When does the relationship between two tech vendors look like a merger but is not actually a merger? For all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what just happened with two players in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) industry, Acumatica and IFS. This post outlines the deal and what it means for buyers and customers of Acumatica and IFS.
One of the key advantages of modern cloud systems is that they often come with rapid development platforms (Platform as a Service, or PaaS) that allow the vendor, partners, and even customers to build extensions and customizations to the system without affecting the underlying code or architecture of the base system. However, as with so many good things in life, PaaS can be used and abused. This post outlines the risk in overreliance on a SaaS vendor’s PaaS.
Today, there is no manufacturing cloud ERP provider with the size or scale of Salesforce.com or Workday. Contrary to popular belief, this is not because the opportunity is small. Manufacturing still comprises a large percentage of US companies and is an enormous opportunity for cloud ERP. This post outlines the challenges that cloud ERP providers face and what it will take for them to dominate the market for manufacturing systems.
One of the most rapidly growing new entrants to the ERP market is Acumatica. In this post we identify three characteristics of Acumatica that are somewhat novel in the ERP world: its OEM strategy, industry editions, and multiple deployment options. Although Acumatica may be unnecessarily limiting itself to small companies, we think buyers may want to give it a look.
Oracle took another step in its strategy of growth by acquisition by announcing a bid for NetSuite. But apart from helping Oracle in its race with Salesforce.com to get to $10 billion in cloud revenues, what are the benefits of the deal to Oracle? How does it help NetSuite, and what does it mean to the broader marketplace? Looking at the big picture, there are certainly benefits, but there are also several concerns.
Like the Oklahoma land rush of 1889, cloud vendors today are rushing into new territory to stake their claims. One provider that has joined the land rush is FinancialForce.com, which recently announced new branding to signal its claim in cloud ERP. This post provides an overview of the cloud ERP landscape and the latest vendor to stake a claim.
As the first cloud-only manufacturing ERP system, Plex Systems has a wide footprint of functionality. Nevertheless, after more than a decade of development, Plex has fewer than 1000 customers and its presence is limited mostly to smaller manufacturing companies in a few sub-sectors. So, what does Plex need to do to grow at a more substantial pace in the coming years? We see six mandates.
At its annual user conference in May, cloud ERP provider NetSuite promoted enhanced functionality for manufacturing companies. As manufacturing firms are increasingly open to cloud solutions, NetSuite is at the right place at the right time. Nevertheless, there are a number of decision points for NetSuite as it continues to build out its manufacturing footprint.