On October 16, Lilly Software Associates (LSA) (www.lillysoftware.com), a privately held enterprise applications provider for small and medium sized manufacturing and distribution enterprises, announced VISUAL eBusiness version 3.0, the latest release of its online solution designed to help businesses streamline processes, improve productivity and increase efficiencies through the use of Internet technologies.
Simultaneously, Lilly also released VISUAL eBusiness NOW, a new application service provider (ASP) option that should deliver speed, flexibility, and affordability through Web hosting. Version 3.0 supports business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions for both make-to-stock (MTS) and make-to-order (MTO) environments. It is an extension of Lilly's ERP and warehouse management system (WMS) products, allowing manufacturers and distributors to post catalogs and pricing information on the Web. The self-service features of the application allow customers and distribution partners to view pricing, order status, product features, and produ
ct availability.
Lilly believes that, with the opportunity to implement the application either through an integrated module within the VISUAL product suite or via Lilly's new ASP option, manufacturers and distributors can easily get started with their e-business initiatives.
This is Part Two of a two-part note discussing Lilly Software's recent announcements. Part One covered the announcements, this part discusses the Market Impact and makes User Recommendations.
Market Impact
For the near future Lilly Software (LSA) will leverage its job shop manufacturing domain expertise, the latest technology and object-oriented architecture, and an established distribution channel to pursue mid-sized manufacturers, distributors and distribution-oriented manufacturers.
In the medium-to-long run, LSA will be broadening its offering out to manufacturers and distributors with mixed mode and make-to-stock (MTS) strategies, and mid market enterprises looking for interoperability with other enterprise applications. To that end, the Lilly has struck an alliance with Viewlocity to facilitate interoperability with other ERP systems.
From the technology standpoint, the company has long supported Microsoft's technologies (COM/DNA, ODBC and Office 2000), with a recent embracing and move to Microsoft .NET architecture framework. Its products support almost all relevant databases (SQL Server, Oracle, and IBM DB2/400) and operational systems (NT, Unix and OS/400) platforms.
Earlier this year, the company launched its portal product, called LSAGateway.com. The offering provides access to the Knowledge Center, a customer-support portal; Education Center, for information on education and training opportunities; Market Place, a place to identify other Lilly users as potential customers, vendors, and business partners; and Collaboration Center, for on-line design collaboration. Therefore, with VISUAL eBusiness as part of its solution, and with ASP/ hosting and integration services, Lilly rounds up an impressive arsenal for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The real strength of VISUAL is its integration across all the functions of a manufacturing enterprise from design, via sell, make, distribute, to after-sales service. The fact that virtually all of LSA's applications have been developed in-house, instead of through multiple acquisitions, might be a significant differentiator in the areas of product consistency and integration. Another reason of Lilly's success is its distribution model, which is based solely on an indirect channel. The channel is comprised of over 500 companies and individuals that sell only Lilly's VISUAL product suite.
Challenges
Nevertheless, Lilly Software will have to address certain challenges in order to continue to thrive in this cutthroat competitive environment and to move up-market. Its market awareness and global presence are still insignificant in spite of the recent international expansion like, e.g., in the UK and the Latin America.
Furthermore, the product shows inferior functionality in realms outside of job-shop manufacturing functionality on the plant level and of distribution, like the 'ivory tower' corporate level financial and human resources capability. Moreover, the product does not currently offer the ability to control repetitive production with rate-based scheduling techniques.
Creating and managing individual work orders is still a requirement; hence, it is not well suited for lean manufacturing/pure repetitive environments. Further, it offers only a limited standard costing method, cost simulation and planning tools compared to what most cost accountants are expecting in a "standard cost" system.
While VISUAL's multi-site and multi-national capabilities have been improving (the product currently supports 8 languages), it still has some limitations in handling distributed manufacturing entities - it requires either a completely centralized set of activities for manufacturing and accounting or a completely decentralized one. As an example, there is no ability to perform some functions like production control on a decentralized basis and then to have centralized order entry and accounts receivable. The product also still requires a single database per one manufacturing entity, and it has not been designed for high transaction volume environments.
On the technology front, while Lilly has embraced the above-mentioned trendy Microsoft technology that promises a building-block approach to application development, and XML-based interconnectivity, its vast majority of customers still run on a fat client two-tier client/server architecture. Migrating these onto new, more advanced product releases and/or continued concurrent support of diverse product architectures will demand duplicated R&D resources.
It is also somewhat intriguing that the company neither has multiple prominent functional and technology partners nor ready-made applications programming interfaces (APIs) to other prominent products, which may indicate insufficient product interconnectivity. The mitigating factor though is the company's decent approach towards not overselling its offering and declining to compete in instances where it does not seem its products fit. However, the company's need to re-deploy the product on a new technology and to deliver the needed functionality for its new desired markets, will demand the continued hefty R&D investment, which may put a significant strain on the company's resources in the long run, particularly if the top line remains flat or possibly even declines.
Simultaneously, Lilly also released VISUAL eBusiness NOW, a new application service provider (ASP) option that should deliver speed, flexibility, and affordability through Web hosting. Version 3.0 supports business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions for both make-to-stock (MTS) and make-to-order (MTO) environments. It is an extension of Lilly's ERP and warehouse management system (WMS) products, allowing manufacturers and distributors to post catalogs and pricing information on the Web. The self-service features of the application allow customers and distribution partners to view pricing, order status, product features, and produ
ct availability.Lilly believes that, with the opportunity to implement the application either through an integrated module within the VISUAL product suite or via Lilly's new ASP option, manufacturers and distributors can easily get started with their e-business initiatives.
This is Part Two of a two-part note discussing Lilly Software's recent announcements. Part One covered the announcements, this part discusses the Market Impact and makes User Recommendations.
Market Impact
For the near future Lilly Software (LSA) will leverage its job shop manufacturing domain expertise, the latest technology and object-oriented architecture, and an established distribution channel to pursue mid-sized manufacturers, distributors and distribution-oriented manufacturers.
In the medium-to-long run, LSA will be broadening its offering out to manufacturers and distributors with mixed mode and make-to-stock (MTS) strategies, and mid market enterprises looking for interoperability with other enterprise applications. To that end, the Lilly has struck an alliance with Viewlocity to facilitate interoperability with other ERP systems.
From the technology standpoint, the company has long supported Microsoft's technologies (COM/DNA, ODBC and Office 2000), with a recent embracing and move to Microsoft .NET architecture framework. Its products support almost all relevant databases (SQL Server, Oracle, and IBM DB2/400) and operational systems (NT, Unix and OS/400) platforms.
Earlier this year, the company launched its portal product, called LSAGateway.com. The offering provides access to the Knowledge Center, a customer-support portal; Education Center, for information on education and training opportunities; Market Place, a place to identify other Lilly users as potential customers, vendors, and business partners; and Collaboration Center, for on-line design collaboration. Therefore, with VISUAL eBusiness as part of its solution, and with ASP/ hosting and integration services, Lilly rounds up an impressive arsenal for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The real strength of VISUAL is its integration across all the functions of a manufacturing enterprise from design, via sell, make, distribute, to after-sales service. The fact that virtually all of LSA's applications have been developed in-house, instead of through multiple acquisitions, might be a significant differentiator in the areas of product consistency and integration. Another reason of Lilly's success is its distribution model, which is based solely on an indirect channel. The channel is comprised of over 500 companies and individuals that sell only Lilly's VISUAL product suite.
Challenges
Nevertheless, Lilly Software will have to address certain challenges in order to continue to thrive in this cutthroat competitive environment and to move up-market. Its market awareness and global presence are still insignificant in spite of the recent international expansion like, e.g., in the UK and the Latin America.
Furthermore, the product shows inferior functionality in realms outside of job-shop manufacturing functionality on the plant level and of distribution, like the 'ivory tower' corporate level financial and human resources capability. Moreover, the product does not currently offer the ability to control repetitive production with rate-based scheduling techniques.
Creating and managing individual work orders is still a requirement; hence, it is not well suited for lean manufacturing/pure repetitive environments. Further, it offers only a limited standard costing method, cost simulation and planning tools compared to what most cost accountants are expecting in a "standard cost" system.
While VISUAL's multi-site and multi-national capabilities have been improving (the product currently supports 8 languages), it still has some limitations in handling distributed manufacturing entities - it requires either a completely centralized set of activities for manufacturing and accounting or a completely decentralized one. As an example, there is no ability to perform some functions like production control on a decentralized basis and then to have centralized order entry and accounts receivable. The product also still requires a single database per one manufacturing entity, and it has not been designed for high transaction volume environments.
On the technology front, while Lilly has embraced the above-mentioned trendy Microsoft technology that promises a building-block approach to application development, and XML-based interconnectivity, its vast majority of customers still run on a fat client two-tier client/server architecture. Migrating these onto new, more advanced product releases and/or continued concurrent support of diverse product architectures will demand duplicated R&D resources.
It is also somewhat intriguing that the company neither has multiple prominent functional and technology partners nor ready-made applications programming interfaces (APIs) to other prominent products, which may indicate insufficient product interconnectivity. The mitigating factor though is the company's decent approach towards not overselling its offering and declining to compete in instances where it does not seem its products fit. However, the company's need to re-deploy the product on a new technology and to deliver the needed functionality for its new desired markets, will demand the continued hefty R&D investment, which may put a significant strain on the company's resources in the long run, particularly if the top line remains flat or possibly even declines.
No comments:
Post a Comment