Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems: business software for the next millennium ERP systems, are the foundation upon which new millennium applications will be built, and will become critical to the ongoing successes of business. This is according to Steve Green, Technology Director at Baan SA.
"ERP applications provide integrated information and a transactional backbone that will enable the next level of business intelligence applications. Furthermore, as we move into the online business age, companies that have ERP systems in place will immediately realise the competitive advantage because they will be well positioned to trade," says Green.
"Without ERP, true business intelligence is not realised as easily or as quickly," he adds.
According to Green ERP is emerging as more than just being an efficiency tool to one that aids company growth.
"Many companies are implementing ERP software to improve business processes and replace tired enterprise systems. ERP vendors realise, however, that they cannot provide all the required solutions across the enterprise. For this reason Baan have built their applications on open component based architectures that can quickly be re-configured to a company`s changing business needs," explains Green.
"Many companies today maintain a mixture of platforms and operating systems which have different individual benefits. Each component is utilised for its strength and consequently, the total software base of a company is often deployed over disparate, distributed systems. In such scenarios, it is possible to distribute various BaanSeries components over multiple systems where there are also integration requirements between third party software," describes Green.
"Though this does not change the nature of the Baan Business Object interfaces, it does present the need for a `middleware` communication layer between the distributed software components, " adds Green.
Considering the growing momentum of Microsoft`s DCOM technology and their commitment to port DCOM to non-Windows platforms, Baan will focus on DCOM as the primary technology for distributed systems. For integrations with third party components, CORBA support is also available. Other middleware or messaging technologies will be supported on an ongoing basis as dictated by need.
Asked about the future of ERP.
"ERP systems will continue with their successful growth as they become the foundation upon which future business solutions for business to business e-commerce, business intelligence and supply chain integration will be based," concludes Green.
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Baan Company
Founded in 1978, Baan Company (ASE: BAAN; Nasdaq: BAANF) is a leading global provider of enterprise business software. Baan Company`s comprehensive portfolio of best-in-class, component-based applications for front office, corporate office, and back office automation are in use at approximately 12,000 customer sites worldwide. Baan Company`s products reduce complexity, improve core business processes, are faster to implement and use, are more flexible than our competitors` in adapting to business changes, and optimize the management of information throughout the entire value chain. Baan Company has dual headquarters in Barneveld, The Netherlands and Reston, Virginia, USA and can be found on the World Wide Web at www.baan.com.
Baan has been represented in South Africa since 1989 by the Q Data group company QMCS. In 1995 Baan took over the company from Q Data and a wholly owned subsidiary Baan South Africa was formed. Its client base consists of more than 80 leading organisations countrywide.
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