Meet Riversand, Venzee's Most Recent Channel Partner
5 Questions with Sudu Gupta, Director of Product Management, Data Syndication and Strategic Alliances for Riversand Technologies
Riversand, a Houston-based leader in complex data management products for brands and manufacturers in Energy, Healthcare and Food Service verticals, recently announced a partnership with Venzee. Venzee Technologies (VENZ:TSXv) is an intelligent, SaaS-based, content distribution solution for globally relevant brands.
Recently I spent a few minutes with Sudu Gupta, Riversand's director of Data Syndication and Strategic Alliances to learn more about this new relationship and how it provides benefit to brands and across the retail landscape.
Arlen Hansen: Given that retail trade continues to undergo dramatic change, how does the recent Partner engagement with Venzee help your customer base stay competitive?
Sudu Gupta: You are exactly right that the changes in retail trade are significant and ongoing. Our Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management products provide brands and manufacturers with the ability to manage an increasingly complex array of attributes associated with their products. Venzee's focus on highly-automated and intelligent distribution of that well-curated product content Is critical to both brands and retailers. By working with Venzee, we are able to create a highly efficient and friction-free path that quickly moves relevant product information to its destination.
AH: So how do factors such as speed and efficiency help brands and manufacturers grow amid retail disruption?
SG: Over the past decade, consumers have become engaged in the supply chain in ways previously not imagined. Today a consumer can interrogate product information, view, spin, analyze, compare, and make purchase and shipping decisions in seconds using a simple handheld device. Brands able to convey relevant consumer content can thrive even in this unique and disruptive retail environment. Those brands unable to respond effectively to rapidly changing consumer and supply chain needs will find themselves struggling to remain relevant as demand for digital content accelerates globally.
AH: Are consumers the only ones pressing for more and more relevant product information?
SG: Of course not. Retailers now analyze millions of product attributes to determine how best to position a product across multiple selling channels. It is not unusual for a brand or manufacturer to be asked to supply several hundred new or unique product attributes in a given month. These requests - coupled with the need to accurately and instantly distribute new content often outstrip manual capabilities - hence the need to automate from the PIM or MDM solution through to the retailer or target destination. In the old days - like five years ago - product information still moved from point to point across the supply chain in a fashion not dissimilar from that of physical product itself. In that model, moving the data efficiently is not critical and emailing a spreadsheet, while not optimal perhaps, worked. In today's networked landscape, consumers, regulators, distributors, retailers, and other trade partners have an insatiable need to consume and analyze an infinite range of product attributes. Those needs cannot be met using inefficient and manual distribution models. Venzee offers a more intelligent, more efficient, cloud-based means of moving product attributes to where they need to be - often in real-time. We've partnered with Venzee to provide that unique advantage to our client base.
AH: In the most recent Forrester Wave (tm) report on Master Data products, Riversand was ranked as a "Strong Performer" and had a stronger strategic ranking than most in the report. How does your engagement with Venzee fit with your strategic goals?
SG: Good question. The MDM and PIM markets are highly competitive these days. It is critical that we continue to innovate and lead in the market. Our recently announced partnership with Venzee is the result of our analysis and testing of their technology coupled with our shared view of the need to offer tightly integrated, Intelligent and automated workflows that advantage our customers. While we both believe that this partnership will support our market growth goals, we also believe highly automated, friction-free, flexible, and network-based content distribution solutions provide strategic advantage for us and our client base. This advantage will remain critical for growth in a rapidly changing retail trade environment. It is clear that the pressure is on brands, manufacturers, and retailers to rapidly provide useful, accurate, and engaging digital content to the consumer through every sales and distribution channel will not abate - it is up to Riversand - and our new partner Venzee - to provide the modern, intelligent, and relevant solutions brands and manufacturers need to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.
AH: Last question. How can brands and manufacturers learn more about improving content flows with Riversand and Venzee products?
SG: Brands and manufacturers looking to modernize and simplify their content distribution processes can contact either team. Solution implementation isn't a barrier in large part because on the technical side, Riversand's products are certified to work with the Venzee Mesh(tm) product suite through a modern, bi-directional API connection.
About Riversand
Riversand is a global leader in information management that has a vision of assisting companies to make their data useful, usable and meaningful. Its Master Data Management platform empowers its customers to know their own customers better, move products faster, automate processes, mitigate risks and run their businesses smarter. Riversand’s customers, partners and analysts recognize it as a trusted partner, visionary and a leader. For more information, visit www.riversand.com and follow us @RiversandMDM on Twitter and Riversand Technologies on LinkedIn.
About Venzee
Venzee is an intelligent content distribution solution that eliminates inefficiencies in the digital supply chain by delivering consumer-ready product information to retailers via a peer-to-peer network. Powered by our core technology, Mesh, Venzee automates content exchange workflows that increase margins and accelerate revenue. Through a suite of products, we provide customized solutions for enterprises of all sizes, meeting each client’s desired level of sophistication and automation. To learn more about Venzee, visit https://venzee.com/
Venzee is the easiest way to connect to retailers. With our black-box-ready Mesh API, content management providers can add product content distribution capabilities fast.