Tag Archives: Big Data

Should You Start Thinking Bigger? Discover The 7 ERP Readiness Signals

The aim of this post is to highlight the sorts of indicators that may lead a company to consider looking at installing an ERP system. These are the “7 ERP readiness signals” to look out for.

There is a certain percentage of small companies that end up becoming larger companies with more complex operating environments. If this is the case with your organisation then it may be the case that your current accounting system may no longer be the right system to help you achieve your business objectives.

It’s at this stage that you might want to consider looking at an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

1. Data File Too Large/Large Number of Concurrent Users

Once the data file of a server-based small business accounting system becomes too large, the operation of the system can slow down considerably or even start crashing. This leads to user frustration as it takes them longer to complete routine tasks and lost productivity if the system needs to reboot. Similarly, once more and more users start accessing a small business accounting package its performance will start to slow leading to user frustration and lost productivity.

ERP systems are underpinned by a scalable database (usually SQL) and do not suffer from these limitations.

2. Large Inventory List/More Complex Inventory Handling Requirements

Once a company’s inventory list has become a certain size it will affect the running speed of small business accounting packages. In addition, companies tend to require more complex inventory handling procedures as their inventory list grows.

ERP systems are able to perform key inventory processes such as barcoding, serial number tracking, batch processing, automatic re-ordering; and cater for inventory sub-items, multiple pricing levels, multiple bins and multiple warehouses; features not available (or only available in a limited capacity) in small business accounting packages.

[FEATURED ARTICLE – How to choose the best ERP solution: A guide for Small to Medium size Business]

3. Disparate Systems/No Single Source of Truth

As companies grow they will tend to add additional software packages (such as CRM systems, Warehouse Management Systems etc) to their business to perform specific tasks. This can lead to what’s known as the “hairball” effect where there are several disparate systems requiring data to be double-entered (into one system and then also into the accounting system) and there being no acknowledged source of data truth.

ERP systems will combine many of the functions performed by disparate systems into an integrated whole-of-business system, eliminating the need to double enter data. The database underpinning the ERP system will also act as a single source of truth.

4. Reporting Done on Spreadsheets

One of the unpleasant side effects having disparate software systems is that it means that customers are quite often forced to resort to collating data on spreadsheets to report on various aspects of their business. Not only is this process time consuming but it is also prone to human error.

ERP systems have a comprehensive list of pre-built reports and also come with report writers which give customers the ability to produce custom reports so that they can report on any aspect of their business.

[FEATURED ARTICLE – Template ERP requirements: Defining your implementation checklist]

5. Multiple Offices

Small business accounting systems have been developed to cater for small businesses – which are usually single office entities. Once a business grows to take on multiple sites, collating data from these sites can be problematic for such systems.

ERP systems have been designed to cater for multiple offices and can consolidate the data from each of these offices for reporting purposes.

6. Dealing with Foreign Currencies/Overseas Suppliers

Foreign currency management tends not to be a feature of small business accounting systems necessitating the use of spreadsheets on the side for data manipulation and then double entry back into the accounting system. Similarly, importing goods from overseas mean that landed costs need to be accounted for which aren’t a standard feature of small business accounting systems.

ERP systems have in-built foreign currency and landed costs functionality.

[NOW READ – ERP Budgeting: How much should I spend on ERP implementation?]

7. Jobbing/Project Management

Any sort of jobbing or project management requirement that necessitates the use of budgets; resource allocation, scheduling and tracking; sub-contracting, progress invoicing or timesheeting will not be able to be catered to by small business accounting systems.

Most ERP systems have job costing or project management modules which can cater to these requirements.

Leverage Technologies has a range of ERP solutions that cater to growing Australian businesses. For further information on any of these solutions please call us on 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] today.

8 considerations to help your business choose the best ERP solution

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Looking to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning solution for your business?

Enterprise Resource Planning has evolved drastically over the last few years. Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, IoT and Cloud Computing have all contributed to better-performing ERP solutions that are easier to implement and use.

Here are our top recommendations for the key aspects to consider when choosing an ERP solution for your business.

#1 – Technology vs business benefits

You don’t implement Enterprise Resource Planning Solutions because they have great technology. You implement ERP Solutions because they offer real business benefits – improved cash flow, better customer satisfaction and staff retention – helping you run a better business. But, the world of ERP (and most other business improvement technologies) is rapidly changing and being influenced by technological improvements. Think of:

Cloud – Ignoring for a minute the financial implications of the cloud vs on-premise question consider the computing power that the Cloud gives you access to. Scaleable processing power at your fingertips – scale up and down with ease.
Mobility – A must-have in today’s world! Access your data, reports and fully functioning ERP solution anywhere, anytime via a web browser or apps.
Internet of Things – The connected world is here. The internet, cloud and other technical enhancements allow us to connect multiple devices and to share relevant information across platforms. Add into the mix Artificial Intelligence (AI) and you start to realize just how important technology is becoming when choosing an ERP solution. Think of a connected world where the warehouse is alerted of a late delivery when the truck that is scheduled to make the delivery has a technical issue or is in peak traffic. Your ERP solution is notified and an SMS or other notification is automatically sent to your company sales team and the customer. That’s how we use technology to improve customer service.
E-commerce – Trade seamlessly 24×7 with e-commerce and EDI integration.

#2 – Functionality of the solution

It goes without saying that the ERP solution you choose for your business must offer the core functionality you require to run your business and make improvements to business processes (quicker quote to cash timeframes, better information for decision making and advanced planning and budgeting tools).

When reviewing an ERP solution make sure you carefully evaluate all functional requirements – Finance, operations, Service, manufacturing, inventory and reporting. Ask a “functional head” to document and review requirements for each business function. As an example, an inventory manager might review the functional requirements for purchase planning, goods receipting, warehouse management, inventory reporting and stock movements. Create a checklist of requirements and manage that checklist with potential providers.

#3 – Big Data, Analytics and Business Intelligence capabilities

Big Data is becoming ever more important. In today’s connected world we are generating big data volumes. These data volumes are of no value unless we can sort and analyse data into meaningful information for decision making. A few considerations here include the following.

Data volumes are increasing – Choose a modern ERP solution that can cater to large data volumes from multiple sources – ERP, CRM, social media, e-commerce, customers and suppliers.
Analytics – These large data volumes need to be sorted, checked and reconciled. With data being made available from so many different sources it is critical that the analytical tools we use can check and reconcile data for accuracy before presenting the data.
Visualization – We retain the visual aspects of reporting. As a result, what we want is great visualization tools for reporting. Make sure that the reporting, KPI, BI tools that you use offer a variety of visualization opportunities.
Ease of use – This goes beyond simply being able to view and schedule reports. In today’s connected, mobile-first and fast-paced world we need the ability to write our own reports, dashboards, KPIs and data analytics. New age ERP Solutions cater to this requirement with pre-written data analytics and cubes to allow users to create their own reports. As an example, a sales data analytics layer will allow a sales manager to write his or her own report based on all the available fields available in the sales analytical layer. The ERP provider will have pre-written the analytical layer with all of the typical data that you would require to write a sales report – items, customers, sales order details, credit notes, sales volumes and pricing. This allows the sales manager (writing the report) to pick the data they want and simply drag the required fields into the report. Simple report writing without requiring technical knowledge.

#4 – ERP vendor

Make sure you choose an ERP solution from one of the top ERP providers. With technology moving quickly you will want the backing of an ERP vendor that has the investment in R&D, people, technology and processes to take you on a journey to success. The pressure on smaller ERP providers is increasing as technology advancements gather pace. When it comes to ERP vendors only the fittest will survive.

#5 – ERP reseller / partner

Choosing the right ERP product for your business is half the solution. A critically important decision is the ERP reseller (partner organization) that will implement the solution for you!

A great ERP solution is worth nothing unless you have a partner organization to help you implement the solution. Requirements include system scope, system configuration, user training, user acceptance testing, data conversion, go-live support, and all-important post-go-live support. Your relationship with the implementation partner should be more than a supplier relationship – your ERP implementation partner will be working closely with all team members, across your business, and will have access to sensitive company data. Your investment in ERP is likely to be substantial and project success is critical – make sure you choose the right partner. Some tips and tricks when it comes to ERP implementation partner selection:

Culture – Make sure the culture of the implementation partner is similar to yours.
People – Interview the consultancy and project management team that will be working on your implementation. This will give you an opportunity to get a better understanding of each team member, their previous experience and expertise.
Experience – In similar industries and the implementation of ERP for similar customers is important.
Agreement – Make sure you have a fair but comprehensive agreement in place to manage the implementation process.

#7 – Cloud vs On-Premise

No specific answer here. Do your homework and make a decision that is right for your business. There are multiple advantages to the Cloud but, it’s not for everyone. Consider the following when deciding between cloud and on-premise:

Current infrastructure – At a time when your infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful lifespan and has been fully depreciated is always a good time to consider the cloud.

IT Resource – Your companies access to good, internal, IT resource will have an influence on your cloud vs on-premise decision. If you don’t have internal IT resource then, you are more likely to move to the cloud to outsource infrastructure requirements,

investment – Cash flow and investment requirements are quite different for cloud vs on-premise. On-premise requires a much higher upfront investment.

Scale – Cloud allows you to scale up and down (users, processing power, and functionality) easier than On-premise and therefore lends itself to businesses that are more exposed to fluctuations in user count and business conditions.

#8 – Budget

Unfortunately budget always has an influence on ERP implementations and product selection. There is no point in reviewing and selecting an ERP product that is well beyond the budget that your business has allocated to get the job done. At the same time, ERP Solutions is not the sort of investment that you want to “cut corners” with. Make sure you have the appropriate budget allocated to your ERP implementation.

Digital Transformation Trends In The Australian Professional Services Sector

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In the business world, digital transformation is no longer just a buzzword. Neither is it a luxury that small and midsize professional services can do without. Instead, it’s a matter of survival—something that Australian businesses must do to beat the stiff market competition and avoid lagging behind. These service firms are digitising various aspects of their operations to drive business value.

Overview of Professional Services in Australia

Professional services, including accountants, tech consultants, legal experts, and management consultants have cranked up their contribution to the Australian economy. According to Alexandra Heath from the Reserve Bank, this sector accounts for 20% of the workforce. She also said that the sector accounts for 25% of gross value added today, up from below 20% in the 1990s.

How Professional Services are Adopting Revolutionary Technology

According to “The Digital Transformation Executive Study” survey by SAP/Oxford Economics, small business services across the globe find it necessary to adopt technology to streamline their operations and get the most out of their employees and knowledgebase. The research found that 61% of small and midsize professional service firms consider digital transformation to be critical to their survival. About 57% of enterprises in this sector digitise their processes to enhance their competitiveness.

Here are some of the critical digital technologies these service companies are adopting:

Cloud computing: The service delivers otherwise unaffordable technology and specialist skills to professional service providers. It enables small firms to compete effectively with their larger industry counterparts.
Mobile technology: It enables co-workers to collaborate remotely and work on the go. Firms don’t need a massive IT investment to leverage the technology.
Big data: Professionals services leverage big data in many ways, including harnessing in-depth customer and market insights. These firms may deploy machine-learning algorithms to gather and interpret data from both structured and unstructured sources. The technology helps extract business intelligence that’s critical to smart decision-making and enterprise growth.

What are the key aspects that businesses in Professional Services are digitizing?

Business services in Australia are leading in the absorption and development of a specialist workforce with high capabilities for critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills. Small and midsize professional service firms appreciate the role that employees play in boosting sales and revenue, and they’re increasingly leveraging talent recruitment and retention technology to achieve their goals.

Professional services are also digitising strategy and planning efforts. For example, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software enables enterprises to coordinate various back-office operations and workflows, including procurement, financials, and human resources.

Service providers that use sales and marketing technologies report higher customer satisfaction rates and revenue. They’re using customer relationship management (CRM) systems to streamline sales lifecycles and convert potential leads faster.

Other areas that service firms may digitise are data, platform, and network security. The companies can also harness technology to spread brand awareness and drive business revenue.

Challenges in Digital Transformation and How to Overcome Them

The main obstacle to digital transformation would be costs, but professional service firms in Australia are overcoming that by outsourcing their hardware and software. They’re engaging cloud providers as well as IT managed services companies to leverage economies of scale. The firms don’t have to maintain costly IT equipment and top talent to compete effectively in a flooded marketplace. Outsourcing enables smaller and midsize firms to tap into cutting-edge tech that was once the reserve of major corporations.

Professional service firms are now a top contributor to Australia’s economy. The companies are increasingly adopting newer digital technologies to cope with the dynamism of their work processes. Buoyed by affordable cloud-computing resources, these business services will continue to drive economic growth in the nation.

No matter your profession or industry, feel free to contact us for help leveraging digital technology to drive business value.

From Data To Smart Insights: How To Make Sense Of Too Much Data

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There is one consistent trend across Mobile, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, IoT (and of course privacy) in a world of evolving technologies – data is more important than ever before.

In fact, most of the latest technological advancements have one thing in common – large data volumes.

If we consider the business benefits behind these technological advancements we find that all areas of a business, including marketing, sales, admin and customers service (to name a few) are craving data to make quicker, better decisions.

Data is everywhere and businesses that use it wisely can unlock endless opportunities.

In this post, we are going to explore how businesses can make better use of large data volumes currently available to them and finally generate the smart insights they have been looking for.

What can Data do for your business?

All areas of a business can benefit from data that is meaningfully presented.

Marketing teams want data to understand customer behaviour, buying patterns and consumer trends.

Sales teams and managers want to understand the customer buying journey to anticipate buying patterns. With access to unlimited online information, the consumer is better educated than ever and is usually 80% of the way through the buying cycle before making contact with a sales team. The sales team needs access to data to better understand and manage this buying journey.

Admin teams have always had access to big data volumes coming from invoicing, payments, banking and inventory data. The question has always been what they can do with this data?

Customers and suppliers have access to data from multiple different sources. Social media, review sites, videos and more. This means that suppliers and customers are able to “self-educate” through the buying cycle.

The challenge is how do we make sense of data coming from different sources and presented in different formats?

To answer this question, we need to understand why Data structure is key.

Why “structure” is key to understanding data

Take Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an example. AI needs data – lots of data – to detect trends and to be able to suggest alternatives. Many of the data analysis tools that we have access to are sorting through data to give us insight into trends, and patterns to give us a “new view” of the world.

Connected IoT (Internet of Things) devices, on the other hand, means that we live in a connected world all day, every day. Most of us use multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, notebooks PCs and we subscribe to multiple channels for day to day use – movies, music, collaboration tools and social media for instance. Think of all those connected devices and platforms. You can tell a lot about someone based on their buying trends and usage through connected devices. You can pick up trends such as how often does someone travel, where and how does the individual shop, what’s important to the individual or company and more.

Your digital footprint says a lot about your buying behaviour – this is true for consumers as well as businesses.

All of this and a whole lot more becomes apparent as you get data from multiple connected sources.

The challenge for companies wanting to leverage data for decision making is that data without structure is meaningless. It’s rows and columns, nothing more.

You need tools to make sense of data, detect trends and make recommendations.

Here are some of the most important aspects to consider when choosing how to structure data for extracting meaningful information.

#1 Data Collection. This is topical at the moment. Obviously, privacy concerns will continue to make headlines. Companies will need to be extremely careful about how they collect and use data – from ethical and “opt-in” sources.
#2 Sorting and analysing data. This is not as easy as it might at first appear. In its simplest form, analysing data requires Business Intelligence type tools to categorize and report on large data volumes. The future of data analysis is Artificial Intelligence. This implies collecting data, analysing the data in seconds or milliseconds and making meaningful recommendations and then learning from that data and those recommendations to constantly refine and improve the outcomes.
#3 Doing something meaningful with data. Lots of data is pointless unless we are making and acting on meaningful decisions associated with the learnings from the data. We are about to make the leap from data volumes being available for business intelligence and reporting to systems that find, sort and recommend actions the refine the results and make better or alternative recommendations to help you run a better business.

A real-life example of the business benefits of Data

Let’s consider a real-life example of the business benefits associated with carefully structured data. After all, we don’t want to implement new technology simply for the sake of having the most up to date technology. What we want is the real business improvement – cash flow, customer satisfaction and increased sales margins for example.

Let’s assume you are a mid-sized distribution business and let’s assume that the goal is on-time in-full delivery to your customers whilst holding the lowest possible inventory.

This has long been the great balancing act for distribution companies. You don’t want to tie up cash flow in inventory, but you do want to hold enough stock to deliver on time in full.

How can you use data to achieve your goal? The connected world, using data from years of trading can be used to detect purchasing, sales and delivery trends.

Enter IoT, AI and Big Data, your systems should be able to sort through years of historical data and trends to show you accurate forecast sales for the next few months.
These numbers can be fed into a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) or purchase planning solution which will look at data from the forecast, lead times, current inventory levels, economic order quantities and make purchase order recommendations.

Analyse historical data to see if estimated lead times are accurate based on historical supplier deliveries;
Consider weather patterns to see if shipping deliveries might be delayed based on bad weather;
Link to the contract manufacturer overseas to monitor the timing of the manufacturing process and timing of your shipment to automatically update your delivery schedule;
When the goods arrive in Australia, data will be provided to your purchasing manager to notify them that the goods have arrived and are clearing customs;
Estimate clearance times based on previous customs clearance timelines for similar shipments;
Customers will be automatically notified of the delivery schedule;
When the truck leaves the depot to deliver the container of goods to your warehouse, the system will estimate the delivery timeline down to the minute based on current traffic and driver schedules. Your warehouse staff will be available to unload the container as it arrives.

At the same time, the system will review all customer orders and will notify your customers of their updated delivery timeframes based on customer location, driver routing and traffic conditions.

Wrapping it up

If you want to get ahead of the pack your business will need to get used to dealing with large data volumes from multiple different sources.

There is a competitive advantage to be had from quicker, better decision making. From better sales and marketing management, customer service, operations, finance and all other areas of a business can benefit from a structured approach to data management.

Want to learn more about how to leverage data to streamline your business and unlock strategic insights? Call us on 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] to get started today.