New Release of QAD Enterprise Applications Helps Manufacturers Work More Effectively in a Challengin

Updated

New Release of QAD Enterprise Applications Helps Manufacturers Work More Effectively in a Challenging Economic Climate

QAD 2012.1 Delivers Greater Visibility of Data and Business Processes

QAD Harnesses Mobile Computing and the Cloud to Allow Companies to Do More with Less


SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- QAD Inc. (NAS: QADA) (NAS: QADB) , a leading provider of enterprise software and services for global manufacturers, today announced the latest release of QAD Enterprise Applications 2012.1 (QAD 2012.1), the QAD core enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. QAD 2012.1 provides best-in-class functionality and performance to help manufacturers work more effectively in a challenging economic climate.

"With QAD 2012.1, we focused on our customers' needs to improve efficiency, business agility and user productivity in today's uncertain economic climate," said Pam Lopker, founder and president of QAD. "With this release, QAD raised the bar to make it easier than ever to rapidly deploy and scale our solutions. The enhanced user experience empowers our global manufacturing customers to better harness the power of the QAD ERP suite to do more, cut costs and become a more effective enterprise."

QAD Easy On Boarding in the Cloud, On Premise or QAD Unique Hybrid Model

QAD 2012.1 delivers innovative advanced analytics and flexible business process management as part of the integrated ERP suite. Customers can choose to deploy this new release with QAD Easy On Boarding (QAD rapid deployment methodology) in the cloud, on-premise or in QAD unique global hybrid deployment model--all with a common user experience. QAD 2012.1 delivers data and actionable intelligence via mobile devices. With this release, QAD offers a range of enhancements and support services such as QAD community forums and the QAD Store.

"Our global customers expect great value and a great experience deploying our ERP solutions," said Tony Winter, QAD chief technology officer. "We've delivered greater visibility, usability and efficiency across the entire QAD 2012.1 suite. Not only is this new release of QAD easier to use, learn and deploy, it's a top-tier solution focused exclusively on the needs of global manufacturing companies. Moreover, QAD offers a full strength ERP solution available on premise, on demand and as a hybrid option."

Leveraging Mobile Technology to Improve Efficiency

Now customers can utilize QAD Business Intelligence (BI), and access all operational reporting with the new QAD Mobile Browse and QAD Mobile BI Apps to access the information they need at their fingertips from their iPads. Additionally QAD is announcing new mobile workflow capabilities with a new mobile global requisition system approval tool (MGRS), which allow customers to approve purchases on their iOS or Android smart phones anytime and anywhere. It's simple, quick, and convenient.

Greater Visibility to Actionable Intelligence

With QAD 2012.1, customers gain enhanced visibility to data in real-time to identify issues and respond intelligently and accurately. QAD enhanced BI suite automates the data warehouse to consolidate disparate data sources, reducing the burden of complex administration. In this release, QAD BI collaborative portal provides an easy to use dashboard and reporting environment to configure views as needed, and share with other employees to increase the speed and accuracy of decision-making throughout the enterprise.

In QAD 2012.1, QAD is announcing new data library modules for QAD BI to support two additional business processes: Transportation and Enterprise Asset Management. With the new Transportation Management System BI module, logistics managers can easily design and access customizable dashboards without IT assistance. It empowers more users to make rapid decisions on shipping and carriers, reducing cost and improving customer satisfaction.

With the new Plant Maintenance BI module,managers can better support decisions like "preventative versus on plan" maintenance and "Year-to-Date Maintenance" performance statistics. The data also supports typical root cause analysis and enables better focus on reliability and uptime focused maintenance of critical assets.

The new integrated analytics modules complement core QAD BI Financials, Order Management and Operations.

New Instantaneous Data Visualization with Operational History Metrics

The new QAD enhancement is an expansion of the existing operational metrics capability. It provides a graphical view of history for any of the Operational Metrics being tracked. This delivers a view of long term trends—beyond a real-time snapshot—allowing managers to visualize, prioritize and address ongoing issues with minimal need for interpretation. It enables users to quickly take action, benchmark and measure performance.

World-class Business Process Management

In this release, QAD delivers a full strength Business Process Management System (QAD BPMS) fully integrated with the standard business processes supported within QAD Enterprise Applications. QAD BPMS allows customers to visualize, automate, measure and analyze all business processes and tune their performance. QAD BPMS will enable customers to become more effective enterprises, and leapfrogs earlier workflow capabilities seen in other applications.

Powerfully Precise Demand Planning

QAD Demand Planning 7.0 helps manufacturers accurately forecast demand in fast fluctuating environments. The resultant improved forecast accuracy helps reduce costs, decreases stock outs and helps to minimize safety stock—all of which can improve customer service, enhance customer loyalty, and positively impact the bottom line.

QAD Training

To help customers learn more about QAD 2012.1 Enterprise Edition, QAD offers online and classroom training courses at locations around the world. QAD's Online Training Catalog provides class details and establishment of specific learning paths enabling users to register themselves online.

"Our customers tell us that a key driver for their ERP strategy is cost reduction and simultaneously increasing operational effectiveness and user satisfaction," said Gordon Fleming, QAD chief marketing officer. "So in alignment with our vision to help our manufacturing customers become effective enterprises, QAD 2012.1 makes it easier for customers to take action on the wealth of intelligence in their organization to operate at peak performance while aligning to their strategic business goals."

About QAD

QAD is a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturing companies specializing in automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial and life sciences products. QAD applications provide critical functionality for managing manufacturing resources and operations within and beyond the enterprise, enabling global manufacturers to collaborate with their customers, suppliers and partners to make and deliver the right product, at the right cost and at the right time. For more information about QAD, telephone +1 805-566-6000, or visit the QAD web site at www.qad.com.

"QAD" is a registered trademark of QAD Inc. All other products or company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to Investors: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expects", "believes", "anticipates", "could", "will likely result", "estimates", "intends", "may", "projects", "should", and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations and assumptions regarding its business, the economy and future conditions. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, evolving demand for the company's software products and products that operate with the company's products; the company's ability to sustain license and service demand; the company's ability to leverage changes in technology; the company's ability to sustain customer renewal rates at current levels; the publication of opinions by industry and financial analysts about the company, its products and technology; the reliability of estimates of transaction and integration costs and benefits; the entry of new competitors or new offerings by existing competitors and the associated announcement of new products and technological advances by them; delays in localizing the company's products for new or existing markets; the ability to recruit and retain key personnel; delays in sales as a result of lengthy sales cycles; changes in operating expenses, pricing, timing of new product releases, the method of product distribution or product mix; timely and effective integration of newly acquired businesses; general economic conditions; exchange rate fluctuations; and, the global political environment. In addition, revenue and earnings in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software industry are subject to fluctuations. Software license revenue, in particular, is subject to variability with a significant proportion of revenue earned in the last month of each quarter. Given the high margins associated with license revenue, modest fluctuations can have a substantial impact on net income. Investors should not use any one quarter's results as a benchmark for future performance. For a more detailed description of the risk factors associated with the company and the industries in which it operates, please refer to the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2012 ended January 31, 2012, and in particular, the section entitled "Risk Factors" therein, and in other periodic reports the company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission.



QAD Inc.
Ashley DeVan
Sr. Director of Marketing Communications
+1 805-566-6126
ashley.devan@qad.com
or
Heidi Wieland
Media Relations
+1 805-565-2452
Heidi.wieland@qad.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America California

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