EIPP (e-invoicing) and StartUp World

If you are interested in the above report, it can be grabbed for free here until end of May 2007, thanks to Andrew Bartolini of the Aberdeen Group.

Andrew has also suggested doing a Q&A session through this blog. I am yet to work out the details. Perhaps this could be around following topics (extending beyond the report):

1. Ranking of customer pain points
2. Value chain - from end-to-end transactions to supply chain finance
3. Barriers to successful deployments
4. Benchmarking and segmentation of early adapters
5. PACE Framework
6. Competitive Framework
7. Linking PACE with Competitive Frameworks
8. Moving from Laggards to Best in Class
9. What’s the future hold for the sector
10. Growth of world wide initiatives, e.g. hub alliance

Reference(s):

• Aberdeen Group - Survey on e-payables
• e-invoicing revenues predictions from Aberdeen Group

Tags: Aberdeen Group, Andrew Bartolini, Aberdeen Benchmark Report, E-payables - Advancing A/P automation

Popularity: 5% [?]

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Tie UK has finally announced the long awaited TiEger’s Den that would take place on 4th June 2007 at Manchester Business School. Sandy Chadha and Sanjay Vadera are ready to invest £400,000 in to 4 North West early stage companies that have been trading for over six months. Each competitor will be given 10 minutes for presentation, with the 250 expected audience given opportunity to question the entrepreneurs.

Raj Ruia (Alum of Manchester Business School), president of TiE in Manchester and Managing Director of the successful Bolton-based textiles firmRichard Haworth and Co, said: “As a mentoring organisation, the TiE network has a rich tradition of supporting exciting, embryonic businesses. An event such as this fits our ethos perfectly and enables us to work closely with some of the North West’s most exciting small firms. “We’re interested in hearing from all types of businesses, especially those that display a unique proposition and ambitions to grow quickly.  “Our TiEger’s Den initiative provides a fantastic opportunity for businesses that have firstly proved that their concept works, and then explored all options in terms of start-up grants and financial assistance. Not only will the winners be able to access £100,000 of investment capital, they’ll receive first class business advice from KPMG and long-term support from a TiE member with a track record in running a successful business.”

The panel also includes North West area director of Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, David Allanson, and KPMG’s Northern regional chairman, Malcolm Edge.

Reference(s):

• Tiger’s Den in Manchester - You heard it right!

Tags: TiE UK, Malcolm Edge, David Allanson, TiEger’s Den, Venture Capital, StartUps, entrepreneurs, North West, KPMG, Lloyds TSB, Raj Ruia, Sandy Chadha, Sanjaya Vadera, Manchester Business School

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Here is an excellent presentation from Dick Hardt of sxip, explaining what identity 2.0 is.

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Could the speakers of mashup* on 24th April do a better job than Dick Hardt explaining identity 2.0?

Reference(s):

• Learn all about Identity 2.0 at next mashup on 24th April 2007

Tags: identity 2.0, sxip, Dick Hardt

Popularity: 8% [?]

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This week, I had the privilege to attend a Hub Alliance committee meeting on behalf of Causeway, which was held at the London office of Burns e-Commerce. In order to do justice to the initiative, I plan to publish separate blog posts on following themes:

1. Objectives of the alliance and the reasons for setting it up
2. Founding members, new members and membership plans
3. Hubs which are already connected
4. User base (community) and statistics
5. Standards and the future influence
6. Other such alliances - the competition!

References:

• Partnering - a key difference between ebdex and its competitors

Tags: hub alliance, huballiance.org, Asite, Causeway Technologies, Causeway, burns, burns e-commerce

Popularity: 15% [?]

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According to the latest press release by Pegasus, Gary Turner plans to leave Pegasus in June 2007.

Ken Walters, President of Infor’s financial solutions division said, "Infor is totally committed to driving Pegasus forwards. While we regret Gary’s decision to leave, we also respect it was his personal decision. I would like to thank him for his significant contribution, particularly since joining Infor, and we all wish him well.”

Turner said “After a very enjoyable and rewarding twelve years at Pegasus and as part of the team that returned the company to health and prosperity in recent times, I am obviously leaving with mixed emotions. But I concluded that the timing was natural for me to seek out a different challenge."

Gary has also updated his profile on  LinkedIN, indicating he is ready to explore opportunities. Now what opportunities will Gary be interested in:

1. Low risk: Join another accounting software vendor - he might find this mentally not challenging given his achievements at Pegasus.
2. Medium risk: Join another software company, but not financial. Perhaps CRM or business intelligence - not miles from financials!
3. High risk: Join or set up a start up - perhaps SaaS based financials system. Then again Gary was not a believer! Its not too late to change your mind!
4. High-Mediaum risk: start a fund investing in new accounting software companies
5. Risk - what! Become a beach bum - until he hits upon an Eureka moment!

Good luck Garry! ebdex-Pegasus did not quite work out as planned. Perhaps we can find a better opportunity in the future!

References:

• Great Leaders 1 - Gary Turner of Pegasus

Tags: Pegasus, Infor, Gary Turner

Popularity: 9% [?]

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I planned to meet Sam Sethi on Wednesday night to discuss the relaunch of Vecosys, but due to an issue at Sam’s end, we could not meet as planned. My understanding is that when Vecosys is relaunched, it will be as blognation and will be launched in six countries, hopefully simultaneously. It will also cover enterprise and mobile software markets in addition to technology. Sam is clearly demonstrating maturity as a blogger. Achieving diversification and geographical expansion simultaneously is always tricky. Time to take a look at your MBA notes, Sam.

Tags: Sam Sethi, blognation, vecosys

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Have you ever wondered about your identity whilst surfing the Internet? Here is an opportunity to learn from the specialists in the field thanks to Simon Grice. The event attempts to answer the following questions:

1. My digital identity is an asset, but who owns it?

2. What is Digital Identity?

3. Why is it so important?

4. Trust.  Who should I trust and why should I be trusted?

5. Authentication. How far is reasonable?

6. Interoperability. Does this OpenID provider work with that consumer?

7. Transactions. Don’t confuse Paypal’s needs with Digg’s wants?

8. Complexity. OpenID is relatively easy, Cardspace is somewhat harder!

9. Real world use cases. How do I keep my profile up to date everywhere?

The event is moderated by Tony Fish, who was a key speaker at the previous mashup event held in Feb 2007, which I had the fortune to attend. Clearly missing from the scene is Vecosys boys, especially Sam Sethi. I thought Sam and Mike would run these events!! What’s going on?

Confirmed speakers include:

Tom Ilube, CEO - Garlik (ex-CIO of Egg Plc)
Edgar Whitley, Reader in IS - LSE

Simon Willison, co-creator - Django Web Framework
  Luke Razzell, co-founder - Identity Society

If you are confused with the term "mashup", here is a definition: Mashup is defined as a web site or web application that seamlessly combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience.

It would be a great pleasure to meet Tom and others, and strengthen my on-going discussions with Simon in addition to broadening my knowledge on web 2.0. Bit early to know my movements on the 24th, but I am scheduled to be in Bourne End on the 25th, that’s Sam’s neck of the woods! Let’s see whether I can also drag Phil Brown (CEO of Causeway) and Tim Cole (R&D Dir of Causeway) along to this event. Its a long process, but I am certain they will begin to see the benefit of web 2.0 and how to resell applicable solutions bundled with existing product portfolio, perhaps through Causeway’s ECM. mmh…brewing of a game plan!!!! I can almost hear Phil’s response…One step at a time, Manoj!!

References:

• mashup* - 6pm, 22nd Feb. 2007 What’s next, Web3.0?

Tags: mashup*, Simon Grice, Vecosys, Sam Sethi, Phil Brown, Tim Cole, Causeway, ECM, digital identity 2.0, Luke Razzell, Identity Society, Egg, Garlik, OpenID, Paypal, CardSpace, Digg, Tony Fish, Tom Ilube, Edgar Whitley, Simon Willison, Django

Popularity: 17% [?]

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Over the next several months, I will spend all my energy at Causeway Technologies, which is led by Phil Brown. Causeway Technologies is a specialist software solution provider in the construction industry. Tradex is Causeway Technologies’ document exchange platform, which has number of similarities to ebdex Document Exchange. My role is simple - help Tradex achieve a significant positive step change.

References:

• 2012 London Olympics - Accenture wins back-office contract - what about Document Exchange?
• Burns e-Commerce, Accountis, OB10 and Causeway get new facelifts in 2006

Tags: Causeway Technologies, Tradex, ebdex Document Exchange

Popularity: 6% [?]

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I took a decision to suspend the operations of ebdex, which I founded in late 2004. The decision was not taken lightly, but was inevitable given the level of difficulties ebdex faced with its development partner, Affno. I cannot go into more details at present due to legal advice. So what would become of ebdex?

1. ebdex will continue to be a registered company in England and Wales.
2. ebdex’s office at Daresbury Innovation Centre will be maintained.
3. ebdex Consultancy - ebdex will be open for consultancy opportunities in the areas of document exchange solutions, e-invoicing and EIPP, and supply chain finance.
4. ebdex Labs - ebdex will explore start up opportunities, especially from the point of providing commercial expertise to technology entrepreneurs.

Personally, I will continue to promote entrepreneurship in the North West of England through:

1. NW Start Up 2.0
2. OpenCoffee Manchester

If anyone is interested in avoiding the pitfalls of outsourcing technology development, or starting up your own enterprise, I am happy to provide any advice I could to make your journey more enjoyable than mine.

Tags: ebdex, outsourcing pitfalls

Popularity: 16% [?]

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A shopping experience like no other (thanks Mike for the link). Enjoy!

Tags: supermarket 2.0, glumbert.com

Popularity: 6% [?]

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Vinod Khosla                Eckart Wintzen        Jeremy Leggett    Richard Barrington

It was only yesterday I was speaking to David at OpenCoffee Manchester about setting up a business to track "carbon neutrality companies", etc. Look what I found in my inbox this morning:

It has not escaped the notice of many in the venture world that cleantech has become something of a phenomenon. Virtually unknown as a concept three or four years ago, it is now the mot du jour. It is more than just talk though - a lot of venture capital is heading in the direction of cleantech. The average European cleantech deal was worth €400k in 2001-2004, but that rose to nearly €3m in 2005-6.

Cleantech is widely understood to encompass technologies that promote the more efficient use of the earth’s resources in industrial production and consumption. Its origins clearly lie in the heightened consumer, regulatory and industry interest in clean forms of energy generation—specifically the rise in awareness of global warming and of damage to the environment from the burning of fossil fuels. The focus of much current investment is trained on eco-efficient production techniques, renewable energy, green technology, and sustainable business.

These and other investment themes and opportunities will be debated at Essential Cleantech 2007, a major conference taking place later this month in London.

Among the leading lights of cleantech presenting at the conference will be Vinod Khosla, famous for co-founding Sun Microsystems at the age of 27. A former general partner at US venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, Mr Khosla was crowned best VC investor by Forbes as long ago as 2001. Mr Khosla, who now runs Khosla Ventures, is an enthusiastic supporter of ethanol as a solution to the US dependence on overseas gasoline and will talk about the opportunities for this energy source. He will also reveal other areas of value (and hype) within cleantech and expand on “Khosla’s Rules” for investing, which he unveiled last month in a lecture at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley.

Essential Cleantech also includes presentations by Doug Richard, chairman of Library House, who will provide insights into the European clean energy sector. Jeremy Leggett, the founder of Solarcentury, a solar innovation company, will highlight his vision of how increased energy efficiency and renewable energy sources can lead to an ecological soft, rather than hard, landing. Mr Leggett’s first book The Carbon War was described by the Sunday Times as "the best book yet on the politics of global warming". Ken Carter, energy manager at Tesco, will explain how he plans to reduce the retailer’s carbon footprint by 50 per cent by 2020. Many other well-known names in the VC and cleantech world will also present their views at the conference.

Essential Cleantech presents a unique forum to discuss how potential solutions to the problems and threats posed by climate change and diminishing fossil fuel supply can provide significant business opportunities. We hope to meet you there.

Essential Cleantech 2007 takes place at the BFI IMAX Theatre, Waterloo, on April 17, from 8am to 8pm. An early bird discount is available until midnight on Thursday April 4.

Tags: Essential Cleantech

Popularity: 9% [?]

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According to Master blogger, Dennis Howlett, CedarOpenAccounts has acquired Version One. Dennis has got the information first hand from Mark Lane, leader of CedarOpenAccounts‘ M&A team. Here is a link to the story. 

It was not too long ago that I spoke to Tony Bray of Version One about cashing in his investment. But this news came as a bit of a surprise as I thought Sage would be the likely acquirer. Version One is a well run company, a family company, whose businesses has been built through re-investment of profits.

Here is the press release:

April 2nd, 2007 - COA (CedarOpenAccounts) the fastest-growing UK business software vendor has acquired Version One, the leading UK document management and imaging software author.

The acquisition, COA’s seventh in 4 years, will give the company a leadership position in the UK document management and imaging market, a high growth area due to ever-increasing business demand for improved efficiency, process automation and a reduced carbon footprint.

Following the acquisition, COA’s customer base will exceed 3,000 UK organisations and its total employees will exceed 450.

Contrary to the software market’s trend of frequently making acquisitions to secure critical mass alone, COA selected Version One because its software adds essential functional capabilities demanded by its customers. These capabilities enable customers to electronically design, deliver, store, retrieve and authorise business documents such as invoices and purchase orders, directly from their core finance system.

Mark Thompson, managing director of COA, says, “This acquisition is fantastic news for existing and prospective customers and partners of both companies. They will now benefit from Version One being part of a larger organisation with significant development resources and a major market presence in the UK.”

COA and Version One have been partners since 1997 and the companies already have over 250 joint customers throughout the UK including Specsavers, Aer Lingus and The Forestry Commission.

Karen Dicks, Director of Finance, Specsavers, says, “This acquisition is good news for COA and Version One customers. Specsavers has vastly improved financial processes using a system based on integrated COA and Version One software. This is a natural choice for businesses who want to drive greater efficiencies through an advanced financial management system.”

Tony Bray, director of Version One, comments, “Both companies have enjoyed a close partnership for over 10 years, making the acquisition of Version One by COA the next logical step. Our customers and partners should be reassured by COA’s solid reputation and in-depth understanding of the financial software market. The company is ideally positioned to drive Version One to even greater success.”

Version One will continue to operate from its headquarters in Cheshire. It will also continue to support existing customers and re-sellers of Version One technology and sell its products to all types of businesses worldwide.

mmhhh…Total employees exceeding by 450! I think its more likely 45 instead of 450.

Well done Tony!

Tags: Version One, CedarOpenAccounts, Tony Bray, Dennis Howlett, CedarOpenAccounts acquires Version One

Popularity: 6% [?]

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I was expecting 4 attendees this morning for the second OpenCoffee Manchester event but only 3 turned up at the end. Here is the list of attendees:

1. David Hawdale (Hawdale Associates)
2. Manoj Ranaweera (moi!)
3. Paul Robinson (Vagueware)

David had some interesting ideas around "green" and "free style" themes. We spoke about how these can be further developed and commercialised. Hopefully, David walked away with more thoughts than he came in! Paul spoke about a "localised news aggregator" idea he has been thinking of, and why he thinks Google’s Adsense/Adwords model is under threat. We also spoke about the big game tomorrow - Sri Lanka vs. England. Good luck to both teams.

We also decided to shift the start time from current 07:30 am to 08:00 am for future events. Click here for registering for the next event.

References:

• Saul launches OpenCoffee Club
• Best I can hope for from NW StartUp 2.0 and OpenCoffee Manchester
• First OpenCoffee Manchester
• OpenCoffee Manchester - Inaugural event on 27th March 07
• Is Manchester ready for OpenCoffee?

Tags: OpenCoffee, OpenCoffee Manchester, entrepreneurship, startups, funding, seed corn capital, business angels

Popularity: 13% [?]

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