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OpenERP V6 released!

For over a year the team at OpenERP, along with their growing community of contributors and partners, has been developing the next big milestone of their comprehensive suite of business applications. Those of us here at Novapoint have been especially excited about the 6.0 release, as one of their goals was to make the version more tailored to U.S. based businesses and users. Since OpenERP is a completely open source and modular approach, we have been able to follow the development closely with our own, that include U.S. geared modules to streamline processes like shipping through UPS and adapting a U.S. based chart of accounts.

Get in contact with us now and we can setup a demo to show you how OpenERP can take your business to the next level.

For a more detailed look at the features of OpenERP V6 check out the announcement.

Open Source Software Use Destined to Rise

In a recent Accenture survey the conclusions indicated that Open Source Software is set to rise.  "It's reached a turning point" with organizations developing clear strategies to leverage the benefits of Open Source software.

Key findings indicated:

1) more than two-thirds of organizations (69 percent) anticipate increased investment in 2010

2) more than a third (38 percent) expecting to migrate mission-critical software to open source in the next twelve months.

The survey also showed when it comes to the benefits of open source there were clear area executives sited:

• 76 percent of respondents in the UK and US cited quality as a key benefit of open source
• Two-thirds overall (71 percent) cited improved reliability
• Better security/bug fixing was cited by nearly as many (70 percent) across countries in survey.
• 50% indicated lower cost as an overall benefit

Let's look at the cost savings findings in more detail as many companies are faced with decisions about investing in technology. For the executive/CFO's in the crowd you'll find these statistics interesting. When executives were asked about the greatest cost savings of open source the vast majority of organizations surveyed believe they can be made on:

• software maintenance costs (71 percent)
• initial software development time (33 percent)
• initial development costs (33 percent).

The key challenge . . . getting executives to understand Open Source. This is where NovaPoint Group can help. Our programs can outline how Open Source software and OpenERP specifically can help your business realize the benefits outlined above. If you're interested in investigating this further to realize the benefits - give us a call at 704-321-4700 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

To receive the original report visit the accenture site at http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5045.

OpenERP on Android

As the world becomes more and more mobile with its computing capabilities . . . OpenERP is no different. Now underway is an effort to bring the OpenERP client to the Android o/s. This will surely help many field personnel and floor personnel that may be looking to leverage power pda's and other mobile devices.

The development is called OpenERPDroid and being managed here  http://github.com/mnts26/OpenERPDroid

Stay tuned for more details . . . we'll keep you updated.

OpenERP - Global Competitiveness

Why is OpenERP and open source software (FOSS) critical to Global Manufacturing Competitiveness – and business in general in the state of 21^st century manufacturing?

Recently NovaPoint Group had an opportunity to review Deloitte’s 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index. It’s an interesting perspective on the current business environment and global competitiveness taken from responses from 400 senior manufacturing executives worldwide.

A key takeaway from the report is:

“First, strength in research and development—paired with engineering, software, and technology integration abilities—are viewed by global executives as a vital element of the talent-driven and innovative manufacturing enterprise of the 21st century.”

Other conclusions (some more obvious than others):

• A globally competitive manufacturing sector creates a sustainable economic ecosystem
• It creates good jobs
• A strong manufacturing sector strongly influences other sectors (e.g. healthcare, financial services, logistics . . . you get the idea)
• Since manufacturing is a critical influencer of an economy, countries must build an environment in which manufacturing can thrive.
• Manufacturers can locate in any part of the world that they believe gives them competitive advantage, and best serves their customers.

Competitiveness was weighted by several factors in the report. How does your own company perform in these areas?

What does all this have to do with OpenERP and open source software (FOSS)? In NovaPoint Group’s High-Performance model the constant is change. We believe software should be flexible enough to constantly be modified to adapt and respond to innovation in a business and drive continuous improvement. In most companies, with legacy or ill-designed software applications this just isn’t possible. How would a business rank their software on “ability to change” and "modifiable”? How costly is it to generate new innovation in your business and processes? Does your software hinder the business or enable it?

The overall framework of OpenERP is built with change in mind and supports a strong model for innovation. OpenERP is not an “Install it – don’t mess with it for 5 years approach” like many software packages that are too costly to upgrade/modify or add additional components. OpenERP allows companies the opportunity to change and modify their applications.

Second, the global community of OpenERP developers are constantly introducing new modules and capabilities to OpenERP – most free of charge. This gives a company that use OpenERP an innovation advantage with a low-cost ability to experiment, extend, and deploy new capabilities at a tremendous velocity. Even the largest robust commercial software packages don’t have the OpenERP type of open global development velocity. And from a “global competitiveness” standpoint, if OpenERP is adopted in countries in which you compete (NOTE: observe many of the up-and-coming countries are readily adopting open source readily) how can your company match or surpass their capabilities/flexibility. One way is to investigate and research their practices.

The reason NovaPoint Group actively promotes OpenERP is that it fits into our HIGH-PERFORMANCE MODEL as the way technology should support a business. It should be flexible and support innovation. And while no application is every “perfect”, we certainly believe companies have an opportunity to become more competitive by implementing OpenERP. Many commercial ERP software vendors we speak with and interact with on IT forums take the position “Open Source Software's advantage is only about the initial price – after that everything is the same.” This is incorrect – especially for OpenERP. We believe OpenERP is better because it offers a great combination of factors: a better underlying framework, the advantage of a global community to drive new capabilities, it is typically lower cost – which enables companies to allocate capital and resources to other productive areas of a business (think Opportunity Cost), it is easily deployed and extended, supports multiple languages and currencies, and most importantly supports a model of innovation – which according to the Deloitte study is the #1 factor for a competitive business.

Now . . . how well do you compete?