Can you point me to a forum(s) or a webiste(s) with business ideas for 
enterprise software applications?

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Request for Question Clarification by waggawa-ga on 18 Apr 2002 14:55 PDT

The answer to your query may be lengthy; what would you think of refining it? 
Are you interested in a particular platform (e.g. Wintel, Solaris, cross-
platform solutions) , technology (e.g. wireless), or market segment (e.g. small 
or medium enterprises, biotech, etc.)?

Thanks.

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Clarification of Question by buffalosoldier-ga on 18 Apr 2002 15:12 PDT

Platform independent.  Enterprise applications in one or more of the fields 
below:

Warehouse/Distribution Management
Banking
Manufacturing
B2B Commerce

Market Segment = medium / large enterprises.

hope this helps.

One such type might be Web based system 

http://www.erpweb.com/

ERPWEB is about Web based ERP enabling your core business processes to
improve customer service, reduce cycle time, get more results from limited 
resources, and actually sell things. It actually enables E-Commerce and 
provides true EDI facility to organizations. ERPWEB is integrated software that 
has all the facility of networking, office suites, business applications & 
works on platform independent universal client interface called
Web browsers

Another system could be 

http://www.intelligententerprise.com/000801/news.shtml

Java creator Sun Microsystems is cooking up ideas about how to interconnect the 
business to business (B2B) world The most common solutions for linking large 
enterprises for automate buying and selling will inevitably be extensible, 
scalable, and platform independent


Another possibility is:

http://eai.ebizq.net/erp/

ebizQ is the definitive e-business integration portal, assisting its growing 
community of IT and business managers in making informed and profitable 
purchasing decisions. ebizQ is singularly focused on e-business integration, 
thus providing the most in-depth and timely information available on vendors, 
products and market direction.

Finally you may wish to look at this site

http://www.i-muse.com/company/index.shtml 

Mid-market companies can now enjoy the benefits of integrated systems 
previously available to only large organizations that could afford the lofty 
price tag of complex systems, such as EDI and ERP.

If this is not enough information to help you in your search please feel free 
to request an answer clarification

Inadequate answer.

Answer provided not what I was looking for.  The first website is from a company that sells ERP solutions (no biz ideas forum). The second suggested 
site is an outdated news article (two years ago) of a business trend that is not longer considered as a hot area.  The third site, is about EAI, not ERP 
applications.

Hi,

One great ERP software forum for developers is located at:

Tek-tips: forums: enterprise applications
http://www.tek-tips.com/gthreadminder.cfm/lev2/78/lev3/80 

Some others, including those mentioned in the comments below, are
listed at:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/ERP/Resources/ 

A Linux business software discussion list is mentioned at the Linux
Business Solutions Project site:
http://linas.org/linux/web-project.html 

(If that link doesn't work, try Google cache at:

http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:-wQt6xjYF80C:linas.org/linux/web-project.html+linux+business+solutions&hl=en
)

"linux-solutions@geeky1.ebtech.net has been created. To subscribe,
send mail to linux-solutions-request@geeky1.ebtech.net and put
subscribe your@email.addr on the subject line.
Mailing list archives can be viewed at
http://www.commet.dyn.ml.org/~archive/linux-solutions/ "

There are also lists on specific types of enterprise software:

I-Customer Relations Management Discussion List
http://audettemedia.com/lists/icrm/summary.html 

IntelligentCRM.com
http://www.crmguru.com/

Security mailing lists
http://online.securityfocus.com/archive

You could also search computing newsgroups at Google Groups (
http://groups.google.com ) for "business software" or "software
ideas"; you will get interesting results:

biz.comp.software
comp.software.shareware.authors
comp.software.testing
alt.hypertext
comp.ai
comp.apps.spreadsheets, Spreadsheets
comp.client-server
comp.databases.olap
comp.groupware
comp.groupware.lotus-notes.misc
comp.infosystems
comp.infosystems.gis
comp.infosystems.wais

To find people to discuss your ideas with, try registering at

Freelance Talk
http://freelancetalk.com/main.php 

or one of the other sites listed at:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Work/Self-Employment/ 

and post a question or an invitation for discussion.

Also, look at these directories of business software for ideas and
possible discussion partners:

About Software For Business
http://www.aboutsoftwareforbusiness.com/directory/directory.html

Knowledge Storm
http://www.knowledgestorm.com/ 

Finally, search open source software directories for "ERP", "CRM" or
"business", to find people to discuss your project with, or to start a
project:

SourceForge
http://www.sourceforge.org 
FreshMeat
http://www.freshmeat.net 

Other useful links:

Google Directory: Mailing List Directories
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Mailing_Lists/Directories/

Useful Google searches:

business software discussion
://www.google.com/search?q=business+software+discussion&cat=&hl=en

business software forum OR "mailing list" OR "email list" OR "e-mail
list"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=business+software+forum+OR+%22mailing+list%22+OR+%22email+list%22+OR+%22e-mail+list%22


software ideas group:biz.comp.software (search Google Groups)
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&q=software+ideas+group%3Abiz.comp.software

business software group:biz.comp.software (search Google Groups)
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=business%20software%20group%3Abiz.comp.software&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wg

Dear ERP Fan:

It seems that I have mistook the intent of your question.  I apologize for the 
misunderstanding.  In the future, if you are unhappy with an answer you receive 
for a question, you may want to ask for an "Answer Clarification" before rating 
the answer.  That way I can really help you get the information you are seeking.

From your response, it seems that you may be looking for either some in-depth 
market research or some new business concepts in the competitive Enterprise 
Software applications market.  This can be hard information to find, because 
people don't always want to share the new business ideas. 

But here are a couple of sites that might be of help to you in your search for 
new business ideas.  

The first is Erpcentral.  This is a web site that provides all kinds of 
information about enterprise resource planning and should provide you good 
background information on this market.

Home page
http://www.erpcentral.com/

Newsletter 
http://www.erpcentral.com/newsletter.htm

Forums
http://www.erpcentral.com/forums.htm

The Second site is ERP Fan Club and user forum.  This seems is a free site for 
exchanging ideas about ERP with other fans.  You may be able to pick up some 
new ideas about this market from this site.

http://www.erpfans.com/

I hope this information proves helpful to you!

Are you looking for a business idea to develop, implement, support, or just 
generally involving ERP?

If you are looking to develop ERP software, are you looking for specs & 
features to place into the software? Or just generally do you want to start a 
business around new trends in ERP software?

Thanks,
J

Try the below sites for some ideas, but ultimately you will have to solve a 
problem if you are just generally seeking to start an enterprise software 
business. Questions to ask yourself if that is your goal are the following:

1. Have you ever worked for, managed, or somehow supervised an IT department of 
an enterprise business or have you ever sold something to an IT department or 
even worked for a company that sells to them. If not, then I would say you have 
a long road to haul. Get someone as a partner that has and then ask them what 
their biggest headaches were. That is where successful product sit hidden. 

2. Do you know or are you connected with any developers?  There are thousands 
of developers creating phenomenal products in their spare time, that have no 
clue how to get attention, market them, sell them, etc.  They are dying for 
someone to help them with experience get to market. Often you will find they 
work in a big IT company and were frustrated with something and decided to make 
their lives easier. 

Moving ahead with the assumption that you are seeking to start a business, but 
have no ideas for problems to solve, I would try the following:

1. Security, security, security. Physical, technical, consulting services, 
encryption, etc. This market is becoming crowded, but if you can find an app 
and the experts to give it credibility, then this is a sweet spot. Eventually 
every single enterprise IT department will be hit with a security breach.  When 
they do the folks that buy software, manage vendors and services, etc. will be 
sweating a solution. Show them their weaknesses and then shore up the holes and 
you will be set. 

2. Patent sites - Lots of great ideas gathering dust. License something cool 
and put it out there.

3. Open source platforms.  Offer services around a free product. Great way to 
make a living and makes you part of a community of brilliant developers.

4. Hook up with a leader in a given niche and let them do the development, 
marketing planning, etc. Be a reseller or consultant for their services. 

5.Security, security, security. 

Hoep some of this helps.

Brad Nickel

Here are a couple of starting points for you:

http://www.ip.com - I love this site idea.
http://www.bountyquest.com/ - patents and prior art sites
http://www.osdn.com - Excellent open source info, especially at Freshmeat(one 
of their sites)
http://www.cotse.com - These guys are brilliant security experts.  They helped 
me on an investigation that now involves the secret service and a hacker I got 
hit by. Pay them for their time and they can help guide you in the security 
field.