A recent article published by Tien Tzuo on the CIO Network blog on Forbes’ website suggests that ERP is dead. While it was a well-written article and isn’t necessarily inconsistent with what many other analysts have stated over the last three to five years, I’m still not buying it and still don’t see ERP software going anywhere anytime soon.

Just as a full disclaimer, just as the author of the above referenced article used to be a key employee at Salesforce and may be a bit biased toward cloud and SaaS solutions, Panorama provides ERP consulting solutions and the argument could be made that my biases lean toward traditional ERP. However, at the risk of sounding flippant, I really don’t care what happens to ERP software. It could all migrate to SaaS, the cloud, best of breed solutions, or stay exactly as it is today for all I care. Because we are an independent, technology-agnostic firm, any of those potential industry outcomes will still result in huge opportunities for us to add value to our clients and will do very little to nothing to jeopardize our business model.

With that in mind, I am still not at all convinced that ERP is dead. Let’s set aside all the fears and phobias executives have about cloud ERP software, because those will eventually go away. CIOs will soon realize that most cloud providers can provide more stable and secure solutions than any internal IT organization. However, even after neutralizing those unfounded fears, there are a number of more concerning and real flaws with the assumption that the cloud is going to push ERP systems to a slow and painful death:

This story is a rerun from the ‘90s. I love watching reruns of Seinfeld and Frasier just as much as the next guy, but I know how all those episodes end because I’ve seen them before. During the same era that I was infatuated with Jennifer Aniston on Friends, I was also hearing early in my consulting career that a new “ASP” (application service provider) model was about to kill traditional ERP. It was a pretty compelling story then, but the reality is that ASP – just like SaaS and cloud solutions today – had significant limitations that prevented widespread adoption. For example, lack of flexibility and lack of integration were two big limitations that the ASP model shares with SaaS and cloud ERP. Many companies that did migrate to the ASP model ended up needing to revert back to traditional ERP systems to standardize and integrate their operations better. The side exhibit in this blog visualizes the fact that just as the political pendulum will always swing back and forth between conservative and liberal ideologies, the ERP industry will always swing back and forth between traditional, single ERP systems and SaaS/best-of-breed/cloud/ASP models.

Most companies are still buying ERP. As our 2012 ERP Report, which was published earlier this year, shows, only a small fraction of companies are using SaaS or cloud solutions. It makes sense for smaller or less complex businesses to leverage SaaS technologies for their relatively vanilla business needs, but these solutions simply aren’t ready for the needs of larger organizations. To Tzuo’s credit, his article does accurately convey the fact that most CIOs are looking for alternate deployment options, such as subscription-based pricing and/or ERP systems hosted in the cloud. These are two very real and very viable alternatives for CIOs, but neither movement requires ERP to die. All can peacefully co-exist and provide the best of all worlds to customers.

Business software is not the same as a consumer using Pandora or Facebook. The author suggests that the consumer movement to web-based solutions like Pandora, Spotify and Facebook is proof of the allegedly inevitable enterprise movement to subscription-based and SaaS ERP models like Salesforce and Netsuite. However, this comparison is like comparing apples to oranges – the needs of a consumer posting a Facebook status update is much less complex than an aerospace and defense contractor that has to manage the millions of parts, people, tasks and resources required to build a satellite or aircraft. So while they may be perfect for simple transactions like streaming music, SaaS ERP solutions are nowhere close to being able to handle the types of complexity inherent in most global businesses and supply chains.

Although I’m not at all convinced that ERP is dead, I do agree that ERP is changing and will look very different in five to ten years. Business intelligence, mobile solutions, social media integration, subscription-based pricing models, and private clouds are all exciting new changes to ERP systems. Companies are also getting smarter about how they implement ERP systems – for example, they know not to bite off more than they can chew and they understand they have multiple deployment options. However, SaaS and subscription-based solutions are just one of a portfolio of options available to CFOs and CIOs, and traditional ERP systems will continue to be a viable option for a number of organizations now and in the future. Some of the risks of each are illustrated below:

At the end of the day, the argument over SaaS vs. cloud vs. traditional ERP is simply noise that masks a bigger and deeper problem: most enterprise software initiatives fail. Call it what you want and use all the cool technologies that you want, but your project will still fail if you don’t address the real differentiator between software success and failure, which is more related to business processes and organizational change than it is to software. The sexiest and slickest SaaS software in the world doesn’t matter one bit until those bigger issues are addressed. I can’t predict the future and I don’t bet, but if I could or did, I would put big money on that problem not being automated in my lifetime. So instead of discussing whether or not ERP is going to die, we should be asking: “Are enterprise software implementations ever going to stop failing?”

For further discussion of this topic, please join me for tomorrow’s interactive webinar, Cloud vs. Traditional ERP: Which is for You? 

Distinguished Veteran Brings Industry Expertise to Plex Systems’ Management Team

Plex Systems Inc., provider of Plex Online, Cloud ERP for manufacturers, today announced the appointment of Jim Shepherd as its vice president of strategy, starting immediately. In this role, Shepherd is responsible for defining strategic direction to continue the growth of Plex Systems with manufacturers across multiple industries and markets.

Shepherd brings nearly 40 years of thought leadership and operational experience in manufacturing and software industries to the Plex Systems team. Frequently quoted in leading publications including Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Shepherd is widely recognized as an expert in the application of enterprise software to business operations. He has extensive knowledge and proficiency in the design, development and implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain planning systems. Over the years, Shepherd has guided many global manufacturing companies in their selection and implementation of ERP, maximizing their return on investment.

“Jim will spearhead planning and execution of the strategic growth of Plex Systems,” said Mark Symonds, president and chief executive officer, Plex Systems. “We welcome Jim to the management team at Plex Systems and look forward to mining his deep insight into customer operations and the long-term strategic direction of manufacturing solutions.”

Prior to joining Plex Systems, Shepherd served as vice president and distinguished analyst for Gartner Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Shepherd joined Gartner during the acquisition of AMR Research in 2009. In his roles at both AMR and Gartner, he provided analysis of ERP systems, supply chain management, and the convergence of business strategy and enterprise applications. Among his many accomplishments, Shepherd was named the first AMR research fellow.

Earlier, Shepherd served as vice president of operations at Conrac Corp. and director of supply chain at ACMI. Throughout his career, he has held several senior management positions in software companies, including Avalon Software, Carp Systems and ASK Computer Systems. Shepherd holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

“I am excited to take a strategic role at Plex Systems,” said Shepherd. “Plex Online is an outstanding technology solution and I’m eager to contribute to the evolution of this software as it leads the ERP industry into the Cloud computing world.”

IFS North America Senior Advisor Bill Leedale has been recognized by the Pros to Know Awards for his efforts in leadership positions in APICS and his work with users of the IFS Applications enterprise software suite.

In his role with IFS North America, Leedale is responsible for knowledge transfer in North America for the manufacturing product suite within IFS Applications. He has over 20 years of hands-on experience in the manufacturing arena from leading large-scale implementation projects to managing business process reengineering engagements for global companies. Leedale holds a B.A. in Business and Economics from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and an M.B.A. from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He is an author of the current APICS body of knowledge and a contributor to APICS’ current Lean Enterprise Workshop. His certifications include Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management (CFPIM), and Certification in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM).

He is also a prolific educator and advocate for advanced supply chain management practices, and has spoken and written widely on topics ranging from corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ISO 26000 to Constraint Based Scheduling.

The Pros to Know Awards recognize supply chain executives in manufacturing and non-manufacturing enterprises who are leading initiatives to help prepare their companies’ supply chains for the significant challenges of today’s business climate. This year’s list also includes the 2012 Provider Pros to Know —individuals from software firms and service providers, consultancies or academia, who have helped their supply chain clients or the supply chain community at large, prepare to meet these challenges.

“Bill Leedale certainly has encyclopedic knowledge of how to implement lean manufacturing and supply chain processes,” IFS North America Vice President of Services Dean Flitter said. “Not only that, he is enthusiastic about sharing that knowledge and using it to help people implement best practices in their businesses so they can become truly world class. Bill is an exceptional person, but he is indicative of the type and quality of people that IFS makes available to companies running its software, IFS Applications.”

When selected and implemented properly, ERP systems offer companies visibility into vast reams of data. By collecting, sorting and classifying information from disparate activities and departments into a paperless environment, enterprise software can, at its best, become a centralized storing house of organizational data. This data can then be used to gain an increased understanding of how the organization is functioning at the present, how it will likely function in the future and where changes can be made to increase efficiency or improve results.

Sounds great, right? So why do so many companies struggle with how to best manage and utilize all of this info? Simply put, the reason they struggle is because they’re unprepared. And they’re unprepared because they haven’t focused enough attention on the organizational change management components of their ERP implementation strategy. Along with an influx of vast amounts of data, ERP software implementations frequently bring with them a host of changes to roles, responsibilities and processes. By the time the system is up and running, end-users and project teams can be a bit burnt out with all the training and reorganization. If the data is being populated correctly into the new ERP system, and everyone has trust in the information, then it naturally can be a bit onerous to turn around and try to figure out what to do with all of it . . . especially if there is no pre-developed strategy or clearly defined benefit.

Companies that have their eye on realizing quantifiable business benefits from their ERP systems tend to address this issue early on in the implementation process via a solid organizational change management plan. By knowing that an ERP system will enable increased data visibility, forward-thinking organizations take advantage of the system’s capabilities by determining policies and processes to not just manage the data but also learn from it. This often necessitates the training of existing staff and even the hiring of additional people to develop the procedures on the front-end and analyze and forecast on the back-end.

As we have said countless times, organizational change management is the key to unlocking business benefits from an ERP system, be they data-related or non. In fact, a recent McKinsey & Company statistic shows that projects with a clear focus on organizational change components average an ROI of 143-percent. Those with a weak organizational change focus average only 35-percent.

Organizational change should start as early in the implementation as possible to build the framework for benefit realization for years to come. By incorporating data analysis processes into an overall strategy of change, improvement and growth, businesses can tilt the seesaw of ERP ROI in their favor. Check out Panorama’s organizational change service offerings to learn how we can improve your company’s ERP utilization and return, and be sure to mark your calendar for our Five Key Organizational Change Management Challenges webinar on March 9 at 10 a.m. MT.

(Image c/o McKinsey & Company.)

Panorama’s next ERP Boot Camp is just around the corner on March 14, 15 and 16 in Denver, Colorado. Our Boot Camps are three days of intensive and interactive ERP education in an informal setting. The subject materials reflect our 360-degree approach of addressing everything from software selection to implementation to organizational change management to ensure that guests not only walk away with a robust understanding of the ERP project process but also are poised for ERP success. And our guests know it too, with one commenting that ERP Boot Camp was the “best value for the money seminar I have ever attended. Every manager involved in an ERP implementation should take this course.”

Still not convinced that ERP Boot Camp is necessary for you and your team? Read on for the top five reasons to attend:

1. Because the fundamentals of ERP project management shouldn’t be a secret or surprise. Too many teams go into an ERP implementation with little or no ERP project management background. An implementation can be a defining point in your career — don’t you want to be armed with all the information you need to make it a success?

2. Because we’ll give you expert opinion and advice that you simply won’t hear anywhere else. Panorama gathers a group of the leading ERP industry experts at each of its Boot Camps, including its own highly trained and independent team of consultants as well as ERP software vendor representatives and value added resellers, to give guests the straight skinny on everything from negotiation to licensing to customization . . . and more!

3. Because you’ll learn all this info in a relaxed, collaborative environment. Forget the giant auditoriums and bustling crowds. Panorama’s ERP Boot Camp is an intimate, collegial experience with plenty of time for group critiques, networking and relationship-building. Presenters are all incredibly accessible and the presentations are all interactive. If you’re looking for a personalized training overview, you’ve found the right place.

4. Because we’ll cut through all the jargon and hype to give you the truth. One of the most difficult tasks for a project manager to do is to cut through all the promises and see beyond the smoke and mirrors to discover what their ERP software truly is capable of providing . . . and what they need to do to get it there. Because Panorama is fully independent, we’re not afraid to give you the real story on software selection and implementation. To boot, our collective opinion is based on hundreds of implementation and decades in the industry.

5. Because we’ll teach you about failures to prepare you for success! One of our most popular presentations covers the lessons learned from ERP implementation failures and lawsuits. Panorama’s expertise in salvaging failed ERP implementations and our expert witness work in ERP lawsuits gives us an unparalleled breadth of knowledge to help you avoid the same pitfalls and, instead, build a framework for ERP success. Check out the below video to learn more:

Panorama ERP Failure Analysis

If you’re still on the fence, consider this: Is an ERP implementation really the place you want to take a stand and not seek any additional education? You would (hopefully) sit through a class or two before flying an airplane, climbing a rock face, or diving in the ocean so why assume that an ERP implementation would be any less risky? Sure, you won’t die but you also don’t necessarily have the capabilities to ensure its success . . . and that’s OK. That’s what we’re here for. Let us help you.

Register today for ERP Boot Camp by calling 720-515-1377.

Cincom to Host 8th Annual University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise Competition

International software provider Cincom Systems will once again play host to the University of Cincinnati (UC) Spirit of Enterprise Graduate Business Plan Competition on Thursday, February 24 and Friday, February 25.

The event, in its 8th year, provides the winning team an automatic bid to the Venture Labs Investment Competition, formerly Moot Corp, which is considered the “Super Bowl of Investment Competitions.”

What is the Spirit of Enterprise?

Over the past eight years, the Spirit of Enterprise has exposed the Greater Cincinnati area to more than 125 teams and nearly 400 students representing a collaborative array of disciplines including business, medical, arts, sciences and design.

“It is an outstanding opportunity for the Greater Cincinnati area to see and hear these ventures of the future,” says Dr. Charles H. Matthews, Executive Director of the UC Center for Entrepreneurship. “It’s also a very good way for the teams to learn about the great entrepreneurial ecosystem and location we have here in Cincinnati.”

This year’s competitors include teams from the University of Cincinnati,  Kennesaw State University, the University of Florida, Rice University, Purdue University, Brigham Young University, the University of Oregon, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Iowa, the University of Louisville, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Manitoba and North Carolina State University.

The teams are bringing venture plans in the critical fields of healthcare, medical devices, education and even consumer-based products.

Why is Cincom Involved?

Each group is also exposed to an entrepreneur who has been in their shoes at the dawn of a new industry and succeeded – Cincom CEO Tom Nies.

“Greater Cincinnati is blessed to have an entrepreneur of the caliber of Mr. Nies,” Matthews says. “His willingness to share his incredible experience and expertise with the student entrepreneurs of today and the future is a strong testimony to his unselfish corporate and community spirit.”

 How Does it Work?

The winning teams are identified through a competition format consisting of four intense and challenging brackets of a preliminary round – very much like the NCAA Basketball Tournament. At the conclusion of the preliminary round, the top four teams will advance to the final round’s bracket, where they will again have 25 minutes to sell their venture – this time to a new panel of judges.

Those not chosen for the final championship round will move on to the consolation track: the Limo Ride Competition. Mirroring a chance encounter with a potential angel investor, teams must try to sell their business plan’s viability within 10 minutes on the road without the use of presentation tools.

What Do They Win?

This year’s competition features cash prizes totaling $20,000, with first place being the Cincom Spirit of Enterprise Champion Prize and an automatic bid to the 2012 Venture Labs Investment Competition (formerly Moot Corp.). Other cash prizes will be allotted to the second and third place recipients of the Finalist Round, first place in the Limo Competition and the winner of the Best Technology Plan. The Exhibition Round will garner cash prizes for the top three teams for best exhibit.

About the UC E-Center

 Founded in 1997 by Matthews, the E-Center’s mission is to provide a state-of-the-art entrepreneurship curriculum and research base not only for potential student entrepreneurs and scholars, but also for people in the many organizations that interact with small, entrepreneurial and family-owned businesses. Success magazine has listed The University of Cincinnati as one of the top 50 programs for entrepreneurship in the U.S., and in 2008, The Princeton Review ranked UC the 21^st best Undergraduate Entreprenurship program in the country.

Yammer, Box, Square and Ooma Entrust Business Operations to NetSuite

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced the latest disruptive technology innovators to select NetSuite and NetSuite OneWorld to manage their high-growth business operations. These disruptive technology innovators include Yammer, Box, Square and Ooma. Realizing that they outgrew their prior systems and spreadsheets, they turned to NetSuite cloud solutions, including NetSuite OneWorld, for the flexibility and agility they need to support their rapid business expansion and also for speed of implementation. These companies join the growing list of disruptive innovators to recently adopt NetSuite solutions, including camera pioneer Lytro and social bargain leader Groupon. NetSuite offers streamlined business processes, while at the same time empowering every stakeholder—from executives to finance, sales and service—with a personalized view of business performance. Because NetSuite solutions are built to support the needs of fast-growing companies, including the ability to quickly scale to multiple subsidiaries, languages and currencies, it has become a premiere choice for technology innovators with acute enterprise needs and aggressive business models.

NetSuite Cloud Powers Hyper-Growth Companies’ Domestic and Global Business Operations and Expansion

For more than a decade, NetSuite has been providing flexible, scalable, cloud-based enterprise solutions to companies looking for a proven software solution to power their fast-growing operations. The effectiveness and agility of such companies’ business operations were constrained by on-premise software and manual processes. On-premise software lacks the scalability needed by fast-growing businesses. Many fast-growing companies still rely on highly inefficient, spreadsheet-driven manual processes to manage key business processes from financials, customer support and customer service to ecommerce. It’s very costly to install and maintain traditional on-premise software, and the complexities of the systems don’t scale with a growing employee base and global expansion. Choosing the NetSuite cloud gives today’s fast-growing, innovative pioneers quick access to superior ERP, CRM and Ecommerce functionality without the delays and infrastructure build-out associated with legacy systems. In addition, NetSuite OneWorld delivers on these fast-growing companies’ needs to expand globally. Because NetSuite OneWorld requires no local or customer provided infrastructure, it can be easily deployed to new markets in as little as three weeks, instead of the six months or more that is typical of most on-premise solutions. It addresses the complex multi-national and multi-company needs of global enterprises and can readily enable businesses to adjust for currency, taxation and legal compliance differences at the local level, with regional and global business consolidation and roll-up. The solution provides unprecedented global visibility of all aspects of a business worldwide in real time, creating consistent, compliant management across the organization, locally and globally. With NetSuite, these innovative companies can support their global expansion and experience a unified, real-time view into the business performance of each and every subsidiary despite the rapid and broad global expansion.

“Although each of these companies has unique requirements, they face the same challenge of time-to-market to capitalize on the opportunities and success that each has created,” said Zach Nelson, NetSuite CEO. “High costs aside, these innovative companies cannot afford to stall their continued growth to launch a grueling implementation of complex, on-premise software. Moving to the cloud allows them to stay laser focused and take advantage of the market when it’s ripe.”

The latest disruptive high-tech companies that have adopted NetSuite include:

Square (www.squareup.com), based in San Francisco, Calif., is revolutionizing millions of everyday transactions between buyers and sellers with its free credit card reader for the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, allowing anyone to accept credit cards anywhere, anytime. As the company grew, Square turned to NetSuite OneWorld for the flexibility and agility it needs to support its rapid business expansion, and also for speed of implementation.

By engaging NetSuite Professional Services to configure and implement the solution, Square went live in just two months, quickly giving the company visibility into business operations through executive and accounting dashboards. The company can now leverage NetSuite’s proven procure-to-pay functionality to better manage vendor and contract relationships, and has room for growth into new markets and the rapidly-expanding world of payments.

Box (www.box.com), based in Palo Alto, Calif., is transforming how 100,000 businesses—including 82 percent of the Fortune 500—share, manage and collaborate on content in the cloud. With a rapidly growing enterprise client base, Box needed a solution that could capture detailed financial information while coping with the sheer volume of customer records and transactions. After considering a number of options, Box selected NetSuite OneWorld to manage its accounting operations.

Box completed its initial rollout of NetSuite OneWorld in just six weeks, giving the company deeper insight into daily transactional activity. NetSuite OneWorld is robust enough to help Box address its largest enterprise clients, but also nimble enough to efficiently support tens of thousands of smaller customers. Box now has an enterprise-grade ERP solution that matches its cutting-edge cloud content management and collaboration service.

“We needed a solution that could scale at the speed of our business, supporting Box’s growing enterprise customer base and expansion into new global markets,” said Dave Adams, Controller at Box. “We’ve been impressed by both the power and flexibility of the NetSuite OneWorld solution.”

Yammer (www.yammer.com), based in San Francisco, provides organizations the advantages of a social foundation critical for success in today’s fast-paced environment. More than 200,000 businesses already use the enterprise social network, and the company predicts a strong need for international subsidiaries as its business expands to new countries and languages. With a growing number of locations and a greater organizational emphasis on established industry best practices, Yammer quickly understood the need to move past small-business software and spreadsheets, choosing NetSuite OneWorld which was able to go live in just four months.

Today, three Yammer entities in the US, UK and Australia all consolidate into the same financial view. Yammer benefits from NetSuite OneWorld’s seamless multi-currency management in US dollars, pounds sterling, Australian dollars and euros. Most importantly, NetSuite OneWorld’s top-notch revenue recognition capabilities have enabled Yammer to gain full control of hundreds of complex revenue schedules previously managed in unwieldy spreadsheets. The company now has enterprise-class control of accounts payable and receivable activity and is well-positioned for future growth.

“Our controller came to us with extensive NetSuite experience and recommended the cloud solution. Since adopting the platform, our company has greater flexibility and transparency into each level of the organization, as well as the scalability needed to meet the demands of our growing business,” said Mark Woolway, vice president of Corporate Affairs at Yammer. “The multi-national, multi-currency capabilities of NetSuite OneWorld are crucial to our growth plans.”

Ooma (www.ooma.com), based in Palo Alto, Calif., the world’s most innovative provider of VoIP solutions that deliver free domestic calling to hundreds of thousands of homes over existing high-speed Internet connections and allow customers to keep their favorite wired and cordless handsets. By saving customers hundreds of dollars per year compared to conventional phone bill costs, Ooma is rewiring the telecommunications world and needed an equally visionary partner to help it sustain growth. Ooma required a comprehensive solution to enhance its customer service capabilities, provide sophisticated cost-of-goods-sold accounting of products sold through retail channels and eliminate hundreds of spreadsheets.

NetSuite delivers the business capabilities that keep Ooma’s visionary VoIP business growing without limitations. A unified approach to sales, service and accounting as well as revenue recognition and inventory management enable Ooma to conduct business within a single solution.

“NetSuite’s comprehensive features give us the tools we needed to improve our business insights as well as keep our customers satisfied,” said Eric Stand, CEO of Ooma. “We wanted an all-in-one solution that would give us room to grow without limits, and NetSuite delivered.”

Today, more than 12,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-class cloud ERP suites for divisions of large enterprises and mid-sized organizations seeking to upgrade their antiquated client/server ERP systems. NetSuite excels at streamlining business operations, as demonstrated by a recent Gartner study naming NetSuite as the fastest growing financial management systems vendor in the world. NetSuite has continued its success in delivering the best cloud ERP business suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud is accelerating.

Intacct Enables Aircraft Component Repair and Overhaul Services Company to Streamline Intercompany Transactions, Consolidations, and Financial Reporting

Intacct, a leading provider of cloud financial management and accounting software, today announced that Able Engineering has replaced its MYOB financial management system with Intacct. The move to Intacct has simplified multi-entity management, increased reporting and analysis capabilities, automated key financial processes, speeded the financial consolidation and close processes, and improved business visibility – reducing finance department time and expense and more than paying for itself in labor savings.

A leading aircraft component repair and overhaul services company, Able operates as four distinct business entities. With its previous financial applications, Able had to maintain separate databases for each entity and process manual intercompany journal entries every month to close the books. The company struggled with manual financial consolidation, limited reporting and analytics, no audit trail, and minimal security and financial controls. As the firm grew, more and more work had to be done outside of the financial system, using Excel coupled with manual and paper processes.

“We looked at all of the leading options on the market – both on-premises and cloud applications – including Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Sage MAS 90/200, NetSuite, and Intacct,” said Gregg Leach, CFO, Able Engineering. “We were most impressed with Intacct due to the ease in which data could be entered, accessed, consolidated, reported on and analyzed. But what really won us over was Intacct’s depth of functionality matched with very low upfront costs and a high annual return on our investment.”

Once Able selected Intacct, the company worked with Sererra, one of Intacct’s Business Partners, to implement the system. Able went live on Intacct on April 1, 2011, and immediately saw significant financial and operating benefits from Intacct’s multi-entity management, financial consolidation, reporting, and analysis capabilities.

Previously, Able was forced to combine intercompany entries into a single month-end journal entry which only provided very basic, summary information for each entity. To analyze account balances in any detail required manual investigation through multiple documents and screens. Leach noted that many times this process simply couldn’t be completed, wasting a huge amount of time and making it impossible to truly understand what was driving the business. With Intacct, intercompany consolidations, transactions, eliminations, and allocations are automated and detailed history is instantly available for every business entity.

Intacct includes built in workflow and document management capabilities designed to allow distributed and multi-entity businesses to achieve paperless operations. With Intacct, Able now attaches digital copies of documents like invoices directly to transactions in the system, allowing for instant drill-down analysis from summary to detail to transaction to supporting document. Leach estimates that streamlining and automating the invoicing process alone has saved Able’s finance staff as much as 40 hours of work per month.

Financial reporting and analysis has also been easier and more meaningful with Intacct. Prior to Intacct, the financial system only produced balance sheets and income statements at the individual entity level; everything else was cobbled together using Excel or other systems. Now Able can tap into the more than 150 pre-built reports included with Intacct, and can produce additional customized reports for any of its operating entities and for the organization as a whole. This has significantly reduced the time it takes to get Able’s management team the information they need to make the best possible business decisions.

“Intacct allows us to analyze financial information from multiple dimensions, including month-to-month comparisons and budget versus actual, both of which were extremely difficult and time consuming with our previous system,” said Leach. “In addition to increased business visibility, we’ve also enjoyed important financial process improvements. Our month-end closing process is already 33% faster than with our previous system and our expectation is that it will be another 50% faster by the end of the year.”

“Able Engineering grew 23% last year and we expect to grow another 25% this year,” added Leach. “Because of the efficiencies we’ve gained with Intacct, we fully believe we will be able to handle that growth without having to add any additional finance or accounting staff. Our labor savings in finance alone more than covers all of our costs for Intacct. We no longer look at our financial system as a necessary evil; it is now a strategic advantage for our organization.”

To learn more about how Intacct helps medium-sized organizations, please visit http://us.intacct.com/your-business/your-company/medium-sized-companies.

Purchasing ERP software has become easier and more flexible over the last several years. The advent of public and private clouds, SaaS ERP software, on-demand offerings, and hybrid deployments all provide more options to executives looking to deploy new ERP systems in their organizations. This is good news to most CIOs and CFOs.

The bad news, however, is that comparing options and navigating through the related contract and licensing scenarios add a layer of complexity that most buyers of ERP software don’t have experience with. For example, when evaluating between a SaaS ERP system and an on-premise one, cost and contract structures are entirely different, which can be difficult for less experienced buyers to understand. This difficulty can lead to bad decisions and higher costs for organizations, which we see too often in our industry.

Here are three common “gotchas” to watch for when evaluating and purchasing ERP software licenses for your organization:

Getting Over-Licensed on Your ERP Software. One common pitfall is purchasing more software than you need, whether it be in terms of unnecessary modules, too many users, or other instances of “shelfware” which can be the equivalent of throwing away money. For example, we recently worked with a mid-size manufacturing company that estimated it had purchased $600,000 of shelfware licenses that were not going to be used by the company anytime in the near future. It’s always easier to add to your purchase over time, but nearly impossible to scale back on licenses that you’ve already committed too. Even if your ERP vendor is offering you a “once-in-a-lifetime” deal on software licenses in order to meet quarter- or year-end numbers, you are more likely to more than compensate for the alleged savings by over-purchasing software that you don’t necessarily need.

Failure to Consider to Total Cost of Ownership of Your ERP Software. Licenses are typically just one aspect of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your ERP software purchase and account for less than 25-percent of TCO according to our research of nearly 2,000 ERP implementations across the globe. Most organizations fail to consider the remaining 75-percent of total outlay, such as hardware costs, internal and external project resources, integration and customization, and other hidden costs. Executives should have a clear picture of the TCO for their purchases – not just their direct software license costs – and this understanding should be applied to negotiate contract terms accordingly. In addition, the TCO should be quantified for at least seven years, which can paint an entirely different picture than if you simply consider the first year or two (think: SaaS vs. on-premise ERP systems). For example, SaaS ERP systems often entail additional vendor costs, such as storage or transactional volume fees, in addition to other non-vendor fees associated with deploying the software.

Negotiate a Long-Term License Deal. Rather than focusing solely on the immediate purchase, it is more important to view the acquisition of ERP software as a long-term deal. Since most implementations take between one and two years (longer for larger organizations) and another one to two years to realize the benefit from these implementations, it rarely makes sense to front-load license contracts to acquire the software all at once. Instead, companies should purchase what they need when they need it and pre-negotiate the price on future purchases to avoid unanticipated license cost increases. For example, we typically negotiate deals for our clients allowing them to purchase additional licenses, modules, or users at pre-defined costs for three years or more, while at the same time minimizing their up-front capital outlays.

Negotiating ERP software licenses and contracts is part art, part science, and requires a solid understanding and breadth of experience. We have helped more than 100 organizations negotiate software license contracts of all types over the years and have amassed experience that most CIOs and CFOs simply do not have. However, with the right expertise and guidance, executives can effectively negotiate long-term deals that make sense to their organizations and consider the various complexities, nuances, and constantly changing realities of ERP software contracts.

To find out how exactly Panorama’s services can save your organization time, money and headaches, check out our ERP vendor and contract negotiation services or contact our team of independent ERP experts today.

Sage North America announced today that Goose Island Beer Co has recently upgraded its accounting software to Sage ERP MAS 200 (soon to become Sage 100 Advanced ERP) after expanding their warehouse and brewing operations. Sage ERP MAS 200 has helped the brewery achieve a level of accuracy they had never thought possible before upgrading, proving the software to be a powerful and vital tool to Goose Island’s business enterprise needs.

Goose Island’s internal organizational structure has evolved over the years as it produced new business entities, such as a second brewery and a handcrafted soda company. As the company continued to grow, so did their software needs. Sage ERP MAS 200′s multi-company capabilities efficiently support each entity separately, while being able to easily access common information as needed. The software also allows Goose Island to analyze business units separately or combined to provide a picture of the health of the whole organization.

“We design a lot of sales analysis reports to show product sales by market,” said Tony Flores, controller for Goose Island Beer Co. “We can look at the seasonal sales of different beers, what states they’re selling in, or how many cases were sold in a certain area. The software gives us a lot of flexibility to see our data from different angles.”

One of the most significant aspects of Sage ERP MAS 200 for Goose Island is the Material Requirements Planning module (MRP). Chris Anderson, supply chain manager at Goose Island Beer Co, decided to employ the module to boost purchasing efficiency and perfect their production planning process.

“We run the MRP report once a week and make our purchasing, production, and scheduling decisions based on the information it provides,” Anderson said. “Before MRP, I used a series of spreadsheets to get similar information. By eliminating the maintenance of spreadsheets, I’ve cut the time I spend on the process in half. The MRP capabilities of Sage ERP MAS 200 are very powerful.”

With the Bill of Materials module, the brewers at Goose Island were able to significantly improve their beer production process. Sage ERP MAS 200 stores all of their recipes in a single database and allows the controller to utilize multiple units of measure, including keg, barrel, case and bottle.

Since using Sage ERP MAS 200, Goose Island brewers are now able to calculate their costs out to the sixth decimal place. Such precision in calculation has allowed for various ingredients that may be used in small amounts to produce large batches of beer to still be accounted for in minute quantities when calculating the cost-per-bottle.

“That fine precision ensures our costs stay highly accurate during production,” Flores said. “While rounding might result in a variance of only a few pennies, when you multiply that by tens of thousands of bottles, it becomes significant.”

Goose Island anticipates no slowing down in the future; if its current growth continues as projected, it plans to migrate to a more advanced solution in the Sage ERP portfolio, like Sage ERP MAS 500 (soon to become Sage 500 ERP) or Sage ERP X3, within the coming years. “Sage provides a growth path for us that gives us no reason to switch to a different provider,” commented Flores.

“A strength of the Sage ERP product portfolio is our ability to provide our customers a range of solutions that allows them to continue working with Sage as they grow,” said Erik Kaas, VP of Product Management for Sage ERP. “Sage ERP supports businesses as their needs evolve. Being able to use solutions from a single vendor, customers are able to minimize migration costs when they outgrow their system. Those that upgrade within the Sage ERP portfolio can also leverage their investment in training, as many of the complementary solutions such as Sage CRM, Sage Payments, and Sage Payroll are shared and therefore will provide a common customer experience regardless of the ERP solution.”

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management (MRM) report. SAP was recognized as a leader based on its “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.”

Gartner defines MRM as a set of processes and capabilities designed to enhance a company’s ability to orchestrate and optimize internal and external marketing resources. According to the report, “MRM applications enable companies to:

• Plan and budget for marketing activities and programs (strategic planning and financial management).
• Create and develop marketing programs and content (creative production management).
• Collect and manage content and knowledge (digital asset, content and knowledge management).
• Fulfill and distribute marketing assets, content and collateral (marketing fulfillment).
• Measure, analyze and optimize marketing performance (MRM analytics).”1

According to Gartner, MRM is “expanding within organizations in three ways (1) global expansion, (2) increase in number of users within a region and (3) broadening MRM capabilities across the five areas of MRM competencies. Gartner also sees MRM moving firmly into the midmarket, with more midmarket organizations adopting MRM, particularly the SaaS and hosted deployment options.”1

“Our goal is to help companies deliver a consistent customer experience across all touch points and meet the demands of increasingly savvy customers,” said Anthony Leaper, senior vice president and general manager, Line of Business Customer Solutions, SAP. “The path to delivering a better customer experience often starts with marketing. SAP software helps companies boost customer loyalty while making the most of marketing resources such as budgets, people, time and the brand — with better segmentation, personalized offers and collaboration to optimize all marketing activities.”

Part of SAP Business Suite software, the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application enables companies to provide excellent customer experiences and maximize the effectiveness of every customer interaction across sales, marketing, service, finance, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing and human resources.

For more information, visit the Customer Experience Edge Web site, www.360customerview.com or the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @sapcrm.

Disclaimer:

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Latest Release of Infor10 Public Sector Enterprise (Hansen) Boosts Organizational Visibility, Data Tracking and Connectivity to Customers

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced an enhanced version of Infor10 Public Sector Enterprise (Hansen), an application used by more than 1,000 government and municipal agencies worldwide. The latest release of Infor10 Public Sector Enterprise provides an enhanced user experience through the combination of a new citizen-facing module, more standard reports and additional improvements in billing and asset management developed to streamline processes and improve overall organizational visibility.

New Features and Enhancements to Public Sector Enterprise Include:

• Flexible asset management  capabilities that enable the creation of unlimited custom asset types, helping municipalities save money through easier and more detailed monitoring of energy usage and maintenance costs.
• Enhanced billing and scheduling functionality to optimize application performance for large complex data sets, enabling faster and easier billing transactions within the system.
• Simplified billing processes through a new module that allows customers to submit service requests and pay bills online via the agency website.   Data is imported directly into Public Sector Enterprise, reducing time spent manually uploading information and increasing accuracy in recording payment history and required maintenance.
• Over 150 preconfigured SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports to improve the user experience and increase productivity through simplified report creation.
• Changes to inventory viewing that enable easier assessment of part usage information and quantities on reserve, providing consistent inventory data to all users for greater visibility across the organization.

“The decision to move to Infor10 Public Sector Enterprise was an easy choice for Gippsland Water,” said Daniel Grendon, systems analyst, Gippsland Water.  “The increased flexibility combined with the new configurable asset module enables us to deliver asset structures in the right technical lingo and tailor our asset solutions to meet the needs of a number of different business units.”

“The latest release of Infor10 Public Sector Enterprise delivers the added functionality that will help government agencies generate operational efficiencies and reduce costs at a critical time of tightening budgets,” said Bob Benstead, vice president, Public Sector, Infor. “The new Configured Asset Setup and industry specific data model capabilities, including point, segmented and network data models, enable users to define their own asset types and view assets as a unified, connected system in order to gain enhanced visibility into individual asset energy usage and cost. When government agencies can clearly see how a specific asset is performing, they can then make adjustments to the maintenance strategy to reduce energy waste and unnecessary expenditure.”

Advanced performance management capabilities designed for rapid and widespread adoption

UNIT4, the world’s leading provider of enterprise software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC)™, today announced that it has signed a strategic deal with Politidirektoratet (The National Police Directorate) in Norway to supply its new UNIT4 Business Analytics solution, which runs on the technology that was acquired from Norwegian specialist Exie late last year.

The contract was won in partnership with Deloitte based on the advanced functionality and low cost, low risk approach the UNIT4 solution delivers. The project team showed the best delivery capability and provided the best references.

Politidirektoratet wants to drive process improvements and develop the organization strategically and has developed a new budget and financial model based on Business Analytics and best practice methodology put forward by the project team, which will deliver a return on investment quickly. The solution put forward by UNIT4 and Deloitte delivers all the functionality and flexibility to closely manage performance organization-wide.

UNIT4 Business Analytics simplifies performance management and enables widespread adoption across the entire organization. It delivers targeted, people-driven, performance management apps designed to meet key challenges, opportunities or risks and allows every employee to quickly and easily understand targets, pinpoint problems, find answers and confidently make informed decisions – in a collaborative way. Goals can be consistently met in an effective and efficient manner, whether overall strategic goals or goals focused on specific business processes or activities. The architecture underpinning UNIT4 Business Analytics enables Businesses Living IN Change, such as Politidirektoratet, to respond and capitalize rapidly on performance management challenges and opportunities they face.

UNIT4 recently announced a new and fresh approach to addressing enterprise needs in performance management in contrast to traditional expensive and complex Corporate Performance Management solutions out there on the market. “UNIT4 has designed a suite of apps that let customers address virtually every business analytics scenario,” said Ton Dobbe, VP Product Management. “The apps will be offered via an online store on a pay-as-you-use basis. They will be turnkey and are offered with bundled professionals services of five, 10 or 20 days. Since the applications are integrated with UNIT4’s Agresso Business World ERP and Coda Financials solutions, a change made in one application automatically flows to the other applications. In contrast to the traditional expensive and complex Corporate Performance Management solutions on the market, our approach is simple, fast, no risk, and very affordable.”

Everyone knows that a bespoke solution — be it in building architecture, clothing design or exercise routines — is a better option than the off-the-rack alternative. Sure it’s more expensive, but the payoff is almost always worth it. So why do so many organizations balk at the idea of customizing their ERP systems? It’s hard to put a number to the times we’ve heard of an organization going into an ERP implementation with the idea that it would sacrifice its own business processes — the very processes that made it successful in the first place — for the sole purpose of completely eliminating ERP customization and instead relying on an out-of-the-box ERP solution.

The great irony is that because these solutions usually are designed to match a software vendor’s idea of the “best practices” of an industry, their unaltered use can have the effect of eradicating key differentiators that the implementing organizations once held. Worse still? Even organizations that struggle valiantly to avoid customization at any cost often end up ceding the point anyway once they realize that the canned ERP software purchased isn’t really the saving grace of their entire operational structure.

Data from our 2012 ERP Report show that seven out of ten companies have participated in either minor (one to ten-percent) or some (11- to 25-percent) customization. Eleven-percent of respondents are using ERP software with no customization.

As the report mentions, customization can be quite costly. Organizations that were once certain they could get away with an out-of-the-box enterprise solution may be a bit flabbergasted by both the money and time that ERP customization actually takes. Even organizations that planned for some level of customization can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the situation — especially when the customizations start looking more like ERP system workarounds than actual process enablers.

It’s a tricky situation so let’s face facts: nearly nine out of ten companies who implement ERP software have to customize. The question then remains, how does an organization limit the duration and cost of these customizations? The answer is just five words, but it’s five words well-worth remembering: business blueprinting and requirements gathering. Companies that invest the time and resources to accurately document their organizational requirements and map their “to be” processes during the ERP software selection phase of the project frequently end up with a better matched ERP software solution than those who do not. And a better matched ERP system means less customization.

Move your company down the path of ERP success by a. accepting the probable role of customization in your ERP implementation process; b. spending your energy making sure that the blueprinting and requirements gathering is done upfront and c. requesting that the shortlisted ERP software is demonstrated against those requirements. Don’t fight the tide; control it and make it work for your benefit.

Want to find out more about how Panorama runs an ERP software selection project? Check out our ERP selection service and PERFECT Fit ERP selection methodology.

Six Sigma is a term companies equate to resource overload, too much money, and time consumption, which can certainly act as a deterrent for companies focused on the bottom line. However, because ERP software is often used to improve business processes, it can be of great functional and financial benefit to use Six Sigma to understand where the business processes are inefficient as well as the pain points associated with them. This will lead to a better understanding of the overall improvements and business benefits enabled by the software package.

Six Sigma principles can be applied to ERP implementations without the investment of additional resources, training or extended timelines. Using a Six Sigma quick hit approach throughout an ERP project can provide all of the benefits of Six Sigma and ensure your ERP system is designed with the highest level of efficiency. It also will capture overall cost savings and help create the business case for the project.

The Six Sigma ERP Project Quick Hit Approach

Six Sigma is a methodology that consists of five basic elements: Define – D; Measure – M; Analyze – A, Improve –I and Control – C. Each phase contains specific tasks, or steps, be completed to move into the next phase of the methodology. By performing the simple tasks outlined within each phase below, you can incorporate Six Sigma into your ERP project and realize the benefits of using the methodology. 

Define

During the define phase, it is critical to identify the problem statement and project overview. The problem statement describes the current state of the project and is an overall summary of the problem. One must identify a specific metric that is observable, measurable and manageable. Similarly, it is important to identify the project goal. What is the desired performance for the identified metric? Again, this should be a SMART goal – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Once key metrics are identified, a baseline must be established to measure the success of the ERP software. Similar to all projects, a timeline must also be established. This measures the performance of the team and allows management to understand the time commitment associated with the ERP implementation. It also is critical to calculate the ROI for the project. Although specific data points may not be known, making a conservative, educated guess will help obtain executive support and buy-in for the project. These costs and savings can be used to develop the ERP business case.

Measure and Analyze

To appropriately measure and analyze a process, the ‘as is’ process must be mapped using generic flowchart shapes and symbols. The mapping phase is when pain points within a process or processes are identified. Pain points can be anything within a process that causes pain for the individuals performing the tasks, or bottlenecks within a system that result in inefficiencies. Once pain points are identified, it is critical to understand their root causes. This will help put the appropriate ERP solution in place to reduce the pain and improve process efficiencies. There are many Six Sigma tools that can help identify root cause including, cause and effect diagrams, fishbone diagrams and regression analysis. A personal favorite is the 5-Why Analysis. This approach asks the question ‘why’ five times to help uncover the true root cause of a problem. Once root cause is determined, recommended actions can be discussed and put in place. Often, ERP projects have multiple processes that require improvement; these processes are typically critical to the business and provide the business with its competitive edge in the market place. The mapping step can facilitate the ERP business blueprinting process to ensure there are no areas of the business, which if lost during ERP software implementation, could result in a catastrophic business disruption.

Improve

When solutions have been identified and put in place, it is important to revisit the original ‘as is’ process map and redesign it with the revised actions put in place; this becomes the ‘desired’ process state. The desired process will no longer display the original pain points and will represent a more efficient process. A new ROI calculation can be completed putting in actual data to realize and confirm actual financial impact and savings of the improvements. This data can be used for the ERP business case.

Control

When improvements are in place and have been measured, it is necessary to complete a control plan. A control plan tracks the targeted metric goals and identifies the actions to take place if the metric falls below its goal. A chart that tracks metric performance daily, weekly or monthly should be put in place to validate and continue to measure ERP project success.

Six Sigma is a simple method companies can use in conjunction with their ERP selection and implementation projects. Not only can the business apply Six Sigma principles throughout a project and gain process improvement efficiencies, but it also allows the business to measure the overall success of the project at both the business metric and financial levels. Learn more about how Panorama’s Six Sigma and Value Stream Analysis service offering can help your organization achieve ERP success.

Written by January Paulk, Senior ERP Consultant at Panorama Consulting Solutions.

Adds Leading Talent Management Cloud Offering to the Oracle Public Cloud

Oracle today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ:TLEO), a leading provider of cloud-based talent management for $46.00 per share or approximately $1.9 billion, net of Taleo’s cash and debt. Taleo’s Talent Management Cloud helps organizations attract, develop, motivate and retain human capital to improve performance and drive growth.

Together, Oracle and Taleo expect to create a comprehensive cloud offering for organizations to manage their Human Resource operations and employee careers. The combination is expected to empower employees and managers to effectively manage careers throughout their entire employment, enable organizations to retain talent and optimize costs, and improve the employee experience through faster on boarding and better collaboration with team members via social media.

The Board of Directors of Taleo has unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction is expected to close mid-year 2012, subject to Taleo stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

“Human capital management has become a strategic initiative for organizations,” said Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President, Oracle Development. “Taleo’s industry leading talent management cloud is an important addition to the Oracle Public Cloud.”

“Taleo’s integrated cloud-based talent management solutions optimize how organizations hire, manage, develop and reward their employees and gives companies the intelligence needed to capitalize on their most critical asset – their people,” said Michael Gregoire, Chairman and CEO, Taleo. “Joining forces with Oracle gives us the opportunity to better serve our customers.”

More information on this announcement can be found at http://www.oracle.com/taleo.

 abas-USA announced today that Nomaco Home Furnishings has chosen abas Business Software as its software for the future.

For 20 years, Nomaco Home Furnishing has been providing foam components to the bedding and home furnishings industry. Today, Nomaco Home Furnishings is the leading supplier of low density polyethylene extrusion profiles for this industry. This company’s innovation has replaced polyurethane and steel with low density polyethylene components, providing superior performance, competitive pricing and creative solutions.

Cindy Vice, Nomaco Home Furnishing’s Vice President of Finance, said, “ABAS is a good fit for Nomaco Home Furnishings. The software offers a simplified solution that supports industry best practices. In this economy, being able to do more with less is a necessity. In addition, the ease of upgrading will be a great benefit for the future as we stay atop cutting edge technology and business practices.”

Business software solution for large, multi-vertical dealers is now available as SaaS

ECi Software Solutions (www.ECiSolutions.com), a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, today announced their premier office solution, ECi DDMS, has moved to “the cloud” with the launch of ECiCloud for DDMS. The biggest advantage of a cloud application is ease of use; open a browser, log in and start using it. ECiCloud can be up and running much quicker than traditional systems and total cost of ownership is less than an onsite solution. In addition, the user does not have to worry with server maintenance or software uploads, as that is handled by DDMS.

The user controls their version of the application, though, and will be able to dictate console access, content uploads and system upgrades.

“This is very exciting technology!” says Stacy Pool (Heemsbergen), Vice President of ECi Office Products Divisions, DDMS and Britannia. “ECiCloud adds value for our customers in several ways. One, it provides high data security backed by our data center. It also provides expanded access to DDMS because ECiCloud can be accessed from any Internet connection. Plus, overall efficiency is increased because the hosted solution runs much faster than the on-premise solution.”

“By leveraging the secure environment we have built to host our e-commerce solution, ECinteractive, and our Private Supply Network (PSN), ECi is now poised to offer a hosted solution for DDMS,” Tom Gerrity, Senior Vice President of Operations for ECi, adds. “We are thrilled with this new solution and the value it will add for our customers. The cloud is where ERP technology is headed, and we are committed to keeping our customers on the cutting edge of this technology to help them improve efficiency and increase profitability. Cloud computing opens up a range of possibilities in regards to information sharing and mobile use and we are very excited to introduce this to our customers.”

To learn more about ECiCloud, please visit www.ecisolutions.com.

When guiding our clients through the ERP selection process, we often hear executives say that they are concerned about the viability of their ERP vendors. Even after we’ve confirmed that a product is the best functional fit, made sure it meets the business requirements of the organization, and negotiated a great contract for our clients, the viability of ERP software vendors is often the last unresolved concern for client CFOs and CIOs. After all, it is the job of executives to mitigate risk and ensure the long-term success of their organizations, so it only makes sense that the last thing they would want is a recently purchased ERP system to be discontinued or not supported as a result of an acquisition.

ERP software vendor viability has become even more relevant with the recent merger and acquisition activity in the enterprise software market. For example, Infor recently acquired Lawson, Epicor and Activant were acquired as part of a private equity buyout, and JD Edwards and PeopleSoft were both acquired by Oracle several years ago. Some of the leading ERP vendors, including Oracle, Infor, and SAP, have been extremely aggressive in acquiring other ERP software solutions, as well as best of breed points solutions, to augment their core solution offerings. With each of these acquisitions comes uncertainty – will the new parent company continue providing maintenance and support? Will it invest in future enhancements? Or will it force a costly and risky migration to another product?

These are all valid questions and concerns. And although it is impossible to predict the future, there are common signs that could give some insight into whether or not a company is on the chopping block. Here are three things to look for when determining whether or not an ERP vendor is ripe for an acquisition:

Product roadmap. Companies typically stop investing R&D in their product if they are looking to sell in the near future. For example, we have been hearing from some of Oracle’s competitors for the last several years that the company was going to stop supporting JD Edwards as part of their acquisition of the product. However, this still has yet to happen. In fact, some of our team members just last week attended the JD Edwards Summit near Denver and learned about the company’s roadmap for the product through 2026. Companies with no clear roadmap are much more likely to be sold and/or discontinued as part of an acquisition than vendors like JD Edwards who have a clear vision for their future.

Current R&D investments in the product. Another telling sign is the current and recent investment in the ERP software in question. If the product has become stagnant and it becomes apparent that R&D spending is on the decline, this could mean that the product is on the chopping block. Again using JD Edwards as an example, the company recently launched a cutting-edge user interface and mobility solution as part of its core offering – hardly the sign of a product about to be discontinued, despite the fact that a larger company acquired the product. If, on the other hand, the software is still using dated technology, isn’t keeping up with the competition, or doesn’t have a decent size R&D budget, chances are more likely that it is (or will be) a target for another company.

Organizational viability and stability. A third sign to watch for is organizational stability and viability. In other words, does the company look and act like a company that is growing for the future, or one that is trying to maximize short-term results to get a higher valuation in a potential takeover? For example, we had a strong opinion nearly three years ago that Epicor was positioning itself for an acquisition, simply because of the way the company was acting. Although it had just replaced its flagship Vantage product with Epicor 9, it was aggressively cutting professional services staff, offshoring much of its development work to Mexico, and even making cuts within its sales organization. These are typically not indicators of a company that is looking to remain independent in the short-term, which eventually proved to be the case with Epicor.

While it is not always a bad thing for an ERP vendor to be acquired, it is important to understand and mitigate the risks associated with a takeover. An acquisition could mean more R&D muscle behind a product or additional technical strength, or it could result in discontinuation of the product and a forced migration to the parent company’s flagship product. In either case, it creates a level of uncertainty that makes most executives nervous.  The associated risks can be managed by ensuring a solid contract with clear SLAs.

For more information about specific companies, access our database of ERP vendor profiles or read the ERP Industry News section of our website.

IQMS Continues its 10-Year Streak of Double Digit Growth with a Record Number of New Clients, Employee Hires and Industry Accolades in 2011

IQMS, a leader in the design and development of manufacturing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, today announced its record breaking 2011 year in review. The underlying trend of 2011 at IQMS was expansion, demonstrated by an organic 24-percent revenue increase over 2010 and double digit hiring gains in all departments. Other notable IQMS expansion included:

• New Clients: IQMS partnered with 58 new clients in 2011. Spanning the globe and covering the gamut of manufacturing industries, these new customers found IQMS to be the only solution for their business needs. Additionally, new user license and supplemental module purchases rose 43-percent over 2010 as existing IQMS customers more fully adopted the EnterpriseIQ suite of products and discontinued their legacy third-party application software.
• New Manufacturing Industries: IQMS has continued its expansion into a wide variety of industries including automotive suppliers, medical devices and assemblies, food and pharmaceutical packaging, electronics, recreational goods and trailer manufacturing.
• MES, Automation and Mobility Innovation: A slew of new and enhanced MES and mobility applications for smart phones and tablets were developed in 2011 to provide greater shop floor control. IQMS customers are now experiencing increased communication between their enterprise and IQMS’ comprehensive ERP software from anywhere at any time.
• Industry Accolades: 2011 bestowed a multitude of awards on both IQMS and its clients. IQMS won The Stevie’s American Business Award for Best New Manufacturing Product of the Year and made its debut appearance on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies list. IQMS client, Steinwall Scientific, beat out Kodak and IBM to take the highest achiever honor at Managing Automation’s PM100 awards and custom manufacturer, Plastikos, Inc., took home the Plastics News Processor of the Year award (where all three finalists were IQMS clients).
• Company Assets: Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in 2011 was 28-percent and will be utilized for IQMS’ continued commitment to reinvestment. In 2011, reinvestment efforts included a 36-percent increase in employees across every department, including IQMS’ global offices. IQMS also acquired adjacent land for corporate headquarter campus development and has started plans on a second 30,000 square foot building, effectively doubling the IQMS footprint.

“IQMS has accomplished an expansive year and we anticipate continued growth in 2012,” said Randy Flamm, president and founder of IQMS. “Our clients continue to report a steady uptick in business, we are planning our much anticipated 2012 User Group Conference and we have multiple shop floor automation projects in development that further define us as manufacturing ERP MES leaders.”

We’ve all been there. After hours of feverish work, you try to hit “Save” on your computer and nothing happens. Or it won’t export. Or it just freezes up. The stress of completing important tasks coupled with the stress of a computer (or ERP system) on the fritz can drive even the most zen among us to irrational degrees of fear and anger. In fact, a recent survey by Denver-based TrackVia (an organization that helps businesses build their own SaaS solutions) shows that three out of five workers who are not IT professionals or C-level executives have yelled at their computer screens. That’s not only an awful lot of rage directed towards an inanimate object but also an awful lot of rage to have to manage in the work place. Business owners and executives in the process of an ERP implementation would be well-served to take heed of this trend and employ the proper organizational change management tactics to protect against it. Three good ways to reduce this frustration include:

1. Creating direct communication and problem escalation channels. When Sally in accounting has an issue with her ERP software, she takes it straight to the top by calling the CIO. Joe in HR first asks around the office to see if anyone can help and then tries online ERP user forums. Executive assistant Harry sends a help request form to the IT department via e-mail and goes to lunch while he waits to hear back. While each of these approaches to an ERP problem may work (to a point) for the specific user, the variety shows that the organization has not set up or communicated to staff members a clear path from problem to solution. Users need to know that they can depend on an efficient system to help them when they experience ERP difficulties.

2. Encouraging your ERP users to give feedback . . . and then listening to it. A lot of companies take a hands-off approach to ERP system usability. Once the implementation and initial training is done, any forums for users to give feedback often dry up (if they ever existed in the first place). This can prove damaging to usability moving forward. A user who doesn’t feel that management cares about their difficulties with the system will often lose faith. This can be disastrous for morale and even benefits realization if the user begins to create inefficient workarounds outside of the ERP system to address problems in his or her own unique way. Reduce these risks by making that your employees know that their input is important and that their voices are being heard.

3. Explaining the goals and benefits the ERP system will help the company realize. Users who have a clear understanding of the overall purpose of the ERP system will begin to see their individual problems in a new context. Rather than feeling adrift alone, they will see their struggles as part of a valiant, company-wide effort to make things better. Don’t hide objectives of the implementation — shout them from the rooftops. Make sure everyone knows why this system was chosen, what it’s supposed to do, and what their role is in making it a success.

Companies often find organizational change management among the most baffling parts of an ERP implementation. Without two-way communication, it’s not just hard to understand what the users are experiencing but also hard to explain why they’re experiencing it, how it will be addressed and what the end goals of all this strife actually are. If you’re concerned about this aspect of your implementation, contact our independent ERP experts today or register for our upcoming webinar, Organizational Change Management: A Critical (and Often Overlooked) ERP Implementation Success Factor.

New Apps Are Designed to Improve Productivity for the Mobile Workforce

Further demonstrating its commitment to supporting the mobile workforce, Oracle today announced Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Mobile Requisition Self Service Approval,Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Mobile Purchase Order Approval and Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Mobile Sales Inquiry applications.

The new JD Edwards EnterpriseOne mobile applications deliver personalized services that extend user choice and help improve productivity by delivering management solutions that can be accessed at any time or from anyplace.

With the new mobile applications, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne customers can gain real-time insight into sales orders, item availability and item-based pricing. Customers now also have the ability to easily review and approve requisition self-service orders and purchase orders on mobile devices.

This news was announced at Oracle’s JD Edwards Summit. The event takes place January 31st – February 2nd, 2012 in Broomfield, Colorado with over 600 attendees from 29 countries.

Mobile Apps Allow Users to Access Critical Business Data Anytime, Anywhere

Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne is an integrated applications suite of comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that combines business value, standards-based technology, and deep industry experience into a business solution with a low total cost of ownership.

The new mobile applications available for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, include:

• Mobile Requisition Self Service Approval – Provides real-time transaction processing for the review, approval or rejection of requisitions.
• Mobile Purchase Order Approval – Helps enable mobile workers to review and approve purchase orders regardless of physical location.
• Mobile Sales Inquiry – Addresses the needs of sales representatives, service technicians and managers by providing access to sales orders, item availability and item base price on-demand.

“Our customers live in an increasingly mobile world and demand real-time access to important business data, regardless of time or location,” said Lyle Ekdahl, group vice president general manager, Oracle’s JD Edwards. “The new mobile apps for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne are an example of our continued commitment to helping customers access critical business information in the format that best fits their needs. With the mobile apps, users can closely manage approvals, inventory and sales orders in the office, in the factory or on the road.”

“We are definitely seeing a move towards a more mobile workforce,” said Bob Ashford, vice president of information technology and sales & inventory operations planning, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA. “With the new mobile apps, Oracle has delivered intuitive and easy to use tools for Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne which should help increase efficiency and productivity for employees working in the field.”

“Intuitive, easy-to-use mobile applications and services help organizations make faster and better decisions, while giving employees a more flexible work environment,” said Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research, Nucleus Research. “Organizations need to enable their employees to access and leverage critical business information in real time. Oracle is one of the vendors that is meeting this demand, and with the new JD Edwards EnterpriseOne mobile applications and its broader mobile device support, it is well positioned to help its customers realize the promise of the mobile – and more productive – workforce.”

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced that NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson will deliver the opening keynote at the 2012 Pacific Crest Emerging Tech Summit at 8:15 a.m. PST on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at the Westin San Francisco Market Street, San Francisco, CA.

An audio webcast of the presentation will be available on NetSuite’s Investor Relations website at www.netsuite.com/investors.

In 2012, it’s not really even up for debate anymore that a significant fiscal issue and challenge facing today’s generation of citizens is the inability at all levels of government to operate efficiently. It doesn’t matter which side of the aisle you sit on politically, the inconvenient truth of the matter is that this inefficiency and rigid organizational structure has put cities, counties, states, agencies and federal entities in a position where they have a hard time reacting to changes in economic conditions. As a result, public balance sheets continue to bleed.

What contributes to this inefficiency? Why does the public sector seem to have a hard time managing the choking hold of bureaucracy? One argument is that they aren’t using enterprise software solutions to their best potential. Among other things these organizations have challenges managing work flow, cost controls, HR, purchasing and procurement, partners and suppliers not to mention the fiscal accountability concerns given the assortment of government outlays. At the same time, they are trying to efficiently deliver guidelines, statistics and financial data to the public in a way that justifies the return on tax dollars for their programs. All of these requirements can be managed through a robust ERP system.

Something I can tell you without blinking from my experience a consultant, who has worked with cities, counties, states and federal agencies on eliminating inefficiencies, is that one of the primary Achilles’ heals of governmental organizations in managing all of the above listed challenges is the use of fragmented and independent technology solutions. Something that I have found is that different divisions and departments operated and continue to operate in silos and over the years and decades have created and maintained their own solution which makes it extremely difficult to streamline operations and drive efficiency which is critical to being able to react to changing economic conditions.

From an operational viewpoint, the best way to reduce bureaucracy, inefficient processes, and to create cost savings within governmental organizations is to embark upon a large scale systems integration initiative. ERP software is the only type of current software that has the ability to perform these functions.

According to a KPMG study of a number of governmental organizations, a properly implemented government ERP system can yield tremendous rewards. It has the potential to deliver significant cost savings, boost productivity and position an organization to build on initial efficiency gains. These are just the things public sector entities are rightly under pressure from tax payers to deliver given huge budget shortfalls.

If you are a concerned taxpayer and want to address the fiscal challenges within the government that is designed to serve you, I challenge you not only to understand what plans your political leadership has to improve their organization through ERP solutions but also to challenge them on what they are doing.

Written by Jason Henritze-Hoye, Senior ERP Consultant at Panorama Consulting Solutions.

Steinwall Inc. received the Plastics News Annual Processor of the Year Award, plus two other customers were recognized for excellence in manufacturing

IQMS, a leader in the design and development of manufacturing ERP software, today announced that last night, three of its clients were recognized for excellence in manufacturing at the Executive Forum in Tampa, Fla. Medical manufacturer, Steinwall Inc., was named Plastics News 2012 Processor of the Year, plus ATEK Plastics and Mar-Bal Inc. were honored with excellence awards. An IQMS customer has received the Processor of the Year award three out of the last four years.

A custom molder in Coon Rapids, Minn., Steinwall Inc. earned strong scores in all seven of Plastics News’ judging criteria, but received outstanding grades in the employee relations and industry/public service categories. With more than 120 employees, Steinwall Inc. had a record fiscal year in 2011 and plans to open a second plant to accommodate growth in 2012. Steinwall Inc. excelled over two other Processor of the Year finalists, Bemis Manufacturing Co. and Rodon Group LLC.

Additionally, two other IQMS clients went home winners last night. ATEK Plastics and Mar-Bal Inc. were honored with two of Plastics News’ three coveted excellence awards. ATEK Plastics, a certified medical manufacturer that predominantly services the cardiac surgery, stem cell therapy and pre-surgical skin preparation markets, was recognized for excellence in the employee relations category. Mar-Bal Inc., a one-source solution provider of thermoset composite products for the electrical and transportation markets, took home the award for excellence in customer relations.

“The competition for Processor of the Year was especially high this year,” said Glenn Nowak, vice president at IQMS. “We are so proud of Steinwall Inc. for rising to the top. Equally impressive were the excellence honors bestowed upon ATEK Plastics and Mar-Bal. IQMS is delighted to be partnering with some of the best manufacturers in the country.”

For more information about the Processor of the Year and excellence awards, please visit: http://www.plasticsnews.com/headlines2.html?id=24373 .

Today is one of the biggest days of the year in the enterprise software industry, as the latest iteration of Panorama’s highly anticipated annual ERP Report is published (download the 2012 ERP Report). The independent study examines the results from a range of organizational sizes and industries ranging from smaller companies to global, multi-billion dollar organizations. The study also looks at ERP implementations from vendors ranging from SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics to Tier II solutions like Epicor, Infor and a variety of others. This year’s study of nearly 300 ERP implementations across the world demonstrates some of the same themes we’ve seen in years past: most projects not only cost more and take longer than expected but also fail to deliver anticipated business benefits.

However, there is good news in the report as well: the percentage of companies going over budget and taking longer than expected decreased compared to previous years. For example, 56-percent of organizations in this year’s study went over budget, compared to 74-percent in our 2011 ERP Report. In addition, 54-percent of organizations went over schedule, compared to 61-percent in 2011. While the numbers still highlight the challenges and risks that most organizations face, they also show that companies are starting to do some things better than they have in the past.

The bad news, on the other hand, is that of those organizations that go over budget, it is by a significant amount. This year’s study shows that that companies that blow project budgets do so by an average of 25-percent, hardly a immaterial number for most CFOs. In addition, 29-percent of the respondents indicated that they have yet to realize a payback on their ERP investments, another metric likely to make CFOs and other executives think long and hard about how they can better mitigate risk on their ERP implementations going forward. Finally, and perhaps most concerning, is that two out of three organizations indicated significant pain in changing their business processes and organizations to accommodate their new ERP systems; 63-percent said that this aspect of their implementation was either difficult or very difficult, suggesting that ERP projects are still by no means a cakewalk.

So why the change in this year’s numbers over last year’s? First, companies are less bootstrapped with their IT budgets than they were in years past. CFOs and CIOs aren’t forced as often to shave implementation budgets to the bone and cut corners as they were during tougher economic times. With more realistic estimates and expectations, organizations aren’t quite as likely to blow their budgets and project plans. However, as mentioned above, when organizations do go over budget, they do by a significant amount, suggesting more of a dichotomy between those that tightly manage scope and budget and those that don’t. In addition, even though companies are finishing on time and on budget slightly more than they have in years past, they still struggle with business process, organizational changes, and benefits realization, suggesting that they are not getting all they could out of their new ERP systems.

This year’s numbers suggest that there are still significant challenges in the marketplace, but they provide a thread of optimism that more companies are figuring out how to manage their ERP initiatives more effectively. Learn more by downloading our 2012 ERP Report and joining me at our free webinar, Review of Panorama’s 2012 ERP Report tomorrow at 10 a.m. MST.

Deacom, Inc., producer of the DEACOM Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software system for mid-to-large sized batch process manufacturing companies launched its new website today.

The new website, http://www.deacom.com, was designed to communicate Deacom’s overall message of Complexity Made Simple to employees, customers, potential customers and the world at large. The new website outlines the capabilities of the DEACOM ERP software package offerings and explains the philosophies behind its development. Deacom has a unique niche in the ERP software industry and the website highlights what sets it apart from the competition. Along with the website, Deacom also unveiled its new logo and strong positioning statement to clearly define their position in the ERP market.

“We believe that Deacom offers a truly unique business model and software product to batch process manufacturing companies,” explained Jay Deakins, President of Deacom, Inc. “We wanted a website which clearly communicates why we exist and what we have to offer to companies in our market. We are in our eighteenth year of constantly pushing our software to better serve our customers. The new website does a better job of explaining what we think is important in manufacturing ERP software and what people can expect from a business relationship with Deacom.”

With the new website, Deacom sets out to clearly illustrate the solutions offered by DEACOM software and the industries to which it caters. The DEACOM ERP system is a software package that can be configured to meet the needs of its customer without customizations. The software is built for rapid evolution and constantly leverages technology changes to provide opportunities for customers to make their companies ever more efficient.

“The website is our best chance to communicate with the world. We applied our Complexity Made Simple philosophy to the website and hope that the end result will be a powerful tool for people to learn more about Deacom. We want people to experience a clean website that is easy to navigate and that clearly states how our software can streamline their business,” stated Stephanie Eaves, Marketing Communication Specialist at Deacom, Inc.

At Panorama, we have been known to talk ourselves blue in the face about the benefits of business blueprinting. In fact, it’s one of our favorite tasks to perform for a client because the result offers both immediate and long-term rewards. Blueprinting gives organizations the opportunity to design improved processes to not only better business but also to integrate into a new ERP system. Unfortunately, responses analyzed in our forthcoming 2012 ERP Report (to be released Wednesday) show that more than two out of five (41-percent) of respondents changed their business processes to fit their ERP software. While this is OK for areas that are non-differentiating (e.g., human resources, accounting, etc.), processes that provide differentiation should never be changed to fit ERP software. And those processes, as identified in a business blueprint, should be the absolute best you can make them — not necessarily the ones you’re currently using. Additional benefits of blueprinting include:

• Competitive Edge. Blueprinting identifies areas that need to be maintained and protected during ERP implementation to avoid losing processes that give a company its competitive edge. If you select and implement enterprise software without conducting due diligence on your company’s own needs, you run the risk of losing processes that earn revenue and/or expand market share.

• Training Needs. Improving and redesigning processes via a business blueprint provides visibility into training needs that must  be addressed as part of an overall organizational change management strategy. As a result, an organization can be proactive in designing, delivering and addressing training to mitigate the risks rightfully associated with this magnitude of change.

• Organizational Change Management. Any time there are role changes or reduced headcount due to software efficiency gains, it produces fear within an organization. Understanding how processes will change, and the result of those changes, gives an organization time to address the changes appropriately to reduce the fear and negative impact to company morale. This type of forward-thinking management reduces the risk of losing key people and mitigates any organizational distress that could impact the implementation and usage of the ERP system.

Don’t make the mistake of rushing into selection and implementation without taking the time to conduct thorough blueprinting and process-mapping. You and your team are the ones who know your company and understand its needs the best — certainly more than your ERP vendor or whomever came up with the canned “best practices” supposedly used “industry-wide.” For more information on business blueprinting, view our on-demand webinar, Tips on How to Build a Business Blueprint for ERP Systems. And be sure to check this site on Wednesday to download the 2012 ERP Report.

Leading Openbravo Partner, Sysfore Technologies awarded as the Partner of the Year 2011 – India

Sysfore Technologies, a specialist provider of business web solutions and IT Outsourcing services, has been named Partner of the Year 2011 (India) by Openbravo. Openbravo, the agile ERP company, announced the winners of its “Partner of the Year 2011” awards recognized for technical excellence in their geographic region throughout the year and for helping customers achieve low cost, real business results with Openbravo’s ERP platform. The awards recognize implementation partners from Openbravo’s world-wide network of more than 100 partners in 40 countries.

”2011 was Openbravo’s most successful year in company history, and this success is a direct reflection of the dedication and commitment to customer success from our global partner network”, said Andreu Bartolí, VP Channels at Openbravo. “With so many satisfied customers and excellent partners, selecting the ‘Partner of the Year’ was more challenging than ever. We congratulate all the award winners for their contributions and the shared success of our companies and look forward to an exciting 2012.”

Sysfore, a specialist Openbravo partner, offers both enterprise and SaaS variants of Openbravo ERP, bringing to market a serious, viable and cost effective alternative to mainstream commercial ERPs. In 2011, Sysfore continued to improve its Openbravo offerings and service infrastructure to serve its customers across different industries and regions. In 2012, Sysfore launched its first solution on Openbravo – for Human Resource and Payroll Management on the Openbravo Exchange. For manufacturing industry clusters in South India, Sysfore now offers customizable SaaS variant of Openbravo ERP, raising the benchmark for the industry. Sysfore also embarked on a journey towards Retail industry vertical specialization with the launch of its Integrated Retail Solutions that include core components to manage Store, Merchandise and Ecommerce operations, easily extendable to components to automate Financial Management & Accounting and Human Resources & Payroll.

Finally, Sysfore launched its Middle East office in Abu Dhabi in 2011 offering open source Openbravo ERP implementation services for retail, distribution and discrete manufacturing for small and medium businesses.

Ajith George, Director Projects of Sysfore says, “It’s heartening to receive recognition for our efforts in pushing forward Openbravo ERP as a serious alternative for enterprise software in our regional markets of India and the Middle East. Working with Openbravo has been a pleasure, and their partner friendly approach and support ecosystem has helped us deliver value in the highly competitive ERP space. With the new Openbravo 3 release in early 2011, its rich functional footprint, appealing user interface and compelling advantages in terms of cost-benefit value, we see a rich world of opportunities especially with the small and medium sized enterprises in our markets.”

About Sysfore

Sysfore Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a specialist IT Outsourcing Services company focusing on Openbravo ERP implementations, Turnkey Cloud Solutions and Microsoft Business Application Outsourcing Services for Small and Medium Businesses globally. Based out of Bangalore, India, Sysfore delivers on IT engagements by providing high quality local engagement, complemented by cost-effective offshore development. At Sysfore, we are committed to our customer’s success. Sysfore has several Openbravo implementations with customers globally in the last year across industries in Retail, Manufacturing and Distribution. Some of the customers who have valued Sysfore’s services and achieved success include Decathlon Sports India, Maison Boutique, ReaMetrix, and Compact Electric Lamps.

A full profile of Sysfore Technologies is available on the web at www.sysfore.com.

Yorktel, an Eatontown, New Jersey-based pioneer and innovator in the audio, video and web collaboration industry, has selected IFS Applications for its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.

Yorktel offers total managed conferencing services, consulting, integration and operational services, professional video production and postproduction for visual communication solutions such as videoconferencing, streaming media, video on demand, custom media studio and room design and multimedia network management.

After the conclusion of a thorough ERP software selection process, Yorktel chose IFS Applications and will implement IFS Business Performance, IFS Financials, IFS Distribution, IFS Manufacturing, IFS Engineering/Product Design, IFS Maintenance, IFS Sales and Support, and IFS Human Resources.

“IFS’ project-based solution stood out for its ability to adapt to our changing business needs and market changes, right out of the box,” Yorktel Chief Executive Officer Ron Gaboury said. “We have experienced tremendous business growth over the past few years and we found our current business system wasn’t agile enough to support such growth. So our number one priority is the migration of our current system to a next generation ERP solution like IFS Applications to support the future growth of Yorktel.”

Yorktel also is looking forward to gaining increased visibility into its projects with IFS Applications. Gaboury believes the solution will help Yorktel react faster to customer demands, communicate more complete real-time data regarding customer projects in process and schedule its resources more efficiently.

“IFS Applications is the perfect fit for companies with a complex project-based, service-oriented business model,” IFS North America President and CEO Cindy Jaudon said. “We take pride in our ability to satisfy the needs of complex companies like Yorktel, by giving them the ability to react to changing business markets in a cost effective manner.”

The service industry is one of IFS’ targeted vertical market segments. The company offers a complete and integrated business solution that manages the entire lifecycle of customers, contracts, machines and equipment. With IFS Applications, companies can support and improve business processes by collaborating more closely with customers, suppliers and subcontractors. IFS Applications includes functionality for resource scheduling and optimization, call and case management including SLA, project management, mobile solutions for field workforce, installed base management, spare part management, depot repair and document management, all integrated with financials, procurement, manufacturing and HR. Existing IFS customers in the service industry include Hertel, Debut Services, Holland Company, Mitutoyo America, MicroSeismic, John Deere,  Dalkia, Anticimex, Eltel Networks, Infratek, Gilbarco Autotank, and Tomra.

About Yorktel

Yorktel is a leading global provider of video managed services for large enterprise and federal government customers. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey, Yorktel enables customers to successful integrate video into their operations – from video conferencing to streaming, video event production to digital signage. Yorktel designs, integrates and manages enterprise-wide video communications solutions. For more information, visit Yorktel online at www.yorktel.com or email info@yorktel.com.

The manufacturing industry has long used ERP systems to provide order and efficiency to their everyday operations. Though recent signs point to growth in manufacturing in the U.S., most shops are still operating as leanly as possible, which means their ERP software must not only be utilized effectively but also offer a strong ROI. However, there are issues that prevent some manufacturing companies (and indeed all companies) from achieving the returns they need — and expect — from their software. Chief among these are inadequate standardization across different sites, inadequate end-user training and the propensity for workarounds.

Inadequate Standardization Organizations are best equipped to take advantage of the benefits of manufacturing ERP systems when they have as much standardization as possible. While this often proves difficult in companies that have grown through acquisition, it is critical to de define and analyze business processes and create an ERP business blueprint in order to identify areas for standardization prior to ERP implementation. (While this can be done on the back-end, it is best practice to have this process in place prior to ERP software selection in order to find the best match for the “to be” business processes.)

Inadequate end-user training. Manufacturing companies rely on the data in their ERP systems to forecast, plan and schedule as well as track production to ensure quality standards are met. If end-users are not trained well enough to input correct data, or if they don’t understand the implications of entering misinformation, then a wrench is thrown in the whole works. And if those in the back-office have a reason not to trust the data being entered on the floor, then much of their day will be spent confirming information through hand-counts or other manual processes — a clear waste of both time and money.

Propensity for Workarounds. None of the points above are limited to just manufacturing environments, and sadly neither is the propensity for end-users to find any means necessary to avoid full ERP system adoption. Whether it’s pulling data out to manipulate in Excel or some other program, building homegrown systems to supplement what they find lacking in their enterprise software, or simply “not finding the time” to master the system, employees frequently come up with new and unique ways to justify workarounds. It takes determined oversight and constant communication from upper management (strategies for which should be included in an organizational change management plan) to combat this foe.

I don’t mean to be picking on manufacturing companies; as I said, these issues can be found in every industry. Manufacturing, however, has taken some serious economic hits in the past few decades and has much less of a margin for error than other industries. I sincerely believe that if many of these companies took steps to ensure that their manufacturing ERP software was being used to its full capabilities, it would herald a new era in our country’s ability to compete, provide jobs and create wealth. Sure, it may not be that simple . . . but it’s a good place to start.

To learn more, check out recent articles and news related to manufacturing ERP software.

Adds Leading Customer Service Cloud Capabilities to Power Great Customer Experiences

Companies need to deliver a unified, personalized, and relevant customer experience to their customers throughout the marketing, selling, support and service phases of the customer journey to maximize loyalty, advocacy and repeat business.

RightNow’s leading cloud-based Customer Service offering helps organizations deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centers, and will be a key component of the Oracle Public Cloud.

The combination of Oracle’s leading marketing, sales, ecommerce, search and business intelligence software with RightNow’s leading service capabilities, helps companies power great customer experiences in a seamless, personalized way across all channels and customer touchpoints: including on the web, in a store, over the phone or via mobile devices.

Customers have overwhelmingly supported the transaction since it was announced. In fact, RightNow just completed the largest subscription booking quarter ever in the company’s history.

Oracle executives will provide more details on the product strategy for the combined Oracle and RightNow offering, during a webcast presentation on January 31 at 9:00am PT. More information on this announcement and the webcast can be found at http://www.oracle.com/rightnow.

Company Continues to Expand, Adds 45 Customers and 41 Employees

Plex Systems Inc., provider of Plex Online, Cloud ERP for manufacturers, today announced its financial results for the year ending Dec. 31, 2011. Plex Systems achieved recurring revenue growth of 32-percent compared to recurring revenue in 2010. Total revenue grew by 30-percent year over year.

Note that as a private company, Plex Systems does not release dollar values for its revenue and profitability figures.

In 2011, the company added 45 customers and 41 employees. The company also appointed S. Craig Huke as chief financial officer, and Edwin J. Gillis joined the board of directors.

“In 2011, a growing number of manufacturers from diverse industries embraced the Cloud ERP model to dramatically improve their operations and lower their costs,” said Mark Symonds, Plex Systems president and CEO. “Our community of Plex Online users improved their profitability, streamlined business processes and reduced waste as they helped drive the continuing evolution of the Plex Online software to meet their manufacturing needs. With their input, we continue to innovate, adding features and modules to Plex Online that are valuable to the entire manufacturing community.”

Awards and Recognitions

In 2011, Plex Systems received 28 awards from industry associations and publications for excellence in technology, business growth and workplace culture. Plex Online users also received 12 awards for their use of Plex Online to achieve strong business results.

Most notable:

2011 CODiE Business Software awards – Plex Online was recognized in all four categories for which it was nominated, including the prestigious “Best Operations Management Solution” Supercategory, which identified Plex Online as the best product among all winners in operations management-related categories.

2011 EuroCloud Award – Plex Online won the 2011 EuroCloud Deutschland Award and was also named a finalist in the European-based 2011 Supply Chain Distinction Awards program.

Detroit Free Press Top Workplaces – Plex Systems was named one of the top three midsize companies to work for in Michigan. This was the third consecutive year that Plex Systems was included in this list.

Food Logistics 100 (FL100) – Plex Systems was named, for the second consecutive year, to the FL100 list of the best technology solutions and services supporting the food processing industry.

Community Giving

Plex Systems employees chose Gleaners Community Food Bank and the St. Clair Butterfly Foundation as the 2011 Plex Systems focus charities. In 2011, the company raised $46,000 in various fundraisers such as wine tasting, beer tasting, silent auctions, breakfasts and bake sales to benefit the less fortunate in the local community.

Year-over-year growth, major acquisitions and a successful national conference contribute to success

ECi Software Solutions, a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, today announced strong results for 2011, achieving a 25% growth rate over 2010. Continual investment in technology and a commitment to customers and the industries ECi serves fueled the success of 2011. More than 670 new companies joined the ECi family during the year, including the 150 new customers announced by ECi Acsellerate earlier this month.

“Technology is always changing,” says Mike Gibson, SVP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for ECi. “It can make or break a business. As a technology partner, our role is to keep up with the changing requirements so that our customers can grow their businesses and turn a profit. This focus on technology, commitment to the industries we serve and a dedication to customer service is why people do business with us.”

A major 2011 success for ECi was the Connect Conference, held in Fort Worth, Texas, November 1–3. “Everyone involved in the conference benefitted,” related Ron Books, President and CEO of ECi. “It was such a great learning and networking opportunity. Plans are already in the works for our next national meeting in 2013 as well as our regional meetings for this year.” ECi also made two major acquisitions in 2011: the premier managed print services solution FMAudit and the office equipment solutions provider Digital Gateway, Inc.

For more information on ECi, please visit www.ECiSolutions.com.

Unfortunately, ERP implementations still aren’t any easier than they were 15 years ago when I started in the ERP world. Despite the enterprise software industry’s best intentions to mitigate risk with cloud ERP systems, implementation accelerators, and other tools, ERP failure rates are still high and most projects still take more time and money than expected. For example, our 2012 ERP Report, which will be released next week, shows that nearly half (44-percent) of all ERP implementations fail to deliver at least half of their expected business benefits.

The even more troubling trend we’re seeing at Panorama Consulting is an acceleration of ERP failures and lawsuits. We are seeing a spike in demand for our ERP consultants to provide guidance to implementations that have gotten off track or to attorneys involved in lawsuits related to implementation failures. We have a very solid and exhaustive process for helping clients assess their implementations and create a project recovery roadmap, which clients are taking full advantage of in recent months. While this is good news for us in that there is more demand for our services than ever, it is bad news for the industry and the organizations looking to implement new enterprise software solutions. Whether it’s software from SAP, Oracle, Epicor, Infor, or any other ERP vendor, the reality is that it is still difficult to implement a new system effectively without stepping into a landmine or two along the way.

The good news is that there are ways to get an ERP implementation out of the gutter. As we’re demonstrating with three clients we’re currently working with, there are a number of things you can do to get your project back on track. Here are three tips that are likely to make a difference on your troubled ERP implementation:

1. Look to organizational change management for low-hanging fruit. While it is tempting to blame your vendor or the ERP software itself, we find that most ERP failures result from organizational change management issues. In fact, if you evaluate the organizational change, communications, and training activities that you are and aren’t doing as part of your project, you are likely to find significant deficiencies and opportunities for improvement. It’s usually people that make a project fail, not the software, so more effective organizational change management will help mitigate this challenge. We often look to areas such as organizational impact, job design, process definition, customized training, and targeted employee communications as opportunities to “fix” the people side of the ERP implementation equation. Not only is this “people side” crucially important and often overlooked, but it is typically less costly than buying an entirely new ERP system or customizing to force the software to address the organizational resistance you may be facing.

2. Revisit your implementation plan. Most ERP implementation plans are flawed from the start. Unrealistic expectations, unclearly defined milestones and resource requirements, and missing key activities are some of the common problems we see when clients ask us to get their projects back on track. Organizations too often rely on a project plan provided by their ERP vendor or system integrator, which usually focus too much on the technical components of an implementation on not enough on the business, process, and organizational aspects required to make a project successful. Implementation success is never guaranteed, but failure is guaranteed without a realistic and complete plan.

3. Know when to fold ‘em. Like Kenny Rogers once said, you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. It may be time to hit the reset button on your enterprise software initiative. It may also be time to ditch an attempted ERP implementation and replace it with software that is a better fit for your organization. Or it may be a matter of some of the less drastic changes outlined above. One of the benefits of working with an independent ERP implementation consulting firm such as Panorama is that we help our clients make objective assessments of whether it’s time to head a different direction with the organization’s ERP strategy.

While a troubled ERP implementation is never fun, it is not as bad as an ERP failure and there are always ways to get your project and your team back on track. With the right expertise and toolset, your project can be recovered and even rejuvenated.

Find out more about both ERP failure and ERP success by attending my interactive webinar tomorrow, Lessons Learned from Failed ERP Implementations.

Manufacturer of Automotive and Structural Steel Tubing Uses the SYSPRO ERP to Automate and Streamline Business Processes

SYSPRO, a global, independent Enterprise Resource Planning software vendor, announces its success in streamlining business functions and improving processes at Atlantic Tube & Steel (AT&S), a manufacturer of automotive and structural steel tubing headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. The SYSPRO ERP integration has allowed AT&S to fully automate its operations, resulting in increased efficiency and vastly improved reporting, data analysis and quality control. With SYSPRO, the AT&S management team benefits from cost-savings, increased employee productivity and an enhanced decision making process based on highly accurate data.

Prior to the transition to the SYSPRO ERP software, AT&S was running on a system that gave the organization inadequate analysis and reporting capabilities. SYSPRO worked with the AT&S team to create an ERP solution that matched their unique and often complex requirements. With SYSPRO, the manufacturing and warehouse facility has become highly automated, reducing man-hours and eliminating the manual reporting and piles of paperwork that previously plagued the organization. With SYSPRO’s ERP, the entire production process, from input to output, is recorded and reported, increasing efficiency and providing the AT&S team the timely information they need to make sound and proactive business decisions.

“Before the transition [to SYSPRO], we were using a DOS-based program with very limited ability to analyze results,” shares Marvin Bavcevic, Controller at AT&S. “It was a dinosaur, and our management decisions were being made in the absence of sufficient data. In terms of IT, we were barely limping along. Now, with SYSPRO, we’re up and sprinting. We’ve joined the 21st century.”

Of particular importance to AT&S’ success is quality control and the ability to trace products. Their steel products must conform precisely to exact specifications – if they don’t, customer complaints come pouring in. The Lot Traceability component in SYSPRO’s ERP software application was just the solution that AT&S needed. Now, if a complaint comes through, the SYSPRO system enables the AT&S team to quickly and easily identify the production run in question and drill down to the source components, removing the product in question from stock as needed.

“Quality, and the perception of quality, are of paramount importance in our industry,” says Larry Brandon, AT&S’s Sales Manager. “[With SYSPRO], we avoid sending the wrong product to customers, which helps us eliminate, or at least minimize, any negative quality perceptions that might arise in the market. Lot Traceability saves us a lot of time. It also lets us go back to our suppliers in a timely fashion if their product doesn’t meet our specifications.”

About Atlantic Tube and Steel 

Atlantic Tube and Steel (AT&S) started business in 1977 as one of the first in the industry to demand a grade of steel made specifically for use by exhaust system manufacturers and muffler shop benders. Today AT&S is the industry leader in exhaust tube and structural steel products developed to ISO 9001 standards. For more information visit http://www.atlantictube.com

There is no such thing as ERP success without leadership and governance from the executive level. As much as some C-suiters would like to defer involvement in and responsibility for an ERP implementation to their IT department or some other functional area, it is absolutely critical that executive sponsorship is vocal, clear and consistent from day one of the ERP project for without this kind of visible executive buy-in, ERP failure is a very likely outcome.

Some of the key areas of involvement for an executive or executive team before, during and following an ERP system implementation include:

1. Defining success. Executives need to answer what the end goal of the ERP project is and what the benchmarks are that will indicate the project’s health. Success can mean different things to different people (and different end-users), so it is crucial that the executive level take a strong stance on this point or points.

2. Ensuring continued involvement. Rather than taking a hands-off approach and shirking duties to project leads, executives must ensure that they have regularly scheduled meetings to stay abreast of project status. Frequent debriefs allow the top level high visibility into the project and alert them to issues as they arise.

3. Providing oversight. Building on number two (above), executives must not just be aware of project issues but also must be capable of assessing and addressing them in a clear and strategic way. Endless discussion about the vagaries of an ERP system help no one. Instead, the escalation process must be properly defined (and adhered to) so that executive oversight is available when and where it matters most.

4. Knowing roles and responsibilities. Oversight is best provided when the executive level knows exactly who is responsible for what. For instance, who approves changes in scope or budget? Who makes the major operational decisions needed for ERP success? Who is ultimately responsible for decisions related to each business unit? To maintain executive buy-in and involvement, the project charter must define each individual’s roles and responsibilities at each stage of implementation.

5. Developing the ERP team and assessing its performance.  Given that much of an ERP implementation will be enabled by a project team, the executive level must have in place clear expectations, milestones and review processes to assess suitability for the team in the first place and ongoing performance as the project moves along. Getting straight on staff compensation, job functions and measures of success from the beginning will provide a strong foundation for ERP success.

Too often we see executives taking a laissez-faire attitude to an ERP implementation. Whether they’re not interested in the technical aspects, confused by the changes the system will impart, or simply bored by the whole thing, executives who are disinterested and disengaged can be the death knell for an ERP project. What we have found is that much of this behavior is due to the fact that executives are unsure exactly what their role in an implementation should be. Good project planning and documentation can alleviate much of this befuddlement by clearly stating expectations, goals, roles and processes.

To learn more tips for ERP success, please attend our free webinar, Lessons Learned from Failed ERP Implementations on Thursday, January 26 at 10 a.m. MST.

When it comes to cloud ERP, the question on everyone’s mind is “How safe is it . . . really?” The simple answer is that it remains to be seen. With that in mind, many organizations are not yet willing to make the leap of trusting all of their data to a cloud ERP vendor, no matter how many promises are made during the sales cycle. However there is no denying the definite trend towards cloud ERP adoption in varying forms. Some companies have decided to test out the deployment model by storing noncritical items in the cloud but keeping the important data in-house and other companies have taken the leap whole hog. It really comes down to two conjoined points: how comfortable companies are ceding their control to another and how comfortable companies are with the risk that their security might be compromised in some way.

An organization is not completely hamstrung by the dictates of cloud ERP however. Indeed, there are many steps a company can take to increase both the comfort level and the security level of a cloud ERP system:

1. Plan for disaster. A lot of stress in life can be alleviated by having an actionable worst-case scenario plan. Though it might be a little “glass is half-full,” it’s nonetheless crucial to make sure whatever cloud ERP vendor is chosen has the capabilities in place to handle notification and mitigation of a data loss or compromise in the way that you specify. You should also have your own plan  for how you will notify customers of any situation of this type.

2. Know your data. It’s important to get really familiar with what data your organization has — and what impact its loss or compromise might have — before switching to a cloud ERP system. After your organization comes to an agreement about what data is sensitive, what the degree of sensitivity is, and what security protocol must be in place to protect it, you’ll be much more comfortable handing over the reins to a vendor on the nonsensitive elements.

3. Protect your data. As the recent breach at Zappos proved, it’s critical to take steps to minimize the fallout from a disaster, such as following regulations regarding stored data and storing data in different databases. Don’t blindly trust what your cloud ERP provider — or any ERP provider — promises you: follow your own instincts and protocol. Everything can be compromised. Don’t believe anyone who tells you something different.

Of course, there are many, many more steps to take — and issues to hash out — before jumping into the cloud. It’s a complicated pprocess, but one which very well might bring great benefit to your company if handled correctly. For more information, please download our recent white paper, Frequently Asked Questions About Cloud ERP.

An event for mid-sized manufacturing, distribution companies to determine an evaluation “short list” for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software

abas-USA announced today that they will present live product demonstrations to companies in the market for ERP software at the Vendor Shootout(TM) for ERP, February 22-23, 2012 in Miami, FL. The demonstrations will display the robust features, functionalities and benefits of abas-USA’s abas Business Software , including dashboards, mobile solutions, SolidWorks integration document management and business intelligence.

At recent Vendor Shootout for ERP events, abas Business Software received accolades and strong positive response from independent consultants. In fact, after participating in an abas ERP demo in Boston last August, TEC representative PJ Jakovljevic labeled abas ERP, “the best kept secret on the [ERP software] market,” and “ERP’s dark horse.”

abas Business Software has enjoyed 30 years of success, marked by an incredible customer retention rate: 93% of companies who have purchased abas ERP are still customers today. At the Vendor Shootout for ERP, SMB companies in the manufacturing and distribution market undertaking the ERP software selection process will have the opportunity to spend time with abas-USA to learn the many reasons why their customer retention is so high.

The 13th Vendor Shootout for ERP is scheduled for February 22-23, 2012 in Miami, FL. Moderated by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) of Montreal, Canada, the event is geared toward organizations in the manufacturing and/or distribution industries who are currently budgeting for an upgrade or replacement of their current Enterprise Software solution. The ability to view multiple software solutions at the Vendor Shootout provides an incredible savings for corporations by eliminating the down time and travel expense associated with individual vendors’ sales teams’ visits. Through this “apples to apples” comparison from top vendors, companies can ultimately walk away with a short list of potential ERP products in just a couple of days.

Unique Low Cost, Rapidly Deployed Business Analytic Solutions

UNIT4, the world’s leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC™), today announced plans to disrupt the performance management software market in 2012 with a completely new approach to delivering business analytics tools for the enterprise. UNIT4 Business Analytics Apps promise turnkey, rapidly deployed, business performance solutions available on a pay-as-you-use basis from a dedicated app store.

UNIT4’s new strategy addresses the three most challenging requirements of organizations attempting to improve their business performance via today’s analytic solutions – cost, speed and measurement. While large enterprise software vendors SAP and Oracle have bolted heavy-weight business intelligence tools on top of their already complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, UNIT4 is reinventing the business analytics landscape.

UNIT4 Business Analytics Apps will be a performance-industry game changer. Their simplicity, speed of deployment and pricing model are unique to the market, enabling a business analytics platform and turnkey performance templates for every customer, deployed across any device, on a pay-as-you-use basis from a dedicated app store. They will provide rapid targeted response to business change, emerging risks or new opportunities, and since they are integrated with UNIT4’s Agresso Business World ERP and Coda Financials solutions, a change made in one application automatically flows to the other applications. Customers will also benefit from a built-in social communication tool that enables them to collaborate around reports.

“Today’s enterprise performance management (EPM) or corporate performance management (CPM) solutions have been as costly and complex as legacy ERP,” said Ton Dobbe, Vice president, Product Marketing for UNIT4. “Having spent millions on these systems over numerous years, companies are still struggling to get meaningful information out as their business requirements have changed since installing the ERP system, but the task of making the changes to the system has proven too complex. As a result, their business analytics is too often out of date and lacking any meaningful insight. UNIT4 has led the way in low cost of change ERP and is bringing this much needed foresight to the performance management space.”

Customers will be able to download a pre-built solution from the app store that is virtually ready to use, then choose if they want to add tailoring to the solution themselves — or select a turnkey professional services bundle of five, 10 or 20 days,  depending on their requirements, that guarantees completion. Per user/per month pricing ensures that UNIT4’s approach is low-cost, no-risk, customizable and easy to change. This contrasts with the usual huge up-front investment and months it takes to deploy traditional performance management solutions, plus the financial and time investment required to make subsequent changes.

In March 2012, the first apps will be rolled-out via a selective customer review program. From June, these solutions will be made available globally via the UNIT4 App Store along with apps designed for various service intensive markets such as local government, education, not for profit and professional services. Cloud advancements will ultimately provide a standardized environment for cloud cube analytics.

Industry Analyst Sees ‘Game Changing’ Possibilities

“It has always been easier to get data into ERP than to get actionable information out,” said Cindy Jutras, principal, Mint Jutras. “Much of the value is left on the table with information that is largely untapped.  With broad, deep and multi-purpose applications, most decision-makers simply don’t know where to start.  By creating these bite-size apps that address a specific need, UNIT4 allows knowledge workers and executives to simply download an app, quickly tailor it and satisfy their specific business need. This promises no-risk, potential high-return and a rapid return on investment, and UNIT4 is extending performance management beyond senior management to middle managers and mobile workers, enabling a powerful and low-cost way to re-tool everyday routines to be more efficient.”

Cindy Jutras has published a paper addressing the shortcomings of the performance solutions market and the advantages of UNIT4’s approach titled “Are You Ready to Change the Game In Driving Corporate Performance?”

Ten IQMS Customers at 12 Different Locations Ring in the New Year by Going Live During the First Week of January

IQMS, a leader in the design and development of manufacturing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, today announced that 10 new customers, across 12 different plants, discarded their legacy ERP systems and successfully went live with EnterpriseIQ during the first week of January. An impressive way to kick off 2012, IQMS plans to continue the momentum throughout the year.

IQMS’ newly minted customers encompass a wide range of industries, including food packaging, medical, aerospace, defense, building and construction, as well as transportation, traffic safety and automotive. Creating with plastics, metal, wood, fiberglass and foam, IQMS’ clients are innovative custom manufacturers that specialize in areas such as thermoforming, linear and rotary motion devices, fabrication, structural foam molding and custom assemblies.

“Our in-house ERP implementation team demonstrated its experience and depth with this latest batch of go lives,” said Lee Filbert, IQMS Professional Services Group (PSG) manager. “Customers large and small, across a variety of industries, successfully made the recent switch to IQMS and are now realizing the benefits only a comprehensive manufacturing ERP system can offer.”

As an added bonus, a majority of the new clients benefitted from IQMS’ proven in-house PSG program and implemented under budget. Today, IQMS’ 10 new clients are quickly realizing improved operational efficiencies and greater enterprise-wide control of information for a rapid return on investment. For more IQMS implementation success stories, please visit: http://www.iqms.com/company/erp_success.html.

VAI Invites Attendees to Learn How Organizations Can More Effectively and Efficiently Automate and Integrate Business Processes

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), a leading ERP software provider, is pleased to announce its participation at NRLA’s 2012 Lumber and Building Material (LBM) Expo, the lumber industry’s largest regional tradeshow. VAI will be showcasing its S2K Retail Management Software at its booth (#825) which has been designed to specifically help retailers and distributors in industries including lumber and building materials meet the challenges of today’s economic environment by automating and integrating business processes across the organization.

What: Attendees are invited to visit the VAI booth to see live demonstrations focused on the benefits of its S2K Retail Management Software, and learn how companies like Robert Weed Plywood have benefited from VAI’s solution. By increasing productivity and streamlining retail operations, VAI provides management teams with the ability to move merchandise more effectively, eliminate costly delays and maximize efficiencies across all levels of business. VAI S2K Retail Management Software is an integrated retail management system that offers a complete solution for the retail industry, including:

• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• General Ledger
• Retail Point of Sale
• Sales Analysis / Forecasting
• Inventory Management
• Purchasing
• Customer Orders
• Customer Relationship Management

When: The LBM Expo takes place January 25-27, 2012

Where: MGM Grand at Foxwoods, CT; VAI booth #825

Join VAI for a free webinar on February 2, 2012 at 2:00 PM ET and learn how S2K for Retail Software helps centralize information across the entire organization, helping businesses locate and move items more effectively, eliminate costly delays, and make more informed decisions. For more information and to register, visit http://www.vai.net/events or call 800-824-7776.

About NRLA

The Northeastern Retail Lumber Association (NRLA) was established in New York in 1894 by a small group of pioneering lumbermen who recognized the value of cooperation. Today, the NRLA is a 1,150 member association representing independent lumber and building material suppliers and associated businesses in New York and the six New England states. The NRLA is an industry leader in education, legislative and regulatory reform, and member programs and services.

Regional meetings provide intensive software training and networking opportunities

Ecommerce Industries, a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, today announced the locations and dates for Connect Regional 2012. These meetings will be for users of the Advantage, RockSolid, Britannia, DDMS, M1, TeamDesign, Acsellerate and FMAudit solutions.

The conference locations and dates:

• Los Angeles April 24-26
• Chicago TBA
• Orlando TBA

“Our national Connect Conference last November in Fort Worth set the standard,” said Ron Books, President and CEO of ECi. “The positive feedback was just incredible.”

“This year we are making Connect a regional event to provide user training on a more local level,” said Traci Johnson, SVP of Global Corporate Marketing for ECi. “We will alternate the national and regional events each year.”

“Customers are eagerly looking forward to the next Connect meetings because they gain so much,” Books continued. “It is two days of intensive training on ERP software and a chance to work one-on-one with our experts in the computer lab. Connect meetings also give our customers the opportunity to network with each other, to learn from them and to share knowledge. Learning from peers is probably the biggest benefit of Connect.”

Registration for Connect Regional 2012 will begin soon. For more information, please visit www.ecisolutions.com.

Nearly a decade after the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) at publicly traded US-based companies, the verdict is still out on whether or not the law has had a material impact on fraud, breakdown in internal controls, and other problems that the regulation is intended to address. Regardless, SOX is a reality that impacts many organizations in many ways, including how they implement their enterprise applications. Even in cases where a company is not required to be SOX compliant, there are other regulations and internal controls that ERP systems need to address.

When helping our international client base through their ERP implementations, internal controls and regulatory compliance is one of the necessary evils of ERP success. Processes need to be designed in a way that meets regulatory compliance, systems need to be configured to support those processes, and people need to be trained to execute on those compliant processes. In addition, CIOs and CFOs need to institute a framework to ensure that the implemented solution meets SOX and other regulatory requirements after go-live and on an ongoing basis.

Here are three things to consider during an ERP implementation when it comes to SOX, internal controls, and regulatory requirements:

1. Compliance begins during the business blueprint phase of an ERP implementation. While SOX and regulatory compliance may seem like a mysterious finance, CFO or Internal Audit function, compliance begins when creating the business blueprint for your ERP system. Business processes need to be defined in a way that ensures that the segregation of duties, oversight, and other compliance needs are addressed. The designed business processes need to be validated before the blueprint is finalized and before the technical team begins their software configuration. We’ve seen too many companies treat SOX and regulatory compliance like an afterthought, only to have their internal or external auditors raise red flags too late (e.g., after the system was in production or when they failed their first post-go-live audit). This challenge is further magnified by the fact that most modern ERP systems are very flexible and can perform business functions a number of different ways – some of those processes are going to be compliant with your internal our regulatory compliance needs, while others will not. We build this internal compliance, SOX and regulatory review into our ERP business blueprinting methodology for our clients.

2. Organizational change management solidifies SOX and regulatory compliance. Contrary to popular belief, ERP systems can’t always force compliance. They can make it easier to enforce segregation of duties, financial oversight, and approval workflows, but they can’t close off every possible loophole or process breakdown. Organizational change management and employee training is the key not only to ERP success in general but also to getting an ERP implementation to full compliance. These activities help employees understand the need for compliance, clarify the expected business processes, and hold them accountable for executing against those processes and workflows. All the generic software training in the world won’t help create this understanding, but effective organizational change management will. Our clients have found their business processes to be much more efficient, effective and compliant as a result of the organizational change management framework we provide as part of our ERP implementation methodology, toolset and expertise.

3. Include your internal or external auditors throughout the entire ERP implementation project. Just as your executives and employees need to have buy-in into the project, your internal and external auditors also need to support the changes resulting from your new ERP software. As mentioned above, internal audits and controls should be built in to your implementation during the business blueprint phase, but you should also include a number of touch-points in other phases of the project as well. For example, key regulatory and SOX requirements should be defined during your ERP evaluation and selection to ensure you have chosen a system that addresses your needs. In addition, key process controls should be validated during the system design, software testing, user acceptance, and integration testing phases of the ERP implementation. In addition, a formalized compliance audit should be performed as part of a post-implementation benefits realization audit as well.

While Sarbanes-Oxley and regulatory compliance are often one of the last things on the minds of CIOs and relatively low on the list of reasons why organizations typically choose new ERP systems, it becomes very important when it’s time for that first internal and external audit of your business operations and systems. For this reason, it is important to bake these processes into your entire ERP selection and implementation lifecycle to ensure that your organization gets regulatory issues right the first time. It is typically much less costly to invest the time and resources up front rather than finding out after it’s too late.

To find out more about ERP success (and ERP failure), check out our free on-demand webinar series. Subjects include “Tips for Selecting the Right ERP Software for Your Organization,” “Tips on How to Build a Business Blueprint for ERP Systems,” and “Lessons Learned from Failed ERP Implementations.”

Enhanced Reporting Capabilities to Help San Diego Regional Transportation Network Reduce Energy Costs, Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Increase Renewable Energy Generation

North County Transit District (NCTD), the agency responsible for public transportation in North San Diego County, CA, selected Oracle to support its sustainability reporting goals. A vital part of San Diego’s regional transportation network, NCTD serves more than 12 million passengers annually through a family of transit services, including bus system, commuter rail service, paratransit and light rail.

To meet the requirements of the American Public Transportation Association’s Commitment to Sustainability program, NCTD needed a dedicated system that could automate and streamline the collection and analysis of sustainability metrics including greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. To automate its sustainability reporting, NCTD selected Oracle Environmental Accounting and Reporting and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) to replace its previous manual, time-consuming and expensive process for collecting and calculating environmental metrics.

Through the integration with Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP system, NCTD expects the new Oracle system will provide it with actionable data to help reduce energy costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions, decrease waste and increase renewable energy generation.

NCTD is in the process of implementing Oracle Environmental Accounting and Reporting for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne with the help of TeamCain, a Gold level partner in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

North County Transit District’s Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Angela Miller, is scheduled to participate in an Oracle webinar on January 26, 2012 to provide details about the implementation. Register for the webinar here.

“North County Transit District is committed to a long-term sustainability plan that will both decrease our environmental impact and reduce our operating expenses,” said Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Angela Miller. “We recently signed the American Public Transportation Association’s Commitment to Sustainability and will measure our progress with performance goals like reduced energy costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions and increased renewable energy generation. Our investment in Oracle Environmental Accounting and Reporting will help us determine our current sustainability metrics and find opportunities to exceed our targets.”

“Oracle Enterprise Accounting and Reporting is part of a broad-based set of capabilities that Oracle has developed to address the growing needs of Sustainability,” said Jon Chorley, chief sustainability officer, Oracle. “Organizations such as North County Transit District can use these solutions within the context of their normal operational activities to deliver concrete benefits to their stakeholders, to the environment, and to their own bottom line.”

Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2011 Results to be Released on February 2, 2012 after Market Close

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced that its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011 will be released after the market close on Thursday, February 2, 2012. NetSuite will host a conference call to discuss the results at 2:00 p.m. PST (5:00 p.m. EST) on the same day.

Dial-in information for the call and a live webcast will be available at www.netsuite.com/investors. An audio replay will be available for three days following the conclusion of the call (between 5:00 p.m. PST February 2, 2012 and 12:00 a.m. PST February 5, 2011). The replay will also be available as a webcast on NetSuite’s Investor Relations website.

For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.com.

At the National Retail Federation’s annual conference today, Microsoft Corp.  announced the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail, which will provide midsize and enterprise retailers with an end-to-end solution that includes cross-channel capabilities, social and mobile commerce, enriched point of sale (POS), and powerful enhancements for merchandising. These capabilities are designed to help retailers deliver uniquely consistent, convenient and personalized experiences for shoppers.

Mattress Firm is the largest mattress retailer in the U.S. and an early adopter of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail. The company needed a solution to support aggressive growth plans while empowering store and company associates who are passionate about offering best-in-class customer shopping experiences.

“We chose Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail because it provides us with a scalable platform to support our future growth and a differentiated customer and sales associate experience at the point of sale,” said Patty Wade, chief information officer and vice president of Strategy and Technology, Mattress Firm. “Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail gives us what other solutions could not — ease of use and simplicity in operations, coupled with the ability to scale and reliably deliver on our brand promise.”

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail helps retailers do the following:

Connect to customers. Multichannel capabilities enable customers to buy, pick up, return or replace items on their terms. Support for social and mobile commerce means retailers can offer promotions, discounts or coupons targeted to marketplaces or social networks — creating critical new opportunities for customer engagement.

Empower employees. Orders can be created and managed at the POS, offering the sales associate increasing amounts of valuable face-to-face time with customers. Employees can also make highly accurate, timely and consistent decisions because they are armed with relevant details delivered through enhanced Role Centers, dashboards that deliver a succinct set of information relevant to each individual user.

Execute with insight. Integrated multichannel management allows complete insight to help retailers be proactive in anticipating trends. In addition, powerful merchandising functionality puts control into the retailers’ hands with unlimited categories and hierarchies possible for assortment and replenishment to best meet customer demand accurately and efficiently.

Retailers worldwide, including AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, Ashley Furniture Industries, DavidsTea., Kwit-Fit Nederland Groep B.V., Malabar Gold, Mattress Firm, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc., Simon Pearce and Turisme de Barcelona, have chosen Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail during the past year.

Global partners are also a core part of the retail business solution. “Enterprise customers require core retail data and advanced tools to leverage and create value through analytics,” said Janet Hoffmann, managing director of Accenture’s Retail practice. “Accenture, in close collaboration with global Microsoft specialists Avanade, is developing and delivering solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail, which enable clients to connect better with their customers.”

“Today’s retail paradigm puts increased pressure on retailers to build lasting customer loyalty by keeping up with fast-moving trends and exceeding shopper expectations,” said Michael Griffiths, global product director of retail, Microsoft Business Solutions. “Microsoft is all in when it comes to retail — from our stores and consumer devices to the customers already running Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail in more than 30 countries. We are taking that investment to the next level with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail.”

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail will be available in more than 25 countries starting Feb. 1, 2012. Retailers interested in learning more about Microsoft Dynamics solutions for the retail industry can visit http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/erp-ax-retail.aspx.

The Microsoft Dynamics ERP team is on Twitter at @MSFTDynamicsERP and at the hashtag #MSDYNERP, as well as on Facebook, YouTube and The Edge Blog.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP solutions empower your people to be more productive and your systems to last longer and scale as your business grows, while enabling you to derive the insights necessary to respond quickly in an ever-changing world of business.

A good friend of mine recently became CIO of a financial services firm and was given his first major system challenge this month: make the complete accounting, financial and third-party loan provider data and applications available 24/7 on any iPad or Android-based tablet. He’s been given six months to make this happen.

Another CIO of a major A&D manufacturer I know wants vendors to challenge him more to get greater value from his investments with them. He’s also been given the task of revamping accounting and financial systems by October 2012, and they just started last year. He tells me the days of using ERP software to just passively run reports also are numbered.

Considering these two extremes—the young CIO who is just starting out and has been given the challenge of bringing state-of-the-art financial applications to mobile platforms, and the seasoned CIO who must revamp an entire accounting and financial management system in ten months—a series of predictions for 2012 emerge. Instead of playing it safe, I’ve decided to reach on these to make them more interesting, fun and hopefully thought-provoking as well:

Streamlined, intuitive usability of social networks will lead to ERP getting an extreme makeover in 2012 in an effort to drive up system adoption. While strides are being made in this area today, there is still a long way to go until the usability of ERP application suites approaches those of the most popular SaaS-based CRM, supply chain systems and social networks. For CIOs, this is a big win since they can satisfy the wants of many internal departments and customers with a graphical interface upgrade without having to completely replace systems. Look for this to be a major focus area of all ERP vendors in 2012 and a strategy for keeping long-standing systems in place and safely under maintenance for at least a few more years if not more.

Rapid implementations become the new normal. The pressure on the new CIO of a financial services company to deliver a new series of Apple iPad and Android-compatible integrations within six months or less and the pressure to make an entirely new accounting and finance system work in an A&D firm by October 2012 are glimpses into the new normal. Accuracy, speed and quickness with perfect implementations are what the new expectations are based on. ERP implementation timeframes will drastically shrink in 2012, with greater pressure on system integrators and professional services to meet or beat deadlines.

ERP mobility will be a dominant force from the shop floor to each sales call where quotes, orders and contracts deliver real-time order and pricing updates. How a given manufacturer chooses to sell is even more important than what they sell in many industries. Equipping manufacturing, quality assurance, production scheduling, procurement and sales to have immediate data on what’s going on with orders, customers and suppliers is critical. For the sales and service teams, real-time data is the fuel they run on. There’s a chronic time shortage in many, many companies right now, and bringing greater ERP mobility from the shop floor to the sales call will increasingly be seen as a means to lessen the time crunch. 2012 is the year where mobility gets real across the enterprise with solid performance numbers being generated as a result. For companies with large sales forces and service organizations, integrating to key ERP systems to gain real-time data will quickly lead to increased sales and higher gross margins on service and warranty repairs.

Depth and quality of applications, data and legacy integration on mobile devices including tablets will emerge as the new enterprise bling. The iPad is a badge of analytical and executive honor in the financial services industry—the technological equivalent of the corner office with the million-dollar view and mahogany furniture. My good friend who just became a CIO was unsure of just who was a VP or C-level executive during his first staff meeting. He quickly realized the more worn the iPad and case, the more senior the executive. The expectations on him are very high for having real-time updates on a series of benchmarks that the senior management team uses to manage their many businesses on mobile platforms by June.

Cloud-based ERP in the enterprise and highly targeted verticals will flourish and face moderate growth in small and medium businesses (SMBs). Convincing as the arguments are for SMBs to adopt SaaS-based ERP, this will continue to be slower in adoption than enterprises and highly targeted vertical markets. Enterprises will continue to adopt SaaS-based applications to replace legacy, high-maintenance and often marginally effective systems in use today.

Analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) will become the fuel that drives cultural change away from siloed decisions to more collaborative ones. Given how tight the time schedules are for every IT department I’ve visited and know of, the luxury of allowing one set of dashboards and metrics to just measure a single process or silo are gone (or will be in 2012 completely). Little tolerance or patience on the part of CIOs is now commonplace when it comes to esoteric, single-centered dashboards and metrics. The good news is that dashboards are extremely easy to create now, especially on top of Microsoft-based analytics and databases. That’s also part of the bad news too. Dashboards are proliferating and are often used to define a given department’s agenda without focusing on shared outcomes. In 2012, this will change as dashboards and metrics that measure collaboration become required for continued investment.

Template-driven implementations will become more commonplace in the mid-market. For many enterprises in the mid-tier of the market, there’s going to be much more of a focus on getting up and running quickly and less on tailoring every possible customization option in an ERP module or entirely new system. Template-driven implementations will also become commonplace in cloud-based ERP systems and solution packages sold to vertical market industries. The good news is that implementation timeframes will drop. The bad news is that not so much customization means potentially inflexible systems. Common areas where this strategy will be used are project management and scheduling, business performance management, contract lifecycle management, product lifecycle management, program management, project-based supply chain management and service lifecycle management. These templates will be especially useful in industries where compliance is critical to passing government audits, for example in the pharmaceutical industry.

Value-based measurements of ERP will become more commonplace. Given how much pressure there is on CIOs to show how investments in IT are paying off, value-based measurements will become even more commonplace in 2012 than they are today. The challenge of isolating just which aspect of an enterprise system delivered cost reductions or revenue gains is an area of ongoing debate in many companies. These value-based measurements provide a structure for determining just how much of a contribution ERP investments are making or not.

Highly specialized ERP platforms will accelerate system adoption and value and will transform manufacturers in the process. Look for Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others to create world-class alliances and partnerships that are focused on creating highly specialized ERP platforms that will disrupt the existing enterprise software product development, selling and service models.

Bottom line: More collaborative use of analytics, adoption of mobile ERP applications primarily in sales and service and shortened implementation timeframes all show just how time-constrained enterprises are right now. Enterprises are in search of systems that will help alleviate the time shortages that nearly every one of them is facing today.

Note: The inclusion of guest posts on the Panorama website does not imply endorsement of any specific product or service. Panorama is, and always will remain, completely independent and vendor-neutral.

If you are interested in guest blogging opportunities, click to read more about our submission guidelines.

Panorama Consulting has been a high-growth company since President Eric Kimberling first opened the doors seven years ago. In 2011, Panorama joined The Prescott Group and successfully integrated a corporate restructure that included bringing on new members to its leadership team and expanding service offerings. And like many high-growth companies, PCS started feeling the pinch of an operations framework that couldn’t keep up. Excel spreadsheet, anyone? It soon became clear that the ERP consultants needed a new ERP system themselves.

We knew the drill.

We followed our own proven ERP software selection methodology that began with identifying our business practices and future needs. After careful review of several impressive systems, we chose a best of breed solution that would provide greater insight into our consulting practice, and integrate our in-house operations seamlessly. Our phased communication and training plan included a combination of vendor and in-house multi-media instruction and hands-on practice in a planning environment.  The ROI metrics were evident from the input of the very first project.

We live and breathe our espoused principles on a daily basis. So why did I find myself on the phone talking one of our ERP consultants down from the ledge?

Business begins with people.

ERP systems are designed to support a corporate offering, to enhance the ability of a company to maximize the impact of their industry differentiators and to enable sustainable growth. We stress that a successful ERP implementation begins with the fundamental understanding that the software must fit the business . . . and business begins with people.

In this case, the consultant was absolutely sold on the value of the new system. She was enthusiastic and optimistic in regards to the benefits to be reaped both personally and at the corporate level. But when the system inexplicably blocked her input and she viewed data that made no sense, frustration set in quickly. Another factor of her distress was the fact that she was working remotely and we had a hard initial deadline for financial input. Where other employees could call me over to their desks for some brief guidance, she was trying to sort out her confusion independently – and it wasn’t working. Once we sorted out the issues together, her unease immediately abated and her buy-in returned. The hope is that when the next “crisis” arises — as it inevitably will — she’ll have enough confidence both in the ERP system and the in-house support structure to avoid panic.

Training must be an on-going process.

In the last days before going live, the implementation team put our new system through the ringer. As we uncovered real and perceived kinks in the system, (and bonded with our ERP vendor’s training personnel), we developed and documented strategies for consistency and success moving forward. So thankfully, we were prepared and able to reassure the consultant and sort out her issues easily.

Adult education is predicated on the understanding that adults learn best when their learning is experiential. Working in a production environment on real projects definitely provided further opportunities for learning both for our consultants and our implementation team. In our experience, anytime users can train with “real data,” their comprehension rises exponentially.

As we all know, learning anything new takes time. The point is to keep the training and support going until (and even after) end-users feel absolutely comfortable in the system. For more organizational change management tips to increase user buy-in, download A Guide to Increasing User Acceptance of ERP Systems in our resource center.

Written by Laura Florence, Senior ERP Consultant at Panorama Consulting Solutions.

UNIT4, the world’s leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC™), today announced that it has secured a new contract with Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority to implement Agresso Business World, worth €3 million (approx. $3.9 million) in software and services over two years.

Addis Ababa Water is responsible for maintaining and improving the water supply in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is undertaking an ambitious project to modernize the systems it has in place to achieve its objectives and better meet demand for clean drinking water. Sponsored by World Bank, the project involves implementation of new hardware, software and networks and Agresso was selected over competitive offerings from Oracle and Microsoft to manage finances and project planning.

“Developing countries are subject to ongoing change and significant environmental factors and implementing software that will support change is key to Addis Ababa Water,” said a spokesperson from the organization. “This is an ambitious and much needed improvement initiative for Ethiopia and a flexible system like Agresso that will account for changes in our structure and requirements as our work develops is important. Supported by a better system infrastructure, we continue our drive to give more people access to clean drinking water and an improved quality of life.”

The systems implementation project is expected to take two years, run in collaboration with UNIT4’s African partner ERP Software Technologies, which has operations in Addis Ababa. UNIT4 already works with the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation and the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation.