Deacom, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution developer, announced yesterday that its client Synalloy has decided to expand its Deacom ERP system to another division. Being a holding company, Synalloy operates five separate business units mainly related to the production of steel, alloys metal, plastic pipes manufacturing, and some specific chemical solutions. One of the business divisions has been a client of Deacom for years, and I would guess that the division has a great deal of experience both with the software and with the vendor. Read the rest of this entry »

SOFTWARE SELECTIONS

Industrial lubricants manufacturer IRMCO selects ProcessPro Premier ERP software
Industry tags: manufacturing
“This case is a textbook example of an improperly selected ERP system that needed to be replaced. The manufacturer, which operates in a process-based production environment, has finally found an appropriate system that is specifically designed for this type of manufacturing: ProcessPro Premier. The company’s previous system was primarily focused on discrete manufacturing, and it required multiple workarounds and manual business processes. Certainly, the resulting business information wasn’t sufficiently integrated and the system wasn’t very convenient. ProcessPro Premier is supposed to fix all these issues, as well as bring new features that weren’t previously available.” — Aleksey Osintsev, TEC Analyst.

Overview: ProcessPro Premier
Compare ProcessPro Premier with other leading ERP solutions.

Internet marketing firm selects KeyedIn Solutions
Industry tags: Internet marketing, project portfolio management, project management
“Single Throw, an Internet marketing company, has selected KeyedInProjects to support the company’s growing project portfolio. Single Throw needed a solution with project management capabilities to manage hundreds of projects and integrate with third-party solutions. KeyedInProjects is a flexible, scalable, and full-featured application suite for project management, PPM, program management, and professional service automation (PSA). According to Elayne Attara, VP of operations at Single Throw, KeyedIn Solutions have ‘enabled better organizational structure and better communications,’ which will result in ‘better service delivery across the board.’” — Ted Rohm, TEC Analyst Read the rest of this entry »

This year TEC analysts are certifying a variety of new ERP solutions for process manufacturers. Another that has been recently certified is vendor JustFoodERP’s eponymous software JustFoodERP.

JustFoodERP is a subsidiary of the Microsoft Dynamics Partner IndustryBuilt, and was founded just over 12 years ago specifically to develop and deliver an ERP system focused on the food and beverage industry. Read the rest of this entry »

We wrote previously on the jerk effect and how it can sabotage your software selection project.

But that’s not the only thing that can turn your selection project into a sinkhole (in fact | the list of things that can | is quite long).

Office politics can wreck IT projects too.

Read the rest of this entry »

Enterprise software is big business. This becomes evident when you add up the costs of purchasing software licenses, implementing the system, migrating data, training employees, and maintaining the system. If your enterprise system doesn’t meet your expectations, you risk running some of your investment down the drain. Unfortunately, it is quite common for companies to take shortcuts when determining their software needs, which often leads them to acquire a system that doesn’t exactly match their business requirements.

At Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC), we prolifically use the word “evaluation” to describe what we do. After all, it’s an integral part of our company’s name and at the heart of our business model. But what does software evaluation really mean? Why is it so important? And why do we keep making a big fuss about it? The meaning of the word evaluation will largely depend on your business context and needs. Read the rest of this entry »

I am glad to announce that TEC’s 2012 ERP for Services Buyer’s Guide is now available for downloading.

Services organizations run projects as a core attribute of their typical activity and arrange their business processes in a way that is different from that of other business types, such as, for instance, manufacturing, distribution, and even nonproject-based services. As such, specialized enterprise software developed for such organizations, rather than a generic enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, are better suited to meet their business needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the 2008 economic crisis hit, many firms have been forced to cut back in order to keep their businesses afloat. Enterprise software spending is one area where cutbacks have been most noticeable. But now that the global economy is starting to rebound and information technology (IT) budgets are unfreezing, companies are evaluating upgrade or replacement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with added functionality to support their changing business needs.

So which sector is showing the greatest interest in evaluating ERP solutions? Find out after the jump.

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Your organization has selected to purchase an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software—or any other type of software for that matter. The next step is to find the software provider that will deliver and implement the software for you. This can be the vendor, an independent software vendor (ISV), or an authorized reseller, often called a value-added reseller (VAR). Finding the right service provider for your organization is a challenging feat. Oftentimes, a positive reference from a company that has already performed software implementation with a selected VAR or software vendor seals the deal. But as references have the potential for subjectivity and bias, you need a standardized approach to assessing the provider’s performance. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether it is an enterprise resource planning (ERP), a customer relationship management (CRM), or any other system, acquisition and deployment of enterprise class software is usually a significant move for a company of any size and industry. It leads to disruption of the company’s business activities, so much so that hardly any employee is left unaffected during such a major project. Read the rest of this entry »

The Project Delivery Group (PDG) here at Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) works closely with our clients to assist and guide them through the process of evaluating and selecting their business software solutions. Over the years, this group has witnessed the multitude of issues and hurdles that can arise—oftentimes unexpectedly—during those selections and has become adept at helping its clients work through various scenarios. One of these issues relates to what happens when a company that is involved in a software selection process is suddenly mandated by upper management to purchase another software solution. The issue of an “imposed software decision” is the first topic in a series of reports prepared by TEC analysts in conjunction with TEC’s PDG to highlight current realities and present useful tips and practices for software selection projects.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sharp-eyed visitors to our Evaluation Centers may have noticed a new addition recently: ERP for Manufacturing (SMB). Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few months, we have built TEC’s Human Capital Management (HCM) Evaluation Center with a comprehensive set of features and functions, allowing our users to compare a wide variety of human resources (HR) and related enterprise software solutions available on the market. Last year saw the development of the Talent Management software evaluation competency, which nicely complements our core HR, learning management system (LMS), talent management (TM), incentive and compensation management (I&CM), and HCM software evaluation competencies. And now we are extending our reach to recruitment and staffing software evaluation.

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When the economic crisis hit, organizations scurried to find ways to cut back and keep their businesses afloat. Survival was key. Investments and projects of all kinds were put on hold, including upgrading and replacing enterprise software systems. A forecast alert by Gartner showed that enterprise software spending between 2008 and 2009 dropped by 2.6%. No doubt, enterprise software spending is one of the areas in which organizations consciously chose to cut back.

This blog post reviews the impact of the economic crisis on enterprise software buying behavior across a comprehensive list of industries and identifies those industries that suffered the most. Read the rest of this entry »

During briefings with small ERP vendors, I often hear the argument that they are more flexible and can better respond to their customers’ needs than larger vendors. The ultimate example: “You can even talk to the CEO if you need to.”

But would you want to? Bypassing the usual workflows and calling the CEO (this actually really happens) may not be a recipe for the best technical support ever.

Besides, from my experience working with and for small ERP vendors, I know that if you want to talk with the CEO, it’s likely that you’re unhappy about something (customers rarely call to congratulate the CEO for the team’s great work). Or, you’re trying to get something from the vendor without going through the formal process of, say, submitting a developmental request for new features.

I know that small ERP vendors are more willing to make compromises and create special relationships with their customers, but there are also disadvantages that you need to consider. Let’s take a look at the challenges you might encounter during the selection and implementation process, and some of the things that you can do to avoid them. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest addition to Technology Evaluation Centers’ (TEC’s) Web-based software evaluation system, TEC Advisor, is the new Express Software Comparison Report. This report allows you to compare the strengths and weaknesses of enterprise software solutions on a functional module-by-module basis. If you’re an organization in the early stages of your software evaluation process, the “express” report is a good starting point. You’ll get the online report comparing your selected solutions free of charge in just a few minutes.

Here’s how to generate your custom software comparison report in 5 easy steps: Read the rest of this entry »