Retail Software – Achieving Effective Integration

New technology available today allows Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) solution providers to more economically provide integrated solutions that actually drive efficiency.  There is only so much overhead costs that can be cut.  Product, personnel and overhead cost inevitably increase over time.  Add business growth to the overhead increase and you end up needing a solution that can grow with your needs.

Companies are typically growing or shrinking and those cycles alternate.  Long term we hope the trend is upward.  If so, then that company will need a solution that meets their current demand and will provide the tools and resources to match and facilitate growth.

Some key features of a capable solution would (should) include:

• Automatically calculate restocking orders.  Regardless of how your products are ordered, you solution needs to track inventory movement and balance reorder availability and timelines to ensure you have enough stock to meet future demands and not too much that your overhead and handling costs increase.
• Timely reporting on sales.  Up to the minute, real-time reporting is a necessity for management to make informed decisions.
• Speed up customer check-out.  No one likes waiting in lines and they expect the prices to ring correctly.
• Integrated credit card processing.  Not only do retailers need to process credit cards, but they need to do so quickly, accurately, and safely.  Key benefits are when the credit card processing is fully integrated with the order fulfillment system. 
• Reward your customers.  Loyalty tracking allows you to recognize and cater to the needs of your customers as well as attract new customers that have similar needs.
• A single solution.  A single integrated solution that links retail stores, Ecommerce, inventory and warehousing will inevitably drive efficiency and fulfill the other objectives listed hear.
• Timely reporting.  Management needs access to real-time information, but also sales history from all sources and inventory movement for better planning.
• Procurement tools.  Purchasing needs access to all sales information to gauge trends on ordering and resupply decisions.
• Easy customer enrollment.  Online solutions need to be customer friendly.  If you make it easy for your customers to business with you, they are likely to return and do more business with you.
• Integrated marketing tools.  Your business needs integrated and easy to use tools to stay in touch with your customers.  Customer relationships need constant nurturing.
• Provide tools for your customers.  Customers need access to their information as well including sales history regardless of their point of purchase.  This helps with common questions and reordering. 
• On account customer service.  Your account customer need the same tools as retail customers.  They also need to review their credit line, reprint invoices and check order status.

Final thoughts:

Customer service is important.  Serve your customers well and they will return.  Remember if you do not service them, someone else will.  A key sign your customer value your relationship is when they refer others to do business with you.

Integration is key.  Every time people have to touch information and manual processing, you are increasing the likelihood of errors and inefficiency.

Information is key.  Real-time and accurate information is critically important to manage and run your operations.

Information and integration help to drive efficiency in your operations, reduce costs and deliver great customer service.  This cycle will repeat itself if you are using the right ERP solution. 

Performance and up-time are critical in Retail operations.  Make sure your solution runs on systems that can ensure you meet your customer’s needs first and foremost.  Kiosks are another customer service tool that generates repeat business.

Whether you have a single location with many terminals or many locations, a few part numbers or many SKU’s, the right solution should be helpful in managing operations.  Faster replenishment and minimized outages that result from new solutions help move you towards a Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory management solution.

Contact Dolvin Consulting to find out how our industry expertise and relationships can help your organization improve the way you deliver to your customers.  We are here to help.

Please share your thoughts and experiences with our readers.  What applications and tools have you implemented that have helped?  What are you looking for in a future update or system?

Customer Self Service Matters

Most organizations understand that if you treat your customers fairly, they will return.  If you treat them really well they will refer others to your business.  What is equally true is if you treat your customers poorly, they will tell everyone they know whenever they can.

A positive customer experience should be at the heart of any system improvement, upgrade, or replacement.  Efficiency matters when it ultimately drives customer needs.  Automation matters when it means products are ordered, stocked, picked and delivered to meet your customer’s needs.

In what way can you serve your customer’s needs without significantly increasing your overhead?  What is your competition doing to serve their customers and attract your customers away?

Many Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions have an integrated web or Ecommerce module.  Fully integrated is preferable, because of the efficiency, reduced errors and time delays in processing and updating. 

Less overhead is a good thing.

But what about the thought that your products do not fit the standard perception of what people purchase online?

As it turns out when you provide your customers and users with self-serve capabilities they feel empowered.  They feel like you trust them. They feel like you value them.

Adding this capability may not be where you would think you can increase productivity, especially when you look at the upfront costs.  However, by adding or upgrading Ecommerce, Sales force automation, and Contact Relationship Management (CRM) solutions to your system, you are removing roadblocks to growth. 

Customers know when you value them and are providing them tools to access what they need when they need it at a time when it is convenient to them.  Employees know when you are trying to help them do their job better by providing better access.  Management knows the satisfaction of being able to get the information they need when they need it.

Real-time access to information is the heart of your ERP system.

Increased sales as a result of these improvements is a natural result.  Increase customer satisfaction is priceless.  Customers like the ability to research products, view transaction history, place orders, get hard copies of invoices, check balances and yes of course pay balances online.  Customer self-service reduces employee resources needed to service the inquiries.

Automation allows a business to use their people where they can do the most good.  Sales force personnel need quick access to stock and balance information for their customer service needs.

Serve your customers and grow your business.

Providing web services will improve customer retention and capture business that might go to your competitors.  Even if your products are not something that ships easily or at all, providing the capability for your customers to browse, research and collect information will benefit your business. 

Take a look at how and where you do business.  Don’t you think your customers want the same thing? 

Not all solutions are created equal.  Integration with your ERP solution is key.  Some businesses build interfaces to integrate separate systems that have the functionality their customers need.  Keep in mind that the more pieces the greater the chance of a break down. 

Regardless of how your solution is built, the solution must address your customer’s needs and not yours.

With the potential return on investment (ROI) and the general movement towards a connected world, Ecommerce, Sales Force, and CRM solutions are prime areas for update, upgrade or replacement.

In what ways are you serving your customers?  What solutions are you considering or have implemented?  What returns are you expecting or received? 

Please share your thoughts with our readers.

At Dolvin Consulting we work with your team to find solutions that drive efficiency and automation in your operations.  Working solutions that are just-right for you, your business and your customers.  Contact us today to see how we can help.

Distribution Success Essentials

Manufacturers and Distributors need to embrace, implement and utilize Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions in order to grow and thrive.   ERP solutions earn their place by primarily streamlining inventory and warehouse management operations.  ERP also incorporates customer service, procurement, sales analytics and forecasting for and from all of the users in an organization.

 

Yes, these concepts apply to manufacturing too.  Manufacturers have challenges in their manufacturing processing which ERP solutions can help to manage, but they must also distribute their products, they have customers and the same challenges as Distributors.

 

Inventory handling has to be streamlined. 

 

Inventory is the core of any organization that distributes products regardless if they are manufactured or purchased.  ERP solutions need to integrate the entire organization, but grew out of MRP systems that were designed to optimize inventory handling.  Technologies are continuously evolving to address new integration and handling challenges. 

 

The challenges are basically the same as they have always been.  It is the way we interact with inventory that has changed. 

 

Companies need inventory to process, they need orders to create planning, and they need customers.  Companies need to maintain supplier relationships.  They need to determine the right levels of inventory to meet demand, but not just take up space.  ERP Solutions need to address these challenges and provide observability to management, customer service, sales team, procurement and production departments.

 

Everyone needs to know their part of the puzzle.

 

Other areas that today’s ERP solutions must address include compliance regulations.  Your system must have the capability to record transactions and interactions, particularly in industries like food and pharmaceutical.  Business processing must be tracked and traceable.  Who touched it, for how long, what areas processed the inventory, what was the source and where did it go and how did it get there.

 

Customers, suppliers, and internal representatives are all interacting in different ways with the same goal.  Efficiency drives your organization.  They need real-time information and they need it now and are turning to Social media forums and mobile platforms.  Cloud or hosted solutions should be evaluated for fit and function.  Special caution should be evaluated to ensure that they do not introduce synchronization or compliance issues.  The feature and functions sound promising, but the integration can introduce errors and compliance complications.

 

When tying into social, mobile and cloud platforms the need for traceability increases, not decreases.  Just because another organization manages a platform, does not resolve your responsibility to meet compliance mandates, security issues increase and do not go away.  Plus you are adding integration challenges. 

 

This is not to say there is not value in these technologies, it is saying that they have to be approached with caution and due diligence.

 

Automation is certainly the key to streamlining operations and reducing and controlling costs. 

 

A good-fit ERP solution will have the tools and feature needed to automate your processes.  The more the better, but critical ones like inventory must come first and foremost.  Automation reduces the labor associated with data collection and analysis, reduces errors by eliminating manual processing, and frees up time for personnel to concentrate more on core business functions.

 

Ultimately any changes should have the end customer in mind. 

 

Nothing happens that is worthwhile if it does not increase efficiency both internally and externally, especially for your customers.  The customer is the one who writes the check for you product.   It is generally easier to keep an existing customer happy than to acquire a new one.  However, both are critical and your ERP solution must provide the means to service your customers better.  Whether that is done by implementing and Ecommerce solution for self service needs or better tools for your customer service department to answer their questions and concerns or the procurement department to better use forecasting to meet production and delivery demands.

 

Business needs change and evolve in the way we handle information even thought the challenges of the supply chain and customer service are fundamentally the same.  The way we collect and deliver the information is constantly changing.  An effective ERP solution must address your current needs and provide the forum to grow with you and your customers.

 

Organizations must endorse, embrace and incorporate new technologies in order to compete effectively. 

 

Solutions exist, but the challenge increases in selecting a solution that meets your needs, addresses current challenges, and will enable faster growth and grow with you.  There must be buy-in at all levels of your organization from top C-Level, Board members, and to all departments that comprise your organization.

 

Dolvin Consulting works with you and industry experts to help you examine your operations so that you find the right solution to address your specific challenges.  Due diligence and some hard work now will pay off in the future with streamlined operations, reduced costs and greater profits.  Contact us today to see how we can help. 

 

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.  Tell us what you think.

Hot, Warm and Cold

Hot, Warm and Cold ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) responses.

What constitutes the need for an emergency response?  A system failure can range from an inconvenience to a failed business.  Length of down time and the amount of data loss will typically factor heavily in the business impact.

 

In planning for disaster, roles must be defined in conjunction with the recovery procedures.  Who will be in charge, who will determine the impact, which person will be responsible for status updates?  Has the notification chain been created and tested?

 

The Hot zone is where the incident occurred.  In an online, virtual world this may not be your place of business.  Disasters can occur to cloud or hosted providers as well.  Up time and available time are two separate categories of availability.  In cases of natural disaster does the affected operation have a disaster recovery site geographically separated from business operations and the point of failure or disaster?  Have key personnel been identified and do they have access to the alternate site?

 

The Warm zone is a transitional area between Hot and Cold sites.  This may be a physical area or virtual area.  It may be the same location in cases where there is a system down, but no physical damage.  In cases of natural disaster is often a safe place near the disaster where status can be checked, yet far enough away to not be in harm’s way. 

 

The Cold zone is either a neutral area or the remote area where responsible people can delegate recovery tasks and notify users, customers, suppliers when necessary of status updates.  This is where press releases can be issued, personnel and resources coordinated and delegated.

 

Priorities varry depending on the extent of the disaster.  In cases of physical or natural disasters first priorities should be to the health and well being of personnel, then protection and recovery of resources.  In cases consisting of physical or operational equipment failures these steps are typically not necessary.  The next priorities are to assess the problem, determine its impact and to estimate recovery times for partial and full recovery.

 

First thoughts.  What is/was the hazard, disaster or affected resource?  Have the responsible people been notified?  What resources are at risk, what resources are likely to become at risk?  What is being done to contain the risk?  Who is coordinating the emergency response?  Are there others that need to be notified? 

 

Support functions.  What resources can be notified to provide support and recovery? Are emergency response personnel to be notified?  How and which communications methods can be used to notify employees, customers and suppliers?  Who and how are facility and equipment repair and remediation personnel notified?  What other resources can be contacted for immediate or future response?

 

Public relations.  Does the disaster or incident require a public relations media expertise to notify the affected parties and mitigate the loss of reputation?

 

There are many aspects to any critical interruption in service.  There are many ways to prepare.  The point to first consider is if your organization has acknowledged the possibility and has consulted with others to create a recovery and continuity plan. 

 

Businesses come in all shapes and sizes as due risks.

 

1.       What are you doing now to prepare? 

2.       What can you do now to prepare? 

3.       What will you do to prepare? 

 

We would like to hear your thoughts.   Please share your comments in this blog.  We would love to hear your feedback.

 

Finance Software Integration

When I describe Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software with people I often make the analogy that ERP is to the enterprise what office suites are to the desktop.  ERP integrates an organization based on department or functional roles so that one hand knows what the other is doing.  Similar to how a workstation database, spreadsheet, word processor and presentation programs can share information instead of having to rekey it in each application.  It saves time, increases accuracy and improves efficiency.

 

Within an ERP system the financial application particularly General Ledger tends to be the mortar between the bricks, where the bricks are the other applications.  Sometimes the ERP system consists only of financial applications, however, in today’s highly competitive environment the more functional roles that are included the greater the efficiency.  Having the other applications tie into the financial module really enables meaningful dashboards.  Finances give an unbiased view of business operations.  The more highly integrated with application interfaces and automatic posting, the better management opportunities exist.

 

Finance is often referred to as the Back-Office.  It is the behind the scenes company operations that are critical.  Purchasing cannot operate without payables handling the payments.  It does no good to ship orders if the proper credit application and collection resources do not exist.  Inventory valuation, write off and variance accounts for the company’s ability to borrow and fulfill customer orders.  Too much inventory and there is excess overhead, too little and business opportunities may be missed.  Finance gives an unbiased analysis of the company’s efficiency.

 

Functionality is a critical component of any system. 

 

How well does the software match operations versus how much change in operations are necessary to match the software.  This is no simple statement. 

 

The implementation of software can run from one extreme to another.  At one end the software is implemented and the company updates its processing to match the software.  This provides software stability and enables relatively easy upgrades.  On the downside if the software does not match operations the company will have to make some potentially painful adjustments to the way it operates.

 

At the other end of the spectrum is a company that develops their own system.  This system matches exactly the operations and is like hand in glove.  The problem that typically occurs is that the technology can become outdated.  Upgrades, if they even exist, require reapplication of the modifications and can significantly increase the costs to stay current.  If the software is completely custom, then adding new functionality often requires bringing in experts in new technology to learn and understand how the two can be integrated.     

 

Most companies fall between the extremes.  We like to see a 95% or better match between software and company operations.  At this threshold the software is matching the majority of the way the company operates giving stability and upgrade paths to the business.  The modifications tend to be light in nature and more easily managed.

 

There are cases when custom solutions are necessary, but they should be carefully planned and evaluated to ensure the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is evaluated.  

 

Another key question to ask is how well does the new software fit the culture of your organization?  How many steps does it take to process a payment?  Are accounts updated in real time or at some defined batch point in time?  Do you need multi currency support?  Are you working in multiple time zones?  Or, are you a single location facility?  How well does the software meet any industry regulations? 

 

There are software solutions to match each. 

 

Regardless of the match, business growth tends to be the common driver for any change.  Changing systems, finance, ERP or other is not a comfortable process.  It takes careful planning to make a successful transition.   Growth is good, keeping up is the challenge. 

 

The process of change can be painful, but staying put is typically more painful.  How hard is it to operate the current software?  Does it meet your needs?  How many manual processing steps are necessary to keep up?  The fit has to be right.  It has to be relatively easy to operate.  Be flexible enough to address the inevitable future changes you business will face.  Support from your software supplier is very important to consider.  How do they provide training and implementation support?  Are they large enough to develop new enhancements, yet small enough to answer the phone with a real person?

 

Is functionality an issue?  Is out dated technology a driver for change?  Is native growth or merger and acquisition a factor?  What costs are associated with your current solution versus anticipated costs of a new system?  What is your competition doing to serve their customers and win over your customers?  How fast can you react to market change?  Are you now operating in multiple locations? 

 

Cost savings from operational efficiency and reduced maintenance should be included in any analysis as well as departmental or personnel consolidation.  How many people does it take now to manage the finance department and why is that?

 

Your customers are demanding a change whether you realize it or not. 

 

Customer service should be at the heart of any change.  Every person and operation has one goal.  That goal is to serve those who pay the bills, your customers.  What good is a more efficient operation, if you cannot increase your customer’s satisfaction? 

 

Bottom line is that you need a trusted advisor that will take a fresh look at your operations and help you document your operations.  A good match for a new solution is made on knowing what you are doing now and what needs to change.

 

Dolvin Consulting works with industry experts to help you find solutions to the challenges you face.  All organizations struggle somewhere.  All different, but consistent when they want to grow.  Contact us to see how we can help you find new solutions.  We are here to help.

 

The Security Concerns are Real Enough

Are hosted or cloud solutions secure?  Secure enough for your information?  We are not talking about the business next door.  We are talking about your livelihood.  These are not the same questions related to how appropriate or practical a hosted solution may be. 

 

There are many concerns related to hosted or cloud solutions.  Most would agree that it is a question of time and not if, but when the scales will tip towards a hosted solution.  A hosted solution that handles the primary line of business solution versus a subset of processing.   

 

Size does seem to matter in this case.  Larger enterprises tend to prefer handling their needs in-house where they can control all the facets of operations, integration and security.  Mid-sized corporations tend to have a mixed use and need for hosted solutions, where the type of business operations drives those decisions.  The smaller business tends to embrace the technology quicker.  Budget, of course, and available resources play a big part in these decisions.  Public social media forums are in a category themselves and are not generally considered line-of-business.  Internal blogs and community forums are typically private.

 

Some of the top issues revolve around:

1.       How secure is it?

2.       Does it make sense?

3.       How will it change my business operations?

4.       Will my employees require more training?

5.       Does it fit my budget? 

6.       Will it reduce my costs?

7.       What happens if I run out of money?

8.       Who owns my data?

 

Security Concerns:

 

The security concerns are real enough, but are not necessarily related to hosted solutions.  Cloud or hosted solutions are often an eye opener to security concerns for on-premise solutions.  Many organizations do not pay attention to that box sitting there when it is inside their office.  The threats are real and the consequences of a data breach are the same regardless of the location of information.

 

Chief issues with hosted solutions, particularly for the smaller business, often revolve around selecting the no-charge or free versions that are really designed for consumers and not businesses.  The quest to save money and reduce costs creates gaps in security and separated and disconnected systems. 

 

Consumer services often lack enterprise support, encryption of data in transit and at rest and contract agreements.  Agreements and support to ensure that your business is as important to them and that they understand what it means if what you have paid for is up and running or not available.  Remember that up-time is not the same as available.

 

Disconnected systems increase costs and errors due to the lack of integration and the manual processes that typically are associated with separate systems.  These problems intensify when the online application does not address the central business challenges and are selected to address secondary needs.

 

Users generally want to be productive and like their own devices which open up gaping holes in security.  They like downloading and experimenting with different applications which ultimately can expose information that is supposed to be private.  If they use their own devices and your infrastructure is hosted, then how can you control what they download, what they share, what they may lose.

 

For example they may download an application that allows them to manipulate a spread sheet on their phone.  That application may be okay, but what about that game or other application that is also sitting on the same device that has the ability to read storage and open network connections on its own.  Add to that equation – did that employee violate policies by copying the information to that device.  Did they email it as plain text over an unsecure connection?  With the capacity and convenience of these devices did they just download your entire customer database to their smart phone?

 

It really does not matter where the data lies as long as it is secure and policies exist to define and ensure compliance.  Employees are trained, devices are secured and services exist to monitor and ensure compliance.   The solutions exist to ensure compliance, but an organization needs a policy first before a procedure can be applied.

 

You may not think there is value in the information you have, but others do and it is your responsibility.

 

At Dolvin Consulting we help make your employees more productive so your business can drive efficiency and be more profitable.  Contact us today to see how a fresh set of eyes can improve your operations.  You already know how to run your business, let us help you find better tools to mange it.

 

Is Your ERP Solution Smart?

While many organizations are utilizing the Internet more and more, many still hesitate on operating their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system from the Internet.  For some companies that are dispersed geographically the Internet is an ideal solution.  Single location companies have more concerns justifying this choice.  There are some clear advantages of a hosted solution, like not having to worry about infrastructure, ensuring an uninterruptible power source, cooling, environmental concerns and scalability.  On the other side chief concerns about security, access and ownership are at the top.

 

Many companies see the internet as the future of Enterprise Computing.  The question is not “if”, but “when”.  At some point in time the scale of risk/benefits inevitably swings to where it will make sense. 

 

One of the derivatives of Internet computing is the user interface, which is usually the Web Browser.  Providing a universally available application base, consistent user interface and a selection of customizations is a necessity of Internet computing.  On premise solutions benefit also from these enhancements as well, but the time pressure tends to be less critical and is a good method of transition.  Get users used to a newer interface and then it will be transparent where the actual computing takes place.   

 

Delivering software through a browser with a flexible web interface enables ERP users with a single sign on of all web applications which simplifies the user experience, increases productivity and minimizes training costs.  In addition, web based software provides mobile access enabling every user in the organization immediate anytime, anywhere computing. 

 

Utilizing new technologies enables ERP users to compete at a higher level and by leveraging the flexibly and mobility that the web provides they have unlimited growth potential.

The future of computing will certainly at one point in time or another will include a transition to the Internet.  How committed is your ERP solution provider to providing this transition for your business?  Immediate access from a single sign-on to fully integrated and accurate enterprise data, CRM, Analytics, and mobility access are immediate benefits.  Cost reductions and improved efficiency result from this type of implementation. 

 

Anytime, anywhere access is one of the most critical and fastest growing areas that businesses are focused.    Business intelligence dashboards provide quick top level navigation to activity that needs attention.

 

How well are you prepared for the future?  Are you using a smart system?  A system you tailor to your user’s needs?  A system then enables your organization to deliver superior customer service?

The future is waiting for you. 

At Dolvin Consulting we work with industry experts like VAI and IBM to deliver proven effective systems that streamline your computing operations to drive efficiency in your organization.  Contact us today to see how we can help you transition to the future.  We are here to help.

 

ERP and Time Off

A friend of mine asked me last year after I commented on his vacation photos when was I going to take some time off.  I asked him “what does vacation mean?”  He kindly reminded me that in order to stay fresh you need time off.  You need to recharge your batteries.  If you wear yourself completely out, then there will be no reserve when the need arises.

 

Does your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system need time off?  How about the people who are in charge of keeping it running at an optimal level?  The physical systems these software solutions run on today are very reliable and the industry talks about unplanned downtime.  There is a difference between downtime and availability.  Even the best systems need to be patched, repaired, and restarted periodically.  It just helps to refresh them from time to time.  Not every day, but periodically.  Schedule the refreshes so the unplanned down time is minimized or eliminated.

 

If you are like me you run full out, full time, and just keep going doing the very best you can with the resources at your disposal.  I do not run marathon races, but I often wonder if that is what it is like for the runners when the get to “that point”, somewhere around 19 or 20 miles into the 26 mile race.  At that point, whenever it comes, your mind and body are just running on fumes and you are relying on your training and endurance to carry you through.

 

We as people need to recharge, our equipment needs periodic refreshes.  What about our software?  The instructions the equipment carries out, day-in and day-out.  Are there any variables in what we process daily?

 

If what we do was exactly the same every time we did it, then why do we have to be there?  Robots and automation could run the production lines and we could be on vacation all of the time.  There is a reason people are involved.  It sometimes takes a judgment call to make a decision.  Which priority order is most important?  Which customer comes first?  Which order has a higher value?  Which customer does more business with me during the year?  Can I pull from one order and fulfill another and then replace the inventory before the original order is due to ship?

 

The ERP software itself does not need a vacation, but it does need periodic refreshes. 

 

There are a few industries that change slowly, but most have to keep up with a constantly changing market, disruptions and changes in the supply chain, new customers and markets demands. 

 

Customer service is something that never, ever goes out of style.

 

Most ERP solution providers have periodic refreshes and updates.  They create new modules and enhancements.  They have user conferences.  They listen to your needs.  They create fixes and updates to address the constant changes that the evolution of your industry is going through.  Changes that you are going through right now. 

 

Do you recognize the changes you are in right now?

 

When you drive you car on new tires, you feel the road, you feel in control.  Then time passes.  You get involved in other things.  Your concentration is on other points of interest.  Then one day you realize that it took a little longer to stop, you went a little wider on that last turn.  Then it dawns on you.  You thought that everything was the same and what you found out is that your tires have worn out and they need to be replaced.

 

Software is not exactly like tires.  Perhaps the equipment it runs on is more similar.  But the same thing happens.  You build a new solution that handles your customers and process your work load.  Your business grows, you have more customers and suppliers that have different reporting requirements.  You add new employees.  The business adds disconnected software modules and ties them together with shoe strings and then one day – you skid out of control.

 

Does your ERP solution need a vacation?  How about a refresh?  How about a replacement?

 

I may not have realized that I needed a vacation last year, but I do now.  I know how to work hard and I am sure you do too.  Are you running your software or is your software running you?  Is your software running out of control? 

 

At Dolvin Consulting we are here to help you navigate the changes and find solutions to the challenges that have the greatest impact on your business operations.  Contact us today to see how we can help.

 

What do CEO’s care about ERP?

Today is no different than yesterday, nor will tomorrow be different.  CEO’s have a lot on their mind.  Vision of the future, productivity, profit, competition.  How will my organization “get-it” and work as hard as I do?  How do empower them?  Are my people interested in a pay check or succeeding? 

 

Do they believe in me, in my vision?

Will my shareholders support my vision of the future? 

How do I make management care about our market share and stock price?

 

Do I care which Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution we use or do I care how well we service our customers, grow our market share and provide value to our stock holders and owners?

 

Does my management team care about the company’s stock value?  Do they have a monetary interest in the company?  Too often they forget that stock means ownership.  How do I make management understand that their job is to produce gains for the shareholders?  Although a manager has little or no direct control of share price in the short run, poor stock performance could, over the long run, be attributed to mismanagement of the company.

 

Successful organizations know that if you care about the growth and prosperity of your company, that your primary focal point has to be that your customers come first and foremost.  All the best bells and whistles mean nothing, if at the end of the day they do not drive efficiency in your organization to the point that you can service your customers better.

Who purchases your products?

To move forward it helps to document your challenges and identify metrics by which you can measure change.  This might be something simple like implementing an automated pick-pack-ship process that allows you to track and identify lag areas in between the actual picking, packing and shipment processing.  Why is it taking so long to pick orders?  Can the warehouse be better organized to minimize travel to pick the most popular items?  Can the pick list be sorted in the order of the products in the warehouse?  Would it be more efficient to bulk pick orders, stage and then sort or is it better to pick individual orders?  Why does “Joe” take twice as long to pick an order?  

 

Time is a commodity of which we all have the same allotment. 

 

Managing lost, non-productive time is one definitive way to increase productivity.  To do this, an organization first needs to set this as a priority and then look to their current resources to see if it has the tools needed to track and measure results.  Most ERP solutions have both direct and indirect time tracking capabilities. 
 

Workforce management is just one of many components to building a productive enterprise.

 

Communication both internally with employees and externally with the supply chain and customers is another critical function in productivity and ultimately customer service.  ERP systems that are properly implemented have the functions and features to enable better data collection and communication between all business entities.
 

An organized environment where everyone knows what they are supposed to do and which is reflected in a centralized system provides management the information they need in a time frame they need it to make better and quicker decisions. 

 

An environment where management has the information to make key decisions is the foundation for less frustration and savings. 

 

Do your employees provide feedback, do you have a system for them to provide feedback?  What good are your plans, if no one understands them and how they can be implemented?  By establishing key metrics and implementing automation in stages you enable management to go after tasks that are inefficient and pull waste from those functions.  These are the building blocks to lean processing.  Tracking, measuring and reporting needs to become a philosophy in your organization. 

 

Acknowledge your customer’s issues.  Treat them like you would like to be treated.

 

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solutions should be based on understanding the real business needs.  The solutions can be found if you know what you are trying to solve and what you want to achieve.

 

What is the CEO’s vision of the future?

 

If you are considering a new ERP solution or updates to an existing one, you need to determine if any of the proposed features and functions are related to the challenges you are trying solve?  They could be nice features, but do they enable you to provide better customer service (who buys your products?). 

 

Perhaps you would like to move to a newer, more feature rich accounting solution, but your ERP solution is still satisfying the needs of your organization and since you are continuing to grow, you do not want to disrupt the business by replacing it.  The very thing that attracted you to your solution is now holding you back.  Because it is tightly integrated, you cannot just replace a single module without replacing the whole thing.

 

No software is a solution to poor management or business practices. 

 

Function/Feature is not nearly as important as Challenge/Solution.  Just ask yourself which impacts the bottom line quickest. 

 

A fully integrated and implemented system enables better business planning activities, which include financial planning, procurement, logistics, supply chain and customer service.  Happy customers mean better profits. 

 

Customer Service To-Do list focal points:

1. Keep your existing customers happy and you will have a strong business.

2. Concentrate on providing value, not hype, to find new customers.

3. People learn about you by using the Internet, so keep your website updated.

4. Deliver what your customers want, not what you think is good.

5. Planning is good, but implementation is better.

 

 
Dolvin Consulting works.  We work to help you help yourself.  We are not here to take up residency in your organization. We are here to help you identify challenges in your operations and customer service and find solutions that address those challenges through Enterprise Solutions.  Contact us, today, to see how we can help.  That is why we are here.  To serve.

 

E-Commerce and ERP Solutions

“Should we choose an eCommerce system to fit our ERP system, or an ERP system to fit our eCommerce system?”  So went the online post for help.  Like so many posts before it, the real answer will only reveal itself once the homework is done.

 

I know what I would do, but the choice is not up to me. 

 

A number of years ago someone figured out that a company might be able to generate revenue by utilizing the Internet.  For a long time, way before the Internet was available to the public, companies understood that automation and integration were key components in lowering costs.  Over time creative people came up with ways to integrate technology to improve efficiencies, enough so that some business operations are now molded around available technologies.

 

An almost universal question that must be answered by organizations evaluating software solutions is how much will I change my operating procedures to match the software capabilities or how much will we modify the software to match our operations. 

 

The answers run from one extreme to the other. 

 

What we look for is a closer match of software to business than the reverse.  It means that the software is the right choice.  The Solution provider understands your business and has made the customizations for you.  That is why you pay them or should is I say what you pay them for. 

 

It is not that a company cannot completely modify a solution to match their operations, however, that is essentially custom software and most organizations want to move away from that type of solution.  Granted it meets all of your business needs, but the problem is that it tends to isolate you from industry change.  This isolation either leads to falling behind or means that you have to invest in extra staff to keep current. 

 

No business operates alone and should not look for a solution that furthers the divide. 

 

There are exceptions.  Of course, it is possible that your organization is completely unique, operates like no other and therefore you need a completely custom solution.  If their products are in demand and no one else produces them, they have a monopoly and since there is demand, then it may make sense.  However, the vast majority of those so egotistical have not taken the time to see how the technology industry has transformed the way it interacts with their demand. 

 

It is more likely that that there were no solutions years ago and that company had to develop their own.  They were industry leaders at the time.  Regardless, how will they keep up with change?

 

This applies to the Ecommerce versus ERP question that we started out with. 

 

I am sure that a lot of work went into the web site.  They may have finally got all the pieces to work.  Well, except for the integration with the back end.  The ecommerce solution may be working so well that what once worked at one business level, just simply cannot keep up with the new higher demand.

 

Sound familiar?

 

This company came up with a custom solution to meet a current and growing need.  It worked really well.  Business grew.  Grew so well, that they grew right out of their custom solution.  Now they have to decide to scale back the business, invest in more manpower to increase the integration and accommodate the growth or invest in a new solution, throw some or all of the existing solution out and then move forward. 

 

How many steps backwards does this organization now have to take, because they isolated their technology solution?

 

It is like climbing a ladder up a building only to realize they are climbing the wrong building.  Depending on a lot of information that we do not have, it is possible that they may just need a bigger ladder.  Of course you have figure out what that new ladder will rest on.  Will they have to climb all the way down and then start climbing once again and hope the ladder is big enough this time?

 

There is no substitution for full integration. 

 

That does not mean to say that everyone can afford all the bells and whistles on an initial purchase, however, does the solution provider you are considering have a solution for what you will likely need in the future?  Do they have a growth plan available?  What are your choices when the growth of your operations necessitates more horsepower in your systems and transactional processing?  Will you have to throw everything out or can you add more resources? 

 

Changing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is a lot like open heart surgery without any anesthesia.  It is painful.  No doubt, but afterwards you are grateful for the change.  Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) contributes to a higher Return on Investment (ROI) and inevitably the right solution pays for itself.

               

My answer to the question is the same answer to any new solution. 

 

Invest in an ERP solution that is designed for growth and can add features and modules directly or from vetted third-party solutions when your business needs them.  Do not throw away the development in the Ecommerce solution.  No need to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Concentrate on integrating the front end of the current web site with the existing backend web constructs that exist and are fully integrated with a new ERP solution.  Over time, when it makes sense, consider the ramifications of moving completely over to the ERP offering. 

 

ERP solutions work best when you let them do what they are designed to do. 

 

Integrate the Enterprise.  The more integrated, the higher the operational efficiencies, cost reductions and increase profit potential. 

 

ERP solutions are not a substitute, or fix, for bad management, however, good management has the potential to be great with the right solution.

 

Dolvin Consulting works with midsized manufacturers, distributors and specialty retailers to help them streamline their computer operations, reduce costs, and increase profits.  Those organizations typically struggle with warehouse and inventory control issues, have outgrown manual processing or are frustrated with the constant flux in technology and have lost the ability to keep current. 

 

Please contact us today to see how we can help you identify and address the challenges that hold you back.