| Abstract: | Incorporating capabilities such as CRM and enterprise asset management that it acquired on a buying spree last year, the ERP vendor rededicates itself to manufacturers. |
| Keywords: | QAD new product, MFG/PRO new name, MFG/PRO rebranded, QAD 2007, new ERP product, enterprise asset management, EAM, CRM, customer relationship management, mid-market ERP, QAD acquisitions |
Mid-market ERP stalwart QAD Inc. today released an enhanced version of its flagship product that features technology obtained through a string of acquisitions in 2006.
QAD Enterprise Applications 2007 (QAD 2007), formerly known as MFG/PRO, adds CRM, enterprise asset management, demand management, and transportation management capabilities to the ERP offering. QAD officials told Managing Automation that the company remains committed to its manufacturing customers, and noted that the revamped product line reflects QAD's push to be a full-service enterprise application partner with its customers.
The QAD 2007 suite includes modules for financials, customer management, manufacturing scheduling, supply chain collaboration, warranty tracking and service calls, enterprise asset management, analytics, and database portability. Built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA), the applications can plug into other Web services. In addition, a new user interface, called QAD's .NET User Interface, has been retooled to reflect how people work. It includes roles, data access, application integration, and e-learning.
Built as a global platform — with multi-language, multi-currency, and global services — QAD 2007 is deployable in a variety of ways: on premise (traditional license), on demand, and on appliance. In on-demand deployments, QAD hosts the application from its data center. It can be purchased as a single-tenant architecture, in which a customer has its own space, or in a multi-tenant setup, in which a hybrid architecture hosts multiple companies. The hybrid architecture can be applied to companies in the same vertical market, allowing smaller companies to benefit from the software, company officials said.
The appliance version of QAD 2007 includes a system that is set up on premises, with all applications and backups managed remotely by QAD. The on-appliance version is important for emerging geographies that have not yet built out a reliable communications infrastructure, QAD said. If a connection is lost, the customer can still conduct transactions on-site.
In an ERP market where consolidation has whittled the competition down to only about a dozen vendors, QAD Inc.'s new product suite makes a statement that the company not only has survived the ERP roll-up mania, but that it plans to continue meeting the needs of manufacturing companies. QAD 2007, available now, is built specifically with manufacturing in mind, officials said.
"If we want to help the industry move forward, we have to have a vision for it," said Gordon Fleming, QAD's chief marketing officer, in an interview with Managing Automation.
The company made three acquisitions last year to add functional capabilities to round out the product suite. Those acquisitions were Precision Software, a provider of transportation management software; FBO Systems Inc., an EAM vendor; and CRM purveyor BizGen. In addition, QAD inked a licensing agreement with John Galt Solutions Inc. to embed its demand planning application within the suite.
QAD is building a product that represents "the perfect lean market," Fleming said. That vision centers on the ability to apply lean principles across the supply chain by incorporating collaboration, connectivity, and open standards.
The company's existing product line helps customers close the loop between inventory and financials, and the company is now expanding its software to include value-mapping, with the aim of helping manufacturers drive waste out of every business process, Fleming said.
 |
|
|
|