On Tuesday, 24 June 2014, Expertech ERP and Enovate Solutions hosted "One Channel Western Cape", an all-day Sage ERP-focused convention at The Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town.
The convention focused on current and emerging ERP software trends and the latest out-of-the-box solutions for businesses.
A number of leading local and international ERP and industry experts spoke on a wide range of topics, including the accelerating migration to SaaS and cloud-deployed systems, mobile solutions for ERP, specialised solutions for equipment and equipment maintenance, warehousing and logistics, business intelligence as well as automated document delivery.
Keith Fenner, Senior Vice President for Sales at Sage MMD Africa, gave the audience an insight into of the massive R&D spend being ploughed by Sage into Sage 300 ERP as well as the exciting roadmap for the flagship Sage ERP X3 product suite.
A common thread that ran through all the presentations was the sudden arrival of mobility in the ERP space, the increasing demand for hosted solutions and the growth in on-demand interaction with systems such as e-commerce.
It appeared that not only will mobile devices overtake the traditional desktop, they will become all pervasive due to the large number of users who have already migrated to smartphone and or tablets with a new trend to wearable devices gaining momentum. Corporates will start to leverage the smartphones and tablets carried around by staff with wireless connection to whatever is required be it in the cloud or on the private network. Advertisers and e-commerce sites will increasingly be designed and aimed squarely at mobile users.
Cloud computing essentially consists of three components, the abbreviations being SaaS, PaaS and IaaS which stand for platform, software and infrastructure as a service respectively and users prefer a small monthly off-balance sheet bill rather than a large upfront and ongoing investment in software, servers and platforms.
E-commerce or e-tailing as it is becoming more commonly referred to, is seeing massive impetus and is expected to grow exponentially in the next five years. Customers now "shop" in multiple ways, checking a store's Web site, maybe visiting one or more stores, looking at on-line product reviews, viewing the prices of competitors on a smartphone whilst standing outside a store, and choosing whether to buy the goods in-store or online and collect them in-store or have them delivered.
Both Expertech and Enovate management were pleased to say the event was a wonderful success and helped business leaders who attended the convention to better understand and grasp emerging industry trends that may otherwise have remained an elusive an abstract concept.
Expertech ERP and its One Channel partners will be hosting similar events in Botswana, Zambia, Durban and Johannesburg in the third quarter of 2014.
One Channel is an association of business software and ERP industry experts, software reseller solution providers, independent software vendor developers and consultants, and operates across the African continent. One Channel was established by Expertech ERP - a software distribution house - in 2012 and is purpose-built to deliver specialised solutions to business software and ERP end-users. One Channel assembles resources on a project requirement basis and offer end-users the best technology and people available when and where required.
It is independent and supports numerous Master Vendors such as Sage and Microsoft Dynamics.
Customers include small, medium and large corporations, government and NGOs as well as multi-national organisations.
One Channel had extensive experience in ERP software solutions, our staff and solution provider partners are leaders in the business software and technology space, and include industry leaders such as Lorge and Enovate Solutions and over 20 other solution providers comprising over 200 people.
Expertech ERP, a member of the One Channel group, distributes and actively promotes best-of-breed add-on and line-of-business software components to the global community of ERP and business software solution providers.
eNovate Solutions, a member of the One Channel group, is a leading Sage X3 ERP, Sage 300 ERP (Accpac) and Sage CRM solution provider in South Africa. Based in Cape Town, eNovate Solutions is the Sage Premier partner. Its vision is to deliver innovative, tailored information technology solutions and services that contribute to the customers' success.
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