Supply chain technology firm JDA Software Group Inc. today launched a demand-planning platform that leverages the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities the company obtained when it recently acquired German tech firm Blue Yonder GmbH.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based JDA bought Blue Yonder in July, saying the move would allow its Luminate platform of software products to generate more automated decisions and forecasts.

JDA's new Luminate Demand Edge product is the company's fourth software as a service (SaaS) solution to use the new tech, an advantage that helps it to develop accurate, probabilistic, short-term demand forecasts by incorporating hundreds of demand factors, JDA said.

Companies need this capability in order to handle challenges such as rising customer expectations, increased competition, and pressure to respond quickly to market changes, JDA said. Those conditions are compounded by trends like increased supply chain complexity that has introduced additional costs to the supply chain, and the increased inventory levels that many companies are using to counter growing demand volatility.

The company announced its approach to solving those problems in May when it unveiled its Luminate product platform, saying the software applications would help users to predict consumer demand and deliver faster fulfillment by connecting existing JDA applications to additional sources of data both within and beyond customers' extended supply chains, such as trading partners, machines, and networks.

JDA has high expectations for the new product saying that Luminate Demand Edge "will ingest large volumes of big data and will, through its differentiated scalability, provide JDA customers the ability to drive revenue and profits while reducing out-of-stock rates by up to 30 percent, helping realize forecast accuracy levels of up to 95 percent, improving planner productivity by up to 70 percent, and delivering rapid ROI in as little as six months," JDA Chief Development Officer Desikan Madhavanur said in a statement.