Archive for the 'Trends in ERP' Category
ROI Calculator for ERP Software
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/.
No commentsComputer Economics report: ERP is top investment among IT categories
In its report “Technology Trends 2010/2011,” IT research consultancy Computer Economics finds that ERP software, out of 19 different technology areas, has the most investment and development. The analysis was conducted between January and April of this year, and included extensive surveying of 210 senior IT managers from various businesses.
As quoted from the report: “About two-thirds of all organizations in the study have ERP systems and about half of the organizations are investing in these systems, either by expanding the capabilities of systems that are already in place or implementing an ERP system for the first time.”
Other technologies with similarly heavy investment, but less maturity, include renewal of legacy systems, unified communications, CRM systems, and mobile applications. Video conferencing has generally low investment, but a high degree of adoption. Technologies such as Windows 7 migration, social networking, and desktop virtualization have a high investment, but a smaller degree of adoption. The lowest in both investment and adoption trends are 10G Ethernet, infrastructure in the cloud, open-source applications, and RFID systems.
“Unified communications is a fast-growth, emerging technology with positive economic experience profile. On the other hand, legacy system renewal is a well-established IT initiative that seems to be attracting ongoing interest. Organizations are choosing to modernize their older applications, making them more flexible and integrated, rather than rip and replace them with new applications.”
The report also noted that companies recently tended to consolidate applications into single interfaces. While this has not so far been a major investment, application consolidation is a rising trend. 16% of those surveyed have consolidated applications and are increasing their current investment, and 20% are planning to consolidate in the future.
In recent recessionary years, ERP software has been a popular option for many companies. The idea is to increase productivity among workers wherever possible instead of hiring new ones.
No commentsEnvironmental ERP for Greener Businesses
Going green is a necessity. However, with increasing government regulation around the world on carbon output, businesses will be the first to feel the economic squeeze.
Companies are going to have to find some emissions leak in their operations to comply with requirements. To calculate and account for carbon output, a company may try extending their existing accounting system or specifically purchasing a carbon-counting application.
However, Greg Scandrett, vice president of product management for Enviance, says that both of those options are only short-term fixes. Enviance is a provider of self-proclaimed environmental ERP software. The ERP provider believes that businesses need a different approach to environmental applications in order to make truly effective choices. Company processes have to be taken holistically to come up with the most environmentally optimal strategy.
An example may be the decision to create a new, more efficient factor to lower carbon emissions. However, if the factory is too far off, suppliers may have to use more energy in order to ship to the location. The Enviance application takes all these sorts of factors into account, sayas Scandrett, as opposed to software that simply counts up the amount of carbon emitted.
This echoes the sentiment that we need a green revolution. We cannot expect to do things halfway and make enough of a difference. There are fundamental problems in modern business practices that aren’t reflected financially, but are crippling to the environment. Full, comprehensive steps should be taken by companies to look at their carbon footprints. Environmental ERP can be a part of that environmental responsibility. Hopefully, with governmental market shaping and business innovation, we can have a new era where businesses are conscious of all social costs and will take measures against them.
No commentsOpen-Source ERP’s Popularity Rises at SourceForge.net
Oh, what have those open-source hippies been working on these days.
An interesting development over at SourceForge.net is that the two most active projects for the past week, as listed Wednesday, are two ERP projects – PostBooks ERP, Accounting, CRM by xTuple; and ADempiere ERP Business Suite. These aren’t two arbitrarily large outliers. Openbravo ERP and webERP web-based ERP Accounting also made the top 15 list.
Ned Lilly, CEO at xTuple, reports that XTuple has about 500 active contributors and 25,000 people who have added to the application at some point. There have been roughly 400,000 downloads of the ERP project. It’s more difficult to figure out how many companies actually use the ERP system. XTuple has 200 paying customers, but Lilly estimates that there are anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 running deployments.
“[It’s] a good time to be in open-source,” Lilly says. “It’s still the case that the technical guys find us and fall in love with the product and community.” Open-source business has become better understood and appreciated in recent years. “It’s almost happened overnight that we didn’t have to explain open-source to people anymore.”
Some open-source ERP software providers
Open-source ERP’s advantages come from its communal intelligence. Necessary upgrades can be found and resolved by any programmer, regardless of finances or business affiliation.
Granted, the security risk of depending on the unwashed masses of computer bums is what scares ERP industry leaders the most. Chances are that the landscape of the ERP market, still dominated by SAP and Oracle, will not change too drastically, too soon.
Businesses have turned to open-source ERP, though, to avoid the on-premise pitfalls of restrictive licensing, obligatory version upgrades, and high system maintenance costs. Open-source offers much more flexibility.
Application integrators too, may appreciate open-source. ERP vendor partnerships can become one-sided, where the vendor assumes control of the client. Open-source ERP can provide a customized solution centered on the customer’s actual needs.
No commentsAdvantages of Open Source ERP
Open source ERP systems are growing in popularity, thanks in part to the state the economy. Open source ERP software gives businesses the ability to optimize their business processes while minimizing IT expenditure. ERP system implementation is the key to streamlining business operations, however some ERP solutions can be expensive to install. Open source ERP software systems provide users with a feasible alternative to expensive ERP.
Advantages of Open source ERP for Business owners:
“ No Licensing fees
“ No royalties
“ Own the code including all source code
“ Customizability
One of the most expensive costs of implementing an ERP system is the cost of maintenance and support. Open source ERP systems don’t require an IT staff for website management. Open source ERP software gives users all the tools they need without the upkeep fees. Open source ERP isn’t necessarily for everyone, but it has several advantages over traditional ERP.
Flexibility
Open source ERP provides its users with flexibility, unlike traditional ERP. When it comes to open source ERP, everything is decided by code. Companies can make code modifications without support from the vendor. Open source ERP also doesn’t interfere with the regular schedule of the company during implementation.
Duration, Dependence and Results
Open source ERP takes significantly less time to implement than its traditional counterpart. Open source ERP has a built in process therefore companies rely less on vendors and take care of needs by themselves. Open source ERP software users can also enjoy high productivity rates and low failure rates.
Training
Traditional ERP software requires in-depth training to work with the system which in turn requires time and money. Open source ERP solutions do not require as much training. The source code acts as more than just a training manual.
Security
Commercial/traditional ERP systems are less secure than open source ERP software. Although both types of ERP systems are prone to hacks and other security breaches, open source ERP systems are transparent and any abnormalities will be made apparent to users.
There are several advantages to using an open source ERP system. However, it is best to do research beforehand, as different companies have different business needs.
No commentsThe Future of ERP: SAP, Plex and Rootstock
Much of the press the last few weeks has concerned SAP and other vendors as user conferences were everywhere in May. SAP’s Business ByDesign SaaS solution has been getting a lot of visibility. Another to note is Plex Systems.
While Plex Systems’ install base primarily has a North American focus currently, we expect this to change soon. Plex is a true multi-tenant solution and much larger entities are looking to Plex as a replacement solution for older on-premise ERP solutions. Many of their users are highly impressed by this ERP solution and some suggest that Plex Systems make their PaaS development toolset available to systems integrators and resellers, and to also accelerate their rollout into other vertical markets.
Another growing player in the future of ERP is Rootstock Software. Rootstock has an ERP suite built on the NetSuite cloud and NetSuite development tools. Rootstock, like Plex, has its roots on the shop floor, not the back office. In Rootstock’s case, the product uses the NetSuite applications (e.g., Financials, CRM and HR) while building out their own core products. The Rootstock software has approximately 2995 custom fields, 93 database/tables and 202 suite-lets.
Bottom line: Vendors like Rootstock will be particularly disconcerting to older on-premise vendors. Their ability to create big, functionally rich application suites fast is their core competency: a competency that is made possible via a powerful platform as a service (PaaS).
These two players are definitely ERP vendors to watch.
No commentsERP and Cloud-Computing: Making Upgrades and Innovation Easier
The traditional sentiment of what it takes to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) and similar large, complex packaged applications is that it’s a big, lumbering, exhausting process. Standard procedures such as installation, configuration, testing new systems and then moving them into production can take enormous time and effort, and software changes often just layer on more complexity.
Could cloud-computing change that reputation? Cloud-computing lifts the perspective of software as a service (SaaS) to the business level where concerns about scale, performance and availability are seen through the lens of business processes and user requirements.
Recent user reactions from the CUE-10 conference in San Antonio made it clear that cloud computing will have a significant impact on ERP. The primary reason is obvious: greater deployment flexibility, enabling organizations to tighten the alignment between business strategy and the technology needed to achieve it.
With cloud-based ERP, customers have the option to subscribe to applications through the cloud and then if they wish, take their investment in both money and experience and apply it to a standard perpetual license, while remaining on the cloud platform. Organizations can easily test new application services; if it works, they keep using it, if not they can just switch over to another vendor.
Rather than offering a brand new but limited SaaS system, Lawson Software is providing its full existing suite of enterprise applications in the cloud, including M3 for process management, S3 for service management and its Talent Management application. Lawson’s External Cloud Services run exclusively on the Amazon Web Services’ Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) platform.
By providing a single point of management for working with all virtual appliances, Lawson Software’s “Cloud Console” is critical to their desire to steer clear of the debate about SaaS and the use of a multi-tenancy model.
Lawson is demonstrating how cloud computing, virtualization and innovative management tools can help loosen up ERP’s infamous inflexibility allowing organizations move closer to the goal of letting business requirements and strategies guide decisions about the size and make-up of enterprise applications.
1 commentGodlan Launches New Mobile ERP Software Solution, InSync Anywhere
Godlan launched its new InSync Anywhere mobile sales application, a solution for Infor ERP SyteLine users wanting a mobile cloud-based application for remote workforces, at the SyteLine User Network (SUN) conference in Nashville, TN.
The new mobile ERP software solution, InSync Anywhere, utilizes the emerging cloud technology (SaaS) and delivers critical customer information to any device – anytime and anywhere – to ensure 24/7 SyteLine ERP continuity between sales, customer service operations and customers. The InSync Anywhere mobile sales solution may be used on various mobile devices including BlackBerry, Droid, iPad, iPhone, Palm and Windows Mobile. Base-product functionality of InSync Anywhere includes mobile queries, data entry and real-time measurement of key performance indicators.
It is Godlan’s belief that mobile sales for SyteLine ERP enables companies to increase revenue and customer retention rates by delivering time-sensitive and content-rich information to the mobile device. Godlan’s mobile ERP software solution, InSync Anywhere, is developed on the most recent open-architecture platform to guarantee the best mobile experience for the end user.
With InSync Anywhere, this web-based mobile ERP application, customers can provide management with immediate access to information and metrics to speed up decision-making processes while improving the responsiveness of customer service and increasing date accuracy through automated data collection.
This could be the next greatest thing in mobile ERP solutions.
Visit www.insyncanywhere.com for more information.
No commentsSAP’s Business ByDesign is “not a fantasy”
SAP’s on-demand ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite Business ByDesign “is not a fantasy,” CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said during a press conference last week. Snabe was addressing quiet thoughts of attendees at the Sappire conference in regards to Business ByDesign’s postponed product roll out back in 2008.
SAP originally hoped to have 10,000 customers and $1 billion in revenue for the application by 2010 but they realized in 2008 they couldn’t run Business ByDesign at scale in a cost-effective manner. To date, only about 100 early customers are using the application.
The upcoming SAP Business ByDesign version 2.5 introduces an option for multitenancy, a key factor in making the software profitable. With multitenancy, a number of customers share the same instance of an application, with their data is kept separate. This cuts down on overhead for equipment and simplifies system management for the vendor, particularly upgrades, which can be delivered to many users at once. (A single tenant option will remain available but at a higher cost.)
SAP’s Business One is aimed at companies with 10 to 100 employees where companies are at a size where they need a certain level of business processes but don’t need advanced planning and scheduling algorithms. Their Business All-in-One, SAP’s high-end Business Suite, is meant for companies with 1,000 to 2,500 workers that are at the same level of business process literacy as most large companies.
With Business ByDesign, SAP can conveniently fill out that 100 to 1,000 employee-sized company gap. SAP has worked closely with telecoms to ensure working with Business ByDesign is a zippy experience, with average response times of a second to 1.2 seconds or “human interaction speed”.
In-memory processing in the upcoming release will allow the user to conveniently drill into various aspects of a transaction, examining data from various viewpoints, with the application rarely appearing to write back to or read from the database.
Sounds like SAP’s Business ByDesign is ready to be launched into the hungry jaws of mid-sized enterprises.
1 commentSAP: Experimenting with Sybase
At Sapphire Now, SAP talked a bit more about Sybase and its focus for on-premise, on-device and on demand systems. James Governor, co-found of Redmonk, says that SAP is throwing out the seeds to see what flowers. There has been a huge change in the development culture and SAP is a doing a lot of experimentation – ERP trial and error if you will.
Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO of SAP, made a big point about people and the content we are producing as evidence of the need to shift towards a more ubiquitous world where collaboration is the rule, not the exception. In turn, real-time services are becoming the most important element in the way people interact and make decisions.
This transcends the on-premise vs cloud infrastructure debate. Real-time decisions are needed no matter what the delivery, and the data needs to be available anytime, anywhere, which is where real-time analytics and the Sybase acquisition come into play.
Sybase is supposed to be the database for the mobile device, and with in-memory, the belief is that customers can get that real-time analysis, accessing SAP apps.
SAP is careful not to make too deep of a commitment to cloud computing, making it clear that SAP will always be true to its roots in the on premise world.
Experimentation is underway, the seeds are in the ground. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what flowers bloom.
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