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Cost, inflexibility and underperformance are top ERP headaches for mid-sized firms

ERP market leaders, SAGE, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics, are not delivering says new research

18 October 2011, UK – The big hitters in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are failing to meet the needs of medium-sized firms, according to new research published today by Intact Software, conducted by YouGov. The research shows that business management software is now widespread in medium-sized firms with 61 per cent using at least one of the three most well known brands, SAGE, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics. However, 75% of these respondents are experiencing problems and many want to replace their systems, citing maintenance costs (33 per cent), inflexibility (19 per cent) and underperformance (23 per cent) as some of the main issues.

Only 6 per cent of the (18) SAP users and 8 per cent of the (26) Microsoft Dynamics users surveyed like their system and don’t want to replace it. Upgrade costs may be driving this with 56 per cent of SAP users and 38 per cent of Microsoft Dynamics users citing problems in this area.  More than half (58 per cent) of respondents said that a main reason ERP implementations fail is because the software fails to match the business processes and 37 per cent said the software is not fit for purpose.

The research coincides today with the launch of Intact Software’s next generation ERP platform, Intact iQ, a highly customisable business management/ERP solution that Intact claims can be delivered and implemented up to 80 per cent faster than competing products.

“ERP systems should fit a business – not the other way around. It is very worrying to see that for many medium-sized companies, the solutions currently available are by and large failing to deliver,” said Paul Marry, CEO Intact Software. “We respect that customers want to run their business the way they want it to be run and believe Intact iQ offers them a real alternative; a framework that flexes to cost-effectively and quickly create an entirely customised solution, growing and adapting to satisfy present and future needs.”

The survey found that the top three problems encountered with business management software or ERP systems are:

1. Costly to upgrade (30 per cent of respondents)

2. Costly to maintain (22 per cent of respondents)

3. It is inflexible and cannot adapt to meet changing business needs (20 per cent)

Leeds-based electrical engineering company, Scattergood and Johnson is the first firm to replace several of their business process tools with Intact iQ. Commenting on the deployment, Robert Hargreaves, CEO at Scattergood & Johnson said, “We didn’t want to compromise our day to day business processes but we needed to improve information flow across our branches. After several previous attempts at replacing our systems we were cautious to put it mildly. Intact iQ provided us with a single system that replicated and integrated our processes across Sales, Finance, Stock and Purchasing. We are benefitting from the latest technology, including workflow and alerts and have every confidence that Intact iQ will improve our service levels today and support our growth tomorrow.”

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All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 137 IT and finance middle managers and above, in firms with between 50 and 999 employees, excluding companies in public and financial sectors. Fieldwork was undertaken between 4th - 7th October 2011.  The survey was carried out online.

About Intact Software
Intact Software is a pioneering developer of business management/ERP software. The company’s sole focus is on advancing and supplying innovative business management software to customers who want to run their business the way they want to.  Intact Software offers customised solutions that reflect the most complex of business processes but crucially, can deliver them quickly and cost-effectively. This empowers customers to create and protect their own competitive advantage.

For two decades, through a dedicated Channel Partner Network, the company’s software has been chosen by and successfully implemented in over 2,000 companies (10,000 + end users).  Headquartered in Ireland, Intact Software holds international offices in the UK and the Mediterranean. 

Intact iQ is Intact Software’s next generation business management software delivering extendibility, scalability and advanced customisation.  From 1 to 100's of users, Intact iQ has the ability to flex and grow with a business so it will never have to replace business management software again. It is a fully integrated solution and includes all the elements needed to run a successful business (Financials, Commercials, Customer Relationship Management and Business Intelligence).  As a single product, it can be quickly customised to suit the unique requirements of any business in a cost effective and timely manner.

For further information please visit: www.intactsoftware.co.uk

Contact details:
Berkeley PR
Carolann Bara / Claire Hutchison
0118 909 0909