ERP Vendor Selection

It is a common thought that as a company grows they will need an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.  It is a logical step when multiple systems are utilized to manage operations.  When extra labor is needed to manage workflow.  When customer service cannot keep up with demand.  When suppliers and customers are requesting better and more efficient ways of communication, like Ecommerce, EDI, and Web Portal, for example.  When you have no idea of your true inventory value.  When your purchasing overhead becomes too great. 

 

In fact there are hundreds of symptoms when your organization is hitting the glass ceiling.  There is more than one ceiling as your business grows.  It is not just a symptom of a tough economy that makes looking for new solutions necessary.  First and foremost, there is your competition and what they are constantly doing to take your customers away.

 

The need to drive efficiency in your operations will always be a motivator.  The need to manage costs.  The need to reduce labor overhead.  The need to meet compliance standards.  The constant flux in technology.  What are the latest buzzwords and what do they have to do with the customers I server daily?  Why would my customers shop anywhere else?  Perhaps they are constrained by budget too.  Unless there is a compelling reason of great customer service experience or care, businesses are going to shop price. 

 

The relationships you build are what bind your customers with you. 

 

You should have the same level of relationship with your ERP solution provider as you do (or want) with your customers.  What makes a good relationship?  How about open communications and they listen to you and understand your needs?  How about the “feeling” that they have your best interest at heart, even if it means you do business with someone else.

 

Benefits of a new solution include centralization of key data in a central repository for better and faster decision making.  Streamlined operations to save time and money.  Single point of entry.  Real time access to information.  Flexible reporting.  Improved employee productivity.

 

An ERP solution provides a scalable solution for new growth and expanded relationships, and improved customer satisfaction.

 

A thorough analysis is needed and that is where a trusted advisor can help you navigate the sea of change.  Dolvin Consulting works with industry experts to help you define your needs and constraints and match them with available solutions.  Contact us today to see how we can help your team.

 

VAI Explains Its (Quiet) Success in a Hotly Contested ERP Market – Part 2

VAI: VAI is a privately owned, family run business, with non-family members serving in key executive and management positions. This structure plays very well with the mid-market customers that we serve who require a high level of personalized support and service.

 

Click here for the full blog post that P.J. Jakovljevic has written about Vormittag Associates (VAI) S2K software solution. 

 

Some success attributes of VAI:

·         VAI is a profitable business and is not encumbered by debt.

·         The company is focused on developing the highest quality software that is based on real life customer requirements and best practices.

·         The S2K software is very intuitive and easy to use, and the product is cost effective to implement and easy to manage.

·         The S2K price point and diverse suite of applications offer tremendous value to VAI’s customers, and the staff has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience.

·         VAI’s research and development (R&D) cycle has been year-round, enabling VAI to stay at the forefront of innovation.

·         VAI’s competitive advantage comes from a team that has a great deal of experience in implementing the S2K solutions.

As I mentioned on the post about part one of this article that there are many fine points about the software and there are many other good ERP product solutions in the mid market.  What is important is the customer relationship that VAI develops with its client base.  This point cannot be over or under stated. 

 

The opening line of this post is the most important part.  VAI is large enough to develop working software that matches to your challenges and is oriented towards you.  You can actually talk with the company president.  You can visit their location, they will meet with you.  You get personalized service and support.  Support by people that know you, your business and actually care about your success, not just corporate profits. 

 

The software corresponds to real-life challenges.

 

The people of the companies we work with really value a relationship aspect.  We provide value and compassion.  We know this is your business, your livelihood, and our success is mutually dependent.

 

Dolvin Consulting works with you and your team in partnership with VAI and IBM to deliver world class solutions that meet your budget.  The companies we work with typically struggle with warehouse and inventory control issues, want to streamline their operations or have a sense of frustration about the constant flux in technology.

Contact us today.  We are here to help.

VAI Explains Its (Quiet) Success in a Hotly Contested ERP Market – Part 1

VAI leverages IBM Websphere Portal middleware to deploy S2K Sales Force and IBM Cognos for the S2K Analytics application.  This is important because many of VAI’s customers are data rich but information poor.  VAI embraces these technologies so that it can give its customers the necessary tools to obtain the information they need to make better business decisions.

 

VAI S2K ERP Solution Family

 

Click here for the full blog post that P.J. Jakovljevic has written about Vormittag Associates (VAI) S2K software solution. 

 

Just having a solution is nice, but having a working solution is better.  The relevant points are:

1.       VAI truly partners with its customers to match the right solution to the current set of challenges.

2.       The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is sold in modules so each company can start with their current needs and add additional functionality later as needed.

3.       The system includes source code for those whose team members have core competencies in program development and VAI has well qualified staff to ensure any needed modifications will not affect the stability of the solution.

4.       VAI is large enough that you do not have to worry about someone getting run over by a bus, yet small enough that you can have an intimate relationship with them (at all levels in their organization).

5.       The S2K solution runs on IBM’s Power Systems.  These workhorses need comparatively little help which allows the business to save time and money.  The business can concentrate on running the business and not the equipment it runs on.  And, yes, there is a hosted/cloud version for any organization that is ready.

 

There are many fine points about the software and there are many other good ERP product solutions in the mid market.  What is important is the customer relationship that VAI develops with its client base.  This point cannot be over or under stated. 

 

Who would you like to work with?  Big-Company-X, Little Guy-Company-Y, or a vested partner?

 

Dolvin Consulting works with you and your team in partnership with VAI and IBM to deliver world class solutions that meet your budget.  The companies we work with typically struggle with warehouse and inventory control issues, want to streamline their operations or have a sense of frustration about the constant flux in technology.

 

Contact us today.  We are here to help.

 

Manufacturing Efficiency (VAI and IBM)

A fully integrated enterprise platform specifically designed to help manufacturers streamline efficiency, control inventory and optimize costs.

 

Click here for the full story.

 

Highlights:

• Complete suite of applications to manage every aspect of manufacturing operations.

• Integration allows modules to provide a complete picture of materials, processes and capacity.

• Unified data repository provides a single version of the truth for decision making.

• Real-time data from the shop floor provides insight into work center productivity.

• Powered by robust, reliable and highly capable IBM computing systems.

 

This article highlights some things you already know and some you may have been thinking about. 

 

One would hope that an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution would offer modules to integrate the entire organization.  Unfortunately some software today does not do this.  They handle very specific suite of applications, but not everything you need.  Every organization has some unique requirements.  You solution should address those requirements fully.

 

Manufacturers have additional requirements beyond distribution and the solution needs to be able to address you needs.  Tying all those pieces together into a single repository of information is a key component to drive efficiency in your organization.  The left hand needs to know what the right hand is doing.    You need the information now, not at the end of the week when it will be too late to make a critical business decision.  Your competition is too quick to ignore.

 

The solution itself not only needs to be stable and well supported, but also the equipment that it runs on.  As a business owner you need to concentrate on the business, not the equipment it runs on.

Partnership.  Your ERP solution needs to be made with a partner that cares as much about your success as you do.  Both of your futures depend on it.  If you get the feeling that you are just one more sale and it is going to only help the Salesrep qualify for his bonus, then stop now.  You do not have a partner, you have a vendor-customer relationship. 

 

You are not buying a boxed copy of software off the shelf where you insert a disk into your computer or other server that just happens to be underutilized and are up and running in an hour.  ERP solutions are complex and you need a trusted advisor to help you first understand your business as it relates to available solutions and then a business partner to help you make the transformations needed to drive efficiency and profitability in your business.

 

Read the article and then contact Dolvin Consulting.  Let us invest some time together to see whether your challenges are met by this or any other solution.  We care and we want to prove that to you.  We promote solutions that enable you to drive efficiencies in your organization. 

 

Should ERP be a Technology Project?

There is a good article in the Wall Street Journal talking about some common pitfalls of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).  The author makes the analogy in the headline about diets not working.  This is true.  A diet alone will not achieve long term goals, only short term results.  Diets have a see-saw effect on the body.  It is only when someone looks at their entire lifestyle and make adjustments will they achieve a healthy life.

 

Diets That Don't Work: Where Enterprise Resource Planning Goes Wrong

Some key thoughts from the article:

·         Executives see ERP solely as a technology project.

·         Buying new software system will make inefficiencies magically disappear.

·         Before executives make a big investment in a new information-technology system, they need to rethink the way their organization is designed.

·         The effort to redesign business processes is typically the most expensive part of an ERP project.

·         Companies stumble with ERP, because they are afraid to abandon old ways of working.

·         The ERP effort was overly ambitious or unfocused, resulting in much-higher-than-expected initial investments in training, testing and time.

·         Some companies allowed their ERP projects to split into several smaller projects.

 

“They need to treat ERP as a transformation effort involving three areas of their business: processes, technology and spending.”

 

Solution Objectives:

1.       Create a common language.  Frame the project as an organizational transformation, not an IT project.

2.       Apply the 80/20 rule.  Focus on transforming the business activities that matter most to your organization.

3.       Keep the best of the old, discard the worst of the new.  Don't change things just for the sake of changing them.

4.       Develop enterprise metrics.  Measure the performance of your organization as a whole to determine whether ERP is working.

5.       Plan for the long haul.  Cast the ERP effort as a long-term project, not a quick fix.

 

 

There is not a lot to add to this article.  It is well written and makes several good points that I write about a lot in my blog posts.  ERP solutions are not the same as off-the-shelf boxed software.  An organization needs to use a Trusted Advisor and look at all of its processes.  Like the diet analogy, efficiencies that last do not come from quick fixes.  If you are bleeding use a bandage.  If you want a healthy life, then make changes in your lifestyle.
 

Enterprise software looks at the enterprise, so that means all levels of people from top executives to the guy who sweeps the floor at night need to be considered.  All suppliers and vendors, customers and business partners need to be integrated.  There is a lot to consider and a phased in approach under a global plan with realistic benchmarks should be developed. 

 

Probably the most important piece of the puzzle is your relationship with your trusted advisor and the partnership you develop with your ERP provider.  These relationships, especially with the ERP solution provider are critical.  If you like the solution, but do not feel that you are developing a close relationship, yes relationship, with the ERP provider, then be forewarned.  You do not have a partner.  You have a store/customer relationship.  There is too much involved in an ERP implementation to not have a partner in the process.

 

Dolvin Consulting works with Manufacturers, Distributors, and Specialty Retailers to help them streamline their computer operations with ERP solutions so they reduce costs and become more profitable.  Contact us today to see how we can help you find appropriate solutions for your challenges.  We are here to help.

 

ERP Solutions Enable Automation and Streamlined Operations

When you boil down the driving force for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) automation and streamlined operations should be at the top of your list.  More data collected and analyzed enable better and quicker decision making.  ERP solutions do not just collect information, it is what that information enables the business to do more quickly and efficiently that is important.   It is through accurate record keeping that we can see trends.  Integrating and connecting more of your business operations is not optional any more.

 

Are we using more labor to pick, pack and ship fewer orders?  Are those orders more or less accurate?  Where we able to find the inventory at the location our system indicated?  Do our customers feel like we are being responsive to their needs?  Are we buying what we need or what we think we need?  Are our customers buying what they did last year?

 

ERP solutions cannot just be bought off the shelf. 

 

Some vendors have hosted or cloud solutions and offer free 30 day trials.  Just sign up and off you go.  Are you really willing to risk your business on this type of solution?  How will you convert, test, and learn any new system in that period of time?  How much time did you invest to see if that would be a good solution?  Did you find them in an Internet search?  How reliable is that vendor?  Do they have a successful track record of serving their customers?  Will they be bought out next week?  What commitment do they have to your success?  Can you meet their company president or even get him on the phone?  Is your business that straight forward?

 

Any solution must be process based like your operations. 

 

You must invest in a Trusted Advisor to help guide you through the jungle and maze of technology.  Weed out the hype and define the metrics necessary to select a new solution and define the criteria needed to implement and gauge its success.

 

A successful solution will be one that integrates or has the ability to integrate over time your entire organization.  You may need to phase in a solution, because of budget, support, or some other resource constraint.  The system you choose needs to have the ability to grow with your growth.  Find out if the software vendor is continuing development so that as new technologies are adopted in the industry you can take advantage of them in a timely manner without replacing all of your systems.

 

Do you need a cloud solution?  How distributed and mobile is your Salesforce or organization for that matter?  Do you need to analyze sales and inventory trends?  What type of integration do you need with your supply chain?  Does procurement need to forecast demand with your suppliers?  Does your finance team have the tools and information to manage your accounts?  Can you produce accurate financial statements in a timely manner?  When was the last time you had accurate inventory counts?  How accurate are your shipments?

Do not forget about people. 

The software must fit your company’s culture.  It cannot be so dramatically different that no one has the capacity to learn how to use it.  If you will integrate the enterprise, do you have buy-in from senior management?  What about the customer service people who deal directly with your customers?  Will the shop floor or warehouse people be able to utilize the system?

Is your organization ready for change? 

 

How will you pay for the solution?  What is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?  How will you determine the Return on Investment (ROI) of the solution?  What are the base requirements for a new solution and what is on your wish list?

 

Where and how do you get started? 

Would my existing consultant or trusted advisor be able to assist me or do I have to find new advisors?  How do I tell if they have my best interest at heart or if they are only interested in a commission?  Do I have to establish a new relationship with the company after the Salesrep leaves or do I work with the same people throughout the entire project?  What if I like the software, but not the Salesrep? 

There are no shortcuts to finding the right solution.   Dolvin Consulting works with your team to determine your needs and match that with an appropriate solution.  Contact us today to get the ball rolling.  It is a process, like your business, and it takes time to make an intelligent decision.  We are here to help.

 

On-demand vs. On-premise ERP

Should your business acquire traditional on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions? Or should it invest in emerging software-as-a-service (SaaS) based ERP solutions?

Click here to download the Guide from Ziff Davis

Software as a service (SaaS) is a fast growing alternative to traditional on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. But just because something is hot doesn't mean it's necessarily the right recommendation. For many, on-premise may in fact be the better solution. The key is understanding what's right for your particular business.

This is a comprehensive comparison of both hosted and on-premise solutions.  It certainly will not answer all of your questions, in fact it should actually start you generating your own questions.  Any good paper will do that.  The reality is that after reading this paper, you will not run out and switch your system type.  You might feel comfortable that for the moment that you are doing the best you can with the available resources. 

What you will get beyond the basics from reading this is a new set of questions and possibly concerns that you can share with your trusted advisor.  These will provide great insight as you look to make upgrades or replace your existing systems.

Dolvin Consulting looks forward to helping you navigate the constant flux in technology.  We partner with industry experts to deliver solutions to your challenges.  Contact us today to see how we may help your business.