Ramco to offer web-based software services to US customers
Chennai, March 4, 2008 (IANS)

City-based Rs.2.66-billion Ramco Systems Ltd will offer its web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in the US next fiscal, said a top official. The company intends to do this on the software as a service (SaaS) platform, in which a company hosts its software on the web and allows its customers to access them on subscription. Ramco Systems is targeting auto components, textiles, electronics, polymers, rubber, distilleries, chemicals, engineering and other sectors for this service.

"We are in the process of working out detailed plans. Aspects like revenue target and market segments would become clear after sometime," Chandra Prabhakar, vice-president of OnDemand Solutions of the company, told IANS. According to Prabhakar, the future for enterprise products lies on the SaaS platform. Last month Ramco Systems became the first company in India to offer a full-fledged ERP solution on SaaS, she said. The one advantage of this is that companies can subscribe to only those software modules they intend to use instead of buying the entire ERP package at a huge cost.

The company already has 1,000 subscribers from about 100 companies. "The target is to have around 10,000 subscribes in a year's time." According to Prabhakar, the company will be ramping up its distribution network across the country. Presently Ramco Systems has 55 partners to sell the service and provide some customer support. She, however, declined to put a number to the targeted distribution partners the company intends to add.

Built on the company's Virtual Works platform, it took Ramco Systems three years to put its ERP product on the web as SaaS. She said ERP as SaaS will be 30-35% cheaper than bought as a full product. While there has been a migration of Ramco Systems existing customers to the SaaS model, Prabhakar said the division will not cannibalise into the sales of its ERP product. "The product sales division will continue to target and service large corporations."