One of the best ways to ensure that you have a complete overview of your software solution needs is to consult with an expert. Enlisting the help of an experienced software consultant will help you sort through the web of processes currently being used in your organization and come up with a list of areas for improvement.

What can an independent software consultant help you discover about your organization?

Project scope

Project management

Specific business problems

Overall goals

Implementation plan

Having someone with industry experience on your side will expedite your software adoption process, enabling your business to realize operational efficiencies and cost savings much sooner. Better business is a team effort – if you lack experience in the realm of software buying, a software selection consultant just might be the solution your organization needs.

To learn how an independent business impact assessment can help your business in its search for a reliable and effective software solution please read more on IT Project Consulting.

Related Posts:

• Comparing Dynamics ERP Solutions: AX vs. GP vs. NAV vs. SL
• 10 Questions to Ask Your Solution Provider
• Software Trend-Watch 4: It’s All Personal
• 5 Tips for Evaluating & Choosing the Best Software for your Business

When looking for a customer relationship management (CRM) system, the big question you need to address as a business is WHY? If you don’t know exactly why you need a CRM solution, the possibility of failure upon implementation is high and you stand to lose a lot of money. The CRM best practices provided below will help you make an educated decision on whether or not a CRM solution is a good fit for your business.

Look at your business objectively

How does it really work? Begin with processes that aren’t working well, because that’s where a CRM implementation will have the most impact. Take note of which processes are functioning properly; it may not be necessary to target them, but changing other procedures may affect them as well. At the end of this mapping exercise you should have a list of processes and activities that will be impacted by a CRM. This list is only useful when it is unbiased and honest – to that end, involving a third-party consultant may be beneficial.

Pick a team

Besides executives and IT personnel, it’s important that your team contains a group of front-line users. Their input will be valuable, as they will be using the system on a regular basis.  For a successful CRM implementation, your staff must be able to work effectively within the constraints of the system. Training and continuous support will help you ensure that your organization is getting the most out of your investment.

Focus on deployment options

For on-premise CRM implementations you will need to buy or lease the technology infrastructure, which contains servers, storage, backup and recovery, and networking capabilities. Additionally you will incur software licensing costs, maintenance fees, and integration expenses. Cloud-based software will allow you to save costs associated with infrastructure, and instead pay a monthly user-based subscription fee that includes updates and service related costs.

Shortlist your contenders

Now you can decide which CRM solutions best fit your business. Keep in mind important considerations such as stakeholder interest, budget, support, integration, and industry demands.

Many CRM applications are built for specific industries, and you may be able to find a CRM system tailored to yours, be it distribution, manufacturing, agribusiness, or non-profit. For the most part CRM solutions have the same basic features, but these can be customized based on the areas for improvement identified in your process mapping exercise.

Get your numbers straight

Financial considerations will likely play a large role in deciding which CRM will work for your organization. Remember to include start-up costs as well as ongoing maintenance and support expenses per annum when you decide which deployment method and solution package will work best for you financially.

Choose a dependable vendor

You found a solution that fits your organization, your team is on-board, and the financial projections fit your budget. Before you sign on, make sure that your chosen vendor is trustworthy and reliable – you’re about to embark on a long business relationship with them, and you need to be able to count on them in the coming years.

Good luck! Let us know if you have any other CRM best practices tips in the comments.

Related Posts:

• Do Professional Services Firms Need CRM?
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM

A vendor suggests (or insists) that you stock a new “revolutionary” product line.  Your salespeople claim they are losing customers because you aren’t stocking products they want to buy from you.  You see an advertisement and you exclaim to yourself, “We could sell a lot of that!”

Products are continually being introduced to the market.  You don’t have the money (or space) to stock all of them.  How do you know how to allocate the limited funds you have available to expand your inventory?  We suggest you ask yourself these questions:

How have products with similar characteristics sold in the past? Query your database to retrieve sales history for items with similar characteristics.  For example:

• Brand name
• Type of product
• Product application (i.e., how users will use the product)
• Color/Style/SizePrice point

If products with similar characteristics have sold well in the past, your stand a good chance that this new product line will also be successful.

What effect will the introduction of this new line have on sales of existing stocked products? Will this item cause a current product to become obsolete?  In this situation it is a good idea to liquidate your stock of the existing item before you start selling the new one.  After customers start using and accept the new product, the value of the older item usually plummets.

If you predict the new product will take away a significant percentage of the sales of an existing item ensure that your buyers purchase smaller quantities of the product currently stocked.  While stocking several brands of the same item provides your customers with choice, you have several products competing for the same sale.  Don’t you have enough competition outside of the walls of your business?  Do you really want to encourage competition within your warehouse if it isn’t absolutely necessary?

Does this new product line complement what you already sell or provide additional convenience to your customers? You have a greater chance of success by fulfilling more of your current customers’ needs or gaining new customers in your current market segments.  Invading new industries is like traveling on Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise.  You are going where no man or woman from your company has gone before.  In most cases you will experience a painful (and expensive) learning curve as you discover how to be successful in the new industry before you earn any profits.

What are the potential profits? Ideally any new product line should deliver a profit margin greater than your current average gross margin.  If not it should provide a value added service to current very profitable preferred customers.

What is the initial required investment? You probably have a limited amount of funds available to invest in new items.  Spend it wisely.  We normally don’t like to buy more than a two to three month supply of any new product line; even less if it is expensive or you can’t return any unsold stock six to nine months after the product line’s introduction.

Deciding to stock new products is a subjective decision.  If you only consider your “gut feelings” in making these decisions you’ll probably buy a lot of products that are “D.O.A.” or dead on arrival.  That means you won’t sell the entire initial quantity you bring into stock.  Be smart.  Ask the questions listed above before you sign on the dotted line!

Related Posts:

• Whitepaper: Should You Stock New Product Lines?
• Webinar: When to Stock New Product Lines
• On-Demand Webinar: Is A Bar Code System Right For Your Distribution Business?
• On-Demand Webinar: Evolving With Your Inventory Management Software

BroadPoint is offering a webinar titled, “Grasping the Cloud:  What Associations Need to Know about Cloud Computing” that provides a soup-to-nuts overview of the elements of cloud computing that are particularly important to associations.  One of the main areas of focus in the webinar is the economic impact of the cloud and why it makes good business sense to consider a cloud strategy.

Fill out the form to watch the webinar and discover:

• What is the cloud?
• Why is the cloud important?
• Economic impact of the cloud
• Obstacles for Moving to the Cloud
• What kinds of association solutions are available in the Cloud?

If your association is considering moving some or all of your business operations to the cloud, contact BroadPoint Technologies to set up a complimentary consultation.  With over 175 clients in the associations/NFP market, we have more experience than anyone.

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch the webinar instantly.

Related Posts:

• On-Demand Webinar: Translating the Cloud
• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM
• Bob Scott’s Top VAR 100 for 2011
• 10 Things You Need to Know about Accounting & ERP in the Cloud

As a distributor you’re continuously faced with a changing business landscape, which must be considered when deciding when a new product line should be stocked. Join industry expert Jon Schreibfeder as he walks you through the considerations you need to keep in mind.

Date: April 19, 2012
Time: 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET
Duration: 60 minutes

Register for the webinar to find out how to:

• Introduce new products that have never been sold in your market
• Determine a new product’s probability of turning into a successful stock item
• Monitor the success of a new product after its introduction

Following the webinar will be a Q&A session where Jon will address the pressing questions that you have about introducing new product lines in your distribution business.

Register Now!

Complete the form to the right to sign up for this compelling webinar.

Related Posts:

• Whitepaper: Should You Stock New Product Lines?
• When Should I Start Stocking New Product Lines?
• On-Demand Webinar: Is A Bar Code System Right For Your Distribution Business?
• On-Demand Webinar: Evolving With Your Inventory Management Software

Integrate Time Tracking and Billing Software into your ERP system

An effective time tracking and billing software solution ties together project accounting and project management data.  While this can often be accomplished through an ERP system, very few organizations have the need to give every individual in the company a full license to their ERP solution.  For most organizations, a separate time and billing solution that integrates with their ERP system is all that is required.  This type of arrangement allows for the integration of the time tracking data with other project management data, ensuring accurate billing, without necessitating full ERP licenses for all employees.

Adopt Mobile Time Tracking and Billing Software

One of the best ways to maximize your employees’ billable time is to give them anywhere, anytime access to your time and billing software.  By making time tracking available via a web service, your employees can track their billable activities in real-time, whether they are at a client site, traveling on business, in the office, or working from home.  By simplifying and streamlining time entry in this manner, your billable time can be entered, approved, and billed out more quickly.

Optimize Custom Workflows

Once your employee time has been entered into a tracking and billing solution, it is possible for custom workflows to automatically route the data through the approval process to ensure that billing takes place on-time and with accurate information.  This is not a standard feature in time and billing solutions, but something that needs to be created to suit the unique needs of each organization.  If you are interested in this type of workflow, you should ask if your time and billing software vendor can develop it for you.

Related Posts:

• Business Intelligence Boosts Billable Hours
• 8 Key Challenges Facing Your Subscription Billing System
• How to Mitigate the Risks of SaaS
• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 2

As a distributor who’s evaluating whether or not using a bar code system is advantageous to your business, you’ll be happy to know we’ve got some expert advice on the topic! Software ThinkTank’s Effective Inventory Management Expert, Jon Schreibfeder, shares his knowledge on how bar code systems are being used in the distribution industry and how you can decide if it’s a good fit for your business.

Watch the webinar now to find out:

• What are the advantages of a bar coding system?
• What are the challenges of implementing a bar coding system?
• What features should you look for to meet your specific needs?
• How do you cost-justify the cost of a new system?

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch the webinar instantly.

Related Posts:

• Webinar: When to Stock New Product Lines
• On-Demand Webinar: Evolving With Your Inventory Management Software
• Whitepaper: Should You Stock New Product Lines?
• When Should I Start Stocking New Product Lines?

Regardless of what type of service your organization provides, there are certain elements of that service that are always consistent:  your organization delivers experience, expertise (often industry-focused) and guidance that your clients can’t pack up in a bag and take home with them.

With these unique characteristics come unique challenges. Deploying an effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can help to overcome these specific challenges that all professional service firms face:

Managing Extended Sales Cycles

One of the most important steps for a professional service firm is building trust with a client.  This does not happen overnight and, consequently, can lengthen the sales process significantly.  A good CRM system has functionality for keeping in regular contact with prospects with nurture campaigns such as newsletters, special offers, white papers and other relevant information. With each touch, the trust level builds a little more until the prospect is ready to engage with you for serious discussions about your service offerings.

Access for Your Entire Team

Most professional service organizations have several team members involved as needed throughout the sales process. Each staff member wears multiple hats and is asked to pitch in when their assistance is required. To give them all the access they need to update client and prospect information, your organization should utilize a CRM system that is easy-to-use and allows everyone to enter information quickly and easily. A familiar user interface such as with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is especially helpful in reducing errors and cutting down on the learning curve for your staff.

Maintaining Client Information and History

Knowing and maintaining the latest information on your clients business is your most valuable asset. Understanding your clients’ challenges and needs you deliver the services and support required to keep them a happy and loyal client. Your CRM system must provide the ability to capture and track all activities and information relating to your clients. This central repository of information provides insurance for your organization in case a staff member leaves, and can help your new employees get up to speed quickly without disturbing the client.

A Solution to Fit your Organization’s Needs

Professional services firms need a CRM solution that fits the way they run their business.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is an industry-leading CRM solution that delivers the benefits your organization needs and the functionality you can’t do without. Contact BroadPoint Technologies, the mid-Atlantic’s largest Dynamics reseller, to discuss your organization’s specific requirements.

Image source: http://www.adcotech.com/crm-software/

Related Posts:

• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM
• Finding the Right CRM Solution
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• Get The Most From Your CRM System

As you probably know by now, technology is expensive.  And, you’ve probably had the frustrating experience of investing in some new electronic gadget and not receiving the benefit you anticipated or were promised.  Bar coding often provides a fantastic return on this advantage by:

• Making your employees more productive
• Improving inventory accuracy
• Providing value added services to customers

Bar Coding Benefits

Bar coding has the potential to streamline operations throughout the warehouse:

Receiving: As clerks scan products just received the system will verify that the material matches the quantities of products that were ordered.  The bar code system then automatically updates on-hand quantities in the computer system.  Compare this to a manual system where clerks must use paper documents to verify that the material received was what was actually ordered and then manually enter that document in the computer system in order to update on-hand quantities.

Putaway: During the stock putaway process the receiver scans the bar code of both the item and the bin location where the material is being stored.  The system verifies the material is being placed in the proper location and then “remembers” where the material is for future reference.  In a conventional paper based system there is no verification that the receiving clerk has put stock away in the proper location.  If he or she makes a mistake your computer system has no idea where the missing material is located.  It might require several employees conducting a “treasure hunt” throughout the warehouse to find it.

Order Picking: By scanning the bar code on both the item and the bin the system ensures that the picker is filling the order with the right quantity of the right item.  Because the system “knows” where every piece of every item is stored orders are always picked according to your organization’s policy.  This might be FIFO (first in – first out) or analyzing where material is stored to pick orders with the least effort.  The task of manually entering picked quantities in the computer after the order is picked is also eliminated.

Shipment Verification: By scanning outbound shipments your computer system can verify that each box of an outgoing shipment is being loaded on the right truck.  This process greatly reduces the possibility of mis-shipments and the expense of sending out replacement shipments and dealing with dissatisfied customers.

Physical Inventory/Cycle Counting: Physically counting your inventory is a boring, tedious, time consuming task that is susceptible to many errors:

• A product may be mistaken for a similar looking item
• A counter may record the quantity of one product in the space on a count sheet reserved for a different product.
• An operator, entering quantities of counted items, may make a keying error (i.e. enter 1,000 pieces instead of 100 pieces)

These errors are common and costly.  For this reason, most distributors’ first application of bar-coding involves physical inventory.  Bar coded assisted physical inventories have several advantages over traditional counting methods:

• Count “teams” are unnecessary as one person can scan the bar code label, count the product and enter the count on the numeric key pad.
• Scanning and entering counts usually takes less time than writing down product numbers and counts and then manually entering the count information into the computer.
• Mistakes can’t be made because the wrong product number is written down
• Mistakes can’t be made because the data entry operator enters the wrong quantity from the count sheets into the computer system.

Bar Coding Costs

All of these benefits sound great!  But, in order for the investment to be worthwhile, the benefits you receive must exceed the price you paid to implement the solution; both in terms of time and money.  The costs involved in implementing bar-coded inventories include:

• The cost of printing bar code labels for all of your bin locations
• Printing bar code labels for products that are not received with the appropriate bar code label
• Placing these labels in the appropriate bin locations
• Buying the actual bar code readers and other necessary hardware
• Buying or developing the software for your computer system that will accept and process the information from the bar code readers
• Training your employees to use the new system

Bar Code System Selection Best Practices

Our advice:

• Determine if your company could benefit by addressing the issues listed above
• Visit similar distributors that have implemented bar coding solutions with your computer software package
• Discuss the savings or process improvements this other company received by implementing their bar code solution
• If you find that corresponding savings and process improvement in your organization can pay for the total cost of the new system within 12 – 18 months, it probably is a wise investment.

In recent years the price of bar coding equipment has dramatically decreased.  We now find that most distributors processing at least 300 line items a day on outgoing orders can easily justify the implementation of a bar coding solution.  Don’t forget, at one time distributors wondered if investing in a truck would be a wise investment.   You have to continue to improve to maintain your competitive edge!

*Did you know we’ve got a webinar about this topic? Get all of your questions answered about bar code systems in the distribution business, REGISTER TODAY!

Related Posts:

• On-Demand Webinar: Is A Bar Code System Right For Your Distribution Business?
• Distribution Startups – The Key Considerations
• Removing Dead Inventory from your Warehouse Shelves
• Why Distributors Focus on the Wrong Issues When Buying Software

Differentiation – Make sure you are offering something different.  As it is often hard to compete on price with existing firms in the area differentiation often involves better customer service.  Service areas include:

• Carrying Special Products – Are there items you can stock that appeal to a specific customer or small market segment?   Carrying a few specialized products can capture other business from a customer.  And because these items are not stocked by a lot of other distributors they are probably less price competitive.  However if you are carrying products for a certain customer be sure they are buying the product from you.  Use the report writer in your computer system produce a monthly report of customer-specific items that have had no sales within the previous 30 days.  Determine why customers aren’t buying these items from you and take action to increase sales.
• Free and Prompt Delivery – Many smaller businesses do not have the personnel or time to go shopping.  Delivering products to their doorstep during normal business hours many give you a leg up on the competition.  Providing delivery also allows you to locate your business in a less expensive area.
• Knowledge Always Available – Be an expert on the products you stock.  Be able to explain differentiations between similar products, how retailers can best market the items and optimizing the end users experience (which helps generate repeat sales).
• Be willing to provide “value added” services. Anyone can deliver a product.  Is there a unique service (packaging, modification, assembly., etc.) you can provide for the customer that will differentiate you from the competition?

Effective Advertising – Discover where your potential customers look for information and sources for products.  Don’t skimp on your web site design or utilization of social media.  Today it is easy and fairly inexpensive to maintain an impressive presence on the Internet.  But also get creative. Do things that your competitors don’t do.  For example, one of our clients markets high end foods to restaurants.  They invite chefs to a breakfast (they are usually busy during lunch and dinner) once a month to demonstrate how new items can be incorporated into their menus.  These have become social events that drive sales and “tie” the chefs to our client.

Watch Your Costs – It is expensive to start a business.  The costs can easily get out of control.  Before buying or investing in anything ask yourself these questions:

• Can I effectively serve customers without this purchase?  Don’t make investments to feed your ego.  If you are successful there will be ample time to make these purchases in the future.
• How will this purchase directly grow my business?  How long will it take for these increased sales to pay for this specific expenditure?  If something won’t pay for itself within a year it probably is not a wise investment.
• Is there a less expensive model that will serve the same purpose?  For example, can you purchase used rather than new shelving?  Even considering the cost of a can of paint used shelving (or vehicles, computers, warehouse equipment, etc.) can provide the functionality you need at a much lower cost.

Set Definitive Goals – Set goals for sales, profits, inventory turnover and increasing your customer base.  At the end of every month compare your results to these goals.  Don’t be afraid to modify your business plan if results differ from what was expected.  As you gain experience you will learn what works and what doesn’t work in your business environment.  But understand that it will take time (often up to a year) for your business to show a net profit.

Sixteen years ago I started a business.  The first several months were scary and I experienced a number of sleepless nights.  But we stuck to our plan by differentiating ourselves from current competitors, effectively advertising our services to potential customers, watching every dollar we spent and continually evaluating our results.  We have been successful.  With a good plan and perseverance you can join us as you help grow the economy.

Related Posts:

• On-Demand Webinar: Grow Your Business Without Growing Your Debt.
• Thinking About Implementing a Bar Coding System? Read This First
• Removing Dead Inventory from your Warehouse Shelves
• Have You Outgrown Your Distribution System?Have You Outgrown Your Distribution System?

Nonprofit business analysis software

Business intelligence for the nonprofit sector comes in a variety of forms. Most NGOs will have already developed a range of techniques for measuring performance and monitoring the success of their campaigns using basic indicators such as money raised and number of beneficiaries. However, nonprofit business analysis software can transform these simple measures into detailed and valuable information revealing more about the donors themselves and the broader patterns of donations.

Key benefits for nonprofits

Identifying key factors that drive contributions as well as gaining a more detailed insight into the relationships that lead to repeated or ongoing donations can make all the difference when choosing how to move forward in a campaign. Similarly, tools for measuring the effectiveness of services provided in terms of both benefits and costs and the ability to keep donors updated on the impact of their donations will help to engage donors and provide key information for future campaigns. Harnessing the benefits of nonprofit software can make all of this a possibility for NGOs of any size.

Nonprofit software on the market

Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers a nonprofit solution that recognizes the need for nonprofits to spend as little as possible on one-off software purchases and in-house IT. The package comes with regular CRM as well as nonprofit business analysis functions allowing organizations to effectively manage donations, pledges, campaigns and basic membership through efficiently integrated systems. What’s more, the package is provided as a per-user service through cloud computing technology avoiding the need for expensive software purchases.

A great option for nonprofits seeking to maximize the benefits of nonprofit business analysis in their organizations!

Related Posts:

• Using Technology to Engage Donors: Understanding Nonprofit Software
• A Software Implementation Nightmare of Epic Proportions – Part 5
• A Software Implementation Nightmare of Epic Proportions – Part 4
• 5 Ways Islands of Data Can Hurt Your Not-for-Profit

• Employees don’t know how to use the software effectively; One of the most common barriers to effective CRM implementation is a lack of understanding amongst employees about how best to use the software. Comprehensive training is a must for anyone setting up a CRM solution as this allows everyone who will be using the software to recognize its potential and maximize the benefits. Once a solution is in place, don’t forget to offer ongoing training to ensure that all your employees feel comfortable with the systems in place and are aware of any changes or updates that you choose to make.

• Senior management aren’t aware of all the benefits; The unique insight that CRM can offer into the structure and organization of a company from the perspective of senior management is one of its most valuable assets. However, this feature can get overlooked during the implementation of a CRM solution at the many different levels of an organization. Moreover, if top level management aren’t aware of the benefits or aren’t using the software themselves it will be harder to communicate its full potential to employees throughout the rest of the company.

• The software is not kept up to date; In some cases, CRM might be used as a quick-fix to a particular sales or marketing problem. However, by implementing CRM in this way it is possible to put it in place and then forget all about it, especially if it solves the original problem effectively. In this way, you may fail to see the potential for developing the software in line with future changes and challenges the company may face.

• The software is overcomplicated; The ongoing innovation that is taking place throughout the CRM industry can be both exciting and challenging to users of CRM software. Be sure to keep up to date with any latest developments that may add exponential value to your use of CRM but don’t go overboard. Keep your CRM solution simple, manageable and relevant to your employee’s and company’s needs.

Effective CRM can make all the difference to the efficiency, organization and automation of business processes throughout your company or organization. In order to get the best value from your chosen solution be sure to watch out for the common pitfalls mentioned above and keep your CRM software intuitive so that everyone can see the benefits.

Related Posts:

• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• The Benefits of Sage CRM
• Finding the Right CRM Solution
• Do Professional Services Firms Need CRM?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has been improving efficiency and decision making in the world of big business for over two decades. Now the development of specifically tailored healthcare ERP is making an impact for healthcare organizations across the board with improvements in everything from HR to stock management.

Rising costs and increasing pressure to improve quality, safety and access to healthcare are just some of the challenges faced by healthcare organizations on a daily basis. Outdated paper-based data collection systems and disconnected information networks can make the task of rising to these diverse demands seem all but impossible. The intelligent and efficient management of information is therefore vital to the ongoing success of healthcare organizations in providing their essential services.

Benefits of Healthcare ERP

Healthcare ERP allows hospitals, clinics and long-term healthcare facilities to streamline and manage data collection and store information in a proficient and intuitive manner. This enables employees in all areas of the organization to benefit from better access to vital information as well as enhancing communication capabilities across the organization as a whole. Some key advantages include:

• Simplification of HR management systems including integration of Payroll and HR reports monitoring employee attendance and pay.
• Improved patient management systems including tailored systems for appointment scheduling, bill processing and patient transfer and discharge.
• Integrated stock management capabilities allowing for reduced stock outages and inventory costs.
• Improved monitoring of supplies through the use of bar-coding, expiration dates and multi-location management capabilities.

The Primary Goal of Healthcare ERP

Healthcare ERP can make life easier for both employees and patients within any size of healthcare organization. The value of this may extend well beyond an improvement in quality and access to specific services or channels of communication. The overall health and well-being of the people involved is inevitably a primary concern. Moreover, healthcare enterprise management allows clinicians, researchers and administrators to collaborate more effectively and work together to provide high-quality and affordable healthcare. This remains the primary goal for healthcare ERP providers in a burgeoning industry.

Related Posts:

• Don’t Get Caught Out With The Hidden Costs Of ERP
• Simplified Healthcare Accounting Software Eases Administration Pain
• How to Successfully Select a New ERP System
• Boost Medical Lab Vitality with Better Control of Your InventoryBoost Medical Lab Vitality with Better Control of Your InventoryBoost Medical Lab Vitality with Better Control of Your Inventory

Distributors buy products and then sell them at a higher cost to generate profits. Any material that is purchased that cannot be sold or used to sell other products is “lost” material. Lost materials add costs to the distributor and as a result profits are lower and the company looses money. In this whitepaper, expert Jon Schreibfeder, explains the reasons why employing a WMS  will reduce a distributor’s cost of inventory control.

Some of the key questions answered in this whitepaper are:

• What are the loss prevention benefits a distributor can gain from using a WMS?
• How can your business reduce costs on the receiving dock?
• What are the ways that you can minimize time and material losses associated with order filling activities?
• How can you improve inventory accuracy in the warehouse so time is not spent looking for lost material?
  

Reduce Inventory Shrinkage

Gain access INSTANTLY to our complimentary white paper on Using a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to Prevent Loss by completing the form to your right.

Related Posts:

• Best Practices for Inventory Management Systems
• Distributors Must Get Lean in 2012
• Eliminate Supply Chain Management Pain
• Thinking About Implementing a Bar Coding System? Read This First

Unless you mix chemicals in great big open vats your inventory will probably not evaporate into thin air.  But most distributors experience missing inventory.  That is quantities of products that arrived in their facility and then disappeared.  Missing inventory causes numerous problems including:

• Salespeople promising material that was in stock according to the computer system but then wasn’t there when the customer arrived
• The cost of additional stock to replace the missing material
• The cost of conducting “treasure hunts” as you search the entire warehouse looking for missing products

Distributors can utilize warehouse management systems (WMS) can to help minimize loss.  Though expensive WMS systems that include active radio frequency identification (RFID) capabilities can be utilized to track the exact location of every piece of inventory in a facility.  Labels that include a transmitting micro-chip are attached to each item.  These transmitters are constantly sending each piece’s current location to the WMS software.  We have worked with a large car dealer in the implementation of this type of system to maintain control of an inventory of over 5,000 automobiles.

But even if you cannot afford cost of RFID technology other common, less expensive WMS features can be utilized to minimize the loss of material:

Bar Coding

In a traditional warehouse system material is added to inventory when it is received and deducted from inventory when it is shipped.  There is no way of knowing specifically where it is in a warehouse during the time it is in inventory.  As pieces of the product “float” through the facility they can easily be misplaced or otherwise lost.

Bar codes can help prevent this material loss.  In most WMS systems a bar label is affixed to both packages and bin locations where the item is stored.  These labels “identify” the product contained in the package and the physical storage location.  When material is placed in a specific warehouse location it is “scanned into” that bin.  When it is removed it is “scanned out” and simultaneously “scanned into” another location.  For example, one of our customers, an electronics distributor, scans parts out of bins and into totes used to accumulate the quantities of products needed to fill a customer’s order.  The material is then scanned out of the tote and into boxes used to ship out the orders.  The “float” of inventory through the warehouse is eliminated.  The WMS knows exactly where each piece of each item is at all times.

Cycle Counting

Cycle counting is the process of verifying the on-hand quantities of specific items are accurate.  State of the art WMS systems identify those items that should be most frequently counted.  These include:

• High value products and other items that are subject to pilferage
• Items that frequently appear on customer orders.  After all every time someone goes to the bin and takes some of the product is another opportunity for a mistake to happen.
• Regulated items such as liquor and firearms
• Products that have had a history of inventory discrepancies

We have found that just the act of cycle counting improves inventory accuracy.  Perhaps seeing management’s effort to attain inventory accuracy reinforces the true value of the stocked material in the minds of employees.

Tracking Errors

Different employees have different skills.  A comprehensive WMS system tracks each worker’s productivity and errors that occur while they are performing assigned tasks.  If a specific order picker consistently damages material while filling orders it is probably a good idea to assign him or her to different tasks.

Reduce Inventory Shrinkage

Inventory shrinkage is expensive.  In today’s competitive environment distributors cannot afford to replace missing material or disappoint customers when material that was supposed to be on the shelf is not available.  Properly using a comprehensive WMS system can minimize unnecessary costs and lead to achieving greater profitability and customer service.

Image Source: http://www.mybluegrace.com/resources.php

Related Posts:

• Prevent Loss with a Warehouse Management System (WMS)
• Removing Dead Inventory from your Warehouse Shelves
• The Need, The Selection, The Implementation – Part 1
• A Guide to Inventory Management

With all of these similarities, it can be hard for an organization to determine which is the right solution for its business needs.  Here’s a quick overview of some of the differences to help you pick the best solution for your business:

Microsoft Dynamics AX

Geared toward mid-sized to large businesses, Dynamics AX provides core ERP functionality while fitting the unique needs of the manufacturing, distribution, retail, services, and public sector industries .  Because it enables you to operate across locations, languages, and countries, Dynamics AX is an ideal replacement for multiple legacy systems, enabling organizations to adopt a single, global ERP deployment.  Due to its Microsoft service-oriented architecture, Dynamics AX is also uniquely suited to be deployed in a two-tier ERP strategy for global organizations.

Microsoft Dynamics GP

Dynamics GP is particularly suited to the needs of growing small to mid-sized businesses due to its scalability.  It is quick to implement and rapidly starts delivering value on its out-of-the-box financial and operational functionality.  Dynamics GP offers rich reporting with direct integration with Excel and Business Intelligence tools that enhance business decision making.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Especially suited for midsized business management, Dynamics NAV is easily customizable and simple to integrate with other business solutions.  While it provides core ERP functionality to organizations in any industry, it includes advanced supply chain management tools that are especially useful to distributors and manufacturers.  Dynamics NAV supports multiple languages and locations, giving organizations a global reach across their business and network of suppliers and vendors.

Microsoft Dynamics SL

Dynamics SL meets the needs of small to midsized project-oriented businesses.  By combining project management functionality with strong core financial management tools, organizations can gain greater insight and visibility into their projects.

Related Posts:

• 10 Questions to Ask Your Solution Provider
• Bob Scott’s Top VAR 100 for 2011
• Do You Need A Business Assessment?
• Microsoft GP 2010 – Why Upgrade?

Choosing the right ERP software and implementing this effectively are two of the most important aspects of successful ERP. However, with an ever-increasing range of ERP products in the market it’s easy to get caught up in deciding which software to use and lose track of the hidden costs you may end up incurring. Here are some key questions any organization should ask itself before purchasing ERP software:

How much training will be required to implement the software?

Employee training is essential for the successful implementation of any ERP software. Without it your employees won’t be able to take full advantage of the new systems and may even feel uncomfortable using them at all, reverting back to less efficient strategies instead. Be sure to factor in the costs of training both in terms of bringing in external trainers and time taken out of your employees’ regular work schedules.

How much will data conversion cost?

One of the key benefits of ERP is the greater efficiency it provides throughout your business. However, in order to enjoy this feature of your new software remember that a certain amount of data migration and conversion will inevitably be involved. As long as the long-term benefits outweigh the shorter-term costs of conversion ERP may still turn out to be a good option but remember to bear this cost in mind when selecting.

How much disruption will ERP implementation cause?

Once again, the costs of short-term overall disruption to your business, including data migration and employee training, during the implementation of a new ERP system may be well worth it once you’ve got the right system up and running. It’s important to consider how long your old systems may be down during the initial stages, however and include this in any costings associated with purchasing the software.

Will there be any additional customizations or adaptations?

To get the most out of any ERP software it is essential that you are able to customize the functions to suit your business. Make sure you bear in mind any additional customizations that may be required once you’ve purchased the software and factor in the costs of these. Similarly, if there are likely to be adaptations required within your organization to accommodate the software in the most efficient manner, be aware that these can cost both time and revenue.

Once you’ve taken all these potential hidden costs of ERP into account, you can be confident that you are making the right decision when purchasing your ERP software.

Related Posts:

• Healthcare and ERP: Making it Work for Your Health Organization
• What is ERP?
• How to Successfully Select a New ERP System
• Top 5 Mistakes when Implementing an ERP System

What does your CRM software have to offer

The best way to get the most out of your CRM is to spend some time getting to know the software and learning exactly what it can do for you. And that doesn’t just mean handing it over to your in-house IT specialists or sales teams to work out for themselves. If CEOs and other senior management in your company know exactly how your CRM software works they can offer a valuable insight into where and how it can be most effectively utilized. Moreover, with senior management setting a positive example, the effects are likely to spread throughout the company.

Comprehensive training is also crucial for successful CRM implementation. Without this individuals and teams may end up reverting back to tried and tested systems without recognizing the benefits that a good CRM solution can offer them. Regular and ongoing training will ensure that your employees are comfortable with the software and are maximizing its effectiveness.

Keeping up to date

Another important aspect of getting the most out of your CRM software is keeping up to date with any upgrades or add-ons that your vendor may be offering. Once you’ve got a CRM solution in place it may be tempting to avoid making changes but often a simple add-on to your package could make a world of difference to the results you are seeing.

Checking for relevant upgrades from your current CRM supplier is also a must if you are looking to make major changes as this may be far more cost-effective than switching to another vendor. Remember that any changes you do make will be most effectively utilized with comprehensive training throughout the company.

Tracking your results

Finally, one of the best uses of CRM software is in reporting and analytics. With effective reporting and analytics in place you can take the large amount of vital customer data stored in your CRM system and turn it into a broader and more intuitive picture of your customers’ behaviors and needs. You can find out how many leads your different campaigns are generating and where these are being successfully converted into sales. With this you can push forward even more targeted marketing campaigns and offer increasingly valuable products and services to your customers. All of this will ensure that you are seeing real and ongoing results from your CRM software.

Related Posts:

• CRM for small to medium sized business
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM
• The Benefits of Sage CRM

Using technology to enhance traditional techniques

Many of the tried and tested techniques for engaging donors can be effectively supplemented with a variety of nonprofit software solutions. Personalized thank you letters are a great way to let your donors know how valuable their contribution is and provide the ideal opportunity to tell them more about your organization. With nonprofit software you can do the same via personalized emails at a fraction of the cost.

Similarly, eNewsletters are a quick and simple way to reach all your donors. Getting creative with the content by including interesting articles written by anyone from staff at your organization to public figures associated with your cause or your beneficiaries is a great way to connect your readers to the stories behind their donations. Including relevant links in all your online communication is an essential way to engage those donors that are interested in donating regularly or becoming more involved in your organization.

New ways of engaging donors

Using social media sites to communicate with your donors and thanking them publicly via group messages or tweets is an effective way to add momentum to a campaign as it is progressing. Similarly, making all your online communications as interesting and interactive as possible will ensure that you maximize on the added utility offered by nonprofit software. Videos and photographic slideshows are two simple but high-impact methods of connecting donors to your cause. QR codes also provide a new and innovative method of linking current and potential donors to relevant websites, videos or blogs.

Nonprofit ERP

Finally, as well as using technology to engage your donors in a myriad of new and exciting ways, you can also harness the utility of nonprofit software within your organization allowing you to streamline processes and respond faster and more effectively to the dynamics of a campaign whilst it is running. Nonprofit management software can be used for donation tracking and reporting as well as providing efficient database management solutions. All of this can help save you time and money as well as allowing you to see the bigger picture throughout your organization.

Related Posts:

• Leveraging Business Intelligence For Your Nonprofit
• A Software Implementation Nightmare of Epic Proportions – Part 5
• A Software Implementation Nightmare of Epic Proportions – Part 4
• 5 Ways Islands of Data Can Hurt Your Not-for-Profit

Achieving Best Practices with Today’s Best Inventory Management Systems

Businesses are going to have to keep evolving with the best practices of today’s inventory management systems to stay competitive. In this webcast Effective Inventory Management Expert, Jon Schreibfeder, addresses how your business can make the most of its inventory management software.

Learn the best practices for inventory management:

• Understand Common Mistakes, And Correct Them
• Identify The Process Improvements You Need
• Increase Your ROI, Fast
• Lose The Excess Stock

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch the webinar instantly.

Related Posts:

• Webinar: When to Stock New Product Lines
• On-Demand Webinar: Is A Bar Code System Right For Your Distribution Business?
• Make Inventory Analysis an Asset
• Whitepaper: Should You Stock New Product Lines?

We have compiled a list of 10 questions you can ask the solution providers you are considering.  The provider’s responses will tell you a lot about who they are and how they treat their clients.  Without further ado, let’s begin:

1. How does your proposed solution support my specific business challenges?

A product/technology may be world-class but if it doesn’t address your organization’s unique requirements then steer clear.

2. How many customers do you have and how many are in my industry?

This is actually two questions but they are related so we will count them as one. Asking this question will reveal the company’s stability and experience, as well as how much expertise they have with organizations like yours.

3. How does your organization compare to other organizations in your industry relative to revenue?

This simple question will show how this provider stacks up to other providers who offer the same products and services.

4. What is the typical implementation time frame for a company of our size?

A good solution provider can provide a reasonable accurate estimate based on your company’s size and requirements. If they are an experienced solution provider, they should have a solid feel for the implementation cycle based on your discussions.

5. What methodology do you use to track project progress vs. plan?

Experienced solution providers will have a detailed implementation methodology that includes project plans and schedules.  If a provider does not have a defined methodology, that should be a red flag to find another vendor.

6. What cost and level of effort is required to install future upgrades of the software?

Of course, software does not stand still forever.  Upgrades are developed and need to be installed on your machines.  It is important to know what to expect, from a cost and scheduling perspective, when those upgrades are available and needed.

7. What is your technology and product roadmap for the future?

Your solution provider should make you feel secure that a product roadmap does exist and is continually being evaluated.  It is important to keep an eye on the future while taking care of present.

8. What is the cost of the first and subsequent years’ maintenance with your software?

Maintenance costs are sometimes “hidden” costs so it is important to have the solution provider explain in detail what the costs are and even prepare a payment schedule so there are no surprises.

9. What level of support and training do you offer?

After the sale is made and the product is implemented, there is still work to be done.  Support and training are important services that organizations rely on to avoid downtime and use all the systems functionality to its fullest.  The provider should have clearly defined plans for training and support, and do not hesitate to request references that you can speak with regarding these programs.

10. Why should I choose you instead of any other solution provider?

Have the solution provider tell you exactly why you should choose them.  What makes them different (and better) than other providers?  Have them state their case for being your vendor now and in the future.

Image Source: https://guidance.fidelity.com

Related Posts:

• Avoid 8 Common Software Selection Mistakes
• Comparing Dynamics ERP Solutions: AX vs. GP vs. NAV vs. SL
• On-Demand Webinar: How to Select a Solution Provider
• Build a Win-Win Relationship with Your Solution Provider

Some of the key questions answered in this whitepaper are:

• What products should be in each branch or warehouse?
• When should each product be replenished?
• How much should be reordered when the stock of a product is replenished?
• How to keep inventory records accurate?

Exceed your Customers’ Expectations of Product Availability

Gain access INSTANTLY to our complimentary white paper on Achieving Best Practices with Todays Best Inventory Management Systems by completing the form to your right.

Related Posts:

• Distributors Must Get Lean in 2012
• Evaluating New Distribution Software: The Real Issues
• Prevent Loss with a Warehouse Management System (WMS)
• Fresh Start with Inventory for the New Year

Like most associations, you are continually looking for new and innovative ways to generate non-dues revenue while providing members with the very best in service. Now there is a way to better manage your members, increase revenue and enhance the member experience for all your constituents all through the latest association management solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Download this complimentary webinar from BroadPoint Technologies!

In this webinar, you will hear that while traditional AMS systems are good for things such as registrations and dues, additional benefits such as email campaigns, reports and analytics, and social networking are more important than ever. Learn how CRM delivers added benefits so your association can improve membership management operations and drive additional revenue using Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Associations.

Gain valuable insight into CRM for associations including:

• How to evaluate CRM for your organization’s unique requirements
• “Business My Way” vs. “Business in a Box”: How to decide whether an off-the-shelf solution or a custom solution will work best
• How you can use CRM to drive revenue for your organization
• Has your AMS become too complex? How can CRM help simplify your processes?
• Why Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 may be the right solution for you

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch the webinar instantly.

Related Posts:

• Do Professional Services Firms Need CRM?
• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• Finding the Right CRM Solution
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM

1)      Justify why every slow moving product item remains in inventory.  Most warehouses are filled with two things:

“Stock” – Products your customers expect to be available for immediate delivery

“Stuff” – Everything else

There are many reasons for stuff to be in your warehouse:  discontinued products, returns of non-stock items, what seemed to be good ideas for new product introductions that didn’t pan out, etc.  Begin the new year by identifying your “stuff” and beginning a liquidation process.  This will free up valuable space and generate some cash (even if it is only scrap value) that can be better spent on productive “stock” inventory.  We suggest you look at every product that has sold in less than three of the past 12 months.  Ask:

• Is this a new stock item that needs additional time to develop a market?
• Is this a critical item that must be on hand just in case a customer needs it?  If so, is the profit margin great enough to offset the cost of carrying inventory for a prolonged period of time or does carrying this item directly lead to other profitable sales?

If the answer to both of these questions is no, liquidate your remaining stock.  Remember that liquidation does not necessarily mean throwing this material in the dumpster.  It means getting as much as possible above the cost of liquidation.  Consider:

• Transferring the material to another company location where the inventory is needed
• Discounting the remaining stock to encourage impulse buys by customers
• Returning it to the vendor even if you have to use the credit received to buy other stock items for which there is customer demand
• Advertising the availability of this material to other suppliers

Don’t get emotionally attached to your stuff.  Consider any compensation you receive for this unneeded material to be “found” money.

2)      Develop a questionnaire for introducing new products.  The best way to control the amount of “stuff” in your warehouse is not to buy it in the first place.  Successful companies insist that anyone wanting to add a product or product line to inventory complete a new product questionnaire.  The questionnaire includes seven questions:

1. Who is asking that the product be added to inventory?  If it is a specific customer, have they committed to purchasing a certain quantity and have they honored their past commitments to buy products?  If it is a sales or marketing person, what is their previous track record for new product introductions?
2. What are the sales or usage estimates for each of the first six months?  Be sure to compare actual sales/usage to these forecasts at the end of each month.
3. What is the projected gross margin?  Again monitor actual performance at the end of each month to this estimate.
4. What effect will sales or usage of this new item have on the sale or usage of existing stock items?  Do we need to discontinue or cut our inventory of any current products?
5. How much do we need to invest in the new item(s)?  Is it possible to perform a market test before committing to a major purchase?
6. If the item doesn’t sell as expected can we return the remaining portion of the initial purchase quantity at little or no cost?
7. Do we have adequate room to properly store the new product?  Remember that the walls of your facility are not elastic.  You can only maintain a certain amount of inventory.

We have found we have had the most success when at least three members of management, after reviewing a new item questionnaire agree it is a wise investment.

3)     Set appropriate goals for your buyers.  Follow the old adage, people will do what you inspect, not what you expect. Every   buyer or inventory planner should have goals for the products for which he or she is responsible.  We have found two metrics best analyze a buyer’s or inventory planner’s performance:

Inventory Turnover. Inventory turnover measures the number of times you sell or “turnover” your average inventory investment each year.  In reality it measures the number of opportunities you have to earn a profit from every dollar of your investment in stock inventory.  It is calculated by divided annual cost of goods sold from stock sales by your average inventory investment.  Remember that high profits can compensate for low turnover.  A good rule of thumb in setting turnover goals is to make sure your “turn-earn index” (inventory turnover multiplied by your average gross margin percentage) is at least 120.  For example, this can be accomplished with six turns at a 20% gross margin or four turns at a 30% gross margin.

Customer Service Level. The customer service level is the percentage of line items for stock products completely filled or shipped in one transaction by the date promised to the customer.  If the customer orders 10 pieces of a product you must deliver all 10 to get credit towards the customer service level.  Most companies aim for an overall customer service level of 95% (95 out of every 100 product requests are completely filled) and a 99% customer service level for critical items.

Let’s get the new year started right.  Change your corporate culture to embrace these three simple “best practices”.  You will experience great results both in customer satisfaction and increased profitability!

Image Source: https://kurthatlevik.wordpress.com

Related Posts:

• Whitepaper: Should You Stock New Product Lines?
• When Should I Start Stocking New Product Lines?
• Webinar: When to Stock New Product Lines
• On-Demand Webinar: Is A Bar Code System Right For Your Distribution Business?

Key benefits of Sage CRM:

Unified CRM from Sage - At its core, Sage CRM has been designed to integrate the Sales, Marketing and Customer Care departments across a business giving senior management the opportunity to gain an overall insight into the CRM performance of the business at a glance. CRM from Sage enables managers to identify key areas for improvement that may otherwise go unnoticed as well as allowing employees across the departments to share important information and work together towards collective goals.

Sage CRM for Sales – As well as the integration of key departments across the business, CRM from Sage is designed to improve customer management within the individual departments themselves. An interactive and customizable interface allows the sales team to communicate effectively and manage all their daily activities in an intuitively designed workspace as well as identify and maximize networking opportunities from integrated networking sites.

Sage CRM for Marketing – Marketing teams can benefit from the powerful tools offered by Sage CRM aimed at increasing the effectiveness of highly targeted marketing campaigns. The integrated nature of Sage customer management allows the marketing department to develop a deeper understanding of customer needs and behaviors. Streamlining of the planning, executing and auditing stages enables businesses to execute marketing campaigns with maximum impact.

Sage CRM for Customer Care – Customer loyalty and satisfaction are at the heart of any CRM strategy and CRM from Sage is no different. Sage customer management allows the customer care department to provide easy to use web-based self-service functions to the customer quickly and cost-effectively so that users can manage their own information at their convenience and without the need for customer service assistance.

Sage customer management

The integration of key departments through Sage CRM offers a valuable insight into customer management across businesses as a whole and represents a key advantage of the Sage customer management package. As well as enabling senior management to make informed business decisions and benefit from the increased efficiency of centralized control, Sage CRM is fully customizable ensuring that the right CRM solutions are in place whatever the size and nature of the business. This makes CRM from Sage an attractive option for those in search of an effective and innovative CRM strategy.

Related Posts:

• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• Finding the Right CRM Solution
• Do Professional Services Firms Need CRM?

However, the very fact that big business is increasingly concerned with effective CRM solutions and is reaping the rewards of improved CRM software should give both small and medium sized businesses plenty of inspiration to be asking what customer relationship management solutions are on offer and how they could be profiting from these.

CRM software for small to medium sized business

As the providers of CRM solutions become increasingly aware of the benefits they can bring to businesses of all sizes, the CRM software on offer is becoming increasingly customized towards small and medium sized business. One of the key developments in CRM software for this market is the option of application service providers (ASP) and hosted solutions for CRM packages. This means that businesses can access a customized CRM package which is hosted and managed by a third party.

ASP and hosted solutions are perfect for small and medium sized businesses in search of successful CRM strategies as the service provider takes on all the responsibility of delivering reliable application access, hardware platforms and effective operating and database systems. In addition their technical expertise is what keeps the systems running smoothly and performing at the required standards. This CRM solution effectively allows small and medium sized businesses to avoid all the costs of purchasing the CRM software itself and training or hiring in-house personnel to maintain it.

What about enterprise CRM

Enterprise CRM has been developed in the past exclusively for large companies with multi-faceted customer facing processes. However, enterprise CRM software doesn’t have to be restricted to big business. Small and medium sized businesses are developing increasingly complex networks of platforms to interact with their customers and enterprise CRM offers them the opportunity to introduce effective CRM software into these complex networks. This ensures that all aspects of customer satisfaction are measured and addressed effectively and guarantees a successful CRM strategy across the board.

Why look to CRM for small to medium sized business

The ever changing and fast-paced environment of internet business and e-commerce means that businesses of all sizes are now increasingly concerned with maximizing customer loyalty and satisfaction. Customers are liable more than ever to search and compare prices and services across the market so providing a positive customer experience through effective CRM is one of the most valuable aspects of any business.

Just as the ASP model has created opportunities for small and medium sized business in other sectors of the market, so it is beginning to apply the same principles to customer relationship management solutions with constant development and innovation making this the ideal time for small and medium sized business to implement their own customer relationship management strategies.

Related Posts:

• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM
• The Benefits of Sage CRM

• A brief overview of the capabilities of Sharepoint 2010
• The benefits of Sharepoint 2010 for associations
• Reasons why Sharepoint 2010 is right for you and the ROI you can expect
• Case studies of Sharepoint 2010

Related Posts:

• How to Improve Overall Project Communication
• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 2

• To take advantage of new functionality and product enhancements
• To remain on a supported version of your software in order to receive updates and assistance when needed
• To maintain your investment in your mission-critical business applications

However, if you use Microsoft Dynamics GP®, there are 10 more reasons to upgrade to GP 2010 R2:

1. Deliver faster access to personalized insight with tailored role centers that include personalized dashboards and KPIs, with drill-back capabilities that let people move from a high-level view down to a specific source record.

2. Get more out of Excel with richer integration, more than 220 pre-built, refreshable Excel reports that can include multiple data sources, and the ability to quickly create an analysis from scratch using Report Builder.

3. Give your people new options for analyzing information with over 90 built-in Microsoft SQL Server®Reporting Services reports.

4. Take customer- and vendor-related activities to new levels of efficiency and professionalism with deeper integration with Microsoft Office Word and Outlook.

5. Help ensure that “driving personal productivity” is truly a personalized experience by empowering people to tailor their dashboards and action panes with lists that give them the precise information they need for their roles and lines of business.

6. Create “mini-applications” that simplify tracking and tasks for line-of-business information without writing new code.

7. Make Unified Communications part of your new way to do business by giving employees the power to work effectively with customers and vendors through instant messaging, have ad-hoc conversations, hold a Microsoft Office Live Meeting, share views of customer and vendor information, and even create and deliver sales quotes, sales orders, and purchase orders—all within Microsoft Office Communicator.

8. Connect applications and systems efficiently and cost-effectively by giving developers over 350 Web services to choose from and use a simplified architecture to integrate with a world of applications and data sources.

9. Get the most from other Microsoft technology innovations, like out of the box workflows with Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation that enable people to use SharePoint to update Microsoft Dynamics information that displays on external lists—and updates automatically appear in the system.

10. By leveraging a range of tools that support your upgrade—from auto-deployments to rapid migrations, working with a skilled, certified Microsoft Dynamics GP partner can help you get up and running quickly.

Related Posts:

• Comparing Dynamics ERP Solutions: AX vs. GP vs. NAV vs. SL
• Bob Scott’s Top VAR 100 for 2011
• How to Plan & Execute your Dynamics GP Implementation
• Have You Outgrown Your Distribution System?Have You Outgrown Your Distribution System?

Over time, you probably add more and more information about your customers. Your best customers are the ones you know very well. You understand their challenges and how best to address those challenges. Your customers likely appreciate that and, hence, you have a good business relationship.

Know All Your Customers Like Your Best Customers

Imagine what would happen if this were the case.  First, you probably would get a lot more business. Beyond that, you would better understand their business needs.  You might know their hobbies, interests, the college they went to and maybe even the college their kids went to.

Keep in mind that just because you know a prospective customer graduated from the same school as you doesn’t mean that you will win their business, but knowledge like that can provide an opportunity to connect and build a stronger business relationship.

Welcome to the age of social media.

Connect LinkedIn and Twitter to Your CRM

Social networking tools such as LinkedIn and Twitter can deliver crucial data to your CRM and create the opportunity to build a better business relationship.

These social networking tools allow you to:

• Validate and keep your customer data accurate
• View demographic and personal information
• See when a contact moved to a new company
• Add additional company contacts to your CRM
• Track specific Twitter conversations about your company or your product directly in CRM
• Create a world-wide view of your customer.  Use your own data combined with public “social” data to see a more three-dimensional view of your customer.

Can I Use Facebook, Too?

Facebook can be trickier to use from a business perspective. Facebook can work well for some business purposes and is weak in other areas. You will need to better understand your customers (and ideal customers) to see if Facebook can be a viable social media tool to integrate with your CRM system.

With all the social networking information available today, it is no surprise that customers expect more from their vendors. You can stay a step ahead of your competition by integrating social media with your CRM system.  Although deals get done by people, technology can certainly lend a hand in moving the process forward.

Related Posts:

• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• CRM for small to medium sized business
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM

Bob Scott, mid-market financial software  industry analyst and editor of Accounting Technology, selects and reviews the Top 100 VARs of 2011.   While the reseller channel has gotten leaner and more competitive these past few years, these Value-Added Resellers (VARs) have continued to deliver outstanding financial solutions and services to their customers to improve productivity and profitability in these struggling economic times.

Many of Software ThinkTank’s Recommended Business Solutions Partners have made the Bob Scott’s notable VAR 100 list, including:

• BroadPoint Technologies
• Socius
• MIBAR.net
• And many more…

Find a Top 100 VAR in your Area

Gain access INSTANTLY to Bob Scott’s Top 100 VAR Guide: Picking Up After Tough Times by completing the form to your right.

*Image Source: www.bobscottinsights.com

Related Posts:

• Comparing Dynamics ERP Solutions: AX vs. GP vs. NAV vs. SL
• On-Demand Webinar: What Associations Need to Know About Cloud Computing
• Microsoft GP 2010 – Why Upgrade?
• Accounting Today: The 2011 VAR 100

Ed Bonaski knows about plot lines, and even the software world has its own story arc.

Bonaski spent years working in the publishing industry as an ERP vendor before he traded his Fifth Avenue office for a position as Account Executive at Sherwood Systems in Phoenix, Arizona.

In the last six years he’s peeked inside the pages of so many varied companies, he’s learned a lot about different industries and their unique needs. He also has learned that there are many similarities with these industries in business flow and what they are looking for with an ERP system.

The Plot Thickens

“I’ve been exposed to industries that certainly broadened my knowledge of the workings of these companies – from rock and gravel companies, to companies that maintain inventory on human body parts from people that donate their organs. Order fulfillment has the same components regardless if it’s books, kidneys or widgets. Orders need to be entered, discounts applied, inventory decremented, shipped, payments applied and, in some cases, dealing with returns. My job is to understand the nuances of the business and provide guidance to our implementation consultants as to the client’s vision.”

“Tier 2 ERP software today has come a long way in the last 10 years. Gone are the days where implementations took a year or more with many changes to the core software. Today, most needs are met right out of the box and for those that have specific vertical requirements, the strong Microsoft Dynamics Independent Software Vendor community has already built it and Microsoft has signed off on its seamless integration with GP.”

Integration Keeps Getting Quicker

Bonaski says the common theme for software today is that – no matter what, people need an easy to use system that has a short learning curve. C level people need information that is as current as the last keystroke. We all are working smarter and leaner and every decision needs to be made with the confidence that the information presented is solid.

Enter the cloud – a plot twist if there ever was one. It no longer distinguishes between the multi-national companies and the 10-person company. Everyone can use it, adapt it within reason to their own purposes and achieve some measure of success.

“One of the things I tell people is that you don’t get a handicap for being a small company. You have to be a big company in every sense of the word. Just like people with their websites – when you click on their website, if it’s done right, you’ll never know if the business is just some guy in his underwear.”

The beauty lies in this kind of one-on-one accessibility.

One-on-One Accessibility

“If you’re competing with a bigger company, you have to have that functionality, even if you’re a start-up operation. Being able to reduce that initial cash outlay means you’re going to have that ability to compete.”

Bonaski says it’s too soon to predict how the cloud will affect the future of software, but he suspects the real story lies in deepening the appreciation of what software can do for each individual business so that the unique qualities rise to the surface.

Like self-publishing, the cloud has become an equalizer. The book gets printed; the software gets installed. The real question is what’s inside – how good a fit is it really?

“Cloud software is going to be ubiquitous,” he says. “What’s important is that people really think about what they want – what they really want the software to do, and really put the effort in to getting that right. Focus on that and let the data center focus on hardware and infrastructure.”

By opting for a cloud deployment, small to mid-sized organizations can reap the same benefits as the Fortune 1000 companies, save up to 50% of the overhead, and re-invest the savings in growth and new jobs – all without a capital investment. Now that’s a best seller!

Related Posts:

• Top 10 Qualities to Look for in an ERP System
• Do You Need A Business Assessment?
• Leveraging Business Intelligence For Your Nonprofit
• Comparing Dynamics ERP Solutions: AX vs. GP vs. NAV vs. SL

Getting Inventory off the Shelves

When trying to get inventory off of your shelves, the temptation is to try to recoup your costs for those particular items.  However, as Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management, Inc., says, “inventory is not worth what you paid for it. It is worth what someone is willing to pay you for it.”  Therefore, the goal should be to cover the cost of liquidation and consider anything above and beyond that “found money.”  What you don’t recoup in liquidation, you will make up for in improved profitability once your warehouse is fully stocked with inventory you can move.

Some successful techniques for removing that dead inventory from your warehouse include:

• If a product is dead in one location but still active in another, transfer the excess stock to the location where is it needed.

• Return material to the vendor, unless the vendor assesses excessive charges for returns. The best time to negotiate the terms for the return of material with a vendor is before you issue a large purchase order.

• If your customers have some discretion as to which of several items to purchase, reduce the price to “move” the excess inventory.

• Offer your salespeople a monetary or some other incentive to sell the product.

• Keep in mind that a product may no longer be popular in your market but may still be needed elsewhere, so advertise the availability of this material to other suppliers.

• Offer the product as a substitute for a less expensive item in situations where the customer may be interested in an upgrade.

• Donate the excess material to a non-profit organization to receive a tax deduction up to twice the cost of the inventory (for certain organizations).

• If you are short of space, throw away material that can’t be liquidated. Even if you do not receive any payment, the free space you gain in your warehouse may make the effort worthwhile.

Once you have rid your warehouse of excess products, you can utilize a trusted ERP solution to manage your inventory going forward so that you can ensure that your stock remains salable and usable.

Related Posts:

• Thinking About Implementing a Bar Coding System? Read This First
• Distribution Startups – The Key Considerations
• On-Demand Webinar: Grow Your Business Without Growing Your Debt.
• The Top 5 Effective Ways to Trim Your Inventory

In addition, the use of technology to foster improved communication has become more prevalent and has had a measurable impact on project cost and performance. Microsoft SharePoint is a solution that has many uses and can help to eliminate communication gaps throughout the project team, thereby optimizing the team’s performance.

Communication & Collaboration Hurdles

Utilizing the latest technology is not a new concept when it comes to project communication. However, many of the technologies available today are very complex and/or specialized. These issues cause problems with overall project delivery, thereby showing that efficient project communication is not as easy as it seems. Challenges such as poor document management, inefficient project communication and ineffective project collaboration directly impact project resource productivity.

SharePoint for Organization and Efficiency

Microsoft SharePoint has provided us with project communication efficiencies that were previously not achievable without it. In addition to saving valuable time during our projects, SharePoint has allowed us to:

• More accurately track project information such as documents, calendars and contacts.
• Track and itemize specific project issues and their risks.
• Use other integrated Microsoft applications such as Word, Outlook, Excel and Project.
• Better manage project change control,

Central Repository for Information

Through the use of Microsoft SharePoint, we have been able to provide a central repository of information for our entire project team and greatly improve project communication. The project manager must have the ability to provide an avenue for project communication to encourage an open dialogue and give the project team the information they need to properly do their jobs.

Related Posts:

• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 1
• On-Demand Webinar from Broadpoint: Sharepoint for Associations
• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 2
• Top 5 Mistakes when Implementing an ERP System

• Increasing Mandatory Yearly Maintenance Fees
• Complicated & Unnecessary Upgrades
• Overlapping & Redundant Technology Solutions
• Disorienting & Overbearing Sales Tactics
• Complex, Cumbersome & Unfinished New Features
• Everytime Always Say Yes (E.A.S.Y) Sales
• Native Glitches & Bugs Bundled in the Software Package

“Two Peas in a Prison” – Part I

“Suites Are Sour” – Part II

“Steep Upgrade Ahead” – Part III

“Suite Carolina” – Part IV

“Double Down” – Part V

“Speak E.A.S.Y.” – Part VI

Related Posts:

• A Software Implementation Nightmare
• Check Your Blind Spot with a 360-Degree Review
• How to Upgrade Your ERP System
• Healthcare and ERP: Making it Work for Your Health Organization

Your eyes quickly scan for the dots. Does it work remotely? Yes.
Does it include automatic upgrades? Yes.

Now you’re clicking on the purchase button, and whoosh! The sale is done.

The End of Salesmanship

How great is that? No more lengthy phone calls, no more ‘yes buts’. The highly competitive software world has launched the death of the salesman. It’s tempting to light up the fireworks simply in celebration.

But is it really what’s it’s cracked up to be? Who hasn’t been in the situation where they’ve purchased a product only to find it didn’t really meet their need. Now staff is left scrambling, trying to shoehorn the business into a software product that was never going to fit.

The Buyers Educate Themselves

“The role of the salesperson is no longer to educate the buyer on functionality,” says Mark Stuyt, president of Inspiro Services and an executive sales force coach for SALESWORKS Systems, a Vancouver based consulting firm. “What is needed now are people who have not so much product knowledge, as business process expertise and there is a subtle difference.”

“Buyers can easily see there is only a 5-15% difference between the products,” Stuyt says. “What they need is someone who can identify their particular set of problems and match that with the right product that will deliver meaningful impact.”

“I’ve been buyers get five-day demonstrations, none of it meaningful, all of it confusing,” Stuyt says.

Delivering Value Through Identifying Business Needs

To guard against that, Stuyt recommends business leaders look for:

a)      Deep industry content;
b)      Ability to draw a distinction between business problems and functionality

“If your salesperson can’t do that, then you’re talking to a dinosaur.”

While that may sound straightforward, developing this new breed of salesperson isn’t easy.

Self-Education Can Be Misinformation

Enzo DiMichele is the managing partner of Absolute Coaching and an executive sales coach for SALESWORKS Systems; he has been training salespeople in the technology sector for more than 25 years.

The point and click world has created purchasers eager for the simple solution. Even with massive ERP projects, they’re mentally searching for that nifty spreadsheet, so they can make that fast decision.

“Buyers are getting to us further along in their decision process and it’s making it more challenging,” DiMichele says. “Meanwhile, sellers don’t treat each lead with the amount of due diligence it needs. They skip off the top. What they’re doing is commoditizing, and as a result, they don’t really understand quickly enough what the root causes are of the issues.”

Partnering with Informed Solution Reps

What’s really died, and isn’t coming back, is the salesman who sees each prospect as an opportunity to be hunted down and bagged with a “just buy the damn thing” mentality.

Instead it’s been replaced with a modern approach of working alongside the prospective client, helping them gain a better appreciation for what they need and how different products might best be able to address the challenge, says Ross Allen, president of The Technical Edge and co-founding partner of SALESWORKS Systems.

Nurturer the Curiosity

“Salespeople need to know that customers are doing inquiries and research. What they’re really doing when they reach out is they’re casting a net in the early prospect stage. They’re just figuring out they might need something, or they’re not even sure if they do, and if they do, what would that look like. So there needs to be a new kind of salesperson who can deliver that. These aren’t hunters any more – they’re nurturers.”

You know you’re talking to a nurturer when they answer your emails, follow up on your questions, find you the help you need.

“It’s a different personality, a different mindset,” says Allen.

Building the Online Salesman

It also means that companies that are building on-line sales need to have these nurturing types working at all points of contact. They’re potentially now working with 100 prospects at any one time, compared to the more traditional salesperson who juggles no more than 20.

“In this new realm, you’re going to have hundreds of potential clients, and you have to keep track of where each one of these customers are at, what they say next, and you’re going to need the software, the technology, in order to do that.”

The software provides the analytics, so the company knows where to focus its attention, but Allen says the human side is critical.

“People are interested in buying from people, not from machines. They’ll research to death until a human being reaches out and says: I see you. This may take time, but it pays off.”

Are They Interested in Your Business?

The irony in all this is that while it’s so tempting to make decisions based on checklists and analytics, and while technology provides us with more statistics at the click of button than we could possibly ever use, at the end of the day we’re human.

Stuyt says it’s a bit like looking at a dating profile. That stats may all be there, but it really only serves to get the conversation started.

“Ultimately, what everyone is looking for today is a more meaningful two-way conversation — someone who understands me, who understands the specific needs of my business. If they’re not asking about you – your business – there’s something wrong.”

And that makes all the difference in the world.

Image Source: James Patton Funeral

Related Posts:

• Do Professional Services Firms Need CRM?
• Getting the Best Value From Your CRM
• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• The Benefits of Sage CRM

When Kevin Armstrong first got into the technology business with Xerox back in the mid-1990s there was a common mindset: real data, real information, even about how the business was operating, was best left to those in charge.

“Information gained from analytics was typically reserved for the highest level of executives,” says Armstrong, who is now Vice-President of U.S. Sales for ePartners. Information was power, and management clung to that information like it was gold. Today, that pyramid structure has been flattened out so that everyone at every level in business can have access to relevant data – often through cloud software. This allows them to not only do their job, but more importantly, make independent and informed decisions. It’s a critical component in an age when flexibility and mobile access matters.

“What people are looking for from software today is agility – that’s the new buzz word. And this can only be achieved when everybody can actually access data, in other words – information — at their fingertips, and when management empowers employees to act and take calculated risks, when necessary, to keep the business moving forward.”

The Speed of Trust

Armstrong, who recently read Steven Covey’s The Speed of Trust, says wide-spread access to information is shifting business culture to one where trust becomes the highest quality needed among not only top executives, but all employees.

“The trust has to be there in the organization to enable people to do their job. If a decision has to travel all the way back up to the top to get action, you can imagine what will happen: inertia. And the last thing you want in a competitive marketplace is inertia, because you know that if you don’t move quickly, someone else will. You don’t want the troops in the field to be immobilized. You have to mobilize them and provide them with trust and empowerment to do their jobs. If you can’t do that, you’ve got the wrong people.”

As more and more software becomes available through the cloud, workers will be able to access data in the field, making them more agile, and more able to assess and determine next steps on the fly. But Armstrong reckons that this new found agility needs to come with a caution.

Calculated Risks

“Simply having an ability doesn’t always mean that it’s a good one. You still need to be thoughtful, take the time to make a good decision and then move forward.” Armstrong also foresees the trust factor growing in industries that previously shied away – like financial services and health care.

“What they’re finding is that these new environments are more secure and more responsive than their own internal environments, which means they can do more with less.” They’re also starting to see that there are realistic advantages of storing valuable data off-site, especially as so many businesses have suffered from the likes of natural disasters – whether hurricanes in the South or earthquakes in the West.

Finally, the father of three says businesses now trust the instant communication instincts of the under-30s, allowing them more freedom to stay connected, even in the workplace.

Instant Messaging, Instant Decisions

“Instant messaging and texting is a powerful shift that’s taking place,” Armstrong says. “It’s not just for teenagers any more. Again, it’s about agility. You can be in a meeting, while a contractual discussion is underway in another State, and you can still answer any last minute questions without interrupting the meeting going on. There is a new etiquette required – you need to let people in the meeting know you might need to answer the text, and generally, the rationale is accepted.”

Clearly, doing business in 2012 won’t be the same. It will be faster, more fluid, more responsive, and yet more robust. Change is swiftly putting information into the hands of the many, rather than the few. Follow suit in your business, and expect a more productive, eager and fulfilled workforce to follow. That’s a powerful tool for 2012.

**Image Source: http://cloudrecruiting.net/mobile-fad-or-future/

Related Posts:

• Build a Win-Win Relationship with Your Solution Provider
• How to Tightly Control Vendors to Reduce Costs
• How to Negotiate Solution Provider Rates
• 10 Questions to Ask Your Solution Provider

Ensuring high end user adoption should be at the heart of every business case for investing in CRM. But how can you guaranteee high end user adoption? The answer:  you need to question whether your provider is telling you the truth on Outlook integration. BroadPoint Technologies are a business consulting form based in Washington, DC. With over 400 clients in 31 states and 6 countries they are well placed to identify smart solutions.

Download this webinar to learn more about:

• The unique ‘social’ features of CRM online.
• Why a financially backed SLA is more important than “Trust”.
• Price-plan options and benefits.

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch the webinar instantly.

Related Posts:

• Steps to a Successful Sales Process with CRM: Part 2
• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 2
• Get The Most From Your CRM System
• On Demand Webinar from BroadPoint: 5 Ways to Better Manage (and Serve) Your Members Using CRM

Get ready to embrace the power of failure.

That’s a hard statement to swallow at a time when the economy appears to be teetering once again. But, Steven Kane says, the Cloud puts hope on the horizon in ways no one has thought of before.

“The Cloud allows people to experiment with low cost, which means they can afford to fail over and over again until they stumble across the secret sauce that really makes them go,” says Kane, the Director of Sales at BroadPoint Technologies, a business consulting firm that serves more than 400 clients across the U.S. and in six other countries.

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment

Kane’s worked with hundreds of these clients, many of them non-profits. Up until now, massive amounts of money have been tied up in IT departments focused on simply keeping the company afloat. Accessing the Cloud means companies can now put their money either into experimentation, or in the case of non-profits, back into delivering direct services to their members.

“You could save a quarter of a million just on infrastructure costs by adopting the Cloud, and then that money could be spent on new projects with low investment, and low risk. And companies need to do that – they need to make lots of mistakes in order to find out what’s meaningful to them.”

Like Thomas Edison once said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.”

Hunting, Gathering and Supply Chains

Kane says what’s challenging about the Cloud isn’t so much what it can do, but that so many people don’t realize they’re already using it. It’s a bit like today’s hunter-gatherer. We just head into the store to pick up our loaf of bread, eggs, and a few vegetables. Few consider the massive supply chain required to get the goods on the shelves.

Software is the same.

“Just look at the web browser. I’d argue that’s the most popular piece of software around, but people have forgotten its software,” he says. “When I presented a webinar on the Cloud a couple of months ago, there were about 50 people there. When I asked how many were using the Cloud, very few put their hands up. But when I asked how many had used yahoo or hotmail, nearly everyone said yes.”

With the web browser now entering its second decade, you could say it takes a generation to instil an idea into the mainstream before someone starts thinking – hey, we could try this. Kane believes this is what 2012 will be all about.

Paradigm Shifting

“What this means is that executives can quit thinking about buying software and doing an implementation. Instead what they can think about is: I’ve got this issue and who will be able to fix this.”

Kane says that forward thinking business will need guidance.

“At this same webinar I asked how many of the businesses there had a strategy for how to move their infrastructure to the Cloud. Very few did. How many needed help in doing that? 100 per cent!”

In thinking about 2012, Kane says, more than ever, businesses will turn on the dime.

“There is a whole component to the Cloud that is about fighting people’s habits and perceptions of the world and how things get done. It’s time to break out of that old thought process and unlock that new potential. Like General Shinseki says, ‘if you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.’”

Related Posts:

• On-Demand Webinar: Translating the Cloud
• 10 Things You Need to Know about Accounting & ERP in the Cloud
• Why CFOs are Bucking the SaaS Trend
• What is ERP?

Watch Software ThinkTank’s exclusive webinar on:
Translating the Cloud for C-level Executives

This 45 minute webcast presented by software industry consultant, Joe ThinkTank, covers all aspects of cloud computing.

Get real answers to your questions about the cloud:

• What’s the buzz about the cloud?
• Is there a business rationale for the cloud?
• What are the benefits and risks in the cloud?
• What’s in the cloud for the CIO & CFO?
• What are the downsides of cloud computing?
• What are the options for cloud computing software & models?

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch this webcast now.

Related Posts:

• Why Small and Medium Businesses Should Consider ERP Cloud
• 10 Things You Need to Know about Accounting & ERP in the Cloud
• On-Demand Webinar: What Associations Need to Know About Cloud Computing
• Software Trend-Watch 2: Rise In Business-Driven R&D

Back in the 1970s when Bart Nachimow was getting his minor degree in computer science, software was like an ankle-biting knave hovering for attention from its hardware king perched high in his tower.

It was a world where the all-powerful mainframe was a pinnacle of engineering and even architectural pride, and once the power was unleashed onto the PC, woe-betide any piece of software that didn’t comply with its every need.

Now Nachimow, the founder and CEO of MIBAR.net – New York’s leading tech firm – believes the tower is tumbling down.

Tumbling Towers

“I wouldn’t want to be in the PC business right now. Just look at the manner executives are interfacing with data. They’re rarely using the PC. More often they’re looking at their tablet devices, or even their mobiles, and they’re using these as means of gaining quick information wherever they are.”

Nachimow can see in the tech world what Malcolm Gladwell so brilliantly illustrated in his book The Tipping Point. The industry is on the edge of change, and it is people, like those thought leaders of the 1970s, who are continuing to push for not only advances in computer technology, but ways to liberate man from machine.

“There are two mistakes taking place right now. There is a denial in our software business community that this tidal wave called the Cloud isn’t going to wash over the shores. And on the consumer side, there’s a perception that embracing the Cloud means the tools are going to be easily implemented and they can do it themselves.”

But even with all the mobile access, ERP solutions are a complex business. And pulling out the power from even a cloud-   based system is going to require training.

Unleashing True Power

It’s a bit like Nachimow’s first true software love – Excel. The self-taught user can get virtually immediate gratification for relatively simple, previously time-consuming tasks.

“It’s not until you understand the pivot table that you’re really unleashing that power,” he says. “That’s when your eyes pop open, and that’s really what our charter is when it comes to working with our clients. How are you going optimize the power of new technologies, like Microsoft’s CRM 2011. That’s the real question.”

And there is a certain symmetry about the cloud appearing just when the economy appears dim, to say the least.

“It’s a little bit scary right now. Earlier this year I would have predicted a very solid year for business. But with what’s going on in Washington and the economic stats, real concerns are growing with regard to another recession,” he says. “There is a cloud over the economy and it could take a lot of us by surprise.”

Cloud to the Rescue?

So where does this leave the PC and business computer? Even laptops are feeling like clunky dinosaurs, and unnecessary costly investments. And in the work environment, it’s no longer practical to limit the number of users having access to one program simply because of budgetary concerns.

The Cloud is here, and in this era of economic uncertainty, Nachimow says it will be those who buy into the Cloud and make a concerted effort to squeeze every ounce of juice from it, that will remain not only standing, but tower above the rest.

The new tower of business computing is personal power – a sense of self-determination that says: I know what data I want, and I want to access it when it serves me.

If you still want to risk clinging to the past, Nachimow offers up a Jack Nicholson nugget.

“The truth? You can’t handle the truth!”

*Image Source: www.mashable.com

Related Posts:

• Budgeting Beyond Spreadsheets
• Why is an ERP Solution Right for your Business?
• Thinking About Implementing a Bar Coding System? Read This First
• Distribution Startups – The Key Considerations

Unfortunately, the economic outlook for 2012 requires more efficiency, productivity and alignment from distributors then ever before. It’s time to batten down the hatches, remove all the fat from our operations and simply get lean.

How do you achieve lean distribution?

• First, record and analyze mistakes, essentially fail-forward.
• Second, reorganize your warehouse to minimize the cost of filling orders.
• Third, overcommunicate to overdeliver.
• And many more best practices…

Cut the Fat and Get Lean

Gain access INSTANTLY to our complimentary white paper on Get Lean in 2012 – Achieving Lean Distribution by completing the form to your right.

*Image Source: www.H4mlean.ca

Related Posts:

• Best Practices for Inventory Management Systems
• Evaluating New Distribution Software: The Real Issues
• Prevent Loss with a Warehouse Management System (WMS)
• Fresh Start with Inventory for the New Year

Discover how to trim the excess and drive efficiency in this exclusive Software ThinkTank webcast from the CEO of Effective Inventory Management, Industrial Distribution lecturer at Purdue University and esteemed Effective Inventory author, Jon Schreibfeder.

Learn to achieve Lean Distribution:

• Record, analyze and move forward from mistakes.
• Reorganize assets to minimize costs.
• Overcommunicate to overdeliver.
• Determine the survival of the fittest products.
• Reevaluate before the reorder.

Watch Now!

Complete the form to the right to watch the webinar instantly.

Related Posts:

• On-Demand Webinar: Evolving With Your Inventory Management Software
• On-Demand Webinar: Are You Getting the Right Answers?
• On-Demand Webinar: Top 10 Biggest Mistakes Distributors Make Today
• Webinar: When to Stock New Product Lines

In today’s competitive business environment, light manufacturers have special inventory challenges that require a comprehensive and integrated set of tools. How is your current software system measuring up?

Can your light manufacturing software solution…

• Forecast future demand of finished goods products?
• Determine the best quantity of each product to be produced at one time?
• Organize production to make the best use of manpower and equipment?

Don’t Let Your Software Hold You Back

Gain access INSTANTLY to our complimentary white paper on Today’s Software Requirements for Light Manufacturers by completing the form to your right.

*Image Source: Kollewin.com

Related Posts:

• 6 Game Changers about SaaS for Manufacturing
• Healthcare and ERP: Making it Work for Your Health Organization
• Don’t Get Caught Out With The Hidden Costs Of ERP
• Best Practices for Inventory Management Systems

New Features Allow for Easier Compliance

More multinational companies with U.S. operations now have an immediate need to comply with IFRS. Last year we saw Canada join the European Union in adopting IFRS, and it is likely that U.S. GAAP will be forsaken for IFRS over time. To provide flexibility in meeting the different financial standards, Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 offers three separate reporting ledgers:

BASE (would be the U.S. GAAP ledger)
IFRS
LOCAL (important if you observe non-GAAP-non-IFRS local accounting rules)

No More Messy Work-Around

Before Dynamics GP 2010, there was no good way to follow U.S. GAAP and then make separately reportable adjustments to present financial information compliant with IFRS. At one point, Microsoft had posted a solution from a partner that was nothing more than a clumsy work-around: create a second GP company to shadow the first, make IFRS adjustments in the second company, and finally, create FRx reports to consolidate the two.

My immediate reaction was: work-around = pain + agony + suffering = errors = trouble

Strangely, anyone who has used Dynamics GP knows that this math DOES add up.

How the IFRS Features Work in GP 2010

With Dynamics GP 2010, the solution is elegant in its simplicity. Regular transactions such as Sales, Purchasing, Payroll, Inventory and Financial will all post to the BASE Ledger. Closing entries to adjust the BASE ledger to IFRS standards will be made in the IFRS ledger. From here, FRx can prepare a financial report without consolidating reporting trees or clumsy backups, and restores to a separate database.

Flexible financial reporting is just one of the great features of Dynamics GP 2010. Compliance is no joke, and you can rely on Dynamics GP to keep you where you need to be.

Related Posts:

• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 2
• 10 Reasons to Upgrade to GP 2010 – Part 1
• Healthcare and ERP: Making it Work for Your Health Organization
• Don’t Get Caught Out With The Hidden Costs Of ERP

As we had expected, a number of our recommended solutions partners made the annual ranking of Top Accounting Resellers, including:

• BroadPoint Technologies
• ePartners
• RSM Mcladrey
• MIBAR
• OTT, Inc.
• Socius

To rank in the Top 100 Accounting and ERP resellers translates to consistent customer satisfaction, successful project deliveries/implementations and world-class consultants.  Don’t take our word for it…contact one of our recommended solution providers today!

Image Source: © Accounting Today (www.accountingtoday.com)

Related Posts:

• How to Choose an Accounting Partner
• 10 Questions to Ask Your Solution Provider
• Best Practices for Inventory Management Systems
• Bob Scott’s Top VAR 100 for 2011

Because the individuals involved in so many healthcare administration processes are dispersed, the business information and critical data becomes dispersed as well into various systems and data silos that require complex integrations and time-taxing workarounds to access.

Enter Healthcare Accounting Software

However, by simplifying your healthcare accounting software strategy, you can better manage these people and processes, keeping your critical business data available yet secure. An effective accounting or enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution can streamline and automate your business processes so that your people can be more effective in their individual roles.

The right solution can provide your organization with:

• The ability to share patient information in real-time across the organization.
• Automation of routine processes, even across departments and entities, that result in fewer errors and less time spent on repeated manual data entry.
• Tools for enhanced communication internally and within your community.
• Enhanced reporting and real-time business insights to assist in decision making.
• Lower systems maintenance costs than you may currently have with outdated legacy software.
• Accurate budgeting capabilities that span multiple business units.
• Efficient and secure means of complying with industry and government regulations.

You can further remove the barriers between departments and data by integrating your accounting or ERP solution with a customer relationship management (CRM) solution that can help you manage patient and vendor interactions to improve your responsiveness and their satisfaction.

Smooth Systems = Satisfied Patients

While the healthcare management field is not getting any simpler, the right accounting or business management software can help simplify your processes and communications to keep your operations running smoothly and your patients satisfied.

Related Posts:

• Healthcare and ERP: Making it Work for Your Health Organization
• Get a Clear View of Your Shop Floor
• Boost Medical Lab Vitality with Better Control of Your InventoryBoost Medical Lab Vitality with Better Control of Your InventoryBoost Medical Lab Vitality with Better Control of Your Inventory
• How a Bunch of Italian Merchants Led the Way to ERP

We have found that this selection process can be simplified by focusing on a few key areas:

• Understanding your critical requirements.
• Creating a targeted list of solutions.
• Evaluating pros and cons for products AND partners.
• Collaborating when determining the right solution.
• Negotiating your contract prudently and thoughtfully.

Here are some comments that elaborate on the areas above:

1. Critical Requirements Must Come First – Don’t get fascinated by at all the bells and whistles of a product. Understand what functionality is critical from day one of your implementation and put your focus there. Communicate often with your vendors so they understand why you need this functionality and how your organization’s processes impact the need for the solution. This will help serve as a crucial evaluation tool to see how well each vendor understands your needs and speaks to your requirements with regards to their offering.
2. A Different Way to Check References – Go the extra mile when checking references provided by a vendor. Speak with the reference and ask if they know of other clients for that vendor, and have a conversation with them. The more clients you speak to, the better picture you will get of not only the vendor’s products but also their level of customer service for all their clients, not just their best clients.
3. Don’t Overthink It – Since software selection is such an important process, the tendency is to overanalyze the products and the process. But this can cause delays in product selection and deployment, which in turns could cause your evaluation to become outdated. Create a realistic project timeline so you maintain momentum and make your selection in a timely manner.
4. Pick Your Evaluation Team Carefully – Choosing a new ERP system should be viewed as a business decision, not an IT decision. IT should certainly have input from an architecture and technology perspective but that is only part of the evaluation. The evaluation team must make certain that the product fulfills the critical business elements that are needed for the organization’s success. In addition, a team leader should be chosen to bring all the key departments together and define roles for each member of the team.
5. Negotiating the Right Way – Once you have found the solution for your organization, you should outline what your goals are for the negotiation. Rather than trying to save a few dollars and risk hard feelings, look at the vendor as a partner in your success. Tell them you are looking for them to be your trusted advisor for many years to come. The negotiations are the first step in your relationship with the vendor, so make it a great experience for both organizations.

Investing Time & Money Pays Off

Selecting business software is a challenging, time-consuming process. But it is also one of the most critical decisions your organization will make. Take the time to get organized, perform your due diligence, collaborate often with your project team and develop a strong working relationship with your vendor. If you do these things, your investment in time and money will be very worthwhile and you will avoid many of the pitfalls that other organizations have run into.

Related Posts:

• Secrets from an ERP Salesperson: “Listen to What the Sales Guy Says”
• Top 3 Reasons Business Owners Make Bad IT Decisions
• How to Successfully Select a New ERP System
• Top 10 Qualities to Look for in an ERP System

Drawing Out Details to Find the Best ERP Solution

Sometimes, but on the contrary, many salespeople are skilled in asking you questions that can help draw out important information. Your current pains with the existing system – as well as your vision for your organization – are important to know in order to determine the tools you will need to accomplish your goals.

In addition to knowing your goals, we also need to know your budget for a solution. A typical sticking point with prospects is not disclosing the budget or saying that they don’t have a budget. Prospects may feel the salesperson will take advantage of this information and estimate on the high end in the proposal.

Our proposed solution is based on the information uncovered in the initial discovery meeting. Knowing your budget is really about making sure that this solution, no matter how dead-on, is financially reasonable. We know you are busy and we don’t want to waste your time with an unrealistic proposal. If the solution is way outside of your budget, you will find that most salespeople will give you advice on competing products to look at that are within your budget.

How to Prepare for That First Call

So what should you do before you make that first call to the salesperson? Some of the things I suggest are fairly obvious and some are not.

1. Do Your Research. Do an internet search for reviews on the software you are considering. I’m sure you already do that for those flat screen TVs, laptops, cars, etc. There is a tremendous amount of information out there on the products available to businesses. It is a disservice to you to not take advantage of it.
2. Visit the Company’s Website. Read the white papers and visit the links on the site. If an organization is noted in a white paper or if the company lists their clients on their website, make a call. I can’t guarantee the clients will be receptive to talk to you about the company, but it’s worth a shot. Of course, always be respectful of people’s time.
3. Ask Your Suppliers What Software Applications They Use That type of feedback is invaluable. You already have a relationship with them – ask what system they use for financials, distribution, etc.
4. Limit the Number of ERP Systems Considered. I’ve run into organizations that will evaluate up to 10 different packages! That’s a hard process to manage and to keep track of the nuanced differences between each one. I recommend you limit your search to no more than 4.
5. Don’t Just Focus On Features and Functionality. Let’s face it; if you are looking for an ERP package all of the competing products handle GL, receivables and payables in an efficient manner. The same can be said for order processing and other customer-related activities. I’m not suggesting that you ignore functionality, but also focus on the software company. How stable are they? Will they be around for the long term? How much do they invest in R&D? How often are there new releases?
6. Create a Needs Document. I find that a number of organizations either do not have a written document of requirements or it was slapped together without any input from key people. I’m not saying that you should create a formal RFP, but having a requirements check list will help you keep on track with your discussions with the salesperson. Sharing that document with the salesperson is also very valuable since it helps with understanding your needs and opens the door to greater discovery.

Make Your Goals Crystal Clear

The vendor understands that selecting a new software package is a bet-your-business decision. The vendor’s goal is to implement a system that exceeds your requirements and expected business outcomes. Therefore, these goals must be crystal clear in the minds of both the customer and the vendor.

Getting there requires an open dialogue. If the job is done correctly, go-live day becomes a non-event and you will begin to reap the rewards of a system that addresses your specific business requirements immediately.

Related Posts:

• 5 Tips for Evaluating & Choosing the Best Software for your Business
• How to Successfully Select a New ERP System
• Top 10 Qualities to Look for in an ERP System
• Hiring Third-Party Consultants-A Fatally-Flawed Approach

Like in seventh grade when someone mistook a painting done by a kindergarten girl for mine. (I was an admittedly poor artist.)

But then there was the time when my paycheck got mixed up with someone else’s. I laughed, until I realized I was facing a nightmare. Blissfully unaware of this windfall, I had inadvertently spent it. Now I was scrambling, trying to make up the loss.

The VON Payroll System Gong Show

In this day and age, there’s a lot of assuming that takes place – a primary one is that our employer delivers the right amount of money to the right person at the right time. When that doesn’t happen, well, all hell breaks loose.

So you can imagine the gong show that has been playing out in Halifax with news that a new ERP payroll system installed for the Victorian Order of Nurses has resulted in multiple headaches fit for a system-wide brain scan.

Six months of overpayments and underpayments has now led the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union to file a policy grievance forcing the VON to fix things up. The union has even gone so far as to lump in compensation for the financial hardship on behalf of its members.

Meanwhile, the VON is doing what nurses do best – trying to smooth furrowed brows. But in this case, they’re doing it by blaming the implementer – in this case junior third-party consultants, according to an IDG News Service article. The result is VON is now embedded in the growing list of ERP implementation disasters.

When ERP Goes Wrong, People Take the Brunt of It

The fact that this case involves a caring non-profit, only garners more headlines and adds pathos to the situation, much the same as the case Software ThinkTank uncovered earlier this year.

But what it really brings to light is that no matter how much we want computers to resolve the tedious and repetitive nature of today’s business world, at the end of the day every system is created to pave a smoother path for people. What that means if things go wrong – it’s people that are hurt, not systems. And when that happens, expect the knives to come out looking for a scapegoat.

There were likely thousands of hours of conversations that went into this project, and it may be impossible to know where and when things went sideways.

Holistic Approach Needed to Avoid Future Failures

But what I do know is that the VON story is truly not so much about the technological failings, but the human failings we so often bring to the table. In our collective effort to cut costs – whether by hiring less-qualified staff or pulling back on resources devoted to the project – we fail to communicate our desires, our expectations, and our ability to deliver in the rush to get things done.

Companies can no longer afford to be cavalier. The costs – from business, to reputation, to human relations – are far too high. Just look at HP’s experience that resulted in $160-million in order backlogs and lost revenue – five times the project’s estimated cost.

In this case, it would be a step forward if The Victorian Order of Nurses were not only to dispense medicine, but take a holistic approach to healing their own wounds in order get to the root of why their systems failed, rather than simply apply a bandage.

*Image ©zeathiel http://www.sxc.hu/profile/zeathiel

Related Posts:

• How to Plan & Execute your Dynamics GP Implementation
• Tired of Payroll Confusion?
• Business Impact Assessment
• Suitemates – The Reality BIG ERP Doesn’t Want You To See