On-Premises ERP Versus Cloud Computing: Too Late for the Sky?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Bruce Richardson
Early last week, I spent a morning reviewing SEC filings and Seeking Alpha transcripts for the most recent earnings calls from Epicor, QAD, and NetSuite. I wanted to see how well the two on-premises vendors were doing relative to the ERP-in the-Cloud company. A quick note: Most readers think of vendors like NetSuite as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) or on-demand provider, but I’m going to use the cloud nomenclature, since the term is rapidly replacing the other descriptions in vendor presentations.
While it’s not entirely fair to compare the three firms, since NetSuite doesn’t sell manufacturing applications (but it does have manufacturers as customers), there are some very interesting observations.
Epicor: 125 new customers
For the second quarter ending June 30, 2009, Epicor reported total revenue of $100.4M, down 21.5% over the year-earlier period. License revenue fell 28% to $17.5M. While maintenance slipped 2.8%, it still represented 47% of revenue in the quarter. The company reported non-GAAP net income of $6.7M.
Epicor added 125 new customers to its base of nearly 21,000 companies in manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality, and services. Although the company has a cloud product for retail, it hasn’t released a cloud version of Epicor 9 yet.
QAD: Six new cloud customers, with “20 live customers by year end”
For the second quarter ending July 31, 2009, QAD reported total revenue of $61.3M, down 26.2% from 2Q09. License revenue dropped 41.2% to $6.7M. Maintenance and other revenue contributed $32.1M or nearly 53% of total revenue. The company reported a net loss of $1.4M, including stock compensation expense.
Although QAD didn’t provide data on the number of total new customers, it did say it signed six cloud customers in the quarter, including five U.S. companies and an Australian firm that plans to deploy QAD Enterprise in sites in Australia, Brazil, China, the United States, the UK, and Singapore. A QAD executive said the company plans to have “20 live customers by year end.”
QAD is installed at 6,000 sites. It no longer breaks out the customer count.
NetSuite: 270 new customers
It was a different story at NetSuite. For the second quarter ending June 30, 2009, the company reported total revenue of $40.3M, up 10.3% over the year-earlier period. It had a GAAP net loss of nearly $5M for the quarter. Conversely, it had a non-GAAP net income of $687,000.
In the quarter, NetSuite added 270 new customers to its base of 6,000 accounts. This is up from the 240 new accounts added in the first quarter. If you read the company’s 10-Q, which was filed August 10, 2009, you’ll see that new customers accounted for $11.6M in new revenue. This more than offset the $7.9M decrease in revenue from existing customers and other sources. Half of that was because of a $3.9M drop off in professional services. The balance was attributed to customer churn and other factors, such as the reduction of revenue recognized from the company’s Japanese distribution rights agreement. The latter resulted in a net decline of $0.02 in profitability.
In the filing, the company noted “existing customers’ purchases of additional user subscriptions and modules (or ‘upsell’) largely offset the impact of customer churn and decreases in subscription and support revenues (or ‘downsell’) for existing customers.”
Will cloud adoption force public companies into the arms of private equity?
Even though I’ve only presented one quarter’s worth of data, I also looked at the previous quarter and earlier periods too. Since the start of economic downturn last September, on-premises vendors have been harder hit than their cloud brethren. This is especially true for ERP providers.
While the largest enterprises may be the last to replace their financial applications and the bulk of their ERP systems with a cloud offering, it will happen, but only when the largest vendors endorse it, or companies like NetSuite and Workday are viewed as viable replacement products. The economics for buyers are too compelling, which is a theme we’ll explore in future editions of First Thing Monday.
The publicly-traded vendors have more of a challenge, though. Software as a service and cloud represent entirely different business models. Although this is especially true in the shift from large, upfront deals to subscription fees, it also shows up in the company’s business model.
Look at QAD, for example. In its 2009 annual report, the company noted that it had 1,500 employees, including 625 in services and support, with 400 consultants in 23 countries and 15 support centers. It also noted it had 350 developers in R&D centers in the United States, India, China, Ireland, Australia, and Belgium. Some of this comes courtesy of acquisitions, but how many services and support people, trainers, developers, and sites will QAD need if the new business shifts to mostly cloud sales?
Finally, Epicor and QAD are on the top of many private equity firms’ acquisition wish lists, despite the challenges of actually completing a deal.
Wall Street loves cloud companies
In addition to appealing to customers, there are also shareholders to consider. As I write this, NetSuite has the highest market cap of the three at $882.06M. Epicor is valued at $397.54M, while QAD trails at $132.24M. The valuations are based on the closing price on Thursday, August 27.
Since the first trading day of the year, NetSuite’s share price is up 41.4%, Epicor 26.7%, and QAD 4%.
What do you think?
Are the on-premises vendors too late for the sky? If they continue to ignore the trend or move too slowly, will they find themselves running on empty, or pleading to their physicians, “Doctor, my eyes have seen the years and the slow parade of fears”?
As always, I welcome your feedback and ideas—brichardson@amrresearch. Let’s continue the discussion on my blog, The Future of Enterprise Software.
Finally, please take a look at a new research product from AMR Research, Voice of the Customer. We just published the annual outlook on software spending, with some striking findings.
Showing posts with label ERP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ERP. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Epicor(R) Announces Epicor 9 Redefines the Enterprise Application Software Experience
Epicor(R) Announces Epicor 9 Redefines the Enterprise Application Software Experience
Next-Generation Enterprise Resource Planning Solution Featuring Epicor True SOA(TM), Uniquely Configurable Global Engines, and Far-Reaching Functionality
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of enterprise business software for the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, unveiled today to nearly 2,000 attendees at its annual customer conference, a unique solution for business with the launch of its next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution Epicor 9. Leveraging more than 20 years of experience designing and implementing ERP solutions, Epicor is introducing a new approach to the way ERP systems are designed, built, and used.
Expected to be generally available before the end of the year, Epicor 9 will virtually put "ERP everywhere," utilizing Web 2.0 concepts to provide users with a truly collaborative and dynamic enterprise business application experience. Epicor 9 raises technology to a level that delivers unprecedented business management and supports continuous performance improvement through real-time, in-context business insight. At the core of Epicor 9 is an adaptable and collaborative business architecture that satisfies the needs of any enterprise regardless of country, industry, or access device, enabling business anywhere -- business without barriers.
"With Epicor 9, Epicor continues its proven history of innovation with Microsoft technology by working to redefine the enterprise application software experience," said Walid Abu-Hadba, CVP, Developer & Platform Evangelism for Microsoft Corp. "We applaud Epicor for its deep utilization of the Microsoft platform to deliver its next-generation service-based business solutions. These applications offer users tremendous choice for interacting with their enterprise information - through the 2007 Microsoft(R) Office system (Office Outlook(R) 2007, Office Word 2007, and Office Excel(R) 2007), Microsoft Office SharePoint(R) Server 2007, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, Windows Mobile and more. We expect that the combination of Epicor and Microsoft software will enable companies to drive greater efficiencies and create new business value as users are empowered to work smarter and faster."
Business Management
With proven success in developing and delivering service-oriented enterprise applications used by thousands of companies around the world today, Epicor has converged the best of its offerings into this next-generation superset release. Encompassing the robust functionality, global footprint and industry expertise of Epicor's existing ERP suites, the release takes business management and control to the next level by extending reach, synergy, and visibility to the organization and its trading partners.
Specifically, Epicor features numerous essential embedded capabilities that manage the flow of processes right across the enterprise. This approach to core functionality, typically provided in other systems through after-the-fact integration or third party add-ons, includes customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), advanced planning and scheduling (APS), business process management (BPM), governance, risk and compliance (GRC), product configuration, field service and more. Additionally, integral support for master data management (MDM) and what Epicor terms Global Business Management lets businesses virtualize their enterprise across plants, warehouses, sites, trading partners, companies, countries, and hardware, keeping everything synchronized in real time.
Business Insight
Epicor has responded to the needs of today's businesses, who finding that it is no longer enough to respond retroactively to trends uncovered by complex business intelligence tools all too often removed from the point of decision and managed and used by a select few, are seeking better solutions.
Today's information workers require decision support in real time, and they want it deployed in the tools they already use, day in and day out. Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) removes the barriers to better business insight through a combination of intuitive enterprise search-based user experiences, user-driven key performance indicators (KPIs), role-based interactive dashboards, and pre-packaged analytics delivered in context that have real meaning to the user and add real value to the business.
Business Architecture
Epicor's breakthrough enterprise business solution has been designed for growing companies in domestic and global markets, and is built on a second-generation service-oriented architecture (SOA) which Epicor announced earlier this year, Epicor Internet Component Environment (ICE) 2.0. The backbone of Epicor's next-generation ERP solutions, Epicor ICE, fuses modern Web 2.0 technologies with Epicor True SOA(TM) to deliver an enabling business architecture that offers new levels of flexibility, usability, and agility in support of application-to-application integration and business-to-business collaboration.
What makes Epicor True SOA(TM) different is the way that all client code, as well as application business logic, is delivered as self-describing business services, offering a tremendous step forward in the creation of productive user experiences. Part of Epicor True SOA(TM) is the Epicor Everywhere(TM) Framework, a unique technology that stores all user interface attributes as XML metadata. This permits Epicor applications to run as smart clients or Web clients or on mobile devices, all from the same source code. Because it all starts from the same metadata, customization and user personalization remains intact, whatever the user interface.
Business Anywhere
The tools that people use to conduct business today have changed. Business is everywhere, business is real-time, and business is always online. Epicor understands that the Internet and ubiquitous mobility play an essential part in the daily lives of the information-hungry global economy. The world has changed and with Epicor 9, ERP has too.
Featuring a unique global engine design approach, Epicor 9 offers a comprehensive configurable ERP platform and global footprint that's ready for deployment anywhere. The initial release is expected to support over 20 languages and countries, with rapid expansion planned to the world's principle markets in more than 40 countries in the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific Rim.
Enabled by the Epicor Everywhere(TM) Framework and targeted use of modern consumer Web concepts, Epicor next-generation applications can be accessed via a range of mobile devices, such as Windows Mobile(R), Symbian, BlackBerry(R), and the Apple iPhone(TM) for wireless business. Additionally, Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) can also be deployed direct to mobile devices and includes full search capabilities to rapidly find and drill down to applicable data.
Securing IT Investments - Protect, Extend, Converge
For both existing and prospective customers, this is just the next step in Epicor's "protect, extend, and converge" strategy, enabling them to leverage the latest technology at their own pace. The next generation will expand on the Epicor solutions that customers have trusted to run and grow their businesses for many years. Because Epicor next-generation solutions are based on componentized business architecture, Epicor ICE, customers are able to leverage extended applications like Epicor Information Worker, Epicor Portal, and Epicor Service Connect today with their existing Epicor solution, enabling them to start taking advantage of service-oriented applications before they move up to the next-generation release.
Epicor 9 is the culmination of a well-defined strategy, which at the same time supports current customer investments while keeping the technology moving forward. Bruce Richardson, chief research officer of AMR Research, commented in a recent article that "getting to one brand obviously offers the potential for greater efficiencies in sales, marketing, consulting and services, and product development."(1)
Keeping Pace with Business Requirements
Epicor will empower companies to select the fundamental options that are right for their business--choosing whether to deploy on-premise, single-tenant hosted, or multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS), Windows-based or Web-based, centralized or decentralized, end-to-end or individual suites. Customers can also choose how to configure the application suites to best fit and improve business processes. End users can choose several options for interacting with their ERP system: using the standard application forms, through Microsoft(R) Office applications, through Internet and intranet portal pages or composite applications, using a search engine, taking RSS feeds, and from mobile devices.
"Epicor next-generation enterprise applications represent a game-changing opportunity for business," said Thomas Kelly, president and CEO of Epicor. "Epicor 9 is unparalleled because it is designed for the way people work today, is built for business, and is ready for change. Our strategy is to provide both new and existing customers with unprecedented flexibility and choice. It's about delivering business without barriers."
About Epicor Software Corporation
Epicor is a global leader dedicated to providing integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and professional services automation (PSA) software solutions to the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies. Founded in 1984, Epicor serves over 20,000 customers in more than 140 countries, providing solutions in over 30 languages. Employing innovative service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services technology, Epicor delivers end-to-end, industry-specific solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services that enable companies to drive increased efficiency, improve performance and build competitive advantage. Epicor solutions provide the scalability and flexibility to meet today's business challenges, while empowering enterprises for even greater success tomorrow. Epicor offers a comprehensive range of services with its solutions, providing a single point of accountability to promote rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership. Epicor's worldwide headquarters are located in Irvine, California with offices and affiliates around the world. For more information, visit www.epicor.com.
Epicor is a registered trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document includes descriptions of product functionality that is not presently available. This press release contains certain statements which may constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product releases, revenues, cash flows, growth prospects, installed base of customers, the launch of Epicor 9 and other statements that are not historical fact. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data together with management's views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance at the time the statements are made and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to changes in the demand for Epicor's products; the timely availability and market acceptance of new products and upgrades; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the discovery of undetected software errors; changes in the financial condition of Epicor's customers; and other factors discussed in Epicor's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. As a result of these factors the business or prospects expected by Epicor as part of this announcement may not occur. Epicor undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements.
(1) Source: AMR Research, First Thing Monday: "Epicor 9: The Accomplishment that Eluded Microsoft and Oracle" (Sept. 8, 2008)
Source: Epicor Software Corporation
Next-Generation Enterprise Resource Planning Solution Featuring Epicor True SOA(TM), Uniquely Configurable Global Engines, and Far-Reaching Functionality
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of enterprise business software for the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, unveiled today to nearly 2,000 attendees at its annual customer conference, a unique solution for business with the launch of its next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution Epicor 9. Leveraging more than 20 years of experience designing and implementing ERP solutions, Epicor is introducing a new approach to the way ERP systems are designed, built, and used.
Expected to be generally available before the end of the year, Epicor 9 will virtually put "ERP everywhere," utilizing Web 2.0 concepts to provide users with a truly collaborative and dynamic enterprise business application experience. Epicor 9 raises technology to a level that delivers unprecedented business management and supports continuous performance improvement through real-time, in-context business insight. At the core of Epicor 9 is an adaptable and collaborative business architecture that satisfies the needs of any enterprise regardless of country, industry, or access device, enabling business anywhere -- business without barriers.
"With Epicor 9, Epicor continues its proven history of innovation with Microsoft technology by working to redefine the enterprise application software experience," said Walid Abu-Hadba, CVP, Developer & Platform Evangelism for Microsoft Corp. "We applaud Epicor for its deep utilization of the Microsoft platform to deliver its next-generation service-based business solutions. These applications offer users tremendous choice for interacting with their enterprise information - through the 2007 Microsoft(R) Office system (Office Outlook(R) 2007, Office Word 2007, and Office Excel(R) 2007), Microsoft Office SharePoint(R) Server 2007, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, Windows Mobile and more. We expect that the combination of Epicor and Microsoft software will enable companies to drive greater efficiencies and create new business value as users are empowered to work smarter and faster."
Business Management
With proven success in developing and delivering service-oriented enterprise applications used by thousands of companies around the world today, Epicor has converged the best of its offerings into this next-generation superset release. Encompassing the robust functionality, global footprint and industry expertise of Epicor's existing ERP suites, the release takes business management and control to the next level by extending reach, synergy, and visibility to the organization and its trading partners.
Specifically, Epicor features numerous essential embedded capabilities that manage the flow of processes right across the enterprise. This approach to core functionality, typically provided in other systems through after-the-fact integration or third party add-ons, includes customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), advanced planning and scheduling (APS), business process management (BPM), governance, risk and compliance (GRC), product configuration, field service and more. Additionally, integral support for master data management (MDM) and what Epicor terms Global Business Management lets businesses virtualize their enterprise across plants, warehouses, sites, trading partners, companies, countries, and hardware, keeping everything synchronized in real time.
Business Insight
Epicor has responded to the needs of today's businesses, who finding that it is no longer enough to respond retroactively to trends uncovered by complex business intelligence tools all too often removed from the point of decision and managed and used by a select few, are seeking better solutions.
Today's information workers require decision support in real time, and they want it deployed in the tools they already use, day in and day out. Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) removes the barriers to better business insight through a combination of intuitive enterprise search-based user experiences, user-driven key performance indicators (KPIs), role-based interactive dashboards, and pre-packaged analytics delivered in context that have real meaning to the user and add real value to the business.
Business Architecture
Epicor's breakthrough enterprise business solution has been designed for growing companies in domestic and global markets, and is built on a second-generation service-oriented architecture (SOA) which Epicor announced earlier this year, Epicor Internet Component Environment (ICE) 2.0. The backbone of Epicor's next-generation ERP solutions, Epicor ICE, fuses modern Web 2.0 technologies with Epicor True SOA(TM) to deliver an enabling business architecture that offers new levels of flexibility, usability, and agility in support of application-to-application integration and business-to-business collaboration.
What makes Epicor True SOA(TM) different is the way that all client code, as well as application business logic, is delivered as self-describing business services, offering a tremendous step forward in the creation of productive user experiences. Part of Epicor True SOA(TM) is the Epicor Everywhere(TM) Framework, a unique technology that stores all user interface attributes as XML metadata. This permits Epicor applications to run as smart clients or Web clients or on mobile devices, all from the same source code. Because it all starts from the same metadata, customization and user personalization remains intact, whatever the user interface.
Business Anywhere
The tools that people use to conduct business today have changed. Business is everywhere, business is real-time, and business is always online. Epicor understands that the Internet and ubiquitous mobility play an essential part in the daily lives of the information-hungry global economy. The world has changed and with Epicor 9, ERP has too.
Featuring a unique global engine design approach, Epicor 9 offers a comprehensive configurable ERP platform and global footprint that's ready for deployment anywhere. The initial release is expected to support over 20 languages and countries, with rapid expansion planned to the world's principle markets in more than 40 countries in the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific Rim.
Enabled by the Epicor Everywhere(TM) Framework and targeted use of modern consumer Web concepts, Epicor next-generation applications can be accessed via a range of mobile devices, such as Windows Mobile(R), Symbian, BlackBerry(R), and the Apple iPhone(TM) for wireless business. Additionally, Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) can also be deployed direct to mobile devices and includes full search capabilities to rapidly find and drill down to applicable data.
Securing IT Investments - Protect, Extend, Converge
For both existing and prospective customers, this is just the next step in Epicor's "protect, extend, and converge" strategy, enabling them to leverage the latest technology at their own pace. The next generation will expand on the Epicor solutions that customers have trusted to run and grow their businesses for many years. Because Epicor next-generation solutions are based on componentized business architecture, Epicor ICE, customers are able to leverage extended applications like Epicor Information Worker, Epicor Portal, and Epicor Service Connect today with their existing Epicor solution, enabling them to start taking advantage of service-oriented applications before they move up to the next-generation release.
Epicor 9 is the culmination of a well-defined strategy, which at the same time supports current customer investments while keeping the technology moving forward. Bruce Richardson, chief research officer of AMR Research, commented in a recent article that "getting to one brand obviously offers the potential for greater efficiencies in sales, marketing, consulting and services, and product development."(1)
Keeping Pace with Business Requirements
Epicor will empower companies to select the fundamental options that are right for their business--choosing whether to deploy on-premise, single-tenant hosted, or multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS), Windows-based or Web-based, centralized or decentralized, end-to-end or individual suites. Customers can also choose how to configure the application suites to best fit and improve business processes. End users can choose several options for interacting with their ERP system: using the standard application forms, through Microsoft(R) Office applications, through Internet and intranet portal pages or composite applications, using a search engine, taking RSS feeds, and from mobile devices.
"Epicor next-generation enterprise applications represent a game-changing opportunity for business," said Thomas Kelly, president and CEO of Epicor. "Epicor 9 is unparalleled because it is designed for the way people work today, is built for business, and is ready for change. Our strategy is to provide both new and existing customers with unprecedented flexibility and choice. It's about delivering business without barriers."
About Epicor Software Corporation
Epicor is a global leader dedicated to providing integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and professional services automation (PSA) software solutions to the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies. Founded in 1984, Epicor serves over 20,000 customers in more than 140 countries, providing solutions in over 30 languages. Employing innovative service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services technology, Epicor delivers end-to-end, industry-specific solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services that enable companies to drive increased efficiency, improve performance and build competitive advantage. Epicor solutions provide the scalability and flexibility to meet today's business challenges, while empowering enterprises for even greater success tomorrow. Epicor offers a comprehensive range of services with its solutions, providing a single point of accountability to promote rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership. Epicor's worldwide headquarters are located in Irvine, California with offices and affiliates around the world. For more information, visit www.epicor.com.
Epicor is a registered trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document includes descriptions of product functionality that is not presently available. This press release contains certain statements which may constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding future product releases, revenues, cash flows, growth prospects, installed base of customers, the launch of Epicor 9 and other statements that are not historical fact. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data together with management's views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance at the time the statements are made and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to changes in the demand for Epicor's products; the timely availability and market acceptance of new products and upgrades; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the discovery of undetected software errors; changes in the financial condition of Epicor's customers; and other factors discussed in Epicor's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. As a result of these factors the business or prospects expected by Epicor as part of this announcement may not occur. Epicor undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements.
(1) Source: AMR Research, First Thing Monday: "Epicor 9: The Accomplishment that Eluded Microsoft and Oracle" (Sept. 8, 2008)
Source: Epicor Software Corporation
Monday, November 03, 2008
Infor extends its menu
Infor extends its menu
By Geoff Nairn
Published: November 3 2008 17:13 | Last updated: November 3 2008 17:13
Infor, the US enterprise software company, has launched new software-as-a-service offerings and a novel hybrid pricing model. Infor ERP SyteLine, its ERP suite for discrete manufacturers, can now be hosted remotely by Infor for a monthly subscription of $149 for each user.
In addition, there is a hybrid ”hosted licence” option for businesses that like the traditional licence model but do not have the resources to run SyteLine on site. It costs $65 a month for each user. These new pricing options are also offered on Infor Enterprise Asset Management and Infor Expense Management.
By Geoff Nairn
Published: November 3 2008 17:13 | Last updated: November 3 2008 17:13
Infor, the US enterprise software company, has launched new software-as-a-service offerings and a novel hybrid pricing model. Infor ERP SyteLine, its ERP suite for discrete manufacturers, can now be hosted remotely by Infor for a monthly subscription of $149 for each user.
In addition, there is a hybrid ”hosted licence” option for businesses that like the traditional licence model but do not have the resources to run SyteLine on site. It costs $65 a month for each user. These new pricing options are also offered on Infor Enterprise Asset Management and Infor Expense Management.
Friday, October 31, 2008
ERP Update: Epicor, QAD, and SAP
It was a busy week for Epicor. The company posted earnings, turned down a takeover bid, and became the first ERP vendor to support Microsoft’s new Azure cloud-computing system. Here’s a look at all that news, plus an update on the Epicor 9 beta program, highlights from our briefing with QAD’s CEO Pam Lopker, and insights on a new set of products from SAP.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Infosys to Acquire Axon Global: Combined SAP Practice Will Be in Top Five | AMR Research
Infosys to Acquire Axon Global: Combined SAP Practice Will Be in Top Five | AMR Research
Infosys got the jump this week on potentially becoming the first Indian tech company to join the ranks of global ERP consultancies. Upon the acquisition of Axon Global, which would close in November, Infosys will become a top 10 ERP service provider and a top 5 SAP consultant and integrator. If the two companies can reach agreement on the right branding, go-to-market strategy, and delivery structure, they will be well positioned to compete with top global ERP players IBM, Accenture, Capgemini, and Deloitte.
Infosys got the jump this week on potentially becoming the first Indian tech company to join the ranks of global ERP consultancies. Upon the acquisition of Axon Global, which would close in November, Infosys will become a top 10 ERP service provider and a top 5 SAP consultant and integrator. If the two companies can reach agreement on the right branding, go-to-market strategy, and delivery structure, they will be well positioned to compete with top global ERP players IBM, Accenture, Capgemini, and Deloitte.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
SAP Enterprise Support Contracts: Counting the Real Costs | AMR Research
SAP Enterprise Support Contracts: Counting the Real Costs | AMR Research
SAP Enterprise Support Contracts: Counting the Real Costs
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Derek Prior, Jim Shepherd
To a chorus of disapproval, SAP unveiled on July 16 that all existing customers will have to pay more for their maintenance and support contracts. But what impact will SAP Enterprise Support really have on loyal SAP customers?
SAP Enterprise Support Contracts: Counting the Real Costs
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Derek Prior, Jim Shepherd
To a chorus of disapproval, SAP unveiled on July 16 that all existing customers will have to pay more for their maintenance and support contracts. But what impact will SAP Enterprise Support really have on loyal SAP customers?
Friday, March 21, 2008
Of Terabytes, March Madness, and Network Performance
Terabytes, March Madness, and Network Performance
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bruce Richardson
If you haven’t had a chance yet, read Derek Prior’s recently published piece on “The ERP Terabyte Club.” The only requirement for membership is to have an ERP production database with at least a trillion bytes.
For his research, Derek surveyed 67 SAP customers in conjunction with the American SAP User Group (ASUG). Their average databases were 3.7TB and growing by 10 to 100 gigabytes per month. The largest ERP production database uncovered was 18TB.
Many of the survey respondents are running large, single global instances of SAP and supporting up to 11,120 logged-on ERP users. The dependence on the global instance puts increasing pressure on IT to reduce the planned downtime windows needed for emergency fixes, problem resolution, upgrades, and enhancements.
Reading his research gave me a great sense of déjà vu. In the early days of ERP, clients would often call us for help on sizing up the computing power and storage needed to run their brand new applications. Sadly, this usually happened after they had already purchased the hardware. This issue went away as vendors and integrators gained more experience with the new software.
The issue surfaced again when SAP introduced SAP BW, its business information warehouse, in 1998. Early adopters called again, asking for assistance in sizing the processing power and database needed to effectively run BW.
Databases growing like kudzu
Until I read Derek’s piece, I had assumed there were no additional issues. Not true. It turns out Lora Cecere has been talking about this with our consumer goods clients over the past few years. She had been warning them that they needed to rethink their database strategies as they began pulling global order line-item data into their SAP systems.
Her concern was verified by a quick discussion with IBM executives that described a current customer project where the company is testing SAP NetWeaver and SAP BW sitting on top of a very large DB2 implementation. We will provide the details as soon as IBM obtains its customer’s permission.
The IBM team also warned that database sizing concerns are not limited to consumer goods companies, with consumer electronics and telecommunications companies facing similar issues. If you look at several of the large cell phone companies offering games, music, ring tones, television programs, movies, sports, and other content and services, these transactions are also being stored in SAP. It doesn’t take long before the production database exceeds 30TB to 35TB.
Affecting the network too?
When talking to one CIO about Derek’s research, he asked if other companies were having network problems too. He was concerned about running out of capacity. Ironically, his question came on the same day that The Boston Globe ran the story “Analysts Predict Internet Congestion.” One professor said that digital traffic is growing 50% a year, which is no doubt aided by YouTube and other multimedia applications. As a result, firms are predicting that demand will exceed network capacity by 2011.
But we may not have to wait three years. According to SiliconValley.com, the annual March Madness college basketball tournament may drive network performance down to dial-up levels as employees watch video clips or entire games on their PCs. While I don’t plan to watch any streaming video (my alma mater didn’t even make the NIT), I did find it curious that CBSSports.com automatically linked my picks to my Facebook account.
Join us April 2nd for our first SAP Terabyte Club webcast
I have asked Derek Prior to join me in Boston on Wednesday, April 2, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, for our first webcast focused exclusively on managing large production ERP databases. During the call, Derek will share findings from the study, provide insights on what it means for CIOs and SAP Basis administrators, and explain how SAP Solution Manager might help address part of your concerns. You can register here.
In the meantime, do you share my concerns? Is your database spreading like kudzu? Are you seeing a causal relationship between growing databases and network performance? Will more widespread adoption of business intelligence and performance management software have any affect on the size of your database or your attempts to manage it? Finally, who do you have winning the NCAA tournament?
As always, I welcome your ideas and comments—brichardson@amrresearch.com.
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© Copyright by AMR Research, Inc.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bruce Richardson
If you haven’t had a chance yet, read Derek Prior’s recently published piece on “The ERP Terabyte Club.” The only requirement for membership is to have an ERP production database with at least a trillion bytes.
For his research, Derek surveyed 67 SAP customers in conjunction with the American SAP User Group (ASUG). Their average databases were 3.7TB and growing by 10 to 100 gigabytes per month. The largest ERP production database uncovered was 18TB.
Many of the survey respondents are running large, single global instances of SAP and supporting up to 11,120 logged-on ERP users. The dependence on the global instance puts increasing pressure on IT to reduce the planned downtime windows needed for emergency fixes, problem resolution, upgrades, and enhancements.
Reading his research gave me a great sense of déjà vu. In the early days of ERP, clients would often call us for help on sizing up the computing power and storage needed to run their brand new applications. Sadly, this usually happened after they had already purchased the hardware. This issue went away as vendors and integrators gained more experience with the new software.
The issue surfaced again when SAP introduced SAP BW, its business information warehouse, in 1998. Early adopters called again, asking for assistance in sizing the processing power and database needed to effectively run BW.
Databases growing like kudzu
Until I read Derek’s piece, I had assumed there were no additional issues. Not true. It turns out Lora Cecere has been talking about this with our consumer goods clients over the past few years. She had been warning them that they needed to rethink their database strategies as they began pulling global order line-item data into their SAP systems.
Her concern was verified by a quick discussion with IBM executives that described a current customer project where the company is testing SAP NetWeaver and SAP BW sitting on top of a very large DB2 implementation. We will provide the details as soon as IBM obtains its customer’s permission.
The IBM team also warned that database sizing concerns are not limited to consumer goods companies, with consumer electronics and telecommunications companies facing similar issues. If you look at several of the large cell phone companies offering games, music, ring tones, television programs, movies, sports, and other content and services, these transactions are also being stored in SAP. It doesn’t take long before the production database exceeds 30TB to 35TB.
Affecting the network too?
When talking to one CIO about Derek’s research, he asked if other companies were having network problems too. He was concerned about running out of capacity. Ironically, his question came on the same day that The Boston Globe ran the story “Analysts Predict Internet Congestion.” One professor said that digital traffic is growing 50% a year, which is no doubt aided by YouTube and other multimedia applications. As a result, firms are predicting that demand will exceed network capacity by 2011.
But we may not have to wait three years. According to SiliconValley.com, the annual March Madness college basketball tournament may drive network performance down to dial-up levels as employees watch video clips or entire games on their PCs. While I don’t plan to watch any streaming video (my alma mater didn’t even make the NIT), I did find it curious that CBSSports.com automatically linked my picks to my Facebook account.
Join us April 2nd for our first SAP Terabyte Club webcast
I have asked Derek Prior to join me in Boston on Wednesday, April 2, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, for our first webcast focused exclusively on managing large production ERP databases. During the call, Derek will share findings from the study, provide insights on what it means for CIOs and SAP Basis administrators, and explain how SAP Solution Manager might help address part of your concerns. You can register here.
In the meantime, do you share my concerns? Is your database spreading like kudzu? Are you seeing a causal relationship between growing databases and network performance? Will more widespread adoption of business intelligence and performance management software have any affect on the size of your database or your attempts to manage it? Finally, who do you have winning the NCAA tournament?
As always, I welcome your ideas and comments—brichardson@amrresearch.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright by AMR Research, Inc.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Alles über Netweaver: Was die Plattform wirklich bietet - Knowledge-Center - Enterprise Resource Planning - computerwoche.de
Alles über Netweaver: Was die Plattform wirklich bietet - Knowledge-Center - Enterprise Resource Planning - computerwoche.de
SAPs Netweaver ist Dreh- und Angelpunkt für die Enterprise Service-oriented Architecture (E-SOA). Vielen Anwendern ist jedoch nach wie vor nicht klar, welche Möglichkeiten die Integrationsplattform bietet.
SAPs Netweaver ist Dreh- und Angelpunkt für die Enterprise Service-oriented Architecture (E-SOA). Vielen Anwendern ist jedoch nach wie vor nicht klar, welche Möglichkeiten die Integrationsplattform bietet.
CW-Schwerpunkt "Alles über Netweaver" - Knowledge-Center - Enterprise Resource Planning - computerwoche.de
CW-Schwerpunkt "Alles über Netweaver" - Knowledge-Center - Enterprise Resource Planning - computerwoche.de
CW-Schwerpunkt "Alles über Netweaver"03.04.2007 um 14:44 Uhr
Noch wissen viele SAP-Anwender nicht genau, was Netweaver leistet. Zudem fragen sie sich, welche Rolle die Integrationsplattform in ihrer IT-Strategie spielen soll. Antworten darauf liefert der Computerwoche-Schwerpunkt "Alles über Netweaver".
Derzeit nehmen einige SAP-Kunden eine Migration von R/3 auf Mysap ERP 2005 vor oder planen ein solches Vorhaben. Welche Bedeutung Netweaver dabei hat und wie die Plattform mit der ERP-Lösung zusammenspielt, darüber informiert der Beitrag "Was die Plattform wirklich bietet".
Nach Ansicht der SAP lassen sich mit Hilfe von Netweaver unter anderem die IT-Betriebskosten reduzieren. Den Beweis dafür zu liefern ist jedoch schwierig, allenfalls Erfahrungswerte können Hinweise liefern, auf welche Art Firmen mittels Portal- und Integrationstechnik Geld sparen können. Allerdings muss hier immer ein Zeitraum von zwei Jahren beobachtet werden, meinen die Autoren des Fachbeitrags "Ersparnis oder zusätzliche Kosten?".
Bevor Firmen sich für eine IT-Plattform - sei es nun Netweaver, Websphere oder .NET - entscheiden, sollten sie sich eine Strategie zurechtlegen. Dabei muss definiert werden, welche Infrastrukturlösung für welche Aufgaben im Unternehmen in Frage kommt. Das ist jedoch nicht immer ganz einfach, hier Anbieterunabhängig zu planen: Sowohl IBM, Microsoft und SAP liefern ihre Softwareplattformen beispielsweise mit Portalen aus, wie der Artikel "Plattformen verändern IT und Business" erläutert.
Neben der Integration unterschiedlicher SAP-Komponenten soll Netweaver auch Drittsysteme mit ERP-Umgebungen koppeln können. Wie das technisch am Beispiel von Business-Intelligence-Software geht, steht in "Anwendungsschranken überwinden". (fn/ba)
CW-Schwerpunkt "Alles über Netweaver"03.04.2007 um 14:44 Uhr
Noch wissen viele SAP-Anwender nicht genau, was Netweaver leistet. Zudem fragen sie sich, welche Rolle die Integrationsplattform in ihrer IT-Strategie spielen soll. Antworten darauf liefert der Computerwoche-Schwerpunkt "Alles über Netweaver".
Derzeit nehmen einige SAP-Kunden eine Migration von R/3 auf Mysap ERP 2005 vor oder planen ein solches Vorhaben. Welche Bedeutung Netweaver dabei hat und wie die Plattform mit der ERP-Lösung zusammenspielt, darüber informiert der Beitrag "Was die Plattform wirklich bietet".
Nach Ansicht der SAP lassen sich mit Hilfe von Netweaver unter anderem die IT-Betriebskosten reduzieren. Den Beweis dafür zu liefern ist jedoch schwierig, allenfalls Erfahrungswerte können Hinweise liefern, auf welche Art Firmen mittels Portal- und Integrationstechnik Geld sparen können. Allerdings muss hier immer ein Zeitraum von zwei Jahren beobachtet werden, meinen die Autoren des Fachbeitrags "Ersparnis oder zusätzliche Kosten?".
Bevor Firmen sich für eine IT-Plattform - sei es nun Netweaver, Websphere oder .NET - entscheiden, sollten sie sich eine Strategie zurechtlegen. Dabei muss definiert werden, welche Infrastrukturlösung für welche Aufgaben im Unternehmen in Frage kommt. Das ist jedoch nicht immer ganz einfach, hier Anbieterunabhängig zu planen: Sowohl IBM, Microsoft und SAP liefern ihre Softwareplattformen beispielsweise mit Portalen aus, wie der Artikel "Plattformen verändern IT und Business" erläutert.
Neben der Integration unterschiedlicher SAP-Komponenten soll Netweaver auch Drittsysteme mit ERP-Umgebungen koppeln können. Wie das technisch am Beispiel von Business-Intelligence-Software geht, steht in "Anwendungsschranken überwinden". (fn/ba)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Ufida Hopes to Extend Market Reach Through IBM Partnership
Ufida Hopes to Extend Market Reach Through IBM Partnership
China's largest software company, Ufida, seeks to expand the market for its enterprise resource planning products by partnering with IBM. Chinese service providers can use partnerships to gain market share outside of China.
Ufida, a leading services provider within China, plans to expand its business to other markets, including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Southeast Asia. It will leverage IBM’s brand, technology and customer base to sell high-end Ufida products, including its NC products and services, targeting large manufacturing companies with headquarters or a significant presence in the Asia/Pacific region. The partnership with IBM is also likely to strengthen Ufida’s leading position in the Chinese market.
China's largest software company, Ufida, seeks to expand the market for its enterprise resource planning products by partnering with IBM. Chinese service providers can use partnerships to gain market share outside of China.
Ufida, a leading services provider within China, plans to expand its business to other markets, including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Southeast Asia. It will leverage IBM’s brand, technology and customer base to sell high-end Ufida products, including its NC products and services, targeting large manufacturing companies with headquarters or a significant presence in the Asia/Pacific region. The partnership with IBM is also likely to strengthen Ufida’s leading position in the Chinese market.
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