Vienna, 28th January, 2008 – At a press conference the KINAMU Business Solutions AG released the results of a survey on “The use of ERP systems in SMEs” carried out in cooperation with the leading market researcher IDC and the Vienna University of Technology. Dr. Burkhard Kittl (Vienna University of Technology), Mag. Joachim Seidler (managing director of the Austrian subsidiary of the IDC Central Europe GmbH) and Mag. Alexander Simon (board member of the KINAMU Business Solutions AG) presented the survey and its outcome to the journalists.
The ERP survey, which was conducted among midsized businesses in the German speaking region, reveals that many small and medium sized companies still use rather outdated IT systems. The average age of their IT infrastructure is between 7 to 9 years which typically is the end of the life cycle of IT solutions. More than 50 percent of the interviewed companies are still using individual solutions although the survey clearly shows that systems of international suppliers not only enhance customer satisfaction but also cover a wider scope of business processes. A further interesting detail is that many companies have started to outsource the administration of their IT system and are much satisfied with the support.
SAP and ERP systems have already become an integral part of daily business life. Especially midsized businesses profit from the implementation of ERP software which helps to increase their competitiveness considerably.
Univ. Prof. Burkhard Kittl of the Vienna University of Technology says, “The growth potential of ERP systems in the SME’s market is tremendous. Many SMEs still use IT solutions that have already been running 7 to 8 years, on average, (Fig. 1) which is rather the end of the life cycle of IT systems. So, there evidently is a strong demand in new solutions. However, long implementation periods of 8 to 10 months (Fig.2) keep many midsized businesses from installing new ERP systems. They are keenly interested in pragmatic approaches which deliver results quickly and do not incur too many costs”.
The benefits of ERP programs are widely acknowledged; an overwhelming majority of 84% sees the advantage of integrated systems for companies (Fig. 3). The main reason for not renewing their IT landscape is the high costs and the complexity of the systems. “If you take a solution like SAP, for example, the main reason that is being given for not using it is the high costs. In a recent survey carried out by us (IDC) 87% of the interviewed SMEs indicated the high costs that are keeping them from using SAP”.
A further important criterion when using integrated and thus complex IT solutions in companies is the administration and continuous support of the system which especially for small and midsized businesses is a critical cost factor. The build-up of specialist knowledge in all relevant areas is simply impossible for companies of limited size. “The number of midsized businesses which are outsourcing their IT services is steadily increasing. According to the survey 25% of the interviewed companies have already outsourced their company IT (Fig. 5). Their positive feedback shows that the customer satisfaction is high; usually much higher than with in-house solutions, says Mag. Alexander Simon, board member of the KINAMU Business Solutions AG. “Our approach is tailored to the specific needs of midsized businesses. Not only do we help to reduce costs which is the main obstacle to innovation we also take over all IT operations for midsized companies and provide professional support at low costs”, adds Mr. Simon.
According to this it is no wonder that the focus is now on SMEs. Not only is there an evident need for a new IT infrastructure but there also is a certain readiness to invest. “According to our survey about half of the interviewed companies plan to invest more money in 2008 and the years to follow (Fig. 4). Companies with reduced ERP and CRM budgets can be counted on one hand. The rest invests as much as they did before”, says Joachim Seidler, head of the Austrian subsidiary of IDC Central Europe. He emphasizes the importance of the SME segment with another result of the survey, “The outcome of the survey corresponds to the results of two other studies conducted on a global scale. According to these the demand for ERP & CRM solutions in the SME segment will be increasing while there will be only moderate growth in the overall ERP & CRM market”.
The KINAMU Business Solutions AG was founded at the beginning of the year 2007 as SAP spin-off company with its headquarters at the outskirts of Vienna. KINAMU aims to provide IT business solutions for midsized businesses on the basis of commercial “best-in-class” applications and open source products as all-in-one package with cutting-edge technology at an attractive price. The partnership with SAP is a further cornerstone of the company which enables KINAMU to offer a complete ERP package including hard- and software, implementation, system and end user support, and trainings at a reasonable fixed price per user per month. Thanks to the usual implementation period of 4-6 weeks and the omission of initial costs KINAMU provides a unique option for midsized companies to make their businesses more competitive.
IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. More than 900 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 90 countries worldwide. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading publisher of computer magazines (e.g. Computerworld, PC-World, Infoworld etc.). IDC conducts more than 300.000 user interviews per year, 3.000 vendor briefings as well as highly qualified analyses.
For further information or for downloading the survey refer to:
www.kinamu.com/idcstudie
For information refer to:
Dr. Christian Knoll
KINAMU Business Solutions AG
Am Concorde Park 2 / Top F12
2320 Schwechat Austria
E-Mail: office(at)kinamu.com
http://www.kinamu.com
Telefon: +43/1/30620-0
Mag. Manfred Lepuschitz
Leopold Kommunikationswerkstatt
Riemergasse 6/10, 1010 Wien
E-Mail: office(at)leopold.cc
Mobil: +43/664 816 15 95
