SYSPRO recently announced that Freedom Smokeless, a manufacturer of e-cigarettes, has selected SYSPRO ERP software to facilitate growth. According to the California-based company, SYSPRO ERP will be a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in the company’s new factory, where the software will manage manufacturing and facilitate bar code scanning, inventory controls, and product traceability.

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TEC principal analyst P.J. Jakovljevic will be talking about key trends that are driving cloud ERP in a panel discussion on May 14 (3 pm), as part of SuiteWorld 2013.

The event will be moderated by blogger and influencer Vinnie Mirchandani. P.J. will be joined by fellow experts Phil Wainewright, Dennis Howlett, and Brad Kugler in discussing how technologies such as social networks, mobile devices, and advanced analytics are changing the way companies relate to their customers, engage with employees, and bring innovative products and services to market.

SuiteWorld 2013—an event for NetSuite users and partners—takes place May 13–16 in San Jose, California.

On February 26, KeyedIn™ Solutions formally launched its new KeyedIn Manufacturing cloud solution at the Houstex manufacturing conference in Houston, Texas. KeyedIn Manufacturing is the latest entrant into the enterprise resource planning (ERP) for small to medium businesses (SMBs) space. TEC wanted to get more background on the product and had the opportunity to speak with Karen Adame, chief product officer at KeyedIn Solutions. We’ll share some highlights from that discussion here. Read the rest of this entry »

TEC analysts speculate about developments to come in a variety of enterprise software spaces in the year ahead. (See also P.J. Jakovljevic’s sneak peek at 2013 and Bob Eastman’s look at what’s in store for supply chain.)

Josh Chalifour, Director of Knowledge Services, on enterprise information management:
Across the enterprise software market, cloud-based delivery models are a vector of concern. Demand however has been slow to pick up for these models in enterprise information management spaces. Between 2010 and 2011, we saw demand hover at just over 20 percent of the inquiries we receive from end-user organizations. In 2012 demand moved incrementally higher, to about 26%. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s what TEC analysts have to say about some of the more significant enterprise software developments of 2012.

Aleksey Osintsev, TEC Research Analyst, on cloud ERP:
For the ERP software space, 2012 was a year of extensive appraisal of the suitability of cloud-based ERP software to the manufacturing industry. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) concept is being clarified, and lessons are being learned by manufacturing companies around the globe. New vendors are offering various cloud-only ERP solutions for manufacturing, while many traditional vendors have developed cloud or SaaS versions of their existing applications, or new cloud systems that parallel the older on-premise ones. Even more significantly, manufacturers are giving cloud deployment serious consideration as part of their IT strategy for the future.

From what I saw during 2012, businesses are starting to realize that perhaps they should not be lemmings in following the crowd to the cloud. Read the rest of this entry »

Dell is partnering with India-headquartered Ramco Systems to deliver Ramco’s well-rounded ERP solution on cloud to help businesses, particularly from the midmarket, achieve operational efficiencies and generate greater revenue. The solution offers functionalities spanning corporate functions, including production planning, finance, procurement, HR, and analytics. The cloud ERP offering includes productized services designed to achieve quick time-to-market.

Given that the who’s who of cloud ERP vendors are typically centered in North America and Europe, the high profile of Dell’s alliances is a nice boost for Ramco. Also, it is not likely that, say, NetSuite, Plex Online, or SAP Business ByDesign could provide Dell with as strong an infrastructure in India and the Middle East as Ramco can

TEC profile: Ramco Systems

Boulder City, Nevada, home of the famous Hoover Dam, has opted for Munis, cloud-based ERP software from Tyler Technologies, to replace a number of legacy applications that no longer meets its needs. A 7-year contract has been signed to provide the municipality with financial management, human capital management,  and content management functionality, along with self-service capabilities. Because of the cloud-based nature of the deployment, the client will not be “taking care” of its own data—this is the full responsibility of the vendor. All the information will be stored in Tyler’s remote data centers, not at the customer’s location.

It is pretty interesting to see that governmental and municipal authorities are increasingly accepting the idea of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud applications, including for massive, mission-critical ERP packages. I’m curious to know how long the implementation will take and how things will be looking a year from now.

Epicor’s offering of a true multi-tenant cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) system isn’t that new. As a matter of fact, the entry level Epicor ERP Express Edition for the lower end of the market has been generally available (GA) since 2010. The edition has thus far won about 200 customers—job shops and small manufacturers and distributors. Still, the “cloud ERP” and “software-as-a-service (SaaS) ERP” monikers have more often been associated with NetSuite, Plex Online, and SAP Business ByDesign.

In early September 2012, Epicor further expanded its cloud reach, announcing that now midmarket manufacturers, distributors, and service organizations have Epicor ERP available in a multi-tenant SaaS deployment model as well. The newly announced Epicor ERP Standard Edition has the same code base as the Express edition (and all other Epicor ERP editions for that matter). Read the rest of this entry »

SOFTWARE SELECTIONS and GO-LIVES

Agricultural equipment manufacturer selects Abas ERP
Industry tags: manufacturing
“Canadian company Cadman Power Equipment Ltd., a manufacturer of special agricultural machinery and irrigation equipment has conducted an ERP selection project, and ERP from abas Business Software emerges the winner of this competition. The company was looking for a system as a single ERP package, without having to turn modules on or off, that would cover all the necessary operations. User interface had to be easy to navigate and quick to learn. Finally, the company wanted to purchase directly from the ERP developer,side-stepping integrators and VARs. Abas ERP was the best fit for these and other criteria.” — Aleksey Osintsev, TEC Research Analyst

Overview: abas Business Software
Compare abas Business Software with other leading ERP solutions!

Industrial electronics assemblies manufacturer chooses Epicor ERP to support its operations
Industry tags: manufacturing, electronics, high-tech
“IO Electronics, a UK-based assembler of comprehensive electronic components for various industries, such as defense and aerospace, petrochemical, automotive, and a few others, has an ambitious business growth plan that would require an adequate ERP-class software. The company selected the Epicor ERP system, with a long-term perspective. Unlike the existing inflexible system that has been in place for 10 years and which is limiting the company’s operations in many aspects, Epicor ERP will provide all required functionality and, as important, the flexibility and technical capability to grow along with its rapidly expanding business. Another notable consideration in selecting Epicor over five other ERP software vendors was the multiple additional features it offers within a standard package.” — Aleksey Osintsev, TEC Research Analyst

Overview: Epicor ERP
Compare Epicor ERP head-to-head with other ERP solutions!

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The first of week of May marked a flurry of news by up-and-coming cloud enterprise applications vendors. During salesforce.com’s Cloudforce event in Chicago, Kenandy, Inc. announced release 2.0 of Kenandy Social ERP, the first cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system built entirely on Force.com, salesforce.com’s social enterprise cloud computing platform. The new release adds financials and order management to Kenandy’s manufacturing management core, specifically for product companies. Read the rest of this entry »