'Connection Factory' Lengthens Suppliers' E-Integration Reach

Compiled ByDeborah Austin SPS Commerce has expanded its hosted integration services that help small and midsized enterprises (SME's) electronically exchange supply-chain data with their largest customers, dubbing the expanded program "Connection Factory." Supply-chain integration service provider SPS -- St. Paul, Minn. -- had for several years been running enablement programs for such exchange, helping SME suppliers whose largest customers had requested supply-chain automation. But in the last three months, SPS has seen a huge increase in connectivity requests from SME's themselves, as they shift from reactive to proactive solution-seeking mode. Through Connection Factory, SPS now offers SME's the ability to exchange e-commerce transactions with all their customers -- even those outside SPS' existing trading network, and those who had not made electronic integration a condition of doing business.