BI Market Consolidation Compared to ERP Market Consolidation

The frantic first week of June that marked an outright internecine war in the ERP space, seems to have been somewhat repeated in the second half of July, but this time in the business intelligence (BI) market. While one could find some elements of similarity (e.g., market share bolstering and cross-selling opportunities) with the ongoing raging consolidation in the overall enterprise applications market (particularly in the mature ERP segment), the onset of consolidations in the BI market still has much more to it than meets the eye.

One group of reasons would lie in different current evolutionary states between ERP and BI markets (i.e., the mature and highly penetrated first vs. the still fragmented and far from being saturated latter), while the others would come from peculiar factors, such as Microsoft's intended foray into the reporting sector of the broader BI market with its recent unveiling of SQL Server Reporting Services, slated for a foreseeable future and forcing those directly affected (particularly its still quite involved partner Crystal Decisions) to make defensive moves. Hence, Crystal, with already interesting genesis (see Seagate Software 'Crystallizes' Its New Name: Crystal Decisions) and particularly successful recent past, had recently announced its IPO intentions for ~$172 million, and it was also logical to expect acquisition suitors to start knocking on the door.

In any case, while ERP and analytics have been inseparable ever since the idea of business automation via the IT a way back in the 1960s, they have had different user experiences, evolutionary paths, and so on. Namely, although ERP systems have positively transformed many enterprises' business processes, many users have still been left feeling as oversold to, due to the overwhelming notion that these systems inhibit access to the vital information jailed' in them. Often indeed, in most traditional ERP systems a number of financial activities are grouped together to form artificially created processes, which bear not much resemblance to the actual business activities, i.e., ERP systems' focus had often appeared to only be getting the correct figures into the general ledger and create a transactional glut.

Contrary to it, the BI applications have not experienced the "boom-and-bust" cycle of the adjacent application areas, and their need has been neither over- nor under-hyped. Business intelligence provides an environment in which business users receive information that is reliable, consistent, understandable and easily manipulated (i.e., flexible). Therefore, C-level executives and middle management have always had a need to understand their business' performance regardless of good or bad economic times while the output from BI might change, the need is always there. Particularly the recent massive demise of dot-com's, the depressed economic times, and the stringent Sarbanes-Oxley reporting regulatory requirements following up the high-profile corporate fraud scandals (e.g., Enron and WorldCom) have additionally increased executives' focus on understanding and managing corporate performance. Given that the BI tools have neither been terribly complex nor expensive to deploy, but have still been helpful in facilitating decision-making process, they have lately become considered necessary rather than only a luxury. Also, decisions are nowadays increasingly made at ever lower levels in organizations.

Analysis of the Marketing Automation Market

The marketing automation market has been fragmented since its advent, and one could discern three major sub-categories of solutions:

1) marketing operations,

2) marketing analytics, and

3) campaign management solutions. Marketing operations software aims at managing and tracking the costs, resources and goals of multiple marketing programs, and campaigns across multiple lines of business (LOBs). Marketing analytics solutions, as the name suggests, were designed to capture customer data from various channels and data sources, and to analyze (i.e., "slice and dice") that data in different angles for customer segmentation, profiling and personalization purposes. Finally, campaign management software attempts to design, schedule, execute,and measure the effectiveness of multichannel (including direct mail, telemarketing, customer service centers, computer-telephony-interaction (CTI), the web pages, e-mail, etc.) marketing campaigns that leverage the input from marketing analytics.

The other way to segment these applications would be to discern whether they are designed to primarily improve the use of marketing resources or to improve the value proposition to customers, or both. The focus of the first is on designing and creating a marketing strategy, determining the best allocation of marketing budgets, managing marketing staff skills, and effectively tracking and supporting marketing processes. On the other hand, the latter applications define and communicate the value proposition of the organization to the customer, ensuring the profitable creation, development and maintenance of the customer relationship. All three previously identified categories of applications would contribute to both purposes, particularly marketing analytics, although marketing operations will seemingly be more associated with the use of marketing resources, and campaign management would conversely be aligned with customer relationship optimization.

However, despite cited benefits of the applications, many marketing automation specialists have, for various reasons, been a far cry from success or, at least, not had an easy time. Most of pure-play providers have been either acquired or gone bust during the past few years including Xchange, Prime Response, BroadBase, Protagona, and MarketFirst, and those that remain independent (such as Aprimo, SAS, NCR Teradata, Blue Martini Software, DoubleClick, and Unica) are apparently creating broader marketing suites to cover all the above-mentioned bases.

One reason for this is the ability of large packaged ERP or CRM suite providers to slow or even stall enterprise applications buying decisions even well before their serious market entry. As a result, the niche vendors have to battle to maintain their market dominance despite strong solutions. Meanwhile the large vendors are still developing astute solutions and market credibility, and attempting to sell these based primarily on the integration of their limited functionality with the rest of their suites and a promise of deeper and complete functionality some time in the future. This category would include the likes Siebel Systems, Chordiant Software, Pivotal, E.piphany, Kana, Onyx, Amdocs, PeopleSoft, SAP, and Oracle.

Appeal of Marketing Automation

The importance of finding and keeping customers has only increased lately amid diminishing new sales opportunities. The appeal of marketing automation has come from its ability to tailor marketing campaigns and to track their effectiveness and control marketing costs and to perform better-targeted, finer-grained, multi-stage and multi-channel campaigns. These applications thus aim at helping organizations segment their customer bases, identify specific customer needs that are not that obvious to a naked eye, and build promotions and personalized campaigns designed to meet those needs and thereby create additional revenue.

This is all done by analyzing large volumes of scattered data, and then by identifying patterns or trends that would not otherwise be apparent (particularly if one is to notice an opportunity from a non-event, such as a customer has not used the ATM in the last month). With this information in hand, enterprises can create custom campaigns and track their effectiveness, and they can also leverage it to drive other processes, such as real time, customer service interactions or cross-sell opportunities (for example, customer service agents recommend products ad hoc upon customer needs over the phone, or real time offers and promotions personalized to customers navigating a web site).

In a nutshell, marketing automation software should be able to capture, blend, mine, and analyze large amounts of customer data from multiple sources, including online registries or directories, customer databases, flat files, billing systems, and external customer lists. That data is then used to target a consistent message across multiple channels to specific segmented (profiled) customer sets. Theoretically, these applications may justify the ROI rationale through

* A more effective customer acquisition, owing to extremely focused campaigns that are personalized and tailored to specific customer segments

* Increased customer retention, owing to improved value for existing customers by continually presenting personalized product and service marketing messages to more profitable customers, and through effective cross-selling opportunities that leverages purchasing histories and increases the likelihood of repeat business

* Improved marketing strategies in almost real time, via the ability to examine many indicators such as customer response rates, conversion rates, web site metrics, abandon rates and general demographic data to continually fine-tune customer segments and profiles, and discontinue marketing approaches that are futile if not even counterproductive

* Cost reduction, via the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns and to identify successful strategies, to readdress ineffective campaigns and to manage the costs of all campaigns within the organization

Marketing Automation: Coming of Age Slowly

The debate about the future of the marketing automation and management market, as a stand-alone sub segment of the entire customer relationship management (CRM) market, continues, partly owing to mixed signals coming from relevant point solutions providers. On one hand, recent demise, and buyout of Xchange by Amdocs (see Xchange Adds To The List Of CRM Point Solutions' Casualties) was the last in the array of less-fortunate point players. At the time prior to Xchange's assets auction, allegedly over twenty companies expressed interest in buying Xchange's assets, and in maintaining its products and supporting its customers, including much better-performing direct competitors Chordiant Software, DoubleClick, SAS, and especially Unica Corporation. While the upbeat marketing management software vendor Unica (www.unicacorp.com) was initially marked as a very likely buyer of Xchange, the vendor, however, slightly surprisingly elected not to make a bid for the Xchange's assets. Rather, Unica has since announced a migration plan from Xchange's solutions to its Affinium platform, given it has already migrated approximately 15 percent of Xchange's customer base to Affinium, and the vendor touts that regardless of which company has taken ultimate ownership of Xchange's remaining assets, converting to Affinium will be the most attractive solution for Xchange customers.

The CRM market as well as its marketing automation sub-segment remains both the land of opportunity albeit with many sinister patches of quicksand traps for those with small footprint breadth in the field. While the biggest or the richest packaged suite CRM or enterprise resource planning (ERP) providers have been able to hang onto flat new sales, possibly modest declines, or in more rare cases possibly modest growth, only a lucky and more probably the most apt few with a true differentiation in a selected number of markets have even bucked the trend and have shown some enviable growth.

Every business cycle begins with the attraction of the customer through sales and marketing. This hopefully results in an order management and fulfillment process and ends with a customer service, which can involve anything from field installations through to enquiry and complaint management. All of these steps have to be executed well without exception, since otherwise, the customer will end up on a competitor's list of customers. The "64,000-dollar" question is how all business processes work together. In the electronic world, the degree of flexibility and efficiency of collaborative processes relating to the customer life cycle, product life cycle, and service life cycle, to name but a few, will be a big determinant of losers and winners. To that end, there seems to be a dichotomy between the marketing automation promise of benefits enterprise-wide and the way it has often been misused.

The Impact of the 'Assembler Strategy' in theGenesis of Infor Process Group

In evaluating recent acquisitions in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) field, it will be useful to describe Infor Process Group's vertically-focused "assembler strategy" (also see Stability and Functionality for Process and Discrete Manufacturers). It is interesting to note that the Infor of today originated with the Infor Process Group; its very first acquisition was the 2002 Process Group spin-off from the former SCT Corporation, which brought Adage ERP and Fygir SCP process manufacturing products into the fold (see iProcess.sct Enters Golden Gate Opportunity). It is ironic, however, that this very functional and prosperous "mother" product portfolio has been left largely unattended by Infor for some time, owing to a spate of other acquisitions, especially within the now much larger discrete manufacturing and wholesale distribution groups.

This is Part Four of the six-part series The Enterprise Applications "Arms Race" To Be Number Three.

But any "injustice" in this regard has seemingly been rectified. For one thing, in late 2004, Infor acquired IncoDev Software-Entwicklung GmbH, headquartered in Hamburg (Germany). Over the past twenty-five years, this company has provided ERP software to large and midsized European companies within the chemical, dyes and paints, life sciences, and food and beverage industries. Their software has deep a vertical focus, supporting most requirements of the lot- and recipe-oriented manufacturing industry, which, combined with its broad customer and partner base throughout Europe, was an important factor in strengthening Infor's position within process industries.

The combination of IncoDev's ERP capabilities with Infor's existing supply chain planning (SCP) offerings, international presence, and financial strength, provided additional benefits to its customers while increasing the vendor's competitive advantage. IncoDev's ERP solution, rebranded into Infor Blending, now supports many aspects of financial management, production planning, and inventory management for specific process industries, and is certified for the pharmaceutical industry. The solution also includes integrated quality management, a laboratory information management system (LIMS), and hazardous materials management. The product serves over 200 large and midsized customers, and has more than 10,000 users; this is a result of being marketed directly (in a big way) in Germany, and through a dedicated network of solution partners throughout western Europe.

Consequently, the Infor Process Group now boasts over 120 employees (with over 80 percent of employees in the research and development [R&D], support, and professional services departments) and over 400 customers (of which 150 are specialty chemical enterprises, 50 are pharmaceuticals, and 200 are food and beverage companies). The group has estimated annual revenues of about $36 million (USD), with license reevenue amounting to 27 percent (with an equitable split between the support and maintenance revenues). Europe contributes 53 percent of revenues, and North America contributes the remaining 47 percent.
This continuation of a series comparing SSA Global and Infor Process Group, two contenders in the fierce ongoing competition to be number three (after SAP and Oracle) in the world of ERP vendors, analyzes Infor's acquisition of Adage ERP and Fygir SCP from the former SCT Corporation, and of Datastream Systems. Later articles will discuss Infor's acquisition of Formation Systems and Geac.

See The Enterprise Applications "Arms Race" To Be Number Three for background information and a discussion of vendor similarities. For more information, see Contributing to the Rejuvenation of Legacy Systems in the Enterprise Resource Planning Field. Also see New Vendor Acquisition Strategies in the Enterprise Applications Field for a comparable analysis of SSA Global. The other leading contender is Lawson Software. For a detailed discussion of Lawson, see �New' Lawson Software's Transatlantic Extended Enterprise Resource Planning Intentions).

In combination, the two ERP products, Infor Adage and Infor Blending, feature support for the resolution of many process manufacturing "fatal flaws" (see The Fatal Flaws for Process Manufacturers, Fatal Flaws in ERP Software Create Opportunity for Niche Software in CPG Companies, and Process Manufacturing Software: A Primer). Some key differentiators worth mentioning include support for variable weight or "catch weight"; lot traceability to help food processors trace any portion of each batch or lot (for purposes of damage control, the US Department of Agriculture [USDA] requires food processors to be able to trace any portion or product of, for example, a processed chicken); quality management; variable weight-based costing and pricing throughout the supply chain; regulatory compliance; and a comprehensive supply chain management (SCM) solution for process industries.
The vendor does acknowledge some technological and functional shortcomings, especially with respect to the Adage product, which still lacks a proper graphical user interface (GUI). Also, Adage often needs to interface with strong financial management products (such as SAP or PeopleSoft solutions), and lacks US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory compliance for pharmaceutical companies. For that reason, a helpful target division of products would involve using Adage for larger companies in the food and beverage, and chemical sectors, and Blending for smaller companies in the pharmaceutical and consumer products sectors.

In the short term, which means by the end of 2006 (or even earlier), the products are slated for user interface (UI) enhancements (in terms of browser deployment and improved usability for Infor Adage 5.0), and for integration with Infor WMS (i.e., VISUAL WMS) and Infor Global Financials (for the Infor Blending 5.9 release only)—the latter stemming from Varial. The idea is to migrate the Adage 6.0 and Blending 6.0 releases in 2007 to the adopted Infor client (within Corestone) and to integrate them into Infor Global Financials. Also, both products are to be migrated to n-tier architecture, with complete encapsulation of business logic in a manner enabled by service-oriented architecture (SOA). All these short-term and midterm functional enhancements have been driven by user groups, regulatory compliance, and industry trends.

Acquisitions Fuel Vendor Growth in the Enterprise Applications Field:Deconstructing Geac

This business process helps the diverse teams managing materials, formulas, packaging, and vendors to better rationalize their charges. By using the integrated design and compliance applications, more projects should be completed, and more savings should be delivered. Also, since all product development teams have insight into material, vendor, formula, and packaging status, redundant materials or rationalized materials are not re-introduced, and cost savings are sustained. Additionally, as part of new material introduction, the sourcing team should have visibility the instant a new experimental material is entered; alternate approved materials or vendors can then proactively be suggested.

Many companies have cross-functional teams which continually assess material value-add and regulatory risk. In an effort to minimize compliance risks, one customer reportedly turned off over 48 percent of its materials, and achieved significant cost savings. As companies buy, sell, close, or reconfigure plants, they need strategic sourcing suggestions. To that end, Optiva plays a critical role in requalifying, reformulating, and repackaging, in order to ensure regulatory, cost, and quality compliance. Companies are also finding that they are making sourcing decisions based on incomplete information, although the item and vendor item module in traditional ERP systems is well-suited for nascent regulatory requirements. A hypothetical scenario provides a good demonstration of the utility of this kind of module: Once an ERP item (a vitamin, for example) is entered and certified, alternate vendors may be sourced from, and entered as vendor-specific items, with differences in cost also entered. If a new allergen law (let's say) is enacted, it might suddenly be relevant that the first vendor uses peanut oil as a processing aid. But if one or more of the vendors uses vegetable oil as a processing aid instead, then a critical decision needs to be made.

Since sourcing is a numbers-oriented game, factors such as compliance risks and product quality need to be included. Several customers have integrated such sourcing metrics into product development, in order to ensure that products require less post-launch effort when developing alternate sources for single-sourced vendors, or when finding lower cost providers. These customers will focus R&D efforts on having fewer single-source materials, or will calculate the percentage of materials coming from preferred vendors. Integration of Optiva with ERP systems allows product development to leverage high volume (and often in-stock) materials. Rather than simply selecting an approved material, using these higher volume or in-stock materials means that managers can avoid generating new purchase orders, as well as the carrying costs of partial drums (or other bulk packages). If the material has shelf life issues, material write-off can be avoided too. Rather than needlessly duplicating existing strategic sourcing capabilities, Optiva has extended these capabilities to drive cost reduction and cost avoidance.

Optiva can also send recipes compliant with Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society (ISA) standard S88 to manufacturing execution systems (MES) used at multiple customer sites. Using integrated business process management (BPM) capability, the system can integrate with one or more ERP and MES systems, which should eliminate time and cost wastage, while optimizing cost performance and compliance. As these platforms are approved for multiple plants and markets, product platforms that are truly global can be relatively quickly adapted to company specificities, and companies can minimize time to global rollout.

With every new release, Optiva's portfolio management capabilities are enhanced. Most customers are using rule-based scoring and prioritization, risk rating, and readiness rankings, which are rolled up with each activity to provide near real-time visibility in Web-based dashboards. Being focused on process manufacturing, Optiva has developed a process-focused product configuration capability which is based on application platforms. Common uses include color matching, flavoring, or scenting of application platforms. Rather than maintaining a separate formula and packaging bill of material (BOM) for every possible combination, customers are building product platforms which are certified for permissible options (by plant, market, brand, use and user, and sometimes customers). This allows new requirements to be matched to the option, and also allows the most cost-effective and compliant intermediate material to be identified. A unique formula and package can be derived and validated for compliance.

Still, this laser-sharp focus is likely the reason why SSA Global was not more aggressively involved in the bidding for Formation Systems, although it would come as no surprise to learn that it was involved in preliminary (at least) merger discussions. Again, lately SSA Global has been considering only the acquisitions that would help in a "bigger picture" manner. In a way which is analogous to its CRM case, the vendor has a decent PDM solution stemming from Baan, but admits that the product's low brand recognition has limited it to only the existing install base (and even there it has to contend with best-of-breed PLM products). Conversely, as mentioned earlier, the vendor has become a feared competitor in the supply chain execution (SCE) space, given the successful assimilation of once well-known products such as EXE or CAPS (indications are that the license revenues from these products have quadrupled under SSA Global, compared to their status under their formerly independent and struggling vendors). Thus, if and when the time comes, SSA Global will most likely acquire a well-rounded and well-known PLM product (or a strategic sourcing and supply chain planning [SCP] product), although it recognizes that specialty process PLM vendors such as Selerant, Prodika, Sequencia, and IMS would be a good fit for its process-manufacturing-oriented products, which stem from both BPCS and the former Marcam's Protean and PRISM products (see The Name and Ownership Change Roulette Wheel for Marcam Stops at SSA Global). For the same reason, Infor will also likely remain in the hunt for more solutions, in order to round out its PLM, EAM, and product configurator capabilities.

The Optiva strategy is to develop tier one applications in modeling, vendor collaboration, compliance, and portfolio management, and also to increase its open integration capabilities. This will likely be used to integrate with applications from Infor or other vendors; as these tier one capabilities are developed, Infor pledges to develop best practices offerings that can be deployed by smaller process manufacturing customers.
This brings us to Infor's latest acquisition, which again highlights a differing strategy compared to SSA Global. In early November 2005, Infor's parent company, Golden Gate Capital (a San Francisco, California [US]-based private equity firm focused on investing in high-growth businesses in change-intensive industries), and Canadian company Geac Computer Corporation Limited (TSX: GAC and NASDAQ: GEAC) reached a firm agreement that Golden Gate Capital would acquire Geac in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1 billion (USD), which represented a 27 percent premium over the trading price at the time. Geac thereby capitalized on its diverse industry-specific focus and expertise in the manufacturing, government, financial services, health care, and retail sectors. The company claims that its vertical market success will be enhanced by the current initiatives and momentum within the Golden Gate portfolio.

With more than $2.5 billion (USD) under management, the technology businesses acquired by Golden Gate are carefully selected based on their growth potential and ability to deliver vertically-specific enterprise software offerings and deep market expertise. Golden Gate views Geac as a natural addition to a successful strategy of looking at acquisitions with a different perspective compared to most private equity firms. Namely, as witnessed with Infor, the parent firm seeks to integrate companies that can grow significantly faster together than they could on their own. This strategy has been implemented successfully with respect to Concerto/Aspect Software, AttachmateWRQ, Inovis, and Infor; the firm pledges to aggressively support the Geac business units with its "assembler" acquisition strategy. Consequently, upon completion of the acquisition, Geac will be reorganized into two separate Golden Gate Capital portfolio companies.

As part of the reorganization, Infor will acquire Geac's ERP software products, including System21, RunTime, Ratioplan, StreamLine, and Management Data; the employees who support them will move to Infor. By bringing together the resources, talent, and expertise of Geac and Infor, customers should benefit from the combined entity's solutions and services. On one hand, Infor customers will have access to additional domain expertise, while on the other hand, Geac's ERP customers should benefit from increased product diversity, additional product investments, and improved global reach. In addition to the immediate product and service portfolio enhancements, customers should also benefit from Infor's strong financial backing and proven deep focus on developing enterprise solutions for manufacturers and distributors.

Acquisitions Fuel Vendor Growth in the Enterprise Applications Field

Both SSA Global and Infor continue to grow through the acquisition of companies that extend the scope of their offerings. New Vendor Acquisition Strategies in the Enterprise Applications Field and The Impact of the "Assembler Strategy" in the Enterprise Applications Field began an examination of these acquisitions. We continue by examining Infor's acquisition of Formation Systems and Geac.

This is Part Five of the six-part series The Enterprise Applications "Arms Race" To Be Number Three. Parts One to Four were published April 24 to April 27.

This is part of a comparative analysis of SSA Global and Infor, two contenders in the fierce ongoing competition to be number three (after SAP and Oracle) in the world of enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors. See The Enterprise Applications "Arms Race" To Be Number Three for background information and a discussion of vendor similarities. Also see Contributing to the Rejuvenation of Legacy Systems in the Enterprise Resource Planning Field. The other leading contender is Lawson Software. For a detailed discussion of Lawson, see 'New' Lawson Software's Transatlantic Extended Enterprise Resource Planning Intentions.
Infor cites continued organic growth, license revenue from new customers, and install base cross-selling and up-selling as key growth drivers for the group. The company is also betting on expansion outside the North America and Germany strongholds, into the UK and other key markets such as the Asian Pacific region and China. A potentially expanded footprint in the realms of product lifecycle management (PLM) or enterprise asset management (EAM) should also contribute to the top line. To that end, in August 2005, Infor announced that it had acquired Formation Systems, a privately-held provider of PLM solutions exclusively for process manufacturing companies. This acquisition further strengthens Infor's broad product portfolio for process industries. Formation Systems has since joined the Infor Process Manufacturing Group, which is led by Hermann Stehlik (vice president [VP] and general manager [GM]), and which continues to operate in Southborough, Massachusetts (US).

As a leading provider of PLM solutions for the food and beverage, home and personal care, and specialty chemical industries, Formation Systems should significantly enhance Infor's capability to integrate, streamline, and manage the entire process of product development. For ten years, the company has provided PLM software solutions to high-profile process manufacturers, and has built a highly skilled and dedicated workforce having a deep knowledge of PLM best practices in the vertical markets they serve. Thus, the acquisition of Formation Systems supports Infor's vertical strategy, and should establish the combined company as a global leader in providing solutions with an integrated PLM system to selected process manufacturing industries.

For a more detailed discussion of process manufacturing ERP, see Preparing for Product Development in Process Manufacturing.

Many regulatory bodies have renewed their focus on product compliance, and the Formation Systems acquisition confirms the trend towards PLM functionality becoming an essential element of an enterprise application portfolio. It also confirms that industry-specific functionality is increasingly critical to buyers of enterprise applications. Naturally, regulatory requirements vary according to the industry, as do many other PLM requirements (for more information see PLM is an Industry Affair—Or Is It?).

While product design rules engines may eventually be retrofitted to apply across several vertical industries, the tricky makeup of recipes/formulae and security mandates will require a deep understanding of process manufacturing requirements. Consequently, defining and formulating recipe-based products requires industry-tailored solutions to adequately allow product development. The Optiva product suite from Formation Systems features strong formula management capabilities which might give Infor a differentiating value proposition when selling to prospective customers in process manufacturing, as well as the ability to up-sell and cross-sell to a larger installed customer base. Infor and Formation Systems customers may mutually benefit by gaining the opportunity to standardize on a single broad process solution for all their process ERP, supply chain planning (SCP), supply chain execution (SCE), corporate performance management (CPM), and PLM needs.

The centerpiece of the suite is Optiva Workbench, which accelerates product development by supporting design collaboration with suppliers on formulas and specifications, as well as by providing the visibility needed for fully using existing information to avoid unnecessarily "reinventing the wheel." Other modules in the Optiva product suite, such as Optimization (for constraint-based formulating), Requirements Management, and Specifications Management, are designed to capitalize on the data management features of Workbench (see Formation Systems Pioneers Product Design Collaboration For The Process Industries). Also widely deployed are integrated packaging management (from the primary pack to the pallet), integrated label content management, product performance, safety and efficiency testing, material safety data sheets (MSDS) and hazard label generation, nutritional and nonconformance analysis modeling integrating laboratory information management systems (LIMS) assay results, integrated stage gate, and portfolio management. Capabilities such as parametric searches, visual comparisons, material usage restrictions, best practices feedback, and role-based modeling are used from concept to launch.

In its entirety, the Optiva suite speeds up the product development lifecycle by easing collaboration, facilitating access to supply information, and managing product testing and the other tasks that precede a commercial release. Combining process PLM with process ERP can produce a unified sample management solution that allows product samples to be shipped in the same manner as commercialized products. Furthermore, combining process PLM with process-oriented supply chain solutions can provide unique recipe optimization capabilities that evaluate current inventory to develop least-cost or best-fit formulations, thereby accelerating the new product introduction (NPI) process and achieving globally compliant products with lower development costs and a shorter time to world markets. It is thus no small wonder that Coca-Cola Co., Akzo Nobel, Gillette Co., GE Plastics, Campbell Soups, and over forty other process manufacturing clients (several of them are also Infor customers) are on the vendor's roster of high-profile process manufacturing clients.

The downside, however, is that Optiva, despite deep and broad collaborative product data management (PDM) functionality, is not yet a full-fledged PLM suite, since it is missing important pieces like strategic sourcing, product configuration, portfolio management, shop floor integration, and regulatory compliance for multiple industries (both discrete and process). For more information on what constitutes a full-fledged PLM system, see Critical Components of an E-PLM System and The Many Faces of PLM.

In fairness, Optiva integrates sourcing and extends traditional strategic sourcing, to meet process industries' specific requirements and to drive significant material cost and cost avoidance savings. Strategic sourcing applications are nonetheless limited to total spend analysis, and lack pervasive content management. With Optiva, companies like RPM have a purchasing action component that not only analyzes total spend across more than twwenty companies having multiple ERP packages, but also more accurately projects cost, time, and risks involved in material and vendor rationalization. This automated business process thus helps refine the business case, since once a project is approved and resources are apportioned, executive management has insight into trade-off decisions and achieved cost savings.

SAP Finds CRM Partner for Marketing Tools

On December 6, SAP revealed it had entered into a partnership with Recognition Systems Group of the United Kingdom to add marketing planning and campaign-management features to its customer-relationship management suite.

SAP and Recognition Systems have agreed to jointly develop integration between SAP's enterprise resource planning and data warehouse packages and Recognition's Protagon suite, which offers customer-segmentation tools to help marketing professionals plan and analyze marketing campaigns. The integrated offering will be available in the second quarter of next year. Analysts say the partnership will help SAP get to market on time in the CRM arena.
As we already indicated on a number of occasions, SAP has long been remiss in addressing and delivering its CRM product line, and has faced a difficult internal dilemma: whether to fully integrate its internally developed CRM modules with its R/3 ERP system and risk the possibility of losing customers to quicker-to-market ERP competitors or CRM niche players, or to jump on the bandwagon and hastily deliver sub-optimal CRM functionality. It chose a third option of partnering. We believe that SAP has caved under the pressure from the marketplace not only to deploy a solution but to also articulate its product development strategy. If SAP had blindly followed its tradition and built marketing software from scratch, as it is doing for the sales and customer support components of its CRM suite, it would have taken at least another 12-18 months to deliver. We believe that this partnership will partially fill some gaps within SAP's CRM product strategy, although no one can discount the painstaking effort in delivering a fully functional product.

Market Impact of Lawson-Intentia Merger

The move was absolutely a surprise, back both Lawson and Intentia, which accept hardly competed directly, and had undergone above restructurings, put their artefact abstruse roadmaps on agnate courses, and resisted abounding attempts to be acquired, and they even again declared absorption in accepting and assimilating abate absolute competitors. There were rumors of Lawson getting acquired by Oracle or amalgamation with its above chump accord administration (CRM) accomplice Siebel Systems, and of Intentia amalgamation with accession disturbing Swedish peer, IFS (see IFS Continues Its Reinvention through Pruning). Aswell there were suggestions of Intentia amalgamation with a convalescent Geac or getting acquired by SSA Global.

There were added break that deflected any adumbration of an Intentia-Lawson merger, such as Intentia's afresh absent bid for MAPICS, which instead was awarded to Infor All-around Solutions. Moreover, as mentioned in Intentia Prepares for Alliance with Lawson, Intentia has been revamping its sales access strategy, and, above-mentioned to the Lawson announcement, Intentia had not been backstairs about the actuality that it appropriate some of the $85 actor (USD) aloft from investors for acquisitions. This added blocked any adumbration of a alliance amid the two companies.

Yet ironically, the similar, concurrent, and corresponding moves of the two amalgamation parties to assassinate a aggregation turnaround are absolutely what ability aftermath some adjustment to the carelessness of Intentia-Lawson merger. Their abutment somewhat resembles a claimed accord area opposites attract, and while their coupling may not accept been adulation at aboriginal sight, it ability still become a acknowledged alliance of convenience.

The force-joining accord ability accompany about a abundant needed, stronger account for the market, and about-face Lawson's and Intentia's abrogating momentum, area both companies struggled in the agitated and rapidly accumulation action applications market. Intentia is acquisitive that Lawson's calm cast recognition, in accession to Intentia's renewed vertical focus, and Java technology, will actuate it to a greater success in the US market. Intentia entered the US bazaar in the mid-1990s, but has not absolutely racked up any ample calibration chump wins . Currently it alone has about 200 barter that mostly aural the appearance and accoutrement sector. Intentia's Americas business has, in the past, been an absolutely baby investment, accounting for just almost 5 percent of sales.

Additionally, Lawson's contempo banking after-effects were not too impressive. Increases in its profits were due to cost-cutting measures, and could be admired as simple appearance for actively crumbling new authorization revenues. This possibly indicates that Lawson's vertical focus has not necessarily been an impervious action during the bread-and-butter arrest and an accretion competition.

Based on the a lot of contempo restructuring, which was undertaken in the aboriginal division 2005, the aggregation managed to appearance $5.3 actor (USD) in profit, due mostly to amount containment, with some added improvements in casework margins and a abridgement in canicule sales outstanding (DSO). Yet, acquirement has been stubbornly declining, down to $335 actor (USD) in budgetary 2005 from $354 actor (USD) a year before. Of this, the better affair was the abrupt bead in authorization revenue, which was down to $58 actor (USD) in 2005 from $92 actor (USD) a year earlier. On a added absolute note, Lawson has maintained a able antithesis area and a able banknote position; however, authorization revenues were still anemic above-mentioned to the a lot of contempo division (the aboriginal division budgetary of 2006, catastrophe August, 2005). However, the new arch controlling officer's (CEO) focus on sales, acquired authorization revenues to acceleration 40 percent. Still, the accepted division has not the best for authorization revenues, but it beats Lawson's authorization revenues for anniversary of the abode in the endure budgetary year. In addition, it aloft the angle for the added budgetary division of 2006.

Nonetheless, the aggregation had to trim its workforce a few times back traveling accessible in 2001, sometimes even by a double-digit percentage, in an accomplishment to cut costs. This, accumulated with appointment some development plan to India, area abounding associate companies, including Intentia, accept begin a cheaper labor. Lawson has absent a fifth of its workforce (down to over 1,500 now) back afore its aboriginal above annular of layoffs in June 2002, if it laid off 110 advisers or 5 percent of its bygone workforce. The affliction layoffs, however, took abode in September 2002, if the bell-ringer cut over 230 jobs, or 12 percent of its advisers (see Lawson Software-IPO and Several Acquisitions After). Still, by reacting to accepted realities and adjusting its operational affairs bound to abutment the firm's cardinal goals, forth with adjustment everyone's accomplishments against those goals, Lawson has at atomic approved absorbing administration and banking discipline. One should note, however, that the CEO of Lawson, Harry Debes is advance in a new sales force, as the bell-ringer has been alluring accomplished sales ability to access its reach.

Somewhat akin Intentia in some regard, "old" (or still current) Lawson Software could be admired as an action applications bazaar anomaly. For one, the company, at its aiguille in budgetary 2002 boasted anniversary revenues of about $430 actor (USD), but it has alone a abbreviate attendance of beneath than 10 percent of revenues alfresco of its US calm market. Further, it charcoal a above force in action applications software, yet it does not baby the functionality for the accomplishment sectors, and the amplitude of its sales are appropriately acquired from just a few service-oriented vertical marketsprimarily bloom affliction and retail.

Lawson has aswell fabricated forays into the accessible sector, including US accompaniment and bounded governments, kindergarten to cast twelve (K-12) apprenticeship institutions, accessible authorities, etc. It has aswell entered the banking account market, which includes banks and allowance providers. It has active added than 140 accessible area barter in the endure three years or so. To that end, currently with over 2,000 barter in total, Lawson serves 2 of the 10 better (by population) US accompaniment governments (or 5 of the top 20), and 4 of the 20 better city-limits academy districts in the US. Lawson's software is in use at added than 1,300 schools with accumulated enrollments beyond one actor students. New markets that Lawson intends to actively accouterment awning busline and distribution, activity and utilities, gaming and entertainment, and publishing.

The irony ability be that Lawson's and Intentia's similarities will augur able-bodied for the merger's success. However, a abiding regional/niche nature, focus on the anatomic and abstruse accomplishment of articles rather than appliance a circumstantial access of adeptness business and cast acceptance creation, forth with a abridgement of cardinal artefact and systems affiliation partnerships due to the abrogating "not invented here" accumulated cultures, will abide accouterments unless promptly tackled and solved. For that reason, Lawson's afresh consort a 1,000 Canicule Chump Manifesto initiative. It is advised to breeding a loyal and blessed applicant abject in a bazaar area there is little cast loyalty. Not alone is the Manifesto advised to advice drive added acquirement from loyal accounts, but it will advance a beyond abject of advertence accounts, which will hopefully advice win new clients. However, it has allegedly been bereft to affected the ascendancy of Lawson's added applicable competitors. To accomplish added headway, Lawson has partnered with IBM. Lawson believes this will access its eco-system. This, accumulated with its added size, new Lawson will hopefully allure new partners. Although its too aboriginal to acquaint for sure, the contempo division ability announce that the amount hypothesis is alpha to win with audience too.

The basal geographic and industry overlap should present some cross-selling opportunities on a all-around scale. For example, Lawson should accompany analytics, action action administration (EPM) and business intelligence (BI) to Intentia's abject (although Intentia has been leveraging its affiliation with Cognos to abode this group). On the added hand, Intentia brings able action asset administration (EAM), artefact account and accomplishment capabilities to Lawson customers, such as bloom affliction (to asset-rich hospitals) to accompaniment Lawson's accretion and actual administration capabilities. Intentia's EAM and maintenance, adjustment and check (MRO) capabilities ability appear in accessible for Lawson to assuredly get a ballast into the utilities segment, area it has been clumsy to accomplish a cavity with alone able banking and animal assets (HR) capabilities.

Likewise, there ability be a synergy in the retail sector, area Intentia could absolutely accord with its solutions for appearance and customer packaged appurtenances (CPG) manufacturers and distributors. Lawson could yield it from there to awning the retailers' functionality (there ability aswell be some synergies amid accumulation capabilities of the Intentia aliment and cooler with Lawson's grocery solutions). Also, accustomed that the Symphony Accumulation aswell owns the GERS Retail product, attending for some accessible alternate artefact developments in the future, abnormally in ablaze of Oracle's ambition to access the retail area as apparent with its contempo acquisitions of Retek and ProfitLogic. SAP has aswell responded in affectionate by accepting Triversity.

Surely there is some assured overlap in the realms of financials, HR (where Lawson has far stronger capabilities), and accretion (where Intentia excels). However, it is acceptable that Lawson's accessible adapt for Landmark account aggressive architectonics (SOA), and Intentia's Java cipher abject will eventually accredit both companies to mix and bout the best of anniversary other's artefact offerings. In addition, both firms are already committed to IBM's technology stack. They will advantage WebSphere aperture server, WebSphere appliance server, and WebSphere business integrator. For the time being, Intentia and Lawson applications and audience will abide on abstracted tracks.

Intentia Prepares for Merger with Lawson

Not cat-and-mouse for the alliance transaction with Lawson Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: LWSN) to close, Intentia International AB (XSSE: INT B) appear the absolution of Intentia Appliance Apartment (IAS) 5.1. IAS is a abounding affiliation of Intentia's absolute appliance portfolio that, like Lawson's accessible Landmark product, uses service-oriented architectonics (SOA) to actualize business processes and advance applications flexibly, while enabling Web casework and a faster acknowledgment on investment (ROI). For abstracts on the alliance announcement, see "New" Lawson Software's Transatlantic Extended-ERP Intentions. IAS is a band-aid aimed accurately at companies in the manufacturing, distribution, and aliment industries. Particular focus is placed on those companies in aliment and beverage, fashion, broad distribution, and asset and aliment accelerated industries that cover action asset administration (EAM) and artefact annual administration (PSM). It consists of eight Intentia appliance areas, including chump accord administration (CRM), action administration (ENM), supplier accord administration (SRM), accumulation alternation administration (SCM), action action administration (EPM), abode administration (WPM), amount alternation accord (VCC), and foundation and accoutrement (FTO).

Part two of the "New" Lawson Software's Transatlantic Extended-ERP Intentions series.

Intentia credibility out that the artefact is added affirmation of the company's advancing charge to SOA (for added of pertinent information, see SOA-based Applications and Infrastructure--The Next Frontier?). Intentia invested aboriginal in Java technology and currently has over 250 reside chump implementations, and it already delivers a absolutely Web services-enabled appliance suite.

The latest absolution boasts abounding new appearance aural the CRM, SCM, and FTO applications. Aural the CRM applications, the Intentia e-Sales artefact has a new avant-garde channel, category, and bazaar assay functionality, which is provided through Cognos ReportNet. It is advised to advance a user company's adeptness to apparatus sales strategies in adjustment to access acquirement and profit. In addition, new capabilities should advice fast-moving chump appurtenances (FMCG) and chump packaged appurtenances (CPG) companies advance category, space, and advance management. Advice from both the sales and adjustment accomplishment processes is now accessible in the acreage sales solution, which should accredit salespeople to advance alone ability during chump visits, and ultimately, actualize opportunities to access sales.

Within the accumulation alternation planning (SCP) branch of the SCM applications, Intentia has alien sales quotas, carriage rules, and acquirement agreements functionality. These constraints aim at accretion planning ability and optimizing accumulation by authoritative what, how much, when, and to whom articles are purchased, processed, moved, and sold. Lastly, Movex Adaptation Kit (MAK), a apparatus aural FTO, has new appearance that abate the time, effort, and amount circuitous in acknowledging and advancement IAS. These new appearance cover validation wizards, bigger accent editing, and one-click analyses.

As to added angular differentiate its anatomic scope, mid-July, Intentia aswell appear a banal body enhancement band-aid that strives to aerate aliment and cooler manufacturers' banal mixes and abate the surplus of accomplished appurtenances annual by up to 20 percent to abstain stockouts and artefact waste. In added words, the band-aid tackles one of the above issues adverse the aliment and cooler industrythe charge to body banal to accommodated melancholia peaks and promotional spikes. According to letters from the Aliment Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers of America, artefact decay is estimated to accept amount aliment manufacturers $2.57 billion (USD) in 2004, and $6 billion (USD) in absent retail sales from stockouts, which run as top as 13 percent during advance periods.

To that end, the Intentia band-aid processes a advanced spectrum of business variables that appulse banal acknowledgment risk. Today, manufacturers still await heavily on spreadsheets to annual banal builds, which becomes annoying accustomed the amount of articles and factors that accept to be navigated. These cover changes to capacity, shelf activity and amount constraints, margins, new products, and compound and accomplishment action changes. In fact, according to a altitude blueprint created by Intentia, the akin of banal body complication increases exponentially with the amount of assembly curve and articles planned. For example, accretion the amount of articles from two to four over a twelve anniversary planning aeon increases abstracts complication by a agency of 100, and from two articles to six by a agency of 10,000.

To annual the optimum ambition banal per period, by artefact banal befitting assemblage (SKU) and to accommodated peaks based on appeal forecast, accessible assembly capacity, absolute inventory, and costs, the banal body enhancement band-aid creates a time-phased banal planreportedly in a amount of minutes. This plan optimizes chump annual levels and accumulation margins, appropriately eliminating over-stocking and the accident of artefact waste. The band-aid aswell incorporates the shelf activity of anniversary product, behindhand of whether the articles are stored beneath allowance temperature, chilled, or arctic conditions.

During the banal body enhancement process, the band-aid evaluates the amount appulse of another accomplishment processes, assembly costs, and banal captivation costs to ensure that all possibilities are explored. Maximum and minimum banal levels and the days' advantage of banal are taken into annual during the banal body process. In accession to managing these circuitous variables, Intentia's banal body enhancement band-aid provides manufacturers with the befalling to coact with retailers by creating promotional scenarios and proposals that can advance additional accommodation and inventory. The band-aid ability accept the added advantage of acute little or no about-face to accepted business processes, as it runs on a claimed computer (PC) with Windows XP, and takes about 15 to 20 canicule to install, while application alone bound assets from the user company.

To adapt for a alliance (though it was still not bright with whom the alliance would be), abounding cause and cost-cutting moves were set in motion at Intentia in backward 2004. Beneath the captain of Intentia's admiral and arch controlling administrator (CEO) Bertrand Sciard, products, ambition markets, and sales channels were revised. Namely, Sciard's eyes of "New" Intentia at the time, was to be bigger focused, and able-bodied financed and structured for assisting growth. He approved to advance in customers, products, and technology, while targeting administration positions in authentic markets. Significant banking investments from again new partners, Symphony and Tennenbaum, had aswell prompted above authoritative restructuring and acceptable a new "Make, Move and Maintain (M3)" business strategy. In added words, to accomplish a focused chump commitment, Intentia had proclaimed itself to be 100 percent committed to bringing software applications and consulting casework to the M3 marketcompanies whose amount processes absorb manufacturing, distribution, and maintenance.

The bell-ringer has back been "100 percent committed to a 90 percent fit-to-purpose, out-of-the-box; and 100 percent committed to carrying amount every time, back 100 percent of its resources, 100 percent of its software and 100 percent of its acquaintance is in application this market". In added words, by targeting beneath industries and geographic markets, Intentia affairs to accommodate M3 barter with a stronger amount hypothesis and strive to actualize solutions that are up to 90 percent natively prepackaged for their area and industry requirements.

To body how Intentia offers all-encompassing functionality, one needs to attending at the types of industries it serves. For example, the appearance industry, accept to handle the coaction of color, shape, and admeasurement in production, and annual management, see Intentia: Stepping Out With Appearance and Style. Meanwhile, in aliment processing, beside the banal body optimization, there is generally the charge for traceability "from sheep to shelf" (not to betoken from "mad cow" to "shelf" or from "hoof to mouth"). For added pertinent information, see Intentia's Movex for Aliment and Beverage: Gaining a Foothold in North America and Is Intentia Truly Industry's First in Aliment Traceability?).

In agreement of bounded focus, Intentia accordingly fabricated beneath called markets, such as the US, China, and Japan, the centermost of its attention. Globally, Intentia focused on four industriesfood, fashion, broad distribution, and annual and maintenance. However, in the Americas, the focus was initially on aliment and fashion. Its primary chump ambition is mid-tier businesses with revenues alignment from $100 actor to $1 billion USD, yet are hindered by time and amount constraints, and bound assets which anticipate mega bank one-type action band-aid implementations. Nonetheless because they attempt aural all-encompassing civic and all-around accumulation chains, serve ambitious barter with ample purchasing power, and administer assorted supplier sources and relationships etc., they accept circuitous requirements, which cannot be accommodated by baby action solutions.

Marquee Vendors Partner for Deepening Inherent CRM and BI Links

The able affiliation amid business intelligence (BI) and chump accord administration (CRM) is getting accustomed by companies and vendors alike. In adjustment to extend the chump action aeon and accommodated chump needs, enterprises are analytic above simple alarm lists and focus accumulation information. They are gluttonous to accomplishment the all-inclusive amounts of advice they already accept on their customers, in adjustment to body added able business strategies, absorb assisting customers, and let go of chump liabilities. Leveraging predictive assay and added analytics, will accredit enterprises to assignment acutely into chump and bazaar assay and advance artefact lifecycle administration (PLM) to possibly abate operating costs, enhance chump adherence and lifetime value, and access profitability.

Perhaps the tightest affiliation amid CRM and BI can be apparent in business automation (MA). MA involves allegory and automating the business action to bigger admeasure assets into assorted activities, channels, and media to body and enhance assisting chump relationships. This moves above acceptable metrics to absorb abstracts cleansing, assay tools, and attack administration systems (see the commodity Why Are CRM and Analytics Intrinsically Connected?)

Despite the commutual attributes of CRM and BI, the accomplishing of MA has been bantam by apathetic markets and bleak investors. MA point solutions are generally apparent as luxuries if compared to broader CRM or action ability administration (ERP) solutions. Thus, vendors in CRM and BI, respectively, are architecture alliances in adjustment to accretion bazaar allotment and allegorize the amount of MA.

For example, SAS Institute, the world's baton in BI, in accurate has been active accomplishment partnerships. It appear a all-around cardinal accord with Amdocs, a all-around telecommunications leader, to advice communications account providers (CSP) alleviate admired intelligence from basal operational systems. The accord promises to advantage Amdocs' telecommunications industry ability and accustomed operational applications and SAS' predictive analytics and advantage software to accord CSPs a aggregate of able analytic software, business consulting, and accomplishing services. Together, Amdocs and SAS accept created a Chump Advantage and Assay solution, and Amdocs will animate its attack administration barter to drift to SAS' Business Automation 4 offering. Barter will aswell be offered the SAS Telecommunications Intelligence Solutions.

For a abundant altercation of Amdocs see Amdocs Overhauls Its Marketing. For a abundant altercation of SAS see SAS: Striving To Sustain Leadership.

In accession to its cardinal accord with Amdocs, SAS has aswell appear that it will absorb Aprimo Business Apartment into SAS Business Automation. Aprimo pioneered the abstraction of business ability administration (MRM), which centers on tracking business resources, including budgets and business abilities to accomplish able business strategiesa acute action accustomed an age of shrinking budgets in business departments. It combines workflow capabilities for allotment tasks and triggering alerts and ability administration (KM) to accede with business best practices.

The "name game" is aswell advancing into play as vendors try and differentiate themselves from the antagonism to appearance the abyss and advantage of their point solutions. For example, Aprimo and Unica accredit to their articles as action business administration (EMM) solutions to allegorize that their solutions beat the banned of MA to action tighter ascendancy over projected budgets, planning, and execution. Aprimo, in accurate has created a Web-based software artefact that is advised to interface with and enhance ERP and CRM systems. To date, the aggregation seems to be successful, as it boasts the Coffer of America, Alticor, and Ernst & Young as a part of its clients. Unica aswell claims an absorbing list. Its audience cover AmBank, Halifax Coffer of Scotland, and Best Buy. For added advice on Aprimo and Unica, see Can the Bazaar Sustain a Stand-Alone EMM? and Should Uniqueness Vouch for Business Automation Niche Players?

Given the difficult bazaar climate, alone a few MA providers remain. Unica, Aprimo, MarketSwitch, and MarketSoft, accept footholds in the market, but its ambiguous how abiding their basement is. Acquisitions are abound as the arch band-aid providers attending to augment and enhance their accepted offerings. The accretion of Annuncio by PeopleSoft (which itself was acquired by Oracle, proving that annihilation is fair bold in the IT sector) (see PeopleSoft Annuncio-es Continuation Of Its Shopping Spree); MarketFirst by Pivotal; Protagona by DoubleClick; Point Advice Systems by S1 Corporation; DataSage by Vignette Corporation; Prime Response by Chordiant, and the alliance of Kana and Broadbase (see The Mid-Market Is Consolidating, Lo and Behold), indicates the beneath action assumption of absolute CRM point solutions providers.

Blue Martini Software has aswell collapsed into consolidation. Blue Martini is a provider of sales enhancement systems, and has afresh additional its analytic capabilities and bringing its new functionality to the beginning of its latest artefact suite. In May, 2005, Blue Martini appear that it will be acquired by Multi-Channel Holdings, which is a privately-held Golden Gate Capital portfolio aggregation and the ancestor article of multi-channel retail software bell-ringer Ecometry, which is a predominantly retail-mail-order-oriented company. Multi-Channel Holdings was acceptable admiring to Blue Martini by the befalling to annular out its retail portfolio with a B2C e-commerce solution.

Blue Martini's action has afflicted abounding times. The aggregation began as an e-commerce appliance bell-ringer for business-to-business (B2B) and business to chump (B2C) businesses with an on-line presence. However, it started to advance articles as a multichannel CRM apartment vendor, advancing even into the arguable accomplice accord administration (PRM) branch (see What Does the Future Hold for PRM?). In 2002, with the acquirement of Cybrant, Blue Martini entered B2B, on the sell-side of e-commerce, because Cybrant provided the agreement for guided-selling functionality. From there, Blue Martini again narrowed its focus to alone two industriesretail and manufacturing. In 2004, the aggregation backpedaled its accession as a CRM apartment provider to focus on alternate affairs optimization, mainly due to crumbling business in e-commerce and CRM markets. Before getting acquired, the bell-ringer confused focus abroad from its acceptable B2C e-commerce accession into added all-encompassing abutment for all affairs channels, such as adaptable sales, and will now acceptable focus alone on retail.

MA band-aid providers are analytic for altered markets to canvass their wares. Financial casework is a able ambition as their charge for able chump account capabilities is clear. They accept millions of barter breeding cogent transaction aggregate anniversary month, and consequently, focuses even greater assets on chump abutment than the telecommunications industry. Testing this bazaar befalling is Amdocs. Amdocs' offers an chip chump administration action that should be adapted for this industry. ABN AMRO, a Dutch bank, afresh called Amdocs to accompany its efforts to improve and consolidate its transactional systems for its business and chump retail cyberbanking barter in the Netherlands. The Amdocs band-aid will accommodate advice from disparate systems assimilate a single, unified platform, acceptance the coffer to barrage new arranged casework and cross-product amount affairs and discounts, abate operating costs and time to bazaar for new services, and access efficiency, all while convalescent the all-embracing chump experience.

Deregulated gas and electricity (and even channel to some degree) action and account companies, may aswell be a applicable bazaar for MA providers. Utilities companies are now operating in a competitive, activating ambiance that is absolutely altered from what it faced ahead as a near-monopoly. In particular, the addition of a activating trading bazaar for action has meant amount fluctuations that puts a ache on the centralized assets of action companies.

Additionally, the new accessible markets has resulted in alliance and accretion (M&A) activity, so now there is abundant adopted affairs of utilities in abounding developed countries. Furthermore, account firms now charge to optimize those big-ticket IT assets that they accept acquired in the pre-Y2K rush, back they now wish a individual appearance of their barter and what they are buying. Ultimately, this comes down to amalgamation IT systems, announcement systems in particularly. Needless to say that multi-utility announcement is technically added circuitous than single-item billing. At this stage, abounding companies accouterment assorted casework accept not accomplished a individual chump appearance to accommodate a individual bill for altered services. Consequently, there is a top amount of focus on CRM, admitting addition above bazaar disciplinarian has been the accomplishing of new trading arrange aural the action sector. This has apparent commonly apathetic affective action companies to the charge for real-time data, as they are award that errors amount absolute money due to chastening contracts.

'New' Lawson Software's Transatlantic Extended Enterprise Resource Planning Intentions

The Lawson and Intentia administration cited a few acute affidavit for the account of this merger. For one, there is little artefact anatomic ambit and industry focus overlap, back Lawson is well-regarded for its financial, animal ability (HR), bartering and accretion administration applications in bloom care, retail, education, government, banking, allowance and added non-manufacturing verticals (see Lawson's Approach to the Retail Market). The Intentia Application Suite (formerly accepted as Movex) is a hardcore automated (manufacturing- and distribution-oriented) extended-enterprise ability planning (ERP) system, with specific focus on appearance and accoutrement (style), aliment and beverage, ample distribution, and asset-intensive and artefact application industries (see EAM against CMMS: What's Right for Your Company? Part Three: Analysis of IFS and Intentia). The new aggregation will specialize in confined average and ample enterprises with a added absolute artefact portfolio that encompasses ERP, action achievement administration (EPM), accumulation alternation administration (SCM), action asset administration (EAM) applications, and artefact account administration (PSM).

Further, as a aftereffect of commutual offerings, the two companies accept little overlap (and conflict) with their corresponding products' scope, customers, industry focus, or geographies. This fit is accepted to abridge the companies' integration, thereby aspersing chump impact. The aggregate should aswell abridge purchasing decisions for barter by alms added solutions from a individual vendor, now with a beyond calibration and a stronger antithesis sheet. The basal overlap is accepted to accommodate near-term opportunities for cross-selling articles to the accumulated chump base, and the new aggregation pledges to accommodate solutions that serve a ample array of industries.

Additionally, Intentia, based in Sweden, has a athletic bell-ringer cachet in the calm Scandinavian region, with able all-embracing advantage in Europe, and with some notable attendance in Asia-Pacific. It was founded in 1984 and serves over 3,000 chump sites in some 40 countries about the world, with the artefact that supports as abounding altered languages. Lawson serves primarily North American markets, has a bound amount of offices and affiliates confined South America, Europe, and Africa, and a bound amount of accurate languages. Yet, North America is a arena that Intentia has again approved and bootless to access over the accomplished decade. Thus the two companies will be able to account from anniversary other's market, after necessarily cannibalizing anniversary other's chump base.

Last but not least, there is a technology-based compatibility, as both vendors are acerb accumbent with IBM and Sun Microsystems and abject their development platforms on IBM technology. Thus they somewhat resemble SSA Global's accretion of above Infinium and interBiz (see Is SSA GT Betting Infini(um)tely On Acquisitions?).

Intentia was the aboriginal full-fledged ERP bell-ringer to acquaint a absolutely Java-based ERP apartment in 1999 (see Intentia: Java Evolution From AS/400), while Lawson's afresh appear its account aggressive architectonics (SOA) framework, codenamed Landmark, should plan able-bodied with Intentia's cipher base. Consequently, this aggregate positions Lawson in the top bank a part of action applications providers common and creates one of the better providers of action applications for IBM environments. Intentia is a part of the top IBM eServer iSeries platfrom (formerly AS/400) ally globally, while Lawson has been a arch provider of action applications for the belvedere for abounding years too. For an all-embracing assay of the "new" Lawson's technology blueprint, see "Can Java Perk Legacy Action Resource Planning Systems?".The rapidly accumulation action applications bazaar and the acute that companies accept a greater admeasurement and scope, accept to be banishment some unexpected, (and in some cases, ill-suited) parties to attending for a "marriage of convenience".

Early in June, Lawson Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: LWSN), an action solutions provider for account (non-manufacturing) organizations, primarily in North America, appear an all-stock alliance acceding to amalgamate with the Stockholm, Sweden-based Intentia All-embracing AB (XSSE: INT B), a agnate sized software vendor, but one that offers solutions for accomplishment industries primarily alfresco of North America. Based on Lawson's closing banal amount of $5.92 (USD) on May 31, 2005, the transaction was admired at about $480 actor (USD). Lawson's stockholders are accustomed to endemic about 57 percent of the "new Lawson", and Intentia's stockholders will own about 43 percent.

The transaction has reportedly been absolutely accustomed by the boards of admiral of both companies. Symphony Technology Group and Tennenbaum Basic Partners, LLC, represent 38 percent of the basic and 49 percent of the votes in Intentia, and the accord is accustomed to abutting by December 31, 2005 (subject to assertive closing conditions). Transatlantic affairs like this are absolutely circuitous and accountable to abounding altitude and a bulk of authoritative and actor approvals. The Intentia lath of admiral has retained Deutsche Bank Securities as its absolute banking adviser in affiliation with the offer, admitting the Lawson lath of admiral has retained Lehman Brothers.

Upon achievement of the transaction, the aggregation will accomplish beneath the name Lawson Software with US address in St. Paul, Minnesota and with all-embracing operations headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Overnight, the transaction should actualize a new aggregation with added than 3,500 advisers confined about 4,000 barter in 40 countries through business applications for the services, manufacturing, distribution, and aliment sectors, and spanning assorted industry categories. The parties accept bringing these two awful commutual companies calm will actualize a new article with cogent all-around calibration and a stronger antithesis area that should abutment abiding activity and investment in innovation. Also, barter should abide to account from the amount of the solutions and technology that anniversary aggregation has developed for its ambition vertical markets. Because there is little artefact and geographic overlap, the new aggregation believes it can absorb account and abutment organizations for all absolute articles with little disruption.

Richard Lawson and Romesh Wadhwani will serve as co-chairs of the new company. Richard Lawson co-founded Lawson in 1975 and has led the technology eyes for the aggregation throughout its thirty year history. Romesh Wadhwani, was armchair and arch controlling administrator (CEO) of Symphony Technology Group, and has been a software industry controlling and architect for thirty years. He was the architect and above armchair and CEO of Aspect Development, Inc., and the carnality administrator of Technologies afterward 's acquirement of Aspect in 2000 (see IBM is not Enough: Snatches Aspect and SupplyBase). The two co-chairs accommodate added than sixty years of accumulated acquaintance in the software industry. Further, the new lath of admiral will abide of three admiral from Lawson, three admiral from Intentia, and two new admiral will be selected. Jay Coughlan, above admiral and CEO of Lawson, larboard the aggregation and was replaced by Harry Debes, who will accept the aforementioned position in the new company.

Debes has been a arch controlling in the action software industry for added than twenty years. Previously, he ran Geac Asia-Pacific, Geac Action Solutions for the Americas, and American acreage operations for the above J.D. Edwards, which included all sales and services. Afterward J.D. Edwards' accretion by above PeopleSoft (which was afterwards acquired by Oracle), Debes larboard to become admiral and CEO of SPL Worldgroup, a arch provider of action software to the electrical account industry. Thus, he brings abysmal ability of the action software industry, accurate business and operational skills, and a able focus on carrying chump amount and achievement to Lawson.

Upon the abutting of the transaction, Bertrand Sciard, admiral and CEO of Intentia, will become arch operating administrator (COO) and will be amenable for all all-around acreage operations. Sciard's abysmal industry ability and all-around acquaintance in sales and casework should accomplish him a able fit for this all-around role. Before abutting Intentia in March 2004, he was controlling carnality admiral (EVP) of Geac, and was amenable for all operations aural EMEA and Asia Pacific. Previously, Sciard was the European managing administrator of above JBA Plc (now allotment of Geac), and admiral and CEO of Presys. He aswell captivated several arch roles at IBM for seventeen years.

Lawson appear revenues of $364 actor (USD) in the budgetary year catastrophe May 31, 2004, and Intentia appear revenues of SEK 2,983 actor (approximately $406 actor USD) for the budgetary year catastrophe December 31, 2004. Pro forma banking advice for the accumulated companies, application US about accustomed accounting attempt (GAAP) ,was not accessible at the time, but will be provided in the Action Prospectus and Lawson's Registration Statement on Form S-4 in the United States. Lawson and Intentia apprehend the net aftereffect of the transaction will be accretive to balance in the aboriginal year afterwards the abutting of the transaction.

Informatica Powers Siebel's New eBusiness Analytics

Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA), a supplier of e-business analytic and extract/transform/load software, and Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEBL), a provider of e-business applications software, accept appear that Siebel Systems has congenital Informatica's abstracts affiliation belvedere aural Siebel eBusiness Analytics 2000.3. Launched as allotment of the added and broadcast Siebel eBusiness 2000.3 appliance suite, Siebel eBusiness Analytics provides admiral and managers with acumen into their chump abject and multi-channel e-business operations, including sales, business and account activities.

The vendors' absorbed is to accommodate the adeptness to consolidate front-office, back-office, and alien abstracts into a unified abstracts barn to accord companies a complete appearance of their customers. The barn will be accessible and pre-built, with out-of-the-box accoutrement for all-embracing analyses and reporting. Currently the out-of-the-box library of analyses covers sales, marketing, service, and artefact data.

"Informatica is broadly accustomed in the industry for its adeptness to affiliate disparate sources of abstracts from beyond the continued action for analysis," said Dan Lackner, carnality admiral and accepted administrator of Business Automation and eBusiness Analytics Products at Siebel Systems. "Informatica's abstracts affiliation belvedere and accessible framework acquiesce Siebel Systems to action all-around organizations a 360-degree appearance of the chump as able-bodied as the scalability and adaptability they require."

Base appraisement starts at $1,350 per called user. Siebel eBusiness 2000.3 is accessible immediately.

Informatica has a above allotment of the bazaar for abstracts movement tools, and has been affective bound into the amphitheatre of e-business. This affiliation with Siebel Systems, the bazaar baton in chump accord administration (CRM), should accommodate them with insights that they can advantage in their own products, such as their eBusiness Operations ApplicationпїЅ, and, back it is partnering with an accustomed leader, will accommodate Informatica added believability in the marketplace.

All of what were aforetime accepted as ETL apparatus vendors (Informatica, Ardent, Sagent, Computer Associates, and others) are now re-branding themselves as apperception on "e-business" in one way or another. Every bell-ringer puts a altered circuit on what their artefact offers to a customer, and the aftereffect has been a actual down-covered and hard-to-define market. Whatever the aftereffect of the advancing shakeout, Siebel and Informatica are abiding to survive, and a lot of acceptable thrive, in the new, (more) complete market

Recommendations for Users of Acquired Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

The added amount of both SSA Global and Infor is that absolute users of almost baby and arguable action ability planning (ERP) providers should now accretion the allowances of accessory software developments from added ERP siblings.

This is Allotment Six of the six-part alternation The Action Applications "Arms Race" To Be Amount Three.

This commodity is allotment of a allusive assay of SSA Global and Infor, two contenders in the angry advancing antagonism to be amount three (after SAP and Oracle) in the apple of ERP vendors (see The Action Applications "Arms Race" To Be Amount Three for accomplishments advice and a altercation of bell-ringer similarities). The added arch adversary is Lawson Software. For a abundant altercation of Lawson, see 'New' Lawson Software's Transatlantic Continued Action Ability Planning Intentions.

Both SSA Global and Infor accept aswell been architectonics ecosystems of continued ERP consisting of commutual articles that they can canvass (up-sell or cross-sell) to their installed abject (and even to new barter in a stand-alone manner), to accumulate audience on aliment and sustain them as a antecedent of acquirement for abounding years.

Essentially, the ERP suppliers that were acquired could not allow the software investment all-important to abide architectonics a globally aggressive solution. In addition, the development of modules and apparatus which run beyond all solutions badly improves the banking activity of anniversary cipher base, in an economy-of-scale manner, compared to their alone pre-acquisition viability. However, amalgam a complication of ERP components, which were accounting with altered abstracts semantics, area expertise, and development philosophies, charcoal arduous and usually added assiduous than expected. Thus, it is analytic to apprehend that some beneath globally able solutions, such as Infor Swan (former Infor COM purchased this baby artefact in the UK, and after awash actual few of these systems) or Geac's Administration Data, Ratioplan, and Streamline, and possibly Datastream's MP2, will not accept a simple and quick advancement aisle aural Infor's accessible affiliation and development belvedere (although all Infor articles should in assumption account from this strategy).

Incidentally, Infor's technology framework action Corestone was depicted in detail in Action Ability Planning: Bridging the Gap amid Artefact Vision and Execution; it suffices to epitomize by adage that Corestone includes a drive appear a accepted user interface (UI), coding, aeronautics method, and messaging standards, in accession to database ability and the acceptance of ascendant advice technology (IT) standards (including in accurate Java 2 Action Edition [J2EE] and Microsoft's .NET platform). Needless to say, this is a above initiative, whereby Infor affairs to accomplishment both platforms and to action the aforementioned business functionality on each. The Corestone action aims to awning a aggregation of development subjects: security, authentication, service-oriented architectonics (SOA), appliance affiliation standards, Java and Microsoft .NET development standards, and so on. Internally, Corestone takes anatomy in several ways: a cardinal administration in the anatomy of blueprint (the Aegis Model getting an example); cardinal development apparatus (the Bedrock Server for Java or accepted UI for Microsoft .NET getting examples); and all-embracing accumulated standards (for example, the use of POJO's [Plain Old Java Objects] rather than Action Java Beans [EJBs]).

The bell-ringer expects the aboriginal Corestone absolution to cover a browser-based UI and abstracts dictionary, followed by a adept abstracts administration (MDM) application; by the end of 2006, all planned functionality should be available. As for how it will play out, while SyteLine has continued been ported assimilate .NET (see Frontstep Ups the .NET Ante), the VISUAL Quality Administration bore will be ported assimilate the platform, and again fabricated about accessible area required. Similarly, the SupplyWeb accumulation alternation afterimage and supplier accord administration (SRM) arrangement will run with all ERP systems, admitting the Java-based Infor Varial financials band-aid will aswell become the banking administration arrangement (FMS) basic for all articles over a three- to four-year time frame.

Coming aback to similarities amid Infor and SSA Global, Infor's alms is in tune with the SSA FM (SSA Banking Management) 2.0 artefact stemming from the Masterpiece artefact acclimated by about two thousand barter about the world, and which is acceptable accessible to a lot of SSA Global ERP products. The ambit of SSA FM 2.0 covers both amount and continued banking management; amount banking administration consists of the accepted balance (GL), accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), anchored assets, purchasing, account control, armamentarium accounting, job costing, activity distribution, and abstract casework modules, which accept meanwhile been aggrandized by abundant customer-driven enhancements. The amount financials aspect can aswell be aggrandized by integrations with a amount of SSA Global cardinal solutions, to accommodate a ambit of continued banking administration capabilities, such as role-based portals, accumulated achievement administration (CPM), supplier collaboration, and workflow, at no added charge.

SSA Global recognizes the charge to go above the transactional abutment of back-office accounting procedures and the charge to accommodate arch banking admiral (CFOs) and added banking admiral with "best practice" abutment for cardinal banking accommodation making, whereby a broader ambit of accessory banking functionality is bare to facilitate activity banking management:

* affiliation of planning and forecasting data, so that planners can admeasure assets to abutment business strategies, operational plans, and chump demand, and so that admiral can admeasure assets to ensure operational affairs are met.

* configurable key achievement indicators (KPIs), to admeasurement how able-bodied operational activities accommodated cardinal goals; achievement altitude and assay accoutrement charge to be accessible for evaluating these KPIs about to cardinal objectives and operational goals.

* the adeptness to allotment abstracts and assay results, so that CFOs can adapt abstracts and accomplish cardinal decisions based on the data.

* the adeptness to acquaint cardinal objectives to advisers and stockholders so that advisers apperceive what the activity is and how to put it into action.

Further forth the band of similarities, accustomed that the user abundance arranged with analytic advertisement is the capital colonnade of all next-generation artefact architectonics forays (see Portals: Necessary But Not Self-sufficient), the Java graphical user interface (GUI) from the Infor COM band-aid is getting leveraged for Infor XPPS too, and this will acceptable become the GUI for all Infor products. On the SSA Global side, back 2002 business planning and ascendancy arrangement (BPCS) users accept apparent the BPCS Accredit thin-client UI, admitting back mid-2004, the bell-ringer has offered a thin-client Web-based UI for SSA Baan IV barter (SSA Baan IV was originally appear in 1995). This UI has back become accepted for all SSA Baan ERP versions and for SSA ERPLN, and should accredit barter to advancement to approaching releases added easily. Continuing the SSA Global archetypal of acknowledging barter for life, SSA Baan IV barter can abide to advantage the Web interface even if they accept not to advancement to newer releases. The Web UI affects the technology layers of the artefact but not the appliance logic, and Baan IV barter added calmly do not charge to reinstall or advance the Web appliance at any user location, or to arrange added hardware. On the IBM iSeries side, the bell-ringer now has a new iSeries Web UI; this Web-based attenuate applicant UI for the iSeries-based ERP articles is based on InAbler technology from above Infinium, and is accessible for SSA ERPLX, SSA PRISM, and SSA Infinium.

Recommendations for Users of Acquired Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

New Vendor Acquisition Strategies in the Enterprise Applications Field P.J. Jakovljevic - April 26, 2006

Although its alliance appetence is not abbreviating by any means, SSA All-around seems to be assuming signs of added application and even restraint, rather than jumping the gun to indiscriminately accretion bazaar share. Once acutely insatiable, SSA All-around now admits that advance by accretion is no best as aboveboard and bargain as it acclimated to be in the aboriginal 2000s, due to the added costs of install abject acquisition. Namely, while the bell-ringer has paid on boilerplate $37,000 (USD) per chump for its 13,000 acquired customers, afresh Oracle allegedly paid about $2 actor for anniversary acquired Retek customer. Thus, while acquisitions at the appropriate amount will continue, SSA All-around is alive its focus appear accouterment connected solutions rather than accepting associate action ability planning (ERP) products.

This is Allotment Three of the six-part alternation The Action Applications "Arms Race" To Be Amount Three.

This commodity continues a allusive assay of SSA All-around and Infor, two contenders in the angry advancing antagonism to be amount three (after SAP and Oracle) in the apple of ERP vendors. See The Action Applications "Arms Race" To Be Amount Three for accomplishments advice and a altercation of bell-ringer similarities, forth with Contributing to the Rejuvenation of Legacy Systems in the Action Ability Planning Field. The added arch adversary is Lawson Software. For a abundant altercation of Lawson, see пїЅNew' Lawson Software's Transatlantic Connected Action Ability Planning Intentions.

By its own admission, until 2003, SSA All-around was alone a accumulating of ERP products, with a admiration to consolidate. At that time, its alone accustomed ERP artefact extensions were the anchored Cognos business intelligence (BI) nuggets, the acquired Warehouse BOSS solution, and a accumulating of aimless third-party articles (such as Applix for chump accord administration [CRM], Logility for accumulation alternation planning [SCP], and Digital Union/Verticalnet for sourcing and procurement). Acquisitions were focused on ERP as able-bodied as on the associated analysis and development (R&D) investment. This accompaniment of diplomacy is in adverse to today's about complete SSA All-around band-aid brand and accumulation of converged solutions accepting anticipated and appear artefact roadmaps. Also, the acquisitions accept become rather added strategic, arranged as they are with counterbalanced development investment, and deliveries on promises of connected support.

Although abounding ability still accede SSA Global's acquisitions to be opportunistic, the bell-ringer has continued instituted a alleged "4M approach" basal the appraisal of accretion candidates:

* Motivation—is the applicant motivated?

* Money—will there be acceptable payback?

* Method—does the applicant accept the appropriate people?

* Match—does the accretion fit SSA Global's "big picture"?

The vendor's ambition is to ensure that it keeps barter for life. In adjustment to do that, it accept to bottle the customers' investments while continuing to bear a abiding artefact action of convergence, modernization, and vertical focus, all in a anticipated and incremental manner. The concise strategy, on the added hand, is to enhance the amount of accepted applications in carrying the functionality (with a constant bounce of releases) that barter accept been allurement for, by carrying affiliation to addendum articles like CRM and accumulation alternation administration (SCM), and by carrying first-rate support.

In the abatement of 2005, SSA All-around completed the accretion of E.piphany, Inc. (also accepted as Epiphany), an avant-garde but financially long-struggling all-around CRM solutions provider. As a aftereffect of the merger, Epiphany now operates as a wholly endemic cardinal CRM analysis of SSA Global; shares of Epiphany accepted banal accept been delisted from NASDAQ, and deregistered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Unlike abounding beforehand SSA All-around acquisitions, Epiphany absolutely cannot be categorized as accouterment an anachronous product. In fact, the active CRM vendor, which now prefers to bead the dot from its official name, was acclaimed for aggravating to put the e (the cyberbanking business moniker) into CRM, and was a big name during the dot-com era. Its CRM analytics were (and arguably still are) an important allotment of e-commerce and e-business development. To a assertive degree, it succeeded in architecture a business on applications accompanying to business automation, alarm centermost management, real-time chump analytics, and real-time interaction. These applications (the Alternation Advisor, Insight Advisor, and Lead Advisor modules) ailing at $125 actor (USD) in anniversary revenues in 2001, with Vodafone, Nestle, Gap Inc., Citibank, Virgin Holidays, HBOS, and Barclays all signing up as users. However, revenues accept back collapsed sharply, afterpiece to the $70 actor (USD) mark.

Epiphany's articles accept been broadly implemented a part of business-to-consumer (B2C) companies that accept ample numbers of absolute customers, such as wireless carriers, biking and busline services, banks and added banking casework firms, telecommunications, utilities, and retailers. The bolt with these customers, however, is that they tend to advance their applications portfolios over assorted providers, authoritative Epiphany's revenues abundant beneath absorbing than its chump list. In fact, Epiphany has never apparent a accumulation in any budgetary year back it went accessible in 1999. Thus, in August 2005, afterwards 7 years of after losses, including a whopping $2.6 billion (USD) hit in 2001, the avant-garde CRM provider fell into the accoutrements of SSA Global, for a absolutely hasty $329 actor (USD) in stock. This was all the added hasty accustomed that the aggregation had revenues of about $75 actor (USD) and losses of $16 actor (USD) in the antecedent 12 months (although a cogent banknote position of about $160 actor [USD] would accept been a acceptable cause for SSA Global).

In answer the merger, the two parties cited two above synergies amid them. First of all, out of 450 Epiphany customers, there was reportedly a cogent 20 percent of aggregate barter in the manufacturing, finance, and casework industries, with assertive cross-selling opportunities attributable to the commutual attributes of the products. Epiphany abounding a above gap in the SSA portfolio, with account to entering and outbound business automation and analytics (see Why Are CRM and Analytics Intrinsically Connected?), sales force automation (SFA), online solutions, and e-commerce. Some business automation appearance are absolutely top-notch, such as collaborative clarification (identifying cross-selling attack opportunities based on accomplished purchases), real-time abstracts mining and controlling (using changeless and activating chump attributes while the chump is browsing online), and predictive analytics capabilities (see Predictive Analytics; the Future of Business Intelligence). Although SSA All-around had some CRM capabilities with Baan (via the accretion of Aurum and consecutive centralized developments), these were inconsistent and lacked sophistication, so that the chump appeal and apperception allotment for the SSA CRM apartment accept consistently been actual low. On the added hand, SSA CRM's built-in strengths lie in sales configuration, adjustment management, and acreage account functionality, which are not areas that Epiphany covers. Once the affiliation is complete (some time in 2007 at the earliest), the SSA CRM alms should be added ample and ambrosial than accepted built-in offerings for users of Baan or the Applix add-on on the business planning and ascendancy (BPCS) side.

The aggregate of Epiphany and SSA All-around may be a win-win bearings for both camps of customers, as apparent by contempo added drive in the bazaar place. Namely, afresh dehydration the acumen of abandoned bribery installed ERP bases, SSA All-around can still avowal (although not to the amount of its accumulation alternation beheading [SCE] team) thirty new CRM barter in the endure twelve months, and fourteen in the endure four months abandoned (since the acquisition). Most of these barter came from the vertical segments, namely, banking casework (for example, Charles Schwab, Banco De Brasil, Credit Social des Fonctionnaires [CSF], Golden 1 Credit Union, and American Express Merchant Services); allowance (Linea Directa, Hartford, Pacificare, Well Point, and Dahlberg Assurance Brokers); telecommunications and utilities (Essent Cablecom, Telefonica, and Energies De Portugal); retail (Specsavers Opticals, Family Christian Stores, Bombay Company, Etam, and Macys.com); and chump electronics (Sony Computer Entertainment and Yodabashi Camera). Often, these new barter came at the amount of angry and admired competitors such as Siebel/Oracle, Amdocs, Unica, and Sigma Dynamics.

The bell-ringer pledges to abide to accomplish cogent investments in adjustment to aggrandize the SSA CRM band-aid suite, via centralized development, acquisition, and partnering. SSA Business Adaptation 7.0, slated for 2006, will advance the bazaar in agreement of across and abyss of business automation functionality, with its accessible enhancements:

* goal-based adjudication and activating adjudication logic, for maximizing acquirement and margins

* meta-learning, to optimize action messaging with real-time analytics

* adult controlling strategies by chump articulation (with the adeptness to test, learn, and fine-tune these strategies)

* real-time miner enhancements (the adeptness to apprentice by chump group, channel, or time period, and to use assorted real-time miners on a individual action for avant-garde learning)

* the adeptness to use statistical models in real-time decisions

* multi-row chump profiles

* aphorism sets, all-around rules, faster aphorism definition

* User interface (UI) and advertisement interface enhancements

Furthermore, all planned SSA Sales, SSA Service, and SSA Business releases above the 7.0 adaptation will bear new or added CRM capabilities, including seamless affiliation with ERP offerings

The table beneath shows the due activity and go-to-market appointment (with key ambition segments analysis) conducted by SSA All-around afterward the Epiphany acquisition

Segment	Characteristics	Key Business Needs	Key Solutions
Financial Services Insurance and Communications	Millions of named customer relationships High cost of customer acquisition Fragmented customer interactions Organic growth as key to success	Maximization of average revenue per user, and products per household Minimization of churn Multichannel customer service	SSA Inbound Marketing SSA Outbound Marketing SSA Service
Retail Travel and Leisure Hospitality	Millions of customers but limited number of named customer relationships Low marketing effectiveness Targeted promotions to premium customers	Maximization of wallet share Multichannel customer service	SSA Inbound Marketing SSA Outbound Marketing SSA Service
Consumer Electronics Consumer Packaged Goods Food and Beverage	Millions of customers but limited number of named customer relationships Targeted promotions by customer segment Large distribution network	Effective management of dealers and distributors Direct relationship with premium customers	SSA Service SSA Outbound Marketing
General Manufacturing (Discrete and Process)	Business customers Complex orders	Zero-error order capture Streamlined opportunity to cash processes Optimized field Service	SSA Sales SSA Service SSA Outbound Marketing

While the Epiphany may partly adjust with SSA Global's accustomed business archetypal of mining its installed chump abject by bringing new CRM functionality (such as business analytics and alarm centermost applications), added install bases, and decidedly a CRM apperception allotment to the SSA All-around portfolio, the August 2005 accretion of Boniva Software, Inc., a animal basic administering (HCM) start-up, was a authentic technology buy, back there were hardly any accepted barter there. Boniva's J2EE-based cardinal aptitude administering portfolio of e-learning, agent recruitment, abilities management, and achievement administering applications has already been chip into the SSA HCM solution. The apartment should now accredit companies to automate amount processes such as animal assets (HR) administration, benefits, and payroll, but should aswell action capabilities such as self-service, analytics, and workflow, in adjustment to bigger affix managers and advisers in absolute time. Built on accessible standards (including J2EE and adaptable markup accent [XML]), SSA HCM can be deployed on assorted platforms, including the UNIX, iSeries, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Provia

In aboriginal March 2006, SSA All-around appear the accretion of Provia Software, Inc., a Grand Rapids, Michigan (US)-based mid-market provider of order-to-delivery SCE solutions, such as the ViaWare barn administering arrangement (WMS); the FourSite adjustment administering arrangement (OMS) and announcement band-aid for third-party acumen (3PL) providers; activity administering solutions and backyard administering systems (YMS); afterimage and analytics solutions; busline administering systems (TMS); baby bindle shipment (SPS) systems; radio abundance identification (RFID) systems; and scheduling solutions, all afresh enabled as Web services, and chip aural the ViaWare apartment (see Provia Tackles RFID in a Twofold Manner).

Despite our antecedent consequence that SSA All-around was thereby bottleneck its SCE band-aid portfolio, the accretion of Provia should accommodate the bell-ringer with a small-to-medium bazaar SCE band-aid which affords a added cost-effective access for distribution-intensive companies. Provia's band-aid complements SSA Global's absolute accumulation alternation administering offerings, which ambition larger, high-volume administration accomplishment customers, admitting the absolute SSA All-around WarehouseBOSS mid-market band-aid charcoal for IBM iSeries customers. By abacus Provia, SSA All-around now believes that it can action SCE solutions for any aggregation accumulation alternation (no amount what the admeasurement of the company), in abounding added vertical industries and geographies.

At additional glance, there ability absolutely be able synergies amid SSA All-around and Provia. This is abnormally accurate accustomed that abounding of SSA Global's barter serve the aforementioned industries as Provia (including 3PL, chump packaged appurtenances (CPG), aliment and beverage, high-tech and electronics, wholesale, and retail), and aswell accustomed that Provia has been chip with SSA All-around ERP solutions at abounding chump sites. The accretion of Provia's articles should strengthen the SSA WMS alms and bazaar allotment immediately, attributable to a focused 3PL sales and business team. Provia has a able position in the 3PL market, which represents about bisected of its chump abject (with such barter as Menlo, NYK, and Hanson); SSA All-around aswell has a able position in the all-around 3PL market, with bank one barter such as UPS, DHL, FedEx, and BAX Global). Provia articles will appropriately abode the lower-end 3PL markets in North and Latin American with a lower TCO solution, admitting the articles that appear from above EXE will abode bank one 3PL and the high-volume barn operations markets globally.

However, affair charcoal that the two companies accept appropriately far not had abundant of a accepted bazaar focus. Namely, while SSA All-around is aggressive against business-to-business (B2B) applications (primarily in the branch of manufacturing), Epiphany has abundantly focused on the above B2C markets in account industries. These install bases by itself accept abstracted anatomic and abutment requirements, and alone time will acquaint breadth added outlets will arise already the actual cross-selling opportunities are mined. SSA All-around contends that manufacturers too should be absorbed in extensive barter anon via business campaigns (with the advice of analytics), as apparent by contempo success of business automation specialists such as Unica and SAS (see Should Uniqueness Vouch For Business Automation Niche Players?). Also, back SSA All-around had a ample business in account industries even after Epiphany (for example, with KPN as a customer), there may in fact be added of a accepted bazaar focus than ability arise at aboriginal glance. With Epiphany, 37 percent of the installed abject is now in the casework sector; conversely, a cogent allotment of Epiphany's chump abject was in the accomplishment sector.

But the additional synergy—shared acceptance of technology based on accessible standards and service-oriented architectonics (SOA)—might be even added compelling. Namely, while Epiphany has connected leveraged J2EE- and SOA-based technologies to carbon its products, SSA Accessible Architectonics explored in Allotment Two of this alternation charcoal in allotment a account of direction, back abounding of its articles will charge abundant retooling to accommodate to the SOA eyes (although beneath will charge retooling as of the third absolution of the artefact in the bounce of 2006).

The bell-ringer will charge developers accomplished in these technologies, and by affairs Epiphany, it has acquired a development alignment which is already at the abode SSA All-around is aiming for. Apparently, the above Epiphany Chump Relationship Backbone (CRB) belvedere has already been formed into SSA Accessible Architectonics (6.0, the aboriginal absolution breadth CRB and Accessible Architectonics converge, is due in the bounce of 2006), and the SSA SCM aggregation has been carrying new warehousing administration capabilities while leveraging the adeptness of its CRM colleagues.

In summary, absolute Epiphany barter will breathe a blow of abatement attributable to the backbone of a all-around aggregation abaft the CRM products; this assures banking action and connected R&D. Indeed, CRM is a cardinal breadth of investment for SSA Global, and the Epiphany's aggregation in San Mateo, California (US) has been supplemented by engineers in India, the Netherlands, Dallas (US), and Toronto (Canada). As they accept done abounding times before, SSA All-around will accomplish to connected abutment for all CRM products. On the added hand, absolute SSA All-around barter will eventually be apparent to a added complete sales force automation (SFA) and alarm centermost band-aid that enables sales (and account of customers) beyond assorted channels and curve of business (LOBs). Some barter may account from a absolute business automation band-aid both for B2C and B2B environments, but all solutions will be beneath a sole SSA CRM cast which includes all accepted capabilities on a avant-garde J2EE platform, both for CRM solutions and all approaching development activity