Category: Business Software
Business Objects Crystal Vision Server
Price: $12,500 for five concurrent access licenses
Business-intelligence software is no longer the exclusive domain of the enterprise. The midmarket, especially, wants the competitive advantage they can gain from a real-time view of what's taking place inside their operations, systems and business processes. One thing midmarket companies don't want, though, is complexity. Business Objects has done a good job of simplifying processes with this integrated business-reporting and visualization solution. This product suite enables "live" data interaction from within everyday tools such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat and the Web, so even end users can take advantage. Solution providers can offer customers a lot of bang for the buck too; the full suite comprises a number of tools, including Crystal Reports XI (one named user license); Crystal Xcelsius Workgroup 4.5 (one named user license) and Crystal Live Office (five concurrent access licenses).
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Midmarket Product Categories
FrontRange GoldMine 7.03 Corporate Edition
Price: $595 per seat
FrontRange has put a stake in the ground in the midmarket, where its GoldMine CRM products have been popular among partners and customers. The latest version of the software features a simplified data format, which makes customization easier for partners. Now, when a contact record is opened, the app locates other relevant data, such as credit status. VARs say they're using the product to help midmarket customers increase productivity, streamline sales and marketing, and manage their businesses.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Price: $2,250 per user
One of the Redmond, Wash., software giant's stable of ERP products, the formerly named Navision application is finding favor with midmarket companies. The product has European roots, and it's been tailored for midmarket customers from the get-go. This year, Microsoft upgraded the product with Service Pack 1, featuring the new Microsoft Navision Employee Portal, which opens up the application to a broader set of users and partners who can access, share and manipulate data inside a familiar SharePoint Web interface.
Oracle JD Edwards Enterprise One
Price: Varies by module
When Oracle acquired JD Edwards by virtue of buying PeopleSoft, it picked up some of the most loyal midmarket-based customers and partners out there. Today, the suite of modular software applications addresses a wide array of business needs, from asset life-cycle management to CRM. Oracle also offers Rapid Start for the suite, which helps partners get the software up and running faster with, among other things, preconfigured software and a set of pre-defined business processes, user roles and technical setup.
WebTrends Analytics 8
Price: Starts at $669
One of the marvels of the Web is that it can make small businesses look big. WebTrends' product takes things one step further by letting midmarket customers get the most of their online business activities through analytics--or business intelligence for the Web. The software's latest release, version 8, is packaged with WebTrends' latest data- warehouse app, Marketing Warehouse, in the WebTrends Marketing Lab, and sports performance dashboards, data integration and more flexible packaging for VARs.