Don't buy Baan products, users advised

A leading analyst firm has advised businesses not to buy Baan products as speculation increases that the Dutch software company is about to be acquired.

Following its seventh consecutive loss making quarter earlier this month, and a succession of bad news, all indications are that the company is about to be bought.

Industry analyst Gartner said it expects an acquisition announcement as early as next week. Until a new owner is in place, Gartner has advised companies to reconsider plans to implement Baan products.

Gartner said companies considering Baan for enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) or supply chain management should put their evaluation on hold for the time being.

In addition, the analyst said any businesses in the early stage of implementation should halve their projects. Those well into a Baan implementation should proceed but create alternative migration plans in case the new owner proves "stingy" with product investment.

The report predicts that Baan will most likely be bought by an IT vendor with experience in the manufacturing arena that is looking to strengthen its position.

Reports today have claimed UK electronic engineering firm Invensys is about to make a bid for Baan, but both companies have denied the rumours.

Gartner said it believes the new owner will only continue to develop Baan's core manufacturing technology functionality and partner with other companies for everything else. As a result, the company predicts Baan will cease pure technology development and will shed any non-core units such as its Caps Logistics division. Service will be "weak" over the next year as the new owner completes the acquisition.

"Overall, when considering Baan, service users should prepare to be as self sufficient as possible," the report stated.

Baan refused to comment.