All New Application Software Growth Comes from SaaS: Plex Systems CEO

Plex Systems develops Plex Online (POL), a software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) solution designed for manufacturers. With more than 360 functional modules to manage operations from the shop floor to the top floor, Plex Online’s SaaS model delivers reduced cost of operations, faster implementations and a continuously improving feature set, the company claims.

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMCnet) recently caught up with Plex Systems CEO Mark Symonds to discuss how Plex Online contributes for the growth of its clients. Our exchange follows.

TMCnet: How does Plex Online differ from similar products in the industry?
Mark Symonds: SaaS or not, the solution has to fit the purpose. It has to add value to the enterprise. Plex Online is the most comprehensive product on the market for manufacturers. It covers traditional ERP plus shop floor, quality management, supply chain management and much more – all with a common user interface, all completely integrated. Many ERP solutions had their genesis in the accounting functions and have been designed to meet that need first, then extend to other functionality and perhaps their final consideration is what happens on the shop floor. Plex Online (POL) is different because it was designed from the shop floor and other functionality followed. We are proud to say that Plex Online extends "from the shop floor to the top floor".

There are many companies that claim to have a SaaS ERP solution, but often these are merely repurposed client/server on-premises software made to appear to be a SaaS product. We encourage prospective customers seeking SaaS ERP solutions to always be sure to see the product demonstration on one of their own PCs, in a web browser with no additional software loaded on it. This is the best way to assess how compliant and bandwidth-friendly the application is.

One aspect that we believe is unique to Plex Systems is our ability to achieve a <2 hour Recovery Point Objective (RPO) through live data streaming to our data centers (explanation below). Disaster recovery is an important consideration for businesses and Plex Systems is the SaaS industry leader in achieving "hot site" disaster recovery.

TMCnet: How do your customers respond to the new software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings?
MS: Plex Systems has been delivering our ERP solution via SaaS delivery since 2001, so Plex Online customers don't consider it a "new" offering. New customers are more often requiring a SaaS solution rather than just accepting it. We have found that the awareness is much higher than ever. Those that still are learning about it have the usual questions about security and uptime. Once they learn about our datacenters and our track record and understand all that SaaS means for their business they ask, “Why would I do it any other way?”

TMCnet: How do you expect the SaaS market for manufacturing sector to grow in the coming years?
MS: All new application software growth is coming from SaaS. Salesforce.com (News - Alert) is now a $billion company. Netsuite, Ultimate, and RightNow are growing well as are many others. Our traditional competitors are really falling on hard times. The media talks about zombie banks – those that don’t have the resources to make new loans. I have heard analysts talk about zombie software companies – those that don’t have the resources to invest in new technology and win new customers. There are many among the ranks of mid-market ERP providers.
Manufacturers are focused on making good quality products as inexpensively as possible. More and more are facing the need to streamline their operations and drive out costs. Automating and outsourcing are important elements to any such plan. With SaaS, manufacturers can improve rapidly without a huge capital outlay. They want to conserve cash for capital equipment. They don’t see managing a data center as a core competency.

The nature of the global economy presents many opportunities for SaaS to grow. The ability to access real-time data from various locations is more and more desirable as manufacturers locate production facilities to maximize efficiencies and serve different markets. Our localization feature is a tremendous benefit to customers with facilities in different markets as it allows standardization of processes which can labeled differently for disparate cultures and languages. There is also a trend of large companies to spin off part of the company to allow them to focus on their core competency. These new spin-offs, recognizing the need to be nimble and respond quickly to shifting market conditions, look to SaaS solutions to help them achieve their goals as 21st century companies.

TMCnet: What is your vision of your company after five years?
MS: I look to Plex Systems to grow its customer base and extend beyond the traditional markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia to new manufacturing centers in India, Viet Nam, Brazil and other countries where manufacturing is migrating. We also want to continue robust growth in North America as we move into new manufacturing markets for the life sciences, food and beverage and electronics manufacturing verticals. This is an exciting time for manufacturing and technology will enable growth and innovation in unimagined ways. We will continue to innovate and anticipate and define industry trends to ensure we provide the best value for our customers, regardless of the market or location.

TMCnet: Market researchers say SaaS offerings help companies perform better during recession. Can you substantiate this?
MS: During difficult economic times manufacturers are forced to do more with less. POL allows them to accomplish that difficult task. IT budgets are an attractive area to seek cost savings when the enterprise is threatened in a recession. CIOs and CFOs who recognize that SaaS solutions can function as well or better than expensive traditional on-premise applications are champions at providing cost-effective technology solutions, without the unnecessary burden of hardware and software infrastructure, IT staff and recurring consulting costs.
TMCnet: Are you planning to add new capabilities to Plex Online? If so, explain.
MS: I'm proud to say we are never satisfied with the product as it currently is. In fact, we are improving Plex Online functionality on a daily basis. We now offer more than 360 different modules within Plex Online which covers all manufacturing processes "from the shop floor to the top floor". One opportunity we see is to develop Plex Online to assist risk-averse customers in high liability markets with technology that helps them manage their production processes in areas like medical device manufacturing and food safety. The recent salmonella scare with contaminated peanut butter in the food chain is a good example of why industry needs to leverage technology to do a better job. Traceability and quality are two strengths of Plex Online that manufacturers can leverage to validate their production processes, reduce costs and protect consumers.

TMCnet: Plex recently achieved the disaster recovery objective goals of two hours. What is significant about this achievement?
MS: We believe Plex Systems is the first SaaS application provider to achieve the recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) of two hours or less. Our customers use Plex Online every minute of the day, every day. It has to be available all the time. It can’t be down for hours much less days should a total disaster occur. Having live streaming data between our two data centers is a technical achievement that leads the industry and provides our customers with peace of mind. Eliminating the chance that a localized disaster can stop production for an extended period is significant - particularly when you are the unfortunate victim of a disaster.