SMEs prefer integrated business applications

A Yankee Group study says small and medium enterprises prefer integrated business applications, as they offer lower total cost of ownership and administrative challenges, reports Destinationcrm.com

Key concerns among the 700 businesses surveyed in November 2005 include integrating current standalone systems, achieving full coverage of all operational areas; and putting an end to siloed business processes, the Yankee report says.

Epicor Software has announced the release of a business integration platform that would be suitable for use by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), says Computer Business Review online.

According to the report, the system is designed to provide a straightforward solution for graphically mapping process flows, orchestrating and streamlining transactions.

It`s "built in" capability to add or remove steps from processes as required, makes it ideal for accommodating the needs of SMEs. The system was built to work across Epicor and third-party applications.

iUpload has announced the integration of its Customer Conversation System with Microsoft SharePoint, linking enterprise blogging and wiki capabilities to portal technology, reports Sys-Con media.

According to the report, the iUpload-SharePoint integration allows users to present blog, wiki and other content as Web parts within SharePoint.

Zoovy announced its Just Easy Data Integration (JEDI), a software program that simplifies supply chain communication for online businesses, Yahoo News reports.

According to the report, the new software makes communication between an e-commerce store and the supplier almost seamless by automatically transmitting product, inventory and orders between the store and supplier. JEDI also allows the supplier to print the e-commerce store`s logo on the shipping materials, thus facilitating the branding of the store.

Sun Microsystems has announced Sun Java Composite Application Platform Suite (Java Caps), a range of business software that will help streamline IT services and leverage legacy assets without extensive coding, reports Computerweekly.com

Java Caps offers users a complete toolset and run-time environments to automate core business processes such as purchasing, inventory restocking, pricing approvals and travel authorisation.