SAN DIEGO — In a bid to more effectively address the industry-specific requirements of manufacturers and other customers and to compete with SAP and Oracle, Lawson Software in June will implement an organizational restructuring that, for the most part, replaces geographic regions with vertical industry-focused groups.
“Our customers want industry-specific solutions,” said Lawson CEO Harry Debes in an address this week at the company’s annual CUE customer conference here. “Now customers will be working with people who know their industries. This approach will be much better for our customers.”
The move is consistent with efforts by Lawson competitors such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft to add more industry-specific focus and functionality to their applications and services. It is also in line with Lawson’s recent strategy to focus its resources on a few vertical industries that fit well with its software. In manufacturing, Lawson has chosen to focus its efforts specifically on food and beverage, fashion, and the equipment services, management, and rental (ESM&R) markets.
While its competitors have augmented traditional product- and geographic-centric organizations with vertical industry overlays, Lawson is going a bit further. The company, Debes said, is creating industry-focused business units with general managers who will have profit-and-loss responsibility as well as dedicated sales, services, marketing, and research and development teams. Industry-focused general managers also will have responsibility for striking industry partnerships with integration and other vendors.