UNIT4 customers see 50% time savings for ERP changes
* Clear Differences Uncovered Regarding Competitorsâ?? System Rigidity * Agresso Users â??Embrace Changeâ?? Across 5 Top Change Categories
UNIT4 (March 16, 2010) –
UNIT4, the global business software company supporting Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC),(TM) today provided further industry research supporting the lower-cost change capabilities of its Agresso Business World enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Comparing the results of two surveys that UNIT4 has conducted over the past 12 months via outside research companies, changes to Agresso Business World take half (or less) of the time required by other ERP system users.
In a 2008 survey conducted by CFO Research Services on behalf of UNIT4, U.S. finance executives indicated that the median for making small changes to their ERP systems was seven working days. The median for making substantial changes was three working months. In an identical survey of Agresso Business World users conducted in the fourth quarter of 2009, the median for making small changes was only two days. A prior study conducted by IDC released in December 2009, showed substantial business disruption occurs to non-Agresso ERP solutions for changes tied to: Business process change, financial management change, company reorganization/restructuring, mergers or acquisitions or regulatory requirements. The longer it takes to make a financial software change – the greater the disruptive impact to the organization.
Competitors: Nearly 4x More Management Involvement Needed
The survey of Agresso users also revealed that in addition to the time savings, Agresso Business World requires far less involvement from management when changes are being made. In making changes to their ERP systems, only 9% of Agresso Business World users report that senior management leads the effort. In the previous study, 26% of the finance executives surveyed said that senior managers led change efforts for their ERP systems.
Also noteworthy is that companies in the general survey required more than twice as much help from IT professionals to make changes to their ERP systems; specifically, 47% of the respondents in the first survey required IT professionals to take the leadership role for changes after the system was deployed, versus just 20% in the Agresso Business World survey.
Agresso Business World is built on the VITA architecture which is designed specifically to accommodate business change and can reduce or eliminate much of the costly IT spend that many executives have come to take for granted. UNIT4 markets its solutions specifically to companies facing ongoing business change, where the company can demonstrate a clear and measurable business advantage.
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CFO Research Services, a unit of CFO Publishing LLC, initially surveyed 157 senior finance executives at North American companies in November-December 2008. CFO Research Services then executed a separate survey of 56 users of Agresso Business World, primarily in Europe. CFO Research Services used functionally identical questionnaires and executed both surveys in the same manner to ensure maximum consistency. UNIT4 is solely responsible for drawing any inferences from CFO Research Services’ data gathering and tabulation.
ABOUT UNIT4
UNIT4 is a global business software and services company aimed at helping dynamic organizations to embrace change simply, quickly and cost effectively in a market sector it calls ‘Businesses Living IN Change’ (BLINC)(TM). The Group incorporates a number of the world’s leading change embracing software brands including Agresso Business World and CODA financial management software.
For mid-sized services intensive organizations, UNIT4 markets the Agresso Business World ERP suite that is widely acknowledged as the business software solution that delivers the lowest Total Cost of Change. This is achieved thanks to its VITA(TM) architecture which allows for ongoing, post-implementation changes without the typical external IT costs and services that cost firms huge sums of money each year.
CODA Financials is our award-winning suite of best-of-class financial management software designed to integrate with your industry- and company-specific applications. CODA’s LINK(TM) architecture sets it apart from ordinary accounting systems by providing a financial information backbone for companies with fast-changing and mixed application environments. It is a global accounting solution for mid-to large sized organizations, offering a “no compromise” approach to financial modeling, process control and application choice.
UNIT4 is a top six mid-market ERP software player globally and the 2nd largest European ERP supplier. With offices in 13 European countries, as well 6 countries across North America, Asia Pacific and Africa and sales activities in several other countries, a revenue of EUR379.4 million was realized in 2009. UNIT4 is headquartered in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands. The company has 3,456 employees (31 December 2009).
For more information, please visit: www.unit4.com, or call:
Emma Hoyle
Group PR Manager
UNIT4
+44 1423 537 977
emma.hoyle@unit4.com
Source: UNIT4