5 Signs Now’s the Time to Upgrade Your ERP Solution

In this report, we will show how implementing a CRM solution enables manufacturers to meet managerial challenges, exceed overall sales goals, strengthen and grow customer relationships and build a stronger, more efficient company. Equally as important, we’ll look at new and innovative ways manufacturers are using their CRM systems.

Exact Macola

15 Signs Now’s the Time to Upgrade Your ERP Soluti on Macola AN EXACT WHITEPAPER 2Are You Looking to Increase the Speed, Accuracy, and Reliability of Your Business Operati ons? If you’re like most manufacturing and distributi on companies, you’ve started out with a hodge podge of manual and siloed systems to manage your business. Chances are, you use accounti ng soft ware to record transacti ons, post them to the general ledger and generate income statements and balance sheets. A variety of spreadsheets, soft ware and manual processes manage your sales, manufacturing, distributi on and other operati ons. But workloads have grown. Your management can no longer see everything going on in the company. Vast quanti ti es of informati on make decisions overwhelming. Manual business processes are cumbersome and ti me consuming. Tasks grind to a halt as employees’ inboxes become swamped. Documents get misplaced. Answering questi ons—such as what is the cost of labor and materials for a parti cular product or where an order is in the producti on line—demand increasingly ti me-consuming research via email, voice mail, or walking to the shop ﬂ oor. Important work falls through the cracks. Enterprise business soft ware soluti ons address these issues and more. Evolving from enterprise resource planning (ERP) applicati ons that traditi onally managed ﬁ nancials, manufacturing and distributi on, modern enterprise business soluti ons also encompass customer relati onship management (CRM); human resource management (HRM); document management, workﬂ ow and automati on; and more. These soluti ons automate manual business processes and transacti ons to enable your team to react to business events without human error or delays. They make business data available in real ti me across your organizati on so you can make data-driven decisions. And they centralize the creati on, management and secure access to business documents. Bett er yet, today’s soluti ons are easier than ever to use. Each member of your team sees only relevant functi onality needed for their speciﬁ c role. These beneﬁ ts mean that virtually every small to medium-sized manufacturer or distributor eventually adopts enterprise business soft ware. According to the Aberdeen Group , 97% of leading manufactures take advantage of these soluti ons. If you haven’t adopted one of these soluti ons already, the questi on is not whether you’ll do so, but when. So how do you know when the ti me is right for your business? Consider these ﬁ ve signs. #1—Your company tracks criti cal informati on in systems that are neither automated nor integrated Accounti ng soft ware manages only ﬁ nancial records. It doesn’t handle projects, producti on, distributi on, or CRM. For these and other tasks, you use spreadsheets, paper-based, or other siloed or homegrown systems. Since these acti viti es aren’t integrated with your ﬁ nancial system, you end up entering the same data into multi ple systems, which is ti me consuming and leads to mistakes. For example, updati ng your books requires someone to re-type data from purchasing, inventory and other systems into your General Ledger. Enterprise business soft ware automates all your business processes and functi ons including project management, distributi on, quality management, accounti ng and ﬁ nance, HRM, CRM and manufacturing. Data entered into any of these modules is stored in a single repository that serves your enti re enterprise. By eliminati ng the need to maintain separate systems and manually re-enter data into each one, you save ti me and slash your risk of error. In a recent survey of enterprise business soft ware users, Panorama Consulti ng found that improved producti vity and eﬃ ciency as well as reduced duplicati on of eﬀ ort were named as a top beneﬁ ts. As one example, when all of your business systems are integrated, your books become self-reconciling, which dramati cally speeds the producti on of ﬁ nancial statements. Wayne Bailey, CIO for Reno Refractories made the following statement aft er implementi ng their Macola enterprise business soft ware soluti on, “We used to be 2-3 months behind on our ﬁ nancial statements. Aft er implementi ng our ERP, we are now four days from closing our ﬁ nancial statements.” Integrated data provides the greatest opportunity for e ciency and productivity gains 3#2—You want to improve collaborati on by boosti ng eﬃ ciency and transparency Your company has mission-criti cal work processes that demand collaborati on and cross-company interacti ons. As you grow, manual processes take too long or allow tasks to fall through the cracks. For example, when a change order comes in, your producti on planner might leave a voice mail, email, or Post-it® note to noti fy the producti on manager. A lost message that delays or prevents the producti on manager from receiving noti ﬁ cati on of the change can impact everything from scheduling to purchasing to producti on. Similarly, it’s oft en diﬃ cult to track all the documents necessary to fulﬁ ll an order, including esti mates, purchase orders, advanced shipping noti ﬁ cati ons, and shipping documents. When you must manually reconcile these documents, you can end up with mistakes or delays throughout your order-to-cash processes. Workﬂ ow engines within enterprise business soft ware prevent important tasks from getti ng lost. Workﬂ ow engines automati cally route tasks to the next person in the chain. This automati on aligns all parti es to the process, ensures tasks are performed in a consistent manner and tracks progress to eliminate human error. Workﬂ ows also alert key individuals of criti cal business situati ons, such as when a change order means producti on schedules need to change or purchasing needs to order a new part. Document management capabiliti es centralize the creati on, storage, access, and version management for all documents that support your business. People can easily see online copies of documents related to transacti ons and workﬂ ows, which makes it faster and easier to reconcile a PO with an invoice, for example. #3—You lack real-ti me visibility into the performance of your business When your data is stored in multi ple disconnected systems, it’s diﬃ cult to keep your ﬁ ngers on the pulse of your business. You need an army of people spending hours, days, even weeks pulling data out of diﬀ erent spreadsheets to create custom reports that answer questi ons such as: • What’s my sales pipeline and forecast? • What are my open accounts receivables? • What’s the rate of inventory turns for a speciﬁ c part? Lack of visibility is a parti cular problem for executi ves with enterprise-wide responsibility. These executi ves need access to data about the performance of the enti re company at a moment’s noti ce to answer a shareholder questi on or make a strategic decision. Informati on availability is a key beneﬁ t of enterprise business soft ware. These soluti ons enable you to instantly create ad hoc reports to make informed decisions more rapidly. Personalized workspaces display all your key performance indicators in easily understandable charts and graphs. You can drill down to the underlying detailed data and interact with it in a contextual manner that supports immediate acti on. These workspaces are available from the web or mobile devices so you can access them anyti me, anywhere. #4—You need to improve proﬁ tability by reducing manufacturing costs Because you’re under constant pressure to keep prices low, the only way to achieve reasonable margins is by cutti ng your manufacturing costs. But as the saying goes, you can’t improve what you can’t measure. You need to know what your costs are before you can ﬁ nd ways to reduce them. If you are unable to accurately measure all elements of your manufacturing costs, including materials, labor, overhead, and subcontract manufacturing for each of your products, how can you identi fy speciﬁ c and meaningful cost drivers and opportuniti es to reduce costs? By providing complete visibility into all of your costs, including material, labor, and overhead costs, enterprise business soft ware enables you to accurately determine your costs and proﬁ tability—as well as pinpoint areas that can be improved. This is criti cal if you’re exploring future manufacturing strategies and competi ti ve cost pressures. Workfl ow engines prevent important tasks from getting lost Information availability is a key benefi t of enterprise business so ware 4#5—You want to improve your competi ti ve advantage Cumbersome manual processes impede competi ti veness in many ways. An inability to easily answer customers questi ons impacts customer service. Having to track down informati on through telephone tag, email or by walking around the plant, for instance, makes the quoti ng process laborious and ti me consuming—which can lead to lost business. If you’re manually moving parts through each successive step in your producti on process, you lack visibility into how long it takes to make the part as well as what aspects of the manufacturing process are ineﬃ cient and need improvement. Automati on ensures that work processes are completed in a ti mely fashion that makes you more responsive to customers. Document management means you have instant access to necessary documents, which further improves cycle ti mes. Take the quoti ng process. Enterprise business soft ware makes it easier for sales reps to gather all the informati on they need to put together a quote. Sales reps can instantly see the latest pricing for components; quickly determine the labor necessary to produce the item; see similar quotes; and even view historical informati on about which previous quotes turned into orders to make more accurate quotes more quickly. RiteWay Manufacturing, a Macola customer, took advantage of these capabiliti es to reduce the ti me it took to quote large custom projects from 3-5 days to less than half a day. Enterprise business soft ware’s reporti ng and analysis tools also give you visibility into historical ti me, cost, labor and quality data. By comparing this data to esti mates, you can judge what’s working and what isn’t—and make the necessary improvements to enhance your competi ti ve advantage. Your business can, for example, speed manufacturing processes by more accurately tracking the ti me it takes for each quanti ty of product to be completed and which workers are assigned to each job. Managers can easily see where delays might be occurring and hold employees accountable Conclusion Are you ready to migrate from your accounti ng soft ware and disparate manual systems to enterprise business soft ware? Now may be the ti me to make your move. Ask yourself whether you’re ready to take your business to the next level by: • Automati ng your business transacti ons and tracking all your data in one central repository to avoid excessive ti me and errors from duplicate data entry. • Improving collaborati on and cross-company interacti ons by boosti ng the eﬃ ciency and transparency of your work processes • Gaining real-ti me visibility into the performance of every nook and cranny of your business • Improving your proﬁ tability by reducing manufacturing costs • Enhancing competi ti ve advantage by streamlining business processes and delivering bett er, more responsive customer service. About Macola 10 Macola has provided soft ware soluti ons to thousands of small and medium-sized manufacturers and distributors for over 40 years. Our soluti ons help organizati ons increase revenue, reduce costs, miti gate risk, improve operati onal eﬃ ciencies, and enhance customer sati sfacti on. Our ﬂ agship product, Macola 10, is business and enterprise resource planning (ERP) soft ware aimed at helping customers bett er: • Understand costs and performance metrics • Plan properly for labor, materials, resources, and compliance • Deliver their products predictably and within budget Manually intensive processes severely limit your ability to gain a competitive advantage 5We do all this by increasing the speed, accuracy, and reliability of business operati ons. While most of our competi tors charge extra for every add-on piece, we oﬀ er a comprehensive suite of functi onality including accounti ng, manufacturing, distributi on, CRM, HRM, workﬂ ow, automati on, and document management soft ware….all with mobile access and integrati on support for 3rd party applicati ons. We provide all this for one budget-friendly price. Product Website: htt p://www.exactmacola.com/erp-soft ware/manufacturing-soluti ons/exact-macola-10 Contact Informati on Exact Atrium II (South Tower) 5455 Rings Road Dublin, OH 43017 Company Website: htt p://www.macola.com/ Phone: 1-800-468-0834 Sales Email: [email protected] Request a Live Demo: htt p://bit.ly/EM10Demo What About Our Social Media Links? htt p://go.panorama-consulti ng.com/rs/panoramaconsulti ng/images/2014-ERP-Report-2.pdf?mkt_ tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonsq%2FKZKXonjHpfsX54%2B0qT%2Frn28M3109ad%2BrmPBy92IABWp8na% 2BqWCgseOrQ8llwLV9W%2FRM0RqqI%3D From Panorama 2014 ERP Report, Use chart on Page 15—“Type of Beneﬁ t Realized” htt p://www.aberdeen.com/research/9820/RR-erp-manufacturing-technology.aspx/content.aspx From Abderdeen Report “Creati ng a Modern, Eﬀ ecti ve Manufacturing Environment with ERP, use Table on Page 9, Table 1: The Beneﬁ ts Sources “Creati ng a Modern, Eﬀ ecti ve Manufacturing Environment with ERP” by Nick Castellina, Aberdeen Group, October 2014 “2014 ERP Report” by Panorama Consulti ng Soluti ons facebook.com/ExactMacola twitt er.com/ExactMacola plus.google.com/+Exactmacola/ linkedin.com/company/exact-macola blog.exactmacola.com/the-erp-blog 07.2016_v1.0_whitepaper_rebranded The informati on contained herein is privileged and conﬁ denti al. You are hereby noti ﬁ ed that any disclosure, reproducti on, distributi on or use of this informati on is strictly prohibited. No legal consequences can be derived from the contents of this document. Neither the sender nor Exact Soft ware North America, LLC (or any of its related companies) accept liability for any damage resulti ng from the use and/or acceptance of the content.