ST. PAUL, Minn., Mar 15, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) today announced Lawson
Release 9, which includes Lawson's new technology layer, enhanced
business applications, strengthened business intelligence capabilities
and enhanced business process management tools optimized on IBM's
WebSphere, DB2 Universal Database and Tivoli software. Lawson Release
9 lays the foundation for a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and
prepares customers for Lawson's next-generation Landmark applications.
Lawson Release 9 is designed in response to customer and
marketplace demands for less complexity. The release will unite a
number of Lawson applications, technology and tools under one version
number, simplifying purchasing pricing, packaging, maintenance
contracts and support for customers.
This release also represents the fulfillment of Lawson's
commitment to deliver its portfolio of business applications on IBM's
marketplace-leading application deployment software and other IBM
middleware; the commitment was announced last May during Lawson's CUE
user conference.
"Buyers of enterprise software don't have to wait until 2008 or
2010 to start realizing the benefits of next-generation business
applications and don't have to mortgage their organization's future to
get them," said Dean Hager, Lawson executive vice president and chief
product officer. "Less than 10 months after announcing our Landmark
and IBM partnership plans, we're delivering real value - not hype - at
a lower total cost of ownership for our customers."
"Lawson has delivered an impressive package to the market, giving
customers like us a clear path to an SOA future," said Sonia Burgin,
Project Manager for Buncombe County, NC, an early adopter of Lawson
Release 9. "Lawson Release 9 helps us reduce IT complexity while
giving us the flexibility we need to rapidly respond to changing
needs."
World-Class Technology Provides SOA Foundation
Lawson System Foundation 9 (LSF 9) combines Lawson's best
technology with marketplace-leading software from IBM to present a
high-performance, standards-based technology solution to Lawson
customers and a path to SOA. LSF 9 builds on and leverages the quality
of Lawson 8.1 technology to deliver solid security, scalability,
performance and usability.
Built-in ease of deployment means moving to LSF 9 will require an
installation effort similar to a technology refresh so it will not
disrupt customers' business operations or mission-critical
applications. Separating the technical foundation from the
applications, Lawson provides cross-version compatibility so Lawson
customers can easily upgrade their enterprise applications and
technology incrementally and separately - on their own timelines and
at much lower costs.
LSF 9 also includes IBM's leading WebSphere Application Server ND
6.0, Tivoli Directory Server 6.0 and DB2 Universal Database Enterprise
Edition 8.2. Implementation of Tivoli Directory Server and DB2
Database are optional, but together with the required WebSphere
Application Server represent significant opportunities for Lawson
customers to consolidate and better leverage IT investments.
With LSF 9, Lawson joins a wide-ranging ecosystem of applications
optimized for IBM middleware. "Our joint commitment to innovation and
customer value is why we go to market with strategic alliance partner
Lawson to support business applications for the global mid-market,"
said Robert LeBlanc, general manager, WebSphere, IBM Software Group.
"Today's announcement represents a milestone by both companies toward
providing mid-market and large companies with open, SOA-based
applications that allow them to leverage and consolidate their
existing IT assets, reduce IT complexity, lower costs, and provide
them flexibility regarding their choice of operating platforms."
Enhanced Business Applications
Lawson Business Management Solutions 9 run on and require LSF 9.
The Lawson Business Management Solutions contain major enhancements to
ERP applications, including:
-- Lawson Human Capital Management Suite 9 - Lawson will be
announcing Lawson Performance Management, a new application
designed to align employee performance with organizational
results, helping managers determine how best to invest in the
development of their workforce and provide an objective,
comprehensive way to measure both an employee's goal
attainment and behaviors that impact performance. In addition,
Employee/Manager Self Service has been enhanced to offer more
information to employees and managers, driving faster user
adoption of self-service to reduce administrative costs and
improve service to employees.
-- Lawson Supply Chain Management Suite 9 - New Procurement Card
capabilities enable companies to streamline their purchasing
processes by enabling authorized employees to use credit cards
for purchasing rather than formal requisition and purchase
order processes. Features include card issuance tracking,
pre-set spending limits and advanced reconciliation
capabilities. Using Procurement Cards substantially reduces
transaction and overhead costs. Lawson will also be adding new
functionality to improve the way an organization develops and
manages supplier relationships.
-- Lawson Enterprise Financial Management Suite 9 - Enhancements
to Cash Management offer opportunities for greater capital
productivity, efficiency and fraud prevention with Cash Code
Lists, Positive Pay, Stale Dating and Statement
Reconciliation. Deduction management capabilities enable
customers to improve cash flows, financial performance and
channel relationships through fewer write-offs, accelerated
collections, better customer communications and reduced
overhead involved in managing deductions and trade promotions.
In addition, new allocation features designed primarily for
financial services industries allow Lawson's Strategic Ledger
module to capture the financial consequences of customer
interactions in a variety of ways for multi-dimensional
analysis, accountability and statutory reporting.
Lawson will also be adding new functionality designed primarily to
help publicly traded companies more efficiently comply with
Sarbanes-Oxley Act Sections 404 and 409.
Business Intelligence Tailored for the Mid-Market
Availability of Lawson Business Intelligence 9 was previously
announced in November 2005. It is designed to help executives and
business managers make better, faster decisions to improve corporate
performance. Key benefits include:
-- The enhanced, secure report "bursting" capability reduces the
administrative time spent creating, dividing and distributing
multiple copies of reports to staff while ensuring decisions
makers have the relevant information they need to take
corrective actions and mitigate risks. This feature allows
organizations to reduce the number of reports to maintain
while improving access to information through filtered report
distribution.
-- Automated Workflow Controls and Proactive Notifications help
customers ensure consistency, accuracy and timely completion
of business processes, as well as compliance with internal
controls set up by an organization.
-- Improved access to information for discovering trends, finding
problems and analyzing the drivers of business performance.
Lawson Analytic Architect provides an easy but powerful way of
creating analytical databases (OLAP) from Lawson HR,
Financials and Supply Chain applications which can be analyzed
by Lawson Scorecard or other tools.
-- Strengthened user interface includes improved graphical
content and scorecards with drill-down capability so that
important business interactions are recognized quickly and
their impact on business decisions can be assessed
immediately.
Enhanced Tools
Lawson Business Process Management Suite 9 provides tools to help
manage world-class, end-to-end business processes. From business
process design, security and integration to the underlying application
design and configuration, Lawson Business Process Management Suite 9
helps customers streamline and secure their business processes.
Combined with Lawson's business intelligence solutions and
exclusive World-Class Passport offering - featuring Hackett Group
metrics, benchmarks and best practices - the Business Process
Management Suite and related services can help customers implement new
business process improvements and derive greater lifetime value from
their Lawson investments as they migrate to Lawson Release 9.
The Future: Path to SOA-Based Applications
Lawson Release 9 prepares customers for next-generation Landmark
applications, which are designed to deploy in an SOA. The company has
identified a four-step path toward SOA-based Landmark applications for
its customers.
The first step is implementation of Lawson System Foundation Suite
9, which provides customers with Lawson's supporting technology
foundation including IBM's middleware platform for SOA. Step two is
implementing Lawson 9 Business Management Solutions as they become
available. Step three is adding new Landmark-based application
extensions as they become available. The first Landmark-based product
is expected in the first half of 2006. The fourth and final step will
be the ultimate conversion of customers' current Lawson business
applications to Landmark-based applications as they become available.
Lawson Release 9 is designed for customers to deploy rapidly. With
Release 9, Lawson further eases the customer transition leveraging the
company's Global Solution Centers for delivery, enabling customers to
get the skilled Lawson resources they need quicker for a reduced cost.
"Lawson's approach to SOA is clear and simple and perfect for the
mid-market," said Maher Hakim, senior vice president of product
management, Lawson Software. "Unlike our competitors, we're delivering
benefits to customers today without confusion or uncertainty."
About Lawson Software
Lawson Software provides business application software and
consulting services to services organizations in the healthcare,
retail, government and education, banking and insurance and other
markets. Lawson's software suites include enterprise performance
management, distribution, financials, human capital management,
procurement, retail operations and service process optimization. With
headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., Lawson has offices and affiliates
serving North and South America, Europe, and Africa. Lawson Software
and Lawson are registered trademarks of Lawson Software, Inc. All
rights reserved.
Forward-Looking Statements
his press release contains forward-looking statements that
contain risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements
contain statements of intent, belief or current expectations of Lawson
Software, Inc., and its management. Such forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future results and involve risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from
the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The
company is not obligated to update forward-looking statements based on
circumstances or events that occur in the future. Risks and
uncertainties that may cause such differences include but are not
limited to: uncertainties in the company's ability to realize
synergies and revenue opportunities anticipated from the Intentia
International acquisition; uncertainties in the software industry;
global military conflicts; terrorist attacks in the United States, and
any future events in response to these developments; changes in
conditions in the company's targeted service industries; increased
competition and other risk factors listed in the company's most recent
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and as included in other documents the company files from
time to time with the Commission.
SOURCE: Lawson Software, Inc.
Lawson Software, Inc., St. Paul
Terry Blake, 651-767-4766
terry.blake@lawson.com
or
Weber Shandwick
Aaron Pearson, 952-346-6217
apearson@webershandwick.com
