Smart IP&O

Smart IP&O (Inventory Planning & Optimization) is a cloud-native digital supply chain platform from Smart Software for demand forecasting, demand planning, and inventory optimization. It is delivered as an integrated set of native web applications spanning statistical and probabilistic forecasting, consensus demand planning, stocking-policy optimization, and operational analytics, intended to replace spreadsheet-based planning with a single collaborative environment. The platform applies probabilistic modeling to project the full range of likely future demand and lead-time outcomes, with methods designed to handle intermittent and hard-to-forecast items such as spare parts and MRO inventory.

The suite is built around three core applications: Smart Demand Planner for statistical forecasting and multi-level consensus planning, Smart Inventory Optimization for prescribing reorder points, order quantities, safety stock, and min/max policies tuned to target service levels and cost, and Smart Operational Analytics for reporting and BI on inventory and forecast performance. Planners can run what-if scenarios that compare service levels, fill rates, holding costs, and ordering costs against benchmarks before committing to new stocking policies.

Smart IP&O is designed to sit alongside an existing ERP rather than replace it. It offers native connectors for Epicor, NetSuite, and Microsoft Dynamics (AX, NAV, 365 Business Central), and supports file-based import/export integration with effectively any ERP, including SAP, Oracle ERP, Sage, Infor, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft. Forecasts and optimized stocking parameters generated in the platform can be written back to the source ERP. The company, founded in 1981 and headquartered in Belmont, Massachusetts, entered an agreement to be acquired by Epicor Software.