KMR’s
modernization and SOA strategy ensures a bright
future.
Background
KMR Systems
Corporation of Syosset (Long Island) NY, has been
providing consulting and application solutions
for the IBM midrange since 1982. They provide
customized state-of-the-art software solutions
for Benefit Funds, Labor Unions, Claims Processing
and Pension Systems to name a few. KMR's software
is fully integrated, IBM Server Proven, HIPAA
compliant and meets the latest market requirements
such as SOX. KMR's services include application
modernization, business consulting, High Availability
and network services. As an IBM Business Partner,
KMR has the System i certifications required to
plan and implement successful hardware upgrades.
Their focus on customer satisfaction emphasizes
quality, integrity and on-time implementation
and has resulted in partnerships with customers
that remain strong after 20 years.
Challenge
Like many System i application solution providers,
KMR’s products have evolved to lead their
markets for functionality and robustness. However
their ability to win against new competitors had
become a challenge. KMR needed to be able to provide
modern UI’s and integration with the web
and popular desktop applications like Office.
They also needed support for Web Services and
multiplatform integration using for example, an
SQL Server membership database.
Despite feature-rich applications, green screens
are inevitably perceived as outdated today and
the growing need within organizations for improved
mobility and ‘anywhere, anytime’ access
was becoming more important to KMR’s customers.
Solution
KMR evaluated modernization and webfacing alternatives
over a period of 2 years, before selecting looksoftware
as its strategic modernization partner.
Their initial interest was in newlook
but since investigating the ‘looksoftware
Modernization Suite’, KMR have now expanded
their interest to include the capabilities of
soarchitect, mobileclient,
smartclient and lookdirect.
As with so many other application solution providers
who have selected looksoftware’s
products, the differentiating features were ease
of use, rich functionality, product quality and
outstanding support and training.
Implementation
KMR’s marketing was underway and within
3 weeks they were able to build - with
looksoftware’s assistance - a demonstration
pilot which included:
- Browser-based, rich graphical user interface
- Mobility support for ‘anywhere, anytime’
access
- Elimination of 5250 OLTP requirements
- Integration features enabling business process
automation for Cobra letters and member emails
- Support for two-way Web Services
The pilot covered 75% of the functionality of
KMR’s Benefits Funds application and focused
on delivering new capabilities including integration
with MS Word, Excel and Outlook. The rich smartclient
interface delivers the performance and functionality
required by transaction users, while thinclient
and mobileclient provide zero
deployment access and support for PDA’s.
What’s more, Michael Galligan Jr –
KMR’s Senior Software Development Engineer
- is confident that the whole suite of applications
will be ready within 2 months, an amazing achievement
in Michael’s view!
Benefits
Now, having utilized the looksoftware
product suite, KMR is in full competition mode
with vendors who have a Windows interface to their
applications. This is expected to increase sales
significantly. The initiative will also lead to
improved (existing) customer satisfaction, enabling
customers to significantly improve their workplace
productivity and demonstrating that KMR is delivering
the benefits derived from the very latest technologies.
Michael G. Galligan, President and CEO of KMR
said, “I’m comfortable we can
compete and win against any platform. lookdirect
means our applications can leverage the Power5
System i Standard Edition, reducing total solution
cost. We have maintained the high level of functionality
and robustness that has driven our success to-date,
but now we also support the latest technologies.
Our sales team can be more aggressive in pursuing
the large industry sector we serve. Our current
outlook anticipates significant growth in all
aspects of our business.”
Michael added, “The strong functionality
of the looksoftware product suite
will set us apart from our competitors. We have
been very impressed with the timely and helpful
assistance we have received since joining
looksoftware’s partner program.”
Having done their homework and investigated the
alternatives, KMR realized that modernization
is much more than having a nice graphical user
interface. looksoftware’s
focus on reuse means KMR’s existing application
investments are protected and they can continue
to leverage their RPG skill set. Others make the
claims but looksoftware is delivering
the result - and a bright
long- term future, in a very diverse range of
organizations all over the world.
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