ProcureTrade`s partner changes name but not focus

Issued by AST Group for GijimaAst
Johannesburg, 25 Apr 2002

In order to develop a more aggressive presence in international markets and to avoid trademark issues, Australian-based MANTECH Software has rebranded its name to Oniqua. ProcureTrade, a business unit of the AST Group, is Oniqua`s business partner in Southern Africa, providing product support, training and implementation services

Oniqua specialises in enterprise analytic systems that drive better decisions in the supply chains of large organisations. Oniqua has achieved an impressive client base throughout Australia and South East Asia.

The Oniqua family of products consists of Oniqua Inventory Optimizer and Oniqua Procurement Strategizer to provide a complete inventory and purchasing decision support solution for the supply department.

"The Oniqua software products are innovative and sophisticated decision support tools for supply chain management," notes Dennis McCarthy, MD of ProcureTrade. "We have long recognised the importance of supplier relationships to our clients and through the continued supply of the Oniqua family of products we will be able to provide a valuable supplement to client`s existing relationship and performance management tools."

Oniqua Inventory Optimizer is a sophisticated inventory optimisation tool and decision support system specifically designed for capital-intensive industries with large maintenance spares and consumable inventories.

Oniqua Procurement Strategizer provides the purchasing professional with a business intelligence tool that reduces procurement costs for the organisation. Oniqua Procurement Strategizer accesses data amassed in the corporate system, and then its intelligent business rules transform and add value to the transactional data.

"ProcureTrade has had an excellent response to the Oniqua range of products. It is a topical product that has a wide, global application as it can make a significant impact in any organisation with inventory management problems or a large supplier base to manage," concludes McCarthy. "Considerable interest has come from organisations needing direction and information prior to moving to e-procurement, as there is currently a lot of focus on the technology used to generate transactions, but there is a danger that we can lose sight of whether the transactions are actually good business. Oniqua addresses this need."

However, just as important as the current products are the new developments underway that will provide tools to manage the total cost of ownership of assets under control, asset tracking and maintenance analysis.

AST Group

The AST Group is one of SA`s largest information and communication technology (ICT) services company that is independent of any vendor. It is the fourth largest company overall, by market capitalisation, listed in the technology sector of the JSE Securities Exchange.

The AST Group, operating from more than 60 sites, services large corporate and government clients throughout South Africa and has expanded to other Southern African states, Australia and the UK. Employing more than 3 500 ICT professionals, exploiting best-of-breed technology and applying international best practices, the AST Group provides services across the entire plan-build-run-leverage value creating cycle.

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