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Corporate - Letter from CEO
Dear
Valued Customers,
First
of all, thank you for making 2007 a successful year for all of us!
The
year 2007 was another key year in the history of Gillani, Inc. In
January 2002, Gillani acquired the FourGen/Endura business from Irista,
Inc., the software division of HK Systems. At the six-year anniversary
of the acquisition, we would like to share our progress with you – our
most important asset in this acquisition.
Who is Gillani?
By
way of the FourGen/Endura acquisition, Gillani provides an Enterprise
Distribution Management™ (EDM) software solution, iDistribute™, focused
on the Supply Chain Management processes that particularly help
distribution business win and keep customers. These solutions also work
for many businesses across the globe in different industries including
Manufacturing, Retail, Healthcare, Hospitality, Services, Government and
3PL. The Distribution Management solution features an integrated
Financials solution that also functions as a freestanding ERP package
for many of our customers who do not distribute product.
What
is our Value Proposition?
Successful
experience – since 1983, has shown that companies which value a
flexible, scalable and modifiable software solution built on a solid
functional foundation, become Gillani customers. These customers are
today the users of FourGen® Accounting, Endura® Enterprise and iDistribute™
- as the latest V8.3 is now known, and FourGen® CASE Tools. Off course,
all of these customers have utilized the FourGen® CASE Tools to modify
the base system or have developed new custom application utilizing
these Rapid Application Development tools.
Who
are the Customers?
After
more than two decades of providing software solutions, Gillani
solutions are today utilized by more than one million end-users and
over 1500 small & medium size businesses and large enterprises
across the globe. The customers are spread across North America, South
America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, East Asia and Australia. Most of
these customers are companies like Verizon, AT&T, Sikorsky, Wesco
International, Motorola, GE Supply, ChevronTexaco, Full Service Supply,
Avaya, Lucent, Mandell Foods, Harp’s Food, Kenya Roads Board, Bank of
Nigeria, Coles Myer, Huyck Australia and many others.
The
Gillani Advantage
A
company’s success is determined by the decisions it makes and how it
conducts business. Instead of forcing clients to run their business the
way the software forces them to operate, Modifiability By Design (MDB)
allows a client to implement business practices necessary to win and
keep customers. Gillani offers several specific advantages over its
competition in providing applications for Enterprise Distribution
Management and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Financials, to its
clients in several key industries:
- Modifiability By Design
- Understanding of the
Distribution, Retail, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Hospitality,
Services & 3PL Industries
- Distribution, Retail,
Light Manufacturing/Kitting and Financials functionality
- Application Integration
- Key Reference Customers
in Key Industries
- Shorter and More
Certain Time to Value
- Proven and Streamlined
Implementation Methodology
- Measurable Return on
Investment (ROI)
Benefits
To Gillani Customers
The
Gillani iDistribute™ solution offers the following benefits to its
clients and their customers:
- Dramatic improvements
in accuracy of product availability, customer order handling,
product delivery, customer billing, accurate accounting and
product replenishment, resulting in improved customer service.
- Improved order fill
rates in the retention of customers through the ability to offer
substitutions and upgrades, increasing the speed and reducing the
error in picking, packing and shipping processes.
- Support of our clients’
unique customer value proposition, enabling better selection,
higher volumes, smaller shipments, buying convenience, lower
prices, better availability and improved customer service.
- The ability of clients
to tailor their systems to meet their customers’ special needs,
versus forcing customers to adjust to them because of system
limitations, resulting in improved customer service.
- Open systems and open
architectures that facilitate integration of their internal
systems and with those of their customers.
- Integrated analytics or
business intelligence tools that enable the analyst and management
to understand customer, product, cost, and market sales and
profitability.
- Products, processes and
systems that support and facilitate transitions to new
technologies that can create new value for customers, resulting in
reduction in cost for IT and increase in profitability for the
company.
What
has Gillani Accomplished in 2007?
Since
we completed the acquisition of the FourGen/Endura business, Gillani
has added tremendous value to the software and our clients. Some of the
key accomplishments in 2007 and previous years can be summed-up as
follows:
- Added new functionality
to Gillani products with the release of latest version 8.3 of
iDistribute®, Gillani Financials® and FourGen® CASE
Tools.
- Ported iDistribute to
the latest version of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) V10.
- Added North Lake
College of Irving, TX to iScholar - Gillani Scholars Program
- Earned Certified IBM
Education Center for IBM Software (ECIS) Educator status.
- Enhanced iDistribute
product to support WebSphere Portal and Workplace Services
Express. This allows end users to access iDistribute via browser
on a user's profile while supporting a collaborative environment.
- Gillani applications
ported on the latest releases of the following technologies:
- IBM Informix Express
V10 and IBM Express Runtime
- DB2 UDB V8.2
- IBM AIX 5.2
- RedHat Linux EE3/EE4
- SuSe LINUX 2.4.2
- Sun Solaris 9 OS 5.9
64-bit
- Ported Gillani eSCM
(Web Order Entry) system on WebSphere.
- IBM Workplace Solutions
Catalog: WebSphere Portal and Workplace Services Express catalog
entries.
- Achieved industry
optimized status within the IBM PartnerWorld Industry
Networks (PWIN) for Wholesale and Retail industries.
- Gillani Financials has
been selected as a finalist for the IBM PartnerWorld 2007 Beacon
Awards, specifically in the category of Most Innovative Industry
Optimized Solution.
- Gillani Inc. joined
Novell's PartnerNet program to deliver Linux-based Gillani iDistribute
Xpress, an ERP and Distribution Management Software, rapidly
deployable within 8-10 weeks, running on SUSE Linux from Novell.
- Gillani Inc. released
Gillani Database Independence (DBI) technology which offers a new
level of flexibility for Informix 4GL application users by
extending choice in selection of databases offered by IBM. The
same 4GL application can be compiled to run against either
Informix or DB2 database.
- Achieved "Ready
for IBM IDS" status for Gillani iDistribute ERP/Distribution
Management Software, Gillani Financials and FourGen CASE Tools, a
Rapid Application Development toolset.
- Through client
nominations, IBM has declared Gillani as one of the two finalists
for the prestigious IBM Beacon Award for the Hot Linux category
for its flagship product, iDistribute V8.3.
- Gillani’s FourGen CASE
Tools for Linux solution has been selected as a finalist for the
IBM PartnerWorld 2007 Beacon Awards, specifically in the category
of IBM Software Best Open Computing Solution.
- Achieved IBM Retail
Store Innovation - Store Integration Framework validation for
Gillani iDistribute - Retail ERP. This validation improves
Gillani’s ability to deliver on demand solutions that meet the
requirements of customers in the retail industry.
What
are the plans for 2008?
Gillani
plans to continue on the growth path it has been on for the past seven
years. We project to become a key player in both the Distribution
Management and ERP solutions markets in the next 3-5 years:
- Gillani is totally committed
in aligning its iDistribute applications with the latest
technologies, supporting Informix, DB2, WebSphere, iSeries,
xSeries and pSeries on Linux.
- Gillani extends its
commitment to build applications to meet the needs of SMB
businesses of varying sizes.
- Radio frequency
identification (RFID) is revolutionizing the supply chain. Gillani
is working with some of the RFID industry leaders to allow the
iDistribute system to track objects via radio waves and help
integrate RFID into businesses for greater gain and productivity.
- Gillani is also working
to integrate its iDistribute product with mobile devices to
exchange information between the database, application and the
mobile device in real time. Consequently, Gillani is
exploring IBM's Workplace Client Technology Micro Edition
technology.
- Gillani deployed
Rational Application Developer for developing Portlets and the
WebSphere Portal and Workplace Services Express environment.
Gillani recognizes that Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) will
rely on tools such as the Rational Software Development Platform.
- Further develop and
deploy solutions based on Open Source Computing
environments.
- Facilitate an annual
FourGen/Gillani user group meeting with help of active clients.
- Establish local
presence in Latin America, Europe, and Asia by establishing
regional Gillani support offices and partners/resellers.
- Continue to consolidate
all clients onto the latest version of software by offering V8.3
upgrade path and incentives.
- Offer FourGen Passport
Program to all customers with lapsed support, to reinstate
software maintenance and support.
We
understand that you rely on Gillani iDistribute™, Gillani Financials,
FourGen® CASE Tools and their future to solve your business problems.
Your loyalty and commitment to these solutions is highly valued by
Gillani and we are dedicated to delivering value to you – our most
valuable asset, long into the future.
Yours
sincerely,
President
and Chief Executive Officer
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Setting the Tempo
“Our mission is to be the best software and services company in the
world as measured by customer satisfaction, financial results, quality
processes and work environment in order to continually achieve revenue
and profitability objectives, and increase market-share.
Building Lasting Relationships
At
Gillani, Inc. we understand the importance that high quality service
brings to you. We bring a focus on service to everything that we do.
With this in mind, we have recently developed our Endura Community website
and will soon launch the iCare (self-servicing) site to maximize your
investment in our software and allow you to obtain the best service
when you want it.
Our goal is to build lasting relationships with
our clients through strong communication. We understand the important
role that Gillani solutions play in your continued success and
prosperity, and we are committed to your satisfaction.
Letter From The CEO
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