Magic Software (NASDAQ: MGIC), a global provider of mobile and cloud-enabled application and business integration platforms, announced today that its South African branch successfully completed a comprehensive interface assessment for Nampak, Africa's largest packaging company.
An interface assessment analyses the various applications in use across an organisation, including purchased, proprietary in-house, and third-party applications, to ensure that their interfaces deliver the required value to the business.
“In large organisations with in-house IT staff, we often find applications are developed on an ad hoc basis to fulfil a specific need,” explains Hedley Hurwitz, Managing Director of Magic Software SA. “In most cases, these applications are poorly documented, if at all, and over time, they become part of the furniture and are generally forgotten.
“When a company wants to upgrade its business software, switch to a new ERP system, or outsource, these applications are often the cause of what is seen as an ERP failure. This is because they are not part of the change management process, and it's only after the new system is installed that the organisation discovers their purpose and how they impact business processes.”
Nampak is considering upgrading its JD Edwards environment, which it has been using for the past eight years. During this time, many interfaces have been created to support the company's business processes, and Nampak wanted to ensure a smooth transition.
“We asked Magic to conduct a thorough interface analysis, and determine the benefit and implications of implementing a middleware layer to handle inter-application communications between the various programs we run,” says Ettienne van Niekerk, Nampak's Manager of ERP and Application Development and the project champion.
“Conducting this analysis was a mature decision by Nampak,” adds Hurwitz. “A professional analysis highlights any potential issues with systems a company has developed over the years, proactively dealing with it before beginning a large-scale ERP upgrade.”
Van Niekerk adds that, during the six-week analysis, Nampak found it has a good handle on its application landscape, and there are only a few areas in which an ERP upgrade might have been challenging. “Now that these have been identified, we can either continue the upgrade process or take the decision to outsource our business applications.”
“Businesses cannot simply stop developing interfaces that add value, as it is often these small applications that streamline business processes, saving time and money,” says Hurwitz. “The problem lies in documenting the applications and integrating them into the overall business software environment. An interface assessment ensures that these applications remain visible and continue to add value without disrupting any other architectural changes.”
For more information on interface assessments, click here.
Share
Magic Software
Magic Software (NASDAQ: MGIC) is a global provider of mobile and cloud-enabled application and business integration platforms. For more information, visit www.magicsoftware.com.
Nampak
Nampak is Africa's largest packaging company, offering the most comprehensive product range, manufacturing packaging in metal, glass, paper and plastic. For more information, visit www.nampak.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release include forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary significantly based upon a number of factors including, but not limited to, risks in product and technology development, market acceptance of new products and continuing product conditions, both here and abroad, release and sales of new products by strategic resellers and customers, and other risk factors detailed in the company's most recent annual report and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Editorial contacts