P.J.
Jakovljevic & A. Turner
- October
25, 2000
Event
Summary
Symix Systems, Inc., a leading mid-market enterprise applications vendor,
announced that it will seek shareholder approval at its annual meeting
on November 8, 2000 to change the name of the parent company to Frontstep,
Inc. Following approval, the company's common stock will be traded on
the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol "FSTP."
The
company currently operates three primary sales and service channels and
an e-business consulting practice. The first channel, which will continue
to operate under the Symix name, offers a comprehensive business system
solution - e-business and ERP - to manufacturers through the company's
existing global direct sales force and business partners. The second channel,
which operates under the Frontstep name, markets the company's e-business
products through third-party channel partners such as consulting and services
firms, enterprise software resellers and ASPs. A third channel, also operating
under the Frontstep name, consists of a specialized staff that sells and
delivers e-business solutions to distribution companies and trading exchanges.
An e-business consulting practice - brightwhite solutions, inc. - provides
strategic e-business consulting and deployment services.
"This
name change to Frontstep signifies our new business model, the new products
and services we offer and the new opportunities we are pursuing," said
Stephen A. Sasser, president and chief executive officer of Symix. "We
have defined and are delivering a complete suite of e-business products
and services based on a network-centric, collaborative model. We've established
new sales channels, and we're offering new methods of software delivery
and pricing for customers. We've also added new e-business consulting
and services capabilities. We remain committed to our manufacturing enterprise
customers and are excited about the new capabilities we offer them. We
will continue to extend the capabilities of their business systems to
capitalize on the new opportunities and technologies surrounding the Internet."
The
company claims to have already enjoyed a number of e-business successes.
It forged partnerships with e-procurement leader Commerce One and application
service provider Agilera, and delivered products based on those partnerships.
It signed on more than 10 e-business partners to resell the Frontstep
E-business Suite - including resellers and implementers of competitive
ERP systems who will use Frontstep software to provide e-business solutions
for their customers. The company delivered e-business solutions or initiated
projects with more than 100 customers, including several trading exchanges
and "dot-com" companies. It also raised $13.6 million in funding for its
e?business initiatives from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity
Group and Updata Venture Partners.
Earlier,
on September 7, Frontstep, Inc. and MOMENTIX, a provider of Internet technology
solutions for trade shows, announced a strategic alliance. As part of
this relationship, MOMENTIX will integrate Frontstep's eCRM technology
into its suite of Web-based trade show management solutions. The new MOMENTIX
offering will be marketed as DigitalCustomer, a Web-based customer management
system built specifically for the trade show industry. With DigitalCustomer,
trade show managers can more effectively manage a show's sales, marketing
and operational points of contact.
Also,
on August 9, Frontstep announced that Emerging Vision Inc. has chosen
Frontstep to provide supply chain and transaction processing for Emerging
Vision's trading exchange. The exchange, still under development at that
stage, is designed to facilitate business-to-business (B2B) exchange of
goods and services in the optical industry. Emerging Vision will use sales,
purchasing, and accounting software from Frontstep to process transactions
initiated on the trading exchange. Emerging Vision will also use Frontstep's
workflow automation solution to integrate these back-end functions with
front-end applications on the exchange, as well as with buyer and supplier
systems. The resulting integrated B2B information systems will provide
an effective supply-chain network for Emerging Vision's trading partners.
Emerging Vision will also use Frontstep's CRM software to support its
own marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. Frontstep will be
working closely with other well-known industry leaders, including Rare
Medium, Microsoft and webMethods, to develop critical components of Emerging
Vision's B2B optical portal.
However,
On July 27, Symix Systems, Inc. announced disappointing financial results
for the fourth fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2000. The company reported
a net loss of $9.5 million for the quarter, including non-recurring charges
of $3.0 million for divested operations. This compares to a net income
of $30,000 for the same period last year. Total revenue for the quarter
was $31.1 million, compared to $37.8 million for last year's comparable
quarter. For the fiscal year, the net loss was $10.1 million on total
revenue of $129.0 million. In the previous fiscal year ended June 30,
1999, the company realized a net income of $4.0 million on total revenue
of $129.1 million (See Figures 1 & 2).
Figure
1.
Figure
2.
"We
are disappointed in the overall revenue performance for the quarter. A
significant amount of anticipated traditional enterprise software sales
were deferred beyond June 30," said Stephen A. Sasser, "Software revenue
for the quarter declined 24 percent from last year's comparable quarter
to $15 million because of depressed market conditions for traditional
enterprise systems. We are making the changes necessary to focus resources
on the most important aspects of our business, those areas that will drive
future growth and return the business to profitability in the second half
of the current fiscal year. We are on track with our e-business plans
and are gratified by the initial market acceptance of what we have articulated
and delivered to date."
Symix
has also made several structural changes to reallocate resources to core
e-business initiatives. The company has discontinued efforts to enhance,
market and sell the Mongoose software-development toolset. In the fourth
quarter ended June 30, 2000, Symix sold its FieldPro standalone field-service
management software subsidiary, including the source code and customer
base, maintaining the right to incorporate the field service functionality
into its e-business suite. Non-recurring charges associated with these
restructuring efforts were $3.0 million.
"This
is a critical time for the company, and we are focusing our talents, efforts
and financial resources toward the execution of our e-business vision,"
said Sasser. "We are aligning the business to ensure our success as a
leading B2B provider in our manufacturing and distribution markets."
Market
Impact
After stellar 1998 and 1999 in which Symix, a traditionally strong player
in the mid-market ERP space, achieved an impressive growth, resolved some
functionality weaknesses in its own product and successfully partnered
with and/or acquired vendors that offered complementary functionality,
the company has recently felt the malaise of the shrinking ERP market.
However, it has made every effort to keep abreast of the enterprise applications
market trends by providing both front- and back-office solutions with
the initial release of eSyte, its family of e-Business applications, in
November 1999. This new venture into its non-traditional markets was not
unexpected. Symix, like many of its traditional ERP competitors, has been
negatively affected by heavy investments in new e-business product offerings
even as the sales of traditional ERP products decline.
Symix
has traditionally focused on delivering extended enterprise management
systems to mid-market manufacturers and distribution companies via direct
sales channels. In January 2000, it created an e-business subsidiary,
Frontstep, to accelerate delivery of B2B products and services to additional
target markets via new sales channels, including application service providers
(ASPs) and online trading exchanges. Through the brightwhite services
group, the company plans to provide the design and deployment services
required by customers to plan, build, launch and advance an e-business
strategy. Symix reliance on its direct sales and undeveloped indirect
channel, which has been a flaw in its otherwise successful mid-market
strategy in the past, should thereby be mitigated to a degree.
Symix
has been one of the more vibrant vendors dedicated to the industrial mid-market.
The company has long introduced its concept of Customer Synchronized Resource
Planning (CSRP) to expand its back-office ERP functionality and focus
on customer needs by acquiring Pritsker Corporation, an APS vendor, in
1997. Symix Systems' initial benefits from on-time release of its fully
integrated supply chain software (CSRP) have recently been counteracted
by competitors' similar offerings. As an example, MAPICS has abandoned
the OEM agreement with Symix in favor of the Pivotpoint Thru-Put product
it recently acquired.
Besides
its flagship traditional ERP product SyteLine, suitable for certain discrete
manufacturing markets like industrial equipment, specialty vehicles, electronics,
packaging, fabricated metals, and furniture, Symix offers a number of
other products. The company launched SyteCentre, an ERP suite for mid-market
repetitive consumer goods manufacturers in February 1999. For now, SyteCentre
is only available in the US.
In
June 1999, Symix purchased Distribution Architects International (DAI),
a supply chain management vendor, and added the SyteDistribution distribution
management suite to its products. The product features sales order management
and forecasting, inventory management, distribution planning, warehouse
management, and business intelligence functionality, and has been designed
to work closely with eSyte. As mentioned earlier, in November 1999, Symix
introduced eSyte, a suite of e-business products and services created
for mid-market companies. It is soon to be re-branded into eStep.
e-Syte
(soon to be eStep) Business Products
eSyte is an e-business, Internet-enabled suite targeted at manufacturers,
which integrates back-office systems, including Symix's SyteLine and SyteCentre.
It also integrates most ERP, CRM, APS, supply chain, business and financial
systems. It is an impressively comprehensive suite of web-based products,
either as stand-alone or complementary to both SyteLine and SyteCentre.
These e-business products include:
- eSyte
Customer Center provides a storefront to sell products and services.
It offers complex order management and fulfillment capabilities, including
sophisticated product catalog features, product configuration and available-to-promise
(ATP) capabilities. Other notable features available with the Customer
Center module are: product search, request for quote (RFQ), catalogues
with pricing and updated inventory, and order status forms.
- eSyte
Channel Center (including eCRM) provides Internet channel support
for sales representatives and dealers. Through multiple customer views
from the Customer Center, the Channel Center provides the sales organization
with order management, product configuration and ATP capabilities aimed
at a manufacturer's suppliers. Channel Center also is a web-centric
CRM solution providing marketing automation and sales and services management.
- eSyte
Procurement Center provides Internet procurement for company-wide
purchasing. Through its relationship with Commerce One, a leader in
global trading exchanges, Symix delivers Commerce One's eProcurement
software, BuySite, and access to Commerce One's MarketSite, the largest
trading network of buyers and sellers in the world. The Procurement
Center also can provide access to other trading communities such as
E-Steel and works.com. It is envisioned that users will have a range
of B2B service providers integrated into their ERP desktops to allow
for automated supply chains and production lines. They can then search
for more suppliers and get volume discounts when sourcing raw materials,
place and confirm purchase orders and process them.
- eSyte
Supply Chain Center provides real-time, Internet-based synchronization
of manufacturing, distribution and external supply to customer demand.
The system streamlines the planning process by providing real-time order
promising, dynamic synchronization, real-time intelligent messaging
and analysis in both single-site and multi-site, multi-ERP environments.
- eSyte
Intelligence delivers the infrastructure for collecting Web and
enterprise data. Through its relationship with Cognos, Symix provides
multidimensional analysis, business performance reporting and business
modeling.
- eSyte
Active Link provides messaging and workflow through e-mail to effectively
support a collaborative environment within the enterprise and outside
the enterprise with customers and suppliers. By leveraging advanced
workflow and data transfer technology, XML and SOAP technology and Microsoft's
BizTalk Framework, Active Link connects, automates and streamlines work
processes between the Frontstep E-business Suite and the transaction
enterprise business system. The Frontstep E-business Suite is independent
of the transaction enterprise system and therefore can be integrated
with non-Symix ERP systems through its messaging capabilities.
After each
module is integrated with a back-office system, discrete manufacturers,
their customers and suppliers, will be able to use the Internet to order
materials, initiate manufacturing processes and deliver products. We predict
that more than 20% of Symix future revenue will be driven by eSyte within
the next 18 months (60% probability).
How
Frontstep Fits In
Responsibility for delivering new e-Business systems lies within a new
Symix subsidiary called Frontstep. The Frontstep organization, announced
in January 2000, has been busily rounding out its e-Business product and
strategic consulting service offerings both through acquisitions, internal
development and partner relationships. These products and services have
still been brought to the manufacturing markets under the Symix brand
name. Here are the most prominent events during the organization's hectic
first few months (Note that some of them have been studied more thoroughly
in pertinent TEC news analyses):
- On February
10, Frontstep acquired Profit Solutions, Inc. (PSI) and its eCRM applications.
The new Web-based product provides marketing automation, sales management,
service management, and business intelligence functionality. (For more
information, see Symix
Expands Its Product Offering While Remaining Profitable)
- On February
18, Frontstep announced a partnership agreement with Commerce One, a
leading provider of e-commerce systems. Under terms of the agreement,
Frontstep customers can access Commerce One's MarketSite Global Trading
Portal to buy or sell products and services worldwide, and leverage
new purchasing management capabilities.
- On March
28, Frontstep signed agreement with Agilera.com, an ASP provider, to
provide e-Business applications in a hosted environment.
- On April
3, the company announced the eSyte product suite. (For more information
on the above-mentioned events, see Symix
Systems' Slips Into Red During Its E-Commerce Transition)
We believe
the company has aptly articulated an e-commerce vision that should have
an appeal to its mid-market users. In a nutshell, the mission is to deliver
tightly integrated traditional ERP systems (not confined to only Symix'
ones) and new e-Business components. The company's focus on the mid-market
in make-to-order and configure-to-order discrete manufacturing has not
been changed, however. While Symix has been promoting the concept of an
integrated solution, including both ERP and e-Business components, the
company is also pursuing stand-alone sales of its e-Business offerings,
both to manufacturing companies using a different back-end system, and
to organizations outside of the manufacturing industry, to a lesser degree.
System
Architecture
Moreover, Frontstep/Symix seems to have grasped underlying e-business
customer needs and business process intricacies while most of its competitors
have yet to figure those out and are mostly at the stage of providing
simple Web storefronts. Its comprehensive e-business offering, individual
parts of which have been described above, is generally available. Very
notable is the underlying Digital Supply Chain Network Architecture (DSCNA),
an open and formal framework, envisioned to provide many-to-many workflow
and messaging middleware functionality, both within an enterprise (internal
suppliers and customers) and beyond enterprise borders (external business
partners). The architecture consists of the following nine layers:
- Semantic
layer - provides the meaning of an entity or message;
- Content
layer - determines what an entity or message is;
- Application
layer - determines what the status of an entity is;
- Process
layer - determines what to do with the entity or message;
- Directory
layer - determines where to send the entity or message;
- Transport
layer - determines how the entity gets to its destination;
- Communications
layer - determines which network entity uses, ISP or VAN;
- Storage
layer - determines how the information is stored; and
- Physical
layer - determines which devices are used to move and access information.
Frontstep
has identified and defined the essential processes to conduct on-line
commerce. By understanding the transactional underpinnings of e-commerce
it has built a methodology to support a robust commerce solution. Frontstep's
eSyte (eStep) solution combines business logic with the strength and brand
of Commerce One's applications on a Microsoft platform. Further, embracing
XML and an Application Service Provider distribution model the solution
is poised to scale as the industry evolves. Should the company choose
to publish its transaction architecture, it would serve as a strong educational
tool within the market place.
Frontstep
Challenges
Brand Recognition: Symix' recent name change to Frontstep will
require a strong marketing initiative to inform new and existing clients
about the company.
Public
vs Private exchanges: Digital procurement solutions are becoming more
prevalent in multiple industry verticals. However, organizations must
decide if a public exchange, a private sales network or a combination
of the two serve the company's needs. This will require additional planning
and resources.
Evolution
of Standards: As with B2B transactions, the adoption of mutually understood
data and standards improve efficiency. Should new or modified versions
of existing standards evolve the solution set will need to accommodate
the changes. This requires continuous attention and possible application
modification.
Microsoft
only solution: While API's and XML promise to deliver technologically
agnostic solutions, mass adoption of a Microsoft only solution may still
represent sticking point in some organizations.
Frontstep
Strengths
Focused solution: Frontstep has developed a technically proficient
solution utilizing robust tools on a single platform.
Tight
integration among partners: By choosing brand name, industry accepted
partners the application suite leverages proven technology.
Well-defined
transactional methodology: Frontstep has identified and defined digital
transactions down to their elemental levels. The creation of business
rules to accommodate the transactions combine to make a powerful/adaptable
commerce solution.
ASP-delivered
solution: Delivering their solution via the Internet lowers the threshold
of entry and offers potential clients increased options.
Overall
Analysis of Symix
While there may be a reason for concern due to declining revenue, undervalued
market capitalization and a tainted profitability track, there is no real
cause for Symix users' jitters. We concur with Symix' justification of
its loss and also believe it had no choice but to extend its foothold
in the coveted small-to-medium (SME) ERP market segment and to fill the
gaps and/or diversify its product portfolio. We also believe that these
moves have been prudent and in tune with the current ERP market trends.
We also agree with Symix' plans of enhancing its core ERP product and
continued emphasis on integrating eSyte components with other back-office
systems. The openness and interconnectivity are one of the most important
tenets of competitiveness within the SME market in the new Internet economy.
However,
the entire company will be faced with some notable challenges.
First,
it will have to execute full integration of the newly released applications
with a slew of its back-office products if it wishes to mine its large
customer base.
Second,
the new products will further complicate the manageability of Symix' portfolio
of product suites that currently run on disparate platforms. The Frontstep
E-business Suite, SyteCentre, and various supporting modules for both
SyteLine and SyteCentre such as advanced planning and scheduling (APS)
and sales and order configuration, are written in C++ programming language,
operate in a Microsoft Windows NT operating environment and use SQL as
a database. On the other hand, the core enterprise system, SyteLine, operates
in either a Windows NT or UNIX operating environment and is written in
PROGRESS, a proprietary programming language licensed by Symix from Progress
Software Corporation. Dependence on Progress Software's continued viability
makes Symix SyteLine product development future rather vulnerable and
we are aware of its efforts to converge its products so that they run
on identical platforms in the foreseeable future.
Third,
the company faces the challenge of delivering its very ambitious undertakings
as planned and creating greater market recognition (mind share) for eSyte
outside of its current customer base. The company will have to give a
serious thought to how to best utilize its current sales & marketing resources
to sell its major product lines. Symix might have to attempt to create
mind share within the industries it had not targeted in the past (e.g.,
healthcare, hospitality/service, financial services), given that its current
narrow manufacturing focus does not grant a significant future growth.
There is an ever-increasing competition in the Small-to-Medium Enterprises
(SME) market within the discrete manufacturing segment of the ERP market,
with the intrusion of Tier 1 ERP vendors into an already crowded space.
Time will tell whether Symix will be the one that will be Stepping at
the (fore)Front of the pack.
User
Recommendations
Existing Symix' customers should certainly consider the new offering,
but avoid selecting it without looking at what the other vendors have
to offer. We recommend identifying your clear e-business strategy and
conducting a thorough comparison-shopping, at least for the negotiation
leverage sake.
As
for potential customers, We generally recommend including Symix Systems
in a long list of an enterprise application selection for mid-market companies
(with $30M-$500M in revenue), based on its broad product portfolio and
understanding of its target markets' needs. Symix should be included on
a short list in any selection within the SME market where discrete make-to-order
manufacturing and distribution modules are the main pillars of an enterprise
application. The industries that would most likely benefit from using
Symix products are industrial & consumer electronics, industrial equipment,
consumer products, fabricated metals, and furniture & fixtures, containers
& packaging, and consumer goods.
As
with all new releases, users should employ a critical approach in their
evaluation of eSyte and require all potential vendors to demonstrate specific
business processes. Though demonstrations do not guarantee a trouble-free
implementation, they can go a long way toward helping users understand
how the software might behave in their environments.
Future
clients are also advised to request the company's written commitment to
promised functionality, length of implementation, and seamless future
upgrades, particularly for recently announced partnered offerings. One
area of otherwise good overall Symix' service & support that the company
has not always performed well in the past is new release quality. The
company's readiness to provide a number of reference sites where the installation
of its partnership-enhanced product has gone without major glitches would
additionally alleviate existing anxieties within users' community.
The
following are only some of the issues associated with enterprise applications
integration (EAI) that users should be aware of: different security systems
and keys, package interfaces that do not provide the information in a
preferred format, systems may operate in different time zones and be geographically
dispersed, scalability, performance, disaster recovery and contingence.
Current
and potential users may want to inquire about the company's plans regarding
Internet marketplaces in their respective industries. While the Symix
technology platform is expected to make it easier to connect the components
to the Internet as well as to third-party applications, and the new platform
makes use of XML and industry specific communication standards, being
all things to all people is very unlikely. Companies outside of the above-mentioned
industries may benefit from evaluating eSyte components on a stand-alone
basis for their e-business needs and to leverage that information against
other vendors in the selection. Remotely hosted Internet solutions may
offer cost effective applications to small or mid-sized organizations,
bearing in mind necessary customizations' ramifications.
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i2 Technologies’ Latest Offering: J. D. Edwards OneWorld™ |
Fill 'er Up, Check the Battery and Sell Me an iMac |
The RIM 957 ~ Probably Your Next Pager (and a Whole Lot More.) |
Digital Signatures Good from Arctic to Rio Grande |
CPortals Technologies Aims for the Middle |
SAP to Become Leaner, Meaner and More Organized |
ASP Infrastructure: The Party Has Started |
J. D. Edwards FOCUSes on Active Supply Chain |
Fenestrae Offers WAP Support for Mobile Data Server |
Infinium Software, Inc.: Having All the Right Cards? |
Access Commerce Spices Up North American CRM Fray |
No More Mr. Nice Guy With J.D. Edwards |
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Audio Conference |
Scient Finds That Golden Eggs Can Bite |
i2 To Power Best Buy |
IFS Far Cry From Running Out of Breath |
Mail.com to Join the Microsoft Exchange 2000 ASP GoldRush |
More Infrastructure Support for CyberCarriers |
Evoke Software Releases Axio Data Integration Product |
Wireless Palm VII ~ Look Ma No Hands! |
Peregrine Exits Quiet Period Making Noise |
ROI Systems, Inc.: Will Slow and Steady Remain in the Race? |
IBM Continues RS/6000 Performance Focus |
Baan Yet Another ERP Vendor to Find a Sanctuary Under Invensys’ Wing |
MAPICS Red Ink Stained While Extending Its Offering |
IBM’s Newest NUMA-Q Server to Handle 64 Intel CPUs |
Cisco’s Complete Network in a Box |
What Good Is Information If Nobody Sees It? |
BroadVision and Bank of America Erect Enterprise as Portal Purveyors |
Do You Know Where Your Wheelchair Is? |
Caldera eDesktop Edges Out Microsoft Windows 2000 in Functionality – Part II |
IA-64 Linux From Red Hat |
Trend Micro Steps into PDA/Wireless AntiVirus Information Market |
Manugistics To Help Amazon.com In Global Expansion |
Intentia’s Growing Pains |
Novell Releases (Yet Another) Internet Messaging System |
Remedy Plots A Course To Travel And Expense Capabilities |
New Plan, 13% Layoffs, Mark Concur’s Third Quarter Disappointment |
Gateway & AOL Follow Crusoe’s Footprints |
Ross Systems’ Renaissance Yet to Happen |
Information Builders Announces New Release of WebFOCUS |
Microsoft Tech Ed 2000 Win2K Attendee Network Fails Miserably |
CryptoSwift Takes Rainbow Revenues Up 620% |
Layer 3 or Bust |
Bezos to McNealy: Drop Dead! |
Ariba Gains Legs Courtesy of Descartes |
Eppraisals.com Gives Lante High Marks |
Secure in a Foundry |
IBM Loads Linux on Mainframes |
MessageClick to Provide Unified Messaging to RCN’s Business Clients |
Smart Shoppers Go Abroad for Affordable Information Security Programs |
Anti-Virus Advisories: Rating Them |
Qwest Cyber.Solutions: “A Number 3 Please, and Make It Grande” |
IBM’s Marketplace Solutions: Is Ariba Not Enough? |
Epicor Continues To Bleed |
Mirapoint Adds Web-Mail Client to Messaging Appliance Line |
webMethods Gets Active (Software That Is) |
Symix Systems’ Slips Into Red During Its E-Commerce Transition |
They Test Web Sites, Don’t They? |
Case Study: Service Provider Xcelerate Speeds CommerceScout Along New Trail |
The Arrow Now Points To Cisco |
SurfAid is Not Enough: IBM Partners with WebCriteria |
Network Appliance to Ship Sub-$10K Caching Hardware |
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Security |
Advertising Continues to be Growth Business |
1 Little GB, 2 Little GB, ..., 10 Little Gigabit |
i2 Technologies Gets Reporting Help From Hyperion |
Fischer’s Prio! SecureSync ~ A Solution to Enterprise Directory Chaos |
Dell Tops in Customer Satisfaction |
Saltare.com Prepares LEAP Into B2B Fray |
Sagent Technology Teams for Telco e-Business |
The Empires Strike Back - Part II: The Likes Of IBM, EDS, And CSC In E-Business |
EAI Vendor Active Software Activates Transactions |
Should PeopleSoft be Overly Happy? |
EarthLink’s Pilot of Wireless Email via BlackBerry Handhelds |
Intel Faces 820 Chipset Problems (Again) |
Antidisintermediation |
SAP Gives in to CRM (Part Time) Matrimony |
Breakaway, MoveOver Or Stand In Line |
Intel Small Server Market |
E&Y+ASP=BSP: It’s Not Algebra, But It Adds Up To Something Big |
Microsoft Windows Services For Unix – SFU = DOA? |
Will Solomon Finally Satisfy Great Plains’ Insatiable Appetite? |
Abandon All Insecurity, Ye Who Enter Here |
Acta Gets Active |
Does Someone You Never Ever Heard Of Hold The Keys To The E-Commerce Kingdom? |
Baan Sinks Deeper into Red Quicksand |
Commerce One: Everything but Profits |
Do We Already Know Whether You’re Going To Read This Article? |
100 Million Reasons To Be An ASP |
New Partnerships Add to Remedy’s E-Procurement Strengths |
An E-Commerce Company That Can Pay The Bills |
It’s About Time “Legal” Got Involved |
QAD Explores E-Business While Not Abandoning ERP |
iVita Mines Assets for Bottom Line Health |
E-Procurement in What Language? |
Lawson Software’s CRM and ASP Moves – Wise, Bold, Injudicious, Enforced, or Something Else? |
Is SAP Stumbling? Perhaps. |
Remedy Corporation: Poised for a Comeback? |
(XML + mySAP.com) – Spin = Status Quo |
What is IFS Up To in the CRM Arena?! |
“B” Before “e” When Marketing to “C” |
Yet Another ‘Big 5 ERP’ CEO Casualty |
EAI Vendor Extricity Teams with Moai to Automate E-Commerce Systems |
USinternetworking and AT&T are Working the System |
Navision Software a/s: Mid-market iNvasion |
MCI WorldCom: “It’s not an age, it’s an attitude” |
New Product Delivers Spark to Online Marketing |
3 Countries Open the Gate |
ManagedOps.com – 13 Years and 93,000 Square Feet |
SynQuest Teams With InterWorld for Internet Sales and Fulfillment |
Getting Strangers to Take Your Candy |
Enlightened Self-interest Launches CRM Information Source |
Essential ERP – Current Market Trends – Part II |
For a Million Gallons of Glue Find a Marketplace on Steroids |
Big Bird Dines Again |
Will That Wretched ERP Finally Die? Possibly, But Only the Acronym! |
Yet Another ERP/CRM Partnership |
Even If We Knew Who You Are, We Probably Wouldn’t Tell |
Who’s That Knocking On Your Web? |
Will Max Get Mad When He Surfs Your Website? |
Oracle Flying High on Q3 Report: Is Gold All That Glitters? |
Teloquent To e.t.: Now You Can Call Or Use The Web |
Navision Becoming More Visible |
A Visionary of Loveliness |
Geac Announces Q3 Results and Acquires CRM Vendor |
Cyclone Untangles Digital Partnerships |
ERP Demand Being Re-heated |
Pop-up Purchasing Agents |
The MicroStrategy/ Intelligroup ASP |
MATRAnet Converts Confusion to Cash |
ASP: For The Health of It |
Concur eWorkplace Projects Vision Onto Desktop |
IBM is not Enough: i2 Snatches Aspect and SupplyBase |
ERP Vendors Venturing into PSA |
Can Brick & Mortar Leaders Be Brick & Click Leaders? |
Solomon Software: Breaking Away from Perception as “Best-of-Breed-Accounting” Vendor |
QAD Ends Its Protracted Dry Season, Not Yet On an Easy Street |
JD Edwards’ Alliances: Is It Too Much of a Good Thing? |
Progress Offers a Test Drive |
E-procurement: From Brilliant Innovation to Common Cliché |
Financial Fusion ~ E-Finance Wireless Leader? |
GLOVIA to be Resuscitated (Hopefully) |
Meiosis, Mitosis: Cap Gemini's Mating with Ernst & Young |
ASP Traffic Analysis! What Next – ASP Odometers? |
Simplexis in the Schools??? |
PeopleSoft’s ASP Play |
Microsoft Windows Me -- The Millennium DOES Begin in 2001 |
IBM is Not Enough; Ariba Announces Strong Partnership with Dell |
IBM is Not Enough; Ariba Announces Strong Partnership with Amex |
Razorfish Wants to Get its Name Out on Broadband |
Commerce One and Adexa Build Castles in the Air |
USinternetworking: One Suite ASP |
Oh, Right. E-commerce is About Buying and Selling, Isn’t It? |
JD Edwards Reports Strong License Revenue Growth in Q1 2000, but… |
Intentia Attempts to Become ‘Lean and Mean’ |
i2 Adds More Verticals To Ra-b2b-it Stew |
SAS Puts the “E” in “Data” |
Agilera.com – A new era for the web? |
SCO’s Tarantella Offers Tools for Technology |
DoubleClick Takes Bath, Throws in Towel |
Vendors Begin to Round Out Their CRM Suites |
J.D. Edwards Names SynQuest Preferred Solution |
i2 Announces e-Business Strategy |
Oracle Integrates Front and Back Office with Applications 11i |
PeopleSoft's CEO Steps Down |
SSA Seeks Support from Synquest |
SAP sets up Apparel and Footwear team |
Geac and JBA Join Forces to Form New ERP Giant |
Computer Associates, Baan Japan and EXE Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide Total Supply Chain Management Solutions |
Oracle to Enlist BPA Systems in its Mid-Market Quest |
SAP Lowers Revenue Expectations |
Symix Maintains Consistent Profitability Despite Y2K Market Conditions |
Software Leasing Trend Slams Baan Earnings |
Intentia Americas Gains Momentum with 10 New Deals Inked During Last Two Weeks |
MAPICS Reports Solid Profitability Despite Dismal Fiscal 1999 4% Growth |
IBM and SynQuest Sign AS/400 Pact |
Baan Releases New Supply Chain Products |
French Government awards ERP contract to Peoplesoft |
Business Software Firms Sued Over Implementation - Lawsuits Bring ERP Problems to Light |
Geac Metamorphosises JBA Into Gear, but Cuts 20% of Staff |
Baan Acquisition Expands Product Set and Integration Issues |
J.D. Edwards Incurs Further Losses In Third Quarter |
Intentia and Dash Associates Team Up |
Key Product Delays Take a Toll on Oracle Users |
Descartes Evolution Yields Revenue Growth But No Profits |
ERP Packages For Midsize Firms in the Works |
QAD Reports Third-Quarter--Revenue Rises 56 Percent |
Pronto ERP 'Coming to America' |
SAP Finds CRM Partner for Marketing Tools |
System Software Associates Announces Fiscal Fourth Quarter Results - The Agony Continues |
Boeing Expands Baan Licensing Deal |
SAP Highlights Supply Chain Management Tools |
Oracle Reports Strong Profits |
Manugistics Posts Third Quarter Loss But Sees License Growth |
QAD Offers Improved E-Commerce Applications with Greater Flexibility and Customization Capabilities |
Heads Roll at Consulting Giant in Wake of SEC Investigation |
Is Baan Clinically Dead? |
Manhattan Associates Partners with Intentia |
PeopleSoft Completes Acquisition of Vantive; Vantive CRM Applications Integrate with PeopleSoft and Other ERP Systems |
Analysis of Manhattan Associates' New Partnership with CommercialWare |
SAP, PeopleSoft Earnings Look Brighter; ERP Strikes Back |
Great Plains on a Shopping Spree |
Geac Upgrades Accounting And Human-Resources Apps -- SQL Release 6.0 Simplifies Purchasing And HR Services For Midsize Companies |
AspenTech Launches e-Business InitiativeFinally |
MAPICS, Inc. to Acquire Pivotpoint, Expanding e-business Offerings for Mid-Sized Manufacturing Establishments |
PeopleSoft Takes Aim at Foods Industry |
ERP Vendors Moving to Aerospace and Defense Markets |
PeopleSoft Recuperating Slowly, Hoping to Sink 1999 into Oblivion Quickly |
Baan Posts $236 Million Loss and Sells Off Coda for Nearly $40M Less Than It Paid |
Symix Expands Its Product Offering While Remaining Profitable |
IFS Continues to Blossom |
SAP Declares Victory Over Manugistics, Takes Aim at i2 |
Food Producer Files $20m Lawsuit Against Oracle |
Sybase and MicroStrategy Team on Vertical Market Portal Applications |
Oracle Loses Again |
Web Traffic Numbers Down? Don't Count On It! |
PeopleSoft Programs Cause Headaches at Number of Universities |
Hummingbird Announces Extraction and Portal Strategy for ERP |
Sagent Technology Reports Strong Growth |
SAP Posts Solid Q499, but Warns of Q100 |
Analysis of Lawson Delivering New Retail Analytic Capabilities |
IBM and Deutsche Telecom Announce Plans for 100 Terabyte Data Warehouse |
Acta Technology Helps Add Business Intelligence Capabilities to Major ERP Vendors |
ERP Vendor Lawson Software Extends to IBM's DB2 Universal Database |
J.D. Edwards Teams with FRx Software to Improve Reporting Solutions |
Ariba Successes Highlight Standards Wars |
Micropayments Rise Again |
A Kinder Unisys Makes Web Users Burn |
Concur's Customers Can Network Now |
Rentable Procurement |
SAP and HP on the Web Together |
AT&T's Ecosystem |
Hummingbird Releases Genio 4.0 With Improved Support for Oracle, Business Objects, Cognos, and NCR |
Analysis of SAS Institute and IBM Intelligence Alliance |
systemfabrik Releases an EAI Product? |
E-Commerce Lesson: Success Gets a Yawn, Failure Takes a Beating |
Ariba Reaches Out To The Little Guy |
Commerce One to Procure for the Antipodes and Elsewhere |
Telco Charged with Trickery on Technology |
Advertising Revenues Grow and Grow but Slower and Slower |
New Venture Fund to Propel XML |
Is There a Magic Pill for Web Performance Problems? |
Procurement and Office Supply Companies Ink Deal |
Lotus Positions to Save Big Business |
Engage Helps Advertisers Fish for Best Prospects |
XML Hits the Spot for Dell |
The Rise or Fall of Internet Advertising |
Building Niches |
E-commerce Grass Getting Greener |
Commerce One Meets GM: Web Now Has A Really Big Parts Department |
Life-sciences E-commerce Supplier Grows |
Home Depot Moves All Of Its Bricks And Mortar On The Web |
Connect to Sport Calico Label |
No Floundering About These Strategic And Tactical Acquisitions |
Dynamic Ariba Trades Up |
eCo Specification Bridges E-commerce Language Barrier |
Charitable Giving Is How These Firms Make Their Living |
AMERICAN EXPRESS Selects TRADEX To Build New Business to Business Commerce Network |
Peregrine Hatches an "e-" |
The Birds, the B's and the Web |
The Hype About PeopleTools 8 |
Advertising Makes It Up In Volume |
So Does your e-Business Provider have Internationally Recognized Tools in its Digital Business Consulting Toolkit? |
Real Media Goes To Market |
BUY.COM Called "911" For Help |
An ASP With Healthy Vitals |
SAP's New Level of e-Commerce: mySAP.com |
The First Step in mySAP.com |
3Com Will Route Customers to In-house Web Design Firm |
Total Uptime Guarantees? It Must Be A New Millennium! |
Adsmart Blazes Vertical B2B Trail |
Ariba Goes Vertical: No Pain, Much Gain |
Expedia Relaxes Registration Requirement |
The Cobalt Group Drives a New Web Deal |
Ariba Dances for Joy in Quarter Time |
Commerce One Tries Harder |
To Tax and Tax Not |
USWEB Weaves Great Quarter, turns up the heat in the Market Place |
E-Procurement Energizes Energy |
Be There or Be Square? David and Goliath Team on bCentral Auction Site |
Ariba to Leave Integration to Specialists |
Double Trouble for Cap Gemini: Integrator's Problems Suggest A Different Approach to Contracting for Technology Services |
Bank is First Mover in Canadian E-Commerce |
Commerce One Goes High, Wide and PeopleSoft |
Credit Accounting Firm with E-procurement Initiative |
BAAN Announces "Open World": Business-To-Business Collaboration Over The Internet |
Remedy Makes CRM a Personal Matter |
With New Clothes and Hairdo, Clarus Asks for Pin Money |
Concur Scores A Bingo |
How to Make Life Interesting after Growing 30,700% |
Lawson Plays Well With Others |
Commerce One: Connectivity Improved |
GE Comes to Lunch. Want to Guess Who the Appetizer Will Be? |
News Analysis: Dot.Coms Getting Bred By Scient: Will Scient Spawn Into a Giant or Will Andersen Have the Edge? |
The Potential of Visa's XML Standard |
Why Not Take Candy From Strangers? More Privacy Problems May Make Ad Agencies Nutty |
Cisco Steps into E-Mail Management |
EMC to Buy Data General |
Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel and Microsoft Create New PC Security Alliance |
CheckPoint & Nokia Team Up to Unleash a Rockin' Security Appliance |
Freeware Vendor's Web Tracking Draws Curses |
The "S" in SAP Doesn't Stand for Security (that goes for PeopleSoft too) |
I Know What You Did Last Week - But I'll Never Tell |
CIOs Need to Be Held Accountable for Security |
At Least Your Boss Can't Read Your Home E-mail, Right? Wrong! |
i2 Technologies at the Front of the Supply Chain |
Oracle Co. - Internet Paradigm Boosts Applications Growth |
J.D. Edwards and Numetrix Ponder the Future as One |
Symix Sytems: Shifting SME's Focus to Their Customers |
MAPICS: Will Customer Satisfaction be Enough? |
Intentia: Java Evolution From AS/400 |
SSA: Evolving into systems integrator to survive |
JBA: Will it remain "@ctive Enterprise"? |
Advanced Planning and Scheduling: A Critical Part of Customer Fulfillment |
Marcam Solutions: Shifting its Focus to MES |
Industrial & Financial Systems, IFS AB: Thriving on Product Flexibility and Incremental Deployability |
Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) Market - Dismal 1999, the New Millennium to bring Relief (for Some) |
Lawson Software: Self-Evidently Thriving on Innovations |
QAD Inc.: The Art of Vertical Focus |
Great Plains: Strong Channel and Microsoft focus for Dynamic(s) Growth |
Can High Flying NetGravity Maintain Its Position? |
Macromedia Shocks with Flashy E-commerce Plans |
"Ads are us", boasts CMGI |
SAP's Dr. Peter Barth on Client/Server and Database Issues with SAP R/3 |
Engage AudienceNet Brings Users the Ads They Want To See |
Ariba Hopes to Spark Chain Reaction |
Altrec Takes E-commerce to Extremes |
First Look: Peregrine Offers Cradle to Grave Procurement |
Baan E-Commerce: a Wing, a Prayer & a Single Platform |
Concur Aims To Be Single Point Of (Purchasing) Access |
WorldCom SPRINTs, Nokia/Visa Pays Bill, & Service Providers Gear for Wireless Tsunami |
Getting Strategic Planning and Financial Planning in the Same Bailiwick |
J.D. Edwards - Creating OneWorld of Mid-sized ERP Users |
Q: Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Billionaire? A: Baan -- Foster Care for Its Orphans Needed As Well |
Geac Computer Corporation: Mastering Growth by Acquisitions |
How to Serve an Ad |
Counting Website Traffic |
Legal Considerations in E-commerce |
Compaq's High-End Wintel-based Rack Servers - Working Hard to Stay #1 |
High-End Wintel-Based Rackmount Servers - The Big Get Bigger |