So, as it goes, there it went; Lawson's Cue event this year, a feast of ERP featuring major upgrades to its M3 applications, further commitment to the SOA cause with the incorporation of more IBM middleware into Lawson’s underlying technology layer, and a brand spanking new initiative designed to appeal to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) aspirations of many firms these days.

On the latter, Lawson probably has as good a chance as any vendor of success. Although its plans are rather vague at the moment, organisations are crying out for ERP apps and BI technology that can help them to drive through their own initiatives, whether environmentally or ethically focused. Judging by the customers, um, both of them, that I spoke to, they are pretty keen about Lawson’s plans. At the moment its larger ERP rivals having nothing similar to offer firms, although it would be foolish to rule anything out.

In the meantime, I reckon Lawson has a pretty good chance of capitalising on being the first and could raise its profile with potential customers. As the firm's Emea VP of marketing Martin Hill told me, mid-market firms are potentially more likely to be genuinely interested in these CSR projects, rather than seeing them as a mere publicity exercise.