Leading Furniture Manufacturer Selects VAI S2K to Manage Manufacturing and Distribution Needs From One Integrated System

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), a leading ERP software provider announced that Dickson Furniture International and Dickson Furniture Manufacturers are leveraging VAI’s S2K Enterprise Resource Planning Software to streamline business processes, with the goal of significantly improving customer relationships. Parent company Dickson Industries, LLC, selected VAI to undergo a three-phased implementation to help their operating companies manage their complex manufacturing and distribution needs such as inventory planning, purchasing and logistics from one integrated system.

In the first phase, Dickson Furniture International went live May 2012 with the S2K distribution modules. Dickson Furniture International imports furniture from many different locations around the world, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mexico. Due to its significant distribution business and complicated purchasing and inventory planning needs, the company required a fully integrated ERP solution to manage these processes across their entire supply chain. Furthermore, it wanted to manipulate inventory data and forecasting as efficiently as possible.

“For over 35 years, our customers have relied on Dickson to produce and deliver high-quality furniture, with better lead times and cost of our competitors,” said Doug Mueller, president and CEO, Dickson Industries, LLC. “VAI’s reputation as a strong mid-market player coupled with its robust, integrated ERP solution made them the best choice to restructure and optimize our manufacturing and distribution processes. Now we can continue to deliver on our promise and maintain the exceptional customer relationships we’ve worked so hard to build. We will now work on getting Dickson Furniture Manufacturers live by September as well as the Web interface for our customers by the end of the year.”

“Dickson is a testament to the power and effectiveness of our integrated ERP solution,” said VAI CEO Bob Vormittag. “Our flexible and user-friendly solutions are a perfect fit for mid-market customers like Dickson, as they are able to build a solution that addresses their most specific and pressing issues.”

About Dickson Furniture

Dickson Furniture Manufacturers is a US manufacturer of high quality student housing, hospitality and contract furniture. Dickson Furniture Manufacturer’s sister company, Dickson Furniture International, builds great styles of bedroom, dining and upholstery at a great value primarily for the retail trade. Recently, Dickson Industries purchased Dickson Furniture Manufacturers and Dickson Furniture International to become the dominate player in its market segments. Dickson Industries are head quartered in Houston, TX. For more information please visit dicksonfurniture.com.

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, today announces that it has signed an agreement with the owners of Metrix LLC (“Metrix”) to purchase 100 percent of the membership interests. The purchase price will be paid in cash. The acquisition will further strengthen IFS’s market position in the high-growth global Mobility & Service Management application market.

Metrix was founded in 1980 in the USA and is 100 percent focused on providing advanced Mobility & Service Management applications. The company is headquartered in Waukesha (Wisconsin, USA) with subsidiaries in the Netherlands and Singapore.

The company generated net revenue of $8.7 million and EBITDA amounting to $1.3 million in the financial year ending December 31, 2011.

Metrix has built a very strong position providing service management solutions to industries such as Asset & Capital Equipment, Telecommunications, High Tech & Medical Device Manufacturing, Transportation, and Third Party/Outsourced Field Service Operations. They have approximately 90 customers including many well-known brands such as the Ericsson Group, Motorola, Xerox, Space Engineering Services, DHL, Auto Windscreens, ITT, IMAX, Ingenico, Makino and Sysmex.

The acquisition provides IFS with a state of the art, built–in, configurable and packaged mobile application for the field service market. This solution offers short time to value and a robust, mobile development framework which will add valuable mobile technology and experience to IFS. Metrix has provided mobile solutions to the field service market since 1991, and has continued to innovate to offer modern, leading-edge technology.

By combining IFS, Metrix, and IFS 360 Scheduling, a real-time workforce scheduling solution, IFS can realize strong revenue synergies as it gives IFS the most complete service management offering on the market – from a single vendor. IFS now provides both a broader service and project centric ERP solution for asset intensive industries (long life capital equipment), as well as a more customer-centric (contact center, workforce scheduling) solution for high volume service providers – both combined with a state-of-the-art on/off-line mobile application.

In addition, the acquisition further extends IFS’ existing cloud strategy. Metrix is available through multiple deployment options: On-premise, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or Software + Services.

“With the acquisition of Metrix, IFS can be seen as executing on its stated strategy for growth by investing in one of the fastest growing sectors for enterprise applications. Market penetration of advanced service management & mobility solutions is estimated by Gartner at only 20 percent of the addressable market, with highest demand in capital-intensive industries such as utilities and telecoms. This acquisition gives IFS an excellent platform to exploit the growth potential in this market and provide solutions to help our customers deliver competitive advantage. IFS will significantly strengthen its execution capabilities in this very attractive sector, especially in North America, to the benefit of all our existing and new customers” Alastair Sorbie, IFS CEO said.

Larry Laux, Metrix Founder, said, “IFS and Metrix will be an unstoppable force in the service management and mobility market. IFS, with its international presence, strong position in service & asset management and customer-focused culture is an ideal fit with Metrix. My team and I very much look forward to joining IFS and continuing to accelerate the growth of the mobile workforce management business.”

IFS Americas will be responsible for integrating Metrix. President & CEO of IFS Americas, Cindy Jaudon, looks forward to welcoming both new customers and employees to IFS.

IFS expects that there will be a positive earnings impact from the acquisition in 2012.

About Metrix LLC


Metrix was established in 1980 in Waukesha (Wisconsin) USA and is 100% focused on providing advanced Service Management & Mobility Software. The company has more than 50 employees of which the majority are based in Waukesha (HQ), and there are small sales offices in Singapore and the Netherlands, and a sales partner in the UK (FMS). The company generated net revenue of $8.7 million and EBITDA amounting to $1.3 million in the financial year ending December 31, 2011.

Metrix is very strong in industries like Asset & Capital Equipment, Telecommunications, High Tech & Medical Device Manufacturing, Transportation and Third Party/Outsourced Field Service Operations. They have almost 90 customers including many famous brands such as Ericsson, Motorola, Xerox, Space Engineering Services, DHL, Auto Windscreens, ITT, IMAX, Ingenico, Makino and Sysmex.

SaaS and cloud ERP solutions are the highest growth segment of the ERP software industry. Companies such as Salesforce, Plex Systems, and Netsuite all continue to show robust increases in revenue while traditional, on-premise ERP systems are showing much slower rates of growth. As outlined in Panorama’s 2012 ERP Report, the market share of cloud-based ERP systems has grown from 6% to 16% in a single year. Even the traditional ERP vendors are redirecting R&D dollars to cloud and SaaS ERP solutions.

However, as is the case with any ERP and IT strategy, there are pros, cons and tradeoffs for both the on-premise and cloud ERP paths. While SaaS solutions may be a good fit for many organizations, it’s not the right solution for everyone. But if organizations do indeed determine that cloud solutions are the right fit, they need to recognize and address the risks and tradeoffs that are inherent in any strategic ERP decision. They also need to recognize some of the complexities associated with migrating from the traditional on-premise approach to the cloud.

Below are three things to consider when transitioning from on-premise to cloud ERP systems:

1. Recognize that risk will shift away from technology to the business. Industry hype would suggest that SaaS ERP systems can be implemented faster, cheaper, and easier than their on-premise counterparts. While this may be partially true for the technology iteself since there is no software to implement on-site and there is less need for a physical infrastructure to support the solution, the tradeoff is relative lack of flexibility. As a result, CIOs and CFOs are forced to spend more time addressing organizational change management and training issues since the solutions can’t be easily changed to fit business needs, increasing the pressure on the organization to change its business processes and people.

2. It’s not as easy as the industry hype might suggest. ERP implementations are difficult, costly, and potentially risky to any organization, regardless of whether you’re implementing on-premise, SaaS or cloud ERP solutions. However, CIOs often make the mistake of assuming that business processes don’t need to be redesigned, employees don’t need organizational change management, or adequate resources aren’t required to make the project successful. Mismanaged expectations are one of the root causes of ERP failures in general, but especially so with SaaS and cloud ERP implementations.

3. Be prepared to address potential integration and data issues as your organization scales for growth. The blessing and curse of SaaS and cloud solutions such as Salesforce, Workday, Netsuite, and Plex is that the technology is often used to roll out point solutions for specific functions of an organization, rather than biting off an entire enterprise-wide solution all at once. For example, many of our clients have implemented CRM systems such as Salesforce as a way to get an immediate ROI for a focused part of the organization. However, integration and data complexities can be amplified when it comes time to bolt on manufacturing, accounting or other types of enterprise software solutions. These complexities often result in fragmented systems and data with challenging integration between systems. Before implementing a SaaS or cloud solution, organizations should have a clear IT strategy and roadmap for how it will address such complexities to avoid backing itself into a corner.

While some of the above points are relevant to all types of ERP systems – whether on-premise, SaaS, and cloud systems – they are especially important for the latter two. Even SaaS and cloud ERP systems require critical success factors to be successful, such as business process management, organizational change management and strong implementation project management. CIOs and CFOs interested in migrating from on-premise to cloud or SaaS systems should be aware of these challenges.

Learn more about choosing the best-fit ERP software for your organization in our on-demand ERP webinar series. Episodes of particular interest may include Understanding the Differences Between Leading ERP Software and Tips for Selecting the Right ERP Software for Your Organization.

This interview was taken from the interactive Q&A discussion following Panorama’s recent webinar: Lessons Learned from Best-In-Class ERP Implementations. The conversation is led by Eric Kimberling, President of Panorama Consulting and Nick Macera, Panorama’s former Director of Implementation. The Q&A session brought up several key factors to take into consideration with respect to achieving a successful ERP implementation, and Eric and Nick offer some valuable advise for organizations in all stages of ERP planning and implementation.

Updated FDA Legislation Aimed at Bringing Food Industry Standards to Levels Existing in Pharmaceutical Industry

SYSPRO, a developer of best-of-breed, award-winning enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for on-premise and cloud-based utilization, announced today that SYSPRO ERP enables food manufacturers and distributors to fully comply with the newest rules recently issued to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.

According to SYSPRO, the company’s ERP software enables food manufacturers and distributors to fully comply with the newest provisions of the FDA Food Safety Act. These include:

The company’s computer system should be fully able to track Lot Controls and Shelf Life Dates of all products in both received and outgoing shipments;

If a recall occurs, the food manufacturer and/or distributor should know exactly which customers received products from the specified lot number;

When inventory is received or shipped, the system should be able to determine if a product is beyond the desired threshold for shelf life;

Products being shipped should be checked to see if they are outside the customer’s threshold for shelf life. If it doesn’t meet the threshold shelf life, it should not be shipped.

Shipping the product beyond the customer’s threshold shelf life will result in returns, double freight bills and dissatisfied customers.

According to Joey Benadretti, President, SYSPRO USA, “SYSPRO has always concentrated on the stringent needs and requirements of pharmaceutical and food and beverage manufacturers and distributors, adding specialized functionalities to its single DNA software offering that promote regulatory compliance as well as operational efficiencies and profits.”

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of US food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. The Act aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. Congress has been adding new rules to the act since its passage, the target being to implement the same levels of safety as those governing pharmaceuticals.

President of Panorama Consulting Eric Kimberling provides an in-depth analysis of the research presented in Panorama’s 2012 ERP Report. Data points include findings about ERP implementation budgets, timelines, deployment strategies, and business benefits received and was collected from companies who have implemented ERP software in the past year. The podcast also features Kimberling’s comparison of 2012 findings to past ERP Report responses in order to identify noteworthy trends.

“ERP systems cost a ton.”

“ERP vendors can be hard to deal with.”

“There is no ‘perfect’ ERP solution for us; all of them have major drawbacks.”

Truth be told: we’ve heard a lot of complaints about off-the-shelf ERP systems (and the companies who sell them) over the years. And a good amount of what we hear has validity; ERP systems are expensive to buy, difficult to buy and certainly a pain to customize to “perfection.” But there’s little doubt that ERP systems are necessary for organizations that want to compete on a global scale. So, some companies are caught in a quandary. Should they skip the ERP middleman and build a system . . . themselves? Well, as any good consultant will tell you, it depends.

If your organization is considering this route, read through the following bullet points and see how many statements you identify with:

• Part of the reason my organization wants to build its own ERP system because it doesn’t want to change any business processes to fit an off-the-shelf solution. We’re happy with how we do all the things we do and any change will be a negative.

• Our business processes don’t give us a lot of competitive advantage; they’re pretty standard as far as our industry goes.

• Our IT staff may not be up to the multi-year challenge it will be to blueprint processes, write software, install the system, maintain the system and train the users on it . . . but we can easily hire people who will be.

• Our organization has a pretty decent escalation and decision-making framework in place. We know a lot of questions will come up during this but we’re pretty sure that they can be sorted out during monthly management meetings or whatever.

• Our organization is making a lot of strategic moves recently. We’ve been divesting, acquiring and even looking into new revenue streams.

If you identified with any one (or more) of these statements, a wholly customized ERP system is probably not a risk you want to take. Though custom solutions probably can work in some unique situations, there’s a reason there are hundreds of ERP vendors in our ERP Database – they make products that companies need. Think of it this way: if companies were excellent at creating or implementing ERP software, they’d probably be in that business.

But companies don’t just need ERP software. They also need honest, ethical consultants that can help them choose the right solution, conduct the business process management activities needed to protect competitive advantage, put the appropriate decision-making frameworks in place, and make sure the system is up, running and being used in the right way. In short, they need consultants who can make sure that the ERP system they buy is the best-fit solution, and then help them create and take advantage of all the incredible benefits a properly implemented system can bring.

If your organization is struggling with ERP software selection, implementation or benefits realization, contact Panorama today. We can help.

On the heels of Monday’s post, Five Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementations, we thought it would be pertinent also to present a list of some of the critical errors organizations (or consultants) can make in an ERP implementation. Bear in mind, that this is in no way a complete list — the errors made in ERP projects are as unique as the organizations who implement (or fail to implement) the solutions  – but it will hopefully give you a good overview of some of the chief ones we see:

1. Lack of resources. ERP implementations are all too frequently derailed by organizations providing too few dollars, people and hours to adequately select and implement the system, communicate with and train the users, and oversee the business process improvements. A solid business case can help organizations understand the resources they will need to dedicate to the project to avoid ERP failure.

2. Rushed implementations. An ERP system can be “installed” in a matter of weeks; what takes time is choosing the right software, changing the business processes to gain the most operational leverage and ensuring that people are going to use it in way that best benefits the organization. Organizations that think of ERP implementations as a task that will take the IT department no more than a few months to deliver are missing the point of an ERP system, and will likely rue the day they ever embarked on the project.

3. Choosing the wrong staff members to lead the project. We get it: people have enough work on their plates without adding an enormous ERP implementation to the mix. But organizations that don’t carefully select the top people to manage the myriad tasks of an ERP implementation (and backfill their positions to allow them to better focus on the task at hand), run the risk of ERP ruin. ERP is a company-wide initiative and thus, organizations must harness the collective insight and intellect of key stakeholders from across the company to make it work.

4. Not having a proper escalation and decision-making framework. ERP initiatives require an incalculable amount of decisions, and organizations must have the proper methodologies in place to handle the thousands of wants, needs and requirements they will have to weigh. This process is key to ERP success, and must be determined in the initial stages of the project.

5. Ignoring the needs of the end-users. Without adequately supported, trained and educated end-users, even the greatest ERP system on earth will wither on the vine. Efforts must be made to engage and align end-users from day one of implementation. Ignoring this critical task is a surefire way to fail.

So, why are errors so common in ERP implementations? It’s simple: businesses that implement ERP aren’t in the ERP business. It’s a project of such extreme magnitude and importance, yet its management typically is foreign to even highly experienced executives. This is why Panorama exists. Find out more about our ERP service offerings or contact us to discuss your organization’s specific needs.

Louis Columbus has extensive experience in CRM, sales, product configuration and multichannel management systems and strategies

As with everything in life, there are influencers who impact the big picture, and CRM is no different. At the heart of CRM, is a group of well-informed people who impact the prospects, industries, investors and mindshare of companies. These top influencers share their opinions and ideas and shape the way we understand and use CRM. But where do they get their information to form these opinions and ideas?

The people who persuade the influencers are those highly experienced, trusted individuals who sit at the influencers’ feet. One of those who persuade the influencers is Louis Columbus of Cincom Systems. “Columbusis truly influential in the relationships he has with the influencers he knows,” says Paul Greenberg, author of “A Guide to Influence(rs) Chapter 1.” “He is one of those people that influencers simply trust.” Greenberg’s “A Guide to Influence(rs) Chapter 1,” discusses the top influencers in CRM, where they fall into the scheme of things and who they get their information from, including Louis Columbus.

Louis Columbus has extensive experience in CRM, sales, product configuration and multichannel management systems and strategies. While at AMR Research (Gartner), Louis assisted many Fortune 1,000 companies with their product and sales configuration, partner relationship management and channel management strategies. In addition to working at Cincom, he advises CRM and channel management start-ups on occasion with regard to product and marketing strategies. Louis lives inOrange,Californiawith his wife, daughter and two dogs. Louis likes to write and teach, in addition to hiking, mountain biking, snorkeling and scuba diving. He is also an avid traveler.

To read the full article, “A Guide to Influence(rs) Chapter 1,” visit Paul Greenberg’s blog.

Epicor Distribution Solution to Assist Fastener Franchisees Across the Country

Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organizations, today announced that Winzer Corporation of Dallas, Texas, has selected the Epicor Prophet 21 wholesale distribution enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution as the IT backbone to advance its business to the next level.

With four distribution centers and nine branch locations, Winzer Corporation is a diversified national distributor of maintenance and repair items to the industrial, fleet and automotive marketplace, providing access to more than a million different fasteners, tools and other supplies. Winzer sells to a broad range of customers through a network of independent franchise owners — the only model of its kind in the fastener industry. These 500+ franchisees will have direct access into the Epicor wholesale distribution ERP software to enter their own orders and service their customers.

The decision to choose the Epicor platform was driven by the solution’s alignment to a broad range of business requirements, according to Rich Funkhouser, vice president of information technology for Winzer. “Beyond delivering products to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible, it is critical that Winzer franchise owners have the most up-to-date information and tools available,” says Funkhouser. “The Epicor wholesale distribution solution provides the features and, more importantly, the benefits that we were seeking for the Winzer organization. In particular, we believe the integration of the Epicor solution will play a key role in accomplishing our goals of providing real-time status on orders, inventories and other key aspects of franchise-customer needs.”

“The national scale and scope of Winzer Corporation, totaling 1,000 users, make it one of the largest Epicor Prophet 21 installations to date,” said Kevin Roach, executive vice president and general manager, ERP Americas for Epicor. “Winzer saw that Epicor could configure a wholesale distribution ERP solution that would best fit their business. They were impressed with our technology and vision. We were also able to provide a highly customized hardware configuration to meet their requirements and show that we could support a comprehensive, long-term IT partnership.”

News Facts

• Winzer Corporation of Dallas, Texas, has selected the Epicor wholesale distribution ERP solution as its business management system
• 500+ franchisees will have direct access into the Epicor wholesale distribution ERP to enter their own orders and service their customers
• With 1,000 users, Winzer represents one of the largest Epicor Prophet  21 installations to date

Diversified Agricultural Cooperative Replaces Multiple On-Premise Systems and Spreadsheets with NetSuite Cloud as Two-Tier ERP Deployment for Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures in US, Mexico and China

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced that Land O’Lakes, one of America’s premier member-owned cooperatives, has committed to NetSuite OneWorld to eliminate disparate systems, streamline operations, and power international growth. While the corporate headquarters is utilizing Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne as its core ERP platform, Land O’Lakes will deploy NetSuite OneWorld for a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures in the United States, Mexico, and China and plans to use NetSuite OneWorld to standardize on a multi-national, multi-currency ERP solution for its domestic and international subsidiaries, and joint ventures. NetSuite OneWorld’s flexible and customizable platform is strongly positioned to manage the high transaction volumes in the agricultural industry, and is designed to quickly be scaled to add new users as each subsidiary grows.

Arden Hills, Minn.-based Land O’Lakes was founded in 1921. The company has approximately 9,000 employees, 3,200 producer-members and serves over 300,000 agricultural producers. Besides its well-known dairy foods operations, Land O’Lakes Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading feed manufacturer in North America and the number one distributor of seed and crop protection products in the United States. Extending the use of the corporate office’s on-premise JD Edwards system, Land O’Lakes needed a cost-effective, flexible, scalable and fast-to-implement solution to support its growth and ensure smooth business operations in a variety of subsidiaries and joint ventures. Looking not only to address short-term operational needs but also to ensure a stable, scalable platform for future growth and expansion, Land O’Lakes turned to NetSuite OneWorld as a two-tier approach to augment its existing corporate software investments in JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.

NetSuite OneWorld is the first cloud software solution to deliver real-time global business management and financial consolidation to mid-sized companies with multi-national and multi-subsidiary operations and divisions of large enterprises. It enables them to automate complex, mission-critical business processes in the cloud from ERP, to CRM, to Ecommerce. NetSuite OneWorld readily handles different currencies, taxation rules, and reporting requirements at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-premise ERP solutions. Land O’Lakes plans to deploy NetSuite OneWorld across several Land O’Lakes’ subsidiaries and joint ventures in the U.S., Mexico and China. The world’s first multinational cloud ERP solution already translates into 17 languages, supports over 190 currencies and exchange rates, and meets regulatory and taxation compliance for more than 40 countries, which will enable Land O’Lakes to deploy the solution quickly and easily in multiple regions.

“Land O’Lakes’ unique cooperative structure makes it important for the company to be accessible and transparent in its operations, complex processes and many tiers of stakeholders,” said Zach Nelson, NetSuite CEO. “NetSuite OneWorld can be deployed virtually anywhere, at any time, and offers the levels of visibility and control that are perfect for an organization with such deep and diverse business interests.”

“The cooperative is committed to embracing technology to best serve our customers, our partners, and our member-cooperatives,” said Mike Macrie, Vice President of IT, Land O’Lakes Inc.

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 top 10 financial management systems vendor in the world. NetSuite has continued its success in delivering the best cloud ERP/financial 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.

Follow NetSuite’s Cloud blog, NetSuite’s Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.

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

City and Public Schools of Alexandria select Tyler’s Munis ERP solution to improve efficiency

Tyler Technologies, Inc. has signed agreements with the City of Alexandria, Va., and Alexandria City Public Schools for Tyler’s Munis enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The contracts include software licenses, related professional services, maintenance and support.

Alexandria is an independent city in Virginia with a population of approximately 140,000 and 2,550 employees. The City issued a competitive bid for proposals before selecting Tyler’s Munis ERP applications, including financial management, human resource management, and other business processes. Additionally, Alexandria is using Tyler’s consulting services during the implementation phase to effect industry best practices. Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) has 19 schools serving approximately 12,400 students. ACPS also issued a competitive bid for proposals before selecting Munis ERP applications, including financial management, human capital management, self service and content management.

“The City of Alexandria selected Tyler’s Munis solution to replace several aging systems because Munis most closely meets the City’s need for an enterprise software solution that can grow with the City,” said Alexandria City Chief Information Officer Tom Trobridge. “With Munis, we expect reduced data-entry processing times, increased data accuracy, and better access to real-time information and documentation. Munis also delivers strong business intelligence tools that will help us improve our operations and better manage our limited resources.”

“We are excited about replacing our current financial and personnel systems with Tyler’s Munis solution which will allow ACPS to perform and monitor business transactions more efficiently and improve our overall effectiveness as a school division,” said Stacey Johnson, interim chief financial officer at Alexandria City Public Schools. “The new system will eliminate the need for third-party applications and several manual, paper-driven processes to also increase our productivity. The ability to work with an integrated system that is also utilized by the city government creates an optimal environment for stronger financial management and we are looking forward to a great partnership with Tyler Technologies.”

“Our clients can depend on the longevity of our products because of Tyler’s evergreen philosophy to continually invest in functionality and technology, and it’s a value clients receive at no extra cost,” said Richard E. Peterson Jr., president of Tyler’s ERP & School Division. “Our ERP solutions are designed with end-users in mind, focusing on the tools and workflows they need to better do their jobs and provide improved data transparency. We are pleased Alexandria and Alexandria City Public Schools partnered with Tyler and we look forward to a long relationship.”

Our popular podcast series has returned! The Importance of Business Process Management in ERP Implementations is a Q&A with Eric Kimberling about the need for companies to streamline and improve business processes prior to and/or during an ERP implementation. Topics discussed include the usefulness of industry “best practices” included with the ERP software, who within the company should be tasked with the business process restructuring, and the overall impact of process changes on an organization.

ERP implementations are always difficult, and often times even more so for government organizations. An interesting recent Computer World article discusses how the Government Accountability Agency (GAO) recently uncovered the sad state of some of the US military’s ERP implementation projects. The agency issued a report that found “Many of the [ERP] projects are years behind schedule and significantly over budget, including one that is expected to rack up nearly 10 times its initial cost . . .” 

Unfortunately, the U.S. Military isn’t alone. Recent articles in the IT press have outlined other failed ERP implementations, including at the City of New York and other high-profile government organizations. We regularly work with our government clients to provide independent validation and verification (IV&V) and expert witness services to their large, high-risk ERP implementations, and failures like these underscore the need for government organizations to ensure they have the right ERP implementation experience, methodologies and independent counsel to help manage a successful implementation.

Although there are general best practices that organizations should implement, regardless of whether they are in the public or commercial sectors, there are some pitfalls that Panorama’s experience with government and public-sector entities tells us are more common in those sectors. Here are three common reasons why we’ve seen federal, state and local government entities struggle with their ERP software initiatives:

1. Too much focus on minimizing short-term costs. Unfortunately, the purchasing and procurements processes in the public sector are, at times, overly driven by the desire to minimize short-term costs. Government entities and government contractors often put a very heavy weighting in their Request for Proposal (RFP) processes, much more so than the commercial sector. As a result, system integrators, ERP integrators and ERP consultants will typically lowball their proposals and cost estimates to these entities – often by compromising scope and/or quality – all in the name of providing the lowest-cost solution to their government clients. In the end, this approach inevitably results in corners being cut, lower-quality processes and minimal efforts to complete the implementation, which (ironically) increases total cost of ownership of these ERP systems in the long-term.

2. Contract structures that set up implementations for failure. Our government and public-sector clients are much more likely than their commercial counterparts to negotiate fixed-cost or not-to-exceed contract structures with their ERP vendors. Little do they realize, however, that these contract structures create perverse and unintended incentives to cut corners, minimize focus on high-value activities such as organizational change management and business process management, and rush the organization to implement before they’re ready. Fixed-cost contracts, while appealing on the surface, can be the root cause for the very ERP failures, cost overruns and lack of benefits realization that they are intended to mitigate. In addition, purchasing or procurement managers who don’t know much about successful ERP system implementations often miss the fine print in contracts and statements of work that put the onus on the government entities to handle some of the ERP critical success factors, thus increasing overall costs.

3. Inadequate attention to organizational change management. Because government entities typically change at a slower pace and have ERP systems that affect more employees than most commercial organizations, organizational change management is even more imperative. However, government entity executives often don’t have the ERP experience to understand the necessity of organizational change management and, just as importantly, what exactly organizational change management means. Providing comprehensive organizational change management  goes beyond simple end-user training at the end of the implementation; it also includes organizational readiness, organizational impact assessments, business process-based training, and targeted employee communications, all of which can be perceived to increase short-term implementation costs.

While no ERP implementation is ever easy and risks can’t ever be completely avoided, avoiding the above pitfalls can be the first step to helping government ERP system initiatives to get back on track.

Learn more about how we help government entities manage their ERP implementations more effectively by reading our Government ERP Case Study and our Lessons Learned From a Government ERP Failure white paper. Feel free to contact us at 720-515-1377 if you have any specific questions about how Panorama can be of assistance in your government ERP initiative.

Study Cites Infor’s Mobility, Customer Service and Cost-Effectiveness as Key Success Factors

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced that Infor has been recognized as a Leader with respect to its talent management offerings in IDC’s latest Integrated Talent Management MarketScape report(1). IDC evaluated vendors based on a comprehensive and rigorous framework relative to the criteria and one another, and defined talent management as those functions that serve to attract, develop, reward and retain the workforce.

“IDC continues to cite Infor’s approach of enabling access where the individual user works as particularly noteworthy. Use of Microsoft Outlook works well for users that are not bound to their desktop devices and sets Infor up well as mobile access becomes more prevalent,” as noted in the report by Lisa Rowan, program director of HR, learning and talent strategies at IDC. “Infor also received high scores for customer service and cost-effectiveness by their clients.”

Infor, which recently finalized its organizational combination with Lawson Software into the single brand Infor, is committed to continued investment in its talent management offerings, including Infor10 Lawson Talent Management product suite, to help organizations better manage their talent programs. The company now offers one of the most comprehensive and differentiated suites of Human Capital Management applications in the industry.

“Our innovative applications support our customers’ efforts to optimize transactional efficiencies, drive strategic alignment of people and realize business objectives,” said Amy Ihlen, industry strategy director, Human Capital Management, Infor. “Employees want to be engaged and know how they directly contribute to their company’s success and companies want to know which employees have the greatest impact on business results. We want our customers to achieve both outcomes — so we will continue to listen and develop dynamic, specialized solutions to help meet these needs.”

For more information visit http://www.infor.com/solutions/hcm/ and http://www.infor.com/solutions/workforce-management/.

About IDC MarketScape

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT (information and communications technology) suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT and telecommunications vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.

NetSuite customers now have integrated access to Bill.com’s best-in-class bill payment, approval and processing solution

Bill.com, the leader in integrated bill payment, online invoicing and cash flow management solutions for businesses, today announced seamless integration with NetSuite’s cloud computing platform. NetSuite is the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials/ERP software suites.

Bill.com’s award-winning Cash Flow Command and Control(TM) System provides NetSuite’s users with a new and easy way to automate their bill pay and workflow online. The ability to pay bills, eliminate redundant data entry, collaborate with vendors, simplify paper management and sync the entire bill payment process with NetSuite enables them to save time and get back to what matters most — their business, not their bills.

“Prior to Bill.com, we were preparing paper-based check runs and dealing with delays as we waited on CEOs for their signatures,” said Mairtini Ni Dhomhnaill, senior vice president, National Business Outsourcing Solutions of Accretive Solutions. “We have since integrated Bill.com with more than 65 of our clients who are currently using NetSuite. Apart from the advantage of a paperless vendor payment process, the Bill.com Sync for NetSuite is more efficient, highly intuitive, extremely easy to use and very effective in helping us process our clients’ bills faster than before. Bill.com also enables us to be more nimble and focus on providing higher value services to our clients. The solution has allowed us to engage with more clients, serve existing clients better and make our practice more competitive.”

Key Benefits of the Bill.com Sync for NetSuite include:

• Reduction in payables time and expense of at least 50 percent
• The elimination of manual check printing and mailing
• The ability to pay anyone electronically: billers, smaller vendors and even employees
• End-to-end, document-centric payables workflow that ensures consistency and quality across all financial processes and reporting
• Elimination of check fraud: checks are written on Bill.com’s account; not the customers’ account
• No preset payment limits
• Super easy setup: get started in hours
• Elimination of double-data entry: all payables information is automatically synched including bills, payments, vendors, GL accounts, departments and locations
• Unlimited digital storage and end-to-end paper management for every transaction, leaving a complete audit trail
• Anywhere, anytime access to all documents, vendor bills, and payment processing from the office or in a mobile environment
• Comprehensive insight of cash flow forecasting and ability to take immediate action with Bill.com’s Cash Flow Command and Control(TM) System, the only solution that connects your banks, your books and your business

Bill.com’s two-way synchronization accelerates NetSuite’s robust business solution, which already provides support for financial documents, accounting, inventory, and e-commerce. The new financial transaction functionality offered by Bill.com has made manual check and lengthy payment approval processes a relic of the past. Bill.com eliminates the burdensome manual check-writing process by facilitating electronic payments to any vendor, or if needed, writing checks for them. It also maps to internal approval processes allowing for a seamless collaboration within the organization. And, with the click of a button on any mobile device or Web browser, users can sync data between Bill.com and NetSuite, efficiently streamlining business functions in real time.

“We are excited to bring new, extended capabilities to the NetSuite cloud computing platform that help customers eliminate hassles and simplify their entire bill payment and approval process,” said Rene Lacerte, CEO and Founder of Bill.com. “Now all NetSuite customers can benefit from Bill.com’s best-in-class solution.”

Pricing and Availability:

The Bill.com NetSuite Sync is available immediately with pricing starting at $89.99/month. To learn more, prospective and existing customers should visit: http://www.bill.com/pricing/index.php .

About Bill.com

Bill.com is a cash flow command and control system that manages accounts payables and receivables for businesses of all sizes. Offering online bill pay, custom invoicing services, unlimited document storage, collaboration tools, and mobile access, Bill.com’s services easily syncs to customers’ accounting software programs and online bank accounts to better control company financials. Bill.com guards against errors and employs enterprise-class fraud protections that current methods cannot match. More than 100,000 companies are now getting paid and paying millions of bills worth billions of dollars using Bill.com. Financial institutions can now offer these benefits to their business customers by integrating Bill.com with their banking platform.

Inbound Logistics magazine again recognizes IQMS as a leader for its supply chain technology that works in concert with its total ERP and MES system

IQMS, a manufacturing ERP software developer with an ongoing, proactive commitment to its product and relationships, today announced that it has been named one of Inbound Logistics’ 2012 Top 100 Logistics IT Providers. Drawn from a pool of more than 300 companies, 2012’s winners were selected specifically because they solve Inbound Logistics’ readers’ need for simplicity, ROI and efficient implementation.

Integration was the central theme of this year’s Top 100 Logistics IT Providers market research report, so it is no surprise that IQMS made the list. Unlike many other ERP providers, IQMS’ software, EnterpriseIQ, is a total ERP and MES system, with no third-party, bolt-on programs. The scalable, comprehensive system delivers completely integrated transportation and logistics tools for real-time business intelligence, transparent analytics and a proactive response to supply and demand challenges.

“When selecting this year’s Top 100 Logistics IT Providers, Inbound Logistics editors looked for technology providers that solved specific logistics challenges, but also acted as change agents by helping to transform overall business operations,” said Felecia Stratton, Inbound Logistics editor. “Selections were based on how transformative logistics IT solutions impact all business activities and drive integration across internal processes as well as external processes for vendors and customers.”

Through modules such as customer and vendor portals, quality tools to satisfy even the most stringent requirements and two-way MES and ERP communication, IQMS has elevated shipping management to a higher level. Recently, IQMS released Shipping Manager, a FedEx and UPS certified module that allows users to access up-to-the-minute rates, accurate shipping charges and package tracking, all without ever leaving the EnterpriseIQ ERP system.

“Too often, transportation and supply chain challenges are not considered as important as other hurdles of the business, so manufacturers are forced to rely on third-party software as a bolted-on solution,” said Glenn Nowak, vice president at IQMS. “At IQMS, our shipping management tools are embedded in our core ERP system and completely integrated with every aspect of the business, helping our clients serve their customers faster and more efficiently at the global level.”

For a complete list of Inbound Logistics’ 2012 Top 100 Logistics IT Providers, please visit http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/2012-top-100-logistics-it-providers-market-research-survey/.

UNIT4 Business Software, the North American subsidiary of UNIT4, the global business software group, has signed an agreement with S1 Consulting & Software Services (S1) to market and implement UNIT4′s Agresso Business World product, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, into the Education and Resource sectors in Australia. As an implementation partner and distributor, S1 will provide project management and local domain expertise.

UNIT4 is the only enterprise software company providing “BLINC™” (Businesses Living IN Change) organizations with an ongoing, low-cost way to embrace change long after deployment. With its unique architecture, Agresso allows operational users to make changes to the system in response to business changes, without IT intervention or costly external consultants.

“Both the Education and Resource sectors in Australia are seeking alternatives to the often rigid current suppliers of ERP software solutions and Agresso Business World offers a real alternative. We view a partnership with UNIT4 as integral to our business model of providing end to end business solutions to our clients,” says Martin Halmarick, managing director at S1 Consulting.

“We examined the Australian market and found S1 to be a leading solution provider in the Education and Resource sectors. S1′s nine years of experience coupled with UNIT4′s range of business solutions provides the Australian market with the best of both worlds in terms of specialized consulting expertise and proven business software solutions,” comments John Scott, vice president of sales and marketing at UNIT4 Business Software.

An international study, carried out by TNS Sifo on behalf of IFS, reveals what is important for IT Directors when launching a new business software project. IT Directors in the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Benelux countries were asked about the most important aspects when evaluating business software providers.

The study examined the attitude of 216 decision makers in the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Benelux countries with respect to return on investment, procurement strategy and vendor relations when purchasing business solutions.

The five most important factors that IT directors look for when launching an ERP project are:

1. Flexible and scalable systems
2. Innovative and proactive software vendor
3. Good understanding of how the company works
4. Committed contact persons
5. User-centric systems

From the IT Director’s perspective, the most important factor when considering a new business system provider is its ability to offer flexible and scalable systems that can be adapted to the company’s changing needs. In addition, the ideal software vendor is innovative and proactive when it comes to the customer’s needs and have a good understanding of how the customer’s company works. These requirements are in no way unique for IT Directors, all decision makers have the same top-two priorities: an agile system and a proactive and innovative supplier.

In addition, the study shows that IT Directors are also concerned with softer values. They rate commited contact persons on the vendor’s side as slightly more important than user-centric systems.

“The study reveals a great number of factors that are important for the IT Director when planning the next business software project.” Alexander Sovré, Director at TNS Sifo specialized in IT and telecom-related research, said. “Notably, user-centric systems finish in the top five, which indicates an interest among IT Directors to provide intuitive and user-friendly solutions to the end users. Together with Nice to do business with, which ranked as number six on the wish list, this shows that business software projects do not only involve functionality and technology, but also human factors that add value throughout the lifecycle of the system.”

Learn more about how IFS works with customers: www.ifsworld.com/people

At Panorama, we write and talk a lot about both how to define and achieve the critical success factors of an ERP implementation. Although organizations certainly vary across industries, and industries themselves have a large amount of differentiating concerns and requirements, when it comes to ERP — the critical success factors are surprisingly similar:

1. Pick the ERP software that matches your organization’s “to be” processes (not necessarily the processes it’s using today). This is a big one that many organizations miss. When it comes to software selection, be sure keep your eye on the future state of how the business will be run so that it might avail itself of all the incredible benefits an integrated solution can bring. Choosing an enterprise solution that matches an organization’s current state is like redoing a house before you gut it — nothing but a waste of time and money.

2. Make sure ERP vendors demonstrate their products against your organization’s specific and unique needs. If you don’t provide potential vendors a clear roadmap of your organization’s ERP requirements and desires, you run the risk of choosing software based on canned demos and industry “best practices” rather than finding one that truly suits your organization’s needs. It’s incredibly important to do your homework up front before calling in the vendors.

3. Foster alignment of purpose within the executive team. ERP failures often can be attributed, at least in part, to a lack of executive alignment and buy-in. Though certainly easier said than done, taking the time to ensure alignment within the organization’s top people will reap rewards throughout the entire project lifecycle. An ERP project that doesn’t have a unified support system will quickly founder.

4. Know what you don’t know — and get the right help to figure it out. Don’t automatically expect your staff to know how to implement an ERP system properly; chances are they don’t. Third-party consultants help with everything from selection to business process management to implementation to training to organizational change management. And the good ones, like Panorama, can jump in at any stage of the project and start sorting it out.

5. Don’t forget your people. Your employees are going to have questions, concerns and fears from the moment they start hearing the term “ERP implementation.” Now is not the time to clam up. Err on the side of too much communication. Be honest, transparent and team-oriented in your discussions with them and ask for feedback. You need their help and support to achieve ERP success, plain and simple.

Panorama is in the business of ERP success. Contact us today for more details on any of the above critical success factors, or any other issue or question related to making your ERP project reap all the business benefits it should. And don’t forget to register for one or more of our ERP webinar series — upcoming sessions include discussions on organizational change management and software selection.

Study Shows Consumers Prefer to Reach Customer Service Online

Oracle today released the results of its “Consumer Views of Live Help Online 2012” report, which surveyed more than 3,000 consumers worldwide regarding their use of customer service channels including call centers, live chat, click-to-call and email.

Compared with a similar survey conducted in 2009, consumers go online more frequently, are more likely to use Live Help and have higher expectations for customer service via social media and Web sites.

Social media users expect rapid response: More than half of Twitter users worldwide expect a personal response within two hours of tweeting a question or complaint and 51 percent of Facebook users expect a same-day response to questions or complaints posted via the social media site.

As consumers spend more time online, they rely more on Live Help: Half of consumers worldwide browse and research products online daily, nearly double the number reporting daily habits in 2009. Consumer use of online customer service is also on the rise, as 50 percent of consumers use of Live Help compared with 37 percent in 2009.

In China, consumer use of online support jumps dramatically: 76 percent of Chinese consumers are online daily to browse or research products (vs. 49 percent worldwide) and 60 percent say they use Live Help to reach customer service (vs. 50 percent worldwide).

Latin American consumers are most likely to expect a social media presence: 84 percent of consumers surveyed in Mexico and Brazil use Facebook and 63 percent of those using Facebook said they expect companies to have a presence there.

Consistent with findings in 2009, Live Help remains among the three most important features consumers expect to find at a company’s Web site, along with detailed information about products and services and access to personal account information.

“As consumers frequent online sites more than ever, they expect to engage with companies’ customer service representatives while they are there,” said Mike Webster, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Retail. “Whether the customer visits the company’s commerce site or social media page, there must be a clear link to a customer service person that is informed and able to help.”

After reading Eric Kimberling’s blog post “The Real Role of the IT Department in an ERP Implementation,” I would firmly agree with this stance if the IT department in the organization remains as an old-fashioned IT function. Scarily, that is still the case for those IT departments who solely focus on keeping the lights on, running infrastructure, acting as the security gatekeeper or manning the help desk; in other words, the ones that put the technology before the business.

I, however, like many transformed IT leaders, am fully business and operationally minded. IT departments can have the greatest reach with multiple touch points throughout an organization’s value chain. Those who have optimized business functions including, but not limited to, R&D, procurement, manufacturing, inventory, sales, distribution, customer service, finance and HR using techniques such as lean and Six Sigma are the new breed. Such focus results in optimized business processes, successful organizational change management and benefits that are realized organization-wide. The real role of such IT departments is to lead an ERP implementation.

The topic of IT departments transforming themselves to become business leaders is already well-documented. The 2012 Gartner CIO Agenda Report has continually commented on the transformation of IT out to the business far beyond the back office systems and data centers. Many commentators are seeing the CIO in dual roles with the new CIO acting as Chief Innovation Officer, one who uses their technological background to optimize the business and the products and services it provides.

Such IT departments and CIO’s do exist and are becoming the norm. They are a testament to the so-called new age IT. These IT departments can lead ERP implementations amongst many other enterprise-wide implementations and greatly contribute to the success of implementations. More importantly, they can increase the value and benefits gained from such investments over the long lifespan of such systems.

So what does this all mean? What differentiates new age IT and what is really being offered or at risk?

• Creating an IT silo by having IT predominately focus on the technology implementation treats the ERP implementation as a one-off exercise. ERP is a life-long journey which also will undergo continuous improvement to support new business initiatives and organizational growth.

• With enterprise-wide interaction, new age IT provides organizational insights at both a macro and micro level. This perspective ensures that the business processes flowing through an organization seamlessly and effectively interoperate.

• On a daily basis, new age IT deals with organizational risks in the form of security, system implementation and upgrades, change management and disaster scenarios. ERP implementation failures are costly and extremely disruptive, and present large risks to organizations. The expertise and experience that the IT department can bring can serve to greatly reduce the risks that contribute to ERP failures.

• IT staff is well-versed in increasing user adoption through its continued involvement and management of technological change. Employee readiness, buy-in and training are key to success.

• New age IT is very agile. The adoption of agile methodologies such as Agile SCRUM means the organization can inspect and adapt to the situation at hand successfully. An ERP implementation is not going to be static and will require a multiplying force such as IT to manage the dynamic events and activities that arise.

• Over the years, the IT industry has greatly matured their processes – especially in the area of change management. The utilization of frameworks such as ITIL and ADKAR places change management as a standard discipline of all new age IT practitioners.

• The adoption of continuous improvement initiatives, lean and Six Sigma by IT has meant that IT investments have been able to provide tangible organizational benefits. New age IT is able to realize such benefits and quantify them better than ever before.

• New age IT brings so much more to the table than technology, including a knowledge of governance, business analysis and project management, all of which are critical to ERP selections and implementations.

So how does an organization create a new age IT department?

• Get the right balance. Ensure there are necessary controls to protect intellectual property and provide operational reliability whilst still maximizing innovation through creativity and flexibility. Resource both the technical components (network, infrastructure, data center, etc.) and business and commercial elements (business efficiency and effectiveness, product and service differentiation).

• Focus on what matters. Many IT departments are evolving as they are enabling themselves to free up resources to focus more on business initiatives rather than just technology initiatives. Focusing on proactive management, improved IT processes or the utilization of cloud-based services for commoditized IT services frees up valuable resources to do this. Business initiatives give people the power to do their real jobs as effectively as possible, and not be a slave to the machine.

• Complement technical skills with business skills. A new age IT department provides sound business skills across the whole value chain. Get out and about, get more face time and be on the ground with all the functions throughout the business.

• Align your priorities and purpose with the business. Unless your company is in the business of providing or selling IT services and products, recognize that it isn’t all about IT. What truly matters are the strategic objectives of the organization, the products and services that the company sells, and the customers that consume them. Think about what is going to make those consumers enjoy the experience more and become loyal customers. Think about such opportunities and how IT can improve the product or service offering to further differentiate your company from its competitors.

• Don’t be a functional silo. Be more than a service provider, partner or enabler and participate throughout the entire organization and its initiatives. Provide expert insights and be a trusted advisor by operating in cross-functional teams and ingraining the business DNA into IT.

Old-fashioned IT departments can put businesses at risk and, as such, do not deserve to lead ERP implementations. In contrast, businesses that already have new age IT are fortunate to have a team that is extremely well-positioned to successfully carry out both ERP initiatives and other enterprise system initiatives. New age IT coupled with organizational readiness, executive buy-in and the right internal and external subject matter experts and resources all are part of the formula for a successful ERP implementation.

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.

Hospitality Industry Customers to Benefit From Comprehensive BI Solution

Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organizations, today announced the strengthened alliance to deliver the Epicor next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution with EPM for Hospitality from The Hada Group (THG), a solution specifically designed for companies in the hospitality industry. The alliance will help meet the growing need among resorts, hotels, restaurants, and country club organizations for a scalable and flexible enterprise performance management (EPM) solution that enables them to plan, execute and analyze at strategic and tactical levels — aligning business activities with business goals.

Working cooperatively with THG, and building on its own proven success delivering industry-specific ERP solutions to retail, manufacturing, distribution, hospitality, and services organizations, Epicor reaffirms and deepens its commitment to the hospitality industry. Effective business intelligence (BI) is an important component of an EPM strategy, and the alignment with THG creates an opportunity to deliver an integrated BI solution built around hospitality industry best practices.

Under the agreement, Epicor will deliver THG’s sophisticated BI suite with Epicor ERP, Epicor iScala and Epicor Enterprise solutions. Epicor and THG have a number of joint customers in the hospitality industry today that could immediately benefit from this new class of industry-specific analytics applications.

“Our relationship with Epicor to deliver a comprehensive BI solution to the hospitality industry leverages the key strengths of both organizations,” said Horacio Agostinelli, president and general manager of THG. “Epicor brings more than 40 years of experience developing, marketing, selling, and implementing ERP solutions that provide organizations around the world with a competitive advantage; combined with our expertise in bringing integrated business solutions to the hospitality industry, this creates a win-win for new and existing customers.”

For anyone that has seen an episode of the television series “House of Lies,” it paints a disturbing (yet at times entertaining) picture of the consulting industry. One episode allegedly explores the concept of shady ERP consulting practices, which is obviously of interest to Panorama since we are an ERP consulting firm. Although it may sound a bit far-fetched and the show strives for a strong shock-factor, it does underscore the potential risks of ethically questionable practices when hiring consultants to help with your ERP systems initiatives.

I have also spent time researching and reading about fraudulent activities in the industry, typically in the context of providing expert witness testimony to high-profile failures and lawsuits. In these cases, we are hired by attorneys looking for an objective and independent view of what went right or wrong in the ERP implementation in question, and unfortunately, we often find that shady consulting practices are a root cause of the failures. While the issues may not always entail something as extreme as flat-out fraud or misrepresentation, there are often signs that the consulting firm or system integrator in question did not have the client’s best interest in mind. For example, system integrators and traditional ERP consultants are notorious for peddling the products that provide them the most lucrative kick-backs or solutions that aren’t best for the client but somehow line their own pockets.

The City of New York’s well-publicized allegations of fraud against the organization’s ERP system integrator is one example of such fraud. Although the City is not a client of Panorama’s, nor are we involved in any expert witness or other consulting work for them, it is clear that fraud is a real risk in the industry. In addition, other examples are out there, including consultancies looking for “proxies” to conduct phone screenings on behalf of more junior and less-qualified consultants in order to win the business, over-billing, and receiving kick-backs for recommendations made to their clients. While these behaviors may not be the norm, there are certainly enough real-life examples to make the stomach of any CIO or CFO turn.

Most organizations do not have the internal competencies, bandwidth or methodologies to effectively manage their own ERP software initiatives and need hardworking and ethical consultants to lead the way to ERP success. So what can be done to avoid these types of problems? Here are a few tips to uncover the warning signs of ERP consulting fraud:

1. Ensure proper project governance and controls. With each and every one of our clients, our team conducts weekly project reviews to review the project plan, actual versus budget costs to date, resource requirements, critical decisions required to move the project forward, and a host of other components designed to provide proper project governance. These project controls are crucial to not only ensuring that your consultants are staying honest, but so that you have complete visibility into the progress, issues, costs, and risks of the project, along with control as to the overall direction of the project. Any organization hiring consultants should ensure that these controls are in place.

2. Assess your consultant’s ERP selection and implementation methodologies. Consultants are a lot less likely to go rogue when they have very clearly defined consulting processes, methodologies and standards in place. This goes beyond the typical ERP consultant’s PowerPoint deck outlining a fancy methodology acronym, but it includes clearly defined steps in the process that have ultimately been fine-tuned over years of experience in the ERP systems space. Whether you are evaluating or implementing ERP systems, you want to ensure that your consulting team is following a best-practice and repeatable framework to ensure you’re getting the quality of services you deserve. This is exactly what we at Panorama provide to our clients, as an example.

3. Provide checks and balances. Another crucial component to uncover and avoid potential fraud is to ensure the project is being reviewed regularly. Many of our clients, especially in the government and public sectors, hire us to provide independent verification and validation services to ensure that their technical system integrators are performing to expectations and best practices. Even for our own consulting engagements where we are providing the entire soup-to-nuts management of a client’s ERP initiative, we build in stage-gate reviews into our consulting processes, which are conducted by someone other than the day-to-day consultants on the project. This ensures that checks in balances are in place and that our clients leverage the broader experience of our entire firm.

While it is impossible to completely eliminate the risk of ERP consulting fraud, these are just a few tips to help you uncover and/or mitigate the likelihood of shady behaviors from your consultants. While good ERP consulting firms are hard to come by and are important to leverage where needed, it is just important to manage those resources just as you would your own employees.

Read more about Panorama and our ERP services and contact us at any time to discuss how we might help your organization best select, implement or realize the business benefits from its ERP system.

Nominations for the Oracle Excellence Awards 2012 are now open. Customers and partners who have excelled at driving business value and innovation with Oracle solutions are invited to submit their success stories for consideration. Full details and submission guidelines are available on the Oracle Excellence Awards Website.

Awards Details

The 2012 awards consist of the following categories, including new categories for C-level line of business executives, database administrators, and Oracle partners:

• CIO of the Year—Recognizes outstanding performance and vision in the role of chief information officer of an enterprise that uses Oracle products and services.
• Database Administrator of the Year—Honors an individual who demonstrates excellent technical ability and superior knowledge of the Oracle database and Oracle engineered systems within their organizations.
• Data Warehouse Leader of the Year—Acknowledges an individual who demonstrates excellent technical ability and superior knowledge of Oracle data warehouse technologies, and consistently applies best practices while demonstrating leadership.
• Eco-Enterprise Innovation—Recognizes select customers and their partners for the customer’s use of any Oracle product(s) to reduce their environmental footprint while reducing costs and improving business efficiencies using green business practices. Customers or their partners can submit a nomination. Winners are selected based on the extent of their environmental impact, as well as the business efficiencies they achieved through their use of Oracle products.
• Oracle Fusion Middleware Innovation—Awards Oracle customers for their cutting-edge solutions using Oracle Fusion Middleware. Winners are selected based on the uniqueness of their business case, business benefits, level of impact relative to the size of the organization, complexity and magnitude of implementation, and the originality of architecture.
• Oracle Leadership—Celebrates Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs), Chief Marketing Officer (CMOs), and Chief Operating Officers (COOs) worldwide who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and technology vision in the successful deployment of Oracle solutions to simplify IT, power innovation, and drive transformational change in their respective lines of business or organizations. The annual awards honor individual achievement in the following categories: finance, human capital management, marketing, and supply chain management.
• Proactive Support Champion of the Year—Acknowledges Oracle customers and partners for driving adoption of proactive tools and resources within their company. Winners are selected based on their usage of proactive capabilities and how it has benefited their organizations.
• Specialized Partner of the Year (Global)—Honors global Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized partners excelling in six categories, including database, middleware, applications, industry, server and storage systems, and Oracle-on-Oracle.
• Specialized Partner of the Year (EMEA)—Celebrates OPN Specialized partners in EMEA who have demonstrated success with specialization, delivering customer value and outstanding solution or service innovation in categories that complement OPN Specialization investments.
• Specialized Partner of the Year (North America)— Formerly known as the Titan Awards, these awards salute the innovative solutions and business achievements of OPN partners excelling in categories that complement OPN Specialization investments.
• Technologist of the Year Awards—Recognizes individuals in key roles for their extraordinary efforts and contributions to enterprise technology solutions.

The awards will be reviewed by a panel of judges recruited from Oracle’s independent users group communities around the world.

About the Oracle Excellence Awards

Striving for success is what drives Oracle and its customers and partners to continually discover innovative uses for Oracle technology and to deploy successful and ground-breaking solutions and best practices. The Oracle Excellence Award recognizes customers and partners that have excelled in driving business value together with Oracle in eleven different award categories. Full details are available on our Website.

 SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the general availability of a collaborative process modeling tool in the SAP StreamWork application. The new tool enables groups of people to work together in real time using their Web browsers’ modeling processes as easily as if they were in a room together.

As an on-demand application for collaborative decision-making, SAP StreamWork allows users to track discussions, decisions, related documents and action items, and provides them with a record of the conversation and work for later reference. This new cloud-based collaborative process modeling tool is another achievement by SAP to further bring social and collaborative capabilities into business processes and applications. By simplifying the way process models can be created collaboratively, the tool reduces the entry barrier for process experts, end users and business analysts to engage in discussions about the actual flow of business processes.

Changes to processes are simultaneously shown to all participants of a process discussion, fostering real-time collaboration and teamwork. For visualization of the process flow, the tool supports the open standard business process model and notation (BPMN), which allows it to be used in any BPMN-compliant application. Users can then gain a better understanding and a higher level of transparency of business processes. Additionally, the process model created with this tool can be used for documentation and simulation, and can also be translated into automated workflows by using tools such as SAP NetWeaver® Process Orchestration software.

SAP StreamWork, including the collaborative process modeling tool, is free on www.sapstreamwork.com. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Epicor to Sharpen Its Next-Generation Epicor ICE Business Architecture With Windows Azure and SQL Azure

Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organizations, today announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp. whereby Epicor(R) will use Windows Azure to expand on-demand delivery of its next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite worldwide. The Epicor ICE Business Architecture will also benefit from Windows Azure and SQL Azure.

Epicor and Microsoft share a common vision for cloud computing and building business applications that are delivered the way people want to work; virtually any place, any time on any device. With the open and flexible Windows Azure cloud platform, applications can be quickly built, deployed and managed across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters — using virtually any language, tool or framework.

Unveiled at Insights 2012, the third major release of Epicor ICE will provide platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings using Windows Azure. The flexible service-oriented architecture (SOA) of Epicor ICE provides connectivity across a wide range of Epicor business software solutions for the manufacturing, distribution, and services industries, enabling more customers to leverage Epicor Extend solutions delivered via the cloud.

Epicor first introduced Epicor ERP, its breakthrough next-generation enterprise business software solution in 2008. The solution, designed for growing companies in domestic and global markets, was built on Epicor ICE, which fused modern Web 2.0 technologies with Epicor True SOA(TM) — a flexible, standards-based software architecture for creating and defining business process as reusable “services” to deliver an enabling business platform that offered new levels of flexibility, usability, and agility in support of application-to-application integration and business-to-business collaboration.

“A consistent leader in adopting forward-looking technologies from Microsoft, Epicor is now ready to take advantage of Windows Azure and SQL Azure to deliver a pre-configured virtual environment that simplifies implementation and enables more customers to use the cloud,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, corporate vice president, developer and platform evangelism, at Microsoft. “The power of Windows Azure and SQL Azure will give Epicor customers and partners even more choice, flexibility and scalability with Epicor business software solutions — whether delivered on-premise, hosted or in the cloud.”

“Epicor was an early adopter of Windows Azure at its inception,” said Erik Johnson, vice president, product marketing for Epicor. “And we have worked with a number of Epicor ERP customers to test the benefits of Windows Azure and SQL Azure, which we view as the next game-changers for cloud computing. We are pleased with the performance, scalability and flexibility of these technologies and look forward to leveraging the benefits of Windows Azure to provide our customers with extended capabilities and rich consumer-driven experience today’s end users require.”

News Facts

• Epicor and Microsoft align to bring on-demand ERP to Windows Azure cloud
• Epicor ICE will provide platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings using Windows Azure
• Flexible business architecture to provide connectivity across a range of Epicor business software solutions via the cloud

ECi Cloud for TeamDesign allows easy access from any Internet device

ECi Software Solutions (www.ECiSolutions.com), a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, today announced its premier solution for the office and contract furniture industry is now available as a cloud-based application, ECi Cloud for TeamDesign®. Making ECi TeamDesign available as a hosted solution allows the premier furniture ERP solution to be accessed from any computer or mobile digital device such as a tablet.

“We are thrilled to offer this to our customers,” said Tammy Byrum, President of ECi Team Design. “ECi TeamDesign continues to be dedicated to expanding our portfolio of value-added surround solutions to meet the needs of every aspect of our customers’ businesses. We are committed to our evolving industry and ECi Cloud for TeamDesign is an expansion of our portfolio of solutions.”

“The cloud is where ERP technology is headed,” added Tom Gerrity, Senior Vice President of Operations. “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 to the areas of information sharing and mobile use and we are very excited to introduce this to our customers.”

In addition to making TeamDesign available from any Internet connection, ECi Cloud for TeamDesign increases accessibility to an industry-leading ERP solution for small and medium-sized businesses by reducing the cost and implementation time. As a 100-percent hosted solution, it does not require investment in an onsite server, which also eliminates the costs associated with server maintenance. Cloud-based solutions are also easier to implement, and so a business is up and running in a short time. Using a cloud-based solution can also increase business information security as all encrypted data is automatically stored offsite.

Marissa McKeon, Manager of Operations for Pannello Systems, is an ECi Cloud for TeamDesign customer. She says, “We were faced with the challenge of how to get Team Design implemented in a user-friendly and cost effective application. The hosted version has allowed each of our users to work efficiently and simultaneously without Pannello having to take on the cost of our own server. With ECi Cloud, Team Design has been able to provide a secure option for those of us looking to have more flexibility in our work processes.”

To learn more about ECi Cloud for TeamDesign, please visit www.ECiSolutions.com.

Leading Convenience Store Distributor Selects VAI S2K for Food Enterprise Management Capabilities

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), a leading ERP software provider and the 2012 IBM Beacon Award Winner for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses, announced that J. Polep Distribution Services, a Massachusetts-based leading convenience store distributor, has selected its S2K for Food Enterprise Management Software to grow and streamline its operations, while increasing efficiency and profitability.

Servicing more than 4,000 chain and independent retailers in the 6 New England States, New York and Pennsylvania, J. Polep is ranked as one of the top 12 convenience store distributors in the country. The company has Distribution Centers located in Chicopee and Woburn, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and West Haven, Connecticut.  The Polep family has been in the business of servicing its customers for over 110 years.

With its aggressive growth plans and targeted new acquisitions, J. Polep was looking for a strong and experienced enterprise software partner to help support the unique requirements of the food manufacturing and distribution industries.

“As a top supplier of a host of products ranging from food and beverages, wine and spirits, tobacco, candy and automotive products, J. Polep needed an advanced solution to successfully meet its business objectives,” said Joe Scioscia, vice president  of sales, VAI. “S2K for Food provides a technology solution that’s specifically designed to meet their industry requirements for food distribution and manufacturing and provides the flexibility and enhanced capabilities to meet their future needs.”

“We selected VAI because of their reputation for outstanding customer support, aggressive product development and experience in the food manufacturing and distribution industries,” said Lori Polep, vice president and chief information officer, J. Polep Distribution Services. “VAI S2K will give us a complete ERP package and strong support team, which is critical to ensuring our company’s ongoing success.

One of my favorite books is The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein. The book details the psychological and cultural aspects of societies in relation to systematic change. According to the author, it is extremely difficult to impose systematic cultural and economic changes within a society without profound “shock and awe” or some sort of significant event following the implementation of sweeping changes. Running the risk of oversimplifying the tactical roadmap Ms. Klein lays out in the book, the idea of “shock and awe” is that there has to be a profound event in which members of a society set aside current beliefs or traditions, whatever they may be, and accept the implementation of a radically different economic system with “eyes wide open” in order to achieve the desired benefit realization of the given theory. While Ms. Klein references many instances of historical global economic events, a thought-provoking parallel certainly can be applied to successful ERP implementations.

ERP implementations in large domestic or international organizations are arguably one of the hardest technical and organizational change initiatives that a corporation can embark on. If an ERP system on this scale has a chance of being implemented correctly (i.e., realizing the largest possible amounts of desired benefits), there has to be a significant shift in how employees look at and process the act of “doing business.”

At Panorama, we’ve created our own “shock and awe” in the form of an exercise called Executive ERP Boot Camp. Our consultants provide this service for an organization prior to an ERP implementation to lay to rest the status quo. Leveraging the sobering notion that it’s a flip of a coin if an ERP implementation will be successful (as detailed in our 2012 ERP Report), we draw a direct parallel from Ms. Klein in explaining that if the perceived benefits of a new ERP system are to be achieved there has to be acceptance from the highest level that significant changes are going to have to transpire prior to implementation. This is a cornerstone of any organizational change management program and thus we take great measures to ensure that the executive team understands that business process management is a sweeping change that has to happen before the software is rolled out on any scale.

So what is business process management and how does it relate to ERP software? Simply put, business process management entails business process mapping, business process improvement and business process optimization. At Panorama, the output of business process management is what we call an ERP business blueprint or roadmap for how an ERP system will most effectively enable the organization to realize the maximum possible benefits. During the process of creating and adopting this blueprint, business processes, roles and responsibilities from top to bottom of the organization, and the strategy behind resource allocation are all evaluated and refined.

While business process management is a monumental and stressful undertaking for any organization, an ERP implementation should be attempted once and only once the business is prepared to effectively and efficiently receive the software.

Panorama provides personalized on-site ERP Boot Camps for our clients as well as three-day Boot Camp training sessions in Denver for all interested parties. Find out more about our next ERP Boot Camp, which will be held September 12, 13 and 14.

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

Access to current and historical data is one of the top benefits of an ERP system. But if that data in inaccurate or untrustworthy, it can compromise quite a bit of the worth of the system — and frustrate the users to no end. It’s no secret that a good data cleaning strategy must be in place long before switching over to a new ERP system, but organizations continue to persist in the idea that they can migrate everything they have over to their software and the software will somehow magically scrub and standardize it. That’s just not the case. And if they’re counting on their ERP vendors to help them, they’re in for a real surprise. Data migration is such an onerous and extensive task that many vendors simply leave it up to the implementing company to figure out. Suffice it to say, organizations need to get their data strategy set and begin working on it long before the cutover date.

Following are some basic tips on how to approach cleaning historical data for an ERP implementation:

1. Decide what you really, really need. An enterprise software implementation is a great opportunity to “clean house.” Organizations tend to hoard data, believing that someone, somewhere down the line just might need that one nugget of information and if it can’t be found — disaster will strike. The problem with this attitude is a. there’s a lot that no one will ever need and b. dragging it all over to a new software system will take time, money and effort that can be better spent elsewhere. A person or team with the proper authority needs to be tasked with working with different departments to determine what’s truly necessary to keep and what can be jettisoned. Even the IRS doesn’t make you records for more than a few years!

2. Put some elbow grease into it. Now that you’ve decided what you need, it’s time to really get cracking on the cleaning part. Don’t make the mistake of giving this task to the IT department; instead, ensure they work together with the functional users in each department to standardize the records, validate the information, de-dupe, input missing data, etc. Bear in mind that the specifics of data cleaning (e.g., in-system vs. Excel) will likely need to be determined with the help of a third-party consultant, especially if your organization is dealing with industry-specific regulatory requirements.

3. Migrate and test. Discover if you’re on the right track with your data by migrating it to the test environments and taking a looksee. I’ve made this sound much easier than it actually is. In reality, this will take quite some time and typically require the development of a lot of unique code, so don’t make the mistake of leaving it until the last minute. The better this is managed, the smoother your transition to your new ERP system will go.

People often compare data migration to moving houses. You’ve got to decide what to bring with you, clean everything up that you want and make sure it all fits in the new structure accordingly. This analogy is accurate in a way. You can probably get a closer read on the situation by adding to it that you’re part of a family that hasn’t thrown anything away in years and doesn’t know how to make decisions about what to keep or toss. Oh, and the house you’re moving into is incredibly strict about what you can bring in and if you bring something wrong, it will lock down and throw you out.

The stakes are high and the game is a complicated one. Contact Panorama Consultants today to get started on your data conversion strategy and overall implementation plan.

Aribex, Inc., Mar-Bal, Inc. and Tessy Plastics Corp. recognized for their innovation and operational excellence, with Tessy Plastics receiving the Highest Achiever honor in its category

IQMS, a manufacturing ERP software developer with an ongoing, proactive commitment to its product and relationships, today announced that last night, three of its clients were named winners of the 2012 Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards (ML100).

Presented at the Manufacturing Leadership Summit on May 2 at The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla., IQMS clients Aribex, Inc., Mar-Bal, Inc. and Tessy Plastics Corp. were honored in three of the ML100 award’s seven different categories. Additionally, Tessy Plastics was named the highest achiever in its category, surpassing 18 other accomplished companies including IBM, Ford Motor Co. and L’Oreal USA.

Tessy Plastics Corp. was recognized in the Operational Excellence category for increasing its processing efficiency through automatic, direct communication with IQMS’ ERP software. Tessy Plastics manufacturers an estimated 20 million individual parts a day and needed a component identification system that did not require human intervention. Through custom development collaboration with IQMS, Tessy Plastics can now ensure that its automatically assembled parts are always made from the correct components 100 percent of the time.

Aribex, Inc., inventor of the NOMAD Pro hand-held X-ray device, was presented with an award in the Innovative Enterprise category. Revolutionizing the way dental X-rays are taken, Aribex’s NOMAD Pro is the world’s first hand-held X-ray device that can be used in or out of the conventional dental office setting, making it ideal for humanitarian, nursing home or other remote use.

Mar-Bal, Inc., a one-source solutions provider of thermoset composites, was honored in the Information Leadership category for its implementation of IQMS’ ERP software. From business process improvements to a company culture shift, Mar-Bal’s annual savings were $270,000 as well as nearly 5,000 potential machine hours that were no longer lost to downtime. Savings could not have been realized without Mar-Bal’s employees proactively embracing the business process improvements and creatively collaborating to solve any problems that arose.

“The ML100 awards recognize the premier companies in the manufacturing industry,” said Glenn Nowak, vice president at IQMS. “We could not be more proud of our three clients and all that they have accomplished. They inspire us at IQMS to continue to innovate and lead so we can support our clients in their goals to do the same.”

For a complete list of the 2012 ML100 award winners, please visit: http://www.ml100awards.com/winners/.

I want to lay something on the line here, right from the outset: an ERP implementation is not an IT initiative. When an organization believes that it is, and tasks the IT department with everything from software selection to implementation to training to internal communication, it is setting itself up for ERP failure. Sure, the system might get up and running. And staff might actually use it to perform some basic functions. But it will probably never provide the true operational benefits it could have and should have. And that, my friends, is ERP failure — plain and simple.

There is no arguing — nor should there be — that the IT department plays an integral role in ERP implementations. These are the men and women who are the masters of the technical side of the system, handling configuration, customization and all the other complicated stuff that the corporate suits have incredibly little to do with — and that the system can’t run without. But an IT staff, talented and knowledgable as they are, typically are not the operational experts that need to drive an ERP project. Speaking in generalities, they don’t tend to have the broad, all-encompassing vision of the business that a COO has. Further, they don’t tend to have the authority to make the millions of  top-level decisions (about business process management, about standardization, about streamlining) that need to be made in order to derive ROI from an enterprise software solution. Yet they are all too frequently given the responsibilities of an enormous (and potentially thankless) job: choose, implement and oversee adoption of an entirely new way of doing business. Oh and manage the help desk too . . . you know, during “free time.”

So how should the skills of an IT department be utilized in an ERP implementation? Below is a partial list, highlighting some areas that the IT department might be able to provide invaluable insight into.

1. Participating in ERP software selection, including review of the business process management and blueprint documentation
2. Working with a third-party expert to map the “to be” business processes against the software to determine areas of customization
3. Helping to determine what the organization will do about the gaps between its needs and the system’s capabilities
4. Working with a third-party expert to implement and test the chosen system
5. Creating a plan to determine how the organization will handle user and system issues after the cutover
6. Participating in the determination of a legacy system phase-out approach
7. Contracting with a third-party to determine a training strategy, materials, etc.
8. Determining a multi-site training schedule

Of course, each organization is run differently — and has different people, with different skills, in its ranks. Some IT personnel are crackerjack whizzes at operations. And some wouldn’t know an ERP system if it sat on their lap. So view the above through the lens of what you know about your company and its people but remember: although IT employees likely are functional experts in a very important aspect of the system, they should not in charge of the project. That is a job for the executive level, and to pretend otherwise is doing a grave disservice to both the talents of the IT department and the future of the business.

Find out more about ERP implementation pain points — and critical success factors — at our webinar tomorrow, Review of Panorama’s 2012 ERP Report.

As a reader of our blog posts and white papers, you probably know by now that one of the absolutely critical components of ERP success is organizational change management (or OCM). But did you know that a solid OCM plan actually can decrease the fixed costs of IT staffing? That’s right: employees who both believe in the ERP system’s capabilities and are trained on the ERP system’s capabilities quickly develop independent expertise. This means they are less prone to run to the IT department or help desk each time a new challenge presents itself. Instead, they often are educated and motivated enough to problem-solve on their own. And a staff that can problem-solve within an ERP system is a staff that will need less and less handholding by the IT department as time moves on, meaning the organization may be able to realize cost efficiencies by streamlining or reorganizing its IT department.

So how does a company make its employees confident enough to become their own support staff? Following are some organizational change tips to get the ball rolling:

1. Listen more than you talk. Every organization in the midst of an ERP implementation is excited . . . and rightfully so. But the benefits you see coming down the pike may not be readily apparent to the end-users of the system. Ask what your staff members think and listen to what they tell you. If you hear fear, anxiety, resentment, anger or any other negative emotion, work with a third-party consultant like Panorama to develop the OCM plan necessary to achieve alignment, buy-in and support. This is absolutely critical to any successful ERP implementation.

2. But talk more than you think you should. When it comes to ERP implementations, there is never too much communication. Be transparent with your staff about timelines, anticipated benefits, KPIs, hold-ups, issues and the like as you work through the project . . . and ask for suggestions as you go. The more involved they feel in the process, the more likely they are to have a stake in it. And if something happens to go awry (as it very well might), don’t clam up. Task your organizational change lead to issue any delicate information with a positive, forward-looking spin and respond to feedback.

3. And don’t forget to train the right way. Most ERP vendors will try to tell you that their boilerplate training materials are all that is needed to get an organization up and running on the software. Don’t believe the hype. Materials that are customized to your organization, its employees and its processes will go much further in expanding capabilities, instilling confidence and weaning your staff off their help desk dependency. Another key factor will be whether or not your organization targets training to the individual. Mountains of educational research show that people absorb information in different ways (by seeing, reading, doing, discussing, etc.) so be sure to provide opportunities for all of your staff to learn — not just those who happen to fit into the ERP software vendor’s idea of how your staff should learn.

In best case scenarios, ERP software provides dozens of ways for organizations to become leaner and more productive. The low-hanging fruit, however, just might be hanging around answering help desk queries in your IT department. If you can engage and support your staff throughout the ERP implementation and training, you might be able to create (and then eradicate) true IT staffing redundancies.

If you have any questions about organizational change management — or how Panorama’s proven OCM methodologies can bring business benefits to your business — contact us today. And don’t forget to sign up for the Organizational Change Management: A Critical (and Often Overlooked) ERP Success Factor webinar on May 17 at 10 a.m. MT.

It is hard to dispute the fact that ERP implementations bring a great many challenges to an organization. From choosing the best-fit ERP software to streamlining business processes to ensuring the right people are at hand to guide the implementation and ensure benefits realization, a typical ERP project can really put an organization the test . . . and quickly reveal areas of great need.

A recent study by CompTIA brings this issue to the forefront. According to State of the IT Skills Gap, 93-percent of respondent companies face a “difference between existing and desired skill levels” among their IT staffs. Further, close to 60-percent of respondents indicated that their staffs’ corporate IT skills are “moderately close or not even close” to where they would want them to be. Nearly half the respondents cited reasons behind the gap including IT staff members being unable to stay current with the necessary skills of their profession and a lack of resources to supplement IT efforts.

While this gap certainly is not specific to those organizations undergoing an ERP implementation, it is likely that a project of that magnitude would quickly draw attention to the capabilities (or lack thereof) of the IT department. Even the best IT employees will still face new technology challenges when it comes to an IT project. For instance, they may not understand your current infrastructural needs with a new system, nor are they ready to assess the impending risk involved with migrating to a new system. If you’re part of an organization contemplating or embarking on an ERP implementation, it would be in your best interest to start mitigating the risk of this gap immediately (if not sooner!). Some good places to start are:

1. Finding the resources. The best way to find – and justify – resources to bolster the IT department for an ERP implementation is by writing a detailed business case. Among other points, the business case should identify the estimated costs, anticipated benefits and key performance indicators to track those benefits. This will quickly clarify the anticipated ROI of the project, and pinpoint areas that may need short-term resources to create long-term benefits.

2.  Training, training and training some more. Even graduates of top IT schools may not have received the training necessary to truly manage an enterprise software initiative. It also is important to keep current on new software technological changes as there are improvements made every six months (if not more frequently). Rather than relying on the ERP vendor’s canned training package, an organization in true “benefits realization mode” will contract with a third-party to not just provide an overview of ERP software, configuration and implementation, but also to oversee the development of training materials customized to the organization. A good place to start is by registering your IT staff for Panorama’s ERP Boot Camp (to be held September 12 – 14 in Denver), an intensive three-day session necessary for all team members involved in implementation. At Boot Camp, your IT staff will truly begin to understand the demands of an ERP project.

3. Hiring ERP experts. The addition of contract staff members already equipped with the expertise and experience to successfully configure and implement a specific ERP system is a very wise choice. Do not leave your ERP implementation project to guesswork. Panorama’s ERP staffing arm can bring just those people to your organization’s door for both short- and long-term engagements. Find our more about Panorama’s offerings and our PERFECT Match staffing methodology on our ERP staffing services page.     

Make no mistake about it: a gap between the skills of an IT department and the needs of an ERP implementation is an issue that needs to be addressed to ensure ERP success. Contact Panorama today to discuss how we can help your organization assess and address your ERP staffing needs.

SAP today launched a new machine-to-machine (M2M) resource center with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The site features research and opinion from SAP, the EIU and other partners exploring successful M2M business models and scenarios.

M2M communication is slated to significantly impact the way critical services are delivered over the next decade. Significant barriers remain, including technical complexity, regulatory hurdles and a fragmented ecosystem that will need to be overcome in order to open the way for innovative products and services. In an effort to capture key insights into how the major players in this space plan to leverage and monetize M2M communication, SAP commissioned the EIU and Informa Telecoms & Media to conduct independent research.

The EIU report, “Rise of the machines: Moving from hype to reality in the burgeoning market for machine-to-machine communication,” is based on in-depth interviews with 18 companies from multiple industries, including automotive, healthcare and energy, and examines the business models behind successful M2M applications.

“M2M is beginning to fulfill its promise, with several successful applications already in the field,” said Jason Sumner, senior editor, EIU. “The next step is to create a platform for innovation by standardizing technologies, forming partnerships within the industry and demonstrating the benefits to consumers.”

The Informa report, “M2M Communications, Turning Potential into Profit,” surveyed more than 250 M2M telecommunications industry stakeholders from 50 countries. Results show that there is no such thing as a “typical” M2M deal, tariff or profit margin and that developing a sustainable M2M strategy requires looking beyond a service connectivity role to provide value-add, differentiated services.

“M2M service providers are at a fork in the road: either be excellent at delivering M2M data or at interpreting what the data means,” said Camille Mendler, principal analyst. Informa. “We believe that long-term profitability lies in offering more than data transport.”

To access this research and more M2M thought leadership from SAP, visit http://digitalresearch.eiu.com/m2m. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Recent Customers Including Hillcrest Foods and Reiss Hardware turn to VAI to Achieve Significant ROI from their ERP Investment

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), a leading ERP software provider and the 2012 IBM Beacon Award Winner for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses, today announced that it continues to see mid-sized companies across distribution, manufacturing, retail and services markets turn to its S2K Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to help automate procedures, streamline operations and improve overall productivity.

Located in a 40,000 square foot facility in Saratoga Springs, NY, Hillcrest Foods, Inc. is a wholesale distributor of bakery ingredients, dairy products, specialty items, gourmet food products, and disposables. Hillcrest Foods delivers to bakeries, co-ops, industrial food processors, restaurants and pizzerias throughout the Northeast. A fleet of trucks and drivers service customers across 8 states, stretching from Pennsylvania to Maine. The company will implement S2K Enterprise Management Software to help improve overall operation efficiency and increase sales with the use of ecommerce.

Reiss Wholesale Hardware is the premier distributor of hardware, hand tools, power tools and power accessories in the greater New York area. Serving retail stores throughout the five boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey and the Philadelphia area, the company offers competitive pricing on more then 10,000 products from over 120 major vendors and manufacturers, as well as its own private label product line, Tuff Stuff. The company will implement S2K Enterprise Management Software to help expedite orders, achieve inventory accuracy and increase customer service and satisfaction.

“VAI’s long-standing success with companies like Hillcrest and Reiss shows how S2K is truly a cross-industry solution for the mid-market,” said Dan Bivona, sales director, VAI. “These customers sought an ERP software package robust and scalable enough to provide the critical features and functions they need to help significantly grow their business, so we are proud they selected VAI to help them achieve that goal.”

International Relief and Humanitarian Aid Organization Uses Oracle’s Primavera EPPM to Improve Collaboration and Efficiencies

To help support its mission of responding as quickly and efficiently as possible to help people in need, AmeriCares, a nonprofit international relief and humanitarian aid organization, is implementing Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM).

In 2011 alone, AmeriCares sent more than 3,500 shipments to 95 countries in response to both ongoing humanitarian needs and more than two dozen emergencies, including deadly tornadoes and storms in the U.S. and the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

With such large, complex and critical global relief and aid operations, AmeriCares is an excellent candidate for the comprehensive project management solution to help ensure its processes are as efficient as possible, because time means aid is delivered more quickly and at a lower cost. As it implements the Primavera P6 EPPM, AmeriCares is able to create an open, collaborative and integrated environment to manage the entire project portfolio lifecycle, including project costs and scheduling.

Oracle’s Primavera P6 EPPM helps AmeriCares streamline communications and eliminate information silos by enabling all project participants to leverage a common platform to manage the delivery of donated medicines, medical supplies and humanitarian aid to people in the U.S. and around the globe. The implementation is also empowering team members to proactively address problems, while new standardized processes and best practices have increased collaboration and improved productivity across the global AmeriCares team.

Oracle’s Primavera P6 EPPM is part of an Oracle donation of nearly $900,000 worth of products and services to support AmeriCares Emergency Response program.

“Whether we’re shipping IV solutions to cholera victims in Haiti or antibiotics to famine victims in Somalia, we need to get the medicines there sooner to help people in immediate need and even to save lives,” said Kate Sears, senior vice president for finance and technology at AmeriCares. “With Oracle’s Primavera, we have a comprehensive solution that is helping us standardize processes, improve collaboration and increase efficiencies. As a result, we can do our distribution even better.”

About Oracle Applications

Over 65,000 customers worldwide rely on Oracle’s complete, open and integrated enterprise applications to achieve superior results. Oracle provides a secure path for customers to benefit from the latest technology advances that improve the customer software experience and drive better business performance. Oracle Applications Unlimited is Oracle’s commitment to customer choice through continuous investment and innovation in current applications offerings. Oracle’s next-generation Fusion Applications build upon that commitment, and are designed to work with and evolve Oracle’s Applications Unlimited offerings. Oracle’s lifetime support policy helps ensure customers will continue to have a choice in upgrade paths, based on their enterprise needs. For more information on the latest Oracle Applications releases go to: www.oracle.com/applications.

NetSuite Inc., the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced that six of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies and more than 10 of the Top 10 By Industries ranked by Fast Company Magazine run their mission-critical business processes, from financials to CRM to Ecommerce and professional services automation (PSA), on NetSuite. This reflects how NetSuite’s cloud-based business management solutions help power innovation by liberating companies from the onerous chores of on-premise systems installation, upgrades and maintenance to focus on delivering compelling products and services. Cloud-based solutions enable companies to avoid large upfront costs for software, servers and personnel, freeing capital for investment into innovation.

NetSuite customers honored by Fast Company include:

• Airbnb ( www.airbnb.com ): Top 50 Most Innovative, Top 10 Web/Internet
• Jawbone ( www.jawbone.com ): Top 50 Most Innovative, Top 10 Consumer Electronics
• Kiva Systems ( www.kivasystems.com ): Top 50 Most Innovative, Top 10 Retail
• Liquid Robotics ( www.liquidr.com ): Top 50 Most Innovative
• Siemens ( www.siemens.com ): Top 50 Most Innovative
• Square ( www.squareup.com ): Top 50 Most Innovative, Top 10 Consumer Electronics, Top 10 Mobile, Top 10 Finance
• 2tor ( www.2tor.com ): Top 10 Education
• 3M ( www.3m.com ): Top 10 Healthcare
• Lytro ( www.lytro.com ): Top 10 Consumer Electronics
• Valve ( www.valvesoftware.com ): Top 10 Gaming
• Warby Parker ( www.warbyparker.com ): Top 10 Retail
• Yammer ( www.yammer.com ): Top 10 Social Media

NetSuite customers are represented in 10 of the 16 industries for which Fast Company named Top 10 most innovative companies by verticals, including finance, consumer electronics, retail, healthcare, education, social media, gaming, Web/Internet and mobile. Overall, NetSuite customers are named 19 times in Fast Company’s Top 50 and industry-specific Top 10 lists.

“Fast Company’s recognition of NetSuite customers for innovation in a broad range of verticals illustrates that cloud business management has moved into the mainstream as a trusted solution in such industries as finance, retail, healthcare and more,” said Jim McGeever, Chief Operating Officer at NetSuite. “NetSuite’s cutting-edge cloud solutions provide the flexibility and agility our customers require to continue to produce the game-changing innovations that keep them at the forefront of their respective industries, free of the entanglements of on-premise software.”

Jawbone ( www.jawbone.com), a maker of products and services for the mobile lifestyle, has been recognized as an innovator on both the Top 50 overall and Top 10 in consumer electronics lists. The company has facilitated rapid growth by replacing QuickBooks and spreadsheets with NetSuite, including the NetSuite manufacturing module for materials resource planning, inventory management, standard costing and more. “As a growing company with international manufacturing and distribution, NetSuite allows us to streamline our resources by building our business on a single system,” said Marin Tchakarov, VP of Finance and Controller at Jawbone.

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/financial 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.

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

abas ERP enables abas-USA customers to experience significant growth and diversify their product offering.

Alan Salton, President of abas-USA, says, “One of the most important features of next generation ERP software is the total flexibility that comes from owning the technology stack, including the embedded database, the basis of abas Business Software. Business growth requires change. The flexibility of abas ERP’s multi-tiered architecture matches that growth, easily adaptable to industry or company specific requirements, without impacting standard functionality or limiting upgrade paths.”

With abas ERP, customers can incorporate virtually any business rule into the system without being locked into any version. ABAS guarantees US customers a 24-hour version upgrade, including the porting over of any of their unique changes in the system.

PJ Jakovljevic from Technology Evaluation Centers recently wrote, “ABAS’s flexibility gives ABAS a major advantage in product development planning and innovation, allowing the vendor to plan and develop to whatever end goal it needs… ABAS also engages the open source community to incorporate products and services that can create value to its customers. [It] allows for computer aided design (CAD) integration and integration into Web services, such as Avalara for sales tax, or ADP for HR.”

abas ERP can be integrated with SolidWorks, Microsoft Office, Open Office and Google Apps, and mobile solutions, business intelligence and document management are included in the standard.

Rob Honeycutt, Co-CEO of SafeRack Loading Technologies, says, “abas ERP accommodates our unique requirements for contract billing, custom invoice templates, SolidWorks integration and dashboard reporting. These abas features allow SafeRack to enable significant growth and to diversify our product offering, the 2 key factors of our success.”

As we have pointed out in previous blogs and industry presentations, creating a business blueprint is critical to a successful ERP implementation. While most ERP software vendors, consultants, and system integrators claim to focus on business processes, most don’t do it well. In fact, a simple review of most ERP business blueprint deliverables that other system integrators and consultants have created even for some of our more complex client organizations leave much to be desired (see example below).

With that being said, our experience and research shows that a contributing factor high ERP failure rates is that lack of focus on business process management, mapping and blueprinting.

Before clarifying the difference between full-blown business process management and business blueprinting, it is first helpful to understand the importance of this critical activity. Succinctly, an organization’s business processes serve as the foundation of the entire implementation. In other words, several key activities – including training documentation, conference room pilot testing, organizational change management, system security profiles, end-user training delivery and benefits realization – all rely on clearly defined business processes. Without clearly defining business processes, organizational roles and responsibilities in the new system, and related performance metrics, organizations will undoubtedly end up with an ERP system that is misaligned with business needs and fails to deliver the expected business benefits. In other words, it’s no coincidence that most implementations fail to deliver expected business benefits (over 50% according to our 2012 ERP Report) and at the same time fail to focus on effective business process management.

Here are five things to look for when evaluating whether or not your project has the right degree of focus on business process management:

1. Software configuration checklists versus end-to-end business process workflows. The thing to remember about most ERP consultants and system integrators is that they are focused on software functionality, not your business, so most of their perspective focuses on defining what they need to know in order to configure the software appropriately. While this is certainly important to a successful implementation, it is a myopic focus that typically results in ill-defined end-to-end business processes and diluted user acceptance of the new processes. For example, we have found that most SAP system integrators’ business blueprint deliverables typically read like a high-level list of business requirements rather than a robust series of documentation that help employees understand the detailed end-to-end workflows. If this is the case for your ERP implementation, then you may want to revisit your overall business process management approach to ensure your project team has a more effective focus.

2. As-is versus to-be business processes. Although companies implement ERP software with the intent of improving and automating business processes, most end up with a product that largely “paves the cowpaths” by replicating legacy operational inefficiencies. This is the symptom of the deeper issue, which is lack of focus on defining “to-be” business processes. ERP vendors and system integrators further compound this problem by over-selling and misrepresenting things like “pre-configured solutions” and “industry best practices,” which are typically simply inventories of ways that past clients have automated their inefficient business operations. This is why organizations that are the most successful in their ERP implementations are the ones that take the time to define their to-be business processes prior to implementing new software rather than relying on the smoke and mirrors of industry best practices baked into the software, which typically don’t exist.

3. Business process mapping versus optimization and re-engineering. In addition to a focus on to-be versus as-is processes, one of the significant benefits of true business process management is the focus on improving business processes. Even among the few system integrators’ that have some level of focus on business process mapping, most hone in on simply documenting business processes rather than identifying measurable ways that these processes can be improved. Panorama’s business process management approach, on the other hand, embeds key components of lean Six Sigma and other business process improvement methodologies to ensure that clients define and implement processes that truly improve operations in a measurable way. So when evaluating your ERP project’s focus on optimizing and re-engineering business processes, look at how well your team or consulting firm incorporates solid methodologies and business experience into the project.

4. Business process implementation prior to and during the ERP system rollout. Well-defined business processes – no matter how much better they look on paper – are worthless if they are not adopted by your organization, and they won’t be adopted by your employees if you don’t take key steps to implement those new business processes. Perhaps the most flawed approach when it comes to this is to assume that simply implementing new software with better processes will result in improved business processes, which simply is not true. Employees need to be trained on new business processes, including how exactly the business processes will flow and what their role will be in the new environment, which is too much to cover in end-user training just a few weeks before go-live. For this reason, many of our clients hire us to help implement process changes and improvements in parallel — or even before — the ERP implementation. This helps spoon feed the changes to employees and enables the organization to recognize immediate business benefits even before the software is implemented.

5. Organizational roles, responsibilities and changes. New business processes and better ERP systems to support those processes are great, but it’s the people and the organization that will make those changes happen. In order for full acceptance and business benefits to take place, employees need to understand, embrace and own the business process changes, including their roles and responsibilities in the new operational model, the specific changes that they need to be aware of, and other key messages necessary from an organizational change management perspective. Unlike our competitors, Panorama bakes key organizational change management activities such as these into its business process management and approach.

At the end of the day, a business blueprint is important to an ERP implementation. In fact, it is a key deliverable of our extensive business process management services we provide to our ERP clients. However, it is only one component of a more comprehensive business process management methodology, which is one of the key reasons why most ERP consultants and system integrators have historically failed in their attempts to implement ERP software.

Learn more by attending our webinar, Business Process Management: A Critical Success Factor of ERP Implementations, on May 10 at 10 a.m. MT.

The interactive three-day event will feature the presentation of the inaugural IQMS Manufacturing Success Award

IQMS, a manufacturing ERP software developer with an ongoing, proactive commitment to its product and relationships, today announced the opening of registration for its User Group 2012 conference. A three-day interactive event that combines unmatched industry networking, best practice discussions and software development collaboration, the IQMS User Group 2012 will be held Oct. 16-18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Attendees will receive insider access to the future direction of both the company and its software development goals as they gain insight into how others are deploying the system for optimal software utilization. Agenda highlights include a direct line to software enhancement suggestions with IQMS staff, a private welcome reception, new development and product reviews and unrivaled peer networking opportunities.

“At the conclusion of every User Group conference, we hear an onslaught of comments from our attendees praising the opportunity to discuss business processes with other engaged users and exchange ideas and suggestions with key IQMS employees,” said Glenn Nowak, vice president at IQMS. “There is a renewed enthusiasm to drive continuous improvement at their plants and appreciation for both

A high point of the User Group 2012 conference will be the presentation of the inaugural IQMS Manufacturing Success Award. Recognizing operational excellence and leadership, the IQMS Manufacturing Success Awards highlight a project or initiative that exhibits a commitment to industry success and business improvement through areas such as the adoption of technology, customer service excellence, innovative company processes that drive competitive advantages, sustainable practices, etc.

“IQMS clients are frontrunners in their respective industries and are changing the future of manufacturing every day,” said Nowak. “Our hope is that the IQMS Manufacturing Success Awards identify and recognize industry leaders who can offer advice to other companies and demonstrate examples of best practices in an effort to further both technical and knowledge advancement.”

For more information about IQMS’ upcoming User Group 2012 conference, please visit: http://www.iqms.com/services/user_groups.html. For more information about the IQMS Manufacturing Success Awards, please visit: http://www.iqms.com/services/manufacturing-awards.html.

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced Citizen Machinery Asia Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer and exporter of CNC (Computer Numerical control) has selected Lawson M3 ERP Enterprise in Thailand to help optimize its manufacturing processes and improve its business performance and productivity.

“Infor clearly understands our business model and the operational objectives that we are looking to achieve. With our business expanding rapidly, there is a need to find a solution that can respond to our growing requirements. Our new partnership with Infor will help us meet our objectives through the implementation of a system designed for product planning, real time access to critical information, warehouse control and mobility,” said Mr. Tahnon Chaithavuthi, Manager Administrative Dept of Citizen Machinery Asia Co., Ltd. “Each productivity process is needed in planning and quality control. Lawson M3 ERP Enterprise, a world class ERP system, is the one that can meet our needs.”

“Lawson M3 ERP Enterprise has strong productivity and planning modules. The Infor team in Thailand is very experienced in implementation and system consultation which makes us confident that we will soon reap results from our investment,” said Ms. Nuntana Ponlaem, Assistant Manager Production Control at Citizen Machinery Asia Co., Ltd.

“Citizen Machinery Asia requires accurate real-time information to optimize the company’s production plans and decision-making process. They need a solution that can help them increase production quality and quality control in order to provide excellent products to their customers. Lawson M3 ERP Enterprise is designed to assist in reducing operational overheads and supporting operational efficiencies in complex manufacturing environments like Citizen Machinery Asia, providing the right information to make accurate decisions,” said Ms. Benjawan Aksornsri, Managing Director, Lawson (Thailand) Co., Ltd, an Infor Channel Partner.

“Lawson M3 ERP Enterprise enables manufacturers like Citizen Machinery Asia to monitor transactions throughout their organization, including manufacturing operations, supply chain activities, customer and supplier relationships, warehouse and distribution processes,” said David Hope, President, Asia Pacific South, Infor. “Citizen Machinery will therefore be able to streamline their operations and increase visibility while significantly enhancing the management of their operational assets.”

About Citizen Machinery Asia Co., Ltd.

Citizen Machinery Asia is the overseas subsidiary of Citizen Machinery Miyano Co., Ltd. In Thailand. A leading Manufacturer and exporter of CNC (Computer Numerical control), it produces and distributes high-precision parts for various high-tech industries and has been operating in Thailand since 2001.

IFS North America has announced additional software licenses in support of the Joint Strike Fighter program. The increased license sale is part of a larger and ongoing framework agreement for IFS Applications software licenses.

“But what matters more to us is the feeling that comes from knowing that IFS Applications is a significant part of our country’s defense infrastructure, and the defense infrastructures of other nations worldwide.”

The contract enables additional IFS Applications deployments over the lifecycle of the program in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole craft designed for ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capabilities. The F-35 includes three models: a conventional takeoff and landing model, a short take off and vertical-landing model and a model designed for deployment on aircraft carriers.

IFS Applications is a part of the Joint Strike Fighter Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) for support of the operation, including supply chain management. The open architecture and inherent connectivity of IFS Applications will allow interface with the ALIS system to provide critical supply chain information to ensure optimal availability of material and aircraft readiness.

“Aerospace and defense has been and will continue to be a growing and important sector for IFS around the world,” IFS North America Vice President for Aerospace and Defense Kevin Deal said. “But what matters more to us is the feeling that comes from knowing that IFS Applications is a significant part of our country’s defense infrastructure, and the defense infrastructures of other nations worldwide.”

Aerospace and defense is one of IFS’ targeted market segments. IFS Applications™ provides market leading off-the-shelf component based solutions that support Performance Based Logistics (PBL), Contractor Logistics Support (CLS), and Fleet Operator programs; and solutions for Defense Manufacturing, Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO), Asset & Fleet Management, Supply Chain Management and Product Lifecycle Management.

Customers include the United States Army and Air Force Materiel Commands, British Navy and Army and the Norwegian Navy and Air Force; as well as the Eurofighter consortium—commercial MRO shops and service operators include Sabreliner, Bristow Helicopters, Aero-Dienst GmbH, K&L Microwave, Hawker Pacific, Ensign Bickford, Todd Pacific Shipyards and Lufthansa Technik Qantas (LTQ, formerly known as Jet Turbine Systems). In addition, IFS provides solutions to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, BAE SYSTEMS, SAAB, and GE Aircraft Engines.

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced that The Superyacht Group has consolidated its sales, marketing and financial operations on NetSuite. By eliminating inefficient point solutions such as QuickBooks and Filemaker Pro, The Superyacht Group has refined its processes across its separate business departments — magazine and website publishing, event hosting, marketing consultancy and creative services — into one central system, providing accurate, real-time financial and customer information and aiding in substantial year-over-year growth from 2009 onward. With NetSuite’s cloud solution at the nucleus of its operations, The Superyacht Group has been able to expand into three new market segments.

NetSuite has also enabled The Superyacht Group to reap the benefits of rapid international growth, increased productivity and more efficient business processes. “NetSuite has transformed how we run our business. By taking the suite approach and integrating our core operations into one system, we’re able to identify business trends faster and better measure how we’re performing against targets. As a result of the efficiencies created by NetSuite, we’ve also increased our revenues by roughly 20 percent, simply because our salespeople can handle a greater volume of leads,” said Pedro Müller, Strategy Director at The Superyacht Group. “In addition, we now get invoices out in minutes, compared to weeks, and we cut our receivables backlog by 70 percent thanks to improvements to our financial processes. The productivity of our sales representatives has increased by as much as 80 percent due to NetSuite.”

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 systems 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 in a recent Gartner study naming NetSuite as the fastest growing top 10 financial management systems vendor in the world. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud ERP/financials 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.

Follow NetSuite’s Cloud blog, NetSuite’s Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.

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

Panorama Consulting has done it again. After years of publishing independent thought leadership, expert analyses of ERP implementation trends, and blog post after blog post about our ideas on, experiences with and recommendations for enterprise software implementations and benefits realization, we have again raised the bar. Our latest entry in the ERP canon, so to speak, comes to you from president Eric Kimberling in the form of a new book entitled An Expert’s Guide to ERP Success. We have already uploaded the Introduction and Chapter 1: Strategies for Preparedness and, much in the style of Mark Twain, will serialize the rest of the content for publication throughout the summer. (That’s the last Mark Twain comparison we’ll make though, promise.)

Free to download, print and share, An Expert’s Guide to ERP Success brings the reader through the extraordinary journey of an ERP project — from preparation and planning to vendor and ERP software analysis to organizational change management and benefits realization and much more — all from the eyes of Eric Kimberling, an ERP expert who has “been there and done that” too many times to count. With short, easy-to-read discussions and bullet points about the critical success factors (and failure points) of ERP initiatives, this book should serve as your guide to making ERP software work right for — and with — your individual organization.

The chapters (and anticipated dates of publication) are listed below:

Introduction (April 6, 2012 Published)

Chapter 1. Strategies for Preparedness (April 20, 2012 Published)

Chapter 2. ERP Software and Vendor Selection (May 11, 2012)

Chapter 3. Analysis of Specific Systems (May 18, 2012)

Chapter 4. Analysis of Vendors (June 1, 2012)

Chapter 5. Planning for Implementation (June 15, 2012)

Chapter 6. Achieving Implementation (June 29, 2012)

Chapter 7. Organizational Change Management (July 13, 2012)

Chapter 8. Realizing Benefits and ROI (July 27, 2012)

Chapter 9. ERP Implementation Challenges . . . and Failures (August 10, 2012)

Chapter 10. Looking Forward (August 24, 2012)

Mark your calendar for these release dates and check back to download the latest chapter as it becomes available. Please note that while the content is free, first-time visitors will have to register at the site to access the An Expert’s Guide to ERP Success.

New Set-Up Strengthens Focus on Growth, Innovation, Operational Excellence;

Lars Dalgaard and Robert Enslin Join Global Managing Board in Addition to All Current Executive Board Members;

Co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe to Focus on Strategy and Execution for Faster Delivery of Customer Value

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that it has created a Global Managing Board to lead the company. This body was established in addition to the SAP Executive Board, which retains ultimate responsibility for overseeing and deciding on the activities of the company. The Global Managing Board allows SAP to appoint a broader range of global leaders to help steer the organization. All current Executive Board members as well as Lars Dalgaard and Robert Enslin will join the Global Managing Board. The SAP Supervisory Board also appointed Dalgaard to the SAP Executive Board.

After the full integration of Sybase and the recent acquisition of SuccessFactors, the establishment of the Global Managing Board will help SAP drive innovation and scale faster in its core markets as well as in its new categories: mobile, database/in-memory and cloud. A re-assignment of responsibilities within this expanded leadership team will help the company further strengthen its focus on customers, growth and operational excellence.

SAP Co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe will continue to concentrate on SAP’s strategy development and execution. They will oversee and drive strategy and the innovation portfolio across all markets, further deepen key relationships with customers and partners and ensure operational excellence across all board areas.

Enslin will assume responsibility for all global sales and ecosystem and channels activities to further strengthen SAP’s go-to-market approach by fostering customer relationships and accelerating value delivery. The Global Customer Operations organization and Enslin will continue to report into McDermott.

Dalgaard will lead the company’s new cloud business unit, which combines all cloud assets of SAP and SuccessFactors to drive market leadership in the cloud for businesses.

Gerd Oswald will be responsible for all on-premise delivery, including development of applications, global services, solution and knowledge packaging, as well as the SAP Active Global Support organization. This will enable SAP to simplify the consumption of on-premise solutions and accelerate innovation without disruption for SAP customers.

Vishal Sikka continues to be responsible for technology and innovation. In his role as chief technology officer (CTO), he is responsible for all technology of the company as well as for research and incubation. He specifically drives development in the areas of analytics, database and technology, mobile and the flagship in-memory computing platform SAP HANA®.

Werner Brandt remains chief financial officer of SAP, overseeing all finance and administration functions of SAP. He also continues as interim head of Human Resources

“Over the past two years we’ve transformed SAP into a faster, leaner, more innovative company while doubling our addressable market,” said McDermott and Snabe. “With Lars and Robert joining our new Global Managing Board, we now have the right set up to innovate and scale solutions across our five market categories powered by SAP HANA.The Global Managing Board will drive customer centricity, expand our market leadership and execute on our ambition to exceed EUR20 billion in total revenue with a 35 percent operating margin by 2015.”

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

When fully implemented, a lean manufacturing strategy transforms the entire manufacturing enterprise by cutting waste and removing non-value added processes. In general, a manufacturer puts into place a lean strategy by:

• Cultivating a culture of continuous improvement
• Streamlining processes and creating a well ordered work environment
• Adopting lean principles company-wide, from senior leadership to production workers

The Role of ERP Systems

ERP systems can play a key role in facilitating lean manufacturing by continually measuring and monitoring key production metrics. A powerful approach is to redesign workflows to follow a lean strategy during ERP implementation. When implemented strategically, manufacturing ERP software provides a lean foundation by capturing mission-critical data that crosses a variety of functional areas including production, inventory management, LERP (lean enterprise resource planning), logistics, scheduling and more.

It’s been my experience that the most successful manufacturers achieve lean success when they use ERP to track and monitor the following metrics from their ERP systems:

• Equipment reliability data
• Organized, documented work instructions
• Material flows
• Defect, production quality metrics
• Customer demand requirements
• Inventory levels

While not an exhaustive list, the areas above have one thing in common: successful manufacturers use their ERP solutions to clearly see operations via continuously monitored data that is available throughout the organization.

By measuring production data relative to material flow, production traceability, resource performance, production quality and other areas, manufacturers gain a better ability to identify continuous improvement opportunities and remove waste.

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.

How a company handles its complex selling strategies tells the outside world who you are as a company. The best complex selling systems free companies to spend more time with their customers, not just creating proposals and quotes. The decision to either build a complex selling system or purchase one can be a daunting task, but looking into lessons learned can help steer you in the right direction.

This is according to the white paper “Build vs. Buy: Making the Best Decision on Your Complex Selling System” presented by Cincom Systems that examines the difference in building a homegrown complex selling system or purchasing one that is enterprise-wide.

“The best companies treat proposals and quotes as a means to build trust, not just complete a transaction,” says Louis Columbus, author of the white paper. “As a result, the best complex selling systems liberate companies.  They set sales free to spend more time with customers face to face.”

“Build vs. Buy: Making the Best Decision on Your Complex Selling System” answers the following questions:

• What can a complex selling system do for me and my company?
• Can an internally developed proposal and quoting system scale beyond a given product strategy?
• Is it difficult to manage a price list, product, service, warranty and discontinued model data in a complex selling system?
• Is it difficult to capture the information my company already knows with a complex selling system?

“How you sell on any given day says more about your company than years’ worth of advertising or public relations,” says Louis Columbus.

To download Cincom’s “Build vs. Buy: Making the Best Decision on Your Complex Selling System,” visit http://ow.ly/akWL5.

The ERP consulting profession has unfortunately received a few black eyes in the 15 years that I have been in the field. During the late 1990s, consulting firms were flush with cash as their client organizations scrambled to hire them to solve the Y2K problem with new enterprise systems, which led to cost overruns, failures and inflated consulting bills. While Y2K is no longer an issue, the real problem unfortunately hasn’t subsided. Our research and expert witness experience continues to show that ERP failure rates are still as high as they’ve ever been, even among those organizations that use outside consultants.

To add insult to injury, the industry has seen some high-profile and widely publicized failures over the last few years. Waste Management, Lumber Liquidators, and a host of other implementation failures in the media highlighted how their projects failed and/or resulted in lawsuits, despite the fact that many of them looked to outside consultants to help with the implementations. These companies relied on experts, but somehow their ERP implementations went sorely over budget, took much longer than expected, and failed to deliver the business benefits they had expected. Whether implementing SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, a Tier II ERP system, or any other enterprise application, companies seem to have trouble with their ERP initiatives, whether they use consultants or not.

New York City recently had ERP consultant troubles of its own in relation to the City’s botched implementation of its CityTime payroll and time reporting system (functionality that organizations often implement as part of their ERP or Human Capital Management [HCM] systems). After spending nearly 14 years and more than $650 million on the large-scale implementation, the City realized that their Project Manager from SAIC, its system integrator, had received $5 million in kickbacks from the City. Although the system eventually went live with over 100,000 City employees, the scandal exposed a great deal of consulting incompetency and a lack of oversight and controls, and resulted in $500 million in refunded consulting fees. As a result of this scandal, the City is going to the other extreme by minimizing its use of consultants and instead building an internal team of resources to manage the CityTime project going forward.

While the City’s unfortunate plight may be an extreme example of ERP consultants gone bad – or perhaps an entertaining episode of Showtime’s “House of Lies” show about the management consulting industry – it does expose some realities and things to consider when evaluating potential ERP consultants for your organization’s enterprise software, CRM, HCM or business intelligence software initiatives. How can organizations leverage the skills of outside consultants when the risk of failure still exists? How can executives handle the complexities of their ERP initiatives when the internal competencies aren’t there and the skills are so hard to find? What is the right balance of doing it yourself versus leaning on outside experts?

The short answer is that it is important to find the right balance. The do-it-yourself approach has been proven to fail, as has the opposite model of letting consultants run rampant with the project (and the checkbook). Below are three things to consider when assembling the internal and external teams for your ERP software initiative:

1. What project controls and governance do you have in place? As was learned in New York, nothing replaces good project governance and controls. Even with the best, smartest and most ethical consulting team in place, the project will fail if the right governance and controls aren’t established up front and monitored throughout the project. Panorama’s PERFECT Path implementation methodology, for example, includes tight project controls to help clients take ownership of, have visibility into, and control the outcome of the project, while at the same time leveraging our team’s project management expertise and proven ERP methodologies.

2. What is the right balance for you? The do-it-yourself model is clearly just as broken, if not more broken, than the “100% outsourced to consultants” ERP implementation model. Most companies need a balance somewhere between the two extremes, but they will fall in slightly different parts of the spectrum based on their unique needs. For instance, organizations with very little internal ERP knowledge and/or bandwidth to take on large, complex enterprise systems projects may err more on the side of external consulting guidance. Some companies, on the other hand, have strong project managers and employees with ERP implementation battle scars, so they may err more on the side of leveraging internal resources. 

3. What value can be provided by a system integrator versus an ERP consultant? As I posted in last week’s blog Hiring a System Integrator vs. Hiring an ERP Consultant, there is a big difference between a system integrator, value-added reseller, or software consultant that focuses myopically on the technical aspects of an implementation, versus a more business-centric ERP consultant that understands project management, business process design, organizational change management, and the host of other more important activities that are critical to implementation success. This is a subtle but important distinction that should be considered when assembling your team. In my years of industry experience, I’ve found that most consultants and system integrators in the ERP space are of the more technically-focused variety, which is a big part of why the industry gets such a bad rap and served as the impetus for starting Panorama.

At the end of the day, the right ERP consultants can make your enterprise software initiatives successful. While Panorama has a very positive track record of success and very satisfied clients, most of the traditional industry players do things the way they have always been, leading to the same flawed results. Finding the right consulting team with the right methodology, business focus, and project controls can be a good way to balance the skills and competencies missing from your internal team.

If you’d like to learn more about the key differentiators between ERP failure and success, please join us for our Lessons Learned From Failed ERP Implementations webinar on April 26 at 10 a.m. MT.