Following on from his introductory look at the “best in breed” approach, Rob Smith recently met with James Horne, Director of Marketing and Business Development for Centric Software (a vendor that subscribes to the approach) to discuss the merits of the “best in breed” methodology.

In this, a new blog in the “One Size Fits All” series, Rob Smith looks at the opposite side of the coin from his previous articles examining the virtues of the end-to-end approach. With some vendors choosing to focus their efforts on delivering a “best in breed” experience in a single solution area, Rob weighs up the benefits and drawbacks of both strategies.

Here we have another of our vendor interviews in the WhichPLM series on end-to-end solutions and we ask Kevin Piotrowski, Director of Product Management for Infor10 ERP Process iBusiness (System21) for his assessment on how ERP and PLM systems can function together. Infor is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia and is the third largest provider of enterprise applications and services, helping 70,000 customers in 164 countries. The solutions available include CRM, EAM, ERP, FM, HCM, PM, PLM, SCM and WFM.

Here we have the last in the WhichPLM series of articles on end-to-end solutions and we ask Colin Marks, CEO of DeSL for his assessment on how the two systems can function together. Discover e-Solutions Limited (DeSL) was founded in 2002 with headquarters in Cardiff, Wales and is the only Gold Certified Microsoft Partner delivering web based software solutions to the Fashion & Consumer Goods sectors. The solutions available include PLM, ERP, CRM, SRM and E-Commerce.

Here we have the next in the WhichPLM series of articles on end-to-end solutions and we open the floor to yet another vendor who offer both ERP and PLM systems and ask them for their assessment on how the two systems can function together.

Today, Rob Smith meets with Charles Benoualid, Vice President, R&D of Visual 2000 founded in 1998 and with headquarters in Montreal and offices in USA, Europe and China. Drawing on its deep industry experience, Visual 2000 develops comprehensive end-to-end software solutions for apparel and soft goods retailers, brands, and manufacturers including PLM, SCM, ERP, WMS and BI solutions.

Here we have the next in the WhichPLM series of articles on end-to-end solutions and we open the floor to yet another vendor who offer both ERP and PLM systems and ask them for their assessment on how the two systems can function together.

This week, Rob Smith meets with Sue Welch, CEO of TradeStone Software. Headquartered in Gloucester, Mass., TradeStone Software has been providing full end-to-end Merchandise Lifecycle Management solutions to retailers, brand manufacturers and suppliers since 2003. TradeStone’s solutions include, PLM for Retail, Collaborative Sourcing, Order Management, Global Trade Management and Supplier Community Management.