iControl Announces Acquisition of eSkye Solutions, Expands Data Synchronization Services for Beer, Wine and Spirits

iControl to Expand Industry-leading EES Technology and Support to Key Alcohol Retailers including Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Walgreens

BURTONSVILLE, MD, January 5, 2017 –iControl Data Solutions (iControl), a leading process improvement and business insights provider to Retailers, Suppliers and Brokers, announced today the Company's acquisition of eSkye Solutions, the preferred Electronic Exchange Solution (EES) for Beer Payments, Wine and Spirits distributors and retailers to synchronize product data, pricing and promotional activity. 

eSkye's software is and always has been specifically designed for wine & spirits suppliers - specializing in national accounts pricing, and tailored to meet the demands of VMP. eSkye has been collecting distributor pricing for Wal-Mart since 2002, and has since expanded its services to Sam’s Club, Walgreens & On-Premise.

eSkye by iControl’s National Account Manager (NAM)™ was created to simplify and automate the processing and communication of pricing and promotion information to national accounts. Using eSkye by iControl's tools, suppliers can have a web-based interface where products and promotions can be quickly set-up and modified. Suppliers can then communicate those details through their supply chain for execution against the product or promotion at the retail level. In the case of off-premise retailers, the specific SKU pricing at the outlet level can be communicated automatically to the retailers internal systems for the creation of shelf tags.  

SEE ALSO: How Retailers and Suppliers Are Achieving Seamless Collaboration: Data Sharing Solutions 

eSkye's next generation of National Account Manager (NAM)  v15.0 was released in March of 2016 and provides alcohol beverage suppliers the flexibility to collect and send chain pricing for any national or chain account that wants to receive VMP based pricing. This can be done via EDI, spreadsheets, web files, etc. and can be customized to the chain or national account's business rules so that collected pricing does not violate any chain/national account pricing rules. 

Jennifer Skinner, VP of Development and Project Success at eSkye, is joining iControl as Senior Vice President. "Everyone at eSkye is excited that our company will join iControl Data Solutions," she said. "This is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the software, technology and talent of both companies to drive innovation in the Alcohol category, and continue to set the industry standard for data accuracy, transparency, and availability."

Tal J. Zlotnitsky, chairman and Co-CEO of iControl, said, "We are thrilled to welcome eSkye Solutions and their retailer and supplier clients to the iControl family. The addition of Jennifer Skinner, as well as Mahesh Ambaskar and Suresh Kamma, provides us with an injection of top-notch talent and will ensure a smooth transition for all eSkye clients, and the continued excellence in customer service that eSkye has built its reputation on, as we begin to integrate NAM and iControl's Harmony™platform."

SEE ALSO: iControl Taking Over the Leadership, Development and Growth of the PDI Data Exchange Service

About iControl:

iControl is a leading provider of process improvement, payment settlement, and collaborative business intelligence solutions for the food, drug and convenience value chain. iControl’s software and support makes it easier for partners to improve performance and reduce costs through electronic collaboration. We process and remit funds for millions of invoices annually, while providing real-time visibility to store and item level inventory and sales data, with particular emphasis on Direct Store Delivery. Our network includes over 30,000 retail outlets and over 3,500 distributors and manufacturers in all 50 states. For more information about iControl, visit www.icontroldata.net.