LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ--(Marketwire - July 9, 2007) - Despite investing millions in ERP
software to automate business processes, most enterprises are frustrated by
inflexible software systems that often hinder real-time visibility into
business operations. A recent Aberdeen Group report, "Aligning IT to
Business Processes: How BPM is Complementing ERP and Custom Applications,"
which was co-sponsored by Ramco Systems, concludes that most "supply
chain-intensive industries such as manufacturing, retail, and
distribution/logistics say their ERP or best-of-breed supply
chain solutions don't provide the functionality they want and need." As a
result, more than 50 percent of the companies surveyed are turning to
business process management (BPM) in 2007 "to help get the process right at
the
line-of-business level."
"Our customers are generally dissatisfied with the lack of flexibility in
their existing ERP and supply chain systems. While these systems perform
critical functions, they simply can't be adapted to the changing needs of
the enterprise, nor can they be easily changed to meet specific customer
requirements," said Barbara Saxby, chief marketing officer for Ramco. "The
increasing popularity of business process automation speaks to the
frustration that customers are feeling with inflexible systems and their
inability to get the most from their ERP investments. With its domain
expertise in manufacturing and history as an ERP provider, Ramco's
process-centric approach combined with its Business Process Platform and
consulting services provide customers with a clear path to extend their ERP
systems to more business-driven applications."
Additional conclusions from the Aberdeen Group report include:
-- Only 15 percent of survey respondents believe their applications
afford them the desired flexibility they need today.
-- When IT does not align with business applications, users resort to
labor-consuming spreadsheets and manual processes, visibly raising the cost
of goods sold and inherently lowering productivity due to non-strategic
work.
-- There is a wider interest in BPM and business intelligence tools than
in SOA middleware software, especially in larger companies.
-- More than two-thirds of supply chain-intensive industries, such as
manufacturing, say their ERP systems impede visibility since they require
customized workarounds.
"Our ERP system simply couldn't support the unique business rules,
reporting needs and regulatory requirements of our customers," said Richard
Sides, senior vice president, information technology at Preferred Meals,
which prepares 650,000 meals a day for more than 2,000 customers, including
schools, early childhood and senior centers, airlines, the military, and
health care facilities. "But with the Ramco Business Process Delivery
System we have the flexibility and agility we need to quickly and
cost-effectively support each unique customer and take on new ones as
needed. We have increased efficiency substantially, and have lowered our
total cost of ownership by reducing costs and adapting quickly as business
requirements change."
According to the report, companies are looking to BPM tools to create
applications that:
-- Are flexible for end-users
-- Offer a user interface that spurs productivity
-- Map well to line-of-business requirements
-- Integrate with back-end ERP and other business process solutions
The report explains, "Over an application's lifecycle, BPM can deliver
dramatically lower software maintenance costs due to the ease with which
business units can change the process and key process parameters without
massive IT reprogramming and testing." And the report concludes, "2007 is
shaping up to be the year of BPM."
About Ramco Systems
Ramco is a global provider of software and services that create agile
global-class business applications for a variety of enterprises. Ramco's
Business Process Delivery System (BPDS) enables fast, flexible deployment
and change on demand of processes and applications for maximum flexibility
-- so when your business changes your system changes too. Ramco Systems has
offices in nine countries and over 300 customers in 1,000 locations
worldwide across multiple verticals including banking, insurance, discrete
and process manufacturing, aviation, transportation and logistics,
healthcare, e-governance, retail, and more. The company is publicly held.
For more on Ramco, visit
www.ramco.com.
Survey Methodology
To compile its Benchmark Report, Aberdeen Group surveyed 125 enterprises,
examining technology use, investment plans, pressures, and challenges
related to BPM and service-oriented architecture (SOA) as integration
catalysts that could improve business processes. Approximately 32 percent
of respondents were from large enterprises -- annual revenues above US $1
billion, 31 percent were from mid-size enterprises -- annual revenues
between $50 million and $1 billion, and 37 percent were from small
businesses -- annual revenues of less than $50 million.
Ramco and the other report sponsors were solicited after the fact and had
no influence on the direction of the benchmark report. Sponsorship allowed
Aberdeen Group to make the findings public at no charge.