Report2Web Looking for AS/400 Growth
Being a player in an enterprise that International Data Corp. (Framingham, Mass.) predicts will reach $934 million by 2002 requires software companies to adjust to the ever-changing needs of the Web-based enterprise. With that in mind, Report2Web Corp. (Raleigh, N.C.) has announced its newest Web-based enterprise reporting solution, Report2Web 2.0, designed to give users easy access to business information via a standard Web browser.
Currently, AS/400 users comprise 10-15 percent of Report2Web's customer base, but the company is looking to improve upon that percentage in the near future, according to Mitch Stephens, president of Report2Web.
"In our research, we’ve found that a lot of AS/400 users want to keep their AS/400s but take advantage of NT and PC technology where possible," Stephens says. "We are able to provide that compatibility, so we want to become as big a player as possible in the AS/400 market."
Stephens says Report2Web 2.0 is compatible with the AS/400 market for a number of reasons. "I think the AS/400 market fits in really well with Web-based report distribution primarily because of the low cost, ease of use and intuitive interface that the Web uses," he says.
Report2Web uses Internet server technology to securely distribute reports through a single user-friendly interface and solves the problem of trying to get reports produced by large-scale applications such as HR and ERP to the appropriate end-user. The solution can be configured to use a company’s intranet or extranet to distribute documents to end users' desktops throughout the enterprise. Report2Web 2.0 also handles all kind of documents that make it easier for workers to find what they need by simply logging onto a standard Web browser.
"Richfood uses the Report2Web product to deliver information to our customers through our extranet," says Bob Hartless, director of corporate IT for Richfood Holdings Inc. (Richmond, Va.), a wholesale food distributor and one of the largest food retailers in the Mid-Atlantic. "This information previously was created on a mainframe, printed and then distributed to each customer. Delivery could take up to five days from the time the report was generated until it was our customers’ hands. Report2Web enables Richfood to deliver any information created on almost any platform within minutes to the extranet and our customers. Within two days after Report2Web was installed and connected to our extranet we were able to deliver 200 reports. It’s a powerful tool."
Report2Web 2.0 is designed to automatically retrieve company reports from a number of departments and distribute them to the appropriate people over the Internet. The solution is also easily integrated with a company's existing corporate information.