LWSN Lawson Software, Inc. (MM)

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 This 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.