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In conjunction with our previous post about cheap ERP software, this post highlights cheap open source ERP software provider Openbravo. Openbravo has been named ‘Best of Open Source Enterprise Software’ by InfoWorld, and is an inexpensive alternative to traditional ERP solutions.

InfoWorld held their ‘Bossies’, Best of Open Source Software, awards recently to honor the best of the best in the open source world. Open source software is a hot topic in the tech world because it is a cost-effective and easily implemented solution.

Openbravo ERP, as praised by InfoWorld, “is a package that combines finance, sales, purchasing, and inventory modules. A free community edition and an extensive professional version are available through commercial license. Its plug-in architecture offers simple, template-driven setup and customization without the hard coding. The version 3.0 release candidate enhances navigation with quick-launch shortcuts and tabbed panels that allow users to view multiple grids simultaneously. New role-based portal pages and dashboards also contribute to the highly customizable experience.” InforWorld finished by saying that “getting started couldn’t be simpler, thanks to a newly streamlined setup process and preconfigured editions on Ubuntu Server and Amazon Cloud.”

The cheap ERP software provider has shown significant growth recently with the availability of the open source ERP solution Quickstart. Not only is Openbravo QuickStart an inexpensive option, it is also up and running on the fly. Openbravo has witnessed customer expansion in the form of over 1.7 million downloads. Openbravo open source ERP is in prime position for success, as the software industry has experienced a major demand for cheap and flexible ERP solution options.

Openbravo CTO, Paolo Juvara states: “It’s great to be recognized by InfoWorld yet again-it’s such an honor for us at Openbravo and our community. We’ve made it our mission to bring ERP to the masses, and in doing so have developed a product that strives to deliver a superior user experience by combining web-based simplicity with practical features. We want to transform open source ERP, and awards and recognition from respected sources such as InfoWorld fuel our ambition to continue delivering new and innovative solutions for each of our customers and our entire community.”

Technorati Tags: cheap erp, cheap erp software, open source, Open Source ERP, open source ERP software, openbravo, OpenBravo ERP

Panorama Consulting Group has been hard at work creating a web-based ROI calculator for ERP investments. Hopefully all the hard work will pay off for users as well, as the product is finally being launched. Panorama designed the ROI calculator to assist website visitors who want to calculate the potential ROI on ERP software investments. So once you decide which ERP software solutions you plan on considering, Panorama’s ROI calculator can help with the next steps.

Panorama’s ERP ROI calculator is built on information collected from numerous research firms. The ROI calculator gives users a near accurate estimate based on data the user inputs into the platform. It’s ERP consulting made easy, thanks to Panorama. The calculator makes assessments based on a number of criteria including: estimates of tangible costs like inventory and labor, time-of-delivery, sales close-time, and order fill time. The ERP ROI calculator also considers employee number, license cost, project management and implementation cost. The final result gives users an ROI estimate and timeline for payback.

“In today’s volatile economy, companies need to know that their ERP software investments are delivering measurable value,” said President of Panorama, ERIc Kimberling. “Panorama helps clients select and implement in such a way, so we wanted to provide the ERP community with a high-level summary of what we do for clients on a daily basis.”

To check out the ROI calculator, visit: http://panorama-consulting.com/resource-center/erp-roi-calculator/.

Technorati Tags: panorama consulting roi erp, panorama roi calculator, roi calculator, roi erp, roi erp calculator

Are you a SMB owner? Looking for a great SMB ERP solution?

Zensar would like to meet you.

The software services provider, Zensar, has launched their SME enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for domestic markets. Zensar ERP is powered by Microsoft Dynamics ERP. Microsoft Dynamics ERP was designed with midsized businesses with industry-specific functionality for their respective industries, in mind.

Zensar ERP offers a web-based model dedicated to meet the needs of SME in India. The SMEs in India typically share the same challenges of staggering growth countered by an overwhelming lack of IT support.

“SMEs play a vital role in the economy and need IT enablements that are world class, affordable and customized to the Indian environment. We have leveraged our software development, hosting and cloud computing expertise in collaboration with leading OEMs to provide best-in-class hosted ERP software to the SME Automotive cluster in the country. Our vision is to expand our offerings in the SME market segment to other clusters such as Leather, Textile”, said Assoc. VP of Zensar, Harsh Kohli.

Zensar has also been given the task of managing the Microsoft Navision ERP solution, as a loyal partner. Zensar ERP will drive Microsoft success by ensuring that the Dynamics suite is the best solution for SMEs in India by managing the cloud computing framework, company specific configuration and IT support.

Director of Microsoft India, Subhomoy Sengupta explains: “Microsoft Dynamics Navision provides and ERP platform that not only integrates all the critical business processes but is also fast to implement, easy to configure and simple to use. We continue to deliver innovative ERP solutions jointly with our partners to help these businesses increase their efficiency and effectiveness.”

Technorati Tags: ERP, microsoft dynamics partner, SMB ERP, sme erp, zensar, zensar erp, zensar sme erp

Epicor is fast becoming a cult favorite among businesses looking to streamline their operational processes. Cardboard Manufacturer, Carto Micro, has selected Epicor to drive their ERP success. Epicor is most specifically designed for midmarket and Global 1000 companies looking to streamline their enterprise management and resource planning.

Carto Micro which is short for Cartones Microcorrugados settled on Epicor ERP for its advanced technology, software infrastructure, support frame and promise of quick ROI. Epicor’s ERP solution was also provided the company with a reasonable implementation timeframe.

“Two years ago we started to see potential growth opportunities for our company and we wanted a new ERP solution, better suited to support Carto Micro’s future business requirements. After evaluating ten ERP providers, the decision was made to with Epicor,” said Juan Augusto Rivas of Carto Micro.

The cardboard manufacturer is based in Guanajuato Mexico and makes cardboard products for SMB distributors. Carto Micro is hoping that implementing Epicor ERP will help with managing operations in the most efficient way. “Epicor ERP gives us a technology solution that integrates all our business information, which will enable us to have a better control over our staffing and material resources,” said Rivas.

The company looks forward to experiencing an efficient and collaborative workflow with the help of Epicor ERP. Epicor ERP has business applications and the tools needed to help drive Carto Micro’s success.

Technorati Tags: Epicor, Epicor ERP, Epicor Manufacturing Express Edition, ERP

Today, Oracle, an integrated business software provider, announced that its Oracle Database 11g Standard Edition One delivered a world record result with the TPC-C benchmark. This affordable and manageable solution demonstrated outstanding performance.

The Oracle Database 11g runs on an HP ProLiant ML350 G6 server with a single six-core Intel Zeon X5650 2.67 GHz processor. It is a high-performing database that provides solid security. The Oracle Database 11g is easy to manage, is scalable and it is compatible with other Oracle Database editions. It is reasonably priced and is a solid option for most companies.

Along with the Oracle Enterprise Linux, the Oracle Database 11g had a performance result of 290,040 tpmC at a TPC-C price of $0.39/tpmC. Oracle still holds the world record for both the performance and price/performance categories. In the TPC-C price/performance category, Oracle delivered the top three results. This demonstrates the strength of Oracle’s ERP solutions.

Oracle is very excited about the performance of its Database solution. Juan Loaiza, the Senior Vice President for Systems Technology at Oracle, commented. He said, “Oracle Database 11g Standard Edition One continues to demonstrate exceptional performance and price/performance, as showcased in this benchmark result. Along with its renowned performance and reliability, customers have the ability to easily upgrade as requirements grow, making Oracle Database 11g Standard Edition One an ideal solution for many cost-conscious organizations.”

Read more about the Oracle Database 11g on Oracle’s website.

Technorati Tags: ERP, Oracle, oracle database 11g standard edition one, oracle enterprise linux, TPC-C benchmark

Last Thursday, August 12, Oracle filed a lawsuit against Google for patent infringement. Oracle believes that Google knowingly infringed Oracle’s copyrights when developing the Android mobile devices. Oracle is suing Google in the Northern District Court of California over seven different patents.

Google’s Android violates several patents from Sun Microsystems, which Oracle acquired in 2009. These patents are related to Java technology. They include protection against systems performing static initialization, protection domains and more which are listed below. A spokesperson at Oracle, Karen Tillman, released a statement regarding the suit on Thursday evening. Tillman said, “In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement.” Oracle also requested a jury trial, which could ultimately lead to an injunction on the infringing software and monetary damages for profits that Google made off of Android.

Google used Java applications running on a Java-based framework for Android but failed to sign a licensing agreement with Sun Microsystems. Google is choosing to defend its actions because it lived up to its open-source standards. Google released a statement on Friday to respond to the lawsuit. Google said, “We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit. The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform.”

It is likely that this law suit could drag on and that the fight could get messy. Some are speculating that the real winner from this lawsuit will be Microsoft and its new Windows Phone 7 because it might have a chance to increase sales while the Android devices are under fire.

The seven patents in question are listed below.

1. 6,125,447: “Protection domains to provide security in a computer system.”
2. 6,192,476: “Controlling access to a resource.”
3. 5,966,702: Method and apparatus for pre-processing and packaging class files.”
4. 7,426,720: “System and method for dynamic preloading of classes through memory space cloning of a master runtime system process.”
5. RE38,104: “Method and apparatus for resolving data references in generated code.”
6. 6,910,205: “Interpreting functions utilizing a hybrid of virtual and native machine instructions.”
7. 6,061,520: “Method and system for performing static initialization.”

Technorati Tags: android, google, google android, lawsuit, Microsoft, Oracle, patent infringement, sun microsystems, windows phone 7

Let’s talk numbers. CDC Software Corporation, a hybrid enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud deployments, recently announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. For the second quarter of 2010, Non-GAAP revenue was up $3.4 million from Q2 last year at $54.0 million and Non-GAAP net income was down $0.6 million from Q2 of 2009 at $7.8 million. They’ve had a slight decrease in their Q2 2010 Adjusted EBITDA at $11.7 million, compared to $10.6 million in the first quarter of 2010 and $13.7 million in the second quarter of 2009.

Second quarter 2010 application sales increased 73 percent to $13.5 million, from $7.8 million in the second quarter of 2009. Application sales are comprised of license revenue plus new secured total contract value of SaaS contracts. Secured Total Contract Value (STCV) is the contract dollar amount for the duration of the contracts for all SaaS contracts secured, including new logo contracts, upsell, rental, as well as all renewals received by the end of the quarter. The company’s estimates, announced in June 2010, provided that application sales during the second quarter of 2010 would increase by approximately 33-42 percent from the second quarter of 2009. The higher than expected results were due primarily to organic growth in the company’s core product lines.

License revenue from new logo sales in the second quarter of 2010 increased 131 percent to $3.0 million, compared to $1.3 million in the second quarter of 2009. New logo sales in the second quarter primarily came from the company’s Pivotal CRM, CDC Factory, CDC gomembers and China-based Human Resource Management products.

Second quarter 2010 license revenue increased by 13 percent to $8.8 million, compared to $7.8 million in the second quarter of 2009. Non-GAAP SaaS revenue(a) increased 53 percent to $2.6 million, compared to $1.7 million in the first quarter of 2010. STCV was $4.7 million, compared to $480,000 in the first quarter of 2010, due to organic growth, as well as recent acquisitions. Also, the number of enterprise deals (which includes on-premise and SaaS product lines, but excludes SaaS renewals) in the second quarter of 2010 totaled 344, compared to 249 in the second quarter of 2009 (which did not include SaaS). The number of new logo deals in the second quarter of 2010 increased to 120, compared to 108 in the second quarter of 2009.

“We are very pleased with the strong growth in application sales that included a significant increase in new logo organic sales from our Front Office, Plant Floor, China-based HRM on-premise applications and CDC gomembers SaaS solutions,” said Bruce Cameron, president of CDC Software. “We have also been seeing our SaaS applications serve as mission critical solutions for our customers, as our SaaS renewal rates averaged approximately 95 percent in the second quarter of 2010. Based upon the increase in SaaS revenue we have seen, our preliminary estimates and projections, and our projected bookings so far this year, we expect to see double digit quarter-to-quarter growth in SaaS revenue for at least the next few quarters. With SaaS revenue continuing to grow at a greater rate than our other revenue streams, and assuming modest maintenance revenue growth, we continue to expect to reach our goal of achieving recurring revenue closer to 70 percent of total revenue in the next few years.”

Technorati Tags: CDC Software, ERP, financial report Q2 2010

Today, Lawson Software, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and service provider, announced that the City of Savannah, Georgia, decided to deploy some of Lawson’s ERP applications. Savannah needed to cut costs and increase financial transparency. The city decided to deploy the Lawson Human Capital Management, Enterprise Financial Management and Supply Chain Management suites, in addition to the Lawson Business Intelligence application.

The City of Savannah is the largest city in Chatham County, Georgia, with over 130,000 residents. Savannah had an outdated system and needed to address the growth of its population with an up to date and modern enterprise-wide system. Savannah’s original IT system was fifteen years old and restricted growth. The city was looking for an experienced company to provide it with the updated ERP software, which is why it chose Lawson.

Joy Wilkinson, the ERP project manager of the City of Savannah, said, “We chose Lawson because of the depth and proven functionality of its software applications, as well as Lawson’s knowledge and expertise in the public sector. In addition, Lawson can provide both the software and implementation services under one roof, which was very important to us.” With Lawson’s ERP applications, Savannah will be able to move forward and handle the growth.

Deploying these applications will help the City of Savannah streamline human resources processes. The city will be able to save a lot of money by automating these processes and increasing financial efficiency. Productivity will be increased as well with the ERP software. Lawson’s Enterprise Financial Management application will help the city efficiently track and manage its budget and finances. Savannah will be able to view reports with the application to track financial performance and transparency across different departments. The Human Capital Management application will save Savannah’s office the time, money, and effort of doing simple administrative tasks. The Supply Chain Management application will improve supply chain visibility, resource allocation and more. Lawson’s Strategic Sourcing application will help the city manage goods, services and contracts. The final application, Lawson Business Intelligence, will provide accurate information helping Savannah to increase effectiveness.

Lawson is very confident in the ERP applications that it has provided for the City of Savannah. Brian Murphy, the General Manager of the Public Sector for Lawson, commented on Savannah’s decision to deploy Lawson applications. He said, “The city of Savannah’s upgrade to a 21^st century IT system will help provide increased financial transparency to its citizens, which in turn helps support greater accountability and more accurate reporting. By cutting across all functional business areas, the city’s new enterprise-wide system will help generate operational efficiencies and ultimately help reduce costs.”

The contract was signed on May 31, 2010. Lawson will gradually implement all of the ERP services and applications.

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence, enterprise financial management, ERP, ERP Software, Human Capital Management, lawson, Lawson Software, Supply Chain Management

ERP selection for large corporations is typical because of their presence in different countries with different laws, languages, business culture, market trends, customer taste and currency. Apart from these scalability and adaptability of the ERP is also of utmost importance for future requirements and problems.

Microsoft has been working on ‘project green’ which is to unify all four ERP solutions into one to give a powerful solution to its users because there are serious overlapping of features and functions in the four Microsoft ERP solutions which does not justify their separate presence in the market. As far as Microsoft dynamics SL is concerned, it is more suitable for project based companies rather than manufacturing or large distribution enterprises. To identify the most suitable option for any large enterprise out of the other three ERP solutions of Microsoft, it is important to consider the criteria companies follow to choose an ERP solution.

Customization of the available ERP is important to fit in the exact requirements of the user, Microsoft Navision, Axapta or Great plains can be customized with ease but customization of GP is the easiest of them. Great plains is considered as easiest to setup and launch in comparison to Navision and Axapta. Navision requires mid-size customization while Axapta has longer implementation cycle. With the MS SQL server at back end both Navision and GP, are capable of giving more integration and reporting options with crystal reports. Being an SQL based ERP both of these can be integrated with Unix, Linux or Oracle comfortably.

While doing ERP selection for large corporation one of the primary requirements is the capability of the ERP to work in multi-company, multi-division and multi-currency environment. These procedures shall be added on, as and when required, and with out any restrictions, Navision, Axapta and Great plains provide such working environment. In terms of flexibility all the three ERP solutions of Microsoft are at par, though Great plains has more options as add on, which gives it more flexibility to adjust according to the user requirements and also makes it cost effective.

User friendliness and internet integration are other criteria used by the large enterprises for ERP selection. Today almost every ERP provide internet integration for e-commerce, web portals and e-business facilities including Axapta, Navision and Great plains. All the Microsoft ERP solutions are user friendly and can be handled easily even by the staff of the company having minimum IT skills. Role tailored of role center screens of Axapta has been its highlight which gives a customized screen for better and quick understanding and feeding of data by removing irrelevant grids and information.

Over all out of the three Microsoft dynamics ERP solutions, Great Plains with its 10 years of presence, its flexible features, quick implementation, cost effectiveness, internet integration and integration with MS office and other Microsoft products, appears to be the most suitable ERP solution for large enterprises. Though recently there has been a surge in the installations of Axapta but it is still a relatively new ERP compared to Navision and Great plains.

Technorati Tags: Axapta, ERP large businesses, Great Plains, Microsoft Navision

Today, Oracle, the leading business software company, unveiled their latest Oracle Business Intelligence 11g Suite. This much-anticipated product has been in the developing stages for three years. Oracle designed the Business Intelligence 11g to help customers have better business visibility because their business intelligence activities will be closely tied to their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

The Oracle Business Intelligence 11g is the industry’s most integrated and scalable business intelligence product. Users will be able to access and analyze data from OLAP and XML sources. The new Oracle Business Intelligence 11g has an integrated scorecard application and new enterprise reporting, visualization, search, and collaboration features. Business Intelligence 11g is a high performing and secure suite that is also integrated with Oracle’s Enterprise Manager 11g and parts of Oracle’s Fusion Middleware.

Oracle Business Intelligence 11g is the first that integrates relational OLAP, multidimensional OLAP and enterprise reporting. Users will be able to publish interactive reports, navigate organized data in the system, and even track performance indicators to assess their company’s progress. The interface is user-friendly, as it has map visualization features and interactive charts to help the users. There are collaboration features that help colleagues easily share advice or information within the system, allowing for increased productivity. The Oracle Business Intelligence Suite also has alerts, which notify users of upcoming events or appointments.

Paul Rodwick, the Vice President of Product Management for Oracle Business Intelligence, said, “Oracle Business Intelligence 11g delivers the complete spectrum of business intelligence capabilities, spanning enterprise reporting, scorecards, dashboards, ad hoc queries, OLAP analysis, search, and actionable collaboration on an integrated technology foundation. The new release is easy to implement for departmental needs, and scales to provide unrivaled performance and scalability for the largest and most demanding enterprise deployments.”

Many other Oracle applications are integrated into the Business Intelligence Suite. The Oracle WebCenter Suite 11g increases collaboration, the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search enables search and organization, and the Oracle Hyperion Financial Management helps with performance. The Oracle Business Intelligence 11g also integrates with the Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g to enable users to manage and track business performance on the same platform that they manage IT operations.

The developers at Oracle foresee great success for the latest Oracle Business Intelligence 11g.  Mike Blackmore, the Enterprise Architect at Oracle, commented on the release. He said, “We’ve had a lot of success with Oracle Business Intelligence 10g, and Oracle Business Intelligence 11g will build upon that success. The new scorecard and KPI facilities it provides as well as the ability to embed BI within business processes are the features that are drawing interest within BT. The ability to combine, analyze and then act on data, is going to help BT a great deal.” Oracle is now a major leader in the Business Intelligence technology world.

The U.S. release of the Oracle Business Intelligence 11g Suite is expected at the end of July, 2010. Oracle claims that the system is very easy to deploy. Customers who already have Oracle Business Intelligence can easily upgrade, with no major system changes.

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence, business intelligence 11g suite, Enterprise Resource Planning, Oracle