G-I-S. These 3 little letters are taking the public sector by storm. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are the latest trend in the Public Sector and from our perspective, this trend has some serious staying power.
In its simplest form, GIS is the mapping of geographical and spatial data. These systems allow organizations to create “layers” to the maps that provide additional information different segments of the map.
As GIS technology has evolved, so too has the demand for the types of information that can be added as layers on the maps within the system. Within the last couple of years, we have seen software demonstrations of several Permitting and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software systems that have either architected their product to be “GIS-centric” or are working closely with leading GIS vendors to integrate systems. One advantage of these systems is the ability to provide added layers of metadata on the map that can be accessed even to external users (e.g. citizens, stakeholders, contractors, developers, etc.).
We expect to see GIS-centric systems continue to gain market share as municipalities look to upgrade their current permitting and EAM systems. Many organizations have GIS departments, often as a sub-set of their IT departments. These departments will become more and more important as technology continues to trend toward an enterprise focus.
SAGE is a major ERP global player and one of the largest ERP vendors in the world. While it is a major player, SAGE has struggled with marketing their products and brand and is not as well known in the US. They have also struggled with product direction and focus as they have many different products both in the US and Europe. The SAGE software products are mostly sold through a Value Added Reseller channel, although they do sell direct depending on the product and situation. In the past they have taken more of a regional approach – with certain products focused on the North American market and other products in Europe. They are squarely focused on the mid to lower market for software solutions.
SAGE has acquired many software solutions over the years – including State of the Art in the US in 1998 (MAS 90 and MAS 500). Here is a partial listing of the products that SAGE sells in the US. You will probably recognize the names and may be surprised that they are owned by SAGE:
X3 (Formerly Adonix) – ERP
Accpac – ERP
MAS 90 – ERP
MAS 500 – ERP
Timberline – Construction/Property Management
MIP – Non-Profit
Peachtree – Small Office Accounting
ABRA – HR
BEST FAS – Fixed Assets
Saleslogix – CRM
Many others…
One product that has reached a couple of Short List’s recently in our software selection projects is the SAGE X3 product. This is a multi-national manufacturing focused software solution and is the former Adonix product that was acquired by SAGE in 2005. Adonix was originally developed in France and offers a robust accounting/manufacturing solution. It is interesting to note that the CEO of SAGE is Guy Berruyer who led the French SAGE operation. They also recently installed Pascal Houillon as the CEO of SAGE North America – who also came from the French operation. We think these moves point to a future emphasis on the X3 product at SAGE, and may even lead to X3 becoming the flagship product for SAGE on a worldwide basis.
At the GFOA show in San Antonio last week we got an update on Microsoft Dynamics AX for the public sector. In 2007, Microsoft and Tyler announced a partnership that they would jointly develop a Public Sector software solution based on the Dynamics AX ERP software product. Microsoft chose Tyler because they own 3 ERP software solutions that focus on the government sector (Munis, Eden, Incode). The new AX 2012 software is scheduled for release this summer (2011).
Dynamics AX for Public Sector has a single implementation in process – City of Redmond, WA – which is fitting because Microsoft is based in Redmond. Go-live for the project is scheduled to be July 5, 2011. Right now they are only offering financials and do not have a wide functional footprint for the public sector. While they did say they would eventually expand the footprint for the government sector, they did not disclose the functionality they would develop next.
It is interesting to note that they have been working with Tyler for about 4 years now and are just now finishing up financials. While the government sector has many unique requirements, Dynamics AX has a strong base financial capability with dimensional charts of accounts that are very powerful that has been used for many years in the private sector. It will be interesting to see how the capabilities that are so useful in the private sector will be leveraged in the public sector.
Is this product ready for prime time for governments? Not yet, especially because governments in general tend to be very conservative. But as the functionality expands and a few more cities decide to implement a newer software product, the Dynamics AX product will be a player in the government sector.
Serenic Navigator is a Non-Profit/Public Sector focused ERP and HR/Payroll software solution that was built in 1999 as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) solution on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform. By building the software on top of NAV, Serenic is able to take advantage of all of the features and new functionality provided by Microsoft while developing enhancements specifically for the non-profit and government industries. Serenic sells the software directly and has a network of qualified NAV VARs that resell and implement Serenic so there are many implementation options available to you.
There are more than 350 organizations that are using Serenic Navigator. (One of SoftResources’ notable clients that selected Serenic was the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee 2010.) While their focus is on both government and non-profit entities, the non-profit space is where they excel, and they have limited government implementations.
Serenic is especially strong with grant accounting requirements and they have recently developed a budgeting tool geared specifically for non-profits and grant accounting. Because the NAV product has good multi-national functionality, Serenic is starting to leverage that capability to drive expansion internationally and has set up sales offices overseas.
In December 2010 Serenic announced a Cloud/Hosted offering for the software. It will be interesting to see how non-profits accept the hosting model as the cloud gains more acceptance in the ERP space.
Serenic is a public company and at the end of January 2011 released their quarterly numbers showing they swung to a loss. They cited the fact that many non-profit organizations are pushing off purchases of new ERP software because of the economy. Also, because they are a Canadian company, they have had some currency losses as the majority of their installations are in the US.
Serenic is a major player in the mid-market non-profit area and should be considered by these organizations. We met up with Lisa Ramsey of Serenic at the GFOA 2010 show in June last year. Watch the video to get an overview of Serenic and some of the things they are working on.
Springbrook software is focused on the municipal government market and has been in business for 25 years with 400 customers in 33 states. They offer a fairly complete ERP functional footprint for municipalities including financials, utility billing, HR/Payroll, Permits, Land Management, etc. They are focused on the mid-market space with clients ranging in size from 10,000 in population on up to 200,000 in population, but the majority of their implementations are in the 10,000 – 100,000 population range. (In fact, they recently announced they signed up Texarkana, Texas – a city with a population of 38,000)
Springbrook has about 100 people in their company which is a good number for a niche focused software solution. They have more of a family feel than some of the larger vendors which works well in the mid-market municipal space. Also, while there has been a lot of consolidation in the municipal ERP market with Tyler, Sungard, Infor, and others buying up a number of municipal focused ERP software solutions, Springbrook has remained independent and organically grown which allows them to focus on serving their customers. For cities of that general size that are looking for ERP solutions, Springbrook should definitely be on the long list of software solutions to consider.
Check out the interview below that we had with Scott Stickel at the GFOA 2010 conference in Atlanta last June. We discuss an overview of the software solution and some of the key things to consider as you evaluate Springbrook for your city.
Tyler Technologies is a public sector focused software vendor that owns three main ERP products – Munis, Eden, and Incode. Because all 3 of these products offer full government financial modules, it can be confusing as to which Tyler product you should focus on for your evaluation. To shed some light on this, we spent a few minutes with Roger Routh of Tyler Technologies at the June 2010 GFOA tradeshow in Atlanta to discuss the differences between the products and where a public sector organization should focus their software selection efforts.
As you will see in the accompanying video, they have positioned the products in the following way:
Munis – This product focuses on larger government organizations counties, cities, non-profits, and is also strong in the K-12 school district market. This is a mature product that offers a wide functional footprint. We have found that Tyler typically leads with this product for mid-large organizations unless there is a compelling reason to look at one of the others.
Eden – Functionally overlaps the Munis product in many ways, but seems to have a stronghold in certain geographic regions of the US – namely the Northwest and Southeast. Recently, we have found that Tyler only leads with Eden when there is a specific client preference to consider this product and does not seem to have the same sales focus that Munis does. This is not to say that Tyler will not sell this product, just that they seem to focus much more on the Munis product, which should be a consideration in your evaluation.
Incode – This is a lower end product that works well for smaller cities. It is less costly and less complicated, but also much less robust than Munis and Eden. If you have an annual budget of $30M or below, you should consider this product unless you have a lot of complexity in your organization.
Tyler is also working in partnership with Microsoft to develop a government focused solution based on the Dynamics AX ERP software, but we will cover that topic in a different post.
BS&A software is a smaller municipal government focused software vendor. They are based in Lansing, MI and have traditionally focused on the Michigan municipal market with over 400 installations in the state. Now, they are looking to expand their presence to cities outside the state and on a national basis. They offer a good functional footprint for small to mid-size municipalities including Financials, and Utility Billing. Originally written on the Pervasive database, they have re-written the product in Microsoft .NET technology and it now runs on the Microsoft SQL Server platform.
It will be interesting to see if they can expand their offering to other states and if other municipalities will start considering this solution. Governments are very reference oriented and sometimes it is difficult to get a foothold in another state. If you are a small – mid-size municpality in the midwest, BS&A might be a good solution to at least consider as they may offer some good pricing in order to increase market share.
We caught up with BS&A at the GFOA show in Atlanta to get a little more background on their company and plans for expansion outside the state of Michigan.
Governments, special districts, utilities, and other similar organizations have some very unique requirements that not all financial/ERP software vendors can handle. For this reason, there are many software solutions that focus on this market – offering government entities a variety of options to consider. We attended the GFOA conference in Atlanta at the beginning of June 2010 and interviewed some of the financial/ERP software vendors that focus on government organizations.
This year, the show was definitely quieter than in past years. No doubt the economy has had a big impact on the number of people attending as governments just do not have the discretionary income to send many people to GFOA. However, as we talked with many of the software vendors, they seem to be seeing an increase in interest and sales from government entities so hopefully things are turning around and the market and economy in general are improving.
Over the next few weeks, we will be publishing video interviews with many of the government ERP software vendors, so watch for them! These videos will help you get some background on the various government software vendor’s ERP products, their target markets, and new functionality that will be released soon. Hopefully, this will help you focus on vendors that may be right for your software selection project. If you would like our take on any of the software vendors that you may be considering, feel free to call us at SoftResources (425) 216-4030 and we would be happy to discuss our experience working with them for our software selection clients, and things to look for as you evaluate them for your requirements.
If you weren’t able to make it to the show, check out the video posted below to get a quick view of the GFOA tradeshow floor and some of the ERP software vendors that exhibited.
Lawson software was originally founded in the 1970′s and remained a private company until December 2001, when they went public. Originally built on the AS400 platform, the software has migrated through the client/server era and now is 100% web enabled which means that you can use a web browser to access the software, as well as thin client options as well. Unlike JD Edwards which similarly came from the AS400 and subsequently got acquired by PeopleSoft and then Oracle, Lawson has remained a stand-alone company. They made a large acquisition in 2005 by acquiring Intentia – a european based manufacturing solution. Last year Lawson was profitable and had $757M in revenues.
The important thing to remember as you evaluate Lawson software is that they have two separate ERP software products – Lawson S3 and M3.
Lawson S3 is the traditional Lawson product. This software is a very strong financial solution that has a very broad implementation base in many different industries. S3 has a particular focus on Financials, Health Care, Non-Profits, Government, and service based organizations. It also has a very strong Human Capital Management (HCM – otherwise known as Human Resources). In fact, many organizations use Lawson’s HR solution as a stand alone HR product even if they do not use Lawson’s S3 ERP product. S3 also touts a very strong reporting tool called Lawson Business Intelligence (LBI).
Lawson M3 came to Lawson through the Intentia acquisition. This ERP is focused on Manufacturing and Distribution companies and is a stronger multi-national solution than S3. (In fact the majority of Lawson international installations and offices are focused on the M3 product). Keep in mind that this product is completely separate from S3. For example, the strong S3 HR solution would require an integration to the M3 product.
With regard to implementation, Lawson has their internal Professional Services Organization, but also has a network of 200+ software integrators in their Lawson Partner Network. Some of these partners focus on S3, while others focus on M3. Make sure that you do an implementation partner selection when considering Lawson to find an implementation partner with experience in your industry and the specific product you are implementing. Many times these partners have more experience in a particular industry at lower billing rates than Lawson’s direct implementation.
We consider both S3 and M3 to be Tier 2 ERP solutions in our 5 Tier Chart(www.softresources.com/software-market-overview). This means that Lawson can compete very favorably with the Oracle suite of products as well as SAP at a lower cost. Over the past 15 years we have been doing software selection consulting, both Lawson S3 and M3 have been selected by various clients. These products are definitely worth consideration as you evaluate your ERP software options.
We are currently working with a client that is considering PeopleSoft – one of the ERP applications that Oracle acquired a few years ago. The PeopleSoft product looks like a possible fit, but it was interesting to note that the salespeople did not talk much about the new Oracle Fusion product and the fact that this new ERP software is less than 1-2 years away from release.
I thought this was very interesting. One would think that a brand new ERP software product from one of the largest ERP software vendors in the world would be promoted heavily. But Oracle is almost completely silent about the development of this product even though they have to be spending many millions of dollars in R&D for this product right now.
Why isn’t Larry Ellison shouting from the tops of the trees that Oracle Fusion applications are coming? Because they are trying to protect the current sales of the e-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, and JD Edwards ERP solutions.
Right after the acquisition of PeopleSoft/JD Edwards, Oracle began talking up the idea of their new Super ERP product “Fusion” that would Fuse all of the best functionality from the 3 ERP products Oracle owns. They were also going to put functionality from other acquisitions such as Siebel and Hyperion into the new solution. It would be web based and facilitate Software as a Service (SaaS) as well as on-premise deployments.
Competitors began seeing this as an opportunity to create uncertainty about Oracle’s current ERP solutions. They asked “Why would you buy e-Business suite when it will be replaced within the next couple of years?” This hurt current sales and revenues, while the Fusion application was still years away from being released. So, they dropped the marketing for the new Fusion ERP Applications product.
In fact, if you go to Oracle’s website there is just a 1-page overview that Oracle’s Fusion applications are under development. Interestingly, the first thing you see is how Oracle will support all of the current products with Lifetime Application Support. Again you can see their concern that the announcement of future Fusion applications will hurt sales of their current products.
Now I do not doubt that when Fusion comes out, Oracle will continue to support companies on e-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, and JD Edwards for a long time. All of them have significant numbers of installations and they receive billions in annual maintenance revenues from these companies. However, when Fusion is released, the focus for new sales will be the Fusion product. This means that the sales goal within Oracle will be to upgrade all of these companies to the new product eventually. Which will be a huge revenue stream for Oracle.
That is why you will hear almost nothing about Fusion until it is released. Just know that if you currently own an Oracle product, or are looking to purchase one, that you will eventually be encouraged to upgrade to Fusion Applications. Make sure that if you are considering an Oracle product, that an upgrade to Fusion is included in your contract.
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