Managing Business From Vertical to Full Circle
Laguna Hills, Calif.–based Innovative Systems LLC has gained a name in the apparel industry for its high-power EDI (electronic data interchange) services. Now, it’s gaining clout with its Full Circle business software. After less than two years on the market, Full Circle has corralled an impressive list of clients. It started out in the action sports sector with Stussy, Hurley International, O’Neill Clothing and Lost Enterprises. Now the company is making inroads in the fashion segment, having gained clients including Rock & Republic, Paul Frank Industries, Dickies Girl, RVCA, Liz Claiborne and James Perse. It has also snagged Volcom and skateboarding icon Tony Hawk’s company Blitz Distribution as clients.
Business management software isn’t as sexy as surfing and skateboarding, but it is becoming more important in the age of global sourcing and speed-to-market.
How companies manage accounts receivables, payables, letters of credit and chargebacks, as well as sourcing, order processing, costing, sales and production forecasting, raw and finished goods inventory, and warehouse operations, can save thousands of dollars.
One way Full Circle has managed to grow so fast is through a combination of having the right product and the right contacts at the right time. Last year’s gross profit increased by 140 percent, said company principal Joe Schaefer.
“Almost everyone here has been on both sides working in IT [information technology] and directly in the apparel industry,” said Schaefer, who previously worked at CatchIt, a surf apparel brand popular in the 1980s.
As its name implies, the company’s aim is to provide as much of an end-to-end solution as possible. It’s working on a pre-production application that should be on the market in about six months, said Schaefer.
“Companies are getting tired of having one vendor for ERP [enterprise resource planning], another for EDI and another for this or that. Our vision is to be the most complete package on the market,” said Schaefer.
Among the company’s advantages is that it provides for consolidated financial statements, something few if any systems offer, said Schaefer. Its warehouse system incorporates radio-frequency technology and packand- scan capabilities that allow companies to build the Advance Shipping Notices required for EDI at the warehouse level. It also provides for integration into FedEx and UPS systems to eliminate procedures within the shipping process.
With the company’s EDI Direct services, it can integrate into the order management and warehouse operations and other ERP processes of Full Circle as well as other systems. The company has about 175 EDI clients and provides EDI services for other companies, including Los Angeles–based AIMS and Porini USA.
“It’s the best system out there,” said AIMS’ Henry Cherner, whose clients use AIMS with Innovative Systems’ EDI to conduct business with department stores.
Because of its complexity and structure, Full Circle is aimed at the midsize company that has revenues of about $25 million and more, said Schaefer.
It’s not out-of-the-box software. Implementing systems can takes weeks, though for companies like RVCA, it took only one week, added Schaefer. The system is built on a “thin client technology” in which the system’s server does all the processing and places less stress at the client level.
For more information, visit isllc.com. —Robert McAllister
