Noteworthy
Wells Fargo Buys Into Check Imaging Company
In a move to strengthen its check imaging capabilities in the post-Check-21 environment, Wells Fargo took an ownership position in Viewpointe LLC, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of check imaging and archiving services. The bank also signed a long-term agreement to use Viewpointe's national check image archive, which gives the service provider's customers access to over 2 billion new check images each month. Customers include Bank of America, SunTrust Banks and U.S. Bancorp.
Using Viewpointe's services, Wells Fargo will be able to store, retrieve and share check images with other organizations. "Our investment in Viewpointe reflects our belief that image sharing, rather than image movement among individual banks, is the most effective way to improve efficiency and service quality," says Webb Edwards, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Services. "We believe Viewpointe has tremendous potential to play an even bigger role in the future payments arena as it expands services and gains additional customers."
Connors Quits Microsoft
John Connors, CFO of Microsoft Corp., announced that he will leave the software titan to become a partner in Bellevue, Wa.-based venture capital firm Ignition Partners LLC. Connors has spent 16 years at Microsoft in various positions, including CIO and vice president of the worldwide enterprise group.
Microsoft plans to consider both internal and external candidates for the CFO position, and Connors will assist with the transition.
Finance Trials Of the Century
The final chapters of the Enron scandal have yet to be written -- and the courtroom drama phase is only just beginning.
Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, former CEO Jeff Skilling and former chief accounting officer Richard Causey will stand trial on criminal charges of fraud and conspiracy in Houston after U.S. District Judge Simeon Lake denied their appeal for a change of venue in January. At press time, Lake had not yet scheduled trial dates.
Also in January, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by Arthur Andersen LLP against a 2002 criminal conviction stemming from its shredding of documents in connection with the Enron scandal. The hearing is set for April.
ERP Players Woo PeopleSoft Customers
Hoping to lure PeopleSoft customers disenchanted with that company's buyout by Oracle Corp., Germany-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software provider SAP is offering what it calls a "safe passage program" to the approximately 2000 companies that use both SAP and PeopleSoft applications.
"Our first priority is assuring SAP customers that their relationship with SAP protects them from this disruption," says Bill McDermott, president and CEO of SAP America Inc. "And it is clear that companies running PeopleSoft and [J.D. Edwards] solutions have serious concerns about the future of those software packages and how they will be supported." J.D. Edwards is a PeopleSoft brand.
In January, SAP acquired Bryan, Texas-based TomorrowNow, a third-party provider of enterprise maintenance and support for PeopleSoft customers.
Microsoft Corp. is offering PeopleSoft customers a migration program that provides data transfer technology, price discounts on Microsoft products and services, and strategic guidance to help them switch to Microsoft applications. "Businesses that use PeopleSoft technology are facing some difficult choices today, and we're committed to providing them with the best options for moving forward," says Doug Burgum, senior vice president, Microsoft business solutions business group.
Hyperion and OutlookSoft Square Off
Hyperion Solutions Corp. filed a Federal court action against OutlookSoft Corp., charging that company with infringing two patents relating to its financial consolidation, reporting and analysis software. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. "We are committed to protecting our intellectual property and maximizing the benefits of our technology for our customers, partners and shareholders," says John Kopcke, Hyperion's chief technology officer. "We will vigorously protect our intellectual property."
According to Michael Morini, president of OutlookSoft Corp. North America, the lawsuit is without merit, and his company plans to conduct a vigorous defense. "These technology patents have no relevance to the architecture of the OutlookSoft Everest platform," notes Christian Gheorghe, OutlookSoft's chief technology officer. OutlookSoft has filed a counterclaim charging Hyperion with infringing two of its patents.
Gartner To Acquire Meta Group
IT research and analysis provider Gartner Inc. has announced that it will acquire Stamford, Conn.-based strategic consulting services firm Meta Group Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $10 per share, or approximately $162 million. The boards of directors of both organizations have unanimously approved the agreement.
In 2003, Gartner earned $858 million in revenue from its 76 locations around the world, while Meta Group generated $122 million in revenue from 52 locations. Says Gartner CEO Gene Hall, "This transaction is an exciting opportunity that will give us increased depth in key sectors, geographies and markets and an increased ability to seize revenue opportunities with the addition of Meta Group's well-trained, successful sales force."
Software
Enterprise Contract Management
It's not unusual for large organizations to have anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 contracts in place at any given time. Yet "most enterprises are unable to efficiently locate contracts, let alone manage them," says Tim Minahan, vice president, value chain research, with Aberdeen Group. "Not managing your contracts means you're not managing a key part of your business."
Andy Kyte, vice president and Gartner fellow with Gartner Inc., agrees. "Insufficient visibility and control of corporate contracts limits understanding of corporate obligations and performance, exposing enterprises to missed revenue opportunities, poor compliance and regulatory backlash," he notes.
Companies looking to avoid those pitfalls might want to investigate Nextance Intelligent Enterprise Revenue Optimization Suite, a contract management tool from Nextance Inc. that enables users to store critical data, including business and legal terms, in an online depository. Dashboards provide users with role-specific overviews of the organization's contract portfolio.
The software also tracks renewal and termination dates and delivers alerts and reminders of upcoming deadlines. And it enables users to create, schedule and deliver role-appropriate reports and analyses of revenue commitments, compliance data and other information stored in the repository.
In addition, the suite provides a clause and template library that helps users draft new contracts. Validation rules ensure that the information in the contract is complete and that established business standards are followed. The software is powered by an extensible markup language (XML) database that facilitates sharing of key contract information with other enterprise systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) and ERP applications, as well as relational databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.
Nextance Inc., 1600 Seaport Boulevard, 4th Floor, North, Redwood City, CA 94063-5541. (650) 716-2400. www.nextance.com
Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Assistance
Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have permanently altered the business landscape, and the efforts companies have expended on compliance in their first year of meeting the law's requirements are only the beginning. "With enterprise compliance costs proving to be much more expensive and resource-intensive than originally thought, executives are eager to sustain compliance in a more efficient and effective manner," observes George McMann, president and CEO of BizNet Software Inc.
BizNet Insight for Compliance is a Web-based portal that enables companies to port the procedures and documents they created in the first year of their compliance effort into an integrated system that supports knowledge management, control documentation, risk assessment, information sharing and status reporting. The product integrates with Microsoft's Office suite.
The software includes role-based security functionality that controls access to documents. Check-in and check-out features lock files for editing. The product also provides automated e-mail alerts that notify users when documents have changed to ensure that employees have the most current information. A version-tracking feature enables users to view changes and maintain accuracy in Excel spreadsheets and other documents, files and reports. The portal also features a mechanized sign-off and approval process that leverages electronic signatures to provide digital audit trails.
BizNet Software Inc., 105 Decker Court, Suite 900, Irving, TX 75062. (972) 893-0000. www.biznetsoftware.com
Web-Based Credit Management
Despite the increasing strategic importance of credit departments, credit management and decision-making processes remain cumbered by inefficient manual procedures. At some companies, completing the credit and reference checks needed to process a new customer can take upwards of three days. Mark Zablan, president of business information solutions with credit services provider Experian, notes that "credit professionals want more time to focus on high-priority activities and better visibility into emerging problems."
Experian recently introduced DecisionOne, a Web-based credit decision-making and account management tool for medium to large businesses. Users can define decision rules that incorporate Experian's credit and demographic databases as well as their own A/R data and information from third-party providers.
DecisionOne automatically monitors account portfolios and proactively alerts credit managers to changes in customer credit quality. All account information, including scores, payment history, notes and bureau data, can be electronically routed within the credit department or between the credit function and sales. The system also enables users to create management reports, track activities on each credit file and maintain compliance with federal regulations, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Experian, 600 City Parkway West, Orange, CA 92868. (800) 520-1221. www.experian.com
E-Banking
In-house banks, long associated with large, globally distributed organizations, are enjoying a surge in popularity among smaller companies with overseas operations. And companies that can't afford a full-fledged internal bank are seeking to centralize their treasury operations to enhance worldwide liquidity management and reduce its costs. "With the complex-ities of today's multibank, multiprotocol, multinational environment, corporations end up spending thousands of dollars a month on processing costs and related bank fees," notes John Wlcek, former general manager with XRT North America.
XRT has introduced XRT Business Exchange Platform, a secure communications software tool that centralizes the exchange of financial cash-flow information among a company's subsidiaries and business units -- and between the organization and its external financial partners -- on a worldwide basis. The product's functionality encompasses industry-standard and bank proprietary data exchange protocols as well as Web services, e-mail and file transfer formats.
The fully Web-enabled application also provides event-log monitoring, alerts and notifications, in addition to functional or "role-driven" dashboards that users can customize to display systemwide information.
XRT, 1150, First Ave., Parkview Tower, Suite 850, King of Prussia, PA 19406. (610) 290-0300. www.xrt.com [1]
Services
Integrated Pension Plan Modeling
CFOs looking to integrate their organization's defined-benefit pension plan with its overall financial goals face a tough task. Pension plans are complex functions, involving decisions about accounting, funding, investment choices and plan design. As a result, plan management usually requires a variety of advisers, including actuaries, CPA firms and investment managers. And that makes it difficult for CFOs to quantify the impact of their decisions.
PensionConnect 360, from SEI Investments, is an integrated pension plan model that seeks to fully synthesize an organization's long-term pension plan strategy with its corporate financial goals. SEI takes on sole responsibility for portfolio structure, manager selection, and manager evaluation and replacement, and it also acts as a co-fiduciary with respect to plan assets.
The model provides a comprehensive view of corporate finances by integrating an organization's pension plan data with its key financial data and strategic goals. This process enables the company to determine the impact of pension decisions on its cash flows, net income and capital structure. PensionConnect 360 leverages a financial modeling tool that allows users to create and customize capital market scenarios. The tool also provides a real-time view of the impact of financial and pension plan decisions.
SEI Investments, 1 Freedom Valley Drive, Oaks, PA 19456. 1-866-734-2441. www.seic.com
Enterprisewide Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a powerful tool for enhancing corporate performance, but large organizations often have difficulty leveraging it. Multiple business units and locations and -- for globally distributed companies -- multiple currencies complicate data collection. Plus, avoiding duplication of effort can be a challenge.
Business advisory firm The Hackett Group has launched a Web portal that streamlines and accelerates the benchmarking process for organizations that collect data from multiple locations. The portal provides Hackett clients with improved access to data-backed best practices research and offers benchmark project management and online inquiry capabilities as well as built-in analysis functionality.
Hackett's online benchmarking tools, an integrated component of the portal, are designed to address the needs of multinational organizations. Companies can track their progress toward completing a benchmark project in real time. Organizations conducting multiple Hackett functional and process benchmarks simultaneously can integrate and distribute what were previously separate studies, saving time and eliminating duplication of effort. The benchmarking software reconciles global currencies automatically.
The Hackett Group, 1117 Perimeter Center West, Suite N-500, Atlanta, GA 30338. (770) 225-7300. www.thehackettgroup.com