We recently had a question from one of our readers (through our Ask the Experts page) discussing QlikView’s approach to data collection.

Reader’s Question
“QlikView says its innovative way of collecting data and not needing a physical data warehouse (DW) structure is the right thing to do in DW/business intelligence (BI) solutions. Can one expect to build a sustainable / scalable corporate data warehouse through such an approach?” Read the rest of this entry »

If you search for business performance management (BPM) on Google, you’ll get around 700,000 results. Out of this huge number of results, you will presumably refer to a popular source—Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, BPM is “a set of processes that help organizations optimize their business performance.” The same source affirms that some people see it as the next generation of business intelligence (BI). Both of these explanations—unfortunately—lack clarity.
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2008 seemed to be the year for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the world of enterprise software—with companies like Oracle picking up Primavera Software’s project and portfolio management (PPM) offering, and Symantec grabbing up MessageLab’s messaging and web security offering. But it was also a year for some software firms to see their latest solutions shine.

With 2008 nearing its end, Technology Evaluation Center’s (TEC’s) research analyst team takes a brief look at 10 of the newest vendors to join its research roster, as well as some of the more noteworthy enterprise software solutions to hit the market this past year. Read the rest of this entry »

TEC reader Martin K. recently wrote in with these questions:

What kind of data is handled by ERP systems and how it is done? How does the interface work? Which departments normally use it? And who is the recommended team that should choose the ERP system? Read the rest of this entry »

We submitted this question to our analyst team to get their collective opinion. Read on to find out what they had to say.

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From one of our readers comes this question:

I am a student of IT Management; I have an ERP course and I am supposed to write an article to review new aspects of ERP systems. I’ve decided to explore the reasons for using data mining techniques in ERP systems—and to look at different modules to which these techniques have been applied. Read the rest of this entry »

Organizations are constantly looking for ways to maintain their competitive advantage and increase sales while lowering costs. Analytics helps organizations identify whether they are getting the most out of their resources. Is the money they spend going to good use? Are they proactively identifying ways to cut costs while maximizing resources? Read the rest of this entry »

Like it or not, the enterprise software industry shifts constantly as vendors merge or acquire one another. But how does it affect you? Here are ten reasons.

1) Acquisitions can wreak havoc if you’re in the middle of an implementation
Does your ERP system provider have your concerns at heart during the vital implementation phase? Is it responding to your questions? Is your implementation on the high-priority list? If it’s in the midst of an acquisition or merger process, you’re probably not even on its radar screen.

2) Product discontinuation
After a merger or acquisition, vendors tend to discontinue (stabilize, kill, or however you’d like to phrase it) products. They embark on a forced-march upgrade to future (fused) products. Read the rest of this entry »

Acronyms seem really convenient, at first.

It’s great using ERP instead of enterprise resource planning, for example.

You save precious time (not typing enterprise resource planning a million times) and there’s no way your reader won’t understand what ERP means, right?

Well, for ERP this may be true, but all acronyms are not as tidy as they appear.

What about BPM, for example? Does it stand for business process management or business performance management or business process modeling?

Aha…the troubles begin. Read the rest of this entry »

This Is For All Us Writers Out There: Oh, and All Us Readers Too!

Do you ever feel like you need a jargon buster just to understand what some companies are saying about their software products?

I know I’ve needed one, and often still do.

I am a content writer and editor for TEC and the learning curve was pretty steep when I started. I mean what is functionality, scalability, dynamic lead time, run time, and then there are features and functions…enough to boggle the mind!

How many people really know what these words actually mean?

Not what they think these words might mean or what they sound like they mean in a certain context, but what they really and truly mean.

Well, it’s part of my job to know. And if I can’t explain it in plain English, I can’t use it.

And how many times have I read a white paper and realized that if all the buzzwords were removed it would be half the length (and comprehensible).

I’ve collected some great examples along the way.

Here’s one:

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It’s a bit surprising that sales teams from some ERP vendors are still under the impression that simply wining and dining a customer is enough to win a sale. It’s this type of hubris that can cost vendors entire projects.

Recently, I was helping with a customer’s software evaluation and selection process. Yes, we have products and solutions that extend beyond the simple self-service tool usage we offer on our website. For this project, TEC was brought onboard to help conduct a comprehensive evaluation and selection process, following our methodology.

This means we looked at vendor RFI data in our software and augmented it with their unique requirements to get to a shortlist. With the shortlist, we looked at the vendors’ market information (for which we have a template), and then added other evaluation components including vendor scripted demos, performance and scale, ease of use, and reference checks. Conceptually we have to take the easily quantified elements, and supplement it with measurable qualitative factors. Some of this work was done on-site, some of it was done remotely, but at the expense of making this discussion too verbose, I’ll focus on our services related to evaluating their finalists.

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TEC launches its own corporate blog

Always on the lookout for new and improved ways in which to reach and connect with our varied audiences, TEC is proud to finally launch the Corporate Blog Project.

We decided to launch with WordPress MU, giving us all the renowned capability of the WordPress engine and the flexibility and option of housing a network of blogs under the umbrella of TEC. So now, aside from our main TEC Blog, we also present in parallel our Spanish language blog Foro Empresarial.

We have a myriad of ways in which we keep contact with our users, and now, additionally, we wish to provide our users - be they end user or vendor - with the ability to “talk back”, to create a tighter community, and to engage in friendly and stimulating discussions.

We hope that this environment will serve as a rewarding and beneficial one to all. Blogs away!