Jerry Foster’s You Tube Video Provides Hope & Breath of Fresh Air

It’s very compelling and complementary when you find a blog that is just wishing Plexus Online was focusing on their industry. In Delyan Raychev’s blog today he has explained SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and hopes for our entry into the Higher Education market to relieve this market from the high cost that SAP and Sunguard have driven into it.

Jerry Foster’s YouTube video is referenced in Delyan’s blog as a great example of SaaS and he lists the following as the key bullets from Jerry’s video.

• SaaS (specifically Plexus Online) promises 99.9 uptime 24/7
• always "latest and greatest" software for each customer - monthly, daily, hourly updates
• SaaS is mature - not future but past - Plexus Systems have been providing it for 9 years

Delyan, Plexus Online is dedicated to focusing 100% of our resources on the manufacturing market and has no current plans to change that direction. You’ve provided a compelling call for Plexus Online to help in your industry. Maybe Someday…

You can view Delyan’s entire blog entry HERE.

SaaS Kills Legacy Apps

ERP (dull!) + Manufacturing (depressing!)+ SaaS (exciting!) = SUCCESS

• Enterprise software is horrible, and everybody hates it
• 70% of ERP deployments are failures (Gartner)
• TCO far outweighs the benefits – yet average lifespan for an ERP deployment is 7 to 10 years (Forrester)
• New features and custom requests take months for implementation, often are not supported in upgrades

Software as a Service wins

• Salesforce.com has made the case for SaaS
• BUT, most think of SaaS as only for “point” solutions
• They’re WRONG – SaaS can deliver it all!

Plexus Online: True ERP via SaaS

Multi-tenant and on-demand since 2001
Full-featured system - 350 integrated modules – “shop floor to top floor”

Plexus Replaces Infor Globally
$1.2 Billion Global Manufacturer

• Dissolved JV in US and needed to replace aging Infor solution
• US operation selected Plexus
• Japanese parent then selected Plexus for global operations – 35 plants in 17 countries
• US went live with 6 plants within 10 months of purchase

Plexus Replaces Oracle, Displaces SAP
$350 Million Auto Supplier

• Former Oracle shop
• Almost selected SAP when we were introduced
• PO within 3 months of first contact
• Many customizations
• 7 Plants, 3 countries – ERP, MES, EDI in 9 months

Company Abandons Oracle, Selects Plexus
$70 Million Company

• IT Department selected Oracle
• Company paid $500k for software then sought bids for implementation
• Best bid was $2.5 million and 2 years
• Walked away from the Oracle investment and put in Plexus Online

Plexus Wins Because The Product Is Great

• COMPLETE solution for manufacturers
• Ease of use drives “day 1” adoption by users
• Software evolves constantly
• 100% success rate for deployments
• 100% satisfied customer base
• 100% customer retention
• Results: Annual growth rate exceeding 45%, >350 current clients
• Plexus Systems: Shop Floor to Top Floor
  
  

Blogging fun at SaaSy Software

Yes, this is getting to be quite fun. I'm starting to see some results in the search engines with this blog. They are long tail top pages, I'll take it. Today someone at Dayton Progress Corp found my blog in Google on their search for "plant performance monitoring" manufacturing. The best one has to be the search on Google for manufacturing industries websites!

It's also showing a global reach in the logs. SaaSy software has been spotted in Spain, when Telefonica Data Espana found the web site using the search terms "erp saas". If you click on that last link for erp saas take a look at who holds that first space. I know the person who works on optimization for that site too!

I hit the 50 yes 50 page view mark today and the following notification was in my email box for me to find and grin at.

Your site, 'mail.exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://kim-hayward.blogspot.com/%27 has received 50 page view(s) so far TODAY. This notice has been sent based on your 'sassysoftware' traffic statistics account settings.

Oh yes, not to forget the first comment was also waiting in my email this morning. The Quality Software & Analysis: Software Takes on ISO gained the # 1 comment on the SaaSy Software blog. Sir James E. Watkins said: hello...hello...hello.... so with the hello, I headed over to see his site, he has made a fantastic site at Promise of Light Publications. It's worth a look if you have a moment.

~Kim

Plexus Online Channel Partner Program

Plexus Online manufacturing software can manage a company’s entire business from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and sales to purchasing, production, quality, shipping and accounting. It also provides advanced traceability and genealogy. The cost-effective software is web-hosted, which lets companies use Plexus’ world-class data center and avoid buying and maintaining costly computer equipment.

The Plexus Channel Partner Program allows companies with established install bases to generate significant revenue by selling the entire Plexus Online suite or individual modules as an add-on to existing solutions such as Microsoft Business Solutions, Oracle Solutions, QAD and SAP. Partners also receive marketing materials from Plexus Systems and will be invited to a user conference each year, which will keep them up-to-date on advances in Plexus Online software.

“Plexus Systems has been continuously successful selling against the biggest names in our industry, “said Michael Grant, Channel Manager for Plexus Systems. “We are committed to helping our Channel Partners achieve the same level of success.”

Who Will Lead The Manufacturing Evolution?

On Demand Software Delivery is here and it will grow substantially in the coming years. Recent announcements by nearly all of the biggest software vendors about On Demand Software Delivery shows that the success of companies like SalesForce.com has caught everyone’s attention — customers and software vendors alike. You know who started the revolution, which software companies will evolve to be the leaders?

For over a decade, Plexus Systems, Inc. (Auburn Hills, Mich.) has maintained a singular vision -- to drive significant cost, quality, traceability and productivity improvements in the manufacturing sector from the shop floor to the top floor. Plexus Online is the first true on demand manufacturing performance system. It delivers a powerful, real-time interface to the total manufacturing process. With the ability to manage a single facility or an entire enterprise, Plexus Online allows manufacturers to closely track critical aspects of their operation, anywhere, anytime.

The award winning Plexus Online manufacturing intelligence system enables the collection, presentation and analysis of critical, real-time data to decision makers throughout the enterprise and the supply chain. By having a common shared platform, tomorrow's knowledge workers can reach beyond the confines of their offices with anyone they need to do business with - customers, partners, suppliers - all without any barriers. Plexus Online allows a company’s entire chain of command to get the information they need on demand, anytime, anywhere. Companies can pull together their separate functions into a lean, highly profitable whole to successfully compete in today’s global manufacturing marketplace.

It comes down to the customer experience, making a product easier to use for a customer and evolving it as quickly as possible to meet the customer's needs. Plexus Online software delivered as a service enables that and packaged software does not.

Benefits of using Plexus Online include, better decision making through more timely and accurate information, complete integration, improves coordination among employees, customers, and suppliers, easier administration, automatic software updates, all users have the same version of software, increase revenue through differentiation, strong control mechanisms, high quality, innovative links with customers, global accessibility, etc.

Plexus Online is the on demand business solution specifically designed for automotive suppliers and other manufacturing companies. As an Internet-based system Plexus Online requires no infrastructure to implement. It links together multiple plants as well as customers, suppliers and employees into a centralized database of real-time information that is accessible no matter where they are in the world. It also is ideal for fast and flexible deployment in a time of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other rapid changes.