Openbravo India - Customer Stories

Refurbishment of Used Construction Equipment
Industry: Industrial Supplies & Accessories Country: India Activity: Distribution, Services
Customer		Vaishnovi Infrastructure refurbishes used construction equipment (such as Excavators, Cranes, Bulldozers, etc.) Its 23 self-contained branches stock, sell and service these items for clients in the mining and construction industry. The company required an ERP to manage its complex operations, in terms of both stock and resources. Openbravo was chosen due to the young and vibrant Qualian (Openbravo Partner) joining with Vaishnovi Infrastructure to customize Openbravo so that it fit their needs perfectly. What´s more, users can operate the web-based application from anywhere! Management of product pricing has improved and cash collection has increased by 20%. Basic CRM developed for Vaishnovi assists them to easily reach the appropriate customer and their spares sales increased by 10% in the first 3 months! Source:http://www.openbravo.com/customers/?id=55 Customer - Vaishnovi Infrastructure,Chennai Openbravo partner - Qualian technologies,Chennai

Openbravo Events : Hello India! 360º Business Tour

Site:openbravo.com

Following the increasing demand for its solutions in India, Openbravo announces the return of its 360º Business Tour, this time visiting several Indian cities.

The 360º Business Tour is geared towards System Integrators, ISVs and VARs with knowledge of the mid-market ERP sector and who want to take their business to the next level. The aim is to recruit committed partners who are ready to invest a practice around Openbravo solutions in India, a country which has generated a significant amount of customer leads.

During the sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to meet the Channel Business Manager for India and:

• Understand the current business climate in the Open Source Business arena and in particular, in the ERP space
• Learn how to make business around professional Open Source ERPs
• Discover how Openbravo can help boost business
• Evaluate the business opportunity in India

These sessions reflect Openbravo's commitment towards its partner program and emphasize its strategic positioning in the Indian market, following continuous demand for Openbravo solutions.

This business tour precedes the live Training courses that will take in September in India.

We look forward to welcoming you (from 9am to 11am local time) at the following locations:

• 4^th August 2009 – Kolkata
• 6^th August 2009 – Hyderabad
• 10^th August 2009 – Gurgaon
• 13^th August 2009 – Chennai
• 18^th August 2009 – Mumbai

Logistical details will be provided soon.

If you are interested on attending any of the sessions taking place during the tour, please register now as place is limited.

India makes Openbravo's shortlist of breakthrough markets

Source:openbravo.com

- Openbravo launches the Hello India! campaign in response to increasing demand for its solutions in the country -

Barcelona, Spain, and India- July 1st, 2009. Openbravo, the leading developer of web-based open source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Point of Sale (POS) solutions for businesses, announces the launch of Hello India!, a campaign accommodating the growing appeal for open source software in the country. It will include various initiatives, beginning with the 360º Business Tour, followed by Openbravo Training courses among others.

India has been on Openbravo’s radar since the company’s inception. The country has become a solid breeding ground for innovation in the information technology sector, and has developed a keen interest in Openbravo solutions, thanks to community dissemination. That is why India is a logical stepping stone for Openbravo’s next stage of growth and will play host to many upcoming Openbravo initiatives.

To kick-off the Hello India! campaign, Openbravo will be visiting Kolkata, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Chennai and Mumbai in August as part of its 360º Business Tour, which aims to recruit many new business partners. The free event targets System Integrators, ISVs and VARs with knowledge of the mid-market ERP sector. During the tour’s morning sessions, attendees will discover the growing opportunity existing in the open source landscape, especially with regards to implementing Openbravo’s professional products.

Later in the summer, live Training courses will take place. Through the Basic Functional Training and Basic Development Training courses, partners will receive the foundation required to get started working around Openbravo. More initiatives are planned later in the year to emphasize Openbravo’s strategic positioning in the Indian market.

Cees Poortman, VP of Global Commercial Operations, said “Openbravo has been gaining traction in India for some time now, which has escalated to a point where we need to recruit new partners to satisfy the demand for our solutions. Any serious service company in the space should understand the benefits of partnering with the company behind the most successful open source ERP, especially in a booming market for such solutions. The 360º Business Tour is an opportunity for any company looking to either start, expand or enhance an open source business practice to realize the potential in working around Openbravo”.

Places are limited, so those interested in attending the 360º Business Tour should register today: http://www.openbravo.com/about-us/events/hello-india/

For those who cannot attend and want to discover the advantages of becoming an Openbravo partner, please visit: http://www.openbravo.com/partners/become-partner/.

To find out more details about Openbravo’s Training courses in India, please visit: http://www.openbravo.com/services/training/

How can ERP function more effectively in S.M.E.?

Source:erpwire.com

The troubles faced by S.M.E.'s with regards to ERP is quiet understandable. However they can be rectified. Even if they are not taken out totally there is always a

scope for making things better and making ERP's more user friendly for Small and Medium Enterprises. The vendor's primary concern should be solving ERP problems in S.M.E.'s. This is emphasized because ERP problems in Small and medium enterprises are many.

Some of the suggestions that can be implemented in S.M.E's are as follows

Structuring need based software programs

The main problem faced by S.M.E.'S when it comes to ERP is that their requirement is limited while the product offered exceeds their specifications in all ways (including the costs).The gap between these two needs to be analyzed by the companies and S.M.E.'s. It is not possible for the vendor to bring down their standards for the sake of the company neither is it feasible for the later to upgrade for the sake of the former (just for the sake of compliance and matching the company's model and that too without any direct monetary benefit ).

A balance should be stricken between the two. The company and the vendor should sit together and analyze the pros and cons of every possibility to match their requirements. Both of them should make compromises as and where possible. These adjustments even though may seem to be smaller will have greater impact when it comes to the structuring of software programs.

Rectifying inherent defects in software programs

Software is not given due importance in many of the small and medium enterprises. Software is looked upon as just another operational tool. This will not have major impact at the immediate outset when it comes to other operations (though the loss will be known at a later point of time). However the case will not be the same with ERP.

The vendors experience great difficulty when it comes to installing ERP in such companies. They find themselves petrified to handle the resultant consequences because the companies might blame the vendor for the failure without realizing that it is due to their own inability/carelessness in maintaining software programs. That is why he must exercise care in solving ERP problems in S.M.E.'s.

The vendor needs to carefully review the software competencies in the company.This study will help him to asses what the company requires more in terms of software .To start with the vendors must initially speak to the in-house IT personnel. They should convey their observations very clearly. This will help them in disseminating the information all over the company and speaking to the decision making body. The senior management may have greater chances of accepting the vendors suggestion when it is supported by IN house IT personnel but with a good faith and in the interests of the company. The vendor should take all possible steps to remove the software deficiencies in the company before thinking of running the ERP application.

Giving Due Attention to ERP

The vendors have an advantage when it comes to working with bigger players. They realize the seriousness of ERP projects not only in terms of the money invested but also in the context of the restructuring and the supposedly redefined functions. This feature is absent in Small and Medium Enterprises.

They refuse to show importance as business process reengineering and change management looks like absurd to them. They underestimate the jargon and think it is too much keeping the size of their firm in mind. The ERP vendor needs to make them realize the importance in order to be successful in the project (for both of them).

Conclusion

Unless the ERP vendor and the company sits together to resolve the conflicts it is not going to be beneficial to either of them. The onus of initiating lies with the vendor when it comes to ERP problems in small and medium enterprises. Since he has the required expertise he needs to take the lead in convincing the company and be sure of Solving ERP problems in S.M.E.'s.

Discussing ERP's intervention in small and Medium Enterprises

Source:erpwire.com

ERP for small business calls for voluminous investments. The amount was fairly affordable to small business entities. There is no doubt or two say about its benefits.

But the question that kept ringing in the market was can everyone afford it. The answer was a stubborn no initially but not anymore. ERP outsourcing, Open Source ERP's and ERP applications designed for S.M.E.'s (Small and medium Enterprises) have successfully overcome the above said limitations.

Some relevant issues concerning ERP for S.M.E.'s are the following:

Evolution of ERP in S.M.E.'S

Enterprise Resource planning was a term restricted purely to elite class. This scene was witnessed in the IT market for some long time ever since ERP was introduced. The large organizations went ahead with ERP process unmindful of negative consequences, not to forget mentioning the fact that they took every proactive measure to curb the same. Needles to say firms were interested in serving such large players. So the fate of Small and Medium enterprises remained unanswered. ERP for S.M.E's remained a mere dream.

ERP Vendors and Corporate giants

It so happened that the number of larger companies without ERP turned out to be nil. Thanks to the awareness created by vendors and IT researchers. No doubt companies were initially hesitant lot and apprehensive on just hearing the word ERP. However the industry proved them otherwise. Then came a stage where a company could not exist but without ERP. Even if their performance was satisfactory they were not able to gain any competitive advantages.

This explanation of how goliaths adapted to ERP has lot of significance in studying their intervention with S.M.E. These bigger companies were not providing the required business to ERP vendors. Even though there are many big companies the number of vendors was always greater in multiples. This means only the best could strike deals and there was no possibility for mediocre or average vendors (in terms of performance).The best players also found that they had none to serve after a point of time because almost every company in the market successfully established ERP (whether on the first or further attempts).

Stabilization of ERP in S.M.E.S

SO they had to naturally look for greener and fresher pastures. S.M.E.'S was the only answer. The next question was how to provide best services at an affordable cost and still make profit. In this case the vendors had to be worried only about the number of sales they could make and not the quantum of profits because the number of vendors was few and far between when compared with the number of S.M.E.'S choosing to go for ERP. As the saying goes "necessity is the mother of Invention" vendors had to devise cost effective applications to meet the demands of the Small and Medium enterprises. This was the origin of ERP for S.M.E.'S. This benefited them in terms of business .On the other hand the firms enjoyed greater benefits by making use of this application. Hence ERP and S.M.E. was weighed on the same scale.

Conclusion

S.M.E.'s are becoming the popular choice of ERP vendors. There is an increasing awareness of ERP in S.M.E. market. It has practically helped to unravel the myth that ERP is exclusively meant to business empires. ERP and S.M.E have become important part of enterprise studies.