SMB Research – Report from Enterprise 2.0 Boston 2011

TechWeb's Enterprise 2.0 Boston Conference 2011

SMB Research spent some time this past week at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference.  The TechWeb folks put on a very good conference as they usually do, crafting a lot of different sessions on a lot of different topics.  If you have anything to do with social media, or are working on your company’s social business strategy, this is really a can’t miss event.  Put this on your calendar for next year:  June 18 – 21, 2012, in Boston.  The theme of this year’s conference “Building Social Business” reflects a maturation of the market from the conceptual to the execution in social business strategy.  An estimated 1,600 attendees descended on the new venue this year, Boston’s Hynes Convention Center, to share ideas and strategies.

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SMB Research – Taking Stock: Microsoft SharePoint, Plex Systems, Salesorder.com

SMB Research attended SPTechCon Boston 2011 this week, and the highlight (as you might infer if you are keeping up the SMB Research Blog) were the exhibitors.  We diligently trolled the booths looking for SMB and midmarket stories, and vendors and service providers servicing same.

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Living it up at SPTechCon Boston 2011

Microsoft SPTechCon Boston 2011

[This post has been updated June 5, 2011 to correct some errors that an alert reader has pointed out to me.]

OK, granted, it was my own fault for coming to this, a mistake I am not likely to repeat.  You go to enough conferences, and sooner or later you make the mistake of thinking that everyone knows how to put on an event that isn’t lame.

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Social Media from the Legal Perspective

We hear so often about Social Media from the technological or strategic viewpoint that I was not quite sure what to expect from the GSMI’s (Global Strategic Management Institute‘s) event, “Social Media: Legal Risks & Strategy”.   While many of us are understandably excited about the promise and the opportunity of social media, the legal aspects are ignored at our own peril.

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SMB Research – Taking Stock: SYSPRO, Lawson Software, Interprise Solutions

SYSPRO, the long-time private ERP vendor will be presenting on June 8, 2011 in New York City at the Atlantic Design and Manufacturing Show.   SYSPRO has been around for more than 30 years, and continually showing up on the evaluation lists of midsize companies, particularly in the food, medical devices, electronics, machinery/equipment and distribution industries, looking for a cost-effective full-featured system. [Read more...]

Infor Global Solutions Acquires Lawson Software

Lawson Software‘s signing, in the past few days, of the definitive agreement to be acquired by Golden Gate Capital and Infor Global Solutions promises to vault the combined entity to the #3 slot of ERP vendors. This is a notable achievement for Infor. [Read more...]

SMB Research – Taking Stock – April 20, 2011

EFI logo

It was great to get an update this week from Lawson Software (there’s a lot to be said for a briefing after a conference, btw).  More to come!…. [Read more...]

Epicor Software and Activant Solutions to be Acquired and Merged into….Epicor Software

Epicor logo

In an announcement following by barely 3 weeks the disclosure that Lawson Software had received an unsolicited bid from Infor Global Solutions, private equity firm Apax Partners has announced plans to acquire and merge Activant Solutions and Epicor Software into a new privately-held company, to be called Epicor Software. The new entity will have some 30,000 customers and $825M in revenues.  This clearly indicates continuing interest by the investment community in the lucrative ERP marketplace, and an opportunity for larger players in the marketplace other than the two giants, SAP and Oracle.

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10 Best Practices For a Better Website

SMB Research

Have you read enough pieces yet on what makes a great website?

You have probably seen quite a few articles and posts addressing this.  We here at SMB Research know we have seen a lot of material. (SMB Research includes at least one fairly good article on SMB Research’s Top 20 Favorite Reads of 2010.)

Many of these articles seem to take a cookie-cutter approach:  it should go without saying at this point that a website needs to have good navigation, and that a website needs a “Call to Action”.

We think there are a number of other critical website features and best practices that get too little attention.

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The Fortune 500, Inc. 500 and the Use of Social Media

The always insightful Bill Ives over at the FASTforward Blog has alerted me to a study from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth‘s Center for Marketing Research (CMR) study on the use of social media by the Fortune 500 and Inc. 500.

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