News.com reports that Sequoia Capital has invested $15 million into Jive Software. This could be another sign of the Web Office starting to gain traction over ERP.
On the other hand, what big ERP investments have been announced recently?
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Interview with Openbravo COO
Sean Michael Kerner published an interesting interview with Josep Mitjà, COO of Openbravo.
Openbravo is, along with Compiere, opentaps, ADempiere Bazaar, at the top of the OS ERP game but, being fully Web based, it might be the best headed for the future of ERP as we discussed in this post.
Plus, as Josep said:
Openbravo is, along with Compiere, opentaps, ADempiere Bazaar, at the top of the OS ERP game but, being fully Web based, it might be the best headed for the future of ERP as we discussed in this post.
Plus, as Josep said:
We do have inquiries about Compiere, mainly because Openbravo's application dictionary originated from a 2002 version of Compiere, and as the application dictionary defines the contents of each screen, the two applications can appear to have some similar features.
Compiere's work was seminal and we are careful to duly identify any original and modified code. However, contrary to Compiere, we have a dedicated engine that delivers a fully Web-based interface. Our current code base is almost entirely comprised of original, continually evolving Openbravo-developed code.
You can read the full article here.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Web ERP vs Desktop ERP
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
On the Web Office and ERP merging
The concept of the Web Office is quite a new one, so its definition could be arguable matter. But, the way the proposed solutions are evolving, it all leads me to think that a company ERP and Web Office will start sharing the same framework and, ultimately, be one solution.
One obvious link is that both store and manage enterprise information. For example, all Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) must have a "Contacts" section. Independent of the nature of the Contact (Co-worker, Client, Vendor), they are all persons, so most of the data will be very similar. You could have corporate Clients and Vendors, also sharing attributes in its modelling. The synchronization of this data among several systems is a tedious and risk prone task, even when automated.
Other, more subtle, reason elicits from the collaborative nature of the Web Office. All enterprise work-flows would be better handled if defined on a single work-flow engine, instead of having different management for different systems. Much office work is subject for a work-flow process. Those are element that have been present in ERPs for a long time, that are now being incorporated into Web Offices.
Another common issue is to have two different systems (most times requiring duplicate input effort) for, say, project management and the accounting of absent and leave days.
As a commenter in the previous post pointed out, the Web-Interface (not a small matter in many cases, specially if you can extend or align the "Web-Interface" concept to a whole "Corporate Image"). He also mentioned report designer (Which I would extend to Business Intelligence engines) as something that could also be merged.
I will assume the Single Sign On issue does not need much discussion.
Common elements of ERP and Web Office
In short, we have identified the following as common framework elements:
Examples
Even though I am not aware of similar essays, I do acknowledge several companies developing solutions that have obviously identified this trend. Zoho, 37signals, and ShareOffice would be among those.
One obvious link is that both store and manage enterprise information. For example, all Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) must have a "Contacts" section. Independent of the nature of the Contact (Co-worker, Client, Vendor), they are all persons, so most of the data will be very similar. You could have corporate Clients and Vendors, also sharing attributes in its modelling. The synchronization of this data among several systems is a tedious and risk prone task, even when automated.
Other, more subtle, reason elicits from the collaborative nature of the Web Office. All enterprise work-flows would be better handled if defined on a single work-flow engine, instead of having different management for different systems. Much office work is subject for a work-flow process. Those are element that have been present in ERPs for a long time, that are now being incorporated into Web Offices.
Another common issue is to have two different systems (most times requiring duplicate input effort) for, say, project management and the accounting of absent and leave days.
As a commenter in the previous post pointed out, the Web-Interface (not a small matter in many cases, specially if you can extend or align the "Web-Interface" concept to a whole "Corporate Image"). He also mentioned report designer (Which I would extend to Business Intelligence engines) as something that could also be merged.
I will assume the Single Sign On issue does not need much discussion.
Common elements of ERP and Web Office
In short, we have identified the following as common framework elements:
- Single Sign On
- Contacts (Workers, Clients, Vendors)
- Image Design and Standards
- Work-flow engine
- Tasks and Projects management
- Business Intelligence and reporting engines
Examples
Even though I am not aware of similar essays, I do acknowledge several companies developing solutions that have obviously identified this trend. Zoho, 37signals, and ShareOffice would be among those.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Open Source ERP to merge into Web Office?
A bit over three months old, and I am already questioning if the Open Source ERP is the way to go.
My recent work on Web Office suggest me that the best path to roll out an OS ERP on a company is to start with the Web Office, and from there build the ERP.
What do you think?
My recent work on Web Office suggest me that the best path to roll out an OS ERP on a company is to start with the Web Office, and from there build the ERP.
What do you think?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
"Father of Java" James Gosling: Openness breeds more trust
Sylvia Carr conducted a very interesting interview with James Gosling, aka the "Fater of Java".
The bit I wanted to share is this piece of encouragement for OS ERP developers:
The bit I wanted to share is this piece of encouragement for OS ERP developers:
Do you think we'll see more use of open source in the enterprise as time goes on?Of course I fully agree. It's just good to hear a geek celebrity say it every once in a while.
Gosling: Yeah. It's sort of gotten to the point where it's hard to imagine people using more because so much already is (used)--everything from open-source operating systems to databases to programming languages to development tools. It's getting to the point where there's not much left. There are some areas like large-scale databases and ERP (where) there aren't any really serious open-source ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions. They're getting there.
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