CUSTOMERS want to have their cake and eat it, too. While this might be frustrating, it is a trait that information technology solutions have to address if they want to become successful over the long haul.

One area where this has been most apparent is in the application software business, in which the trend is to provide a single solutions framework that integrates best-of-breed applications.

"If you look at the '80s to the early '90s, the emphasis was on application development tools. By the early '90s, however, no company wanted to build their own applications anymore. So the problem then was integration. What they wanted was a single system for enterprise applications from a single solutions provider. So SAP, to give it its due, went about to get this 'Holy Grail' of code--a single code for everything," said Tim Tyler, chief operating officer for Asia Pacific of the Baan Co. SAP and Baan are enterprise applications rivals, particularly in enterprise resource planning solutions (ERP).

Tyler explained, however, that by 1995, the mood of customers again changed. While customers still wanted integrated systems, they also wanted to get the best applications. For example, while a single vendor might be able to provide a solid applications framework, it might not necessarily be able to provide the best application in every area--say, the best financials or the best payroll system.

"Starting from the middle '90s, the trend has been integration through one set of standards, not from one vendor. Just about when SAP and Baan had finished our one big code for everything, the market had already changed. So we at Baan have spent the last two years tearing apart this one big piece of code," Tyler explained.

He expressed confidence, however, that Baan can offer customers the best of both worlds--a component-based framework that allows companies seamless integration between Baan applications and incorporation of best-of-breed solutions from different vendors.

Last month, Baan appointed start-up Strategic Enterprise Systems Inc. (SESi) as distributor of the full range of Baan enterprise solutions in the Philippines. SESi will focus solely on selling, collaborating with existing Baan implementors such as ISM/BC, Deloitte and Touche and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting.

Ironically enough, a Baan Philippine subsidiary had already been established in the Philippines, only to unceremoniously fold up early this year. Technically, however, that venture was under Baan Business Systems in partnership with local distributor LST. BBS is a different entity from Baan Co., owing to Baan's global restructuring.

"I think you'll find that we never abandoned our Philippine customers. We just stopped selling. Now, where we great in supporting them? Maybe not as much as we should have been. So, regaining the market's confidence_yes, that's an issue," Tyler said.

SESi managing director Damian Mapa claimed, however, that their meetings with existing and prospective Philippine customers have been quite positive.

"People here have been waiting for Baan to refocus its efforts. Baan just stopped selling here for a few months, but the market has always been there, no matter what our competitors have been saying," Mapa said.

Apart from ERP, Baan and SESi see as the biggest opportunities for the Philippine market such extended enterprise applications as supply chain management and customer relationship management.

As a wholly Filipino-owned startup, SESi's advantage is quicker response time combined with its people's years of IT experience. What would SESi's strategy be in pushing Baan solutions?

"I think we have to avoid being the bottleneck. We don't want to commit the same mistake that BBS did, which was to start big. We should start small but have the ability to quickly grow," he said.

Tyler even put a positive spin to the hibernation period when Baan stopped selling in the country.

"Coming back fresh gave us the chance to review what we've been doing in the Philippines. So, in that sense, stopping our sales forced us to reevaluate our strategy, which is good for us and our customers," he said.