After a slew of acquisitions in the past, which have resulted in varied outcomes, Geac seems to be trying another tack to expand its product offering and to convince the market about its commitment to further develop certain attractive product lines.
We maintain our position that Geac will not establish itself as an enterprise applications leader as long as it remains perceived as a company that acquires, botches up, and possibly divests other under performing software vendors and/or products. The company will have to become a true software-developing vendor, not simply a software collector and/or dealer within some esoteric market segments. It will need to add much more value to its products and services to attract and retain customers instead of simply increasing the investment in the existing, possibly outdated, core products and support services. For these reasons, we endorse Geac's recent partnering initiatives in case as well as its alliance with IBM from the beginning of this year, which features Geac's System 21 on IBM hardware, with IBM consulting services and e-Business solutions.
Its applications must be able to support future business requirements, which are nowadays directly related to customers' e-business strategies. While the company is currently not in a position to offer a comprehensive e-business and CRM solution on its own, it should, nevertheless, be able to at least provide a back-office hub and bridges to e-business components in the fashion similar to J.D. Edwards' EAI strategy. To that end, Geac must develop standard, common components that will be readily available within its product portfolio.
Geac acquired System 21 through its acquisition of JBA International. In spite of the fact that Geac, which is a large software company with a track record for profitability and growth, has significantly enhanced System 21 by embedding acquired CRM and SCE products for the apparel industry, Geac has been unable to be successful in marketing its System 21 business. The revenue from the product in the last year was embarrassingly low ($67 million) compared to the level attained in 1998, when JBA reported $487 million in sales. Therefore, its recent partnering initiatives are only an initial necessary step in creating its market recognition as a strong global business applications vendor to be reckoned with.
We maintain our position that Geac will not establish itself as an enterprise applications leader as long as it remains perceived as a company that acquires, botches up, and possibly divests other under performing software vendors and/or products. The company will have to become a true software-developing vendor, not simply a software collector and/or dealer within some esoteric market segments. It will need to add much more value to its products and services to attract and retain customers instead of simply increasing the investment in the existing, possibly outdated, core products and support services. For these reasons, we endorse Geac's recent partnering initiatives in case as well as its alliance with IBM from the beginning of this year, which features Geac's System 21 on IBM hardware, with IBM consulting services and e-Business solutions.
Its applications must be able to support future business requirements, which are nowadays directly related to customers' e-business strategies. While the company is currently not in a position to offer a comprehensive e-business and CRM solution on its own, it should, nevertheless, be able to at least provide a back-office hub and bridges to e-business components in the fashion similar to J.D. Edwards' EAI strategy. To that end, Geac must develop standard, common components that will be readily available within its product portfolio.
Geac acquired System 21 through its acquisition of JBA International. In spite of the fact that Geac, which is a large software company with a track record for profitability and growth, has significantly enhanced System 21 by embedding acquired CRM and SCE products for the apparel industry, Geac has been unable to be successful in marketing its System 21 business. The revenue from the product in the last year was embarrassingly low ($67 million) compared to the level attained in 1998, when JBA reported $487 million in sales. Therefore, its recent partnering initiatives are only an initial necessary step in creating its market recognition as a strong global business applications vendor to be reckoned with.
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