."

Centric 8 PLM offers customers enhanced collaboration across various functions and teams, greatly lowering the probability of work duplication, minimizing errors, and saving time. It allows customers to track and trace products at every stage of the value chain (retail, design, development, manufacturing, factories, and suppliers) and automate product information such as updates in currencies/prices and item description, etc. Centric 8 PLM is built to deploy in just a few months, enabling customers to reap the benefits within the first year of its installation.

Recent additions to Centric 8 PLM include Skyline, Centric Visual Innovation Platform (CVIP), Centric AI Image Search and Adobe Connect Illustrator, which are helping end users  transition to a new era of digitalization. Because of these technology and feature additions, Centric Software has expanded beyond the fashion and retail industries to consumer goods and cosmetics brands, manufacturers as well as major multi-category retailer deployments.

"Features such as Agile DeploymentTM, data organization across the value chain, access to accurate data, reduced reporting time, and embedded digital-based technologies have made Centric PLM software the ideal PLM solution for the retail and consumer goods industry for various sized businesses, from large to medium enterprises, and also emerging brands," noted Kiravani Emani. "Owing to Centric Software's continuous expansion of software capabilities and steady penetration into new markets and geographies, the company is expected to remain entrenched in the global PLM software market."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid market acceptance. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.

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.

About Centric Software

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centric's flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM in 2018 and Frost & Sullivan's Global Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2016 and 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015, and 2016.

Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About Frost & Sullivan

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan