Aiming to expand its international reach, Sage Group subsidiary Adonix today announced a new version of its mid-market ERP product, Sage ERP X3.
Known formerly as Adonix X3, Sage ERP X3 version 5 is targeted at process and discrete manufacturers, as well as wholesale distributors in 35 countries worldwide, Adonix officials told Managing Automation.
As the first major release under the Sage name, version 5 marks a global "repositioning" of the product based on Sage's SAFE (Sage Application Framework for the Enterprise) technology architecture, including localized functionality for 35 countries. Previously, the product was distributed under different brand names for various locales. X3 is one of the few Sage ERP suites available internationally, the company said.
Major new features in Sage ERP X3 include a fully integrated business intelligence engine, based on Business Objects technology. The BI function, which uses the same data warehouse as the core Sage product, is significant because it uses Business Objects' user-friendly front end and enables users to build interactive, analytical reports "on the fly," said Adonix Director of Marketing Jean Huy, in an interview.
In addition, a business process designer allows users to access that functionality through the ERP system without having to navigate complex menus and options. With each user following his or her normal work procedures and accessing a customized user interface, officials said, the product provides an accelerated learning curve. In addition, the SAFE platform includes an enhanced workflow engine for batch processes that can automatically trigger batch events.
In order to simplify the user experience and even attempt to make it "pleasant to use," Adonix leveraged the experience of parent Sage's development team, whose members are well-versed in optimizing business software packages for smaller enterprises, said Huy and Adonix Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve Vukmaravich.
"The strength of X3 has always been its deep features and functions," Vukmaravich said. "Now we're moving ahead with this idea of trying to rely less on IT; X3 can be run with minimal IT involvement and we're actively evolving it with the end user in mind."
Users can interact with X3 either via the Web or in a traditional client/server environment without noticing a difference, officials said. While previous versions of X3 have been Web services-compliant, Huy said, the product now allows users to develop shared applications over the Web for specific partners or suppliers via an integrated 4GL development environment. Customers can also set particular access levels or build custom interfaces for major supply chain partners, Huy said.
The new version of X3 also includes a fixed asset management function, available previously as a module that customers had to buy separately. The software also provides CRM functionality that uses the product's core database, which sets it apart from competitors that usually sell CRM as a separate database, according to Vukmaravich.
X3 has enhanced integration with Microsoft Office applications, officials said, which allows for a two-way flow of information and for documents that are created and stored within the ERP database.
Acquired by Sage Group in late 2005, Pittsburgh-based Adonix is part of the Sage Europe business unit. The company serves approximately 1,900 customers with 10 to 1,000 concurrent users, spanning the make-to-order, make-to-stock, and configure-to-order discrete manufacturing industries; process manufacturers; and wholesale distributors, Vukmaravich said.
The company mainly encounters Epicor and SYSPRO when competing for discrete customers, and Ross, IFS, and QAD in the process arena, as well as larger ERP vendors, including SAP and Oracle on occasion, Vukmaravich said.