China and India to power global enterprise software market

Asia Pac is where it’s all happening …

By Phil Muncaster • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 4th April 2012 04:30 GMT

China and India are set to lead worldwide enterprise software growth over the next four years as Asia Pacific cements itself as the powerhouse of the global IT industry, according to Gartner.

The analyst’s Q1 2012 update to its Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2009-2016 report revealed that China will have the fastest growing software market to 2016 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.91 per cent while India is ranked third at 13.6 per cent.

Brazil is the other country in the top three with a predicted CAGR of 13.89 per cent.

In terms of the Asia Pacific enterprise software market in 2012, China again leads the way followed by Australia, South Korea and then India.

While China’s inexorable growth is perhaps no surprise, India is one to watch for the future, according to the analyst firm.

It will account for 11 per cent of Asia Pacific’s total revenue of $29.3 billion this year, or 1.15 per cent of the total global market. By 2016, India’s share in Asia Pacific will reach 12.1 per cent ($5.4bn), or 1.5 per cent of the total worldwide software market.

Web conferencing, collaboration, content management, CRM and ERP software will see particularly strong growth over the next five years as India races to plug gaps in areas it has traditionally lagged behind in.

Local demand, the growing maturity of users and technology enhancements are the primary drivers of growth, according to Gartner analyst, Asheesh Raina.

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Abukai – expense reports in a snap – integration with Xero

So what is ABUKAI?

ABUKAI takes the pain out of creating expense claims. Data is entered from the receipts and categorized automatically. This can happen on the move too using ABUKAI mobile apps (for iPhone, Android and Blackberry).

Who is it for?

Anyone who wants to cut down the time it takes to code receipts and create an expense claim – whether you’re a sole trader on the move or you are managing a team on the road.

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How ABUKAI works with Xero

Take a photo of your receipts and when ready, the expense data is automatically imported into Xero as an expense claim. A copy of the photo is attached to each receipt.

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Munich’s mayor claims €4m savings from Linux switch

Lower costs and fewer support calls than Windows

By Iain Thomson in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Operating Systems, 29th March 2012 19:24 GMT

Christian Ude, the mayor of Munich and occasional political cabaret artist, is trumpeting the cost savings made by switching from Windows to Linux, claiming his city has saved over €4m over the last year alone.

Ude claims that Munich’s IT department saved about a third of their total budget last year by dumping Windows and Microsoft Office in favor of Linux and OpenOffice. Buying new Windows software and upgrading systems so they could actually run it would have cost over €15m, with another €2.8m due in 3 to 4 years of license renewal, according to official figures.

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Open APIs: The Fifth Pillar of Modern IT Openness

Jay Lyman, March 22, 2012 @ 12:24 pm ET

Last year, I wrote about the key pillars of openness in today’s enterprise IT industry, highlighting open source software, real open standards, open clouds, and open data as the ‘Four Pillars of Modern IT Openness.’

More recently, I wrote about what I now consider to be the fifth pillar, which is open application programming interfaces (APIs). Of course, when we talk about ‘open’ anything — open source, open standards, open clouds, open APIs — there tends to be debate about what is really open, how we should define open and who should or should not be able to carry the phrase. My focus on open APIs and on APIs in general generated somegood discussion, as well as some pushback, regarding the value of APIs compared to open source software, which APIs are open, and how open is open enough?

I want to make clear I am not saying open APIs are better than open source. The real point is that the activity, development and innovation happening around APIs — particularly as cloud computing and hybrid public-private use continues to evolve — is reminiscent of the way open source software began disrupting the industry some two decades ago.

The other point is that while customers are typically interested in open source software for flexibility, cost savings, mitigating vendor lock-in, performance, ROI or other reasons, my conversations with both vendors and customers indicate much of the integration in the cloud centers on the openness of the APIs. When customers have stable, documented APIs, it is often more conducive and effective to work there, rather than on the source code. If code, development and deployment are disrupted by closed, changing, weak or undocumented APIs, then developers, customers and the market are likely to quickly move on to other APIs, perhaps ‘open APIs’ that are well documented and include examples. Similar to the other pillars of modern IT openness — open source software, open standards, open clouds and open data, open APIs are most effective and efficient when combined with the others.

Let’s not let open APIs become another version of ‘open standards’ that were anything but 10 years ago. Instead, we should seek to use and call out truly open APIs, which would typically mean connection to open source software, open standards, open clouds and open data as well. However, we must also be aware of the threat, competition and pressure from APIs such as Amazon’s EC2 and AWS interfaces, which are not open source nor open standards, but nonetheless may be open enough for a majority of developers and market.

 

OpenERP 6.1. Functional Demo

The news is out, OpenERP’s latest version 6.1. is here. It’s more user-friendly, even more business oriented and efficient to manage your company. Read more about the new features.

How to discover the latest version 6.1.?

• Demo: http://demo.openerp.com
• Online: http://openerp.com/online
• Download: http://openerp.com/downloads

We have also put together a functional demo that presents 6.1. Watch this video to learn directly from us what OpenERP 6.1. can do for you. Share it in your company, with your clients and implement it now for your business.

Watch on Youtube!

We remind you that we will present v6.1. in detail at our 2012 Community, Customers and Partners Summit. Find out more and get your free ticket to our most important event of the year.

 

Date : 12th March, 2012

ERP Isn’t Going Anywhere

Guest post written by Kevin Parker

 

The End Of ERP

Eric Savitz Forbes Staff

Kevin Parker is CEO of Deltek, and former CFO and Co-President of PeopleSoft.

 

Kevin Parker: ERP lives on.

I was struck by an interesting article published here a couple of weeks ago by Tien Tzuoof Zuora titled “The End of ERP.” While I agree with some points, I strongly disagree that enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is dying.

Yes, traditional/generic ERP with its heavy requirement for customization and consultants is going the way of the mainframe computer, but purpose-built ERP that meets the specific business requirements of a particular industry will be more important than ever in the coming years. This is especially true with the shift to a more services-based, knowledge economy, where connecting information across the enterprise with people’s brainpower is becoming more important than physical assets.

Given today’s increasingly flat and hyper-competitive world, there is a growing need for big data that can be rapidly analyzed and turned into actionable information to make smart decisions, and an acute need for ERP vendors to provide this decision-making data, offer flexible applications built to enhance the processes of specific industries, and to do it in flexible way that meets customer needs. Now’s the time for purpose-built ERP, delivered anywhere at any time and on any device, to rise to the top.

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SugarCRM Scores Another Banner Year in 2011

  Record fourth quarter, with 92 percent year-over-year billings growth; Annual growth hits 67%

CUPERTINO, Calif. – February 22, 2012 – SugarCRM, the world’s fastest-growing customer relationship management (CRM) company, today announced that it closed another banner year in 2011, achieving record billings growth and its ninth consecutive quarter of accelerating sales. The results reflect the company’s continued success in expanding its global customer base and channel network. With more than 1 million users and 370 channel partners, SugarCRM is now the third most widely used CRM in the world.

Driven by increased global adoption of SugarCRM and new product capabilities enabling the company’s advancement into the enterprise market, SugarCRM saw strong financial performance in 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2011, SugarCRM’s billings growth increased by 28 percent over the previous quarter and climbed by 92 percent over the same period in 2010. The company turned cash flow positive in Q4 2010 and was net cash positive for the full year 2011, driven by strong 67 percent top-line billings growth.

“SugarCRM has delivered another remarkable year, and is strategically positioned for ongoing success in this dynamic CRM market,” said Larry Augustin, SugarCRM’s chief executive officer. “We are driving increased CRM adoption across markets and industries by offering the best solution to our customers, partners and channel network.”

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Intel distributes LibreOffice.com

from Open Source Blog RSS | ZDNet by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

 

Intel supports LibreOffice, can Microsoft be pleased?

 

LibreOffice, the OpenOffice fork, is a very popular open-source office suite. But, while it has great support from Linux distributors, like openSUSE and Ubuntu, LibreOffice has never had a major corporate backer on the Windows side… until now. Intel is now offering LibreOffice to Windows users via its AppUp application store. I wonder how Microsoft feels about this.

According to The Document Foundation (TDF), the newly incorporated group behind LibreOffice, “LibreOffice for Windows from SUSE is available in Intel AppUp Center as a special, five-language version featuring English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. As a validated Intel AppUp Center app, LibreOffice for Windows from SUSE features a new, smooth, silent installation flow and improved un-installation cleanup.” This version of LibreOffice for Windows is now available from the Intel AppUp store.

Of course, LibreOffice has long been available on Windows, as well as Linux and Mac OS X. What’s different about this is that Intel, Microsoft’s long time ally, is now actively supporting Microsoft Office’s most active rival. Certainly, on the cloud, Google Docs is Office’s biggest enemy but on the good old PC desktop, LibreOffice is Microsoft’s Office main competition.

Nor, is Intel just enabling LibreOffice to be downloaded from its site. No, Intel is actively working on improving the LibreOffice code base. In a statement, Dawn Foster, open source community lead, at Intel said, “I have been using LibreOffice from day one for presentations at conferences and for data analysis. Our engineers have worked with the LibreOffice codebase to optimize it for Intel hardware. Adding it to the AppUp Center is an obvious extension, and will provide an exciting feature for all Ultrabook users.”

Intel has also joined The Document Foundation. That means Intel is also financially supporting this rival to Microsoft Office.

Needless to say TDF is happy. “We are thrilled to add Intel to our existing roster of supporters”, said Florian Effenberger, a TDF board member in a statement, “TDF is first and foremost a vendor neutral project committed to excellence in the office suite space, but we greatly value the support and advice we gain from organizations such as SUSE, Red Hat, Google, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Software in the Public Interest (SPI).”

Curiously enough, SUSE, a Linux company, with long-time ties to Microsoft, took the technical lead in delivering this Windows version of LibreOffice.

I, for one, find it very interesting that two Microsoft allies, Intel and SUSE, are promoting a program that’s targeted straight at Microsoft’s cash cow: Microsoft Office. Perhaps Intel feels slighted as Microsoft puts its attention on Windows 8 on ARM? Might it be that Intel wants users getting exciting about Windows 7-powerd Ultrabooks instead of Windows 8 ARM-powered tablets? Maybe SUSE, which used to partner closely with Microsoft on Linux and Windows network integration, feels neglected? I don’t know. I do know Microsoft can’t be happy.

 

OpenERP is going social with the launch of the new version 6.1

from Open ERP blogs by admin

Yes, it’s that important announcement! OpenERP is excited to announce the release of its 6.1. final version. After more than a year of joint effort with our community and partners, we are proud to present the final version of OpenERP 6.1. With the new version we have developed many new features like touchscreen POS, electronic invoicing, kanban views, assets managements, etc. The performance has also been significantly enhanced through the new web client and a new architecture that can now support multi servers and multi processing. Worth mentioning is that the latest technologies, like those used by gmail and facebook have been incorporated in this version. Read more about the new features

 

 

Even easier to use and learn

OpenERP has been already recognized for its ease of use compared to other leading ERP softwares. We are going one step further, once you have installed it, you can immediately start using it! No need for configuration, with the exception of the accounting module.

With a much more straight forward welcome page, it’s easy to dive right into the applications you need most. As you start using the application and want to use some of its most advanced features, progress bars with menus will help you set the application just the way you want. Users can also enjoy kanban views to manage the flow of applicants, the tasks in a project or even their sales pipeline. Not bad for an ERP!

 

A brand new web client

The new web client has been entirely redeveloped. We have used the latest web technologies and have redesigned its architecture. As a result, the new OpenERP web interface is more intuitive and the performance is astonishing. The navigation speed through the screens is incredible providing an unmatched level of comfort for the user. But this is not all. The new web client is also extremely modular and allows integrating OpenERP with a web site or a portal in only a few clicks.

 

Touchscreen Point of Sales 

OpenERP 6.1 provides a new module for outlets. This module is 100% web, works offline and automatically synchronizes with the OpenERP server when the connection is restored. The POS module is compatible with all PC tablets and iPad, offering multiple payment methods. Product selection can be done in several ways: using a barcode reader, browsing through categories of products or via a text search.

 

A social and flexible ERP

Companies still exchange many documents in paper format. An expensive and inefficient way of working. OpenERP 6.1 is offering several options to help companies boost their poductivity. First, integrated portals will allow companies to provide access to OpenERP in a completely secure way to its external partners. At the other end, customers can, for example, refer to the inventory, place orders and track shipments, as well as manage their bills. OpenERP 6.1. goes further than that, as you can send an invoice and/or a sales order and your customer will have an option to access it in OpenERP and even integrate it automatically in his own ERP instance.

 

New additional modules 

Other additional features introduced with OpenERP 6.1 are: new payroll engine, an asset management module, new financial reports, a new event management module and many more. OpenERP is continuing to expand its functionalities through both internal modules and now over 1800 apps available at http://apps.openerp.com

 

How to discover the latest version 6.1.?

• Demo: http://demo.openerp.com
• Online: http://openerp.com/online
• Download: http://openerp.com/downloads

 

A New Zealand Company (Xero) Reaches For The USA Small Business Accounting Market: Xero’s Going After QuickBooks

February 21, 2012 By Ramon Ray

One of the things I dread most about running my business is dealing with the administrative hassles of the day to day, but so important, aspects of running it.

I love organizing events, but even more, I love sharing with the attendees of the event.

But to do an event means you’ve got to deal with contracts, invoices, bank accounts, credit cards and so many other things.

Out of all these things and more, one of the things a business owner must constantly do is mange their income and expenditures – financial management.

A large part of this financial management hassle is to enable one to pay taxes every April – all the deductions and forms need to go through an accounting program to be properly accounted for.

Another reasons is to manage payroll.

And yet another reason is to know what products are selling best, what products are most profitable and etc. But all of this is centered around your bank account – the money in it and the money leaving it.

To properly manage your bank account you MUST have a financial management program.

Intuit’s QuickBooks is the leading software that many small businesses use. Sage’s PeachTree has another swath of this fragmented market, and other vendors such as Outright, Indinero, GreatWave Accounting provide accounting solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Into this ecosystem comes Xero.

Xero is a New Zealand based company who has recently expanded its footprint to the USA. Jamie Sutherland is the President, US Operations, before Xero, Jamie worked at Sage.

A few weeks ago I was able to speak with Jamie (see the interview below) about Xero and his plans to dominate small business accounting. Here’s few highlights from our conversation:

• Xero is first and foremost beautifully designed online software. I’ve seen many online applications and few are designed with the features and rich interface that make you think you are using a traditionally software, installed on your computer.
• Accountants are a huge part of Xero’s connection to small businesses and Xero is making a concentrated effort to partner with accountants. Jamie said that in Xero’s discussions with accountants he finds although it is the defacto standard, that many accountants don’t like QuickBooks Online. Xero hopes to leverage this to Xero’s advantage.
• Xero is simple but also very robust for mature and growing businesses – hence double ledger (or entry) accounting and multi currency conversions.
• Working well with other software is fundamental to Xero as well – demonstrated by their membership in The Small Business Web
• Accountants will find Xero’s value proposition very compelling as Xero is not just giving them a product to resell but also a platform to run their accounting practice and better manger their small business customers.

Check out my interview with Jamie here (or below) and more videos at http://www.youtube.com/smallbiztechnology

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