Why Googling Yourself Is Not Just for Fun Anymore

Why Googling Yourself Is Not Just for Fun Anymore Yoav Vilner, Entrepreneur Google searching our own names isn’t just a game anymore.  This is a common practice for millions of individuals, but there are higher stakes involved now.  20% of people find outdated info about themselves and 12% are unpleasantly surprised about what they find when they do a simple Google search.  This inaccurate or embarrassing information can hinder a job application or your business from growing.  Removing personal content from Google searches can be a complicated process; nevertheless, it is vital to protect ourselves from cyber criminals who can finely tune a personalized scam. read more

Will Analytics help Forecasting?

One definition of Analytics is “Information resulting from the systematic analysis of data or statistics”.

   

In a recent conversation I had with a contact he said his inventory was 99.8% accurate and that his firm used cycle counting to ensure accuracy.  He shared information with me about the business he obviously cares very much about and has invested a good portion of his life to as we talked about his operations, inventory and growth projections.

We discussed his Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and he is satisfied with it, in fact his company is planning on an upgrade.  I mentioned that I worked with another company and they asked if bin locations worked.  And I said, yes, if you let the system do what it is designed to do. He agreed that ERP systems can be rigid, but they do work if you let them do what they are designed to do.

I then asked him based on what he shared where his bottleneck was.  Every business has a bottleneck.  They occur at different points at different times.  If a company is growing, then bottlenecks are enviable.  What works at one level of business often does not at a higher level.

He said Forecasting was his biggest challenge at this point in time.  I asked if he meant receiving forecasts from his suppliers.  He said, no, it was sales forecasting.  This company has been growing steadily for some time and one of their product lines is really moving. 

Inventory is key and managing it is much like a dominos effect and is why companies invest in ERP solutions. 

How much raw inventory and finished goods you keep on hand is dependent on your sales projections.  Too little and you may become late, too much and you end up wasting space and paying taxes on what is left hanging around.  You need to fulfill customer orders in a timely manner and you also need to plan. 

In addition to the accuracy level, an indicator many firms use to judge their inventory level is called Inventory Turns or Turnover.  It is a measure of number of times inventory is sold or used in a given time period.  It is usually calculated as a ratio of the cost of goods sold divided by the average inventory.

Back to point.  Would a robust analytics solution that was used to analyze past and current sales to identify trends, be helpful in forecasting future sales and thus predict better inventory levels?

At its core Analytics is used to provide insight into customers and products.

Speed and efficiency are critical in businesses that operate at high volume.  These businesses have a need for real-time visibility into sales and inventories.  Their management has needs for ad-hoc as well as standardized reporting and analytics helps fill that need.

The key to Analytics and ERP in general is data integrity.  The old saying in computer technology is “Garbage In, Garbage Out”.  It means that the value of the information the system generates is only as good as the quality of the information taken in.  One of the goals of implementing these types of solutions is for people to concentrate on the results of the information analyzed and not worry about how they were achieved.

New data engines and tools speed up reporting that once took hours to produce and distribute to just minutes.  Dashboards, once built, provide management with top level overview and drill-down capability that business need to make better decisions more quickly.

Management can determine when they see customer sales dropping off if the problem is related to inventory, usage or a period of inactivity.  Increased awareness allows insight into greater margin awareness.

Greater awareness allows for more accurate forecasting and the ability to identify variances and make adjustments as demands change.  Reacting quickly to issues can make the difference in customer retention.  Knowing why a customer is purchasing less is important so that corrective action can be taken.

Forecasting not only allows users to spot global trends, but also identify specific issues that might otherwise have been missed.  Today’s systems generate and collect a large amount of information.  Tools like Analytics applications give insight.

What are your systems designed to do?  Do you use Analytics to forecast sales and inventory levels?  What successes and pitfalls have you encountered implementing your systems?  How long did it take?  How much did you budget?  Was the Analytics solution part of your ERP solution or was it a third party solution?

Dolvin Consulting works with industry experts to help your organization identify bottlenecks and streamline operations.  Contact us to learn how we can help your business.

Customer Service Matters

Through hardware, software and service offerings, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can provide a portfolio of solutions to help manufacturers and distributors streamline production, operate more efficiently, improve planning and scheduling and implement more fine-grained and flexible decision-making processes.  Solution providers are helping businesses optimize their technology and make the most of their ERP and supply chain applications by extending analytic capabilities, making better decisions, improving order management and purchasing, plus many other capabilities.

 

The driving factor for many organizations often starts with “there ought to be a better way”, “our overhead is too high”, “we have too many errors”, “there is no observability”, “it takes too long” to name but a few.  There are also some that rationalize not addressing the issues by saying “that’s the way we have always done ‘it’”.  Find any challenge and add “too much” or “too little” to it and it will become the seed to change when someone tacks a price tag on it.

 

What type of benefits should a solution have?

 

Ultimately manufacturers, distributors, retailers and others need to make better, quicker decisions and act faster in complex markets. They need solutions that deliver powerful advantages which includes the ability to find the right information, from the right place, at the right time.  This includes workflow tools and notifications. 

 

Higher productivity. 

 

When you can help your employees avoid the clutter and overload of increasingly complex solutions to be able to focus on the information they need to make decisions and move their workload forward.  You empower your employees to attend to more important tasks first.

 

Easy Access to systems.

 

The definition of mobility has evolved in recent years to mean any device, any time, any where.  While this is the evolving definition for the mobile sales force, many companies are single location based and their devices are desktop computers.  What they find with newer solutions is that they can take advantage of mobile solutions at client meetings or when they count, receive, or pick-pack-ship inventory.  The theme of the ivory tower and dished-out information no longer works in competitive industries.  Businesses must improve the efficiency of the way they collect and deliver information to their employees, suppliers and customers.

 

Collaboration.
 

Newer solutions must increasingly bridge the gap between the traditional ERP solution and other web based solutions such as social media.  This integration creates new opportunities for employees to collaborate in real time with colleagues, suppliers, and most importantly customers.  Empowering employees to answer questions more quickly is a key component in customer service.  Meetings can be planned and coordinated more quickly.  Complex tasks can be divided and delegated with greater efficiency.

 

Customer Service.

 

Overall we should be investing a lot more time and energy in solutions that drive customer service.  Whether that is an updated ERP solution, integration with social media, contact management, or other solution.   It does not matter if the solutions are on premise or hosted in the cloud as long as the integration is tight and does not increase errors.  ERP Vendor integrated solutions potentially have the greatest Return on Investment (ROI).  Sometimes the upfront costs seem higher, but when you look at the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) fully integrated solutions, that you did not have to integrate, are the best buy.

 

Your organization needs the tools and applications that empower them.  Solutions that give them access to the information that your customers need, like how long until I receive my order, or being confident when you tell them what they want is in stock and doubly sure they will actually receive what they ordered.

 

Your customers have questions.  They want to know you care. 

Your suppliers need information.  They want to serve you better.

Your employees need to bridge the gap between the internal and external worlds.

 

What is your organization doing to empower your employees?  Our readers would like to know.  Please share your ideas and what changes you have or are in the process of implementing.  Are you considering a new or upgrade to your ERP solution?  What new modules are you considering?  What third party solutions would you like to integrate and why?  Are you planning on small incremental steps or a major overhaul?

 

At Dolvin Consulting we work with industry experts to find the right solutions that will fulfill your goals to drive your efficiency in your operations.  Share your ideas here with our readers and then contact us to see how we can help you serve your customers better.

 

Pace yourself with ERP selection and implementation

Most of us know the story of the hare and tortoise.  The story concerns a Hare who ridicules a slow-moving Tortoise and challenges the tortoise to a race.  The hare soon leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, takes a nap midway through the course.  When the Hare awakes however, he finds that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, has arrived before him. 

 

The account of a race between unequal partners in which ingenuity and trickery are employed to overcome a stronger opponent.  The over ambitious and overconfident, start and stop versus the steady consistent and persistent effort.  Haste makes waste and the race is not to the swift.  There are a number of lessons in this story which apply to life in general as well as selecting and implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

 

Thousands of businesses arrive at a similar crossroads every year.  As it turns out timing really does play an important role.  If you replace your existing solution too early, you may end up with more software than you need.  If you wait too long, you could end up struggling with inefficient business processes that damage your business performance and prospects for future profitability and growth.

 

At what point do the costs of maintaining your existing system outweigh the benefits of keeping it in place?  When is the right time to make the move?  All businesses at one point or another will struggle with the same issues.  The impact varies, but the challenges are similar.

Has your workforce growth outpaced your infrastructure?  Have you added locations and mobile workers?  Is your information contained in multiple systems?  Do you have separate customer relationship management (CRM) system, customer service processing, inventory control, warehouse management (WMS)?  Are you overburdened by spreadsheet sprawl? 

 

 

Is there a single dashboard where all information is summarized with drill-down to the details?  How long does it take to get consolidated financial information?

 

What is the cost of inefficiency to your organization?

 

How well are your customers served?  Do they get different information from different sources?  Are your deliveries accurate?  How much better does your competition reach their customers (or your customers)?  How much guess work goes into forecasting?  Customers expect you to have stock levels, order status and delivery tracking at any time they contact you and they expect it to be accurate.  Sales people need to have all the latest information on hand even when they’re out on the road when they are in front of customers and prospects.

 

Does it take too long, how long does it take, to share information and is it correct?

 

Where actually is that inventory?  Did you reorder what you already have, because you could not find it?  Can your customers self serve their information needs?  How much work goes into filtering and analyzing your information into meaningful sales campaigns?

 

How many systems are you using to deliver information?

 

Have you reached the limits of your existing solution(s)?  Have those limits limited your ability to serve your customers and grow?  Are you adding more people to your workforce and still are not producing more?  Do your struggles drive the need to add more and more disconnected systems?  Are your people resourceful and just want to get their jobs done individually instead of raising the productivity of your entire organization?

 

Do you dream of adding more products or services, but dread the overhead of implementation in your current solution?  Not if, but how big are the challenges to adapting to new business trends?  How much time and energy go into the technology of your business versus working on your business?  Do you have budget for technology or are you fixing and patching? 

 

What Return on Investment (ROI) can you expect and how long will it take to get there, if you do invest in a new solution?  How will you bridge the gap from where you are now and your vision of the future?

 

Well defined goals and a trusted advisor can help to pave the way.  Where do you want to be in the future and when?  With an advisor you can document and map processes and match them to the right ERP solution.  While there may not be an exact match, a good fit between challenge and resource will help to define your processes and roadmap to solution implementation. 

 

Compare the starting and stopping, heading in wrong directions, not getting key functions working in a timely manner causing cost overruns and failed implementations with what a strong and steady tortoise-like approach can bring. 

 

Are you a rabbit or tortoise? 

 

Which yields better results? 

 

What happens if you do nothing?

 

Dolvin Consulting works with your team to define a roadmap and develop a clearly defined project plan for the future.  We work with industry experts to match challenge with solution.  We cannot guarantee you will fix all of your problems, but we do know that an organization that selects a solution that integrates the entire business process tends to yield great returns.  Why not contact us today to see how we can help. 

 

ERP Help for Customer Service

Sales Force automation provides an Enterprise wide information solution that connects and integrates sales process with other business operations.

 

 Ideal for organizations that have questions or concerns with:

·         Their level of confidence on lead follow up?

·         Happy with their level of customer support?

·         Having the right information to sell your products?

 

Typical and necessary components of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system include the ability for sales reps and management to track and record all customer transactions from start to finish and then follow through on them.  Periodic review of current leads, conversion of leads to prospects, and then prospects to customers.  Management of contacts and account opportunities by tracking every interaction with all accounts, logging calls, creating to-dos, follow-ups, and adding status notes.

 

Sales Force automation software helps to drives new business by helping your sales team make the most of their sales calls.  A solution that provides real-time access to customer, prospect, and inventory information to streamline the sales process, help you increase sales, and build stronger, long-lasting relationships.

 

Real time access to customer and product information anytime, anywhere.  Search products, check availability and pricing, related products and current promotions.  Enter quotes and orders, provide valuable customer feedback. 

 

Including an Analytics solution increases awareness of customer trends and needs which allows faster response to customer issues and opportunities.

 

It is all about your relationships and having a CRM and Analytics solution fully integrated with your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is the next generation solution and often missed component in delivering great customer service. 

 

There are many stand alone solutions and sometimes they make sense, but too often the cost of integration and missing links have untold inefficiencies that bog down operational efficiency.  Separate systems do not always have the ability to integrate product inquiries and order entry.  Separate systems often stop after the prospect becomes a customer.  What happens after the first sale?  Who or how takes over from that point?  Who manages the relationship then?

 

Empower your sales team with the tools they need to drive more business and make your customers happier.  Contact Dolvin Consulting today to see how integration of your operations will save you time and money.

Trends in Distribution Management

An overview interview of distribution management software trends in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.  Five key areas that are a driving concern of any wholesale distributor, distributor or manufacturer are highlighted in this five minute video.

 

SupplyChainBrain Interview with Joe Scioscia

 

Interview highlights:

1.       Utilization of Sales Force Tools

o   More information is needed besides just contact management to maximize every sale at the point of customer contact.

o   Product information at the point of contact

o   Order status to provide customer feedback.

o   Customer account information readily available.

 

2.       Analytics

o   Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can generate massive amounts of data. 

o   It can be a challenge to spot trends, anomalies or business issues within that data.

o   Present data in a more easily digestible format with charts, graphs and flagging data.

o   Creation of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to make better and faster business decisions.

 

3.       Cloud Computing

o   Established already in some industries like payroll and Contact Relationship Management (CRM) and gaining traction in core distribution solutions.

o   Generally a better fit for companies with diverse locations without a need for a heavy Information Technology (IT) infrastructure.

o   Reduced IT management infrastructure.

 

4.       Warehouse Management Solutions (WMS)

o   Managing their biggest asset, Inventory.

o   Receiving, picking, shipping, and physical inventory benefits.

o   Cut costs, increase productivity and improve customer satisfaction.

o   Locate products more effectively, pick and ship items more rapidly, reduce errors, improve accuracy.

o   Benefits of automation.

 

5.       Top business requirements

o   Grow business.

o   Increase sales.

o   Reduce costs.

o   Sales force automation to increase effectiveness and maximize sales.

o   Warehouse management to reduce costs and increase accuracy and productivity.

o   Forecasting and purchasing applications to manage inventory levels to have the right products at the right time to satisfy their customers.

The consensus in the interview is not news for those involved in the distribution and supply chain.  How can these organizations optimize their inventory levels in order to provide great customer service and fulfill customer demand in a timely and responsive manner?

 

These challenges have not changed over time.  What has changed is the way processes can be automated to increase productivity and reduce costs.  New tools provide opportunities if implemented correctly with an ERP solution to fully integrate the organization. 

 

Whether the tools are in the cloud or on premise, what matters is having a system that fits the culture of the business and is actually utilized.  Typically a few modules at first and then more and more are implemented. 

 

The goal should be customer fulfillment and satisfaction. 

 

You get there by utilizing the resources available in the solution you have or are implementing.   That might include analytics or warehouse management and include automation tools like bar coding and scanning, count back inventory picking, shipment verification or physical changes like conveyors and robotics. 

 

Each organization has its needs and budget to address those needs.  What any building needs is a strong foundation that can support the future needs and growth of an organization. 

 

How is your organization utilizing its ERP solution to drive efficiency?  We would like to know.  Please share your thoughts here.

 

Dolvin Consulting works with manufacturers, distributors and specialty retailers to help them streamline their operations, reduce costs and increase operational efficiencies.  Contact us today to see how we can help you look at your organization with a fresh set of eyes.  Many opportunities for improvement are right in front of you and collectively they can be combined to achieve big savings.