Posted by Len Diana on Fri, Jun 04, 2010 @ 11:07 AM
Is Your Company Ready for a MRP/ERP Solution?
Increased productivity, reduced operating expenses, improved information flow and enhanced performance management are some of the benefits that you can realize by implementing a MRP/ERP solution. An informed selection and well-planned implementation can reduce unanticipated costs and extended project timelines. Should you replace or implement a new MRP/ERP solution? Here are 7 thoughts to consider:
•1. Fast and uncontrolled growth: Are you growing at a very fast pace? Has production volume, processes, and work force increased?
•2. Lack of sufficient and accurate information on your company's performance: Problems are starting to surface when trying to capture exact figures and you're getting mismatched data regarding performance indicators.
•3. Consistent mismatch between inventories and production management: Sales order processing and inventory management are not coordinated to get you proper information.
•4. Duplication of effort: Finance, HR, and production departments are maintaining their own records which may result in duplication of efforts.
•5. Correct information is not accessible at the right time: Accurate data on stock in inventory, month-end sales figures, or orders in transit is not accessible on a timely basis.
•6. Little or no ability to forecast and plan: How can you project into the future your organizations needs without the proper information?
•7. Your current system is becoming obsolete: you haven't upgraded your hardware or software in several years and it's negatively impacting your organizations goals, productivity and growth.
If your organization is experiencing one or more of the following business issues, then it's time to seriously consider implementing or replacing a new MRP/ERP solution.
Posted by Len Diana on Fri, Apr 16, 2010 @ 03:23 PM
Does your CRM tool offer the right solution and features?
Not all CRM tools are created equal but whether you are using a hosted or on-premise CRM tool it should include the following 10 features:
Lead Management: If you allow a lead to fall through the cracks, can you afford the lost revenue right now? The lead needs to be routed to the right sales person and managed throughout the entire sales cycle.
Feedback Management: How can you optimize the customer experience if you are not capturing feedback from all channels of communication? Your sales person can now capture a better understanding of the customer's needs, wants and buying patterns.
Order Management: With multiple departments handling an order the chance for human error grows and so does the paperwork. However, order management allows for quotes to be converted to orders, modified and then saved into a single system.
Territory Management: No sales rep should be stepping on another's toes when you have created sales territories and manage territory-based processes with workflow rules and reports.
Email Management: You customers are using email these days to communicate their complaints, issue requests and offer feedback. If you want to anger your customers, don't respond to their emails or your CRM tool can chronicle customer-related communications with automated tracking of customer emails.
Contact Management: If you're using MS Outlook, it is simply an ineffective way to track your contacts. With a 360-degree view of their customers, sales people can view contact and account information, and purchasing history all from a central location.
Reporting: CRM tools have many varied formats for reporting from standard templates to customized documents. Reports can have detail providing contact information, opportunity pipeline, lead-status analyses and case studies.
Opportunity Management and Forecasting: You need to quickly view the sales and production pipeline so that your business can handle the orders they're generating.
Marketing Campaign Analysis: How can you know if you're getting the best bang for your buck if you're not monitoring and analyzing the advertising and marketing efforts? CRM solutions help track activity from trade shows to direct mail so that every dollar spent is productive and leads to future profitability.
Marketing Revenue Tracking: Wouldn't it be nice to have every sales dollar linked back to marketing activities? With marketing revenue tracking it's easier to convince upper-management that a costly campaign produced results.
If you're not currently using a CRM solution or are thinking of changing tools, the features listed can be of great help in that decision. Whether you are using a hosted solution or on-premise tool, CRM has become increasingly vital to all businesses.
Posted by Lee Motta on Fri, Oct 02, 2009 @ 03:19 PM
What is Disaster Recovery?
Disaster Recovery means different things to different people. What's really important, is what does it mean to your organization. In this blog, I am going to hope to cover many areas, such as:
- What does Disaster Recovery entail?
- Why it is important to be prepared?
- How do you do it?
- How will I know when I am done?
- What are the best practices to maintain your IT infrastructure?
- Examples of where some have succeeded... and others have failed.
- How to utilize RAID Technology?
- Can RAID Technology and Disaster Recovery work together?
According to Wikipedia, Disaster Recovery is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing an organization for a recovery or continuation of an IT infrastructure that is critical after a natural or human- induced disaster.
With the increasing importance of information technology for the continuation of business critical functions, combined with a transition to an around-the-clock economy, the importance of protecting an organization's data and IT infrastructure in the event of a disruptive situation has become an increasing and more visible business priority in recent years.
It is estimated that most large companies spend between 2% and 4% of their IT budget on disaster recovery planning, with the aim of avoiding larger losses in the event that the business cannot continue to function due to loss of IT infrastructure and data. Of companies that had a major loss of business data, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term.
Stay tuned to this blog to learn about different product options, methodologies and just some good, common sense ideas.