AFS TECHNOLOGIES EXPANDS ITS OFFERINGS IN TRADE PROMOTION SPEND MANAGEMENT
Phoenix, AZ (September 01, 2011) - AFS Technologies, the leading provider of solutions to the Consumer Product Industry, announced today the acquisitions of Synectics Group Inc. and Answers Systems.
AFS has focused on providing connected solutions to manufacturers, brokers, distributors and operators. The acquisitions of Answers and Synectics improve the management of trade promotions and claims and enable AFS to effectively service retail and food service CPG customers.
"With these acquisitions, AFS is in a unique position to be the only company that provides full cycle TPM solutions to manufacturers who service both Retail and Foodservice channels, while also servicing brokers, distributors and operators," said Kurien Jacob, CEO of AFS Technologies. "The addition of Answers' ContractPro application will not only increase our strength in the manufacturers' claim settlement area, but also provide us with an attractive product aimed at the operator segment. Synectics provides expertise into the CPG retail arena and Trade Promotion Optimization," added Jacob.
The two acquisitions will be managed by Tim Vollman, GM of the Manufacturing division. Discovery analytics, the leading BI tool for the food and beverage industry, and Promo Assist, the TPM solution for Food Service form the current base for Profit Optimization Suite. "These two acquisitions round out our offering in terms of functionality and allow us to service the food retail segment. The combination of claims settlement and Trade Promotion Optimization makes AFS the only provider of all these solutions in one integrated product suite," said Vollman.
"The merger with AFS will allow Answers to expand the scale of products and services that was my vision in building Answers," said Bud Hilton, Founder and CEO of Answers. "I will continue to work with AFS to build the vision that we both share," he added.
"We are proud to have built the first integrated Trade Promotion Optimization solution for the CPG retail segment. Getting together with AFS allows us to make this product even more powerful by integrating with the AFS Profit Optimization Suite," said Alex Ring, Founder and CEO of Synectics.
Jacob added: "I would like to welcome Bud, Alex, and their respective teams to the AFS family. We built our business, servicing over 1,200 customers in the CPG and Food and Beverage space, by providing unparalleled solutions and service. We welcome our new customers to AFS."
Madison Park Group represented AFS in both transactions.
About AFS Technologies, Inc.
AFS Technologies Inc. is the leading provider of business enterprise and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions. The company serves over 1,200 customers across the Americas with a portfolio of solutions for the food and beverage, supply chain, and financial segments. AFS Supply Chain Solutions and AFS Food & Beverage Solutions are designed to reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase sales and margins, streamline internal processes, and assist in regulatory compliance; including data synchronization to GS1. All AFS solutions utilize service-oriented architecture (SOA) built with Microsoft .NET framework technology. With a focus on modular design, the solutions allow customers in manufacturing, sales agencies, distribution, and complex software companies
the flexibility to upgrade specific elements of the software without affecting the rest of the system. To match the needs of our diverse customer base, products are available on both a license and true SaaS model basis.
For additional information, please visit our home page, www.afsi.com or contact Jody Schafer or Jamie Borie at (602) 522-8282.
About Madison Park Group
Madison Park Group is an investment banking firm focused on advising technology and business services companies on M&A transactions and fundraisings. For more information, please visit www.madisonparkgrp.com.
About Answers Systems
Answers Systems has been meeting the unique trade promotion management needs of the Foodservice industry for over 25 years. The company stays on the leading edge of software development and service delivery with the ContractPro® solution for Foodservice manufacturers and the ValuTrak® solution for multi-unit Foodservice operators. Answers Systems' solutions provide real-time visibility into the performance of trading partner agreements and support quantifiable ROI improvements for its client base. Answers Systems' "Software and a Service" model is accepted and used across the broad foodservice industry.
About Synectics Group
For over 25 years, Synectics Group has been focused on helping CPG manufacturers manage and get more ROI from trade promotion spending. With a focus on the retail channel, Account Review is true closed-loop trade promotion management (TPM) software, managing events through the entire promotional life-cycle. Through seamless integration to our client's ERPs, Account Review provides real-time view of KPI's, electronic work-flow, and audit tracking. Our TPO Planner is a unique strategic planning tool that can create optimal corporate/customer promotional calendar that will generate the desired sales volume and/or profit without overspending the trade budget. The TPO Planner enables users to quickly create annual trade calendar scenarios that are optimized for profit, revenue or unit volume.
