London, 30 July 2009 - United Planet (www.unitedplanet.com), one of the leading developers of Enterprise Portal software for mid-sized companies in Europe, has announced a new OEM Partnership Program for ERP vendors. The partnership will enable ERP vendors to “rent” the highly flexible and functionally rich portal platform, Intrexx, and to offer it as a combined package with their own solution to their customers. It will enable vendors to extend their own portfolio, adding the functionality of an Enterprise Portal without incurring expensive development costs and whilst maintaining a clear focus on core competencies. This combination will support the migration to ERP 2.0 and present ERP vendors with new sales opportunities and business models. It will also enable new and existing ERP customers to benefit from web-based applications via improved portal management capabilities.

According to United Planet managing director, Axel Wessendorf, times are tough for ERP providers: “Too many providers are competing in a saturated market. Many ERP systems are no longer flexible enough and offer insufficient process control. Many companies have responded to this problem by integrating additional applications from external suppliers into their IT landscape. The end result is that separate parts of the system often exist next to each other as standalone solutions making it virtually impossible to expand the ERP suite or replace individual components.”

The Intrexx portal platform offers a solution to this problem. As an integration platform, it enables companies to replace these standalone solutions or connect them more effectively with each other. Users will be able to add new applications, give processes a new structure and automate them. This will result in a unified company IT landscape that is easily linked to the company's ERP system.

Intrexx also incorporates a variety of functions not currently offered by ERP software but which are immensely useful for employees. These include Web 2.0 applications such as Wikis and blogs, applications for managing resources within the company such as meeting rooms and company vehicles, or electronic mapping of applications for holiday entitlement.

The OEM Partnership Program is expected to help ERP providers significantly increase user penetration within an organisation. "ERP systems are typically used by about 30-40 per cent of a company's employees. An Intrexx portal, however, is normally used by almost 100 per cent of staff. So, by offering ERP software in conjunction with a portal solution, ERP providers can significantly widen their target group," explained Wessendorf.

United Planet has produced a white paper which explains the benefits of the OEM Partnership Program for ERP vendors and sets out all possible business models and sales opportunities. To request a copy of the "Platform Partnership" whitepaper, visit http://www.unitedplanet.com/en/partners/oem.