Lawson merges with Euro counterpart Intentia |
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By Matt Stansberry, News Editor
04 May 2006 | Search400.com |
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St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software merged this week with its European counterpart in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, Stockholm, Sweden-based Intentia International. The merged organization will retain the Lawson name.
Intentia and Lawson were very similar in that both companies had a strong iSeries customer base, both have moved from Report Program Generator environments to Java and both committed to IBM's WebSphere middleware platform.
The companies' ERP offerings overlapped in some areas, but Martin Hill, global marketing director for Lawson's M3 product, said Lawson will continue to support both software lines and differentiate them based on vertical markets.
Lawson M3 applications are designed for the "make, move, maintain" markets traditionally addressed by Intentia. This product is targeted at the manufacturing, wholesale distribution and asset-intensive industries. The applications include enterprise management, supplier relationship management, customer relationship management, supply chain management and workplace management.
The Lawson S3 applications are designed for the "staff, source, serve" markets, an extension of the traditional Lawson line. The products are targeted for healthcare, retail, local government, K-12 education and banking and insurance. The applications include human capital management, enterprise financial management, supply chain management and enterprise performance management.
Both lines will share the same Lawson Enterprise Performance Management suite.
"There is some overlap in the two product lines," Hill said. "You could classify them both as ERP software, but they're [separate] vertical offerings."
A key part of Lawson's integration plans is ensuring continuity, Hill said. This means existing customers will work with the same account executives, the same consultants and the same support center contacts. Regional management will also be little changed, and Lawson promises a 24-hour guaranteed response to any customer inquiry made to any Lawson employee.
The companies completed the transaction last week, when more than 97% of Intentia's warrant holders and shareholders accepted Lawson's offer for newly issued shares of Lawson common stock. According to Hill, both companies had been considering acquisition targets when they decided to come together.
Let us know what you think about the story; e-mail: Matt Stansberry, News Editor
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