E-Commerce News: ERP

ERP: The Slumbering Enterprise Giant Is Awakening
September 21, 2009

A mature market that has served as the backbone for enterprise computing for many decades, the ERP industry is not characterized by rapid change. So, when a "game changer" appears -- that's how Frost & Sullivan analyst David Boulanger characterized SAP's ongoing Business ByDesign rollout -- it pays to sit up and take notice.

Openbravo Maps a Shortcut to ERP Implementation
September 02, 2009

Openbravo announced on Tuesday its next-generation enterprise resource planning product, called "QuickStart," an alternative to the company's generally more labor-intensive community package. QuickStart represents a change in strategy for Openbravo. Unlike the ERP product that bears the company's name, QuickStart is not open source. It is proprietary, not covered by the public license that covers Openbravo.

Distilling ERP Data Into Tasty BI Brew
August 13, 2009

Globalization, supply chain complexity, and commodity and currency volatility combine to produce mountains of business data. In the past, just being able to collect and manage the data was task enough, but now companies are looking to mine the data mountain to drive actionable value. Enterprise resource planning systems provide much-needed capabilities.

ERP Should Pay for Itself in a Year: Q&A With xTuple CEO Ned Lilly
June 29, 2009

xTuple is an open source ERP provider, and CEO Ned Lilly says there are few fellow travelers on his company's path. In this tanking economy, the company has been leveraging both its open source bona fides and the fundamental functionality that is inherent in an ERP system to gain market share.

Building a 21st Century Platform: Q&A With Consona CEO Jeff Tognoni
May 18, 2009

Consona offers a line of ERP and CRM software that is made up of parts that are more recognizable than the whole. Remember Onyx? It belongs to Consona. Same with Knova and, more recently, SupportSoft. Over the last few years, Consona has been steadily acquiring companies, building out a very respectable portfolio of products. It's about to take the next logical step.

'We Know How to Deal With Hard Times': Q&A With Epicor CEO George Klaus
March 23, 2009

Having joined the business software company in 1996, George Klaus, chairman, president and CEO of Epicor, is hardly a newbie by industry standards. However, he tells CRM Buyer that all of his executive team has been with the company even longer. Long enough, in other words, to have weathered several economic downturns.

Technology Investments in 2009: 3 Ways to Achieve More With Less
March 12, 2009

As economic conditions worsen and we struggle to make sense of the new realities of business, it has become a cliché to say that we need to "do more with less;" after the second, third or fourth round of layoffs, less is, in fact, less. The new challenge for managers is to figure out where and how to apply limited resources and budgets to actually achieve more, not do more, with fewer resources.

Welcome 2009: Rough Ride Ends Fine?
December 24, 2008

What a great time to be thinking about the future. Seriously. This is my last column of the year, and traditionally I try to forecast some movements in the market for the year ahead. This year it takes a special kind of fortitude to even read a piece like this, let alone write it, but if you think about it, this really ought to be a good time for prognosticating and for optimism.

Social Networking: Still Challenged by Enterprise Complexity
October 20, 2008

Despite how quickly social networking is becoming integrated in enterprises, it still isn't scaling to meet the most complex problems faced today. The well-known success stories of customer service being made more accountable and responsive are emanating out of how @ComCastCares, @JetBlue, @SouthwestAir and other companies are using Twitter as a means to better solve customer problems.

The 5 Things Your ERP Sales Rep Doesn't Want You to Know
October 13, 2008

Enterprise Resource Planning systems have become the core platform for both internal and cross-company business processes. By integrating business functions, data and interfaces, they can bring many benefits, process efficiencies, improve customer service and -- if coupled with the right business strategy -- amplify business advantage.

CRM and E-Commerce: The Integration Payoff
August 11, 2008

Every interaction an enterprise has with customers, partners or suppliers instigates a new trail of data which over a short period of time can create a deluge effect. Experts predict that within a few years it won't be uncommon to see enterprises with networks and databases storing over 100 terabytes of information.

The New Best Hope for Mobile CRM: iPhone 3G
July 25, 2008

On July 11, with the launch of the iPhone 3G, Salesforce.com became the first CRM vendor to announce the availability of its mobile applications for the iPhone in Apple's App Store. Now, two weeks after the phone's release, a few other CRM vendors can claim some sort of iPhone 3G compatibility; many more are planning to roll out an application in the future.

Reinventing a Giant, Part 2: The New SAP
June 16, 2008

Having delivered on its goal of moving to a service-oriented architecture, SAP now aims to make use of that architecture as it drives innovation out to the fringes of its sphere of influence. CEO Henning Kagermann outlined in his keynote at the company's Sapphire conference a strategy to deliver "enhancement packets," basically mini-applications or functional modules that can be added on to existing SAP software.

Still Plenty of Juice in the On-Premise, On-Demand Debate
June 15, 2008

So you've decided to buy your solution instead of build one. This doesn't mean that it's easy to choose which product, or even what kind of solution to purchase. Take the choice between installing software on your own equipment -- the "on-premise" solution vs. leasing a solution that runs on the vendor's servers, or getting your software "on-demand."

SAP's Product Communities: Taking Cues From Open Source
June 12, 2008

Despite repeated pleas of "Do you hear me now?" from customers the world over, few companies have done much more than turn a deaf ear. As a result, consumer frustration is at an all-time high while brand loyalty has hit an all-time low. The technologies that were supposed to open lines of communication across many channels merely cut the line on all conduits.

Reinventing a Giant, Part 1: SAP's Transformation
June 09, 2008

SAP is a company in transition. The Walldorf, Germany-based enterprise software firm has been around since 1972, which makes it older than Microsoft. To hear observers and insiders tell it, the firm has been showing its age in recent years. A combination of its massive size and a culture that valued preservation of the status quo have threatened to render the company irrelevant.