Purchasing selected software systems could result in membership of a vibrant industry community.

Reducing costs, improving quality and reducing time to market are goals that every manufacturer strives to attain. Product lifecycle management is designed to help manufacturers achieve these goals by integrating engineering, manufacturing and service.

A look at the growing interest in managing the different lifecycles that have a direct bearing on the bottom line health of manufacturing companies today.

Deploying an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is an expensive and complex task no matter which vendor`s product one may choose.

Business today is seeing a profound move away from once-a-year budgeting to strategic planning which makes budgeting and planning an integrated, holistic, high-impact business exercise.

Security is now top of mind for many organisations, thanks to the recent e-banking fraud and various virus infestations. But what efforts are being made to provide secure e-billing?

The void between strategic planning and execution can be best bridged through engaging properly with clients to understand and deliver what they need.

While the relentless pace of change in IT continues, there are also ongoing significant structural changes in manufacturing businesses.

The ability to make corporate data available between two enterprise applications is a simple task with the availability of middleware solutions and new technologies such as Web services and Java messaging services.

It`s a certainty that keeping records of all business transactions and correspondence will be a critical and integral part of the new South African corporate landscape.

Customer relationship management (CRM) needn`t cost the earth, as CRM is much less about technology than it is about orienting the organisation around customer management actions.

The convergence colloquium has come and gone, and now the real work begins. However, technology neutrality should not be the top concern.

While everyone knows that legislation requires that business records be kept for a set period of time, it is unclear as to how this task should be undertaken.