Category: lean business

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Data Gets Lonely When It’s Isolated

EDI Helps Manufacturers Increase Efficiency and Improve Profitability

More efficient processes yield more revenue, it’s that simple. Imagine being able to seamlessly integrate data across the entire supply chain and then imagine how that integration could increase the efficiency and deliver more revenue to each link in the chain.

Every manufacturing CEO wants to increase operational efficiency and lower costs, helping to boost revenues and improve profitability. Yet there is an area which has often been overlooked by businesses, and this is the area of B2B integration. While some methods have delivered degrees of success, broad-based solutions remain elusive to many.

The problem is in the number and types of data sources a manufacturer deals with on a regular basis. With a network of partners and suppliers, each using their own data formats and transfer methods, the volume and variety of information flowing can be overwhelming. The result is siloed data, increased pressure on information technology and management resources, disconnected workflows and slower processes.

IDC’s Manufacturing Insights’ webcast IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Manufacturing Predictions once suggested that nearly 30% of manufacturers would make significant investments toward increasing visibility and analysis of information exchange and business processes, within the company and with partners. That was in 2015. Today, data integration and process improvements continue at a fevered pace as technology is helping businesses gain new data that brings new insight and sparks change.

The integration of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a fundamental first step in improving how a business works with trading partners as well as internally. EDI has been around for many years and refers to the transfer of structured data between two organizations or “trading partners” using a set of standards that define common information formats to facilitate the exchange. By adhering to the same standards, two different organizations can electronically exchange documents (POs, invoices, shipping notices etc), seamlessly and regardless of geographic location.

Simplifying business processes, reducing operating costs, increasing end-to-end visibility, reducing errors, and speeding up operations and responsiveness… these are the many benefits to be experienced when EDI and non-EDI information streams are processed in the same manner when it comes visibility, exception-handling, notifications, role-based access etc.

Unfortunately, not all trading partners use EDI (or implement it in the same manner). To get their documents into a usable format, manufacturers find themselves using manual processes or writing custom scripts. Either way, it means that documents are flowing through entirely different processes for EDI and non-EDI business partners, which significantly complicates matters and adds unexpected costs and complications. Addressing this is one of the reasons why modern manufacturers are finding an increased need for connecting with organizations like Mendelson Consulting who can help identify and address situations that out-of-the-box EDI does not.

The pressure is mounting for manufacturers to produce more with less resources. Mendelson Consulting understands what makes EDI complicated and has the experience and expertise to help growing enterprises overcome challenges in design and implementation, making broader integration possible and greater improvement achievable.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Integrated is Better: Connecting Your Systems and Workflows

Small businesses need software and systems to help them get business done efficiently. The global pandemic has been fuel for recent growth in the small business software market where companies of all types are adopting more applications and services to better support operations.  Especially when users are no longer able to work in the office and consumers are demanding increasingly more personalized services, businesses need to find ways to get more business done in less time and with fewer resources.

According to Intuit® research “small businesses, on the average, use four or more apps to run their business”. You could consider it that business owners and managers buy software apps to get jobs done. Software can help structure the work and the information, creating workflows that improve efficiency and accuracy.

The key to getting the full benefit from any application or service is to have it connected to or integrated with your other solutions. There is almost never a completely disconnected process in a business; everything flows from and to something else. It should be the same with software and data. Saving time and improving accuracy of information means that data should only be entered once, and key data should sync between systems to remain up to date.

QuickBooks Desktop (Pro, Premier, Accountant and Enterprise), as well as other desktop accounting or ERP solutions like Sage100, AccountEdge and more, have a variety of 3rd party applications and integrations offering additional functionality or services. Just because the main solution is a desktop application does not mean that all integrated applications must also be desktop products.

To extend functionality of desktop products, developers often create web-based applications and services that sync or integrate data with the desktop product. In fact, many of the services inside of QuickBooks desktop are web-based application services which sync data to and from QuickBooks. Payroll, payments, and more are subscription-based services connected in QuickBooks but look like they are just part of the installed program.

When QuickBooks and other desktop applications are hosted with NOOBEH’s QuickBooks on Azure service, the system is running entirely on the Microsoft Cloud. This improves system flexibility, resiliency, and security, as well as providing the optimum platform for desktop applications and web-based services to connect – the bandwidth they use is cloud to cloud instead of cloud to your PC.

Even if the average small business uses four or more apps in the business, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all those apps are talking. Often, a business will implement a new application to handle a particular job but won’t consider the additional benefits to be gained by connecting the new app to the accounting system. Yes, the new app may make getting data from the field easier, as with a timesheet or field service management solution. Maybe it makes doing payroll easier because the calculation, reporting and delivery of paychecks is automated. Perhaps it is a website that takes customer orders and manages their payments.

All are cases where a business benefits a great deal from increased efficiency in data capture, reporting and more, but if all the information from the app needs to be re-entered into the accounting system, then a great deal of additional benefit is simply not there.  Data entry takes time away from other work and introduces the potential for errors that can take hours to track down (if they are even noticed).

When connecting any 3rd party solution with your accounting or ERP system, it’s important to make sure that the company fully supports the integration. Whether it is a direct connection to your QB or other software or is a “brokered” connection (as with an Integration-as-a-service connector), just make sure that the integration has the features and functionality you need and that the data will flow as you want.

We know that businesses need more than a single solution to address the variety of business problems that arise. We also know that sub-standard or improperly configured integrations risk doing more damage than good to the business data. That’s why we offer consulting and deployment services for a wide range of add-ons and integrated products. Even if it is a solution we haven’t worked with yet, our consultants know how to validate and test the integration within QuickBooks to ensure that the data flows properly and gets the right treatment in the financial system.

Get your software connected and working better for your business. Mendelson Consulting and NOOBEH Cloud Services help you focus on your business and not the IT that supports it, so that you can get more done with the resources you have. We help you work smarter, not harder.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Direct-to-Consumer Causing Manufacturing Logistics Issues

Manufacturers have traditionally been positioned as a link in the long chain of supply. Somewhere between raw materials and finished products is where the manufacturer exists, transforming the materials into products that can be resold via distributors and wholesalers.

The supply chain was linear and relatively predictable, but that is all changing. With the introduction of broad internet connectivity, web-based services, large e-commerce platforms and increasingly innovative and competitive new logistics players, the supply chain is becoming a spiderweb of connectivity and communication, with linear approaches out the window and, to some extent, predictability along with it.

The economy we have today is an environment where customers demand more direct and personal approaches, and producers are being forced to find ways to accommodate. With the huge e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Alibaba, along with more direct-to-consumer channels, manufacturers are being turned into direct-to-consumer suppliers. Acting as drop shippers for the seller, the manufacturer isn’t shipping bulk or volume to distributors or wholesalers but smaller shipments direct to the consumer.

Many retail stores have now become more fulfillment locations than the place where the customer buys. This is causing tremendous change in logistics tools and approaches because the size of shipments is becoming smaller while the number of deliveries – and delivery locations – is only increasing.

Customers can go right to the brand’s website and buy direct, driving increased focus on building brand value and improving the overall customer experience. With the demand from consumers for flexibility in how and where they buy, retailers have shifted their approaches to bring e-commerce into the brick-and-mortar stores. This is where online and offline sales channels come together, creating pressure in ordering and fulfillment systems to offer the flexibility and experience consumers want.

While this converged channel model requires businesses to make new and continued investments in e-commerce and digital solutions to enable the flow of orders and information, it also delivers several potential benefits to the business, including the ability to better manage growing customer expectations, better compete in the digital marketplace, and address disruptions in the supply chain by having alternative options.

Delivering the goods has always been an operational challenge, with success often measured in performance and cost. Today’s marketplace requires more agility and flexibility, which means the role of supply chain managers is more strategic than ever. Simple logistics now has a direct impact on the customer’s decision to buy now, as well as buying again later.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Finance Department Participation in Supply Chain Management

When most businesses approach Supply Chain Management, the focus is on the item or product – the physical thing that ultimately gets delivered somewhere, somehow. What many businesses do not consider is that the orchestration and timing of “supply chain” activities can have significant impacts on financial performance, reporting and cash flow. The current processes could just be working just “okay”, and not delivering the financial benefit that might be obtained through modernization of technologies and transformations in approaches. The key is to get the right people involved.

One big aspect of seeking to integrate electronic commerce and collaboration with customers, suppliers and payment services is the recognition that supply chain activities involving orders, invoices, payments, and remittances are directly related to finances, revenue recognition and cash management.

For any project to be successful, it should include execs from both the supply chain and finance areas so that all concerns relating to event timing may be addressed to allow proper treatment in the financial statements. After all, the same things that trigger supply chain activities (orders etc) are the same documents which drive finance. When the information is accurate and timely, and when the inefficient manual processes can be replaced with electronic workflows, the business is best positioned to improve cash flow and overall financial performance as well as business value.

Unfortunately, few business owners have a real understanding of the costs associated with manual entry activities and how the direct financial impacts they have. The speed and accuracy of processing orders and invoicing customers means faster cash in, and leveraging the speed of electronic data interchange with suppliers so that “just in time” orders may be placed and logistics processes more fully enabled means cash out when necessary and not ahead of time.

“… using a digital transaction for payments allowed [businesses] to hold on to cash longer and better control the timing of the release of funds, something more difficult to control when mailing a physical check. Check fraud remains rampant across many industries. According to an AFP payment fraud and control survey, 70% of U.S. organizations reported check fraud in 2019, responsible for more than $18 billion in losses.” –

source: What Every CFO Needs to Know About Supply Chains; Study published by DiCentral and Lehigh University; 2012

For example, there are many studies which show that purchase orders that are not sent digitally are most often manually processed, and that this manual processing may be done by any number of departments in the company – but most often the job falls to finance. Rather than looking to eliminate the manual entry of data and the errors and delays that come along with it, businesses execs first looked to where the lowest labor cost rests and had them handle the extra data input.

A digital strategy that transforms inefficient manual process into efficient electronic workflows is the better solution. While many companies have approached streamlining of activities by exchanging manual entry operations for data file formatting and imports, they still have not solved the problem as would be with an integration that takes even less human time and effort.

The real goal of any business improvement effort is to improve overall business value. By bringing in finance along with supply chain execs to the “digital transformation” discussion, the business is much better positioned to make real progress in areas that directly impact cash performance as well as long-term business value. It comes down to having all the information and being able to weigh the risks against the potential rewards to be gained from the contemplated changes.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Office 2013 Loses Support for Commercial Office 365 Services

If you’re not on a subscription for your Office desktop applications, you may lose access to your email box and other services.  Why? Because Microsoft announced that, effective October 13th, 2020, Office 365 services (like OneDrive, Hosted Exchange and more) will only support client connectivity from subscription clients or perpetual clients with mainstream support.

Basically this means that Office 2013 is about to be no fun any more.

You won’t be able to use Office 2013 Outlook to connect to your Microsoft-hosted Exchange mailbox, and your Word and Excel won’t connect to OneDrive.  If you are with a hosting provider who supplies your Office licenses as part of the service, cross your fingers and hope that it isn’t Office 2013. It will be pretty frustrating if your Outlook suddenly has problems accessing your Microsoft-hosted mailbox.

Like many other products, a lot of the functionality in the desktop software has been turned into web service and the Microsoft Office applications are a great example. With cloud connectivity being the focus, desktop solutions are more frequently leveraging online resources to extend and expand their capabilities. This also means they’re more frequently turning from one-time software purchases to subscription service.

After October, Microsoft’s ongoing investments in the Office 365 cloud services – including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business – will be made based on “post-Office 2013 requirements”.  Now is the time to migrate your Office 2013 to Microsoft 365 Apps (formerly Office 365 ProPlus). We highly recommend this move anyway, so businesses can take advantage of using their Office applications seamlessly on Azure servers as well as their local PC desktops and mobile devices.

Users of Office 2016 and Office 2019 have a little more time before their software no longer supports the cloud services. That end date is currently October 2023. You can find the support lifecycle site for Office mainstream support dates here.

It isn’t that Microsoft plans to actively block older Office clients from connecting to Office 365 services. It’s just that older applications may have performance or reliability issues when they try to connect to the constantly-updated cloud services.  Increased security risks are certain and users may even find that they are no longer compliant with certain requirements. The big thing is that Microsoft support will likely not be able to resolve issues related to unsupported connections.

The days of buying software once and running it forever are just about over.

Developers have recognized that cloud services can expand and enhance their solutions in ways that static local installation can’t. For many businesses, it becomes easier and ultimately more efficient to migrate to subscription service for IT platform and software. Azure cloud servers, for example, allow businesses to always have modern infrastructure that is more fault tolerant and agile than on-premises hardware.

Combing these benefits with software that is cloud-connected and always up to date means the business never faces lost productivity or revenues due to outdated systems or lost compatibility with newer solutions.

Make Sense?

J

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Are You Prepared for SQL Server 2008 End of Support?

 

Everything gets old eventually, and now it is official for SQL Server 2008.

03-2012sean-phone-328-e1377042261105On July 9, 2019, support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 will end. That means the end of regular security updates and general support for the product. Are you ready?

It took more than 10 years for Microsoft to end support for our beloved SQL 2005 and version 2008 has enjoyed a similarly long reign. But it’s over and you need to get used to the idea. Even more, you need to get upgraded to a new version of SQL so your systems can still be patched, updated and supported. With all the nasty exploits out there, letting your software get out of date is more of a business risk than ever.

With cyberattacks becoming more sophisticated and frequent, running apps and data on unsupported versions can create significant security and compliance risks. The 2008 family of products was great for its time, but we highly recommend upgrading to the most current versions for better performance, efficiency, and regular security updates.

Now is a Good Time to Consider Azure

Microsoft is giving a present to businesses that want to migrate their workloads to Azure. For those customers that elect to take this as an opportunity to move to the Azure cloud, extended security updates will be available for free in Azure for 2008 and 2008 R2 versions of SQL Server and Windows Server to help secure workloads for three more years after the end of support deadline. Moving existing systems to the Azure cloud is a natural step in modernizing the business infrastructure and makes the next step of upgrading to managed database services and/or migrating to new Azure servers a lot easier.

Upgrading isn’t simply a matter of maintaining status quo, either.

Moving to new versions can be a foundation for new strategic capability and increasing overall business potential, powering new decision-making processes fueled by analytics and business intelligence.

The Microsoft Lifecycle Policy offers 10 years of support (5 years of regular support and another 5 years of extended support) for the 2008 and 2008 R2 versions of SQL Server and Windows Server. When the extended support period ends, there will be no patches or security updates, which always creates security risk.

If your business is going to remain competitive, you can’t rely on outdated systems.

Your business is tough enough to manage without having your systems work against you.  Software that prevents you from keeping up with demand, creates risk in compliance and security, and reduces operational performance is not what you need. Collecting, storing and rationalizing data takes power and speed, and securing your growing information warehouse requires vigilance in security and update management.

Use this opportunity to review your platforms and applications, and consider moving your on-premises or co-located systems to the cloud. The upcoming milestone is a great opportunity to transform applications and infrastructure to take advantage of cloud computing and the latest versions of SQL Server and Windows Server.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J