Scala Business Solutions, represented in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands by Scala Africa, continues to grow while maintaining customer satisfaction, according to a recent study by research organisation Gartner.
The study found that Scala is well positioned in the worldwide mid-market ERP sector, with a well-established customer base in 120 countries. The report also states that the evolving competitive landscape in its target market will challenge Scala to expand its vision and execution to maintain momentum and viability.
"Emerging strongly from this report is an endorsement of Scala's progress to fully collaborative ERP solutions with the release of iScala 2.1," says Shamik Sinha, CEO of Scala Africa. He says this new release of Scala's ERP suite addresses the needs of enterprises that have interconnectivity requirements between multi-site and multinational locations.
Despite the tough economy, notes Gartner, in 2002 Scala Business Solutions announced a 4% increase in revenue over its 2001 earnings of $73.4 million. Scala's eight successive profitable quarters have made it a more visible contender in the rush of vendors that seek to supply ERP solutions to the small and midsize divisions and subsidiaries of multinational companies.
The report states that Scala has kept its customer base in 120 countries satisfied while continuing to invest in research and development. "Specifically, Scala has redesigned its software for connectivity and collaboration based on Microsoft and standards-based technologies such as Extensible Markup Language (XML)," explains Sinha. He says the company has a considerable R&D organisation with more than 300 engineers dedicated to its solutions.
Although Scala has not yet made a decision to discontinue or stop support for Scala 5.1, the second version of its next-generation solution, iScala 2.2, is planned for imminent release. "In addition to new Connectivity Solutions, iScala 2.2 includes improved service and asset management processes, customisable role-based user interface for portal and Web, several new business intelligence tools and fully integrated contract management, including leasing," says Sinha.
Gartner says Scala is becoming a more noteworthy contender in the mid-market ERP-II space. However, the research notes that the company should strengthen its CRM offering, which Sinha explains is being addressed through close partnership with Microsoft Corporation.
"Previously we offered integration with any CRM solution the customer preferred, but are moving to provide a 'single solution' by working to integrate Microsoft Business Solutions CRM software with the iScala Collaborative ERP system. Our integration engine will still, however, provide compatibility for other solutions, giving customers greater flexibility."
Sinha says the result of the collaboration will be brought to market as iScala CRM.
"Gartner recognises that Scala has proven experience in successfully supporting the requirements of multinational subsidiaries and divisions of large corporations at approximately one-third the total cost of tier one vendors such as SAP and Oracle. Through 2005, the organisation estimates Scala's revenue will increase by at least 30% through organic growth and acquisitions. As a well-established competitor in Africa, Scala Africa is poised to take advantage of that anticipated growth," he concludes.
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Scala Business Solutions is represented in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands by Scala Africa, which provides sales, consulting and implementation skills to a customer base of 70 companies in SA and a further 300 in the rest of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Headquartered in Johannesburg and with offices in countries including Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, Scala Africa (Pty) Ltd., is a truly pan-African concern that offers integrated, collaborative ERP solutions to businesses across the continent.
Visit Scala's Web site at www.scala.co.za for press information including press releases, information and product information.