Scala Delivers Highly-Anticipated New Business Functionality on a Web Services Platform

New version of iScala helps customers improve their business processes to drive their sales and increase their profits

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 30 September 2003: Scala Business Solutions today announced the commercial release of the next version of its iScala® Collaborative ERP system.

A wide range of new and improved functionality – including service management, CRM (customer relationship management), SCM (supply chain management), asset management, contract management, resource management, business intelligence, workflow, user interface customization, and connectivity – has been developed in this version to help customers further improve their business efficiency using iScala’s web services architecture.

“With this new release of iScala, we are delivering a comprehensive and integrated range of business solutions that will help our customers grow their profits and outperform their competitors,” said Andreas Kemi, Scala’s CEO. “This release is the result of close cooperation with our customers who identified areas where business efficiency should be improved. Most of these areas have been addressed by the new functionality in the release.”

The company sees strong customer demand for the new iScala version, reflected in its healthy sales pipeline, especially in markets where Scala traditionally performs well, including Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Russia and China. Nearly 60% of Scala’s top customers, including both global and local enterprises, have been actively involved as early adopters since last year, with many of them already running the new version live.

Michael Horn, CIO, Global IM, Tetra Pak, said, “For more than ten years, Scala has helped us tightly-integrate our widespread global operations and align them with our core corporate objectives, providing a strong return on our investment. With the release of this new version of the iScala system, we will bring costs down further as we continue deploying these solutions across our smaller subsidiaries, connecting them with our larger SAP-based back office systems.” Tetra Pak is one of Scala’s longest-standing customers, with Scala solutions implemented in nearly 50 countries.

Available now for customers on a global basis, the new iScala version delivers cost-effective solutions tailored to the specific needs of companies in industry sectors such as industrial machinery, light engineering, automotive, electronics, pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods and not-for-profit organizations.

The Year of the Version Upgrade

According to many industry analysts, companies need to leverage their existing IT investments and ensure they get the latest tools available to support their business strategies. Recent reports by industry analysts indicate that companies are now starting to upgrade and replace the business management systems they acquired in the late 1990s. With a seamless and low-cost upgrade path, iScala is an ideal solution for such companies.

“AMR Research’s ERP Spending Survey and System Selection metrics show an increase in the number of companies intending to purchase new ERP systems or upgrade their existing one,” said AMR analyst Jim Shepherd in an AMR Research Alert1. “This is an excellent time to be buying a new ERP system or expanding an existing one.”

With increased business functionality, comprehensive integration and connectivity capabilities coupled with a crisp new flexible user interface, iScala is the right choice for companies who are considering upgrading or buying a new ERP system.

“We’re seeing big demand for iScala in our market,” said Andrey Shabanov, Managing Director of Scala CIS, Moscow. “No other midmarket software package in the world comes even close to iScala. With its low total cost of ownership, there is no similar product that provides companies with world-class consistent information, a global view of the business, one view of customers or suppliers, and rapid system deployment.

With iScala, companies can make the most of favorable economic opportunities wherever they arise. If they want to start selling in another country, or even in another region within their own country, iScala can immediately support them, making sure there is no gap between decision and action.”

Shabanov added that, due to iScala’s customizable toolbox, workflow and easy-to-use Microsoft®-based technology and tools, the company’s channel partners have the possibility to really adopt the experience for their clients, screens, user inputs, rich functionality and more. “Our channel partners around the world love this product!” stated Shabanov.

iScala Overview

iScala comes in two packages:

• iScala Business Server: Designed to provide a complete collaborative ERP package for the medium-size business needing full ERP functionality, and as a first step towards automating business processes across applications and with customers’ or suppliers’ systems.
• iScala Enterprise Server: Designed to provide a scalable ERP package for business centralization and support for working across multiple sites and subsidiaries, the iScala Enterprise Server includes all the functionality of iScala Business Server. It’s designed as a complete collaborative ERP package for medium-size multinational companies or for the subsidiaries and divisions of large enterprises.

Both servers integrate a broad set of ERP, CRM and SCM business processes, in over 30 languages, oriented to medium-size local companies and the subsidiaries of global companies, wherever they do business.

The iScala Collaborative ERP system includes:

• iScala Core Business Processes: A core set of business processes including multi-currency and multi-legislative financial functionality, asset management and a set of packaged integration solutions (XML-EDI, financials and master data integration) which helps customers to improve the business efficiency of their core processes.
• iScala CRM: Powered by Microsoft CRM and accessible from both Microsoft Outlook® and the web, iScala CRM is easy to use, customize and maintain, integrates with iScala ERP and other business systems, and scales to grow along with a company’s business. With iScala CRM customers can increase their sales success, deliver efficient, consistent customer service, easily share information and make informed, agile business decisions.
• iScala SCM: Packaged to address typical business needs, starting with logistics (purchase and inventory management), warehouse management (including quality control), manufacturing (planning, configuration, shop floor control), tools (such as lead time management, available to promise and drop shipment) and integration solutions.
• iScala Contract Management, Project Management, Service Management: This set of business processes has been significantly improved and extended in the new version of iScala to help customers automate their business processes. This will provide them with significant competitive advantages in the way they manage their businesses.
• iScala Human Resource Management: Includes the global version of the iScala Payroll module which customers can use to improve their personnel management in any country, regardless of how complex their legislation requirements are.
• iScala Business Intelligence (BI) Server: Providing a complete set of business intelligence tools to give users access to information they need when they need it to make the right decisions quickly. Designed to make operational and management reporting easier, iScala BI Server enables users to quickly perform drill-down enquiries and comparative analysis to find out exactly how the business is doing and where improvements are needed.
• iScala Developer: The iScala Developer is an entire development solution for creating vertical and unique company-specific processes inside and outside the iScala system.

Total Business Empowerment

Combining a comprehensive set of processes, collaborative functionality and business intelligence aspects, iScala gives total business empowerment to any local or global company. “The future is not just about collaboration, though,” said Pat Pando, Scala’s VP Global Sales and Marketing. “Our customers demand rock solid back office systems that are quick to implement, simple to maintain and can easily integrate with other systems, whether iScala or other business applications. Back office systems are key to providing management with the information they need to make decisions in real time. By implementing a great solution like iScala, fast, they get information instantly. This is what iScala is good at.”

Mats Gunnarsson, Managing Director for SYSteam Solution Provider, a Scala partner in Sweden, agrees. “Innovations like service management, integrated CRM and SCM capability, global payroll, business intelligence, and integration with the latest Microsoft Office applications, makes iScala one of the best and most comprehensive products for the midmarket,” he said. “iScala is for companies that need to get an overall view of the business as it happens to make swift business decisions in order to grow profits. That’s what companies in our market need and we see growing opportunities for iScala to become a major success with both our existing and new customers.”

Microsoft Platform Commitment

During the past few months, Scala Business Solutions has significantly strengthened its commitment to Microsoft technology, working closely with the company on several levels and early-adopter programs, including CRM and other platform tools. Scala CEO Andreas Kemi commented, “Our software is designed exclusively to run on Microsoft technology. We have been committed to Microsoft technology since 1997 – our overall relationship goes back more than 10 years – and we have adopted many of their technology innovations, adding our own global functionality and connectivity.”

Microsoft recently acknowledged Scala as one of their most important partners when Scala was selected as one of 14 European ISVs (independent software vendors) to participate in Microsoft’s early adopter program for their emerging business application platform, code-named Microsoft Business Framework. Scala’s participation as an early adopter will enable the company to leverage Microsoft’s business application platform and focus on growing sales by providing the key business functionality that customers need to increase their profits. This means that Scala can accelerate delivery to market of additional iScala functionality in the coming years in response to strong customer demand.

Kemi concludes, “We are delighted that Microsoft is committed to helping us bring the proven strengths of the iScala Collaborative ERP system to more markets, faster, giving us access to more users and making our Microsoft-based solutions an even more cost effective and compelling choice for the midmarket.”