In my little euro-centric large enterprise echo-chamber I tend not to think about  Lawson much. By many accounts they do very well in Healthcare and Retail in the US and they have a excellent relationship and technical tie-in with IBM, but even with the Intentia acquisition I don’t see them much in the EMEA HR and Compliance space.

I have more than a passing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) , and I firmly believe that strong CSR makes economic and moral sense. Sun seems to be leading the charge from the hardware vendor side. James Governor has much to say on the green theme.  

Back to Lawson. Please read this press release.

Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN) today announced a new initiative to provide organizations and companies software-based options to help them manage their growing array of environmental and social programs. Lawson’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative aims to harness information technology to automate and integrate the management of these programs to help companies meet their social and environmental targets, whether government-mandated or company-set.

 AMR see a market for solutions to support CSR.

Detailed research conducted by industry analyst firm AMR Research suggests companies are ready for an information technology solution to support corporate responsibility initiatives. According to the survey of 150 individuals in mid-size and large companies in Europe and North America, more than seven in 10 plan to use IT to manage corporate responsibility initiatives within the next two years.

Great move Lawson.  There is lots going on here in Walldorf, but I believe it is high time SAP started a CSR conversation with the market. Both Lawson and Salesforce.com are teaching the industry a lesson here.

 

 

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