Idalica Company Blog

Idalica is pleased to announce that we recently accepted an award on behalf of the ADempiere community that was presented to us by CRM Magazine.  CRM magazine is a business solutions publication that is written for senior business and IT management with the goal of fostering and promoting an understanding of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the associated business and technological strategies.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards honor vendors, consultants, and end-user companies focused on creating and cultivating rewarding customer experiences and relationships through the sophisticated integration of people, processes, and technologies.  Award winners were determined through an extensive three-month process and by means of a proprietary rating formula that involved industry analysts, financial and corporate information, product and functionality assessments, and scores reflecting customer satisfaction.  David Myron, editorial director of CRM magazine stated, “CRM magazine is pleased to present the 2008 CRM Market Awards to those companies and individuals who are raising the bar in their customer relationship initiatives. These efforts are helping companies streamline business processes, maximize profitability, and provide more value to customers. Congratulations to this years award recipients. May they continue to raise the standard of CRM excellence.”

ADempiere was honored to receive the 2008 CRM “One to Watch” Award in the Open-Source CRM category.  Regarding this “One to Watch” award, Joshua Weinberger, who is managing editor of CRM magazine had this to say, “The depth and breadth of the open-source community in CRM is one of the factors that led us to add the category this year, and ADempiere is playing a role in that development.  Respondents told us they were impressed with the ambitions of the ADempiere community to expand the functionality to the level of a one-stop shop, and the customization potential of an open-source ERP/CRM application is something worth a look—which is why ADempiere is our One to Watch for the year.”

Geoff Herney, East Coast Project Manager for Idalica was pleased to accept the award that was presented to us in New York at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Times Square on Thursday, August 21, 2008.  Mr. Herney had the following to say, “It was really an honor to accept this award in behalf of the ADempiere community.  And how exciting it is to see the well-deserved attention that ADempiere is getting even outside of the ERP world.  The momentum is certainly building – so strap in for the ride!”

As Geoff mentioned, Idalica is certainly proud to accept this award in behalf of the ADempiere community, as it testifies to the growth, success, and more importantly, the future of the ADempiere project.  Regarding ADempiere’s future, China Martens, who is a senior analyst at The 451 Group, said that she thinks “Adempiere’s CRM offering alone is competitive with that of SugarCRM and other open-source leaders.”  To read a snippet of what was written regarding Adempiere, you can click here to read a digital version of the September 2008 CRM Magazine.  The online version of the content will go live on the http://www.destinationCRM.com site on September 1.  The article concludes by saying regarding Adempiere, “We’ll see if next year the company can claw its way onto the leader board.” 

That is certainly our goal.  Thanks again to CRM Magazine for the award, and to all those who are part of the ADempiere community for their devotion and work on the ADempiere project, the “One to Watch” in 2008 and beyond.

This is Andy Camel with Idalica.  I recently had the opportunity to interview Carlos Antonio Ruiz Gómez of Global Quality Systems & Solutions.  Mr. Ruiz-Gómez has years of experience working with Open Source business solutions such as Adempiere, and will be one of the main instructors at Idalica’s Adempiere/Compiere Technical Training Course being held September 8-12, 2008. 

Can you tell us a little about your education and work history?

Since college I was working with code, but my first real program for a real company was in 1987, when I was hired to produce reports in Basic for a financial system.  Since then, I have been working with software.  After this short experience with Basic, I became an expert in Informix and XENIX (this was in 1989) with administrative, financial, and marketing systems.  I also supervised a large group of programmers in distinct companies such as Open Systems.  In 1995 I began my venture working with Oracle, but the work that I had done for Open Systems supporting a large system for public services companies gave me tremendous experience in the area of telecommunications.  Eventually I became the Manager of Software Engineering for EPM, Bogotá, Colombia.  With all this knowledge of ERP systems, programming, etc, I finally decided to start my own company and we have had good success since then.

How long have you been working specifically with Open Source software?

Since 2001, I had gained much experience with Informix databases; it was my principal source of work.  One of my clients wanted to use postgresql, but all of his systems were built with SCO Unix.  At that time, postgresql did not run with SCO, and they contracted me to make it function on that platform.  It was at that time that I understood how marvelous it is to have access to the source code, with none of the other proprietary systems I had worked with was this possible.  Similar errors that I had found with Informix were totally complicated, if not impossible to resolve, but with the source code it was possible to analyze and resolve all problems.  Since that moment I have been working first hand with Open Source software.

What are the benefits of Open Source Software, in particular Adempiere?

On this theme almost everything has been said!  The benefits are innumerable, but I will try and highlight a few:

• Independence from the provider.  Having competition with other providers over the code, your software provider is obligated to convince you with services, they can’t tie you down with licenses.
• With no code being hidden it is possible to solve any problem.
• Global knowledge is strengthened, not only of the developers, but also business experts.

In particular regarding Adempiere I would like to highlight that it is a community project.  Unfortunately, in the bad thing called open source “commercial” there will always be someone with preferences over the decisions of the project, with the power to direct and decide “commercially” what is implemented and what is not.  The way I look at “community” open source, (not “commercial” open source) another additional freedom is guaranteed:

The freedom to define the destiny and “roadmap” of the code without focusing on commercial interests first.

It would be interesting to add this fifth freedom to the four that have been defined as conditional to open source software.

(To read about the four principles Carlos is referring to, go here.)

With regards to Idalica’s upcoming technical training, can you give me an idea of the schedule and itinerary of the class?

We tried to find a comfortable schedule, from 9-5, to guarantee that the students will really learn.  Extensive training times tire the students who after it is all said and done, lose their concentration and do not retain the knowledge as we would have hoped.

But more important than just the hours of the training, the way we guarantee that the students will learn and retain what they learn is with hands-on practicing.  The course has a large amount of hands-on work, where the student will do exercises and we will help resolve their problems immediately.

We do not want this to be a training where the student only sees power-point presentations and when they get back to their company, aren’t able to resolve any problems.  We want the students to really see and feel the system so that they can learn to max out its potential.

In Adempiere, nothing is hidden, everything that will be taught in the training can be found in the forums, in the Wiki, and on many sites.  But what makes this training interesting is that the learning will be guided by experts in the field who have lived and implemented all types of situations with this software.

What are some of the interesting points that will be taught in the training?

In the first part of the class we will explain how to extend Adempiere without the need to write code.  Adempiere is a very flexible system, I would venture to say that 90% of the needs that are raised by companies can be resolved without having to write code.  In other words, in this first part of the class the students will learn how to resolve 90% of the needs that are presented in a normal implementation.  Even better, they will learn how to do it following the best practices possible.

There are many ways to expand a system, but if you follow best practices you guarantee a longer and more useful life for the system and its adaptations.  I say this because many implementations end up being very complicated to migrate into newer versions.  In this training much emphasis is given on how to do things properly to ensure simple migrations.

The second part of the course will cover the expanding of Adempiere by writing code, in other words, how to resolve the additional 10% that can’t be resolved with a simple configuration.  And again, how to do it right, guaranteeing future migrations and a long life for the extensions.  It is also important to highlight that every ERP system is valuable if information is provided.  So we will discuss the theme of our integration with Jasper reports that has brought to Adempiere total flexibility when it comes to generating reports.

At the end of the course we will show one of the most impressive characteristics of Adempiere, how to expand the 10% that require code, but without the need to compile or install clients.  Now the code can be written directly in the application dictionary and it becomes integrated immediately.

How will this training be different than the one that was held one year ago?

With the experience we gained last year we have made some improvements in the distribution of the subjects, we are going to have more exercises at different levels – easy ones for those with little experience in programming and more complicated ones for those who know how to program well.  The objective is that everyone will understand the concepts and with practice, reinforce them.

Is there a new point or some different aspect of Adempiere that will be analyzed that will make it worthwhile for someone with Adempiere experience to attend?

Some new subjects that will be discussed that were not considered last year is the integration with Jasper and the new functionality with scripts.

However, there is one very important subject that will be discussed at length for those with experience with Compiere or Adempiere:  in the course we will be giving a lot of emphasis to better practices.  Many people use Adempiere already and they expand it, but what could be escaping their notice is the best way to do it.  The most common phrases we hear in our training with those who already use Adempiere are, “I didn’t know you could do that from there,” and “yes, we have that problem, I didn’t realize the solution was that simple.” 

It is very different to have guidance from someone who has dedicated their lives to Adempiere, who can impart the best practices with their system and help maintain its quality.  And it is even more interesting to be able to ask these questions to these teachers firsthand.

Who can benefit from this training course?

Many people!  From companies who are thinking about using an ERP to companies who are looking to develop software in a more simple way.  One of the most important characteristics of Adempiere is that it can be used as a platform for development; anyone with a need for development (not just ERP) can use Adempiere.

Are you happy to be coming to the U.S. and participating with Idalica on this project?

Yes!  My experience last year was very pleasant.  I experienced a very enjoyable interaction with all of the participants of the course, and since my stay we have advanced on a few important themes for the project – (Centralized ID Management/Migration Script Generation) 

So the theme is not just training, we take advantage of our time in the states to work on the Adempiere project with the largest implementing firm that Adempiere has at this time – Idalica. 

Of course, there is also the fun.  Last year we were very well attended to, and we took advantage of our time to tour California and get to know the interesting culture up close.

Any last recommendations for people who might have doubts about signing up for the technical training course?

Well, this course is really different.  It is important to emphasize that this training is not just a lecture, that is to say, it is not just a person reading from depositions and resolving problems on a laptop.  In this training, EVERYONE participates, EVERYONE does a practice install, EVERYONE resolves exercises, EVERYONE learns.

I want to personally thank Carlos for his time.  Please visit us here for more information on Idalica’s Technical Training Course.

Idalica Corporation is pleased to welcome Mr. Eric Bursztyn to our team.  Eric has an Associates Degree in Textile Industrial Engineering and Management.  He has over 35 years of experience in apparel management, with expertise in all stages of production, distribution, branding, licensing, and contract negotiation.  His most recent venture has been in the field of celebrity endorsed fine jewelry manufacturing and distribution.  He serves as the COO/acting CFO of Zalemark, Inc, where he has partnered with award-winning designer Steven Zale to build and promote their brand of high-end jewelry.

Over his 35 years in business management, Eric has served as manager to principal owner and CEO of multi-million dollar companies.  That is why Idalica is pleased to have him as one of our partners.  With his expertise in apparel management, he serves as an excellent liaison and source of direction for companies interested in our Apparel Management System software.  He understand all facets of the apparel business; from design, production and merchandising, to bar-coding, fabric and labor costing.  He can answer any question you may have on how Idalica’s Apparel Management software can be tailored to your particular needs and work for your business.

Contact us now for a free demo on how the system can work for you. 

Hi, this is Andy Camel of Idalica.  A few weeks back, I posted comments here about the surging power and growth of Google in the Search Engine world.  Basically, Google is where it’s at, boasting over 65% of all searches that are done on the Internet as of March 2008.

Recently, Google has thrown its weight behind oCERT, a security reporting group for the open-source community.  oCERT, that stands for (Open Source Computer Emergency Response Team) aims to keep open source distributors on top of flaws and help software projects ensure that users of their code are aware of any issues.  As the use of open source business solutions continues to grow, oCERT hopes to meet the unique requirements of the open-source community, where software is often re-used but patches are not always circulated to those who need it. 

Google, a long time proponent of open-source software, now joins Inverse Path and Open Source Lab as the three sponsors of oCERT.  Obviously, this is a major step forward in the growth and success of open-source software.  Who wouldn’t want to have the support of Google, the search engine giant?

Idalica is happy to help businesses with all of their software needs using open-source technology, from Joomla for web development and e-commerce sites, to Adempiere for large ERP business solutions.  We would love for you to contact us now to see how an open-source business solution, software that is yours and becomes an asset to your business, can work for you.

Time is money.  If your company provides services and has a field staff, you certainly understand this concept.  A considerable amount of time can often be spent by upper management organizing the teams’ daily projects, tracking hours, reimbursing for expenses such as mileage, gas, food, etc.   It is a time-consuming process.  Are you tired of the stacks of papers and countless receipts sitting on your desk?  Is your field staff tired of having to come into the office after a long day of work to submit their receipts and time?  Wouldn’t it be more cost-efficient to have your staff and their expenses organized in a nice compact computer program? 

Idalica is proud to offer our Time and Expense Manager.  This software package is branded to your business, with your colors and logo.  In a nutshell, it is an online task and project scheduler that is available to you and your staff 24/7.  Your staff will receive an alert when a task or assignment has been assigned to them.  They complete the job, submit their time and expenses online, and they are done.  You get a real time view of the expenses and can even manage multiple locations, projects, and employees.  Even non-billable assignments can be managed such as days off and sick time.  The scheduler can be fully integrated with your accounting software and can be fully customizable to the needs of your business. 

The benefits of your time and expense manager will be well worth its cost. Your staff can log-in from anywhere and view their personal assignments from the office, home, or even on the road.  The system helps prevent missed and late appointments and thus frees up staff time.  From a management point of view, the time and expense manager relieves pressure of the office staff, allows you to track time and expenses by project, and helps you avoid inefficient, error prone, and costly re-keying of data. 

The simple act of tracking employee time on a per-project basis lets you know when projects are in trouble much earlier, when you can actually do something about it.  The data you obtain from a time tracking software system will surprise you.  You might discover that certain projects are consuming more labor hours than you thought.
In other words, your “problem customers” may account for much of your revenue and you don’t even know it.  Using a software solution to track employee project time can give you insight into the profitability of each customer, so you will no longer be in the dark.
In addition, you may just find that these “problem customers” are the ones that live the farthest, thus costing more in view of high gas prices and the mileage reimbursement.

Please contact us for a free demo on how the Time and Expense Manager can be fully tailored to your business.  Remember, time is money. 

Greetings!  My name is Andy Camel, and I am a Project Coordinator for Idalica.  Recently, I had the opportunity to attend an excellent seminar presented by Hippo Internet Marketing Consulting & Training.  The seminar was conducted by Corey Creed, CEO of Hippo, who has years of experience in Search Engine Optimization and Internet advertising.  If you’re interested in SEO Training in the Charlotte area, I would highly recommend Hippo.  The course was comprehensive and educational. 

The seminar focused primarily on the benefits and structure of Google AdWords campaigns.  For those unfamiliar with Google AdWords, another common acronym in the industry is PPC, or pay-per-click.  In other words, you “pay” to have a link or ad that leads to your website appear on page 1 of the SERP (Search Engine Result Page.)  These ads are generally identifiable with the title “sponsored links” and they appear as the very top results of the SERP and also along the right side. You pay when someone “clicks” on your ad, whether or not they sign up for your services or purchase items on your site.  How much you are willing to pay per click will determine your positioning.  It is an excellent advertising tool. 

Our training course emphasized how Internet advertising is taking off, and how Google is leading the charge head-first.  According to new statistics released by Hitwise, Google claims 67.3% of all search engines searches.  Check this graph out to see how the competition is doing:

 One thing is clear.  Google is where it’s at.  And we all know one common truth.  When we do a search, we generally focus on the results that appear on page 1.  Few of us, if any, will navigate to pages 2 and beyond to find what we’re looking for.  We generally think that if it isn’t on page 1, it isn’t anywhere.  Think about what this means for your company.  Perhaps on natural searches, your company never appears on page 1.  How many people are finding you then?  That is where PPC comes in to the picture.  You pay to play so to speak.  You advertise with Google, and you can appear on page 1 of searches depending on keywords and positioning. 

Idalica is happy to offer this service to individual business owners, or companies interested in generating more traffic to their site.  We will spend time with you and your team on a brainstorming session, discussing keywords and phrases that people may be searching for.  We will then set up the entire program for you in Google, manage and monitor your account, adjust your settings when necessary, and give you reports that outline your conversions.  What do you have to lose?  Contact us now so that we can answer any questions you may have on how Google AdWords can work for you.

OK.  Let’s face it.  We’ve all been there before.  You arrange a meeting in the conference room and request the projector for that power-point presentation you’ve worked so hard on.  The big day comes; you get to the conference room and . . . . the projector isn’t there.  Your beautiful power-point presentation will now have to be an indecipherable white board presentation.  Or, maybe instead of a missing projector, you get to the conference room and there is already another meeting or training seminar being held at the same time by another department.  Now you are outside with 10 angry invitees who are wondering how you were smart enough to invite them, but not smart enough to confirm the availability of the room.

The reality is, in businesses and educational facilities, there is a growing need for an organized system to reserve conference rooms or audio/video equipment so that the above-mentioned problems will never happen to you.  For example, in colleges there may be three departments such as Classes, Special Events, and Audio/Video Services that always have a pressing need for the use of audio/video equipment.  How can they be sure not to double-book equipment or staff?  Obviously, there needs to be an integrated system that will allow for organized scheduling of rooms and equipment.  Enter the Idalica EMS. (Event Management System)

This cutting-edge software package is the solution for corporations or educational facilities that want an organized and simple system to manage events.  The Idalica Event Management System allows for online event scheduling 24/7.  It is fully customizable, and will be branded to your business, with your colors and logos.  Manage multiple events and locations, the system will even e-mail you and your staff when events are booked.  You can even manage catering and costing!  The possibilities are really endless.  Perhaps you manage a large banquet hall in a hotel.  A client books the room, and you can use the Idalica EMS to assign an event manager from within your staff, assign those who will be assisting, auto send e-mail and text reminders of their assignments.  Outline the food that will be served, the cost, and any special instructions.  Get the idea?  The Idalica Event Management System can be fully tailored to your business, your specific needs and requests. 

The benefits are endless.  Free up staff time, eliminate double booking and the frustration that comes from this for both the organizer and the invitees, view and manage your events from anywhere; the office, home, or on the road, prevent missed and late appointments, receive instant notifications of all new events.  And remember, the system is flexible enough to manage all types of events large or small; catering, conference, expo, corporate.  Should we go on? 

Please click here to watch a brief video on how the Event Management System works.  Or contact us now for a free customized demo on how the EMS can work for you. 

In a recent survey of more than 4,000 people who schedule appointments with service providers, 86 percent said they would be more loyal to a personal business if it offered online scheduling.

This number is staggering. When we stop and consider that figure, one thing is clear. We are living in a technical age. Gone are the days of the large appointment book and receptionist needed at a front desk to schedule appointments. In this digital Internet age, people eat fast, think fast, and work fast. As if e-mail wasn’t quick enough, now we need smart phones that allow us to get our e-mail in real time so that we can respond in nanoseconds. The fact of the matter is, the Internet has changed our world, and revolutionized our thinking and businesses. This certainly applies to service providers such as spas, salons, chiropractor offices, massage therapists, dental and medical practices, music teachers, realtors, and personal trainers, just to name a few. Did you know that there are approximately 15 million personal businesses that provide services such as these in the US alone? Where does yours fall into the mix? Have you thought of the possibility that you have missed a customer opportunity because you or your receptionists were away from the phone and your competitor has an online appointment scheduler on his web site?

Every business has open time slots in their schedule, but how will your customers know about them? How can you ensure that open time slots won’t go to waste? Let’s be honest. Put yourself in your client’s shoes for a moment. Which would you choose: calling into a spa or dental office to determine all of their open appointments, and then try to find one that will coincide with your schedule? Or would you prefer to open a real-time calendar on the spa or dental office’s website, see all of the open appointments, and book the one that best suits your needs? We all know the answer. We would prefer to book the appointment online at our convenience. No need to talk to anyone. Your appointment is booked in minutes. Your payment is processed; you’re on your way. You come and go as you please, when you please, on your terms. Is your business providing this valuable service to people? If not, Idalica is proud to offer our unique and personalized, fully hosted and secure Smart Scheduler. With the Idalica online scheduler, it’s easy for your business to accept online appointments from new and existing customers. It can be done 24/7/365, it doesn’t take holidays off. It will be branded to your business, with your colors and logo. Manage multiple office locations; receive instant notification of all appointments. Accept online payments. Import appointments to outlook, or your palm/blackberry. Provide gift certificates, online surveys. View your appointment calendar anywhere; relieve the pressure of the support staff which in turn frees them up for other vital roles. Going on vacation for 2 weeks? No problem! No need to contact your clients, they can see it on your online calendar. You dictate the open appointment times, your clients fill them.  Remember, it’s possible that your competitor right down the road is facilitating an easy online scheduling system to their clients.  And you’re not. You’re losing ground on the Internet superhighway. Considering that 86% of 4,000 people surveyed would be loyal to a business offering online scheduling, perhaps it’s time you step on the gas. Contact us now for a free Idalica Smart Scheduler demo or Webinar.