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 | | From: | sully79 at gmail.com | | Subject: | My company needs a mini-ERP. | | Date: | Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:51:44 -0600 |
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 | My retail company is currently doing approx. 7 million dollars per year in sales, through a call center and website, and have 19 employees. Our current system is really terrible, and is unable to integrate with our shipping software (UPS worldship) or our website. We are looking for an integrated solution so we can avoid double data entry, have better inventory tracking, etc. We don't have a ton of money to spend.
I have been doing a lot of research and have narrowed it down to 2 companies, iCode and Coresense. I have found a lot of bad information regarding iCode in forums (including in this group) and in reviews. It seems a lot of companies never actually end up implementing iCode's Everest after purchasing the software for $50,000+. However, I like the fact that Everest is hosted in-house.
With Coresense, it is a different issue. This is a relatively new company (4 years old), founded by 2 ex RPI students, who are now approx. 22 years old. They have brought in a more experienced CEO, but I assume they still run the company. I have found a lot of information on the founder of the company (Richard Gabriel), but cannot really find any non-sales related reviews, article or forum posts online. The Coresense software looks unbealievable on paper, and I am having trouble believing.
Does anyone have experience with either of these two software companies? Or can you provide information about a company that I have overlooked?
Thank you in advance.
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 | | From: | eplanet | | Subject: | Re: My company needs a mini-ERP. | | Date: | Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:41:04 -0600 |
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 | You might want to take a look at Interprise Suite.
Not only is it free, but it is written in the new Microsoft .NET platform (which is the future of all Microsoft technology). It is a client / server application like everest, but can also run via web services allowing you to connect remote offices and employees.
They also have a UPS module in the application that replaces worldship - it uses the new UPS Web Services. Its actually better than worldship since you can setup multiple computers to process UPS shipments.
You may want to save yourself some real money and check them out http://www.interprisesuite.com/
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 | | From: | brojas at accllc.com | | Subject: | Re: My company needs a mini-ERP. | | Date: | Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:41:07 -0600 |
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 | I may have a solution to fit your needs and budget. Please contact me so I can learn more about your business and your software needs. Thanks! Brad Rojas Advanced Computer Concepts, LLC 225-253-3177
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 | | From: | badbrd | | Subject: | Re: My company needs a mini-ERP. | | Date: | Thu, 06 Jan 2005 14:05:39 -0600 |
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 | You might want to take a look at compiere. Compiere seems to be the major open source erp/crm product out there with 750,000 downloads or something like that. It is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 most active projects at sourceforge.net (the world's largest open source project website).
Compiere's capabilities are pretty deep. For example, a web store built on its technology is automatically linked to the order entry system and will thus drive your fulfillment process the same way a call center order does. I believe that integration with your system is feasible. POS with scanners can be integrated for retail. It is built with java technology and currently runs on oracle. It will run on any major platform...windows, unix, and linux and could be hosted in-house or via a co-location service over the net. The main developer of the program worked for various erp companies (oracle, sap, etc.) over the years and thus has deep experience in the industry. It is definitely serious software.
While compiere is open source, and is therefore free to download and use, guaranteed support is provided by various commercial entities such as Compiere, Inc. and its partner network. I believe that support and an embedded oracle license would run your company around $3000-$5000 a year or so, which is probably a bargain when compared to proprietary offerings. Migrating your data from one version of the software to another is included as part of the support. Your real costs in taking advantage of the software are then based on your own ability to understand and customize the software to your own needs. There are a growing number of people out there who could provide this service for you. The costs for this aspect of the implementation would be comparable to proprietary implementations...but overall you probably end up saving money and getting powerful technology that will continue to evolve for years to come. Perhaps most importantly, using a major open source product such as compiere is good risk management, as your erp software doesn't become hardware when some vendor goes belly up. Please don't misconstrue this as bashing any of the products you mentioned as I don't know anything about them. My point is that the aformentioned risk is always there when dealing with proprietary software. With open source, as long as the project remains under development, you control your own destiny, as you can always hire a developer who is familiar with the product.
Take a look at www.compiere.org for info on the product, and www.compiere.com for info on paid support. I don't work for compiere but am just someone who has been working with it for some time. Feel free to contact me if you need more info. I've recently been getting into the business of doing consulting with this product and am interested in assisting someone with an evaluation of the product. I am soon to be based in NYC and have an office in Chicago as well.
sully79@gmail.com wrote: > My retail company is currently doing approx. 7 million dollars per year > in sales, through a call center and website, and have 19 employees. > Our current system is really terrible, and is unable to integrate with > our shipping software (UPS worldship) or our website. We are looking > for an integrated solution so we can avoid double data entry, have > better inventory tracking, etc. We don't have a ton of money to spend. > > I have been doing a lot of research and have narrowed it down to 2 > companies, iCode and Coresense. I have found a lot of bad information > regarding iCode in forums (including in this group) and in reviews. It > seems a lot of companies never actually end up implementing iCode's > Everest after purchasing the software for $50,000+. However, I like > the fact that Everest is hosted in-house. > > With Coresense, it is a different issue. This is a relatively new > company (4 years old), founded by 2 ex RPI students, who are now > approx. 22 years old. They have brought in a more experienced CEO, but > I assume they still run the company. I have found a lot of information > on the founder of the company (Richard Gabriel), but cannot really find > any non-sales related reviews, article or forum posts online. The > Coresense software looks unbealievable on paper, and I am having > trouble believing. > > Does anyone have experience with either of these two software > companies? Or can you provide information about a company that I have > overlooked? > > Thank you in advance.
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 | | From: | enterpriseswguru | | Subject: | Re: My company needs a mini-ERP. | | Date: | Wed, 19 Jan 2005 22:37:15 -0600 |
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 | Check out microERP by Altaprise, Inc. They have recently open sourced their product. We have been using it for about 4 years. I have an small mfg firm (~4Mil revenues). Works great. Feel free to contact me. They are at www.altaprise.com
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