IBS INSPIRES CUSTOMERS AT GLOBAL EXECUTIVE SUMMIT 2005

The IBS Global Executive Summit brought nearly 700 delegates from 25 countries around the world to the city of Stockholm from 19th to 21st September 2005 for an event widely regarded by those present as inventive, informative and inspirational. In addition to a wide variety of presentations and demonstrations of IBS range of ERP and supply chain software solutions, services and vertical market expertise, the company portrayed the growing importance of understanding and responding to the future through the unique performances of a Nobel Prize winner, a best selling author and one of North Americas most successful entrepreneurs.

Magnus Wastenson, CEO of IBS, (pictured left) commented at the conclusion of the event, We are absolutely delighted with the IBS Global Executive Summit and feel that it was a highly valuable event for everybody who attended. From IBS perspective, it was an excellent opportunity to build closer contacts with customers from around the world and has helped us to understand further how we can continue to develop and provide the right solutions and services for their businesses. The positive feedback I and my colleagues have received gives me great confidence for the future of IBS. In particular, we have successfully communicated our ability to deliver large-scale global solutions that help customers deal with many of the hurdles of modern international business by encouraging operational efficiency and driving increased profitability.

He continues, A consistent theme of the event was the growing pressures felt by companies throughout the world due to rapidly changing markets, reduced margins and price pressure and how, invariably, effective supply chain management is the key component in allowing companies to prepare for these challenges and optimise their business processes to overcome them.

Keynote speakers included Dr Joseph Stiglitz, who received the Nobel Prize for Economics in Stockholm in 2001 and was a key economic adviser within the Bill Clinton Presidential administration. He presented a rare insight into the current and future power shifts in world economics and their consequences to global business. His conclusion was to emphasise the massively important role of supply chain management in allowing businesses to succeed through this change.

Leading futurist and author, Dr Patrick Dixon, provided his thought-provoking and controversial view of a future dominated by billions of microscopic computers embedded into every item manufactured, distributed and sold across the world. He sees RFID technology as an inevitable part of all successful supply chains of the future and demonstrated the instant bottom line cost savings that it can generate with very little investment. He also offered some words of warning, reminding delegates that it is the emotional reaction to new technology that is the real driver for its success or failure.

Daniel Sabbah, General Manager of Rational Software, IBM Software Group delivered a presentation on the importance of open source software to the future development of key application software. This theme was continued by Bob Young, co-founder of open source pioneer Red Hat, who explained how companies can exploit IT innovation to win customers and gain a competitive edge.

The event also saw the global launch of IBS Enterprise 6.0, the new release of IBS Supply Chain Management-focused ERP software. In a series of break-out sessions and hands-on live demonstrations, IBS delivered a comprehensive overview of the full scale of its products capabilities as well as the companys continually increasing knowledge, understanding and experience of the specific demands and requirements of key vertical markets.

Martyn Lloyd, European IT Manager, Maxell Europe, said, The professionalism and quality of the IBS Global Executive Summit was very much in line with our personal experience of the company, its people and its products. By having the opportunity to share these experiences with fellow customers, as well as through the interesting and informative presentations, we could see that IBS still holds its core values of putting the needs and long term objectives of its customers at the forefront of its own business and product development strategy. This is very reassuring.

Magnus Wastenson concludes, IBS is one of the very few companies that can provide a complete One Stop Shop ERP solution for global customers within industries with complex supply chains and high transaction volumes. We have taken this opportunity to bring together customers, partners and prospects from around the world to communicate this fact and to inspire them. I believe we have achieved that.