Bileeta's flagship ERP on 'local business practice' gaps

The High Court then issued an order in favour of Lanka Tractors and awarded the company damages as appealed for. The lawyers said that the Secretary to the Treasury had failed to obey the court ruling, despite it being over a year and a half since the verdict.

They added that the company has not been able to develop its business due to prolonged litigation.

Owing to this delay, the company lost the opportunity of attracting foreign investors who had expressed willingness to implement projects ranging from hospitals and housing schemes to universities at the Narahenpita site.

The appeal against the verdict given by the Commercial High Court of Colombo filed by the Attorney General at the Supreme Court was also dismissed, they said, adding that the present action was a violation of the Supreme Court verdict.

A lack of local business practice understanding / compatibility coupled with few qualified personnel and high costs have made it difficult for Enterprise- wise Resource Planning ( ERP) to succeed in the Sri Lankan market, according to Sanji De Silva, the Chief Executive of IT company Bileeta, who was quoted in a company statement.

Offering an ERP solution developed locally over a 10- year period to over these problems, Bileeta, in the same statement, also indicated that its flagship product, Bileeta ERP V6.0, was " designed to support medium to large enterprises" and that it used only locally people and resources to keep costs down as well as having " developed its systems from a local perspective, for example, its dynamic tax configuration caters to ever changing regulatory requirement in local taxes etc."

The company further noted that its product included modules for " sales and marketing, sales force automation, accounts receivables, accounts payable, inventory management, warehouse management, production support & manufacturing, banking and fund management".

Additionally noted; " The problem the world over is that about 57% of all ERP implementations are ' challenged', i. e., gone over budget and taken much longer than planned." However, Bileeta stated that it had a 100% success rate so far in terms of implementation.

(JH)