LawsonGuru Blog
Thought-Provoking Commentary for the Lawson Software Community
Can Lawson Remain Relevant?
Posted by on October 1, 2009
Some very interesting developments on the mid-market ERP space:
- Oracle And SAP Race For Mid-Market Opportunities
- NetSuite Offers ERP iPhone App
- Microsoft Acquires Midmarket ERP Products
What does all this mean for Lawson?
I honestly don’t know what to make of these developments, but remember that this is not the first time we’ve seen this ..
As you can see, these two major shakeups in the ERP market took place several years ago. Yet, Lawson still remains a major player, if their latest financial results are any indication:
Lawson Software Reports Strong First Quarter Fiscal 2010 Financial Results
LawsonGuru Blog 
As long as 3,000 organizations run it, Lawson will be relevant on some level, I would imagine. The interesting thing is whether Lawson will go the SaaS route and make its products more available for SMBs….
Lawson is relevant in two places:
1) Healthcare
2) Large HR Payroll implementations.
(with perhaps govt as a third area)
If they get traction with M3, they may be relevant in other areas (especially with all those JDE customers concerned about eventually being fusioned into Oracle0
Lawson will not produce an SaaS solution. The CEO does not believe in it.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/93066-lawson-s-harry-debes-saas-industry-will-collapse-in-two-years
Lawson is relevant as industry solutions as defined by Lawson itself. With over 5,000 (out of 6,000) hospitals using Lawson, it will need to leverage its dominance globally.
Lawson is relevant as a Tier 2 solution, it will never be able to compete against Global giants SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle. To reach the $1 billion revenue level, Lawson will need to acquire additional processing capabilities and sell 2,000 more new licenses on an annual basis.
Not easy to do when you don’t have the sales force or the consultants to support the existing client base.