Renee Boucher Ferguson

IBM and Savvion Inc. are demystifying integration of back-office systems by making it easier for business users to manage a broader range of business processes. IBM this week will announce enhancements to its WebSphere Business Integration Monitor and Modeler tools that give users visibility into events and activities across their company. The upgrades, which lean […]

Updated offerings from Ultimus Inc. and TIBCO Software Inc. aim to make it easier for business analysts to plan the next steps in their business process workflows. The software developers are taking differing approaches, with the former enabling more collaboration among workers and the latter offering a more predictive environment. Ultimus, of Cary, N.C., this […]

Focusing on business process modeling and management innovation, SAP AG and IDS Scheer AG announced today at SAPs Innovation Conference in Basil, Switzerland, an alliance that brings together corporate and academic factions. SAP, of Waldorf, Germany, and IDS, of Saarbrucken, Germany, are founding the Institute for Business Process Innovation, which will focus on research into […]

SAP AG and Accenture Ltd announced this week an alliance to develop software for the banking, insurance and financial services industry. The two companies have a long-standing partner relationship. A team of about 800 people in the United States, Germany and Spain will work to enhance the vertically aligned software from SAP and Accentures joint […]

During its fiscal first quarter earnings call at the close of the market this evening enterprise resource plan-ning software developer Lawson Software Inc announced the acquisition of Closedloop Solutions Inc. Closedloop makes collaborative applications that help businesses with financial planning, budgeting and forecasting. The acquisition is the second announced by Lawson this week, and the […]

Digging deeper into vertical markets, Lawson Software Inc. announced this morning the acquisition of Apexion Technologies Inc., which provides health-care surgical instrument management and supply tracking software. Lawson, of St. Paul, Minn., develops enterprise resource planning software. The acquisition will help Lawson develop greater expertise in the health-care vertical—a key area for the company as […]

Supply chain management software maker i2 Technologies Inc. announced yesterday that it is withdrawing its appeal to The NASDAQ Stock Exchange. The Dallas, Texas-based company had planned to follow through on an appeal to the technology exchange that it reconsider the decision to delist i2s common stock. In a statement, i2 said it concluded that […]

Emptoris Inc. is bolstering its sourcing automation software with new procurement capabilities gained in its acquisition of Zeborg Inc. Terms of the acquisition, announced last week, were undisclosed. New York-based Zeborg brings a focus on indirect spending to Emptoris, which has a fairly strong customer base in manufacturing where there is a need for tools […]

Freemarkets Inc. and Log-Net Inc. have upgraded their respective supply chain offerings to help speed the movement of goods from suppliers to manufacturers. Pittsburgh-based FreeMarkets last week released Supplier Implementation 2.0, which features new tools for creating BOMs (bills of materials), as well as advanced analysis and reporting capabilities. The upgrade of the global supply […]

FreeMarkets Inc. and Log-Net Inc. have upgraded their respective supply chain offerings to help speed the movement of goods from suppliers to manufacturers. Pittsburgh-based FreeMarkets this week released Supplier Implementation 2.0, which features new tools for creating BOMs (bills of materials), as well as advanced analysis and reporting capabilities. The upgrade of the global supply […]

Looking ahead to the next stage of enterprise application integration, Tibco Software Inc. is readying new technology that enables companies to not only get business process information in real time but to predict future trends based on unstructured data. Tibco on Friday will announce at its Strategic Directions conference in Phoenix a handful of new […]

Based on the strength of its NetWeaver integration software, SAP AG is trying to expand its identity beyond being strictly an applications provider to a broad-based platform provider. At its TechEd developer conference here last week, the Walldorf, Germany, software company laid out the practical nuts and bolts for how customers can use NetWeaver and […]