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December 2007
December 31, 2007	6 Specialists, 6 Industry Domains: Trends for 2008 and 2009 In a survey on upcoming trends in employee management, the Learning Review asked six experts in six major industry domains one simple question: what do you think the main trends in [domain] will be for 2008 and 2009? Here are their answers.
December 28, 2007	Your Guide to Enterprise Software Selection: Part Two Enterprise software selection is a risky undertaking. Even after you’ve determined your requirements, the crucial software assessment and negotiation phases are potential minefields. Find out how you can reduce the risk involved in choosing a solution that meets your needs.
December 26, 2007	Your Guide to Enterprise Software Selection: Part One Enterprise software selection is a risky undertaking for any organization. Find out how you can reduce the risk with a best-practice approach to assessment, evaluation, and selection—and learn how to reduce the time and cost involved in choosing the right solution.
December 24, 2007	So What’s the Big Deal with Chemicals? Due to the inherent challenges of the industry, most chemical companies are still unable to profitably respond to highly variable demand, or to execute predictable product supply strategies.
December 21, 2007	Business Performance Management Basics: An Overview of Business Performance Management and Its Benefits to the Organization Business performance management (BPM) includes setting key performance indicators, using data mining to discover data patterns and using software to help drive business decisions and develop corporate strategy. For an organization, there are many benefits to implementing a BPM solution.
December 19, 2007	The Customer Relationship Management Vision: It Starts with Relationships An alarming number of companies get on the wrong track when creating a customer relationship management (CRM) vision. Outlined here are four steps that take the mystery out of what makes an effective CRM vision. The secret? It’s all about people and relationships.
December 17, 2007	Software Evaluation and Software Selection Organizations are surrounded by ambiguity when making their implementation decisions. Accurate and relevant criteria that are properly weighed against an enterprise’s needs, what-if scenarios, and supporting graphics and reports are essential when making a software selection.
December 14, 2007	Bolstering the Call Center with Service Resolution Management Processes Integrated customer relationship management and call center solutions (sometimes referred to as service resolution management) have, despite initial glitches, reportedly helped some service companies realize remarkable returns on investment in addition to improved customer satisfaction rates.
December 14, 2007	From Local to Hosted: The Story of One Company’s Migration to On-demand ERP Here’s the inside story on how an international manufacturer using a traditional, local enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution shifted gears to end up with an on-demand, remotely hosted ERP system. It wasn’t the change the company originally intended, but the benefits proved too overwhelming to resist.
December 14, 2007	SaaS-ing the Manufacturing Opportunity The software as a service (SaaS) delivery model is here to stay, and most vendors have noticed. Recently, the endorsement for SaaS in the realm of manufacturing enterprise resource planning has come from a veteran vendor and SaaS pioneer.
December 12, 2007	The Quest for the Right Self-service Model: Enterprise Content Management Suite or Integrated Best-of-breed? Organizations are looking for self-service models to manage their internal and external content. Content management systems are the answer, but then the question becomes which to choose—an all-in-one enterprise content management suite, or an integrated, best-of-breed point solution?
December 12, 2007	Knowledge Management: The Core of Service Resolution Management Businesses today need to demonstrate their value to customers by making information that is relevant to them accessible. Hence the need for knowledge management software, which helps companies segment and then distribute the information their customers want to know.
December 10, 2007	The Keys to Effective Project Governance Leadership Project Sponsor.com conducted a three-year research program on project governance. The findings turned up some surprising facts on how project governance is approached and applied in businesses today, and shed some light on what is required for project governance to be effective.
December 7, 2007	Integrating Customer Relationship Management and Service Resolution Management The business case for integrating call center service resolution management into customer relationship management is becoming increasingly obvious, as companies need to rely more on inbound (customer-generated) calls than on outbound telemarketing efforts.
December 4, 2007	Data Governance: Controlling Your Organization’s Mission-critical Information Controlling your company’s key information through data governance is more than just good practice—it can make the difference between success and failure at meeting compliance requirements and at arming your organization with a competitive edge.
December 4, 2007	Small Merger Challenges and Recommendations to Users The recent merger of enterprise resource planning vendors CMS Software (now known as Solarsoft Business Systems) and XKO Software presents some challenges. Although little overlap exists between the companies’ product lines, customers should verify that pre-merger support and service contracts are honored.
December 3, 2007	The Sweet Spot of One Merging ERP Vendor CMS Software (now known as Solarsoft Business Systems) may not be a huge global player, but its enterprise resource planning solutions address a wide spectrum of supply chain management requirements, including customizable electronic data interchange functions, warehousing, distribution, and traceability features.
November 2007
November 30, 2007	A Quiet ERP Vendor Merger That’s Worth a Closer Look The CMS Software-XKO Software merger into Solarsoft Business Solutions offers proof that smaller enterprise resource planning vendors are not extinct yet. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, no one should really care about such events, but these less well-known vendors haven’t said their last words yet.
November 28, 2007	Are You Tuned into Radio Frequency Identification? This article examines the organizational fit of radio frequency identification (RFID) and its technology’s basic mechanics. Its prohibitive costs often account for the decision to not implement RFID. Yet some factors influencing adoption may shed new light on why RFID is important.
November 26, 2007	Quote-to-order Solutions and Key Performance Indicators Providers of complex products, systems, and services should view quote-to-order (Q2O) systems as enablers that can improve competitive advantage. At the same time, users should remember that Q2O solutions are not necessarily advantageous for all manufacturing departments or businesses.
November 26, 2007	Electronic Medical Records: An Introduction Electronic medical records (EMR) serves a niche market. This software caters specifically to health care professionals working in clinics, private practices, and hospitals. EMR software came about to increase overall patient care and communication between health care staff and departments.
November 23, 2007	From Manufacturing to Distribution: The Evolution of ERP in Our New Global Economy Because manufacturers are now competing globally, they have shifted production to developing countries where cost of labor and resources is low. Software vendors have combined supply chain management functionality with enterprise resource planning software to stay globally competitive.
November 21, 2007	Why Enterprise Application Search Is Crucial to Your ERP System Enterprise applications become easier to use with the addition of powerful search capabilities. There is a distinction to be made, however, between stand-alone search tools and true enterprise application search that is built into and tightly integrated within an application.
November 19, 2007	Operational Business Intelligence and Performance Management: Key Differentiators The distinction between business performance management and operational business intelligence is sometimes unclear. Many vendor offerings overlap in terms of features and functionality, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. However, there are some differences worth exploring.
November 19, 2007	Contemporary Business Intelligence and Its Main Components Business intelligence (BI) represents the tools and systems that play a key role in the strategic planning process by allowing a company to manipulate corporate data for decision-making. But what exactly are the primary components of BI?
November 19, 2007	Quote-to-order: The Major Players in the Manufacturing Arena The latest generation of quote-to-order systems uses knowledge-based software to help reduce an organization’s dependence on its highly skilled experts. The ability to harness a company’s intellectual property and know-how helps build competitive advantage.
November 16, 2007	Q2O Systems: Solutions for Quotation Management and Pricing Configuration Quote-to-order systems include quotation management and pricing configuration solutions. Pricing configuration engines automate pricing and quoting processes for manufacturers with complex requirements. Their benefits include quotes that are quick and accurate, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
November 14, 2007	What Does Having a Paperless Office Really Mean? Establishing a paperless office may appear to be a daunting task, but if you understand your operational goals, and if you know what to expect from a paperless system, achieving beneficial results are much easier than you think.
November 14, 2007	The Essential Components of Quote-to-order Application Suites Modern quote-to-order suites provide customers and suppliers access to design, planning, and material data. This enables users to proactively understand various aspects of a project, as well as reduce planning time, document activities, and promote communication throughout the engagement cycle.
November 14, 2007	A Guide to Selecting Process Enterprise Resource Planning Software Today, the issue of regulatory compliance touches every enterprise, and process manufacturers are no exception. To answer the challenge of this new reality, vendors now offer enterprise resource planning systems with far more features and functionality than ever before. But how can an organization choose the right system to meet its business needs?
November 12, 2007	The Complexities of Quote-to-order and Possible Solutions It is becoming necessary to go beyond the direct sales force to sell complex products. With the advent of personal computers and the Internet, new possibilities for reaching manufacturing clients have opened up, and new sales opportunities have become available.
November 12, 2007	So, You’re Considering a Paperless Office? The concept of the paperless office has been around for many years, but only recently has this concept been turned into reality. This article analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of having a paperless office.
November 9, 2007	Leveraging 3-D for Sales Automation Product knowledge is now readily available to buyers online, so it’s no surprise that salespeople are seeking new tools and new skills to close sales. A powerful new set of tools has taken its place in the salesperson’s arsenal: 3-D applications.
November 9, 2007	The Basics of Quote-to-order Systems Global competition means more choice for consumers and increasing customer demands. Manufacturers and distributors must develop a better understanding of what customers want so that they can configure, produce, and deliver products and services faster and more cost-effectively.
November 5, 2007	Stemming the Loss of Knowledge Capital: A Business Fix for Manufacturers The clock is ticking for manufacturers to come up with a solution to the ongoing loss of knowledge capital. Their best hope lies in introducing knowledge management strategies across the enterprise—before it’s too late.
November 2, 2007	Software Selection for Organizations: Are We Becoming Too Web-biased? Web-based software has come of age: it is more robust and stable, and combined with the increased speed of the Internet, businesses have reaped tremendous benefits. Still, Web-based systems may not be the answer for every business.
October 2007
October 31, 2007	How Can Business Intelligence Benefit Small to Medium Businesses? Research shows that the number one software solution that small to medium businesses plan to purchase in the coming year is business intelligence (BI). Download TEC’s latest podcast to find out why BI is so hot right now.
October 29, 2007	HR Software Selection: It Ain’t Rocket Science With the right approach and some guidance, you can evaluate and select a human resources management system application that is right for your organization. Here is a guide to help you through the process—it ain't rocket science.
October 26, 2007	The Challenges that Remain for One Aspiring Global Sourcing Vendor In the long term, Eqos’s current stature and means may not be enough to maintain its competitive position against current and potential competitors, especially those with significantly greater financial resources, name recognition, and other resources.
October 24, 2007	Social Networks: How They're Turning CRM Upside Down Social networking has collided with customer relationship management, and it's turning the relationship between businesses and their customers upside down. Today, businesses are using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace or, as is the case with Procter & Gamble, developing their own social networks, to …
October 22, 2007	How One Sourcing Vendor's Offerings Are Bolstered by a Wealth of Services Eqos is especially proud of its complementary services portfolio, which stems from a decade's worth of direct experience in providing some of the world's leading retailers with sourcing and supplier management solutions.
October 19, 2007	The Secret of One Vendor's Success in the Retail Supply Chain Using the service-oriented architecture concepts of reusability and standards-based interoperability, and based on extensive experience with legacy systems and packaged applications integration, Eqos can deliver pre-configured, cross-enterprise business processes that blend new and legacy functionality into a more coherent process.
October 17, 2007	Case Study: Small Retail Chain Gears Up for Rapid Growth Elephant Pharm, a start-up retail chain in the natural health and wellness retail market, needed a software solution to help the company compete with the bigger players in the industry, and to achieve rapid growth. The retailer found the right software with Aldata Solution.
October 15, 2007	A Retail Sourcing Suite Built on Experience Eqos's mission is to become the leading provider of global sourcing and supplier management solutions for the retail supply chain worldwide. Today, Eqos supports some of the world's top retailers, hosting thousands of users and enabling their collaboration with as many suppliers.
October 12, 2007	One Vendor's Quest to Garner a Global Sourcing Ecosystem Having started as a business-to-business integration provider for a few major retailers in the United Kingdom, Eqos has evolved into a full-fledged, worldwide provider of global sourcing and supplier management solutions.
October 8, 2007	Blast Past Manufacturing Bottlenecks with Constraint-based Scheduling Managing constraints in any manufacturing or service environment can be difficult. But with the right tools, accurate data, and a skilled user, a management team can manage the throughput of its constraints to support the goals of its company.
October 5, 2007	QAD: A Software Vendor That Has Survived (if Not Thrived) in the ERP Market QAD, a renowned provider of enterprise software solutions for midsized global manufacturers, has outlived many of its contemporaries by maintaining its stronghold in the discrete and process manufacturing sectors. In doing so, the vendor has reached a respected, veteran status.
October 3, 2007	Boosting the Bottom Line with Master Data Management You may not have heard of master data management (MDM), but it can help an organization cut costs while strengthening its sales and marketing efforts. Find out how MDM can help boost your company's bottom line in this latest podcast.
October 1, 2007	The Seven Deadly Sins of Software Marketing Huge amounts of money are spent on marketing collateral—you need to ensure that you get your money's worth. This article discusses seven common mistakes made when developing software marketing collateral. Read on to see if you need to repent.
September 2007
September 28, 2007	Innovation and Change in Human Resources Learning Review's Veronica Inoue interviewed two representatives of the Interamerican Federation of Human Resource Management Associations (Federación Interamericana de Asociaciones de Gestión Humana), who attended the Human Management Conference held by la Asociación de Recursos Humanos de la Argentina.
September 26, 2007	Welcome to BI Showdown: Oracle Hyperion System 9 vs. Microsoft ProClarity vs. Exact Business Analytics I'm Lyndsay Wise, senior research analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers. Welcome to another in TEC's series of enterprise software Vendor Showdowns. Today's Showdown pits three of the top business intelligence (BI) vendors against each other in a head-to-head contest: Oracle's Hyperion System 9 vs. Microsoft ProClarity vs. Exact Business Analytics. We hope you find this Vendor Showdown helpful and informative, and invite your comments and questions.
September 24, 2007	Customer Relationship Management: Evolution, Not Revolution Customer relationship management (CRM) can be a tool for positive change in businesses' operations. Or CRM can—unintentionally—cause a host of problems, from lost employee time to lost customer data. But with the right information, implementing CRM allows evolution without the upset of revolution.
September 21, 2007	Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Case Study Find out how one American manufacturer with a hot new product line found a product lifecycle management (PLM) system that would enable its team to meet demand in record time. Oddly enough, it was right under their noses the whole time…
September 21, 2007	At Last—A Complete (and Successful) RFID Implementation A radio frequency identification implementation is a major undertaking for any organization—a project with ample risk of failure. This entire series is a step-by-step guide to the process, with this final part including a comprehensive glossary of key terms for better understanding.
September 19, 2007	Applying the Power of Social Networks to Customer Relationship Management Customer relationship management (CRM) is rapidly morphing from a customer management model to one of customer engagement. Social networks, podcasts, blogs, and wikis are enabling customers to become advocates, and not simply the targets they were in the traditional CRM process. The same techniques are also being used within the CRM industry itself to create a content-rich, social media environment for CRM professionals. Find out what these sweeping changes mean to businesses and CRM professionals alike, as TEC's director of research Wayne Thompson sits down with Paul Greenberg and Bruce Culbert of BPT Partners, a leading CRM consulting firm.
September 17, 2007	RFID Implementation: Moving Forward through the Four Phases Implementation of a radio frequency identification system is best approached in four phases to ensure its success. Discussed here are the second and third phases, which deal with testing and validation, and the importance of setting up a pilot implementation.
September 14, 2007	Radio Frequency Identification Implementation: The First Steps Phase one of the four phase approach to a successful radio frequency identification implementation consists of several essential steps, including the careful selection of business partners and the development of a test environment and corrective label placement procedures.
September 12, 2007	Oracle Product Showdown! JD Edwards EnterpriseOne vs. E-Business Suite In JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and E-Business Suite, Oracle has two of the most popular enterprise solutions available in the marketplace today. To compare these two Oracle products, we looked at six standard enterprise resource planning (ERP) modules: supply chain management, distribution process management, web commerce, human resources, financials, and product technology. To eliminate any chance of bias and to ensure a level playing field, all 3,214 criteria that make up these six modules (and their submodules) in our ERP Evaluation Center were given equal weight and priority…
September 10, 2007	Front-office Lean—Taking Lean Manufacturing Beyond the Shop Floor Lean manufacturing practices are employed to some degree on almost every manufacturing floor, but many companies aren't realizing the real benefits of lean by bringing lean to their front-office operations. Here are a few tips on lean office operations.
September 7, 2007	A How-to Guide for a Radio Frequency Identification Site Survey As organizations prepare for a radio frequency identification (RFID) implementation, they often don't understand the preliminary work necessary to begin the project. The importance of a site survey can influence the success or failure of an RFID project.
September 5, 2007	Podcast: A Project Manager's Guide to Business Performance Management As business performance management (BPM) has expanded into virtually all areas of business, project managers have been broadening their soft management skills. Learn what project managers can borrow from BPM to streamline service delivery, optimize operations, and improve customer satisfaction.
September 3, 2007	Five Steps to Business Intelligence Project Success Many business intelligence (BI) projects fall short of expectations. Unless organizations implement a methodology and benchmark other organizations' successes, BI implementations may fail to provide desired results. This article identifies five steps that organizations should take when implementing BI solutions.
August 2007
August 31, 2007	Maximizing Potential Benefits in Reverse Auctions Reverse auction (RA) has emerged as a strategic tool for consumer packaged goods companies pursuing cost efficiencies in their sourcing programs. This article presents a framework to structure and gain maximum mileage out of the RA process.
August 29, 2007	A Primer on Lean Manufacturing Using Microsoft Dynamics AX: Case Studies To enable organizations to support lean and traditional manufacturing practices in a single system, Microsoft Dynamics AX has incorporated lean manufacturing constructs into its package. Several case studies illustrate the use of kanbans in various lean environments.
August 27, 2007	A Primer on Lean Manufacturing Using Microsoft Dynamics AX Lean manufacturing constructs have been incorporated into the Microsoft Dynamics AX package, enabling firms to support lean and traditional manufacturing practices in a single system. This primer covers the constructs for supporting many of the variations in lean practices.
August 24, 2007	Are Software Vendors Messing with Your Head? (The Art of Reading White Papers) If you're researching a software selection project, you need to take full advantage of the white papers available to you. Find out about the top 10 white paper buzzwords used today—and learn how to make solid sense of them.
August 22, 2007	Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe: Software Selection, Its Pitfalls, and How to Avoid Them The process of selecting software can be streamlined by paying close attention to the types and quantities of criteria you use. Better decision processes will distinguish between two key types of criteria and limit the number of criteria considered.
August 20, 2007	Zooming into the Clothing Retailer Conundrum If retailers in the vertical market of fashion apparel do not constantly refresh their presentation and assortment for consumers, they run the risk of being overtaken by their competition, regardless of how competitively they source and deliver.
August 17, 2007	No One Said Sourcing Overseas Would Be Easy The many challenges and risks that retailers face when sourcing globally could be mitigated with the right software tools. Yet the sad fact is that few information technology systems fully support the complexities and unique requirements of global trade.
August 15, 2007	The Anatomy of Retail Sourcing Processes The most successful retailers are those that continually focus on driving the very best performance from each of their suppliers, and that work collaboratively to improve performance in areas such as on-time delivery, product quality, and regulatory compliance.
August 13, 2007	The Promise (and Complexities) of Private Labels Recent studies have shown that retail winners (that is, companies that outperform their peers in year-over-year, comparable store sales) carry a significantly higher percentage of private label merchandise than their competitors do.
August 10, 2007	Distinctions and Benefits of Strategic Sourcing Strategic sourcing involves ongoing relationships, which creates the opportunity for mutually beneficial collaboration between the buyer and the suppliers. This can result in improved profitability throughout the entire supply chain and add value to the final product or service.
August 8, 2007	Optimizing the Supply Chain and Increasing Customer Satisfaction: An Interview with Robert Abate of RCG Information Technology Manufacturers must constantly address how to increase customer satisfaction, identify supply chain issues before they become problems, and lower production costs. In this podcast, Lyndsay Wise and Robert Abate discuss the benefits business intelligence provides to help address these topics.
August 6, 2007	The Blessing and Curse of Global Sourcing and Supplier Management The appeal of global sourcing is understandable given the benefits of seemingly lower costs. But without discerning hidden challenges and eliminating potential shortcomings, the process may be more costly than anticipated—a situation especially true for companies using inadequate, out-of-date enterprise information technology infrastructures.
August 3, 2007	The Web-based Sales Portal—A Catalyst for Business Transformation A sales portal is one of many tools that can be used to help transform a business. In this article, key structural and functional elements as well as the advantages of implementing and effectively using a sales portal are discussed.
July 2007
July 31, 2007	ERP − Distribution Showdown! Oracle's JD Edwards vs. TGI's Enterprise 21 Using our ERP - Distribution Evaluation Center, we compared Oracle's JD Edwards and Technology Group International head-on. For the overall rankings portion, we looked at these vendors' solutions in two basic configurations, with and without back-office (human resources [HR] and financials) functionality. To eliminate any chance of bias and to ensure a level playing field, all 3, 414 criteria comprising all the modules and submodules in the ERP - distribution request for information (RFI) were given equal weight and priority...
July 25, 2007	Podcast: What the Revolution in ERP for Distribution Means to Your Organization Today, globalization is becoming a way of business. With big-box retailers, supplier relationship management (SRM) has become an important component in how organizations conduct business. In this podcast, Rodney Winger from Epicor discusses ERP - distribution software and SRM solutions.
July 23, 2007	How One Vendor's Software Solutions Address the Insurance Industry's Unique Issues Callidus Software's latest enterprise incentive management and sales performance management product suite for the insurance sector aims at helping insurance carriers improve agent retention and at providing producers with the best service possible.
July 20, 2007	How Can Insurance Carriers Retain and Reward True Producers? The enterprise incentive management and sales performance management market is evolving rapidly. Callidus Software remains the vendor of choice for some of the largest companies in the world. The vendor is aiming to cement its leadership within the insurance sector.
July 18, 2007	Merchandising Showdown! Lawson vs. Epicor/CRS vs. Aldata Using our Merchandising Evaluation Center , we compared Lawson Software, Epicor, and Aldata Solution head-on. For the overall rankings portion, we looked at these vendor solutions in two basic configurations, with and without POS functionality. To eliminate any chance of bias, and to ensure a level playing field, all 3,072 criteria comprising all the modules and submodules in the merchandising request for information (RFI) were given equal weight and priority…
July 16, 2007	Improving Human Performance by Identifying the Gaps Mariano Bernárdez, expert in performance improvement, was interviewed in Buenos Aires (Argentina) by Learning Review's Verónica Inoue. Inoue asked Bernardez about his new book, Tecnología del Desempeño Humano (Human Performance Technology), and how this issue affects the Latin-American market.
July 13, 2007	The Return of Supplier Relationship Management Globalization, technology stabilization, inventory visibility, and traceability are forcing organizations to reevaluate supplier relationship management systems. The benefits of a customer relationship management system that can be applied to a supply chain can streamline operations and increase bottom line results.
July 11, 2007	Why Manufacturers Should Cash In On the Promise of Business Intelligence More manufacturers would implement a business intelligence (BI) solution if they understood the true value BI brings to the organization. In this podcast, TEC analyst Lyndsay Wise sits down with Robert Abate, RCG IT?s principal consultant, to discuss why manufacturers should turn to BI to boost efficiencies and return on investment (ROI), and how to optimize a BI implementation.
July 9, 2007	The Seven Deadly Sins of Software Marketing Huge amounts of money are spent on marketing collateral—you need to ensure that you get your money's worth. This article discusses seven common mistakes made when developing software marketing collateral. Read on to see if you need to repent.
July 6, 2007	Two Stalwart Vendors Discuss Mid-market Issues In continuing our first-time ever questions-and-answers series for software applications vendors, Infor and IFS, two upper mid-market, stalwart vendors, express their views on market trends, platform approaches, and mid-market issues.
July 4, 2007	The CMO–CIO Organizational Alignment Mandate Chief information officer reporting relationships continue to be distanced from the strategy function. The marketing function is experiencing this same distancing from strategy. However, the two functions should be on the leading edge of strategy, rather than the receiving end.
July 2, 2007	Two Stalwart Vendors Discuss Platform Approaches (Wars) Infor and IFS, two upper mid-market, stalwart vendors, were the first to respond to our questions-and-answers series directed at software application vendors. Based on our questions, these two vendors share their views on market trends, platform approaches, and mid-market issues.
June 2007
June 29, 2007	Two Stalwart Vendors Discuss Market Trends In this unique question and answer series, vendors were given the opportunity to put forth their views on market trends, platform approaches, and mid-market issues. The questions posed to willing participants of this opinion poll are elaborated on here.
June 27, 2007	Is Your Enterprise Application on a Road to Nowhere? Consolidation is a well-documented trend and is to be expected in the market for enterprise applications. This article outlines the evolution of the enterprise software market. Specifically, it focuses on the revolutionary technology known as service-oriented architecture (SOA).
June 22, 2007	Is There a Way to Avoid Lengthy Catalog Numbers? A sales configurator needs to be able to "decipher" products' specifications from a rule-based, constructed catalog number. Part number users should query vendors to determine whether their enterprise solutions cater to the needs of industrial automation manufacturers.
June 22, 2007	ERP - Distribution Showdown! Microsoft Dynamics NAV vs. Retalix vs. Epicor Enterprise I'm Dylan Persaud, senior analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers. Welcome to another in our ongoing series of enterprise software Showdowns. Today's Showdown pits three of the top ERP - Distribution solutions against each other in a head-to-head contest: Microsoft Dynamics vs.Retalix vs. Epicor Enterprise! We hope you find this Showdown helpful and informative, and invite your comments and questions.
June 20, 2007	Can We Intelligently Use Part Numbers to Configure and Order the Right Products? In the industrial automation industry, an overlooked, fatal flaw of sales configurator solutions is their inability to simultaneously configure part numbers and products. A greater concern is their inability to "decipher" product specifications from part numbers—that is, in reverse.
June 13, 2007	Recent Developments in One Price Management Provider's Business A quality product offering doesn't guarantee success for any up-and-coming vendor, especially in a market requiring more awareness and depending on organizational change. While Zilliant appears to be the early market leader, its long-term success depends on several factors.
June 12, 2007	A Guide to ERP for Service Organizations Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is enabling service organizations to streamline service delivery, optimize operations, and improve customer satisfaction. In this podcast, TEC analyst Neil Stolovitsky sits down with Oracle's Ted Kempf for his take on the unique implementation requirements of ERP systems for professional service organizations, as well as the role technology plays in running a successful service business.
June 11, 2007	How One Provider's Solution Covers the Bases of Price Optimization and Management What are the solutions that enable Zilliant's customers to gain a better understanding of their markets' price response and translate this into more profitable pricing? Zilliant Precision Pricing Suite encompasses distinct solutions geared for each step of the pricing process.
June 8, 2007	How One Vendor Parlays Price Variation into Profit Improvement Opportunities Rather than sticking to such outdated and speculative pricing practices as "cost plus" or "meet competition," Zilliant suggests companies leverage data to determine how market price response varies, and use this holistic measure of price sensitivity to optimize pricing.
June 6, 2007	What if Companies Could Use Science to Align Prices to Market and Maximize Margins? Zilliant, a data-driven, price management software provider, aims to enable business-to-business companies to optimize revenue and margins through decision support and automation software that delivers more effective discount guidelines, in-depth price analytics, intelligent deal management, and successful price promotions.
June 4, 2007	A Dynamic Answer to Enterprise Resource Planning for Services Enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors do battle to win business and Epicor is leveraging Microsoft's technology to deliver a mid-market solution to services industries. Despite Microsoft's competing ERP offering, Epicor continues to build a Microsoft-centric solution with its partners' support.
May 2007
May 30, 2007	BPM Showdown! Oracle's Hyperion System 9 vs. OutlookSoft vs. Cartesis Suite I'm Lyndsay Wise, senior research analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers. Welcome to another in TEC's series of enterprise software Showdowns. Today's Showdown pits three of the top business performance management (BPM) vendors against each other in a head-to-head contest: Hyperion System 9 vs. OutlookSoft vs. Cartesis Suite! We hope you find this Showdown helpful and informative, and invite your comments and questions.
May 30, 2007	Productivity for Software Estimators Presently, software estimation is considered to be an art rather than a science. At the heart of this perception is the lack of understanding of the concept of "productivity." This article attempts to provide insight into the concept of productivity.
May 29, 2007	Case Study: Manufacturing ERP Evaluation & Implementation A leading South Korean auto parts manufacturer turns to new ERP system to reduce costs, create an integrated system featuring standard processes and links to automobile manufacturers, and institute profitability checks on each product via profit analysis. The company had been considering adopting a new ERP system for quite some time. ERP held out the promise of cost reduction by significantly cutting inventory, and encouraging transparency and process innovation. More…
May 28, 2007	Customer Relationship Management and Social Networks—They're Related How, Again? No company today can afford to ignore the value of its customers' natural social networking behavior. The advantages that these social networks can bring to a company's customer relationship management platform are powerful tools that can ultimately improve its products.
May 28, 2007	So What's the Bottom Line on Price Segmentation? Data-driven, science-based price management is an emerging market. Therefore, vendors should be made to prove whether and how they can enable a company to achieve and measure margin lift, or return on investment, of their price management applications.
May 25, 2007	Business-to-business Price Segmentation—Outlined and Explained The central premise of price segmentation, especially in business-to-business environments, is that pricing should be consistent for similar deals. The process quantifies similarity by empirically determining which deal circumstances affect price response, enabling companies to benchmark prices against similar transactions.
May 23, 2007	Advancing the Art of Pricing with Science Companies in search of a better, more precise method to determine the best prices for their products and to meet their margins, should harness statistical science to analyze transactions, and associated optimization algorithms to maximize revenues and profits.
May 21, 2007	Enterprise Resource Planning for Services: Has Software as a Service Become Service-oriented Architecture for Small to Medium Businesses? In the past, enterprise resource planning (ERP) initiatives were far too costly for smaller organizations to consider. However, a trend has recently emerged where software vendors are now offering software-as-a-service business models for ERP implementation to even the smallest organizations.
May 18, 2007	Know Thy Market Segment's Price Response Since no variable can influence margins as much as pricing, almost all companies need to approach the management of selling prices, discretionary discounts, and potential price increases with the same firmness they use to manage manufacturing and procurement costs.
May 16, 2007	Factors Inhibiting the Widespread Adoption of Business Performance Management Business performance management (BPM) and business intelligence (BI) solutions are at a crossroads. Vendors from each domain compete in the same market. BPM vendors are at a disadvantage due to BI's penetration and expansion into the BPM market.
May 14, 2007	How One On Demand Vendor Addresses Its Unique Challenges and Competition As the software-as-a-service market matures, and while it remains appealing to resource-constrained companies, organizations having up to 500 payees, and that are in need of complex compensation calculation and multitier compensation rules, should consider Centive Compel product suite.
May 11, 2007	On Demand Compensation Management Partnerships for Spiffed-up Success Centive's strategy is to form a limited number of strategic partnerships with leading management consulting firms to ensure customers receive the highest levels of service and support. Pertinent alliances made include one offering sales performance incentive funding formulas (SPIFFs).
May 9, 2007