VAI Wins 2012 IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses

"Recipients of the 2012 IBM Beacon Award set the standard for business excellence, innovative solutions, ingenuity, and client transformation," said Mark Hennessy, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners and Midmarket. "We congratulate VAI on winning the Beacon Award for Outstanding Solution for Midsize Businesses and demonstrating its ability to provide value by incorporating a truly innovative, end-to-end ERP solution for the mid-sized market.” 

VS2K Enterprise

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Absolute Value Announces a Highly Successful Implementation

World –class demand forecasting and replenishment offering improved supply chain planning for the Chinese New Year shutdowns

Absolute Value, a Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, today announced the successful implementation of its demand planning and replenishment solution at SIGMA Corporation.

SIGMA, an importer of specialized water products and accessories, recently implemented the SaaS or Cloud version of Absolute Value, enhancing the productivity and inventory management of their Sage MAS 200 ERP solution. With an implementation timeline of less than 30 days, SIGMA rolled out this software solution to help streamline their Supply Chain forecasting and replenishment process.

According to leading distribution industry consultant Jon Schreibfeder, President of Effective Inventory Management, Inc., “Absolute Value software features a comprehensive set of tools for forecasting the future demand of products, replenishing inventory and analyzing an organization’s inventory investment. It can help distributors, in a wide variety of industries, achieve the goal of effective inventory management.”

SIGMA imports much of their product from overseas, a good portion from China. As a result, they are presented with a quite a supply chain planning challenge every year related to the Chinese New Year. Many factories in China close for up to four weeks surrounding the New Year. This year, less than two hours of careful planning in Absolute Value remarkably enabled Sigma to avoid their normal product availability issues during the 2012 holiday.

SIGMA's Purchasing and Inventory Planning Manager, Andrew Podner says, “Today, we spent less than 2 hours generating and reviewing suggested orders for 8 locations, including regenerating one of the facilities a second time. This operation, if we could have even done it properly, would have taken us at least a week to do before Absolute Value. I cannot begin to express my happiness that we are so much more clearly informed and able to respond and act so quickly to what is normally a major undertaking. "

Mitchell Rona, the VP of Operations for SIGMA, deems Absolute Value an "excellent forecasting and inventory tool. It is yet another way that SIGMA demonstrates its commitment to efficiency, strategic planning, and excellent customer service.”

About Absolute Value, LLC
Absolute Value has roots in the distribution software industry that are extensive, with specific strength in Forecasting and Replenishment. Constructed of both end-user and software vendor experience, the Absolute Value team bridges a dual perspective on the complex needs of today’s distributors. Blending this depth of experience with knowledge of state-of-the-art technology and application solutions provides their clients a unique pathway to success. The Absolute Value team offers this key experience gained as an evolution of Lanham Associates, a Microsoft Gold-Certified partner. www.absolutevalue-us.com

About SIGMA Corporation
SIGMA is a New Jersey, USA Corporation, in business since 1985. SIGMA’s core products have been Waterworks pipe fittings and accessories. SIGMA pioneered production of these pipe fittings in China starting in 1985, and since then has steadily grown to be the second largest AWWA pipe fittings supplier in USA. Today SIGMA offers the widest range of pipe fittings in the industry and can satisfy every requirement on a job. Quality is ensured through proprietary quality systems that exceed the requirements of AWWA and other national standards. www.sigmaco.com

ECi M1 Announces Partnership with Global Software, Inc.

Microsoft Excel automation tools enhance ECi M1 reporting experience

ECi Software Solutions, a leader in industry-specific information technology solutions, announced a new partnership between Global Software Inc. and the official launch of the ECi M1 Advanced Financial Reporting tool.

This partnership with M1 enables customers to use live M1 financial data, with powerful drill-down capability to the lowest level of detail. Global Software’s Spreadsheet Server tool unlocks the financial data held in an ERP solution. Simple to install and use, M1 users can leverage spreadsheet functionality while ensuring the integrity of critical financial data is maintained. 

“M1 Advanced Financial Reporting has numerous benefits; it combines reporting, account inquiry, and journal inquiry into one application as well as eliminates the need to download or re-key/export spreadsheet data,” says Daniel Noonan, Managing Director of ECi M1. “This new partnership with Global Software, Inc. further demonstrates our focus on helping manufacturing businesses to succeed.  We have integrated their tool with M1 and now our customers can enjoy further efficiencies in their business. Initial customer feedback has been entirely positive. We are pleased that our M1 users can now quickly retrieve and manipulate data within a desktop tool everyone is familiar with—Microsoft Excel.”

“We are excited to work with the team at ECi M1,” says Spencer Kupferman, Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Affairs at Global Software, Inc. “ECi has built a comprehensive ERP system and, in conjunction with Spreadsheet Server, ECi M1 customers now have access to a powerful Microsoft® Excel-based tool that is already used by over 5,000 businesses globally.” 

About Global Software, Inc.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Global Software Inc. has established itself as the no.1 worldwide provider of Microsoft® Excel-based automation tools. For almost 40 years it has worked with leading ERP systems in the world. Global Software Inc, supports over 5000 businesses in 39 different countries. For more information, please visit www.glbsoft.com. 

About ECi

ECi Software Solutions provides best-in-industry business and e-commerce software solutions for growing companies. For more than 30 years, ECi has served the manufacturing, office equipment, managed print services, office supplies, contract office furniture, business intelligence, lumber and building materials, hardware and jan/san sectors. Privately held, ECi is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, with offices throughout the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and the Netherlands. For more information, email info@ecisolutions.com, visit www.ECiSolutions.com, or call (800) 959-3367.

Dynaline Upgrades to VAI S2K Enterprise Software

S2K Enterprise 5.0 Will Improve Business Processes and Create Operational Efficiencies to Support Company Growth

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), an award-winning ERP software provider, today announced that Dynaline Industries Inc., a privately-held Canadian company sourcing agriculture, automotive and industrial products to major distributors across Canada and the United States, has upgraded to S2K Enterprise 5.0. VAI S2K Enterprise software helps companies manage and analyze virtually every aspect of a company’s business processes, providing the information necessary to drive educated business decisions. 

As a growing company dedicated to a niche market, Dynaline needed a dynamic system that could adapt to the industry and support its growth. Dynaline will work specifically with S2K Financial and S2K Distribution Management to further streamline operations and create efficiencies that will benefit the bottom line. With the latest upgrade, Dynaline has access to even more reporting capabilities that export directly into Excel and provide further insight into the business. As Dynaline continues to expand, the Company will look into other modules such as S2K Sales Force and Warehouse Management that directly integrate with S2K Enterprise.

“We have been working with VAI for more than five years, and we are thrilled with VAI’s ability to continually accommodate our Company’s growth and provide solutions specifically designed for our industry,” said Jennifer Otto, operations manager, Dynaline Industries. “Not only were we up and running on S2K 5.0 in only three days, but we are happy with the software’s ease-of-use. We are already using information extracted from the system to focus our efforts on specific aspects of the business.”

“VAI is pleased to continue its partnership with Dynaline with an upgrade to S2K 5.0,” said Pete Zimmerman, manufacturing segment manager, VAI. “Scalability is extremely important to a growing business, and we’ve specifically architected S2K Enterprise to expand with our customers. We are confident that Dynaline’s upgrade to S2K 5.0 will enhance the Company’s ability to achieve its business goals and we look forward to continuing to assist with Dynaline’s growth expansion with the future implementations of S2K WMS and Commerce Express solutions.”

About VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)

VAI is an award-winning software developer and an IBM Premier Business Partner. Designed for the mid-range market, S2K Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Suite is used by a wide variety of mid-sized companies worldwide, with a number of clients in the manufacturing, distribution, retail, food and related service industries. Advanced applications such as Warehouse Management Systems, EDI, CRM, Business Analytics and e-Business provide companies the power to leverage their information technology investment. VAI is headquartered in Ronkonkoma, New York, with branch offices in Miami, Orlando, Chicago and Oroville, California. For more information, please contact Diane Dady at 800-824-7776, ext. 236 or visit www.vai.net. 

Contact Information:

Rachel Perlmutter

SHIFT Communications

617.779.1884

rperlmutter@shiftcomm.com

 

VAI Enhances S2K Analytics with Financial Business Intelligence Capabilities

New Comprehensive Dashboards Help Companies Make Educated Financial Decisions

VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), an award-winning ERP software provider, announced the release of its enhanced S2K Analytics solution, a comprehensive, web-based Business Intelligence (BI) tool designed to drive smarter, faster business decisions. This upgraded tool features ten new financial management dashboards that provide an in-depth view of financial data from all levels of the organization.

Designed to meet the needs of VAI’s customers, regardless of size or industry, S2K Analytics integrates with S2K Enterprise and features automated reporting and dashboard capabilities that give customers big-picture visibility into their revenue and profitability. The new dashboards provide at-a-glance insight into a company’s financial performance, allowing for customization and consolidation of data that can then be used to make educated decisions. With the enhanced S2K Analytics, VAI customers can:

• View balance sheets, and P&L statements
• Analyze profitability of their business
• Monitor procurement and expense management
• Create ad hoc self-serve inquiries
• Build reports and dashboards as well as share information with others
• Integrate S2K Analytics with Excel
• Collaborate on and contribute to new reporting needs
• Access information through a web browser, including mobile devices
• Compare past financial performance

"VAI is excited to offer an even more comprehensive BI tool to our customers,” said Joe Scioscia, vice president of sales, VAI. “We are committed to continually innovating our products in order to provide our customers with best-in-class software that streamlines business processes and creates cost efficiencies. The upgraded S2K Analytics will undoubtedly enhance our customers’ ability to use the information gathered through our ERP software to make even more effective, real-time business decisions.”

 About VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)

VAI is an award-winning software developer and an IBM Premier Business Partner. Designed for the mid-range market, S2K Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Suite is used by a wide variety of mid-sized companies worldwide, with a number of clients in the manufacturing, distribution, retail, food and related service industries. Advanced applications such as Warehouse Management Systems, EDI, CRM, Business Analytics and e-Business provide companies the power to leverage their information technology investment. VAI is headquartered in Ronkonkoma, New York, with branch offices in Miami, Orlando, Chicago and Oroville, California. For more information, please contact Diane Dady at 800-824-7776, ext. 236 or visit www.vai.net.

IBS Debuts New Cloud, Mobile, Distribution Intelligence Offerings at Global Customer Summit

Symphony Services Continues Investment in Accelerating Product Road Map

International Business Systems (IBS), a global leading integrated ERP and supply chain provider, announced the addition of cloud and mobile offerings to its flagship IBS Enterprise solution during its Global Customer Summit.

“The acquisition of IBS was a strategic move by Symphony Technologies to harness the power of the company’s technology, blue chip customer base and world-class people,” said Pallab Chatterjee, chairman of the board of IBS. “Now it is time for us to put the power of Symphony’s deep product and technology portfolio, strong financial position and history of success in repositioning software companies to make IBS’ customers successful.”

As a part of the rollout of the company’s strategic product roadmap for customers, IBS debuted IBS Cloud Solutions, which are designed to prove benefits such as lower IT cost, reduced business risk, faster time to value and greater flexibility combined with the advanced functionality of IBS Enterprise in the cloud. The offering is a subscription-based license model that leverages a shared, virtualized infrastructure for on-demand offerings and can also be extended to IBS’ mobility solution.
IBS Cloud Solutions include the latest versions of the IBS Enterprise modules for Distribution Intelligence; Distributions Financials; Supply Management; Logistics, Assembly and Services; Demand Management and Supply Chain Integration.

The launch of IBS Mobile solutions focuses on the trend of the increase in enterprise mobility in corporations and allows customers to use IBS Enterprise on mobile devices. This end-to-end solution will leverage existing technology investments in IBS solutions; accelerate customer ROI through automated, real-time and accurate mobile data collection and provide a flexible, integrated solution.
IBS also extended its focus on even more advanced capabilities for Distribution Intelligence by debuting Advanced Sales and Operations Planning and Rapid Performance Management from Symphony Technologies.

The company also launched IBS AppExchange, which provides customers the opportunity to take immediate advantage of commonly used solutions across multiple release levels as well as its Sales & Operations Planning offering designed to balance demand, production and inventory to deliver rapid insights, collaboration and data-driven results.

For more information, please contact:
Mark Illidge
VP IBS Field Operations & Corporate Marketing
IBS AB
+44 777 195 42 73
Mark.illidge@ibs.net

IBS in brief
Stockholm-based International Business Systems (IBS) is a leading global integrated ERP and supply chain provider. Thousands of customers in over 40 countries rely on IBS for world-class solutions to drive dramatic improvements in their operations. IBS operates Dynaman, an advanced warehouse management solution and Bookmaster, a leader in ERP technology for publishing. For more information, contact www.ibs.net.

Infor Introduces Next Wave of Enterprise Software with Infor10

Consumer-Grade User Experience, Complete Industry Applications & Cloud Deployment Options Enabled by ION Technology

Infor, a leading provider of business application software with operations serving more than 75,000 customers, unveiled Infor10, which features a consumer-grade user experience, complete industry-specific software applications and Infor10 ION Suite, a lightweight, middleware technology that changes the way enterprise software is managed. 

"Our customers today already enjoy best-in-class applications with deep out-of-the-box functionality across a variety of highly specialized industries and micro-verticals. Infor10 sets a new standard for how work gets done. People at work have come to expect the same user experience they encounter in their everyday lives as users of Twitter, Facebook and Google. Infor10 and the Infor10 ION Suite bring that to the workplace," said Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor. "This unique combination provides our existing customers the opportunity to dramatically upgrade and extend their investments in Infor applications, and it gives new customers the next wave of enterprise software innovation they've been seeking."

ION Is the Foundation of Infor10
The Infor10 ION Suite is at the heart of Infor10. ION connects and integrates Infor and non-Infor applications, storing information in a common format and repository. ION allows information that flows among applications, analytics and social media streams to be accessed by users from their desktops, laptops and mobile devices.   

Unlike conventional middleware, the lightweight ION technology is not layered on top of existing applications, but infused into them. As a result, ION makes integrations quicker, simpler and more reliable. "ION creates the mobile, social and flexible enterprise," said Soma Somasundaram, senior vice president, Global Product Development, Infor. "Because it's lightweight and built using open standards, ION installs much faster than heavy middleware and allows customers to get up and running quickly and efficiently so they can focus on their core business." 

ION enables new and existing Infor and non-Infor applications to work as a holistic solution, helping to create streamlined workflows and end-to-end business processes, while improving system performance speed and upgrades.

"We say ION is unbreakable architecture because extensions don't break during upgrades," said Somasundaram. "Most of our customers don't want to be in the technology business. They would rather have IT be more agile and innovative, which is what ION allows them to do."

Infor10 Consumer-Grade Experience
Infor10 Workspace is the front end of Infor10 and designed to deliver a consumer-grade user experience and change the way work is done for the average enterprise user.

"Enterprise software users want to work the way they live," said Duncan Angove, president, Products and Support, Infor. "They can see what's going on in the consumer world, where social media, collaboration and mobile devices combined with beautiful design, ready-to-use applications and agile technology have substantially improved the speed, value and productivity of the consumer experience. With Infor10, we are delivering a consumer-grade user experience that begins with a beautiful user interface."

Infor10 ION Workspace unifies and presents all relevant information for each user on one screen, including role-based workflows, task and alerts, in-context business intelligence, event management, social media collaboration, consumer-like search capabilities, and business activity streams.

Infor10 Complete Industry Applications
ION also makes it possible to connect the rich functionality of leading ERP and best- in-class solutions from Infor and affiliate Lawson Software for specific industries.

Infor10 suites are targeted for Aerospace and Defense; Automotive; Chemicals; Distribution; Equipment Services, Maintenance & Rental; Fashion; Food and Beverage; General Manufacturing; Healthcare; High Tech; Hospitality; Industrial Equipment and  Machinery; and Public Sector.

"Generic one-size-fits-all software requires time-consuming configuration and doesn't address the specific needs of an industry," said Angove. "We believe that speed is the new basis for global competition, and we are building the functionality our customers need not only to address their industry issues right out of the box, but also to eliminate extensive customizations that lead to costly and risky implementations."

Infor10 Reimagines How Software is Managed
The Infor10 release also provides flexible deployment options, including Infor's CloudSuite Platform, to increase an organization's speed and agility.

Customers can run their entire solution on Infor10 CloudSuite or can keep core enterprise systems on premise, while running other applications or services in the Cloud. The Infor10 CloudSuite Platform features a unified user experience and security, and enables two-tiered, hybrid deployments.

Whether customers access functionality from a software-as-a-service (cloud) model or on-premise deployment, they get the same functionality and look-and-feel. The only difference is in how their users connect to core applications. Customers can even move from one deployment model to another, since the same application code is used for all deployment models.

About Infor
Infor is a leading provider of business software and services, helping more than 75,000 customers in 164 countries improve operations and drive growth.  To learn more about Infor10 or Infor, please visit www.infor.com.