In case you were wondering what that is in your rear-view mirror, industry observer Chris Chiappinelli has the answer: “The mirage of a single-instance enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for global corporations is fading into the digital sunset.”
Chiappinelli cites a new report from Constellation Research, which finds that the general trend in manufacturing and other industries is to consolidate disparate ERP software systems, as is “often the result of acquisitions or departmental siloing, into one mega ERP deployment to run the entire business.”
The goal of such mega ERP deployments is “to facilitate streamlined business processes and holistically manage business data at a lower cost of ownership,” Chiappinelli added. However, over the last decade, researchers say, “organizations have discovered the failure of the single-instance strategy.” What many businesses are looking at now is a two-tier ERP model, which “enables organizations to keep existing ERP systems at the corporate level, while empowering divisions or business units to innovate with a second ERP system.”
A research report titled, “The Case for Two-Tier ERP Deployments,” looks at improved integration techniques, including APIs based on open standards, Web services, and process integration libraries, “as enablers of a two-tier ERP structure in which data from the second tier must roll up to the first,” Chiappinelli commented. Also, key to a more heterogeneous ERP deployment approach is “better master data management,” as per the Constellation report.
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Advantech, a provider of embedded and automation products and network processor solutions, is celebrating the milestone of reaching one million ADAM Remote I/O modules sold globally, according to a recent post on industry journal Design World. Advantech celebrated this occasion with special events, promotions, and an award presentation to one of their largest distributors in North America, B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company, for purchasing the one millionth ADAM Remote I/O module, the ADAM-6024-AE, a 12-channel universal I/O module.
The good ol’ “You’re the one-millionth customer” award. Frankly, we must say it’s nice to see relationships between vendors, distributors and companies reach this level -- and we appreciate companies who take the time to mark the importance of that.
Brad Swanlund, assistant product manager at B&B Electronics, said, “Congratulations to Advantech on reaching a very impressive milestone. The ADAM modules are very versatile and provide a lot of value, which is why they sell so well.”
Founded in 1992, Advantech’s ADAM Remote I/O Modules have been a regular feature in the industrial automation field, from the early RS-485-based ADAM-4000 series to the more recent Ethernet-based ADAM-6000 I/O series. The modules can usually be found embedded somewhere as an integral keystone, and support much larger interconnected systems with reliable functions and strong features.
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CTI Group Holdings, a provider of enterprise communications management software and services, is planning to introduce advancements in call recording and call accounting, company officials say.
SmartRecord is a VMware-ready offering certified on BroadSoft's BroadWorks UC platform, the Avaya Aura IP communications platform, as well as Cisco's Unified Communications Manager.
It’s billed as a product for helping in the finance, government, contact center and insurance sectors, as a way for companies to meet their regulatory and compliance requirements, providing what company officials say is “a number of significant added-value benefits, including trend analysis, performance monitoring and enhanced sales and marketing intelligence.”
CTI Group's Proteus call accounting application is described by company officials as being designed “to provide organizations with a clear and consolidated view of the data and information that flows through their business, simultaneously helping to identify areas where costs can be reduced.”
Basically it helps simplify and centralize reporting, while at the same time allowing proactive monitoring of quality of service via Call Management Records data such as jitter, latency, packet-loss and Mean Opinion Source (MOS), company officials say:
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