Saturday, May 1, 2010

Different Strokes for Different Folks

This part will focus more on Meridian’s forerunner Prolog product for smaller organizations, and on the vendor’s upcoming fourth quarter of 2008 (Q408) release of Prolog Connect for the mid-market.

Prolog was originally introduced in 1993 on a client/server platform, and is in use today by more than 4,000 companies that have revenues from $10 million to $500 million, and from 10 to 100 employees. With typical contract values of less than $150,000, the product grew rapidly across small organizations in the architecture, engineering & construction (A/E/C) sector because of Meridian’s micro-vertical expertise and rich understanding of this space, a usable and intuitive user interface (UI), and easy customization by business users (versus information technology [IT] staff).

Prolog is best suited for the “Build” phase of Meridian’s PBO solution set, and includes more than 400 packaged reports. It manages a wide breadth of activities including purchasing/bid management, budgets and cost management, contract and change management, correspondence management, design collaboration management, daily journal entries, jobsite tracking, and safety and quality programs. Usual-suspect competitors are Primavera [evaluate this product] and Autodesk Constructware (and occasionally e-Builder).

To modernize Prolog, and also appeal to larger mid-market companies, Meridian is releasing in late 2008 a new mid-market product, Prolog Connect, which provides Web services and service oriented architecture (SOA) layer atop the Prolog’s Project Portfolio Management (PPM) oriented product set. Featuring OBA strategy, secure collaboration with internal users and external supply chains, and flexible integration, Prolog Connect is targeted to companies in the $500 million to $1 billion revenue range or between 100 and 500 full-time employees (FTEs). When sold together, Prolog and Prolog Connect’s typical contract price is expected to be up to $750,000.

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