The Times They Are a-Changin’: Assessing the Viability of ERP Vendors
When guiding our clients through the ERP selection process, we often hear executives say that they are concerned about the viability of their ERP vendors. Even after we’ve confirmed that a product is the best functional fit, made sure it meets the business requirements of the organization, and negotiated a great contract for our clients, the viability of ERP software vendors is often the last unresolved concern for client CFOs and CIOs. After all, it is the job of executives to mitigate risk and ensure the long-term success of their organizations, so it only makes sense that the last thing they would want is a recently purchased ERP system to be discontinued or not supported as a result of an acquisition.
ERP software vendor viability has become even more relevant with the recent merger and acquisition activity in the enterprise software market. For example, Infor recently acquired Lawson, Epicor and Activant were acquired as part of a private equity buyout, and JD Edwards and PeopleSoft were both acquired by Oracle several years ago. Some of the leading ERP vendors, including Oracle, Infor, and SAP, have been extremely aggressive in acquiring other ERP software solutions, as well as best of breed points solutions, to augment their core solution offerings. With each of these acquisitions comes uncertainty – will the new parent company continue providing maintenance and support? Will it invest in future enhancements? Or will it force a costly and risky migration to another product?
These are all valid questions and concerns. And although it is impossible to predict the future, there are common signs that could give some insight into whether or not a company is on the chopping block. Here are three things to look for when determining whether or not an ERP vendor is ripe for an acquisition:
Product roadmap. Companies typically stop investing R&D in their product if they are looking to sell in the near future. For example, we have been hearing from some of Oracle’s competitors for the last several years that the company was going to stop supporting JD Edwards as part of their acquisition of the product. However, this still has yet to happen. In fact, some of our team members just last week attended the JD Edwards Summit near Denver and learned about the company’s roadmap for the product through 2026. Companies with no clear roadmap are much more likely to be sold and/or discontinued as part of an acquisition than vendors like JD Edwards who have a clear vision for their future.
Current R&D investments in the product. Another telling sign is the current and recent investment in the ERP software in question. If the product has become stagnant and it becomes apparent that R&D spending is on the decline, this could mean that the product is on the chopping block. Again using JD Edwards as an example, the company recently launched a cutting-edge user interface and mobility solution as part of its core offering – hardly the sign of a product about to be discontinued, despite the fact that a larger company acquired the product. If, on the other hand, the software is still using dated technology, isn’t keeping up with the competition, or doesn’t have a decent size R&D budget, chances are more likely that it is (or will be) a target for another company.
Organizational viability and stability. A third sign to watch for is organizational stability and viability. In other words, does the company look and act like a company that is growing for the future, or one that is trying to maximize short-term results to get a higher valuation in a potential takeover? For example, we had a strong opinion nearly three years ago that Epicor was positioning itself for an acquisition, simply because of the way the company was acting. Although it had just replaced its flagship Vantage product with Epicor 9, it was aggressively cutting professional services staff, offshoring much of its development work to Mexico, and even making cuts within its sales organization. These are typically not indicators of a company that is looking to remain independent in the short-term, which eventually proved to be the case with Epicor.
While it is not always a bad thing for an ERP vendor to be acquired, it is important to understand and mitigate the risks associated with a takeover. An acquisition could mean more R&D muscle behind a product or additional technical strength, or it could result in discontinuation of the product and a forced migration to the parent company’s flagship product. In either case, it creates a level of uncertainty that makes most executives nervous. The associated risks can be managed by ensuring a solid contract with clear SLAs.
For more information about specific companies, access our database of ERP vendor profiles or read the ERP Industry News section of our website.
loading...
2012: ERP Powers the Mobile, Real-Time Enterprise
A good friend of mine recently became CIO of a financial services firm and was given his first major system challenge this month: make the complete accounting, financial and third-party loan provider data and applications available 24/7 on any iPad or Android-based tablet. He’s been given six months to make this happen.
Another CIO of a major A&D manufacturer I know wants vendors to challenge him more to get greater value from his investments with them. He’s also been given the task of revamping accounting and financial systems by October 2012, and they just started last year. He tells me the days of using ERP software to just passively run reports also are numbered.
Considering these two extremes—the young CIO who is just starting out and has been given the challenge of bringing state-of-the-art financial applications to mobile platforms, and the seasoned CIO who must revamp an entire accounting and financial management system in ten months—a series of predictions for 2012 emerge. Instead of playing it safe, I’ve decided to reach on these to make them more interesting, fun and hopefully thought-provoking as well:
Streamlined, intuitive usability of social networks will lead to ERP getting an extreme makeover in 2012 in an effort to drive up system adoption. While strides are being made in this area today, there is still a long way to go until the usability of ERP application suites approaches those of the most popular SaaS-based CRM, supply chain systems and social networks. For CIOs, this is a big win since they can satisfy the wants of many internal departments and customers with a graphical interface upgrade without having to completely replace systems. Look for this to be a major focus area of all ERP vendors in 2012 and a strategy for keeping long-standing systems in place and safely under maintenance for at least a few more years if not more.
Rapid implementations become the new normal. The pressure on the new CIO of a financial services company to deliver a new series of Apple iPad and Android-compatible integrations within six months or less and the pressure to make an entirely new accounting and finance system work in an A&D firm by October 2012 are glimpses into the new normal. Accuracy, speed and quickness with perfect implementations are what the new expectations are based on. ERP implementation timeframes will drastically shrink in 2012, with greater pressure on system integrators and professional services to meet or beat deadlines.
ERP mobility will be a dominant force from the shop floor to each sales call where quotes, orders and contracts deliver real-time order and pricing updates. How a given manufacturer chooses to sell is even more important than what they sell in many industries. Equipping manufacturing, quality assurance, production scheduling, procurement and sales to have immediate data on what’s going on with orders, customers and suppliers is critical. For the sales and service teams, real-time data is the fuel they run on. There’s a chronic time shortage in many, many companies right now, and bringing greater ERP mobility from the shop floor to the sales call will increasingly be seen as a means to lessen the time crunch. 2012 is the year where mobility gets real across the enterprise with solid performance numbers being generated as a result. For companies with large sales forces and service organizations, integrating to key ERP systems to gain real-time data will quickly lead to increased sales and higher gross margins on service and warranty repairs.
Depth and quality of applications, data and legacy integration on mobile devices including tablets will emerge as the new enterprise bling. The iPad is a badge of analytical and executive honor in the financial services industry—the technological equivalent of the corner office with the million-dollar view and mahogany furniture. My good friend who just became a CIO was unsure of just who was a VP or C-level executive during his first staff meeting. He quickly realized the more worn the iPad and case, the more senior the executive. The expectations on him are very high for having real-time updates on a series of benchmarks that the senior management team uses to manage their many businesses on mobile platforms by June.
Cloud-based ERP in the enterprise and highly targeted verticals will flourish and face moderate growth in small and medium businesses (SMBs). Convincing as the arguments are for SMBs to adopt SaaS-based ERP, this will continue to be slower in adoption than enterprises and highly targeted vertical markets. Enterprises will continue to adopt SaaS-based applications to replace legacy, high-maintenance and often marginally effective systems in use today.
Analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) will become the fuel that drives cultural change away from siloed decisions to more collaborative ones. Given how tight the time schedules are for every IT department I’ve visited and know of, the luxury of allowing one set of dashboards and metrics to just measure a single process or silo are gone (or will be in 2012 completely). Little tolerance or patience on the part of CIOs is now commonplace when it comes to esoteric, single-centered dashboards and metrics. The good news is that dashboards are extremely easy to create now, especially on top of Microsoft-based analytics and databases. That’s also part of the bad news too. Dashboards are proliferating and are often used to define a given department’s agenda without focusing on shared outcomes. In 2012, this will change as dashboards and metrics that measure collaboration become required for continued investment.
Template-driven implementations will become more commonplace in the mid-market. For many enterprises in the mid-tier of the market, there’s going to be much more of a focus on getting up and running quickly and less on tailoring every possible customization option in an ERP module or entirely new system. Template-driven implementations will also become commonplace in cloud-based ERP systems and solution packages sold to vertical market industries. The good news is that implementation timeframes will drop. The bad news is that not so much customization means potentially inflexible systems. Common areas where this strategy will be used are project management and scheduling, business performance management, contract lifecycle management, product lifecycle management, program management, project-based supply chain management and service lifecycle management. These templates will be especially useful in industries where compliance is critical to passing government audits, for example in the pharmaceutical industry.
Value-based measurements of ERP will become more commonplace. Given how much pressure there is on CIOs to show how investments in IT are paying off, value-based measurements will become even more commonplace in 2012 than they are today. The challenge of isolating just which aspect of an enterprise system delivered cost reductions or revenue gains is an area of ongoing debate in many companies. These value-based measurements provide a structure for determining just how much of a contribution ERP investments are making or not.
Highly specialized ERP platforms will accelerate system adoption and value and will transform manufacturers in the process. Look for Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others to create world-class alliances and partnerships that are focused on creating highly specialized ERP platforms that will disrupt the existing enterprise software product development, selling and service models.
Bottom line: More collaborative use of analytics, adoption of mobile ERP applications primarily in sales and service and shortened implementation timeframes all show just how time-constrained enterprises are right now. Enterprises are in search of systems that will help alleviate the time shortages that nearly every one of them is facing today.
Note: The inclusion of guest posts on the Panorama website does not imply endorsement of any specific product or service. Panorama is, and always will remain, completely independent and vendor-neutral.
If you are interested in guest blogging opportunities, click to read more about our submission guidelines.
loading...
Panorama’s Yearly ERP Industry Wrap-up: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of 2011
With another year quickly drawing to an end and our predictions for ERP in 2012 already in place, we thought it would be worth taking a look back at the past year in the ERP industry. As we reflect on the major milestones of 2011, it reminds us of the large spectrum of positive and negative industry incidents. For example, on one hand, Panorama Consulting continued its growth and success by merging with The Prescott Group while, on the other hand, several high-profile organizations failed miserably in their attempts to implement ERP systems.
Here is a look back at three of the major milestones of 2011:
Proliferation of ERP failures and lawsuits. Even with the economy still in the dumps and CFOs and CIOs more risk-averse than ever, lawsuits, fraud and project failures continued to grab headlines. For instance, Lumber Liquidators, CareSource Management Group, Tesco Bank, Whaley Foodservice Repairs, and the City of New York all reported failed or troubled ERP implementations in 2012, reminding us all how awry ERP projects can go if they are not managed well. Case in point: the CityTime payroll system implementation, which had an initial budget of $63 million and rapidly grew to $760 million in actual costs, along with allegations of kickbacks amongst the project’s system integrators and sub-contractors. While our firm will undoubtedly provide ERP expert witness testimony in several high-profile lawsuits in the coming year, we would much rather be earning our revenue by helping companies do ERP right the first time. Hopefully, these examples serve as reminders of the value of independent ERP consulting experts to help select and implement enterprise software effectively.
Industry growth and consolidation. Despite the accelerating rate of ERP failures, the industry as a whole showed continued signs of life in a tough economy. Panorama expanded its reach into new industries, service areas, and geographies by merging with The Prescott Group to form Panorama Consulting Solutions, while Infor continued its march toward becoming a viable Tier I ERP vendor by acquiring Lawson. In addition to these and several other high profile merger and acquisition deals in the enterprise software space, other ERP vendors demonstrated aggressive growth by expanding their footprints of new customers, embracing software as a service (SaaS) and cloud delivery models, and focusing on emerging markets such as China. SAP, for example, continued to push its Business By Design SaaS offering and indicated that China is its number one geographical growth priority in 2012 and beyond.
The cloud is for real. 2011 appears to have been a turning point for cloud ERP software and SaaS solutions, with it becoming more clear that the movement is not a flash in the pan. SaaS ERP vendors such as Salesforce, Workday, Kinaxis, and Netsuite all exhibited strong software license growth in the last year, while traditional on-premise vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and Epicor demonstrated stronger commitments to their SaaS and cloud offerings. While the heaviest rate of adoption is still very concentrated among smaller organizations, the adoption rates in these segments of the market illustrate that the cloud is here to stay. The next step for SaaS ERP vendors is to prove that they can crack the code and concerns of the enterprise software needs for larger organizations.
While 2011 may have been a mixed bag, it left us with enough positive news and opportunity to get us ready for an exciting 2012 with optimistic prospects. On behalf of everyone at Panorama Consulting Solutions: happy new year to our current clients, future clients and industry peers. Here’s to a successful 2012 and we look forward to working with you.
loading...
The Integration of Infor and Lawson
When the acquisition of Lawson by Infor in an unsolicited bid of $2 billion back in April, some analysts and Lawson customers viewed it as another in the long line of Infor acquisitions in which the targeted software would be melded into the broad suite of Infor-acquired products and simply wither on the vine. However, the Infor strategy had changed substantially when Charles Phillips left Oracle to become the Infor CEO in October, 2010. Now, as we approach six months from the July 6, 2011, official completion of the deal we can begin to see how it will pan out.
The new Infor strategy is built around accelerated delivery of roadmaps and new products, modernization of existing applications, and delivering mobile technology, tapping into the relatively new cloud and social networking environments. The first evidence of the new approach has been the release of Infor 10, offering a “consumer-grade user experience” built around Infor ION, the middleware designed to provide quicker, simpler, and more reliable integrations. Infor has also partnered with Salesforce.com to tap into the lucrative and quickly expanded cloud computing space.
The acquisition of Lawson not only vaulted Infor into the top tier of ERP vendors with SAP and Oracle, it has provided Infor with new capabilities in specific application areas such as manufacturing, distribution, fashion, food and beverage, and equipment service management and rental, as well as the enhanced user experience provided by Lawson Smart Office. The combination of Smart office with the Infor Workspace product is expected to provide a full scope of user interfaces from power users to casual workplace users. Additionally, incorporation of Lawson’s Mashup Designer capabilities and Enterprise Search engine into the Infor Workspace will provide extended functionality to the user experience. Lawson’s strong presence in the health care, public sector, equipment service management and human capital management industries will allow Infor to extend its portfolio in those markets.
Utilizing ION, Inform plans to quickly develop integration of key applications, particularly in the areas of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), financial planning and management, and human capital management. New integrated capabilities are anticipated as soon as the end of the year.
Despite the aggressive integration plans, it is interesting to note the Lawson, unlike other Infor acquisitions, in retaining its strong, established identity, at least for the time being. The current branding labels the Infor product as “Lawson, an Infor affiliate”.
While the integration of the two organizations continues to unfold, early indications are that the future for Infor and Lawson together is promising and exciting.
Written by Larry Bell, Manager of Vendor Relations.
loading...
Last Call for ERP Boot Camp
Our latest session of ERP Boot Camp is set to kick off on Wednesday, December 7 in Denver, Colorado. Though it’s just around the corner, there is still time to register to make sure that you and your team benefit from the collected expertise of Panorama’s ERP experts and our invited guests, who include many of the leaders of the ERP industry. The knowledge and information presented at ERP Boot Camp stretches across the ERP market, and encompasses insight relevant for every system and every implementation. And past participants will tell you the same: “The Boot Camp was an eye opening experience. I really felt like I had learned a lot about what to expect and how to plan/strategize in implementing our own ERP. The three-day course was a great investment.”
Presentation topics for our December event include:
- ERP Basic Training (including 20 guiding principles of effective ERP initiatives)
- Overview of ERP Implementation Strategies
- ERP Project Management
- Overview of Organizational Change Management and Benefits Realization
- Technical Considerations
In addition, there will be sessions devoted to creating requirements, business blueprinting and developing a business case — all critical ERP success factors that are too frequently mismanaged or forgotten.
Our expert panelists promise to share plenty of “stories from the trenches” gleaned over decades in the IT industry. They’ll help attendees gain insight into vendor selection and management, implementation project planning, configuration and customization and organizational change activities.
Activities will also include one-on-ones with Panorama’s independent ERP consultants to discuss individual concerns or scenarios, an open house at the Panorama office and the all-important happy hour reception.
If you have yet to register, there is still time! This is not only a “can’t miss” event but one that will ensure your organization is positioned to reap all the rewards possible from its ERP system. Click ERP Boot Camp to find out more and register today by calling Michele Palmieri at 720-515-1377.
loading...
Giving Thanks for the Advances in ERP Software
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, it’s helpful to look at all the things that we are thankful for not only in our personal and family lives, but also in the ERP industry. Here are some of the things that strike me as major advancements and improvements in the enterprise software space over the last several years:
Deployment options have become more varied. It used to be that if a Fortune 500 company wanted to implement an ERP system, executives had to make a massive investment in the initiative and burden their organizations with huge amounts of risk. Today, not only are there more options to deploy ERP systems via software as a service (SaaS) ERP, cloud, and best-of-breed solutions, but there are plenty of options for non-Fortune 500 companies and small- and mid-sized organizations. ERP vendors such as Plex Systems, Kinaxis, Salesforce, Workday, and Netsuite all provide deployment alternatives to traditional ERP systems. In addition, solutions from traditional ERP vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics include SaaS and cloud options.
There are business ERP experts available to help. When I started in the industry more than 15 years ago, there were plenty of software consultants available for hire, but very few (if any) independent business consultants that had a broad understanding of the ERP market – including critical success factors surrounding project management, organizational change management, and business process re-engineering. While most consultants are still more myopically focused on a single ERP system or lacking independence and objectivity, companies such as Panorama provide more holistic, comprehensive, and independent advisory services to companies wanting to mitigate the risk of their ERP selections and implementations. In response to Panorama’s leading position in the independent ERP consulting space, a host of smaller firms have emerged across the globe as well.
Failure rates are still too high. While the industry is touting low-risk deployment options and tools such as SaaS, failure rates are still alarmingly high. Demand for Panorama’s ERP expert witness services – which companies and attorneys leverage when their failures are about to lead to lawsuits – are at an all-time high, suggesting that organizations are mismanaging their implementations more than ever. What’s more interesting is that our expert witness work, whereby we leverage best practices from our proprietary and proven ERP implementation framework, shows that companies are failing in key areas despite their use of more advances technologies and tools being touted by software vendors. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what kind of software or tools you are deploying – implementations will fail if you don’t effectively plan and execute some of the key factors required to make a project successful. Not enough organizations, consultants, or software vendors understand this key concept.However, while there are many things to be thankful for, there are still many areas where we still need to improve:
Companies still don’t treat ERP implementations as business, rather than technology, initiatives. Contributing to the high rate of ERP failures are the fact that too many executives are delegating their ERP projects to their CIOs or IT Directors and absolving themselves of business or operational responsibility for the success of the project. At the risk of offending our more technical clients or industry peers, CIOs and IT Directors are much more likely to underestimate the need for business involvement and potential outside expertise than their more operational or finance counterparts within the organization. Worse yet, most software vendors and ERP consultants focus far too much on software rather than business processes (not system transactions), organizational change management, and strong project management.
While there is always room for improvement, we are showing signs of advancement and for this I’m thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to our US-based clients and peers!
loading...
Top Ten Predictions for ERP in 2012
This last year was another eventful time for the ERP software industry. Vendors continued to consolidate, the rate of ERP failures and lawsuits accelerated, and enterprise software technologies continued to evolve. Our company, Panorama Consulting Solutions maintained its aggressive growth and merged with TPG Solutions, reflecting the dynamic and evolving nature of the ERP market and its customers.
- Infor acquired Lawson
- Lawsuits, fraud and project failures continued to grab headlines (e.g., Lumber Liquidators, CareSource Management Group, Tesco Bank, Whaley Foodservice Repairs, City of New York, etc.)
- Cloud ERP gained steam
- Social ERP gained credibility
- And, worthy of a second mention, Panorama Consulting merged withTPG Solutions to become Panorama Consulting Solutions
As we look forward to 2012, there are a number of trends we expect to continue, while we expect a few new developments as well. Here are our highly anticipated top ten predictions for 2012:
1. Continued consolidation in the industry. Infor’s acquisition of Lawson was just the start. Barriers to entry in the ERP space are low and there are way too many players in the industry (in fact, we track nearly 200 ERP vendors in our proprietary ERP database). At the same time, global economic uncertainly isn’t necessarily creating an environment for robust industry growth that might support the crowded field, so we expect the merger and acquisition activity to continue among ERP vendors.
2. Shake-up in the Tier I space. This coming year may be when we finally see a shakeup among the big Tier I ERP vendors. While SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics certainly aren’t likely to lose their foothold as the Big 3 of the ERP software market, we do expect that some of the larger Tier IIs are going to pose legitimate challenges to their market share and reach. For example, after their acquisition of Lawson, Infor is just a couple steps behind the traditional Tier II players, while companies such as IFS, Epicor, Kinaxis, and QAD are continuing their aggressive growth, especially in the SMB space.
3. Acceleration of ERP failures. Unfortunately, we’re still seeing the collateral damage from poor decisions of years past, and this isn’t likely to change in the next year. Tight IT budgets and a “do it yourself” mentality to ERP projects of the last few years have finally started catching up in terms of the large number of publicized ERP failures in the latter part of 2011. Companies have simply under-invested time, money, expertise, and resources in their ERP projects in recent years, so we will see those bad decisions catch up to us in the coming year.
4. Increase in the number of ERP lawsuits. If we look at demand for our ERP expert witness services as a leading indicator, 2012 is going to entail a huge number of ERP lawsuits. We are typically engaged by courts and legal counsel to consult on lawsuits before they are formally filed, and we have seen a marked uptick in demand for these services in late 2011. Combine this with the #3 prediction above, and it is clear that 2012 will be a year of epic ERP lawsuits.
5. Less “do it yourself” ERP projects. Because of #3 and #4 above, we expect fewer companies to attempt the DIY approach to ERP selection and implementation. Installing a light fixture from Home Depot may work for do-it-yourself home improvement projects, but CIOs and CFOs are becoming smart and risk adverse enough to know better than to try this approach when it comes to transforming their entire business with a new ERP system. These companies will lean on outside consultants and experts more than they have in recent years, with the understanding that an expert consulting firm that has fine-tuned selection, implementation, and organizational change management methods over 100s of organizations will be able to deliver better, faster, and cheaper results than they can internally.
6. SaaS ERP providers will continue picking off smaller pieces of ERP. Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors such as Salesforce, Plex Systems, Netsuite, Kinaxis, and Workday have successfully poached smaller customers from the traditional ERP vendors over the last few years, but next year they will start making broader in-roads among mid-size companies. In addition to riding the SaaS wave of hype, the above vendors offer a sort of best-of-breed system approach that allow companies to rollout enterprise technology focused on one or a handful of specific functions within organizations, such as CRM, supply chain, or HR. Also feeding into this trend is the risk-adverse propensity for organizations to not bite off more than they can chew with their software initiatives.
7. Convergence of CRM and social media. Industry analysts have been talking about it and software developers have been working on it for years, but next year is when we will finally start to see some meaningful integration between the “enterprise” side of CRM and the “social” side of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Enterprise and social technologies will finally converge in a meaningful way that will allow organizations to better manage internal customer relationship functions in tandem with the external and less structured social media functions.
8. Misalignment of ERP systems. A lot has changed in the last few years – the economy tanked and recovered moderately while companies evolved, customers demanded more, and mergers continued, but many companies did not proactively invest in their ERP software, leaving organizations with systems that are misaligned with their current business needs. This points to a large subset of organizations wanting to realign their enterprise software with their operational realities, whether it be through investing in new systems or attempting to get more out of their existing software.
9. Conducting a business blueprint as part of the ERP selection process. Fortunately, companies are starting to learn from others’ mistakes (see #3 and #4 above) and are realizing that they shouldn’t rush the ERP evaluation and selection process. Too many failures and lawsuits are caused by choosing the wrong software that is misaligned with business needs, so companies are being more diligent about blueprinting their business processes prior to selection rather than after. We at Panorama are seeing an uptick in the number of companies wishing to engage us to facilitate more robust blueprinting as part of the selection process, which is a reflection of CIOs and CFOs wanting to mitigate their risk.
10. Technology-centric system integrators will continue to struggle to be effective. As I’ve seen in the industry over the years, the traditional technology-focused implementation approach of most system integrators, partners, and value-added resellers (VARs) is clearly not getting the job done. Too much focus on the software, its functionality, and capabilities typically means under-investing in the things that really matter, such as business process design, organizational change management, and effective project management. System integrators will need to either learn to do these things, which they typically don’t have the competency to provide, or partner with firms that do.
Last year was a good year for the ERP industry and we expect even more exciting and positive things in 2012. What do you think? Feel free to leave your comments below or discuss these predictions in more detail in our upcoming webinar, Top Ten Predictions for ERP in 2012, on December 1.
loading...
Panorama Consulting Group Issues 2011 Guide to ERP Systems and Vendors
Tier III Vendors Continue Forward Momentum but Tier II Clients are Most Satisfied
Small to mid-sized businesses seeking an affordable and effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution are wise to consider offerings from Tier III vendors, according to the 2011 Guide to ERP Systems and Vendors issued today by Panorama Consulting Group, an independent ERP consulting firm in Denver. In addition to having the shortest average implementation duration (12 months) and the lowest average project cost ($1.1 million), Tier III vendors also had the shortest payback time, with 76-percent of their paybacks clocking in at less than three years. And customers have taken notice: not only did Tier III vendors capture the lion’s share of the market in the under $25 million category (26.6-percent) and the $25 to $50 million category (28.4-percent), but they beat out Oracle, Microsoft and Tier II vendors (combined) to rank as the second choice (behind SAP) in the $50 to $100 million market (23.1-percent).
“While the duration, payback and cost results of Tier III vendors are clearly affected by the fact that their smaller business clients have less complex operations and processes than the large organizations typically served by Tier I vendors, it is evident that they are steadily making major inroads into the sacred calf of big business,” said Eric Kimberling, president and founder of Panorama Consulting Group. “SAP and Oracle may not be threatened yet, but it is important to note that Tier III holds 36-percent of the overall market while Tier II holds just 11-percent – the same amount as Microsoft Dynamics. They’re coming . . . and they’re coming fast.”
Though the survey found that Tier III vendors are gaining ground in terms of market share, their satisfaction rankings are low when compared to their Tier I and Tier II counterparts. Respondents who had implemented Tier III solutions rated themselves as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” only 31.3-percent of the time. In contrast, 42.3-percent of Tier I clients and a full 50-percent of Tier II clients reached similar levels of satisfaction.
“Given that Tier II had the largest average percentage of duration overruns (62.2-percent) by a clear margin, it’s interesting to see that their clients are so happy with their solutions,” said Kimberling. “The seeming disparity is likely due to the fact that most Tier II vendors incorporate third-party modules, which takes a long time but often creates a better, more customized solution in the end. Consultants like Panorama can achieve similar high-levels of satisfaction – regardless of tier – by ensuring the chosen software fits the specific needs and expectations of a business and delivers the full benefits promised by its vendors.”
To offer further analysis of the study results, Kimberling will present a free webcast on Thursday, April 14 at 10 a.m. MST. Register for the seminar at http://panorama-consulting.com/resource-center/erp-webinars/.
About Panorama Consulting Group 2011 Guide to ERP Systems and Vendors
The 2011 Guide to ERP Systems and Vendors was conducted by Panorama Consulting Group via online polling on its website. The over 1,600 participants represent organizations from 57 countries that have recently implemented ERP solutions. The full report (and additional industry research) can be accessed at: http://Panorama-Consulting.com/resource-center/erp-industry-reports/.
About Panorama Consulting Group
Founded in 2005, Panorama Consulting Group is a niche consulting firm specializing in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market for mid-sized companies across the world. Independent of affiliation, Panorama helps firms evaluate and select ERP software, manages the implementation of the software, and facilitates all related organizational changes to ensure that each of its clients realize the full business benefits of their ERP implementation. More information can be found on its website, www.Panorama-Consulting.com.
loading...
Agua Mineral San Benedetto Reduces its Environmental Impact by Automating Sales Order Processing with Esker
Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, announced today that Agua Mineral San Benedetto, a leading Spanish manufacturer and distributor of bottled water and non-alcoholic beverages, has selected Esker for the automation of sales order processing. Esker solutions enable Agua Mineral San Benedetto to optimize one of its main business processes and reduce customer response time, while achieving sustainable development.
Until now, Agua Mineral San Benedetto manually processed sales orders that were unable to be processed by EDI. 35 percent of its global orders – close to 16,000 documents per year – were still received by fax, by email or by telephone, and employees manually entered these orders directly into a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 ERP system. This manual processing, coupled with the multiple order reception channels, generated significant bottlenecks, resulting in delayed processing and increased risk of losing documents or committing errors.
To address this problem, Agua Mineral San Benedetto implemented Esker solutions enabling the company to improve its productivity, assure better sales order processing quality control, improve efficiency and reduce costs related to manual processing errors.
Today, sales order data is automatically extracted and routed for web validation. Once approved, the sales order is created in the ERP application and archived electronically.
Agua Mineral San Benedetto has gained the following benefits and advantages with Esker solutions:
- Decrease in time spent processing sales orders
- Cost savings
- Elimination of processing errors due to manual handling
- Elimination of three fax machines
- Automatic fax reception in Outlook email
- Elimination of unusable order print-outs received by fax and/or email
- Automatic archiving in the ERP application
- Elimination of physical sales order files (46 files classified alphabetically)*
* Number based on an estimated 350 pages per file
“With the automation of sales orders, Agua Mineral San Benedetto moved to 100 percent electronic sales order processing. This solution satisfies our customers and, as we conserve trees and contribute to the reduction in CO2 emissions, helps to preserve the environment. We will continue along this path by automating other business processes with Esker,” said Juan-Francisco Cerezo, Director of Information Systems, Agua Mineral San Benedetto.
With these results, Agua Mineral San Benedetto has demonstrated efforts to reduce its carbon footprint through more responsible paper consumption in its business processes.
About Agua Mineral San Benedetto
Agua Mineral San Benedetto was created in June 1995 with the support of its parent company, Acqua Minerale San Benedetto SPA, the leading Italian manufacturer and distributor of bottled water and non-alcoholic beverages for over 25 years. Agua Mineral San Benedetto, S.A.U. uses its own technology to develop bottles in PET, high-quality material specifically used in the manufacturing of water and other beverage bottles. In addition to reducing its paper consumption through the use of Esker solutions, Agua Mineral San Benedetto also invests in environmental research, development and innovation, and has perfected the lightweight “eco-design” bottles.
About Esker
Esker is the worldwide leader in document process automation solutions. Addressing all types of business processes from accounts payable and accounts receivable to sales order processing and procurement, Esker cloud computing solutions enable companies to automate the reception, processing and sending of any business document with one platform. Esker helps over 80,000 companies across the world to reduce the use of paper and eliminate manual processes while improving their productivity, efficiency and environmental impact.
With 33 million euros in sales revenue in 2010, Esker operates in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Esker is listed on the NYSE Alternext in Paris (Code ISIN FR0000035818). For more information, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter at twitter.com/eskerinc and join the conversation on the Esker blog at www.quitpaper.com.
loading...
Sneak Peek of Panorama’s 2011 Guide to ERP Vendors and Systems
On Thursday, Panorama will issue its latest independent report, the 2011 Guide to ERP Vendors and Systems. With research culled from more than 1,600 responses over five years, the survey compares information about ERP implementation durations, costs, payback periods and benefits across all tiers of vendors and presents metrics regarding vendor market share and sales by industry.
Key findings include:
- Rankings within Tier I implementations did not change substantially compared to the 2010 ERP Vendor Analysis Report, but each of the top three vendors showed a drop in market share.
- Tier III vendors have the lowest average project cost ($1.1. million) and the shortest overall payback time, with 76-percent of their paybacks clocking in at less than three years. And while Tier III vendors have the shortest average implementation duration (12 months), they also have the largest average percentage of duration overruns (62.2.-percent).
- Tier III vendors captured the lion’s share of the market in the under $25 million category and the $25 to $50 million category and beat out Oracle, Microsoft an Tier II vendors (combined) to rank as the second choice (behind SAP) in the $50 to $100 million market.
- Respondents who had implemented Tier III solutions rated themselves as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” only 31.3-percent of the time. In contrast, 42.3-percent of Tier I clients and a full 50-percent of Tier II clients reached similar levels of satisfaction.
The above is just a taste of the data included in the study. Check the Industry Reports section of our website on Thursday morning to download the full 2011 Guide to ERP Systems and Vendors and don’t miss Thursday’s free webinar, Understanding the Differences Between Leading ERP Software Vendors, which will discuss its findings in greater detail.
loading...
-
-
- Oracle Consultant – eBusiness Suite
- IT Manager
- Senior ERP Consultant
- SAP Consultant
- Organizational Change Management Consultant
- Senior ERP Business Analyst
- Business Analyst Intern
- Marketing Assistant