IFS is bucking all the trends—and still managing to show healthy revenue, profits, and growth in the midst of the worst economic recession in 80 years. Find out how this Swedish-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendor has learned to excel in hard times—and steal deals from the mega vendors—as TEC Principal Analyst P.J. Jakovljevic looks inside the company's products, customer base, and marketing strategy.

Is big ERP still king? Time was, the functionality gap between the giant ERP vendors and their smaller tier-two rivals was big enough to drive a truck through. But is that still true? TEC Analyst Aleksey Osintsev decided to settle the issue by comparing them head on—and now you can see the surprising results for yourself.

If you're a manufacturer looking for software, check out our reference guide to discrete ERP features and functions. It will help you determine what you really need in an ERP solution—and what you can comfortably live without.