KSS RackPrice and PriceNet Become SAP-Endorsed Business Solutions

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom--Knowledge Support Systems (KSS) Limited, the leading global supplier of wholesale and retail fuels price management and optimization software, announced today that its RackPrice and PriceNet applications have become SAP-endorsed business solutions.

KSS worked closely with SAP to deliver “out-of-the-box” integration, eliminating the need for custom integration and providing low total cost of ownership. KSS RackPrice and PriceNet are two of only 20 SAP-endorsed business solutions worldwide and are the only solutions endorsed by SAP AG for fuels price management and optimization. SAP and KSS will ensure upgrades to their respective solutions will remain compatible with the integration, eliminating risk and cost for customers.

“SAP’s endorsement significantly extends the business relationship between KSS and SAP that began several years ago,” stated Bob Stein, chief executive officer for KSS. “As the leading provider of rules-based pricing, analytics, efficient price execution and price optimization for wholesale and retail fuels, KSS now takes a significant step forward by delivering SAP-endorsed business solutions integrated with the industry’s leading ERP platform. We are collaborating to create the vision and roadmap to meet the challenging needs of fuel pricing in the oil and gas industry.”

Companies in the oil & gas industry are under continuous margin pressure, face increased competition, and have to comply with tightening pricing legislation and regulatory compliance requirements. Their longer-term prosperity under such difficult conditions requires them to take a more integrated and standardized approach when it comes to the systems that support their core pricing processes. KSS can deliver on these requirements with solutions integrated with the SAP® Business Suite family of applications.

KSS’s RackPrice and PriceNet solutions endorsed by SAP and integrated with SAP solutions can manage pricing of all commodities and channels of trade from refinery gate to retail pump for the oil and gas industry’s marketing and retail segments. This first-of-its-kind integrated price management and optimization solution set, built upon SAP’s business process platform, provides a high level of agility, transparency, standardization, control and compliance for the industry’s pricing process at significantly reduced costs and risks for customers versus the custom integrated solutions currently available in the market today.

“By integrating KSS RackPrice and PriceNet and enabling their capabilities to be used and leveraged by our existing portfolio of pricing solutions, SAP is helping to ensure that fuel wholesalers and retailers may improve pricing effectiveness and responsiveness across all products and channels of trade from refinery gate to pump,” said Peter Maier, senior vice president of ISM Process Industries at SAP AG. “Joint customers may significantly reduce the costs and risks of integration. The goal of integrating these solutions from KSS is to allow customers to make better business decisions and leverage their existing IT investments to improve their competitiveness in the oil & gas industry.”

About RackPrice and PriceNet

RackPrice enables wholesale fuels distributors to meet their volume objectives at the maximum achievable margin by better managing price/volume volatility, defining and hitting price strategy targets more precisely, and applying price analytics and optimization to tailor pricing tactics to individual terminals, channels and customer segments. Customers include Alon USA, a national European integrated oil company and a U.S. national petroleum refiner that are experiencing reduced own price volatility and greater price consistency leading to increased customer loyalty and enhanced margins.

PriceNet empowers fuel retailers to meet volume goals at maximum achievable margin by consistently applying pricing rules and optimization, responding more rapidly to market events and analyzing location and grade-specific price sensitivities to strike the optimum profit-volume balance. Customers include Kuwait Petroleum, Statoil, 7-11, Sam’s Club/Wal-Mart and Circle K who have experienced increased pricing agility and margin enhancement through responding to market events more rapidly and making price decisions more effective.

About SAP-Endorsed Business Solutions

SAP-endorsed business solutions are complementary to SAP software offerings, are developed in accordance with SAP development guidelines, and provide additional choices and flexibility for businesses running SAP software. SAP-endorsed business solutions are powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform. As part of the agreement, KSS and SAP will provide development resources, exchange and share technology and collaborate on product roadmaps, as well as jointly market RackPrice and PriceNet.

KSS is a member of SAP’s industry value network for oil and gas, allowing for collaboration to drive innovation in the area of price management and optimisation for wholesale and retail fuels distribution.

About KSS

KSS is the global leading provider of pricing analytics, price management, rules-based pricing and optimization technology and services to fuel retailers and wholesalers in the oil and gas, convenience store, grocery and big box retail industries. KSS clients include global, national and regional companies managing a total of over $100 billion in revenue through more than 20,000 fuel sites and rack terminals, throughout the world. KSS U.S. headquarters are located in Florham Park, N.J., with European headquarters in Manchester, United Kingdom. For further information please visit the Web site at www.kssg.com.