Exact Software touts productivity boost from "manage by exception"
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
At its first conference bringing together users of its five ERP systems, Exact Software had a message that might seem startling at first: ERP isn't the competitive advantage that it used to be. By that, the acquisitive Dutch vendor wasn't knocking ERP, but rather touting new software such as its e-Synergy package.
"ERP is slowing down in productivity," Arco van Nieuwland, an Exact cofounder, told attendees at the Engage conference, held October 4-6 in Chicago. To get to the next level, van Nieuwland contends, users should build on ERP while also "reducing the number of steps" it takes to execute key business processes.
Jim Kent, CEO of Exact Software North America, echoed that view when he told attendees, "Today, companies want to manage by exception. Our vision is to provide products that allow that."
Both executives tout e-Synergy as a means of managing by exception and tying together processes, documents, and people. A Web-based collaboration platform with portal views, the package offers workflow, document, customer relationship, and human resources management; and integrates with office productivity tools such as Microsoft Excel and Outlook. Exact has integrated e-Synergy with most of its ERP packages, including those from Macola, which Exact acquired in 2001.
Exact targets small and midsize manufacturers and distributors, and, via acquisitions, has gained a big presence in the U.S. market in just three years. Worldwide, its customer base now numbers more than 11,000. Its ERP packages include MAX ERP, jobBOSS, Alliance/MFG, Macola ES, and Progression Series systems. Exact will support all these products going forward, though according to Kent, future development eventually might create a common migration path for packages with similar target markets, such as those from the Macola and MAX divisions. The timetable for that, he adds, hasn't been set and would be user-driven.
With only a couple of years of availability in the North American market, e-Synergy now has about 300 customers in North America. Exact points to this uptake as evidence of user interest in business process management capabilities that layer over ERP solutions. The company also sees e-Synergy as supportive of electronic signature requirements under U.S. Food & Drug Administration "Part 11" rules.
Alltech, a Lexington, Ky.-based manufacturer of animal feed, uses the Progression ERP package worldwide, and has begun using e-Synergy. In a presentation at Engage, Tim Arthur, Alltech's director of management information systems, said it took only 60 days to deploy e-Synergy, using it first to streamline financial consolidations. Additionally, Arthur said, the company is deploying a business intelligence add-on from Exact partner Vanguard Solutions Group to glean insight from ERP.
"Using the business intelligence and the e-Synergy products will let us focus on key performance indicators and dashboards," says Arthur. "We have tons of data out there ... and need to look at it in a meaningful view."
