IDG News Service,
Buenos Aires Bureau
BUENOS AIRES –
Baan Argentina
Ltda. SA [CQ] presented to the press Thursday the new release of its ERP
(enterprise resource planning) and collaborative e-business software called iBaan.
The software supports the company's new concept of Collaborative Business,
integrating supply chain, manufacturing and distribution networks using the
Internet. The software will be offered to existing Baan customers, and there will be a special marketing effort
for the Latin American market, said Martin Denari [CQ], Baan's Managing
Director for Southern Latin America.
The software
suite covers most needs of manufacturing and distribution companies, in a
collaborative environment. The new version adds a new Information Portal,
accessible through a Web browser, enhanced collaborative tools, and integrates
existing SCM (supply chain management), CRM (customer relationship management),
ERP and BIS (Business Intelligence Suite) modules. The suite can integrate
other manufacturer's solutions through its iBaan OpenWorld integration
framework, according to the press release.
Denari
presented the new organization of Baan, a wholly owned subsidiary of the giant
British group Invensys PLC, as "an asset, both for the company and our
customers". He said that Invensys is a global leader in the controls and
automation industry, with a market capitalization of US$3.9 billion. Invensys
Software Systems division (ISS) encompass the complementary software solutions
of subsidiaries Foxboro, Triconex, Baan and Wonderware. These two have recently
begun to share the same premises in Argentina and several other countries.
Baan's
software works on most operating systems and architectures, Denari said,
including most flavors or Unix, Microsoft's Windows NT and 2000, and IBM AS/400
and /390. The operative links with IBM are "extremely strong", added
another Baan representative. There are no versions for Linux yet, because no Baan
customer has required that functionality yet, he said.
Regarding
future developments Denari said that "now that the waters have settled
down, synergies among the group companies are showing up". All Invensys
subsidiaries are sharing their customer databases through ISS, and offering a
"solution coordinating" service so that customers can get the best
from each of the subsidiaries' software and hardware packets, Denari said. The
trademarks and research teams of each company will be preserved, he added.
About a
hundred deployments of the new iBaan software have already been sold, mainly in
the Asia-Pacific region.
Regarding
Latin America, Denari said that a business forecast for the region is difficult
at this moment, due to the current economic instability, but that the compnay
is having a good financial performance in the region. Revenue for the second
quarter of 2001 has increased 50 per cent compared to the same period a year
ago. "True, last year revenue was rather low, but this increase shows a
positive trend," Denari said.
The Buenos
Aires office serves the Southern Cone countries: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay,
Paraguay and Bolivia. There are customers in all of these countries, except
Bolivia, and the office also takes care of "strategic customers",
such as Renault, in all of Latin America.
According to
Ricardo Karaman, software analyst for Trends Consulting, IDC Argentina, Baan is
"late" with this Internet suite; but it is good sign that it has
managed to keep its customers, and maybe it will be able to get some new ones
"now that it can show that its financial woes have really ended".
Baan, headquartered in Barneveld, the Netherlands, can be contacted at +31 342-42-8888 and on the Web at http://www.baan.com . The Southern Latin America office at Buenos Aires is at (+54 11) 4314-2226. Invensys PLC, in the United Kingdom, is on the Web at http://www.invensys.com
|