Checkbox Computing

One of the people I pay attention to in the tech world is John C. Dvorak. While he’s not always right, he does provoke our thought process when it comes to technology. In a section of a recent posting (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358568,00.asp), Dvorak mentions the notion of "checkbox computing".  Dvorak theorizes that we have "dumbed down" our [...]

Cloudy with a Chance of Lawson?

I found this recent Lawson press release announcing the hire of a new VP to be curious.  My initial thought was (seriously), what happened to Dean Hager? With economic-driven staffing reductions, and layoffs at Lawson and other software vendors, isn’t this just another top-heavy exec?  Then I started to peel back the layers, and it was [...]

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

No, this post has nothing to do with Lawson.  Except that Lawson S3 supported databases include both Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.  I got an email today from “Internet.com Tech Alerts”, and at first glance, this looked interesting: There are many clients who are running their Lawson applications and opt for Microsoft SQL Server [...]

Can Lawson Remain Relevant?

Some very interesting developments on the mid-market ERP space: Oracle And SAP Race For Mid-Market Opportunities NetSuite Offers ERP iPhone App Microsoft Acquires Midmarket ERP Products What does all this mean for Lawson?  I honestly don’t know what to make of these developments, but remember that this is not the first time we’ve seen this .. Lawson’s Road Ahead: Smooth Ride [...]

No Pain, No Gain?

Sure, it’s a tired adage, but it’s rather fitting. We live in exciting times.  The economy may be down, but everywhere I go, recovery is in the air.  Here in the DC metro area, we have some huge infrastructure projects underway: Addition of high-occupancy toll lanes to the DC Beltway Extension of the Metro rail line to Dulles [...]

Even If You Can’t Reproduce It, It’s Still a Bug

It’s one of my pet peeves. "We can’t enter it as a problem unless we can reproduce it." Several months ago, a client recently asked me to research a journal entry that mysteriously appeared in their General Ledger.   As part of my diagnosis, I determined a likely scenario: when an AR190 job goes into "needs [...]

Caution: Rough Patches Ahead

Recently posted on a LawsonGuru.com forum: Has anyone encountered any problems when moving to ESP 7? We are preparing to move to ESP 7 and are not aware of any problems, but if anyone has any bad experiences, please share. This was immediately responded to by [...]

“We Are All Culpable”

That line comes back to me as I read about a client suing Lawson over a failed implementation. I dunno, but this sure sounds like a pretty typical ERP implementation. But like a failed marriage, there is usually plenty of blame to go around–and, of course, no one willing to take it. Several years ago, [...]

The Morphing of the Enterprise Software Vendor Revenue Model

Is this an anomaly or an interesting market trend in the enterprise software? In case you missed it this past week, Lawson released their latest financial results. The bad news is the dramatic drop in license revenue. The souring of the economy is reflected by the reduction of new implementations. I know a number of organizations [...]

Tell Us About Your S3 Apps Upgrade

Several Lawson clients have asked me about what I’m hearing about the Lawson S3 applications upgrades.  As you know, Lawson S3 apps will be decommissioned in 2010, and clients are in various stages of the upgrade. Join our totally-unscientific poll by telling us where you are in the upgrade process. Posted in Lawson, Lawson S3, Upgrades [...]