Interprise Suite Overview

Interprise Suite is an entirely new application written from the ground up to meet the needs of businesses in today’s “connected” world. While most “new” business software is actually a re-write of an older legacy system, Interprise Suite is free from the compromises required to maintain backwards compatibility with an older legacy application.

Compared to existing systems on the market today, Interprise Suite is a significant leap forward in terms of connectivity, features, scalability, flexibility and price. The more you learn about Interprise Suite the more you will come to learn that nothing else compares.

Connected

Generally speaking, business applications today come in two types: desktop applications designed to run over the LAN and “on demand” browser based applications designed to run over the internet. The problem is neither one of these solutions really meet the need of today’s “connected” business.

Interprise Suite bridges this gap giving businesses the connectivity they want, without sacrificing the performance and rich user interface they have come to expect from a desktop application. Whether a user is connecting to Interprise Suite via the LAN or Internet, Interprise Suite’s state-of-the-art “Smart Client” technology will automatically optimize itself based on the connection method.

For companies that do not need connectivity, Interprise Suite can be installed on a local area network just like any other Client / Server application.

Integrated

In addition to offering state of the art technology, Interprise Suite is the most feature rich application of its kind. Developed around an intuitive, easy to use interface, most users are able to start working in Interprise Suite in a matter of minutes. It has been developed with 16 years in depth knowledge of the lower to mid market place and user requirements.

As a fully integrated solution, Interprise Suite is able to handle business processes from beginning to end and from country to country. Unlike separate systems that require costly integration that can break with each new upgrade, Interprise Suite is a fully integrated solution for the lowest cost of ownership of any product in its class.

Very affordable

Interprise Suite is the most affordable application of its kind.

Interprise Suite is free at the standard single user version and £2500 per 5 User License making it very good value for money.

Customisable

An amendable system will allow you to get nearer and nearer to 100% satisfaction and business fit for any specific requirements you may have. This makes you more and more productive. The system is also economically amendable which means your developer can charge a realistic cost for amendments.

Interprise has a Plug-in Architecture which means amendments can be made to the system and reapplied when upgrades or updates take place easily. This means you do not get stuck on the version you have which is a common problem with other systems.

Plain Paper Approach

We wanted to solve common issues with other systems. We took a plain paper approach to issues like, Cost of Goods Sold and FIFO costing method issues which never worked that well in other systems due to goods being sold before the Bill came in. Average costs going wrong and the stock valuation was inaccurate. Foreign currency revaluation was also a common mess in other systems.

We wanted something that put these issues right and also allowed a user to prove the figures any moment of the day. This took a lot more time to do but we have now a system that will be better for a user and easier to support because of it.

Wide Area Networking and Why Smart Client?

Most companies today need a mobile solution. They have branches and mobile workers. A product that allows them to have full functionality and the same user interface wherever they are will give the user much better productivity. All systems in the market place today are a compromise in some area to get this functionality until now.

Interprise Suite is the first of a new breed of software applications called “Smart Client” or “SOA” applications that bring together the best aspects of a traditional desktop application with its rich user interface, amendability, easy printing and a browser based application with its advanced internet connectivity. This allows Interprise Suite to provide the best of both worlds allowing users to use the application whether in the office, at home or on the move.

The Yankee Group released a study at the current state of the SMB Accounting Market and based on its research “…urges vendors to consider redesigning products to embrace a service-oriented architecture [Smart Client] and give customers a choice of on-demand or on-premise delivery models…” In that report they continued, “the vendor overcoming these obstacles [the need for applications suited for the demands of anytime, anywhere access for the mobile workforce] will be well positioned to seize future growth opportunities”.

We are in the fortunate position to have an application that does this right here right now. What is your existing software vendor doing about this? It’s not a feature than can be added later as it cuts straight to the heart of the application design.

There are applications in the marketplace that allow wide area networking (remote access) functionality but there is always some down side to the implementation. They also mean additional cost, complexity, and the actual user interface does not give the exact functionality of the LAN version like limitations when printing. They are typical heavy footprint applications and usually have good user interfaces, are easier to amend and are responsive. To make these work remotely or over a wide area network requires Terminal Services or Citrix as you get more users. There is a cost and complexity to use these products as well as limitations like printing when using them.

Some of the above have a web client, which in reality is the worst of all worlds as it is effectively 2 different applications to manage, host, amend, implement, learn and support. A lot of the time the functionality is different as well due to the nature of the interfaces. A user would be better off with Citrix in reality at least they are using the same application. The web client suffers from the same issues that other web-based applications have. Bandwidth is usually a real issue in these type of applications as the system is usually hosted on customer site.

The best points about a browser based application are its easy to deploy, update and has a broad reach. However web based applications do hurt useability as data entry is not as easy as in a desktop application, it must have an Internet connection, speed is dependent on the bandwidth available, printing usually means printing to pdf first and amendability is limited. Also a hosted only option is a typical restriction so a user with a reasonable number of users cannot have a LAN option. You are at the hosted application companies mercy when it comes to price increases and service.

In the real world if a user had the option they would have a Local Area Network (LAN) solution that also allows connectivity to other branches and remote users with the same user interface, functionality and easy deployment. Interprise allows the LAN users to run over the LAN and the remote users over the Internet in this way. I.e. the best of both worlds. You could rent a hosted server and run the application if your preference is hosted. This means you can shop around for better service and price for your hosted server.

"Certainly, smart-client environments are the absolute future" - Bank Technology News
Gartner estimates that by 2010, 80% of midrange businesses will be deploying SOA [smart client applications] to enable them to benefit from compelling business advantages including: Improved business agility, Reduced software development costs, More efficient, streamlined business processes and Simpler application integration.
"Smart Client Applications: The Best of both worlds - The Desktop and The Web" - Jupiter Research
"Through smart clients, organisations can take advantage of a powerful combination: the traditional productivity of business applications and new web based technology that can help companies customize and streamline information access to create more connected, responsive and agile businesses" - Microsoft
Giga information group predict a significant increase in Smart Client use within 3 years, replacing traditional fat clients and thin clients.

Integrated

Interprise Suite is a truly integrated system. It has fully integrated CRM, Accounting, Stock Control, Order Processing, Business Intelligence, Reports, eCommerce, email, fax, document management and more.

A truly integrated system is one that looks and feels the same and follows the same business logic rather than a "bag of bits". Only having to learn one product and have one database of information greatly increases productivity. It also saves cost and complexity to run such an application.

Systems that are disparate require synchronisation, which is a continuous nightmare for the user and supporting companies. Procedures to follow and Rules about what does what between different systems are a serious issue. Take for example something simple like editing or deleting a customer record what decides what updates or restricts which system and this gives you an idea of the many issues, even simple ones, that have to be addressed.

A common scenario is one of a system getting an upgrade and the integration then not working. When using an API rather than file transfer this is even more prone to the problem and more complex to fix.

Support is a major issue when you have disparate systems and the finger wagging that can occur between the different software vendors or supporting resellers when a problem occurs. The problems are always complex and an understanding or skill sets with both products is required usually to resolve it. The user in the middle has a lot of hassle and unproductive time for their users while it is sorted out. This can cause serious loss of productivity.

The lack of integration by vendors that supply both ERP and CRM systems show how difficult it is to integrate disparate systems even when they have full control over them, so products from different suppliers will be even worse. After so many years with these products if they could integrate them properly they would have done it by now.

Maintenance and support costs are usually a lot more than an integrated system due to the additional complexities, skill sets and multiple companies involved.

The rudimentary integration that results from tying together separate ERP and CRM systems provides at the best a snap shot in time rather than a real time view into the business performance which is essential to staying competitive and effectively managing and growing a business. The integrations of multiple systems patched together typically always fall short of a vendors promise as well as being more expensive.

Integration is something that is brushed under the carpet at sale time and typically wrapped up with a loose spec and so many development days that never seem to deliver the end result the user first envisaged. The final result a dissatisfied customer who has not had value for money and certainly not a positive promoter of the brand involved or the reseller.

This is the one area that will give a user much better productivity and it seems incredible its been ignored for so long.

Examples of features an integrated system should have are as follows. If it does not do it out of the box then a good bet would be that it will never do it in an acceptable way.

One Look and Feel, One Business Logic and One Database
Incoming and Outgoing email is automatically attached to customer or supplier activity records. Ask for some reference sites that actually do it as they may say it does it but whether it works reliably is another matter.
Target lists that can be created based not just on fields in the database but also custom fields created by the user and most importantly the sales history data. Lets take the example that you have some slow moving stock or are offered some stock at a good price from a supplier. You need to be able to quickly and easily see who has ever bought these items or items within this product group as targeting these companies has the best chance of success in moving the stock. Can these target lists also be used in a marketing campaign so you can create call lists, faxes, emails or letters based on it.
Identifying cross sell and up sell opportunities when quoting or doing an order for a customer. I.e. companies that buy this item also buy these items, which prompt the user to ask the question when talking to them or doing a quote or order. Also the ability to add the items easily to an order as you are doing it.
Buying history patterns so you can identify if a customer is not buying anymore or has gone elsewhere so you can address it. Again this is prompting the user to ask the customer to make sure you are not loosing the business and if you are find out why.
Create Quotes linked to Opportunities that are based on customer special pricing set-up in the customer record or stock system. Also conversion of a quote to an order easily. Some systems do quotes and link to opportunities but do not then allow conversion to an order or use the stock items and special pricing in the ERP system. Some systems do the other which is quote and conversion to order and use special pricing but the quote is within the ERP system and so cannot be linked to an opportunity and used in opportunity management or sales force automation in CRM.
Conversion of a lead or prospect to a customer and opportunity.
Activities such as calls, call backs, meetings, cases, opportunities, credit control information, transaction history, outstanding orders etc are all linked to a customer record. Can you get a contact and customer centred view of all things that have occurred or are happening to them in one place.
Customers can have many contacts and the ability to see a Contact centred view of the activities, emails etc. i.e. just the information linked to that contact.

Customisable

The ability to be able to amend a product is the real difference between a happy user longer term and not. It allows the user as they change their requirements to keep on using the system and get nearer and nearer to 100% satisfaction with the product. A little change here and there makes each company that uses it more productive and happy about using it.

It also has to be economically amendable so a dealer or developer can make money from any amendments but also the end user gets value for money. The development framework in Interprise allows a developer to create small amendments or large vertical market applications easily and quickly. We share the objects which really speeds up the development process. Its industry standard and best practices so no having to get multiple skill sets which makes developers less productive.

One of the biggest problems that a developer has when customizing the source code of an existing application is how to incorporate the updates and upgrades of the original application into the customized application. Developers have had to either completely “break” from the original application leaving them responsible for bug fixes, new features and technology changes or to spend hundreds of hours “reprogramming” their customizations into the latest versions of the original application “again and again”.

To overcome the problems associated with customizing the source code, Interprise Suite was designed with an extendable architecture that allows you to easily separate custom code from the main application code via .NET user controls that have been designed to “plug-in” to the Interprise Suite forms. In Interprise Suite every form is comprised of a base form that contains multiple .NET user controls (plug-ins) for the presentation of the user interface. By replacing one or more of the existing “plug-ins” with your own custom “plug-in(s)” you can change the functionality associated with that part of the form. As new updates and upgrades are available, you simply re-apply your custom plug-ins and your customizations are back in place.

This approach greatly simplifies a developer’s ability to keep their customized application up to date while providing the customizations that their company / clients need. In addition to the extendable architecture, Interprise Suite also contains a number of pre-written code objects that greatly simplify common tasks such as searching for data, reading data, saving data etc. By using these prewritten objects as much as possible you are able to take advantage to the enhancements of these objects as the .NET platform evolves allowing your customized application to move to 64-bit windows and Microsoft Longhorn much easier.

The SDK is available free of charge to developers via the Connected Business Platform Website.

Affordable

The gap between entry level software and Mid Market Solutions is a massive jump for nothing extra in reality apart from a higher maintenance and support cost. There is not much justification for the price. They do not provide the user with any major productivity gains or help make the user any more money. We recognise that a lot of users need a package priced in between that’s better value for money but also brings real business benefits that make it worth upgrading. You can start with single user and go to hundreds of users and all that will change is the activation key.

Plain Paper Approach

We wanted to solve common issues with other systems. We took a plain paper approach to issues like, Cost of Goods Sold and FIFO costing method issues which never worked that well in other systems due to goods being sold before the Bill came in. Average costs going wrong and the stock valuation was inaccurate. Foreign currency revaluation was also a common mess in other systems. We wanted something that put these issues right and also allowed a user to prove the figures any moment of the day. This took a lot more time to do but we have now a system that will be better for a user and easier to support because of it.

This is not a rewrite of other applications. We have taken the best bits from other systems and redefined a lot of other areas. Based on over 16 years experience of the SMB market place and user requirements we have created a system that will give you lots of reasons to want to move to Interprise Suite for the benefits you will get. The software industry seems to have stood still for many years offering users no more than they already have. The more you learn about Interprise Suite the more you will think your existing system is holding your business back!