IT News and Articles Reviews Analysis

Every problem for someone is an opportunity for another. Y2K seemed like a huge problem and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors such as SAP and PeopleSoft cashed in. Their smarter customers also took the Y2K problem and turned it into an opportunity to improve their business processes. We are seeing history once again repeating itself with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). With SOX, CEO’s and CFO’s are threatened with civil and criminal penalties related to financial statement disclosure and lack of internal controls. This time it’s the vendors of Business Performance Management (BPM) systems that have the technology solution and stand to gain from Sarbanes-Oxley. As well, the smarter BPM customers will use SOX as a way to improve their business processes. For the article, click here.

The 180 Systems Guide to selecting a new system published in the December edition of the Bottom Line

We changed the headline of the article, which read "Questions to ask Before Launching Company into CRM System" to "How to Select a New System" which better reflects the content of the article. Click here for a reprint.

More differentiators of accounting and ERP systems including QuickBooks, MAS 500, and Multiview

We have added to our list of differentiators for accounting and ERP systems as a result of research we did for the Financial Technology show held in Toronto on November 20, where we presented a seminar entitled "An Independent Comparison of Accounting / ERP Systems". For the differentiators, click here.

Guest Lecture Opportunity at Information Technology Management (ITM) at Ryerson University

We are looking for guest lecturers on topics including eBusiness, business case and marketing. If you're interested, click here. For more about ITM at Ryerson, click here.

Best Software Announces Definitive Intent to Acquire ACCPAC

December 23, Best Software press release - "Best Software, Inc., today announced that its UK-based parent company, The Sage Group plc, has agreed to acquire Pleasanton, California-based business management software vendor ACCPAC International, Inc. (“ACCPAC”), a subsidiary of Computer Associates International, Inc. for an equity value of $110 million. ACCPAC has net cash of $4 million, giving an enterprise value of $106 million. The acquisition will be paid for in cash. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of February". News coverage is so far minimal on this acquisition and so all we have for you is the press release that you can read by clicking here.

BusinessVision has been purchased again

BusinessVision was purchased by Softline in August 2000. Softline is one of the leading developers of accounting systems with many products that include BusinessVision and AccountMate. And now Softline has been purchased by Sage which also owns Best Software. Best Software's products already include ACT, MAS 90 and MAS 200, MAS 500, MIP Fundraising, Peachtree, SalesLogix, TimeSheet Professional, Timeslips, Visual Practice Management and many more. So with all these products, why purchase Softline - It's hard enough now to keep track of all of Best's products. We think it has a lot to do with BusinessVision, which gives Best Software a better foothold in Canada. News coverage is also so far minimal on this purchase and so all we have for you is a press release that you can read by clicking here.

Are you noticing a trend with these Sage / Best Software acquisitions? We will hear a lot more about these acquisitions over the next month. But it looks like Sage / Best Software is lining up the ducks for a fight for leadership in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market.

Is there a battle looming between Microsoft and SAP?

December 10, 2003, News.com - The battle lines are forming between Microsoft and SAP. "Microsoft is the largest software maker in the world, with more than $32 billion in annual revenue. Though sales from its business applications unit reached just $567 million in its 2003 fiscal year, the company is expected to boost revenue in 2004 to more than $700 million. Overall, Microsoft has enormous resources--more than $50 billion in cash--and has proved in the past to be a ferocious foe to those it's challenged in the database, desktop software and Web browser markets, among other areas. The company has invested more than $2 billion into what it hopes will be a $10 billion business by the end of the decade."

Germany-based SAP is the leading maker of business application software, with $7.8 billion in annual sales. For the past 30 years, the company has focused exclusively on business applications--complex software programs designed to streamline corporate bookkeeping, order processing, customer service, human resource administration and manufacturing. SAP is the largest competitor in that market by a wide margin and intends to nearly double its current market share to 25 percent by 2009. Few other rivals in the market, which is slowly emerging from a three-year slump, have set growth goals as lofty as those of SAP and Microsoft."

"Yet the two companies downplay their rivalry. As a provider of operating system and database software to SAP customers, Microsoft claims that more than 27,000 SAP installations, about 40 percent of the total, run atop its Windows platform. And Microsoft would like to grow that number. It's also in neither company's interest to highlight a rift that might alarm customers and investors"

But competition is beginning to happen between Microsoft and SAP. Recently a $1.1 billion office supplies manufacturer selected Microsoft over SAP. "The five-year deal, which in the past might have been a nearly automatic win for market leader SAP, instead became Microsoft's largest-ever sale of such business software." For this article, click here.

Want to know more about Sarbanes-Oxley?

The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) has launched a web site that contains articles and guidance on Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). If you want to know more about SOX, click here.

Videoconferencing: Look Again

December 9, 2003, PC Magazine- "Using the Internet for videoconferencing isn't a new concept; companies have tried for years to market such applications. But videoconferencing applications from five years ago proved too difficult to set up for mainstream use, and they tended to work badly. These programs were simply more trouble than they were worth. Meanwhile, high-end enterprise solutions began to appear from companies like Polycom, delivering high quality for larger conferencing needs but requiring very expensive specialized hardware and sophisticated setups. Since then, software has improved; systems are more powerful, and broadband connections are more prevalent. And now videoconferencing software deserves a second look from the people who dismissed it early on." For this article, click here.

November 2003

Toronto Financial Technology Show on November 20, 2003

Michael Burns will conduct a breakfast seminar entitled "Independent Comparison of Accounting Systems" which will include a discussion of trends, product positioning and key differentiators by products that are being sponsored. Products sponsored include ACCPAC (Advantage and Simply Accounting), Best (MAS 90 and MAS 200 and MAS 500), Blue Link, Microsoft Business Solutions (Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta), Multiview, QuickBooks and Softline BusinessVision 32. 180 Systems will also have a booth at the show and we would be happy to provide you with the slides from the seminar and answer any of your questions. For more about the seminar and the Toronto Financial Technology Show, click here.

OutlookSoft's Business Performance Management system published in the November edition of CAmagazine

By now you have probably heard of business intelligence (BI) - transformation of data into information that is useful for decision-making. BI solves a problem shared by many organizations that have implemented an expensive accounting or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system but have no easy way to get at the data locked up in a database. However, BI is only one component of what many organizations require to make decisions. Organizations are now turning to business performance management (BPM), which includes not only BI, but also strategic planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidation and scorecarding (linking goals and objectives to corporate-wide key performance indicators, or KPIs). BPM will often replace multiple systems and unwieldy spreadsheets. There are a number of products that offer BPM, including Hyperion, Comshare, Cognos and OutlookSoft. Here we’ll focus on one of the newer BPM products: OutlookSoft. For the article, click here.

Customer Relationship Management article published in the November edition of the Bottom Line

A couple of years ago, most small and medium sized companies had never heard of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Today, it is hard to avoid hearing about CRM, and the decibel level will only increase. If you're interested in CRM issues and vendors, click here for a reprint of the article.

Customer Relationship Management in accounting firms

For a speech to the Scarborough District Chartered Accountant Association on October 8, we researched the state of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in accounting firms. We called many of the CRM vendors to find out whether accounting firms have implemented CRM and to our surprise, CRM is not being used. The reasons include cost, lack of integration, reluctance of partners to share information and missing functionality. Accounting firms and other professional service based organizations depend on relationships to grow their business. A CRM system for professional service based organizations should include the ability to identify multiple relationships for each contact. And each relationship should be setup only once. The CRM article in the November edition of Bottom Line expands on this topic. Click here for a reprint of the article.

Business Intelligence (BI) article published in the Mid October edition of the Bottom Line

Business Intelligence has been around for a long time but referred to with different buzzwords such as Executive Information Systems and Decision Support. Although BI covers a lot of ground, it is sometimes included as a component in Business Performance Management (BPM), which also includes budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation. If you're interested in BI / BPM issues and vendors, click here for a reprint of the article.

Feedback on the BI / ERP Conference held in Toronto on October 15, 2003

We tried something new - customer case studies, independent analysis, open panel discussion... Click here for feedback from the attendees.

What's different about TECSYS and MDKS Infinity

We have added to our list of differentiators for accounting / ERP systems as a result of the BI / ERP conference in Toronto on October 15. For the differentiators, click here.

What's different about some of the leading Business Intelligence and Business Performance Management systems

We have created a list of differentiators for Business Intelligence and Business Performance Management systems as a result of the BI / ERP conference in Toronto on October 15. For differentiators for Business Objects, GEAC Performance Management, Information Builders, Microsoft and OutlookSoft, click here.

Wal-Mart mandates radio frequency identification (RFID)

November 1, 2003, CFO Magazine - Despite problems with the technology, lack of standards and cost, Wal-Mart suppliers will be compelled to implement RFID. RFID provides precise information about the whereabouts of merchandise as it moves along a company's supply chain. You don't need to unpack packages or pallets to know what's inside. It's all about efficiency and reducing inventory levels. For the article, click here.

Microsoft Office 2003 launch

October 21, 2003, E-Business News - On October 21 - "Citing more than 400 million global users, Gates called Office the greatest productivity tool on the planet. The next frontier, he said, will be driven by collaboration, enabled through XML and Web services...New Office applications include OneNote, which allows writing and drawing to tablet PCs and multimedia content assembly, and InfoPath, Microsoft's forms-centric application that allows users to author, brand and manage forms and also model and create workflows." For this article, click here.

For a more detailed article from PC World - "Microsoft's new release boasts a brighter Outlook, potent workgroup tools, and a few surprises..." For this article, click here.

Microsoft launches voice command

October 29, 2003, PC World - This software lets you control your PDAs and cell phones just by talking. If you are guilty of using your PDA while driving, you need this or the equivalent. For the article, click here.

The Urban WiFi Crash of 2004

October 21, 2003, Aberdeen Group - "Aberdeen predicts a massive wireless traffic jam in urban and suburban areas by 2004...In an urban environment, the confluence of dense living (e.g., apartment houses) and the ubiquity of WiFi LAN technology have reached saturation in some places, and this condition will spread as more home WLANs are built. When multiple access points are competing for your laptop’s attention, the radio interference causes the laptop to drop its Internet connection and ask you, the humble user, to reconnect. When this happens every few seconds — a scenario we are experiencing now with brand-name equipment — the end of the WiFi world as we know it is imminent." For the article, click here.

SAP Business Forum '03 in Toronto

On October 9th, SAP held a conference that included presentations by Bill McDermott, CEO and president of SAP America, Jim Carroll (author, columnist...), and industry - specific customer testimonials. The Westin Harbour Castle was packed with attendees for this free one day event. Bill McDermott made a strong pitch that SAP is not just for the largest of companies. He said that 58% of SAP clients have revenues less than $500 Million US and that most are implemented in less than 6 months. Small Business (less than $200Million per SAP) can be implemented in less than 3 months. For an article on Bill McDermott, click here. For the presentations at the forum, click here.

October 2003

BI (Business Intelligence) / ERP Conference in Toronto on October 15

Michael Burns has been asked by SoftMatch to chair this conference scheduled for October 15, 2003 in Toronto. The conference will include case studies by customers, independent analysis of products, key differentiators of leading products, panel discussion and an exhibit hall. Case studies will be given by by executives from Black's Camera's, Harvey's Restaurants / Cara Operations, Hubbell Canada, Dare Foods / Deloitte Consulting, RBC Financial, Laurel Steel and Accessory Concepts Inc. BI products will include Microsoft, Intellera, Business Objects, Information Builders, Comshare and OutlookSoft. ERP products will include Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta, Infinity, and TECSYS. For a link to the conference, click here.

Intellera's Business Intelligence system published in the August edition of CAmagazine

Is the data you need spread all over the place -- across spreadsheets, a contact management system, an accounting system and a payroll/HR system? Well, you're not alone. If you work in an accounting firm, key data is locked away in your practice management system; in industry, it's in your ERP and related systems that control your finance and operations. This means you're not getting all the data you need from the various systems in a consolidated format that is useful for decision-making. You also have different reports telling you different things about your business. Intellera has created industry-specific business intelligence (BI) solutions for accountant and legal firms as well as for retail and distribution companies. For the article, click here.

Case Study on an MDKS implementation at Sunrise Whirlpool Spas published in the mid September edition of the Bottom Line

MDKS’ terms include paying the lesser of the contract price or the perceived value of the system. So, if a client is not happy, you only pay MDKS what you think they deserve. Sunrise paid the full price (less than $50k for all software and services) that includes financial, distribution, bill of materials and warehouse management. Sunrise looks to MDKS as a trusted partner. For a reprint of the article, click here.

Case Study on an Everest implementation at Target Wholesale & Distributors published in the October edition of the Bottom Line

Everest has been implemented at over 2,000 customers worldwide with 40 in Canada. Everest is available in both a standard and advanced version. The standard edition is designed for smaller companies (up to 50 employees) and uses the Advantage database. The advanced version is designed for larger companies (up to 100 employees), includes multi currency and uses Microsoft SQL Server as the database. For a reprint of the article, click here.

Send emailing to large groups of contacts

According to Tucows.com "If you maintain mailing lists or if you regularly send messages to large groups of recipients, Group Mail will be your saviour". We agree. Click here for Group Mail's web site.

The 5 Most Common Search Engine Mistakes

September 2003, from Darwin - "Given that 85 percent of Internet users find websites through search engines, you'd better be sure you're using the search engines to your best advantage". The article gives some good tips that may not be obvious to you. For the article, click here.

Unwire Your Home

October 2003 from PC Magazine - "Fifty-six percent of PC Magazine readers have a home network, with an average of 3.3 computers per household, according to a recent survey of 13,000 subscribers. Of those home networks, 48 percent are wireless." If you have the time to install a wireless network at home yourself, this article should help. For more, click here.

September 2003

BI (Business Intelligence) / ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Conference in Toronto on October 15

Michael Burns has been asked by Software Solutions to chair the BI / ERP Conference scheduled for October 15, 2003. The conference will include case studies by customers, independent analysis of products, key differentiators of leading products, panel discussion and an exhibit hall. ERP products that will be included in the differentiator session include Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta, Infinity, and TECSYS. BI products will include Microsoft, Intellera, Business Objects, Comshare and OutlookSoft. For more about this conference, click here.

Fifth annual survey of accounting and ERP systems published in the September edition of CAmagazine

We have added many new systems to our 2003 survey and now have 50 products grouped into five tiers according to their cost and target market. For the accompanying article and survey, click here.

Case Study on an MDKS implementation published in the Mid September edition of the Bottom Line

Most accounting firms that venture into IT consulting have failed miserably. But MDKS has won awards from ACCPAC for their consulting services. MDKS has also taken the bold step of developing their own software software solution for distributors and manufacturers called Infinity. Sunrise Whirlpool Spas implemented the Infinty system in March 2003 and considers MDKS as their trusted technology partner. For a reprint of the article, click here.

Siebel and IBM target mid market companies for Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM)

Siebel (the SAP of CRM) and IBM will jointly sell, market, service, develop and host Siebel CRM OnDemand. The new subscription service follows a delivery model embraced by several smaller competitors such as salesforce.com and comes with a monthly subscription price of $70 per user per month. plans. For more, click here.

Ross, an ERP vendor specializing in process manufacturing, is about to be acquired

On 4 September 2003, Chinadotcom announced that its subsidiary CDC Software Holdings will acquire Ross Systems, which provides process-manufacturing ERP software for $69 million. Chinadotcom expects to close the acquisition in 1Q04 if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approves. Click here for more.

Microsoft Revenues by Business Line

Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) includes Axapta, bCentral, Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise Reporting, Great Plains, Microsoft Business Network, Navision, Professional Services Automation, Retail Management, Small Business Manager, and Solomon. Would you believe that Microsoft MBS accounts for about 1.8% of their $32 Billion US revenues? Click here for more Microsoft financial information.

Designing Performance Measures and Metrics

From BetterManagement.com and American Productivity & Quality Center - You are going to hear a lot more about performance measures, metrics, key performance indicators... "How do organizations know when they are meeting strategic objectives? Driving the right behaviors in their organizations? Beating or lagging behind the competition? Identifying warning factors of negative change? Organizations find answers in well-designed and carefully implemented measures." For more, click here.

2003 Market Leaders

August 2003 from CRM magazine - The article discusses the leading high end and mid market CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems and contains information about CRM such as "IDC predicts the worldwide CRM market to grow at a rate of 18.9 percent annually, reaching $45.6 billion in 2006. The mid-market companies will do most of the additional spending. Market researcher Gartner claims that only 2 percent of small businesses and just 20 percent of midsize companies are currently using CRM solutions." The article also contains 2003 market leaders in BI. For the article, click here.

Oracle vs. PeopleSoft

September 4, 2003, from News.Com - Here is a blow by blow source of the fight between these 2 companies. Oracle continues to extend their offer to PeopleSoft which continues to thwart the hostile takeover. One of PeopleSoft's more interesting moves was the poison pill - "a special money-back guarantee from PeopleSoft, which promises customers a refund of between two and five times their purchase price should Oracle discontinue the company's products" For the articles, click here.

Who's Who in Financial Software

September 1, 2003, from AccountancyAge.Com - In this article, some of the leading financial systems are discussed. As well, we read that "It's a great time to buy software because there's a lot of pressure on vendors to generate revenues, especially at the lower end of the market. It's a buyer's market, not just because of the Microsoft effect, but because of the general economy." For the article, click here.

Epicor Turnaround

August 22, 2003, from TechnologyEvaluation.com - "A true mid-market incumbent vendor, Epicor Software Corporation has not had much upbeat news for the last several years following on its progenitors’ (i.e., Platinum Corporation and Dataworks) merger in 1998 and subsequent name change from Platinum into Epicor in 1999. Nevertheless Epicor has seemingly at long last achieved a turnaround both in terms of its financial performance and of its strategy clarity. It has also recently reverted to its acquisition streak starting with the Clarus acquisition at the end of 2002...To that end, on July 9, Epicor announced that it has completed the acquisition of ROI Systems, a privately held competing ERP provider of manufacturing software solutions for approximately $20.7 million in an all cash transaction. And, on July 15, in a fashion similar to its fierce competitors, Microsoft Business Solutions and Best Software..., Epicor announced the acquisition of a strategic suite of warehouse management solutions (WMS) from TDC Solutions, a long-time, successful ISV partner of Epicor focused on the wholesale distribution industry." For the article, click here.

CRM wars - Goldmine vs Microsoft

August 12, 2003, from AberdeenGroup - "FrontRange Solutions, the corporate parent that owns the GoldMine SFA product and the HEAT help desk and customer support product...has seen its revenue, profitability, and cash position suffer, following the entry of Microsoft into the small and midsize business (SMB) CRM market. Microsoft’s entry effectively froze end-user expenditures for all vendors in this space for almost two quarters. FrontRange’s near-term outlook may have been helped by three missteps from Microsoft’s Business Solutions organization and its Microsoft CRM product: First, Microsoft underwhelmed resellers...with the functionality of its 1.0 product release. Second, Microsoft announced about three months ago that any Microsoft distributor could sell the Microsoft CRM Standard Edition. This move quickly inflated the MS CRM VAR headcount to more than 30,000 from roughly 6,000 and created significant potential for channel conflict among Microsoft VARs now competing for the same business. Third, Microsoft announced a volume licensing policy for MS CRM that lowered the margins from more than 40% to as little as 10%. VARs have expressed their discontent and frustration with this pricing policy publicly and privately, and several FrontRange VARs are now returning to the fold." For the article, click here.

CRM Light from Intuit

August 25, 2003, from E-Business News - Intuit, the developer of QuickBooks will be shipping a light version of CRM in September 2003 in the US. (Awaiting when available in Canada). "Microsoft CRM is focused on medium-sized companies that could be as many as 1,000 employees. Ninety percent of the QuickBooks user base has 20 employees or less. Lest anyone think that market segment isn't worth much, estimates are that of the 22 million businesses in the U.S., 14 million have 20 or fewer employees." For the article, click here.

Pay to be Seen on the Internet and Some Advice on Being Search-Engine Friendly

August 29, 2003, from InfoWorld - "More companies are shelling out cash for top placement by Internet search engines" The article includes some good advice on making web sites search-engine friendly. 1) "Come up with narrow, specific keywords. "Mortgage" will not perform as well as "South Florida, mortgage." 2) "Address your specific keyword list appropriately in your metatags, bearing in mind that your title tag is most important." 3) "Consider each page that you are optimizing as a potential landing page for a visitor." I think the writer missed one of the most important elements in getting noticed. You need to have other sites point to you and the higher up in the search engine echelons, the better. For the article, click here.

Voice-enabled Software Applications

From CRM Access - In an interview with Mobile Gas -"Mobile Gas looked at using laptops in the trucks, but we found it to be cost-prohibitive. We also felt that we could accomplish the same thing with speech - voice-enabled software applications...Mobile Gas has 35 field technicians using the Datria voice-enabled applications today, and we are processing approximately 300 tickets per day...Some of the results include a reduction in clerical staff by 50%, a reduction in paper and office supplies by 33%, reduction in technician’s overtime by 20%, and an increase in job revenue by 18%." For the article, click here.

The cheque is in the e-mail

August 21, 2003, from Profit Magazine - "According to a survey released by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc., it's only a matter of time before we receive all our bills online. The survey found that while only 9% of Canadian consumers are currently receiving statements online, 46% say they are likely to switch to e-statements, and 60% indicate they'd make the change if given an incentive, such as a one-time $25 discount." For the article, click here.

Sales Automation: Sync or Swim

August 14, 2003, from CIO Today Magazine - The article points out that there can be big differences in how synchronization occurs when a sales rep synchs with the corporate database. For example "Does the system have automatic retries? Can it recover data if the connection crashes...Other questions to ask include whether the application is "smart" enough not to have to send all the data all the time, but rather knows enough to send incremental data or updated data". For the article, click here.

August 2003

Test Drive ACCPAC's Business Analysis Suite (BAS) published in the August edition of CAmagazine

With BAS, accountants can perform a business health test on their clients to see what has been done well (and not so well) over the year financially and what needs to be improved. The system will show how a few small changes can make a huge difference to the bottom line or cash flow. With BAS, accountants can work interactively with their clients to devise a plan for improving their companies’ financial health. For the article, click here.

Case Study on a Syspro implementation at Apex Industries published in the August edition of the Bottom Line entitled "Software Solutions Designed For The Long Run"

Apex is a Canadian company with corporate headquarters in Moncton, New Brunswick and divisional outlets in Moncton and Fredericton, New Brunswick as well as Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Apex is a manufacturer and distributor with revenues of $25-$30 Million and 200-250 employees. In 2001, the developer of Apex’s former job cost software went bankrupt and left Apex high and dry without support. Just two years earlier, Apex had selected this system based on their strong job cost system. Apex is confident that they will not suffer the same fate with Syspro as they did with their previous developer. For a reprint of the article, click here.

BI (Business Intelligence) / ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Conference

Michael Burns teaching "Enterprise Solutions" at the Information Technology Management (ITM) at Ryerson University

Starting in September, Michael Burns of 180 Systems teaches "Enterprise Solutions" for the ITM program at Ryerson University. The concepts, structure, benefits and problems of ERP solutions are examined from a business perspective as well as from a technical Information Technology perspective. For more about ITM at Ryerson, click here.

More differentiators for ERP and accounting systems - Epicor and and Blue Link

We continue to add differentiators on the leading ERP and accounting systems to our web site. There are many similarities between systems - we have focused on the differences. For differentiators on Epicor, Blue Link, ACCPAC Advantage and Simply Accounting, Best MAS 90 and MAS 200, Softline BusinessVision, Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta, click here.

ERP Consolidations Continue - Best buys Timberline and Epicor buys ROI Systems

July 28, 2003, from eWeek - Best Software said it will acquire Timberline Software Corp. for about $90 million. Timberline develops financial and operations software for construction and real estate businesses. And Epicor purchases ROI Systems for $20.7 million. For the article, click here.

Microsoft CRM reseller channel is about to grow rapidly

July 31, 2003, from webCPA - "Microsoft just opened the doors to CRM authorization to the rest of its resellers. These include networking and hardware VARs who tend to stay in their fields... The original Microsoft statement on the expanded channel is that “Later this year, the Standard and Professional editions of the solution will be available through both the open and certified Microsoft partner channels.” The official count of Microsoft Certified Partner Organizations is 28,712.” Currently Microsoft CRM is sold through Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) resellers who number about 6,000 worldwide. For the article, click here.

Business Objects Acquires Crystal Decisions

July 21, 2003, from E-Business News - "In $800 million deal, enterprise reporting meets complex analytics reporting; business intelligence (BI) now has its largest vendor...In acquiring Crystal Decisions, Business Objects will pick up $270 million in total annual revenue, adding to its own $466 million. The combined company will have 3,800 employees." For the article, click here.

And Hyperion Acquires Brio

July 25, 2003, from E-Business News - "Consolidation continues in the business intelligence (BI) marketplace, as Hyperion has signed an agreement to acquire Brio for roughly $140 million." For the article, click here.

E-Payment Evolution

July 7, 2003, from E-Business News - "NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association responsible for the ACH (Automated Clearing House) network, has predicted that there will be one billion e-check payments from consumers to businesses in 2003. That number represents twice the e-check volume of 2002." For the article, click here.

The Business Case For Golf

June, 2003, from Darwin - The article referenced does not make a convincing business case, but for what it's worth, I will draw upon my own experience. I remember attending a conference at a resort in Florida - I attended all the sessions and learned as much as I could during the few days there. My colleague and partner, at an international consulting firm, played golf with prospective clients and referral sources. Who do you think spent their time more wisely? For the article, click here.

July 2003

Test Drive on Microsoft's CRM system published in the June edition of CAmagazine

Starting in June 2003, Michael Burns writes a monthly column for CAmagazine called Test Drive. Each month, a new software product will be put through its paces. You will get the inside story on target market, costs, strengths and weaknesses. The 1st article was on Microsoft's Customer Relationship Management system. For the article, click here.

Case Study on a Timberline implementation at Canem published in the July 2003 edition of the Bottom Line entitled "Ahead of the Curve"

Canem is one of the major electrical contractors in Western Canada with branch offices located in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. In 1999, Canem reluctantly began the search to replace their existing non-Y2K compliant systems. A related company steered them to Timberline Software Corporation, developers of software for construction and real estate. Canem spent about $50,000 for Timberline and about $40,000 to implement the system not including the customizations. Canem copies the Timberline database (Pervasive SQL) to Microsoft SQL Server every night and then uses Crystal Analyzer to generate cubes that can be accessed over the internet to allow management to slice and dice across multiple dimensions. For a reprint of the article, click here.

Differentiators for ACCPAC Advantage and Simply Accounting, Best MAS 90 and MAS 200, Softline BusinessVision, Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta

We prepared differentiators for a number of the leading systems that sponsored our seminar on June 18 for the Vancouver Financial Technology Show entitled "Independent Comparison of Accounting Systems". For information about the Vancouver Financial Technology Show (and the upcoming Toronto show), click here. For the differentiators, click here.

ACCPAC Meets the Middle Market with Integrated Business Solutions

June 2003, Aberdeen Group published an analysis of "the the small and medium-sized business (SMB) and its slightly larger brethren, the middle-market enterprise (MME). It is these small and midsize companies, with revenues typically ranging from $10 million to $500 million that are likely to prove the turnaround team for today’s stagnant economy." Aberdeen sees ACCPAC "as a company well positioned for growth because its products and solutions have expanded in depth and breadth over the recent past". For the article, click here.

Lessons learned from SAP customers

July 2, 2003, from Nucleus Research - "A majority of SAP customers interviewed have yet to achieve a positive return on their investments. Those who did achieve a positive ROI followed a clear strategy for success: they managed the scope of their deployment, limited customization of the solution, and ensured broad user adoption. SAP is a significant investment, both in direct expense and in personnel, and should not be undertaken without a fully developed plan including clear objectives and milestones." Sounds like good advice whether you're implementing SAP or ACCPAC. For the article, click here.

One more acronym for you to know - CPM (Corporate Performance Management)

June 2003 - Conspectus, a free UK report on IT, published a number of articles on CPM - "Applications such as ERP and CRM produce large quantities of data, but surprisingly little information. Now organisations are starting to look at additional technologies and methodologies which could provide better insights. These include business intelligence (BI) solutions, data warehousing, and a variety of management techniques, some of which are directly supported by specialist applications like balanced scorecard or activity based costing. These new solutions are taking shape as corporate performance management (CPM) – an umbrella term which describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise." For Conspectus, click here.

Geac Computer to buy Comshare for $52 million

June 23, 2003, from Canadian Press - Comshare is one of the leading CPM systems - "Geac said the acquisition broadens the Toronto-area company's suite of business performance management software with Comshare's software that helps companies with planning, budgeting, forecasting, financial consolidation and management reporting and analysis". For the article, click here.

The "Amazon-ing" of online retail continues

June 13, 2003, from Forrester Research - "Borders, NBA, Target, and Toys"R"Us already outsource their entire site operations to Amazon, and we think more will follow. Why? Because in today's environment, many multichannel retailers must focus scarce investment dollars on technology that differentiates their store and brand experience, and they might not be able to afford the next eCommerce upgrade cycle. Instead of falling behind, budget-conscious retailers will select Amazon to manage their Web experiences, as will manufacturers that want to sell direct but can't afford the investment. Having spent nearly $1 billion to build its best-in-class commerce platform, Amazon will become the first vendor on the list, threatening ATG, GSI Commerce, and IBM." For the article, click here.

HR outsourcing to grow 18 percent this year

June 26, 2003, from InfoWorld - "Companies outsource their human resources (HR) functions more than any others and will continue to do so, according to Gartner... HR business process outsourcing (BPO) revenue is set to grow to $46 billion in 2003, Gartner said, compared to $39 billion in 2002. What's more, the researcher predicted that the market would reach $51 billion by 2004 and represent 39 percent of all BPO revenue. Businesses view HR outsourcing as less risky than outsourcing other critical practices, and see it as good value for money, Gartner said. Payroll and benefits services are the most popular outsourced HR practices and are driving the market growth, the researcher noted." For the article, click here.

MagPortal.com - Gateway to magazine articles

For those of you who can't get enough magazine articles to read, MagPortal.com provides free access to a wide variety of magazine articles on Business, Computers & Electronics, Education & Reference, Entertainment & Leisure, Family & Home, Finance & Investment, Health, Internet, Pets & Animals, Science & Technology, Society, Politics & Culture, Sports & Recreation. For MagPortal.com, click here.

May/June 2003

Vancouver Financial Technology Show on June 18, 2003 - Free seminar - Independent Comparison of Accounting Systems by Michael Burns

On June 18, Michael Burns will discuss 1) The accounting/ERP system landscape – what’s available today, major developments, what’s on the horizon – new technology and trends. 2) Highlights of major differences in systems in terms of cost, target market, and underlying technology. 3) Key differentiators by product.

For more about the seminar and the Vancouver Financial Technology Show, click here.

Case Study on a PointForce implementation at Lothantique published in the June 2003 edition of the Bottom Line - "Finding The Right Niche"

Lothantique Inc is an importer and distributor of soaps, perfumes, and home fragrances. Lothantique selected PointForce 2 ½ years ago for their accounting and distribution systems. PointForce has been around for more than 23 years, and has more than 350 clients with 250 in Canada. PointForce decided a number of years ago to pick a niche to compete in today’s very competitive market. PointForce specializes in mid-range gift and home décor companies. These companies are distributors and importers who typically sell to retailers. For the a reprint of the article, click here.

Case Study on an Exact (formerly Macola) implementation at Davis Controls published in the Mid May 2003 edition of the Bottom Line - "Take It To The Limit"

Davis Controls is a $15 Million distributor of equipment that implemented Macola in 1996. Macola was subsequently purchased by Exact, which is one of the world’s leading developers of business software solutions to medium-sized organizations. Davis has recently implemented Exact's e-Synergy product, which is a web-based front office solution that includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Document Management, e-Commerce, and Electronic Workflow. With e-Synergy, Davis Control customers are able to request quotes, check stock, access their current and historical account information, retrieve payment, order and invoice histories and enter orders over the internet. For the a reprint of the article, click here.

Case Study on a Sema4 implementation at pellow + associates architects published in the May 2003 edition of the Bottom Line - "The 80/20 Rule"

pellow provides services in architecture, interiors, urban design, building sciences, contract and project management. pellow has acquired a license from Sema4 for 3 simultaneous users of the entire system and a license for 30 timesheet users. Sema4 is one of a number of professional service automation products supported by Deltek Systems. Although Sema4 does not meet all of pellow's professional services needs, it does a good job on the basics. So for 20% of the effort/cost, pellow is getting 80% of their needs met by Sema4. For the a reprint of the article, click here.

Michael Burns teaching "Establishing an eBusiness Operation" at the Information Technology Management (ITM) at Ryerson University

Starting in May, Michael Burns of 180 Systems teaches "Establishing an eBusiness Operation" for the ITM program at Ryerson University. This course is mostly about building a business plan for eBusiness. For more about ITM at Ryerson, click here.

180 Systems is quoted in ITbusiness.ca for remarks made at ProjectWorld in April 2003

Getting projects finished on time and on budget isn't enough anymore. The project should also be aligned with corporate strategy. For the article, click here.

Baan is sold - but not gone

June 3, 2003, From AMR Research, "ERP market consolidation continues during this very busy week. Invensys officially announced the sale of its Baan unit for $135M to a venture capitalist group led by General Atlantic Partners (GAP) with Cerberus Capital Management. GAP, which already made a $75M investment in SSA Global Technologies, plans to roll Baan together with SSA GT, a voracious acquirer of vintage ERP companies. The combination would give SSA GT almost $600M in revenue and an astounding 16,000 customers. This arguably moves SSA GT into fourth place in the ERP market." For the article, click here.

Made2Manage - the latest ERP vendor to be sold - but not the last

June 5, 2003, From e-Business News, "Yet another acquisition this week as enterprise applications company Made2Manage sells for $30 million US; oriented towards Microsoft-centric small and mid-sized manufacturers." For the article, click here.

ERP World War - Oracle vs PeopleSoft vs J.D. Edwards...

June 2 - From AMR Research, "California-based PeopleSoft is buying Denver-based J.D. Edwards for $1.7B in stock in an effort to finally crack the manufacturing market. The combined entity will have 11,000 customers, 13,000 employees, and an estimated $2.8B in annual revenue, which includes a substantial amount from maintenance and service revenue...California-based PeopleSoft is buying Denver-based J.D. Edwards for $1.7B in stock in an effort to finally crack the manufacturing market. The combined entity will have 11,000 customers, 13,000 employees, and an estimated $2.8B in annual revenue, which includes a substantial amount from maintenance and service revenue." For this article, click here.

June 6 - From ITbusiness "Oracle sent PeopleSoft's plan to acquire J.D. Edwards into a tailspin Friday by making a surprise US$5.1 billion hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft that could have major implications for Canadian enterprises. On Monday, PeopleSoft said it would pay US$1.7 billion to merge with J.D. Edwards in an attempt to move its human resource and financial applications into J.D. Edward's installed base of mid-market customers. Oracle said its US$16 per share offer to acquire PeopleSoft would not necessarily cancel that transaction, but it would put it under review." For this article, click here.

June 6 - From AMR Research, Oracle's bid is low and just a way to stop the J. D. Edwards acquisition. "Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO and Chairman) said in a conference call this morning that Oracle would support PeopleSoft customers, but kill the product. Larry Ellison." For this article, click here.

What's going on in the world of ERP?

We are now seeing significant discounts by the vendors to attract new business. We are also seeing a rapid consolidation of ERP products. On June 2, there is the announcement of the sale of J.D. Edwards to PeopleSoft. On June 3, Baan is sold followed by the sale Made2Manage on June 5. Times are tough for the ERP vendors. Problems include a soft economy, uncertainty about technology, a cynical attitude about ERP benefits, lack of opportunity except in the middle market and the threat of Microsoft.

Many ERP vendors are working on their web-based, .NET/XML/Web Services version. For many ERP vendors, it will be a few years until these new technologies are ready. So would-be purchasers of systems would prefer to sit tight with older technology and wait until the new versions are out and avoid another conversion in a couple of years. Microsoft and many other vendors have touted the huge benefits of the new technology only to tell you that it won't be ready for a few years.

At the same time, business is back in the driver's seat and companies no longer make huge investments in technology to remain competitive. You need an ROI to justify an ERP expenditure and this is hard to come by. Today, the major reason for investing in a new ERP system is that the existing system is no longer supported or that there has been a significant change in the business.

SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, and J.D. Edwards have realized that there are only 500 fortune 500 companies, and that most if not all of them have no plans to convert to a new system anytime soon. So they have focused their attention on the middle market, which has many definitions depending on who you talk to. We use revenues between $25 Million and $250 Million as an indicator of a mid market company. There is a significant increase in competition for mid market companies.

And finally there is Microsoft, who typically dominate any market they enter. Their splash into the mid market pool with the purchase of Great Plains and Navision is still making waves. Their next generation .NET products have the potential to drown the remaining ERP vendors that have not joined forces with other ERP vendors. The only hope for the smaller ERP vendors in the future is to pick a small niche and focus all marketing, sales and R&D on that niche.

SAP and PeopleSoft target small and midsize business

June 6 - From TechnologyEvaluation.cpm, "Software Giants Make Courting A Small Guy Their 'Business One' Priority". SAP's "solution is not a reconfigured or ‘dumbed-down’ version of its larger sibling mySAP Business Suite, but is rather based on TopManage, a product developed and marketed by former Israeli software company TopManage Financial Solutions LTD, which SAP acquired in March 2002 and integrated into its business unit for the SMB (small and midsize business ) market". For the article, click here.

PeopleSoft jumps into mid market

April 14, 2003 - From InformationWeek - "PeopleSoft Inc. this week is shipping 13 new applications preconfigured for midsize companies... PeopleSoft defines mid market as companies with sales between $50 million and $500 million. PeopleSoft says 25% of its customer base--and 40% of its new customers--are mid market companies. For the article, click here.

The Overselling of Internet-Based Architecture and the Rebirth of Client/Server

May 16 - AMR Research challenges today's thinking about web-based applications. "The promise of Internet applications has not been realized and, for the most part, it has been painful for and affected productivity of the primary users of the systems". For the article, click here.

Making the Business Case for Technology Investments
CIO Analysis provides some basics for calculating ROI. Their advice includes "If your initial calculations yield an ROI less than expected, don't panic - take a closer look at the calculation. If the ROI is drastically negative, there are probably breadth and repeatability issues or unreasonably high costs. If the ROI is simply lower than you need to proceed, it's likely you can fix it - and gain appropriate benefits from your investment". The trouble with this approach is that you are encouraged to number crunch until you get the numbers to work. Beware of ROI calculations from those who have a lot to gain from the project. For the article, click here.

What are the common mistakes involved in measuring return on investment?

Darwinmag.com takes a more cynical and practical approach to ROI. ROI is not easy to calculate as most companies don't have good data to support their ROI calculations. The article discusses the value of e-business investments versus brick-and-mortar investments. "Rule number one for ensuring ROI is that e-business has to leverage the brick-and-mortar functionality because without it you are out on a limb spending money on a vast unknown. That was why a lot of ROI didn’t come out of initial e-business experiments -- because companies spent a tremendous amount of money on a channel that hardly existed for them and certainly had no proof of potential. There was a lot of money wasted. Today, we have the advantage of having had a lot of experience. If you look at e-business as an essential part of your brick-and-mortar strategy you’ll get an ROI out of it much, much faster." For the article entitled "Five Thoughts About ROI", click here.

Deriving Value from 21st Century ERP Applications

The Meta Group has published a free executive summary that includes the results of a survey on total cost of ownership, time to implementation and ERP benefits. Unfortunately, the survey only included the larger systems - J.D. Edwards, Lawson, Oracle, PeopleSoft, QAD and SAP for more than 200 large companies with an average annual revenue of $1.4 Billion. The survey found that on average software accounted for 25% of the total implementation project which includes software + hardware + implementation services + 2 years of internal operating costs. The survey also reported a 1.6:1 ratio between professional services to license fees, which is much lower than expected for these high end systems. More consistent with our experience is that the average time to implement these high-end systems was almost 20 months. The Meta Group also found that the majority of ERP projects were not ROI-driven. "Improved business processes, better access to information, and higher levels of customer satisfaction - all intangible benefits - were most often cited as the befits sought and achieved." We dount whether companies purchasing systems today would lack an expectation of tangible benefits unless they had no choice in replacing their existing system. According to the survey, replacing outdated software was deemed the most important justification of the investment in a new ERP system. For the article, click here.

Annoyed by random pop-ups on your Windows Desktop?

June 9, 2003 - From Bell Sympatico, "Windows XP, 2000 and NT have a built in Messenger Service that can be used by some Windows programs (and system administrators in a corporate setting) to display text-only alerts about your computer. Some people have found a way to remotely activate this Messenger Service, via Web sites you visit, to display messages, usually of an annoying and commercial nature." For instructions on how to eliminate this form of Spam, click here.

April 2003

Case Study on a BST Software implementation at Conestoga-Rovers & Associates published in the April 2003 edition of the Bottom Line

Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) is a family of companies providing comprehensive engineering, environmental consulting, construction, and information technology (IT) services. CRA’s group of companies used 7 different accounting systems. Information was re-keyed, and extra time was spent reconciling the various systems. CRA’s head office was using a custom system that was limited to two companies and two currencies. So CRA started to look at alternatives. After performing their due diligence, BST Enterprise was selected by CRA in June 2000 to replace all the existing systems. CRA is pleased with its decision to implement BST Enterprise. Although the system was expensive, it has already paid for itself. For the a reprint of the article, click here.

Accounting for Business Intelligence (BI) published in the April 2003 edition of CAmagazine

BI has the potential of creating new value added services for accountants. BI is not about the intelligence of the people gathering the information or analyzing the results. It refers to turning data into information that is useful to make decisions. There is a spectrum of BI solutions. On one end, there are management or production reports, which can be simple to generate. On the other end of the spectrum are interactive slicing and dicing tools often referred to as online analytical processing (OLAP).

One day, accountants will be slicing and dicing their way through client or company's data, comparing it to benchmarks for the industry, region or size of company. Strategic decisions will depend on the analysis of the accountant. BI has the power to transform the accounting profession from its scorekeeper/referee reputation to becoming the star of the game. For the article, click here. In the article, a number of BI products are identified. Unfortunately, the article missed a number of systems including IBM, Oracle, OutlookSoft, BizTools and Sagent. For a full list of BI products with links to the vendor's web site, click here.

ProjectWorld Toronto - April 21-25, 2003

ProjectWorld is Canada's national Project Management Conference and Trade Show, and for the first time 180 Systems is participating. We are doing a session for the symposium called "The 4th dimension - It's no longer enough to be on time, on budget and in scope". As well, we are facilitating a round table discussion with the help of James Norrie, President of e-Venture Consulting, entitled "What C-Level executives want from Project Managers." For more information about ProjectWorld, click here.

SAP launches new solution for the mid market

On March 27, 2003, SAP announced the launch of the U.S. version of SAP® Business One, which extends the company’s software to small and midsize business. According to SAP, "SAP Business One supports companies with as few as ten and as many as several hundred employees, and can be implemented in as little as one week... SAP also announced that the Tax and Business Services unit of American Express will distribute and provide support services for SAP Business One" American Express Tax and Business Services provides financial and business consulting services to small to mid-sized organizations. "The firm has 54 offices in 16 states. American Express Tax and Business Services employs CPAs but is not a licensed CPA firm." Click here for SAP's press release.

According to ZDNet, "The software, built from applications that SAP gained in its acquisition last year of Israeli company Top Manage Financial Solutions, is designed to streamline accounting, human resources, sales and purchasing activities. The price of the software package is $3,750 per user with a minimum of three users." Click here for ZDNet's article.

Most people think of SAP as a solution for a Fortune 500 company. But just as Microsoft has recognized the huge potential mid market for accounting and ERP systems with their acquisition of Great Plains and Navision, so has SAP. SAP will now take on Microsoft and other developers in the battle for the mid market. Even if SAP's software and pricing is attractive, it has a major challenge in adjusting preconceived notions.

Wi-Fi - The next big thing that changes everything

March 23, 2003 - From Darwin (another good source for news and opinion on information technology), "If one Wi-Fi connection can provide broadband service to several homes in a neighborhood, why pay more? Is the next big giveaway the Internet itself?" Wi-Fi is a wireless technology that allows high speed access to the internet within a range of about 300 feet. So if your neighbour has Wi-Fi, you could too without paying $40/month for cable or DSL. According to the article, "The availability of such signals is growing by leaps and bounds. A recent Jupiter study showed that 83 percent of small businesses and 71 percent of large businesses will have deployed Wi-Fi in the next 12 months." For the Darwin article, click here.

March 18, 2003 - And from BusinessWeek "This week, at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Assn. conference in New Orleans, the buzz was all about Wi-Fi, which carriers see as a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy outlook. No. 1 U.S. wireless provider Verizon Wireless opened the show by announcing that its subscribers soon will have Wi-Fi access at hundreds of hotels and 10 airports. Intel launched its $300 million marketing campaign for its new chip family, called Centrino, which caters specifically to wireless users. Along with primetime-TV spots and glossy magazine spreads, Intel is creating "mobile technology zones (hot spots)" at a dozen airports worldwide where travelers can test Centrino-based notebooks and wirelessly surf the Net. The chip giant is also behind plans to offer hot spots at 400 Borders Book & Music stores. And on Mar. 12, Cometa Networks, a start-up backed by AT&T, IBM, and Intel, unveiled hot spots at 10 McDonald's restaurants in New York City." For the BusinessWeek article, click here.

The Application Service Provide (ASP) model works for Customer Relationship Management at Salesforce.com

March 3 - BusinessWeek - "In the three years since Salesforce.com launched its (Customer Relationship Management - CRM) service, the privately held company has amassed more than 6,000 customers with 80,000 individual users in 110 countries" With Salesforce.com you rent their software for about $65 US/user/month. You only need a browser to access the system, which is maintained by Salesforce.com.

Salesforce.com has targeted small and medium-sized companies, and has not had too much competition until Microsoft launched its own CRM system on January 22, 2003. Just like Salesforce.com, Microsoft CRM can be accessed with just a browser, but you can't rent the software from Microsoft. However, it is expected that Microsoft resellers will soon start to offer Microsoft CRM via the ASP model as well. Fierce competition is expected between Salesforce.com and Microsoft CRM. But in either case, the ASP approach is going to be a winner. For more, click here.

IBM and Onyx have just teamed up to offer another ASP for Customer Relationship Management

March 25, 2003 - From CRM magazine, "Onyx software announced today that it has teamed up with IBM to offer a new, hosted, "on-demand" CRM solution targeted to the mid-market. Available for a monthly charge and implemented in 30 days or less, the on-demand CRM service is being managed and delivered by IBM. The utility service is based on open architecture supporting multiple users from disparate platforms, and will be accessible by customers using nothing more than a Web browser." For more, click here.

Skunk Works or how to get IT investments in today's market

January 17, 2003 - From CIO Insight comes an interesting article about getting a project funded despite the cutbacks. Skunk works used to refer to a few technical geeks working away in isolation on some risky project. Now skunk works has become mainstream as a way to prototype a new technology without committing the big bucks. IT labs are being setup that demand business results—and most within 90 days or less. Another key difference in today's skunk works is that "the key to project success is getting—and keeping—IT and business leaders aligned around common business goals. Most IT labs are places where such teamwork is not only encouraged, it's mandatory." For more, click here.

"Almost one-quarter of American employees use Instant Messaging (IM) at work"

March 11, 2003 - From the New York Times "Instant messaging, long associated with teenagers staying up late to chat online with friends, is moving into the workplace with an impact that has started to rival e-mail and the cellphone...Already, almost one-quarter of American employees use instant messaging at work, for the most part informally, according to a recent survey by Osterman Research, compared with just 8 percent two years ago." One way to look at IMing is that it is a distraction and should be banned from the work place. On the other hand, it does provide more responsiveness to customers and business partners. For more, click here.

WorldCom writes off $80 Billion

March 20, 2003 - From Ziff Davis Media - WorldCom said that it would write down the value of its assets by $80 billion. Some of this had been expected; $45 billion in good will largely a result of overpaying for acquisitions, which had little value. But WorldCom also wrote down the value of its property, plant and equipment and other intangible assets to $10 billion from $44.8 billion. WorldCom's hard assets, including its network, are now worth almost 75 percent less than what they had cost. And these assets were bought with actual cash. WorldCom isn't the only one with overstated assets. For more, click here.

Microsoft bails out of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), but...

March 25, 2003 - From globetechnology.com, "In a sign of growing discord over Web services guidelines, Microsoft has pulled out of a key Web services standards working group. Over the past month, IBM and Microsoft have been at odds with other companies around standards submissions, including a high-profile effort within the Web's leading standards organization, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Now Microsoft has upped the rancour by dropping out of a W3C working group focused on establishing rules for how businesses will send and receive data to one another via Web services." For the globetechnology.com article, click here. For a recent FYI explaining Web Services, click here.

But W3C is not the only standard setting organization for web services. WS-I (Web Services Interoperability Organization) acts as a quality assurance group over web services and it includes IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM. An just a few days ago, Sun Microsystems, a fierce competitor of Microsoft, became a board member of WS-I. So it seems that we take one step back and 3 steps forward with web services. For more about the WS-I announcement, click here.

Improving Accounting Technology ROI

From BusinessFinanceMag, "For most companies, the primary factor shaping the business case for an accounting software upgrade is ROI. Companies expect a new system to pay for itself in several years or less. And that goal is entirely achievable, given such benefits as faster cycle times, lower levels of staffing for finance activities, more efficient budgeting tied more closely to company strategies, and less time wasted on low-return manual tasks. ROI doesn't happen automatically, however. If you're considering a new accounting system, there are some guidelines worth considering... Look for a vendor with experience in serving your industry...Some of them offer software tailored specifically to your industry...Within the financial arena, the range in ROI from investments in financial analytics software was anywhere from 39 percent to over 2000 percent, with a median ROI of 140 percent..." For more, click here.

Outsourcing: A 50-50 Proposition

March 26, 2003 - From InformationWeek, "Half of this year's IT outsourcing projects will be tagged as losers by senior decision makers for not delivering on bottom-line promises, Gartner says. Outsourcing is prone to failure because of breakdowns in communications between outsourcing providers and their clients, the research firm adds "Outsourcing goes further than the ASP (Application Service Provider) which hosts the application. The Outsourcer also manages all of the business processes and staff related to whatever has been outsourced. It could be your accounting, HR, warehouse management operations. The only bright spot in the outsourcing market seems to be in the outsourcing of IT itself. "Companies such as IBM and EDS have struck major outsourcing deals during the last several months, in some cases acquiring all of a client's IT assets and staff, then managing them for the client." For more, click here.

March 2003

Case Study on a Flexx implementation entitled "Feeling a lot like a big fish in a small pond" published in the February edition of the Bottom Line

Chromatographic Specialties Inc. (CSI) selected a relatively unknown system to replace their highly customized system about 6 years ago. With the customized system, CSI felt trapped and at the mercy of the developer, and so looked for a replacement. CSI sent their requirements to a number of potential vendors, but was disappointed in many of the responses or even lack of responses from the more well-known accounting system vendors. Databyte, developer of Flexx and a Canadian company with their office is in BC, provided a detailed response to CSI and the on-site demonstration was very persuasive. CSI found Flexx to be strong in distribution. As well, with Databyte, CSI feels like a big fish in a small pond. For a reprint of the article, click here.

ProjectWorld Toronto - April 21-25, 2003 - Looking for panel members

Software Selection Advice

We have added more content to our web site about software selection. Based on our experience at the school of hard knocks, we offer our recommendations for a successful software selection and implementation process. You will find buyer guides to accounting and ERP software, a reference call checklist, and potential vendors. We are also in the process of creating differentiators by system, which should be available in a couple months. Stay tuned. For a link to our Software Selection advice, click here.

Would you believe that 86 percent describe their ERP implementations as successful?

According to a postdoctoral student at the Harvard Business School, "I think there is reason to be optimistic about the payoffs firms are getting out of ERP. Our research is beginning to reveal the kinds of improvements that firms are seeing in operational measures such as order lead times, collection periods, and on-time shipping... In our most recent surveys of information technology executives, 86 percent describe their implementations as successful, more than 60 percent also report that the benefits of these implementations exceeded expectations." Hard to believe? For more, click here.

And would you believe that 75 percent describe their CRM implementations as satisfactory?

Based on a survey of 111 large companies, Forrester Research says that "Despite all of the unfavorable press, the majority of large companies are relatively pleased with the progress of their CRM efforts." Forester also found that "When asked about problems with their CRM projects, 45.9% of execs identified resistance to process change -- a far greater proportion than the 34.2% who cite back-end integration and the 33.3% who gripe about software costs". For more, click here.

Almost $9 Billion outsourcing contracts signed in December 2002

Feb 12, 2003 - From Wall Street & Technology, we read that most of the recent high-profile deals involve mainly infrastructure outsourcing, focused on servers, networks and data centers - areas that most firms do not consider proprietary or competitive." Most of the $9 billion was attributed to JPMorgan Chase who signed a seven-year contract with IBM Global Services totaling in excess of $5 billion. "JPMorgan Chase is leveraging IBM's On-Demand Computing...(which) is similar to utility usage with a pay-for-what-you-use philosophy." For more, click here.

Dashboards for your business

Feb 28, 2003 - In a recent survey, AMR research has found that "more than 50% of responding companies are planning to implement scorecards and/or dashboards in the near term". Dashboards monitor performance in a way that is summarized on a page or screen. AMR Research also found that there is significant interest in operational performance indicators and not just financial metrics. As well, dashboards are being used not just to monitor performance of the company, but also for business units, product line, projects and even individuals. For more, click here.

Entry Level Microsoft CRM out of the bag

Feb 25, 2003 - CNET News.com reports that Microsoft inadvertently posted a beta version of Outlook 2003 on their developer web site, which was later pulled. But the cat's out of the bag. Microsoft Outlook 2003 will contain an entry level CRM system that will probably compete with products like ACT and Maximizer. Microsoft CRM, which was discussed in last month's newsletter (see below) is aimed at organizations with 25-500 employees. For a company that has 25 people using the system, expect to pay about $50,000 for software and implementation, plus hardware upgrades for Microsoft CRM. The costs are unknown for Outlook 2003, but it will likely be buried in the cost of Microsoft Office. Microsoft's plan seems to be to get their customer base to upgrade to the latest release. It may also make an upgrade to the full Microsoft CRM hard to resist. For more, click here.

Top 100 Software Vendors

MSI has provided their Ranking of the Top 100 software vendors based on total 2001 revenues.For their list, click here.

Microsoft's SQL Server to offer analytic reporting

Feb 13, 2003 - From InfoWorld, we read that "Currently, Microsoft offers only the ability to launch an online analytical processing query and do analysis. This change will permit its database users to create, develop and distribute analytical business reports across an enterprise." There are many business intelligence (BI) developers such as Cognos, Crystal Decisions, SAS, Business Objects... that provide tools to generate analytical reports used to slice and dice information across multiple dimensions. In many cases these BI developers will now be competing with Microsoft. For more, click here.

ACCPAC - Much more than meets the eye

February 2003 - TechnologyEvaluation.com has issued a 4 part analysis about ACCPAC. Despite touch times, ACCPAC is aggressively expanding the product and operations. Recent developments include acquisition of AGS Software, Inc. – for point-of-sale software (POS); acquisition of eWare Limited – for CRM software; acquisition of manufacturing software from Lahey Software; release of ACCPAC Advantage Series version 5.0 – for a 100% web-based accounting solution; release of ACCPAC Advantage Series for Linux; release of ACCPAC Exchange – Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) integration with IBM Business Exchange Services; and an agreement to collaborate with CGA Online Services Corporation to develop CGA Online – a new web-based online system that will provide a single source of information and services for Certified General Accountants. For more, click here.

Defining Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is the transfer of knowledge from people's heads into documentation, procedures, directories.. that can be easily shared with others. But where do you start? It has been said that 90% of knowledge is in people's heads. It's not going to be easy to get the knowledge out when people are concerned about their jobs. Even if employees are willing to share the wealth, knowledge is not easily structured as you would structure data in a database. Nevertheless, we are beginning to see examples of Knowledge Management. FAQ's on a web site are a simple way to share information with your customers. Many companies have built intranets to share information amongst employees. For an irreverent article on defining knowledge management from destinationKM.com, click here. For an article from E-Business Executive published February 2003 on Knowledge Management, click here.

New kid on the e-mail block

Feb 17, 2003 - According to Forbes, BlueTie might become a competitive threat to Microsoft in the small-business market. "BlueTie, provides applications such as e-mail, scheduling, instant messaging and contact management to small businesses. Firms with, say, ten employees can get all these tools delivered over the Web for $10 to $20 US per user per month...Microsoft dismisses the idea that Web-delivered software will eat into its server business (and said) that the idea of outsourcing your infrastructure is something that small businesses aren't interested in." I personally think that businesses of any size are interested in outsourcing of infrastructure. For more, click here.

Stolen laptop

One of our readers writes us that "They swiped it right out of my office when I was downstairs grabbing a bite to eat at lunch - while someone was 2 offices down the hall! We are now locking our main office door." Can you imagine this happening to you? We suggest you take some precautions such as a security lock. And of course, you have a very recent back-up of your data - right?

February 2003

Case Study on an Oracle Small Business Suite (NetLedger) implementation at Stewart Homes published in the February edition of the Bottom Line

Stewart Homes pushed the envelope on accounting systems a couple of years ago by selecting Oracle Small Business Suite (also referred to as NetLedger). Employees have been able to access the system anytime and anywhere including head office, regional offices, from home, or on a business trip to China. For a reprint of the article, click here.

Getting Supply Chain Software Right

According to an article that appeared in The McKinsey Quarterly, 2003 Number 1 - "Software on its own can’t fix basic shortcomings in supply chain management; in fact, it can make things worse. The real benefit comes from repairing broken business processes, and companies that tackle them before installing the software can reduce inventory levels and predict demand more accurately. This effort alone can increase revenues. Add the software, and the improvements are accelerated and sustained." The article is based on a study of high-tech companies over a 6 year period and "found that, on average, inventory turned faster for companies that invested in supply chain software than for those that didn’t. The top third of companies that did install it performed, on average, 100 percent better than the lagging third. More surprising, though, was another finding: companies that hadn’t invested in the software also outperformed the lagging third, and some even improved their turn rate". The authors of the article give practical advice in successfully implementing Supply Chain Management - "fix only important broken processes, promise only what you can deliver, improve training, and make people accountable." These guiding principles apply to an implementation of any new software. For the article, click here.

Microsoft unveils first CRM software

January 22, 2003 — In an article from ZDNet News, "The world's largest software company is slightly behind schedule with the release of the product, its first foray into a multibillion-dollar software (CRM) market ... The company bills Microsoft CRM as a scaled-down version of the sprawling CRM packages offered by SAP, Onyx, Epiphany and Siebel. Microsoft's applications are designed for companies with fewer than 500 employees, bringing them into head-on competition with products from companies like FrontRange Solutions, Best Software and Salesforce.com." For a link to the article, click here and for a link to a Microsoft press release, click here.

Of the world's four largest software developers, Intuit's stock was the only one to gain ground in 2002

January 17, 2003 — In an article from BusinessWeek - "While the S&P 500-stock index fell 23.4% last year, Intuit shares rose 9.7%. Intuit was also up in 2001, despite a down market. Clearly, the developer of market-leading software products such as TurboTax (tax preparation), QuickBooks (small-business accounting), and Quicken (personal finance), is doing something right." Intuit is the number four software company in the world based on market capitalization after Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. For a link to the article, click here.

Gartner's predictions to watch in 2003

Gartner, one of the leading research companies, has recently released their top 2003 predictions about what they call "the most profound technologies" which include:

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags will find their way into everyday objects.
The number of public wireless LAN (WLAN) hot spots will quadruple.
Online bill payment will be the fastest-growing online financial application in 2003.
IT begins to go the way of electricity and gas, as the "IT as utility" concept gains momentum. (Outsourcing of IT infrastructure)

For a link to the article, click here.

Real-time business will emerge as a powerful model for connecting customers, suppliers and partners

January 27, 2003 — In an article from InformationWeek, Bob Evans says "while some that try it (real-time business) will not succeed, those who ignore the reality of real-time business and its ascendancy will face overwhelming competitive pressures and will have next to no chance whatsoever of surviving. In a world where high-value, market-based information is made available almost instantly to the right people inside your company and to customers and suppliers and partners and even customers' customers and suppliers' suppliers -- and where the availability of that information is then, much more importantly, used to make the right decisions -- what chance of survival will there be for a company that keeps doing things the old-fashioned way?" For a link to the article, click here.

Dell jumps into Point of Sale

January 21, 2003 — From AMR Research we read that "Every once in a while, something comes along that causes you to shake your head and say, “Wow, this changes everything.” An entire vendor or software landscape is altered just like that. The price/performance curve is irrevocably changed. Dell’s retail division is giving us just such a head-shaking moment." But according to a Dell sales representative, it won't be available in Canada for another 6-12 months. For a link to the AMR research article, click here and for a link to a Dell press release, click here.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags may revolutionize supply-chain operations

January 14, 2003 — From CFO Magazine, "A report released in October 2002 by AMR Research Inc. says early adopters of RFID tags have cut supply-chain costs by 3 to 5 percent and have achieved 2 to 7 percent increases in revenue thanks to the better inventory visibility the tags provide." And "RFID tags have made headlines recently because the cost of producing them has plummeted to as little as 15 cents apiece for some varieties. At that price, tagging individual items, whether parts or finished products, becomes viable for many companies. The tags are superior to bar-code labels because they don't require a line of sight between laser and label: contents within a crate can be "read" as it passes a scanner, even if everything within the box is fully packaged and each item is unique." For a link to the CFOMagazine article, click here

How to Get Better Deals from Software Vendors

January 21, 2003 — In an article in Wall Street & Technology online, the author makes a number of recommendations to improve the price of software, services and maintenance. For example, "Vendors may become "desperate" by the last days of a quarter, or the year, to close business." and "The biggest mistake any buyer can make in a negotiation is to reveal that a vendor does not have competition." For a link to the article, click here.

Best Practices in Expense Management Automation

January 30, 2003 — Aberdeen Group, has released a new research report, Best Practices in Expense Management Automation (EMA), documenting the latest findings in its continued research of total cost management technologies. The report contains expense management market information and analysis of the business challenges, tips for implementation success, and lessons learned from deployments. "Aberdeen research has shown that automating the reimbursement of T&E expenditures — e.g., airfare, hotel accommodations, car rentals, meals, and incidentals — can produce considerable quantifiable savings in both time and process costs. For example, companies using EMA solutions to address T&E expense reimbursement have shortened reimbursement cycles, reduced administrative costs, and enhanced responsiveness to employees." For a link to the article, click here.

Had enough Spam?

January 30, 2003 — In an article in The New York Times, the author laments about wading through countless unwanted messages advertising pornographic web sites, offers for loans, credit cards, inkjet cartridges, miniature race cars and opportunities to enlarge body parts. (Hopefully email from 180 Systems is not considered Spam - if it is, please unsubscribe). The article reviews three anti-spam products - iHateSpam by Sunbelt Software, Spam Inspector by Giant Company and SpamKiller by McAfee Security. For a link to the article, click here. Another anti-spam program that just won an award from PC Magazine is Cloudmark (http://www.cloudmark.com/).

January 2003

Information Technology Management (ITM) at Ryerson University

Michael Burns of 180 Systems will start teaching a course for the Information Technology Management (ITM) program at Ryerson University starting in January 2003. ITM offers 45 courses to both full time and part time students. ITM provides an integrated approach to the study of business management, computers, and telecommunications. For more about ITM at Ryerson, click here.

The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has given public accountants, as well as accounting & ERP vendors the biggest opportunity since Y2K

Y2K was a great boon to accounting and ERP vendors as many companies scrambled to replace their legacy systems before Y2K was supposed to wreak its havoc. Y2K was also a huge revenue source to many public acco