Business Process: Post-Holiday Mission – Business Process Improvement

The holidays are finally here! What this means for many is the end of a busy year, some free time to spend with family and friends over holiday gatherings and maybe even some beach time!

For others it means the beginning of a new year, with new projects and tasks. It’s the time to analyze, plan and budget for the year ahead so employees will be ready to tackle new challenges and opportunities. To do this, it’s critical to take some time to look at the year that just passed in order to see what improvements and changes can be made going forward. No matter how successful a company may be, there is always room for improvement! Read more

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BI: Why should I integrate Business Intelligence within my ERP system?

There comes a point in time when you’ve finally chosen the right ERP management system for your business but the IT provider asks you whether you also want a BI & Analytics solution as an add-on to the system. What should you do?

Many out-of-the-box ERP software suites do have its own analytics & reporting features but they are not as specialized and complete as a separate Business Intelligence add-on solution. What I always suggest to customers is to properly distinguish between the two – what is your ERP system used for and what is your BI solution used for? Read more

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4 Tips to Boost Operational Efficiency

There are tons of big and small ways to increase a company’s operational efficiency. In order to stay ahead of the competition, it’s critical to focus on what your customer really wants from your business (& how you can provide it faster and cheaper), figure out how work really gets done by your employees (manage and improve your business processes), and remove any obvious inefficiencies like unnecessary manual data entry, continuous order delays, overproduction, etc. Read more

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Bringing EDI To Your Business in 2016

EDI Communication, a method of electronically exchanging business documents, like Purchase Orders and Invoices, between Trading Partners, has been very much in demand for manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, etc. in recent years…and for good reason! [Read the top benefits of EDI]

So, you’ve recently been looking into doing business with a large retailer but they require you to exchange POs, Invoices, ASNs via EDI? Debating whether or not to bring EDI into your business by 2016? Read more

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Business Tech Terms Defined [Infographic]

We compiled a short list of business technology terms that are useful to keep on hand when looking for software solutions for your business or when speaking with an IT Service Provider. We grouped them in 4 categories – ‘Cloud’, Software, EDI and Business Continuity. Check out the 2-part infographic below: Read more

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Top 4 Game-Changing Business Tools

It’s hard to ignore all these new tools and apps on the market used for personal or business use. Take a look at Slack, a great communications platform for office use, or Hubspot, for marketing automation and CRM, or even Hootsuite, for social media automation. All of these tools have grown exponentially over the last few years in the business world. There are many more game-changing business trends ahead and today’s list is built on ‘integration’, ‘automation’, ‘visualization’, ‘SaaS’, and ‘disaster recovery’. These trends are nothing new; they are simply making their way to the smaller players. Large enterprises have had their fun with their tools and apps over the years; it’s time the smaller businesses have some fun as well. I’ll focus on the top 4 game-changing tools that will be used by small and medium businesses in the coming year and how these tools will change processes and performance for the better. Here we go; Read more

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What would you like your Management System to do?

When asked by your IT Service Provider, “What would you like your Management System to do for your business”, you should already have a list of the exact business areas and aspects that need improving. Perhaps you’ll want to be able to send out invoices quicker, complete customer orders faster, ship out deliveries on time, receive purchase orders electronically, eliminate manual data entry for these orders, etc.

Therefore, in order to figure all of this out, you’ll need to make a list of your company’s pain points and problems (these can be issues your company is currently facing and/or issues you may foresee in the future).

Here are some examples of common business pain points: Read more

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Evaluate Your Business Processes Before Implementing an ERP System

Back in September, we published an article called “False Advertisement: The Truth about ERP Implementations” listing the false statements about ERP implementation projects that business executives were told by others or simply just assumed. The last false statement listed in the article was the following: “You should always customize the new ERP system to your current business processes”.

We see this with Small and Medium business owners far too often, which is why today’s article will go on to explain why changing your newly upgraded ERP system to fit with your old business processes may not ALWAYS be the best way to go. Read more

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The Year’s Best Productivity Apps

We love sharing our favourite productivity apps with our readers. Here are some of the latest free Android & iOS mobile apps that are great for completing tasks, setting reminders, working in groups, and editing documents. Read more

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Can Small Businesses afford a Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solution?

Traditionally, Small Business and Business Continuity do not go in the same sentence. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans and solutions were typically designed and offered to larger enterprises. These solutions were simply out of reach for the smaller players. However, just like many other software systems on the market, we are seeing big changes in accessibility and affordability due to the emergence of the cloud and new technologies. Read more

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