Event Summary
In October and November, interBiz, the eBusiness applications division of Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), expanded its back-office solutions with the announcement of product enhancements and a free benchmarking service. The announcements were:
* A free benchmarking service for businesses in durable goods industries
* General availability of MK Manufacturing version 8.4
* Premium Services Plans which provide maintenance for modifications and the migration of modifications to new versions of interBiz software applications
This, Part Two of a two-part note, discusses the Challenges faced by interBiz and makes User Recommendations. Part One discussed these announcements and their Market Impact.
Challenges
However, while espousing a prudent e-business strategy in line with post- ERP inter-enterprise realities and the need for interconnectivity, and while adding new functionality, interBiz has had an uphill battle to allay the perception of poor marketing owing to problems stemming from ongoing re-branding of the collection of older generation ERP products that includes MANMAN, PRMS, CAS, and MAXCIM.
While the BizWork initiative has breathed a fresh air into venerable but almost antiquated applications, interBiz must rebuild somewhat lagging momentum by attracting new users. Playing to its strengths by capitalizing on CA's huge investment in enterprise infrastructure management and business intelligence component, including predictive and pattern matching intelligent technologies makes sense. Additionally, BizWorks ability to integrate both interBiz and third-party applications across the supply-chain becomes a compelling extended-ERP tack. Unfortunately, the effort of tying these technologies back to a fragmented set of ERP applications has been colossal, likely marginalizing CA's ability to become a prominent market player.
Continuation of an unfocused, multi-product and multi-technology strategy in the markets with diverse dynamics typically multiplies and overstretches sales, R&D, and service & support resources jeopardizing the chances its products could stand a chance of long-term success in their respective niches. Geac, Epicor, Ross Systems are examples of companies where this strategy has failed: all have had to resort to divestiture and to a focus on core competencies.
While the announced premium service plans certainly give customers peace of mind and raise the bar for competitors' service & support value propositions, interBiz should consider making some bold decisions on the level of integration of the applications, possibly with a plan for developing a cross-application backbone (foundation set of common components). The market typically prefers a total solution to a "sum of the parts".
On the Postive Side
Nevertheless, InterBiz remains one of the most widely used of the upper-mid-range ERP vendors. Although it could have leveraged much better its infrastructure customer base to promote its enterprise applications (like Oracle or IBM have done in their respective database, server and middleware strongholds), interBiz has done much more to rejuvenate its acquired enterprise applications arsenal than, e.g., Geac has done to its. The job of disseminating a clear message which market the combined set of products has been targeting, as well as of delivering a strong CRM and private trade exchange (PTX) offering remains notwithstanding.
SOURCE:
http://www.technologyevaluation.com/research/articles/should-interbiz-mean-intelligence-and-prediction-beyond-erp-part-2-challenges-and-market-impact-16535/
In October and November, interBiz, the eBusiness applications division of Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), expanded its back-office solutions with the announcement of product enhancements and a free benchmarking service. The announcements were:
* A free benchmarking service for businesses in durable goods industries
* General availability of MK Manufacturing version 8.4
* Premium Services Plans which provide maintenance for modifications and the migration of modifications to new versions of interBiz software applications
This, Part Two of a two-part note, discusses the Challenges faced by interBiz and makes User Recommendations. Part One discussed these announcements and their Market Impact.
Challenges
However, while espousing a prudent e-business strategy in line with post- ERP inter-enterprise realities and the need for interconnectivity, and while adding new functionality, interBiz has had an uphill battle to allay the perception of poor marketing owing to problems stemming from ongoing re-branding of the collection of older generation ERP products that includes MANMAN, PRMS, CAS, and MAXCIM.
While the BizWork initiative has breathed a fresh air into venerable but almost antiquated applications, interBiz must rebuild somewhat lagging momentum by attracting new users. Playing to its strengths by capitalizing on CA's huge investment in enterprise infrastructure management and business intelligence component, including predictive and pattern matching intelligent technologies makes sense. Additionally, BizWorks ability to integrate both interBiz and third-party applications across the supply-chain becomes a compelling extended-ERP tack. Unfortunately, the effort of tying these technologies back to a fragmented set of ERP applications has been colossal, likely marginalizing CA's ability to become a prominent market player.
Continuation of an unfocused, multi-product and multi-technology strategy in the markets with diverse dynamics typically multiplies and overstretches sales, R&D, and service & support resources jeopardizing the chances its products could stand a chance of long-term success in their respective niches. Geac, Epicor, Ross Systems are examples of companies where this strategy has failed: all have had to resort to divestiture and to a focus on core competencies.
While the announced premium service plans certainly give customers peace of mind and raise the bar for competitors' service & support value propositions, interBiz should consider making some bold decisions on the level of integration of the applications, possibly with a plan for developing a cross-application backbone (foundation set of common components). The market typically prefers a total solution to a "sum of the parts".
On the Postive Side
Nevertheless, InterBiz remains one of the most widely used of the upper-mid-range ERP vendors. Although it could have leveraged much better its infrastructure customer base to promote its enterprise applications (like Oracle or IBM have done in their respective database, server and middleware strongholds), interBiz has done much more to rejuvenate its acquired enterprise applications arsenal than, e.g., Geac has done to its. The job of disseminating a clear message which market the combined set of products has been targeting, as well as of delivering a strong CRM and private trade exchange (PTX) offering remains notwithstanding.
SOURCE:
http://www.technologyevaluation.com/research/articles/should-interbiz-mean-intelligence-and-prediction-beyond-erp-part-2-challenges-and-market-impact-16535/
Simply superb. InterBiz is best
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