According to Anil Bakht, chairman and managing director, ESS, the idea is to make available ERP solutions to even the smallest of companies."The companies can pay a monthly sum of Rs 500-700 for our services," he said explaining the concept. ESS has added a number of features to the solution to make it highly attractive. "It runs on Windows 95, for which the cost of training is minimal and it can run on Unix, Windows NT, Novell Netware or any other environment," he said.

Sophisticated security system and integrated modules make the product highly competitive in the market, he explained. "You need not invest in those high cost servers andsolutions, which run into million of rupees."

Cost effectiveness and easy manageability will be the selling points of Eastern Software, which will entirely focus on the mass market.

It has already put the first module of the solution on the Net. The company is likely to tie up with some internet service providers (ISPs) for the purpose. The flagship ERP product, MakESS, is developed on the Oracle RDBMS technology and available at a cost of Rs 5 lakh.

The company has made available all functions including sales planning and forecasting, purchases, inventory management, finance, fixed assets management, HR and payroll functions, shareholder details, costing, customer care functions, production and equipment maintenance in the full module.SAP and Oracle are the high-end solutions in the ERP segment while the middle level is dominated by Baan, Peoplesoft and Scala. The small segment, which is also the mass market, has very few players.

Companies like ESS today offer solutions that allow companies to usethe Net to the hilt to avoid costly servers and data storage facilities on their own. Origin BV, a subsidiary of Philips, on the other hand, has created an innovative `ERP in a Box' solution aimed at higher- and middle-segment enterprises, stressing on the time factor and are also user friendliness.ESS has a major client in Indonesian firm, Lacoste. This company has innovated with the solutions and has even implemented a micro-ERP for its retail outlets, taking the technology to the lowest possible levels.