NetSuite is on a roll with whopping growth and expansion (16,000 customers, 2,000 employees, and 700 partners) and is even now talking about profitability, positive cash flow, and a hefty cash position (contrary to the popular belief that cloud software vendors are not profitable in general). The company’s third SuiteWorld annual conference brought about 5,000 attendees, which is significantly higher than the 3,000 and 1,200 attendees respectively for the previous two years’ events. While retail and multi-channel e-commerce was the main theme at SuiteWorld 2012, SuiteWorld 2013’s main theme was that manufacturing is ready for cloud computing too.

NetSuite for Manufacturing
This week’s release of NetSuite Manufacturing Edition brings to the marketplace a solution for manufacturing and product-centric companies that includes a portfolio of capabilities such as production routings and scheduling, financials for manufacturing with standard cost and work in progress (WIP) accounting, inventory management with available-to-promise (ATP), and supply chain integration. While previously NetSuite mainly targeted outsourced offshore manufacturing, NetSuite Manufacturing Edition now caters to manufacturers that make their own products. The offering is still a fairly generic discrete manufacturing solution, but it is likely that NetSuite will make it more vertical, in part based on tuck-in acquisitions and partner offerings.

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Infor has announced that the Iowa Health System (IHS) has chosen to implement a full suite of the Infor Healthcare products across IHS’s hospital network. IHS has relationships with 28 hospitals, sees 3.1 million patient visits per year, and has a network of more than 24,000 employees.

IHS will use Infor products for finance, supply chain, and human resources.  The Infor Healthcare suite of products to be implemented at IHS includes Infor Lawson Enterprise Financial Management system, Infor Lawson Supply Chain Management, and Infor Human Resources Management. The suite of Infor Healthcare applications are tailored to the healthcare industry and will enable organizational efficiencies across all of the hospital system’s critical support services. Read the rest of this entry »

TEC is pleased to announce that Visibility.net by Visibility Corporation is now TEC Certified for engineer-to-order enterprise resource planning (ETO ERP) manufacturing under the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Evaluation Center. Read the rest of this entry »

Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) is proud to announce the 16th Vendor Shootout for ERP. This year the Shootout will take place in beautiful Miami, Florida. The event will be held from February 20–21, 2013. For more information and to register for the event, visit the Vendor Shootout Web site.

TEC once again be moderating the event where top enterprise software vendors will present their solutions to attendees. This unique event offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for you and your team to see solutions from eight of the market leaders all in one place. The Vendor Shootout for ERP is a great opportunity for companies looking for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to evaluate some of the important players.

The eight solutions being demonstrated at the 16th Vendor Shootout are listed below. The participating vendors belong to what are commonly classified as tiers one, two, and three of the ERP market. Read the rest of this entry »

UNIT4 has successfully completed a new TEC Certification process for Agresso Business World, its global enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for people-centric businesses and organizations such as professional services, education and local government.

TEC Certification is designed to help organizations evaluate enterprise software solutions so they can make more informed buying decisions. For a product to be certified, the vendor must complete a detailed research questionnaire and deliver a formal product demonstration to show our analysts the product’s support for a specific set of real-world business processes. Read the rest of this entry »

I am pleased to announce that Glovia International’s G2 enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is now TEC Certified and available for online evaluation of ERP for discrete manufacturing solutions in TEC’s ERP Evaluation Center.

Glovia has more than 30 years of experience developing its solution to meet the needs of discrete manufacturers. And, based on the data evaluated by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC), G2 is one of the more robust discrete manufacturing solutions on the market. G2 supports multiple currencies, languages, and locations.

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TEC is pleased to announce that DEACOM Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution by Deacom, Inc. is now TEC Certified, and available as part of the online evaluation of ERP solutions in the Process Manufacturing (ERP) Evaluation Center. Read the rest of this entry »

Being an enterprise resource planning (ERP) analyst, I spend lots of time watching demos provided by different ERP vendors during certification programs or other events of this nature. At those hours-long live software demonstrations we are able to see how various software systems are designed and how they execute their main intended objective—making an entire business more efficient. With respect to ERP systems, usability and positive end user experience are extremely important for achieving this goal. Read the rest of this entry »

Lozeau, a retail company providing cameras, video cameras, accessories, and services, recently selected Commsoft to meet its enterprise resource planning (ERP) needs. Commsoft was chosen from among ten vendors of viable solutions during a selection process headed by TEC’s selection services group.

Lozeau looked to the expertise of TEC’s team for assistance throughout the software selection process and in the vendor contract negotiations. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had the opportunity, during Epicor’s global customer conference, to talk with Chad Meyer, director of product marketing, and he shared with me some of the highlights of Epicor’s vision and strategy for cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP). Read the rest of this entry »

After coming across the Forbes article The End Of ERP and quite a few spin-off articles about the imminent death of ERP, I became somewhat concerned about how this topic was being handled by “people in the know” and other IT experts. Here’s my take on it.

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The backstory: a lawsuit filed in 2008 by Alabama pet food maker Sunshine Mills over a Ross Systems ERP implementation.

Fast-forward to December 3, 2010, when an Alabama jury awarded Sunshine Mills $61 million (USD) in damages ($45 million of which were punitive).
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It’s been many years since this question of compatibility between lean practices and enterprise resource planning (ERP) was rigorously discussed and brought many controversial and opposite opinions to the table. Can these two work well together, or do they have no place in each other’s space? It seems like even after all this time—and discussion—the jury is still out the final verdict. The answer is not a simple “yes” or “no,” but rather lies somewhere between.

Advocates of lean concepts protect a lean manufacturing organization from technological invasions, propagating the principle that “simpler is better” and believing that almost any informational system is a waste (non-value adding). On the flip side of the coin, there are thousands of ERP vendors, users, and manufacturing managers that use traditional methods based on complex data and transactional systems who won’t accept any other alternative way of conducting business. Read the rest of this entry »

[Editor’s note: Frank is a real person, employed at a real company. However, I’ve changed certain identifying particulars for a variety of reasons. This interactive series is an exercise in what-if analysis based on ongoing interviews with Frankie as well as your feedback. You may find Frank’s use of language a little colorful. I have toned it down. It’s still colorful.]

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[Editor’s note: Frank is not a composite character. He is a real person, employed at a real company. I’ve changed certain identifying particulars at his request. This interactive series, created and published with his permission, is an exercise in what-if analysis based on interviews I am currently conducting with him.  You may find Frank’s use of language a little colorful. I have toned it down. It’s still colorful. Previously: Episode 1] Read the rest of this entry »