BAASS Insights Technology Blog

As a follow up to one of our latest blogs, The 5 Sins of Inefficiency, we wanted to touch on another form of automation in the work environment to help increase efficiency.

Today companies can bring automation to bear on a wide range of sourcing and procurement tasks. Virtually every dollar a company spends, in fact, can be spent more wisely if the right systems are put in place. Sage Purchasing Solutions can help give you the insight you need to get better pricing from your suppliers. Designed to work seamlessly with your existing Sage ERP 300 (formerly Accpac) system, Sage Purchasing Solutions gives you purchasing power by combining orders and simplifying your purchasing procedures.

These questions can help you determine if you need automated purchasing software to reduce costs and improve efficiency:

1. Do different departments make small orders of the same types of items (for example office supplies and other MRO goods) with different vendors?
2. Do you use paper forms to request purchases and gather approvals? How much time is lost as these forms sit on desks? How often do they get list in the process?
3. If you use paper, spreadsheets, or an application that does not integrate with your General Ledger and Accounts Payable system, how much time do your employees spend replicating the same data?
4. Do you require the purchasing procedure to be used on all purchases, or only orders about a certain dollar amount? What percentage of your total spend is actually under the control of your purchasing professionals?
5. Are your employees irritated by the process of making a purchase? Do they attempt to circumnavigate your policies and procedures because they are too time-intensive?
6. What is your average cycle time from requisition to receipt?
7. If you add the labour costs of all of the time used by all of the people involved in your purchasing process, what would it add to the cost of each purchase?

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This is an article I read from http://whatiserp.net/ and it is quite true that ERP implementation ultimately should show better financial results.

Organizations can invest in continuous learning and implementation of best technologies but at the end of the day that investment should bring financial return.

As quoted by one of the Dragons Kevin O’Leary, “We are here to make money and I happen to run a hedge fund company”. So every business out there wanted to create wealth.

The following article explains how an ERP implementation should be done to assist organizations to create profits through a successful ERP Implementation.

Organizations make a decision to purchase an ERP solution for a number of reasons; however it all boils down to one key advantage: profits. ERP solutions enable us to improve data processes and wipe out waste to build the most efficient organization possible, giving extra space to get things accomplished along with turning a healthy gain. There is no embarrassment in acknowledging that a business is revenue-driven and that ERP is developed to raise profits even greater than many businesses thought possible. By using an appropriate ERP solution, a good business can turn into a great business.

Even so, it’s no secret anymore that deciding to invest in an ERP system carries many risks. Investing in ERP requires a significant upfront expenditure both in money and time, therefore mishandling the process of ERP implementation will have negative impacts for a business that failed to plan well for the changes that ERP can bring.

Thankfully, it is not complicated for a company owner to take some little steps that can help ensure their company ends up reaping all the advantages ERP has to offer. Paying attention to detail, preparing in front along with fighting off the temptation to cut corners will help management make their ERP investments worthwhile.

1. Understand. Prior to investing in ERP, it’s necessary that business owners know all the ins and outs of their organization process. Understanding the way the enterprise works will surely help an executive see where ERP can remove redundant data entry, streamline processes, also work to make the company more efficient. Knowing the business characteristics is fundamental for selecting the right ERP system then applying that system in the most appropriate method.

2. Plan. Perhaps it sounds simple, yet lots of business owners think that they will just “wing it” when it comes to ERP systems. The truth is that choosing to only take on problems as they come up is actually much less effective when compared with planning for potential problems and also handling stressful situations long before they erupt into big ERP mishaps.

Planning indicates making — and sticking to — schedules. When business owners want their ERP implementation projects to execute well, they need to set deadlines for every step of the implementation process, schedule days for training, and have a backup plan in case the implementation process takes longer or costs more than predicted. Having these kinks worked out prior to embarking on the process of ERP implementation is obviously a good strategy to stay on track for ERP success.

3. Budget. As the investor rule of thumb, high risks signal huge possibilities to get rewards. ERP can be a big financial risk, but it can offer good financial rewards when successful. That is why the most significant step for becoming an ERP success story is setting up budget properly.

There is no secret that many ERP projects go way over their budgets, some time thousands greater than estimated, and then end up falling along the wayside, uncompleted and idle, reaping no benefits. In order to avoid that occurrence, business owners keen on ERP should be very careful to calculate all the expenditures, hidden and obvious, of ERP investment — covering not just the initial software costs but also the maintenance, training and upgrade fees, that can add up. BAASS Business Solutions is one of the only value-added resellers of Sage Software to offer a fixed-fee on ERP Implementation. We guarantee that you will know the exact cost of the entire process BEFORE we even begin.

4. Train. Another main reason for ERP failure is that employees who either don’t know or don’t care how the new system works. It’s common for staff members to feel some resistance to change, and also management should even expect it. That’s why it’s so critical to ensure employees are appropriately prepared in handling the new system. Employees who think they are ready to deal with ERP are less likely to report being unhappy using the new system.

Moreover, well-trained employees are prepared to use ERP, thereby eliminating a few of the issues that may occur when adjusting to the different system.

You would not let somebody run a vehicle without sending them to driver’s ed. Likewise; you should not permit your personnel to use ERP until they have been adequately educated to do so.

5. Commit. Decision makers who are not fully committed to their ERP projects are lining themselves up for failure. ERP requires a good deal of investment — both fiscal and emotional. Your ERP will need to become a major priority in the company for the ERP system to pay off.

6. Follow through. Dealing with ERP does not end once the process of implementation has ended. Like some other software, ERP is usually changing at a rapid pace and also requires regular upgrade and maintenance to perform at its best. Keeping track of enhancements and installing them quickly, along with following through using all planned maintenance, will have you enjoying the benefits of ERP achievement for a long time.

It is my least favorite time of year. That time when we all get to figure out exactly how much of our hard earned money we bequeathed unto our beloved government during the previous year. 

When I do my taxes I don’t think about how great that road is that I drove on to get from my home to my work. I think about how annoyed I am that on top of the taxes our Company paid and I personally paid, I still owe! It irks me to write that cheque, so this year I started to think how can we all pay less taxes? Yes, I know, we need to pay tax to have roads and health care and on and on, however, if we can minimize the taxes we pay, especially when unnecessarily, then we should!

I often wonder how well-known is the fact that the Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)-based Sage Group, Plc (LSE: SGE) is a leading global provider of business management software and services to over 6.3 million small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) worldwide. 

After over 25 years in existence and with 13,400 employees worldwide, Sage reported US$2.24 billion in revenue in 2010, and the vendor touts its 28,000 business partners and 40,000 accountants’ club members.

For its part, the Sage North America subsidiary (formerly also known as Best Software in the early 2000s) has 4,000 employees and supports more than 3.2 million customers in the United States (US) and Canada (with customers in every state and province) with enterprise applications and services that cover accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), payment processing, human resources (HR) and payroll.

In addition to providing horizontal products, Sage North America caters to the specialized needs of the healthcare, nonprofit, manufacturing, and construction & real estate industries.

The North American subsidiary had US$850 million in revenues in 2010, and has 5,000 business partners and 20,000 accountants in its network. Other Sage units are Sage North Europe, Sage South Europe, and Sage AAMEA (serving Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa).