ERP Software Industry News

COSTA MESA, Calif. — July 28, 2006 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of enterprise software for SMB manufacturers and distributors, has announced that SYSPRO CyberStore, a next generation e-commerce application, further extends the concept of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) to the application of B2B and B2C trading.

SYSPRO ERP and SYSPRO CyberStore, ostensibly two separate environments, effectively talk to each other through .Net Remoting and SOA to facilitate B2B and B2C transactions. From a user’s perspective, the system is one.

According to Joey Benadretti, president, SYSPRO USA, “Mid-market manufacturers and distributors can gain huge potential benefits by doing business via the Internet. However, there are technology hurdles that inhibit this; in most cases linking the ERP system and the e-commerce system requires costly integration.

“Now, SYSPRO has an out of the box solution that fully integrates SYSPRO ERP system with a B2B and B2C e-commerce solution. By applying the concept of SOA and using SYSPRO Business Components to do queries and updates into the underlying SYSPRO ERP system, SYSPRO customers can go straight to market with the SYSPRO CyberStore.”

SYSPRO CyberStore is a fully integrated real-time system that provides out-of-the-box Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer e-commerce functionality. When a Web customer queries an inventory item, the information displayed is the live SYSPRO information. When the customer is ready to buy at anytime of the day or night, all the information relating to the transaction is passed to the SYSPRO Order Entry Business Component, and this Component processes the information as if someone was entering the information via a keyboard.

SYSPRO CyberStore offers all the standard features expected from a comprehensive e-commerce system, including stock availability, enhanced product descriptions, product search, unlimited product categories, order status and order history reviews. In addition to delivering e-commerce functionality in a single solution, SYSPRO CyberStore facilitates the promotion of “hot buys” and/or “featured items.” The new solution enables buyers to make purchases with all major credit cards and supports multiple payment gateways.

When existing SYSPRO customers log onto the site, parameters relating to information such as discounts and contract pricing are accessed in SYSPRO accounting to ensure the correct trading terms are applied. These customers have the option of buying on account or paying by credit card. Furthermore, SYSPRO CyberStore automatically calculates shipping charges and sales taxes, allows all site visitors to store preferences and automatically sends email confirmations.

SYSPRO CyberStore provides a complete Management Console for effective configuration and control over the website. SYSPRO Cyberstore offers standard templates that are easily customized to match the “look and feel” of any company.
SYSPRO CyberStore is further proof that SOA simplifies the re-engineering of business processes and provides a robust and transparent foundation for companies to respond quickly to change.

Business benefits from SOA also include improved time-to-market, more responsive customer service and increased visibility in the face of changing regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and FDA requirements. SOA provides risk-reduction by controlling business processes and can be configured to provide auditable information trails to better comply with state, government and FDA regulatory standards.

COSTA MESA, Calif. - July 6, 2006 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of
enterprise software for SMB manufacturers and distributors, has
announced the addition of hundreds of new features and functionalities
to SYSPRO Customer Relationship Management software, an enterprise-class
software system that enables a business to manage internal resources,
customer, supplier and prospect relationships, marketing campaigns,
sales opportunities as well as service contracts and incidents within a
single CRM/SRM program. SYSPRO CRM 5.0, as with all prior versions, is
fully integrated with SYSPRO Enterprise Software.

SYSPRO CRM 5.0 now supports Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and
offers improved email synchronization capabilities with Microsoft
Outlook with added support for GroupWise. A built-in Executive View
comes standard with SYSPRO CRM 5.0, enabling managers to display charts
of key Sales Statistics and Service Tickets for easy graphical analyses
and greater insight into weekly or monthly performance.

A key objective of the new CRM 5.0 release is to enhance the user
experience with greater visibility, usability and more user-friendly
navigational tools. Customization of dashboards and lookups at the
global or user level are now possible with the ability to easily
sequence columns in either ascending or descending order for more
convenient access of data. SYSPRO CRM 5.0 also includes new Calendar
Displays that simplify use and provide added features, including new
displays and capabilities with the ability to “drag and drop” to remove
or delete appointments.

Other new additions to SYSPRO CRM 5.0 include a myriad of new campaign
tracking capabilities, providing the ability to monitor expenses against
the marketing plan and budget information. The status of a campaign is
visible “at-a-glance,” giving management real-time information for quick
decision making.

SYSPRO USA President Joey Benadretti notes, “CRM software is
playing an ever increasing role in enabling companies to maximize
operational efficiencies and grow their revenues. According to Gartner
Research, CRM software realized a 14 percent growth worldwide in 2005.
The new features and functions in SYSPRO CRM 5.0 exemplify the
dedication SYSPRO has to making SYSPRO CRM one of the most utilitarian,
user-friendly and flexible CRM solutions on the market.”

COSTA MESA, Calif. — July 19, 2006 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of enterprise software for SMB manufacturers and distributors, has announced the company’s placement on the fifth-annual Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100, a listing of supply chain vendors at “the forefront of innovation.” The listing appears in the June/July 2006 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

SYSPRO was chosen for the list based on SYSPRO software solutions which push the boundaries of technology to make processes, once only available at the high-end of the market, affordable for smaller to midsize manufacturers and distributors. These SYSPRO solutions include Inventory Optimization and SYSPRO CyberStore.

Joey Benadretti, SYSPRO USA President, said of this most recent accolade, “SYSPRO continues to invest heavily in R&D that can make a substantial impact for the betterment of its customer base. This listing on the S&DCE is an affirmation of the technological innovations that this increase continues to produce and which enable small to medium size manufacturers and distributors to successfully compete with industry giants. This honor follows one by AMR Research, which recently acknowledged SYSPRO’s leadership in Service Oriented Architecture.”

According to Andrew K. Reese, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive “Our goal with this year’s ‘100′ is to highlight a broad range of innovations taking place in the theory and practice of supply chain transformation. Our judging committee looked for solutions across a variety of industries, addressing the needs of companies of varying sizes and assisting in the transformation of a diverse mix of the functions that make up the supply chain.”

COSTA MESA, Calif. — October 11, 2005 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of enterprise software, has announced that the SYSPRO implementation methodology, STARS, has been awarded the 2005 K2 Quality Award for “Installation Channel/Methodology.” This is the fourth year in succession that STARS has been the recipient of the award.

K2 Enterprises, a highly respected organization that provides technology consulting and lectures on technology topics, selected the SYSPRO STARS Implementation Methodology for the award based on a polling of the entire K2 Enterprises instructor team. Their votes are influenced by end user feedback and experience from consulting and extensive teaching.

The competition was open to all technology products, hardware and software, in the marketplace. “Great value, vision, and consistency are recognized by our CPA (Certified Public Accountant) attendees. When companies are innovating, we can see the quality of their products and/or services improving before the market, as a whole, recognizes the changes,” said K2 Executive Vice-President Randy Johnston.

Joey Benadretti, SYSPRO USA President, said of the recognition, “This fourth win for STARS is really an affirmation that the SYSPRO Implementation Methodology is the industry standard. The SYSPRO STARS Methodology speeds software implementation for a faster ROI and, at the same time, helps a company to streamline its business processes for greater operational efficiency. This award reflects SYSPRO’s capability to ensure that implementations are structured and managed. Customers now have visibility over the entire implementation process with the result that costs can remain within budget and implementation timeframes are met.”

The STARS (Structured Technique to Achieve a Rapid Solution) Implementation Methodology is a highly structured, business-centric methodology that guides implementers in all aspects of the implementation procedure and provides a framework by which business practices can be examined and re-energized to maximize overall operational efficiency.

STARS is provided as a two-volume, high quality printed set for reference purposes with a template-based electronic CD-ROM containing an extensive array of documentation, implementation, information and project management tools that focus on mapping SYSPRO enterprise software to business flows. STARS offers templates for such major functional areas as inventory and warehouse management as well as processes related to planning, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, distribution, financials, administration, APS, CRM and .NET-based e-commerce. STARS makes SYSPRO software the concentric framework by which a business can enhance flexibility and responsiveness, break down barriers between functional departments and eliminate the duplication of efforts. STARS also helps the customer to maximize the continuing utilization of SYSPRO software by providing, as it were, an “audit trail” upon which additional functionality and procedures can be built.

According to Benadretti, “Many businesses simply fail to examine their existing business processes at the time new software is being implemented. They attempt to ‘lay’ the new software on top of existing procedures and, therefore, expectations may not be fully realized. Any implementation process has to have a starting point — a foundation. The more solid the foundation, the better are the chances to maximize utilization of the new software. Typically, this foundation is established via an internal audit, where the totality of existing business processes is noted and detailed, including the roles and responsibilities of individuals. With this audit as a starting point, business process re-engineering can be maximized. STARS provides the guidelines for such an audit. In fact, the STARS library of documents can be used during Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions for the defining of business processes when the detailed requirements for each business area are being documented. During such sessions, any areas of the system that require re-engineering are highlighted as well as the suggestions for improving the processes.”

KANSAS CITY, MO — APICS Conference — October 17, 2005 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of enterprise software, has today announced the further rollout of the SYSPRO Learning Channel (SLC) to the company’s end user base. Additionally, SYSPRO has announced the incorporation of a new Learning Management System (LMS) into the SLC that will enable organizations to gauge the educational progress of their employees. SYSPRO has also announced the release of the SYSPRO USA Portal, as a new informational source for SYSPRO end users and resellers.

The SYSPRO Learning Channel delivers combined voice, data and video to the desktops of recipients and serves as a platform for live information dissemination and collaboration. A library of recorded sessions facilitates self-paced training. Debuting in 2003, the SYSPRO Learning Channel was initially offered to SYSPRO resellers. With the rollout of the SLC to the end users, SYSPRO will offer both live and 24/7 recordings to both the VAR and end user communities.

The LMS, now a part of the SLC, provides each organization visibility of the learning track. Specifically, it lets managers obtain comprehensive reporting over the SYSPRO educational activities of each individual.

According to Joey Benadretti, President, SYSPRO USA, “This information provides companies with valuable insight on each employee’s progress and allows management to determine how well educational and organizational objectives are being met. This visibility can lead to remarkable improvements in both operational and cost savings.”

The new SYSPRO USA Portal allows end users and VARs to gain direct 24/7 access to technical product information and content that prior had only been available to the SYSPRO support staff. In addition, VARs are being provided with the ability to utilize the SYSPRO CRM self service technical portal to log service tickets directly online into the CRM system.

Said Benadretti, “We are extremely excited by these initiatives which are the direct result of research deployed throughout both the channel and user base. I am confident that these initiatives will not only enable SYSPRO end users to better utilize their SYSPRO software, but that SYSPRO VARs will gain a new competitive service that will allow them to better concentrate on implementations and face to face interaction with customers.”

COSTA MESA, Calif. — June 13, 2006 — SYSPRO USA, a leading producer of enterprise software for SMB manufacturers and distributors, has announced that SYSPRO USA CEO Brian Stein is among the ten individuals recently honored by Start-IT magazine as being “CEO Visionaries.” The ten appear on Start-IT’s fourth annual CEO Visionaries list, which is featured in the May issue of Start-IT Magazine. Start-IT editors selected the ten for “inspiring optimism” and “having the gusto for helping manufacturers prosper.” According to Start-IT Publisher Peggy Smedley, “These champions of technology perpetuate a rare confidence that permeates their customers and is breathing new life into an industry that has weathered many storms.”

The visionaries were selected from nominees submitted by customers who were asked to submit the names of “industry leaders who recognize the efficiencies of information technology and how they will dramatically impact the bottom lines of their customers.”

Said Smedley, “All of the [visionary] CEOs this year have one thing in common. They admit there’s no substitute for good business fundamentals and customer satisfaction, and they all have an overwhelming desire to manage and improve customer relationships through the use of a sound technological strategy. Many of the CEOs being honored are well-known leaders who have been at the helm of their technology companies for many years.”

Stein made the visionaries list for spearheading the development of the SYSPRO Implementation Methodology, STARS (Structured Technique to Achieve A Rapid Solution.) STARS guides those involved in the implementation of SYSPRO software and provides a framework by which business practices can be examined and re-energized to maximize overall operational efficiency. In this manner, says Stein, the customer is able to achieve a lean environment, enabling it to realize a faster ROI (return on investment) and take full advantage of the software.

According to Stein, who says he is humbled by the honor of being named a visionary, “While understanding processes lays a good foundation for an ERP (enterprise resource planning) implementation, the product still has to work.”

Stein is quoted in the May issue of Start-IT as noting, “While the software industry has seen massive consolidation during the past few years, SYSPRO’s experienced channel and focused product line give the company a competitive advantage over the largest players. Many SYSPRO customers are owner-managers, and SYSPRO, better understands their needs. As a private, independent company with customers in more than 60 countries, SYSPRO today is a highly agile organization able to impart a similar agility to its customers, which include small-to-medium size manufacturers and distributors as well as divisions of large companies.

“SYSPRO remains dedicated to offering its midmarket customers technologically superior solutions characteristic of the high end of the market, but at prices the midmarket can afford.”

Start-IT is produced by Chicago-based Specialty Publishing Company.

July 6, 2005 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of world-class ERP software, and Business Objects, the world’s leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced an OEM and reseller agreement to integrate Crystal Reports® XI, the industry leading enterprise reporting solution , within the SYSPRO product.

The new agreement will give SYSPRO customers access to high-quality reporting and analytical tools out-of-the-box, and the capability to customize any SYSPRO standard report to fit the customer’s requirements. Customers will realize lower ongoing reporting costs since they will no longer be required to purchase ODBC seats or expensive reporting tools in order to deliver a modified version of a standard report.

SYSPRO chose Business Objects because it is an industry leader and a name already known to SYSPRO customers. In addition, Crystal Reports XI is one of the few enterprise-class reporting tools that works well with XML, an industry standard data exchange mechanism used extensively throughout the SYSPRO suite of business applications.

“We are delighted to be able to provide such a quality reporting tool to our customers,” said Phil Duff, CEO SYSPRO. “SYSPRO is one the first companies in the world to be using Crystal Reports with XML as the standard data source, rather than targeting a database directly. Coupled with SYSPRO’s component architecture, the XML technology means that any customized report will work unchanged now and into the future. This is a tremendous win for SYSPRO customers as their investment in customized reports remains protected during version upgrades.”

“Our partners play a critical role in our overall success and we are delighted to work alongside SYSPRO,” said Maurizio Carli, senior vice president and general manager of EMEA at Business Objects. “Crystal Reports XI delivers significant new features that benefit organizations of all sizes. With this partnership, SYSPRO will be one of the first companies in the world to deploy Crystal Reports XI using XML technologies.”

Apart from broadly empowering users to customize their own reports, the initiative also means that reports can be delivered to a user’s desktop in a variety of formats, including PDF.

Crystal Reports XI will be generally available in SYSPRO 6.0, the company’s flagship product, towards the end of 2005 or early 2006.

July 12, 2005 — SYSPRO, a leading provider of enterprise software, announced that Start Magazine has named SYSPRO a “2005 Hot Company.” This latest honor marks the sixth year in succession that SYSPRO has received recognition from the publication as one of the “hottest” companies in the industry. Start’s editorial team judged nearly 100 entries and selected only 29 manufacturing solution providers as “Hot.”

According to Start Editorial Director Peggy Smedley, “The companies selected for Start’s Hottest Companies of the Year showed remarkable innovation in a challenging environment. I commend them for helping manufacturers compete in the global marketplace and make the most out of all of their available resources. We are excited to award these companies with one of the industry’s highest honors and believe they represent the best of the best in manufacturing technology.”

Joey Benadretti, president, SYSPRO USA, said of the honor, “We are, of course, delighted that our ongoing efforts to provide leading edge software to the manufacturing and distribution communities have again been recognized by Start Magazine. SYSPRO is a company dedicated to innovation and ‘translating’ technology so that it can be easily leveraged by businesses.”

During the past year, SYSPRO continued to introduce innovative software solutions to give small-to-medium size manufacturers and distributors the ability to compete on an equal basis with the largest companies in their respective industries. The following are among these recent introductions:

SYSPRO Analytics, a new end-to-end business intelligence (BI) solution that enables users to set up and deploy business analytics without the need for complex technical knowledge, costly front-end tools or lengthy implementation projects;

SYSPRO Forecasting, the first module of a complete, soon-to-be-released Inventory Optimization solution, which will allow companies to better fulfill demand and reduce inventory holding costs;

SYSPRO Version 6.0 features and functional enhancements that enable customers to better leverage the software across all areas of manufacturing, distribution and accounting and to more fully integrate their supply chains;

SYSPRO e.net solutions out-of-the-box Web-based applications that enable users to replace the Web application ‘desktop’ with a customizable dashboard and menu that provide a ‘portal-style’ look-and-feel.

SYSPRO also added multiple features to its CRM offering, providing new depth of functionality across the product’s sales, marketing and service arenas.

May 13th, 2005 — SYSPRO has announced the release of SYSPRO Analytics, a new end-to-end business intelligence (BI) solution that enables organizations to set up and deploy business analytics without the need for complex technical knowledge, costly front-end tools or lengthy implementation projects. SYSPRO Analytics is built on the SYSPRO ERP software foundation.

SYSPRO Analytics addresses what the Gartner Group says is one of the major issues facing business leaders today — that of enabling enterprises to provide their staffs with the information needed to make real-time, informed, actionable business decisions.

SYSPRO Analytics provides the decision maker with an easy to install, easy to configure and easy to use metric based application. The need to understand where the information comes from is done away with through a series of intelligent analysis objects and metric templates that intuitively build the required processes for the information needed. This allows the decision maker to reach decisions promptly and not waste time trying to understand the intricacies of BI technology.

Incorporating a BI framework and best practices from Microsoft, SYSPRO Analytics facilitates the rapid establishment of an analytics capability that enables business users to perform timely and cost-effective analyses. By taking advantage of Microsoft Office Web Components, SYSPRO Analytics is able to utilize the Microsoft Excel Pivot Table and graph as the analysis interface, thereby reducing the requirement for extensive user training.

SYSPRO Analytics leverages the power of Microsoft SQL Server, Analysis Services and Integration Services (formerly Data Transformation Services [DTS]) to provide an end to end BI solution. To enable ease of use and simplified startup, users can select from pre-defined templates of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to provide information on key aspects of their organization’s operations.

SYSPRO Analytics manages all aspects of data location in the ERP database, as well as extraction, loading and transformation (ELT) processes, eliminating the need for any knowledge of internal data structures.

SYSPRO Analytics is fully Microsoft OLAP compliant and can be used as the single business analytics application or in conjunction with any Microsoft OLAP compliant software. BI developers can utilize Microsoft SQL multidimensional expressions (MDX) and the SYSPRO Analytics object model to execute custom multi-dimensional statements, create user interfaces, including dashboards, and develop or customize existing metrics and KPIs.

June 17, 2005 — SYSPRO, a leading producer of enterprise software, has announced that the company was named “ISV of the Year” at the VAR Business 500 Awards held June 14, 2005 at the Rainbow Room at New York City. Honoring the most powerful and accomplished solution providers in North America, the fifth annual VAR Business 500 Awards event unfurled to overcapacity crowds in the legendary NYC venue. The awards ceremony featured keynote guest speaker former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

SYSPRO was one of 17 solution providers recognized for outstanding achievements in 2004, such as revenue growth, strong profitability, technology innovation and vertical expertise. SYSPRO was selected “Independent Software Vendor of the Year” based on its “stellar software business.” In May 2005, VAR Business included SYSPRO Forecasting (“One of the first software companies to offer an accurate forecasting tool as part of its core ERP product”) and SYSPRO 6.0 Issue 9 (“Expanded manufacturing, accounting, distribution and Web applications for the company’s flagship software offering”) among its “Top 100 Midmarket Solutions.”

Brian Stein, SYSPRO USA CEO, who was present to accept the ISV of the Year Award, said he looks upon the honor as bestowed on the entire SYSPRO team, including the company’s reseller network, which works so diligently to provide the SMB market with technologically innovative and highly affordable software solutions.

Said Joey Benadretti, SYSPRO USA President, of the award, “This huge honor reflects the tenacity that SYSPRO embodies in its drive for excellence. This award is exemplary of another defining moment in our company history and is a real tribute to all SYSPRO personnel, both here in the USA and abroad, as well as to all those in our channel and customer base that have made this possible. It is an exceptional moment and is indicative of our performance and commitment to the reseller channel. SYSPRO was recognized for its stellar software business, which is something that has mainly resulted because of an ecosystem that is full of commitment and passion.”

Sponsors of the VAR Business 500 Awards included IBM, Symantec, Samsung, APC, Avnet, Oki Data, Novell, Sun, Toshiba and Business Objects.