Nonetheless, room for improvement remains within ROI Systems. Owing to its sort of a stealth operation and past modest but steady growth and with 10 direct sales offices and nascent business partners primarily in the US, and a few in Canada, and Australia, ROI Systems has achieved only a small market presence in general and is still perceived as a true niche vendor. This, together with its size of slightly over $20 million in revenues, is reflected in limited brand awareness and an undeveloped worldwide channel. This is further aggravated by the fact that while its product exhibits basic multi-currency capabilities it supports only the English language. The result may be a number of missed opportunities as some companies may be seeking global providers for its entire collaborative supply chain management requirements. Also, some customers still appreciate a mind share and dose of flamboyance and display of marketing muscle from their prospective vendors, such as the likes of Microsoft Business Solutions can exert.
Moreover, some MANAGE 2000 modules do not offer distinguishing intrinsic functionality (although there have been a number of readily available interfaces to third-party specialist products such as Agile Software, Demand Solutions, or Frango) even within the "native" discrete manufacturing areas (e.g., complex project management & accounting, multi-national financial consolidation, quality management, forecasting, warehouse management, sales & purchase contracts, and contact management & marketing campaigns). In particular, the financial management modules are best suited for North American rather than multinational enterprises due to very few localization capabilities. This situation might hold also for the native HR and payroll modules.
MANAGE 2000 is not technologically the most exciting product either. Its original user interface has been less than compelling, and ROI had to create its own software called Personal Workstation Software (PWS) to enable MANAGE 2000 to run on a rich Windows client. For sales order processing (SOP) and service management modules, ROI had to disconnect the application presentation code from the database server and to replace its then PWS thin client client/server user interface with a Microsoft ASP Internet enabled graphical user interface (GUI). The vendor is currently developing a Microsoft ASP.NET thin client presentation layer for almost the entire suite, while a number of new portals are slated for the upcoming 7.1 release at the end of 2003.
Another technological pitfall has been that standard application programming interfaces (APIs) were mainly limited to manufacturing functions, thereby requiring ROI and users to, in the past, hard-code the integration with other third-party applications such as financial applications or warehousing. In the new release, however, Universal XML is used throughout the product.. ROI has long provided Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) integration at the desktop thereby enabling links to computer-aided design and PDM applications. ROI Systems also trails most of its direct competitors (e.g., Made2Manage, Epicor or Lilly Software) in its application service providers (ASP)/hosting and Web services interoperability strategy and delivery, which could still be appealing to its target market. Technologically, the product may not be the most suitable as a solution for complex enterprises, worldwide dispersed, with strong requirements on distributed infrastructure, security and interoperability. The above, combined with a possible sharper competitor's focus on a particular industry may tip the scale in favor of the competition in some selection gigs.
Nevertheless, given the above indications, one should expect enhancements along these lines some time in the future, should ROI start hearing louder voices of its prospective customers in that regard. Although MANAGE 2000 may lack sizzle with regards to strategic best-of-breed extensions and cutting-edge technology, its functional depth and breadth, and the vendor's versatile manufacturing experience should compensate for it. Its target customers still appreciate much more the business issues solving rather than to know what is exactly under the hood.
Moreover, some MANAGE 2000 modules do not offer distinguishing intrinsic functionality (although there have been a number of readily available interfaces to third-party specialist products such as Agile Software, Demand Solutions, or Frango) even within the "native" discrete manufacturing areas (e.g., complex project management & accounting, multi-national financial consolidation, quality management, forecasting, warehouse management, sales & purchase contracts, and contact management & marketing campaigns). In particular, the financial management modules are best suited for North American rather than multinational enterprises due to very few localization capabilities. This situation might hold also for the native HR and payroll modules.
MANAGE 2000 is not technologically the most exciting product either. Its original user interface has been less than compelling, and ROI had to create its own software called Personal Workstation Software (PWS) to enable MANAGE 2000 to run on a rich Windows client. For sales order processing (SOP) and service management modules, ROI had to disconnect the application presentation code from the database server and to replace its then PWS thin client client/server user interface with a Microsoft ASP Internet enabled graphical user interface (GUI). The vendor is currently developing a Microsoft ASP.NET thin client presentation layer for almost the entire suite, while a number of new portals are slated for the upcoming 7.1 release at the end of 2003.
Another technological pitfall has been that standard application programming interfaces (APIs) were mainly limited to manufacturing functions, thereby requiring ROI and users to, in the past, hard-code the integration with other third-party applications such as financial applications or warehousing. In the new release, however, Universal XML is used throughout the product.. ROI has long provided Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) integration at the desktop thereby enabling links to computer-aided design and PDM applications. ROI Systems also trails most of its direct competitors (e.g., Made2Manage, Epicor or Lilly Software) in its application service providers (ASP)/hosting and Web services interoperability strategy and delivery, which could still be appealing to its target market. Technologically, the product may not be the most suitable as a solution for complex enterprises, worldwide dispersed, with strong requirements on distributed infrastructure, security and interoperability. The above, combined with a possible sharper competitor's focus on a particular industry may tip the scale in favor of the competition in some selection gigs.
Nevertheless, given the above indications, one should expect enhancements along these lines some time in the future, should ROI start hearing louder voices of its prospective customers in that regard. Although MANAGE 2000 may lack sizzle with regards to strategic best-of-breed extensions and cutting-edge technology, its functional depth and breadth, and the vendor's versatile manufacturing experience should compensate for it. Its target customers still appreciate much more the business issues solving rather than to know what is exactly under the hood.
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