Develop ERP Mobile Programs Easier
Magic Software Enterprises, the application platform and business integration company, just announced the release of its new mobile enterprise resource planning (ERP) development program. The mobile development package was developed as an affordable solution for companies, such as SAP and Oracle JD Edwards, that integrate systems and use ERP systems.
Magic Software Enterprises wanted to give companies the opportunity to avoid using complicated device-specific software by offering an easy to use mobile development ERP application. Magic Software Enterprise’s uniPaaS application platform and iBOLT integration suite was designed to build the mobile ERP applications easily without the need for complex software. The ERP application runs in the cloud. It also gives business users the capability to integrate data from many different systems and the ability to access all ERP data.
The application can run on Windows Mobile devices. Magic’s ERP application gives mobile devices the ability to allow ERP data to be integrated on both the mobile phone and on the back-end system. This creates a more powerful and efficient decision making process because data from different ERP systems is combined onto one mobile screen, allowing users to have a holistic view of the data.
Magic Software’s representative, David Akka, commented on the ERP solution. He said, “This mobile package for ERP is an efficient method for porting heavy ERP system data to mobile devices while adding value to that data. Not only are you creating a rich mobile front-end application with fewer resources using the uniPaaS cloud-enabled application platform, but the use of the iBOLT integration suite allows users to extend and composite the ERP data with other data without re-working the existing business logic. The process requires far less system testing and is cheaper and quicker than alternative methods currently available.”
Overall, the mobile development application platform is an inexpensive application that is ideal for larger ERP companies. It is a great alternative to more complex systems. The ERP mobile package allows companies to extend its ERP data to mobile devices, ultimately allowing business users to make more informed decisions.
No commentsSAP ERP Available to Small and Midsized Health Care Providers
Today, SAP announced the release of an ERP solution that suits the needs of small and midsize health care organizations. Smaller health care providers, too, are pressed to have efficient operations while still giving quality care. Optimized IT infrastructure can be one way to reduce costs.
While SAP has designed ERP models for large health care systems, the company worked with LSI Consulting to create a solution geared toward the smaller groups. The application is recast from SAP’s ERP and Best Practices packages.
To build the new product, SAP worked with LSI to analyze previously successful ERP integrations at large medical institutions, then combined the best features, as fitting for smaller organizations. The ERP software is designed for hospitals or medical centers with 400 beds or fewer. The software is made on the basis that the smaller industry providers will need returns in a relatively shorter period of time and at a lower cost point.
LSI has experience in healthcare consulting and IT software deployments, SAP solutions in particular. Steve Roach, director of Healthcare Solutions at LSI Consulting, says, “The solution we have now packaged is designed to address the base set of essential functionalities needed by hospitals enabling them to remain viable in the smaller community setting. That functionality includes financial accounting, supply chain management, including exchange cart processing, and analytics.”
The ERP application, available through LSI, is offered as on-premise or on-demand. The on-demand model is managed, monitored, and maintained by SAP technicians in hosted data centers. This option can reduce capital expenses that would result from installing and self-maintaining the ERP system.
“SAP has an established reputation globally as a provider of healthcare solutions to large medical centers, and has worked in recent years to develop equally beneficial solutions to small and midsize hospitals around the world,” says John Papandrea, senior vice president at SAP, Global Health Sciences Sector. “The introduction of this jointly developed solution, specifically configured to meet the needs of the U.S. market, shows our commitment to this segment as we apply best practices, articulated within a template, to offer a comprehensive solution with flexible deployment options that would mitigate risk and enable rapid time to value for smaller hospitals.”
No comments5 ERP iPad Business Applications
The iPad is rapidly gaining momentum, as over three million have already been sold. It is the easy on-the-go device that balances a laptop and and the iPhone. It is a portable solution, but has more data storage and flexibility that the iPhone. The iPad is ideal for business users who need to access information on the go. Here are five business ERP applications for the iPad that are great for day to day business processes.
1. Office HD- Word, Excel Access, PowerPoint ($7.99)
This iPad application allows users to create and edit .doc and .xls files on their iPad. The Office HD app can display PDF files and PowerPoint presentations, on the iPad. The word processor features include undo and redo, auto-correction, image and table support, as well as paragraph and character formatting. Spreadsheets can be created on the Office HD iPad app.
Documents can easily be transferred via Wireless Local Area Network, so users do not have to email themselves documents or upload them from their computers. The iPad Office HD app also has the ability to save documents. Users can create or delete folders to easily organize their files.
The Office HD app is compatible with Microsoft Word, NewOffice, Excel, Numbers, among other .doc or .xls programs. It is great for businesses who are looking for fast ERP solutions.
2. SAPPLAPP 1.3 ($0.99)
This iPad app is ideal for business users on-the-go who need to access their company’s SAP system. The SAP ERP application is helpful for reviewing transactions, sales figures, or the progress of business analyses.
3. SAP BusinessObjects BI ON Demand and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 2.0.319 (FREE)
This one ERP iPad app comprises both the SAP Business Objects BI On Demand application and the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 2.0.310. This SAP app provides a cloud- for free! Users can upload up to 10 MB of data and a table of up to 2,000 data rows in SAP’s cloud.
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer lets users answer their business questions with as little as a few taps on their iPad. Users can check their business revenue, recent customer transactions, or other corporate data with this easy ERP iPad app. According to SAP, this ERP iPad app is “your business at your fingertips”.
4. Mellmo Roambi Visualizer 3.0.2 (FREE)
This ERP iPad app allows report data to be displayed, from many different sources including Salesforce.com, SAP Crystal Reports, and Microsoft. Users can even edit reports on the iPad, with the use of graphics. This on-the-go ERP solution allows users to have a mobile dashboard at their finger tips. The app can open .rpt files.
5. Citrix Receiver 1.1 (FREE)
With this iPad app, users can display the entire virtual desktop of Windows systems. The Citrix Receiver even supports the latest version of Windows, Windows 7. It gives business users flexibility because they can access their desktop from anywhere with their iPad and the Citrix app. The Citrix Receiver is user friendly and secure. Users can access data and applications from their desktops with this reliable ERP iPad app.
No commentsHow to Optimize Your Facebook Friends
A Facebook application designed by an enterprise software development and consulting corporation does not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but the Germany-based company SAP pulls through with an informational and useful application.
SAP’s new application is called the Friend Network Optimizer. It has a social network dashboard where users can see their social activity on Facebook and statistics that show how users compare to their friends and other Friend Optimizer users. This interactive application shows you how to optimize your network by listing which people will add to your “network value”. There is a what-if scenario component where users can see how they would compare if they posted a certain amount of status updates or wall posts.
Screenshot of Friend Optimizer App
The Friend Network Optimizer mimics SAP’s Crystal Reports, which also include interactive charts, detailed reports, and what-if scenario models. The application is a way for the SAP developers to show and model their company and report method.
While the application was launched several weeks ago on May 29th, it did not start to spread until yesterday when tens of thousands of users joined overnight. This application is worth checking out- if at the very least, for curiosity’s sake.
No commentsHCL AXON’s iMRO Endorsed by SAP
HCL AXON, a business solutions provider, is now an SAP-endorsed. SAP, an ERP software vendor, has made the decision to support iMRO because the company delivers value to SAP. iMRO is an SAP add-on for SAP’s ERP application. The iMRO add-on helps reduce cost and optimizes efficiency for airlines, manufacturers, and third party MRO providers. iMRO helps users with maintenance engineering, maintenance planning, maintenance operations and business support processes.
iMRO’s SAP add-onwill be complementary to SAP software offerings and are developed following SAP’s development guidelines and give SAP software users additional flexibility with SAP applications. Moving forward, SAP and iMRO will share their product roadmaps and technology.
“Now that iMRO is an SAP-endorsed business solution, we can respond quickly to the needs of the marketplace, collaborate with SAP on future solution functionality, and offer a wide range of flexibility and value to our customers,” said Ian Greenhalgh, HCL AXON’s VP. “We look forward to delivering innovative solutions to our joint airline and aerospace and defense customers, enabling them to achieve significant business benefits.”
HCL and SAP had collaborated in 2008 to create technology for the aerospace market. The result of the collaboration was iMRO for aviation, aerospace, transport and defense MRO organizations that plan to implement SAP’s ERP software.
“By endorsing solutions such as iMRO, SAP continues to build its ecosystem, support our customers’ businesses, drive new levels of collaboration, and provide additional choices and flexibility to our customers,’ said SAP executive, Phil Te Hau. “The use of iMRO with SAP ERP has already proven to be a powerful combination that reduces costs associated with maintenance while improving asset utilization for the airline and MRO industries.”
No commentsDeloitte Sued Over ERP Project
Deloitte, an accounting and consulting firm, is being sued for $30 million over a botched ERP project. California’s Marin County will be suing Deloitte for misrepresenting the skills and capabilities of their SAP ERP implementation recommendation.
In 2004, Deloitte helped Marin County officials select an ERP program to replace their legacy system. Marin County claimed that Deloitte claimed to have “deep SAP and public sector knowledge” when marketing itself to the County for consulting work.
Deloitte recommended that the County implement an SAP ERP system to replace their legacy system. The County claimed that the ERP system had cost them millions of dollars to remedy.
Deloitte claimed that they fulfilled all of its obligations under their contract with Marin County. Deloitte filed an administrative claim with the Marin County Board of Supervisors seeking $444,000 in unpaid dues and $111,000 in late fees. A Deloitte spokesman explained: “To be clear, the SAP software was working properly when we completed our work in November 2007.”
According to Marin, the county hired Deloitte to help replace their aging ERP systems because they didn’t’ have the skills to solve their problems in-house. Deloitte knew that the county would adhere to its recommendations for the ERP replacement project.
“Throughout the months-long selection process County officials stressed to Deloitte that County officials did not have experience working on projects,” like SAP ERP system implementation, said a Marin County official. Marin County officials told Deloitte consultants that they didn’t know anything about ERP solutions.
Marin County selected Deloitte out of 13 vendors based on its claims about its experience, integration testing processes and management abilities. Marin County claimed that Deloitte failed to deliver on any of the fronts they claimed and that the SAP system Deloitte chose to implement was full of errors. Marin claimed the SAP ERP system was worse than their legacy system, which forced the country to limit its use of the system and revert to manual processes instead.
In late 2007, Marin fired Deloitte and started a “Get Well” project to fix their system. The Get Well project has been re-designed, re-tested and re-implemented at the cost of taxpayers over the last few years.
Deloitte defended themselves by claiming that County officials never made it known that they had any issues til after a change order was placed in June 2007. “We fulfilled each and every one of our obligations under the contract, as evidenced three years ago when all of our work was approved by the County officials responsible for the project,” said a Deloitte official.
This isn’t the first lawsuit over a failed ERP implementation, but it is uncommon to see a lawsuit that targets a systems integrator instead of an ERP vendor. SAP has dodged a bullet for now. We’ll keep you posted on how things settle between Deloitte and Marin County.
No commentsResearchPoint Selects SAP’s Business ByDesign as Their ERP Solution
ResearchPoint has chosen to implement SAP’s Business ByDesign ERP solution. ResearchPoint is a full-service contract research organization (CRO) that provides drug and device development services globally. ResearchPoint manages clinical trials for companies from study start-up through delivery of the final report.
Business ByDesign is SAP’s on demand ERP software that offers solutions to small to mid-sized businesses. SAP’s Business ByDesign provides large-scale business applications to smaller companies. The SAP ERP software is designed with the built-in functionality to manage financials, CRM, HR, projects, procurement, and supply chain. The software is available as a SaaS ERP solution that SAP installs, maintains and upgrades.
As ResearchPoint continued to scale, the company realized it needed a scalable solution as their ERP software. ResearchPoint chose SAP’s Business ByDesign ERP software because it includes business analytics, project profitability, and automated project billing. “We now have greater transparency into our projects and across all operations of the business, allowing us to make faster decisions, saving both time and money for our clients,” said ResearchPoint CFO, Patti Charlton.
“People are often surprised that a company of ResearchPoint’s size, with just a single IT staff is running SAP.” ResearchPoint puts major emphasis on transparency across project management activities. The company has praised SAP for making ERP software solutions that specifically cater to small to mid-sized markets. “On-demand is a remarkable thing,” said Charlton. “It allows companies of our size to get that big company functionality without the huge price tag.”
No comments‘Real’ Real-Time for SAP Customers
SAP announced at their recent Sapphire Conference that the company aims to “eliminate the divide between transactional and analytical applications with in-memory technology”. SAP highlighted that the next frontier for SAP would be pushing for developments in ‘real’ real-time computing technology. SAP plans to use the real-time technology to enable new applications, extend the reach of SAP systems across the mobile devices and give users the ability to manage operations from the shop-floor to the boardroom.
“We believe that enterprises are looking to unleash the power of the existing landscapes,” said SAP CTO Vishal Sikka. “And we believe in doing that without breaking continuity, without bringing disruption to your existing systems. Every once in a while, a set of technologies converge that change everything; entirely new sorts of innovations and products become possible,” hints Sikka at SAP’s new real real-time applications. “SAP is reinventing the real-time enterprise.”
SAP plans to speed up the existing SAP systems and liberate information within the systems to extend reach. SAP also announced their plans to launch a project code-named “Gateway” that would produce products that attach to existing SAP software so that anyone could build and deliver applications. Gateway would help liberate SAP application functionality and liberate content across mobile devices and presentation technologies. SAP will leverage Sybase technology to help with the process of bring SAP software to the mobile sphere. “The fantastic middleware that Sybase has around mobility gives us an unbelievable opportunity to unbind-to “unwire”- the existing systems that are sitting in your landscape,” said Sikka.
SAP used the conference to talk about things to come, like the “Real Enterprise 2.0”. SAP plans to bring in-computing memory to their ERP and business intelligence systems. SAP’s in-memory database will also have a faster implementation time. The best part of SAP’s ‘real-time enterprise 2.0’ is that not only will ERP implementation be lightening fast, but also without disruption. SAP has designed their in-memory database to implement without changing or losing any of the customer’s software or date. The in-memory software can directly access SAP software to get information in real-time. The benefit of real-time ERP information is that CEO’s and managers can access critical information to make decisions and take action immediately.
No commentsSAP State of The Union: The CEOs Talk Oracle, SaaS ERP
Today at the company’s Palo Alto offices, SAP’s co-CEOs, Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, fielded questions about the enterprise software giant’s general state. Last month SAP experienced certain discomfort when Léo Apotheker resigned as CEO after only nine months on the job, and speculators attributed his departure to SAP’s inability to get a solid SaaS ERP product off the ground. Snabe and McDermott offered sentiments on the company’s current strategy, Oracle, and the future of SaaS developments.
SAP has been under fire for their lack of SaaS developments for quite a while now, and to that end the two CEOs said that their on-demand platform, SAP Business ByDesign, is in beta testing and will be generally released this summer. The wait for Business ByDesign ERP has been a long one, so naturally some are remaining skeptical of the platform’s abilities until they see something more than slideshows. McDermott did admit that Business ByDesign has taken much longer than expected, but says that with functionalities ranging from supply chain to cash management to CRM, the product will do much more than competing platforms.
Another hot-button topic the duo addressed: Oracle, their foremost competitor. When Business ByDesign is released, the CEOs posit they’ll be discussing a triumph over Oracle, but for now they chose to discuss their contrasting business model. Oracle has been growing through acquisitions, while SAP has pushed for growth by strengthening and broadening core products. The CEOs are standing by the decision to innovate from within, and plan to give Oracle a run for their money with future Java projects.
This summer will be an important one for SAP. It’s is a large and relatively successful ERP provider, so the Business ByDesign ERP will most likely be a great product, but the platform’s perpetual delays have many worried. SAP recently announced the desire to have 1 billion users by 2014—a feasible but still ambitious task. The success of Business ByDesign will likely be a factor in whether or not they reach this number.
2 commentsNetSuite Poaches from SAP, Boast Big Q4 Earnings
Late last week, NetSuite announced their fourth quarter earnings, and their overall success in 2009 is undoubtedly a harbinger of widespread SaaS ERP uptake within the next few years. And if those numbers weren’t enough, they also announced that RedBuilt LLC switched to their product from SAP—NetSuite has successfully poached SAP customers before, but RedBuilt is the largest one yet.
NetSuite’s annual revenue was up 9% and Q4 revenues were at a record $43 million. Their sales increased as on-premise vendors experienced downward sales trends. SAP’s SaaS sales went up marginally, but their overall software revenues were down 27%, and their biggest boost came from the increase in support sales—typically SAP’s biggest source of income—which increased 11%. Oracle’s numbers fall somewhere in between.
So SaaS sales are on the up and up, but on-premise ERP products are not slipping entirely into obscurity. SAP’s Business Objects line does very well, despite the heavy fire they’ve endured for less effective cloud offerings. Still, RedBuilt’s switch to NetSuite is a good sign for SaaS ERP delivery. RedBuilt is an innovator and supplier of engineered wood products for the commercial and multi-family construction industry, and they’ve switched to NetSuite for managing their corporate offices and four production plants, and perhaps most importantly, the NetSuite deployment means RedBuilt no longer has to pay the $275,000 annual salary costs for SAP and database administration.
NetSuite certainly offers a very complete SaaS ERP package, as do other companies, but the SaaS deployment’s biggest coup so far is its cost, which explains why on-premise ERP is not extinct, and will probably take longer than expected to die out. When SaaS ERP packages are more extensive, then we’ll really begin to see some change.
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