Category: data analysis

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Competitive and Profitable Construction: What’s it take to get there and stay there?

The short answer is… update your operations and transform the business. It’s time to modernize and embrace the cloud.

Construction firms need to be more data-driven, analyzing and responding to conditions revealed by the various systems supporting the business operation. Turning a profit on complex projects means applying automation to manual processes and workflows, introducing more collaborative tools, and delivering real-time data to gain greater insight into the operation’s performance and profitability. The foundation for all of this is the cloud platform, extending connectedness beyond traditional boundaries.

Digital transformation and the adoption of agile and connected cloud platforms can result in productivity gains of 14 to 15 percent and reduce costs from 4 to 6 percent. These improvements are the way to address fading profits even as the pace of business increases. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/decoding-digital-transformation-in-construction

There are several factors that typically weigh down the operation and cause profits to fade. Strained IT resources is a big item for most construction companies, where technical people spend far too much time building and maintaining on-premises servers and networks. Maintaining on-premises servers adds up fast. A single IT manager can easily cost around $150,000 per year, and the “cost of cybersecurity compliance raises the price by an additional $200,000.” (5 Reasons Contractors Need to Modernize Their Operations to Stay Competitive and Profitable by Trimble Viewpoint)

Even when you factor in the costs of hardware, software and IT personnel, those costs don’t include the hidden expenses that come with the use of on-premises servers, like disconnected and siloed data that requires manual processes to use, duplicated data entry requirements (increasing the potential for human error) and more costs for labor. When you figure in all the capital costs and expenditures, on-premises solutions can cost up to four times as much as their original purchase price. On the other hand, NOOBEH cloud servers, deployed on the Microsoft Azure platform, offer reliable, cost-effective solutions to support the variety of important business applications and integrations that high-performance operations require.

NOOBEH cloud services focuses on addressing the pain points businesses have with their IT. We help businesses implement services that promote real collaboration for real use-cases, and we look for ways to connect projects and operational data so it can be analyzed to unlock greater value across the entire enterprise.

Disconnects cause inefficiency, delays, errors, and reduced productivity. Lack of insight on the labor and equipment side leads to uncontrolled resource utilization and a lack of predictability. Jobs get delayed and profits fade. Lost productivity due to duplicate entry of information is leveled at 10%-30% (or more), and these rates are not uncommon. https://www.eckerson.com/articles/hidden-costs-of-duplicate-data.

Clearly, automation, connected workflows, cloud platforms and real-time data are essentials in the transformation and improvement effort. Let in-house IT focus on activities that bring value to the business, finding ways to innovate and improve how things get done. Replace cumbersome, manual processes with software and systems that facilitate greater automation and integration, eliminating redundant data entry and improving the quality of information.

Construction projects are becoming larger and more complex, and project owners want the latest technologies, real-time reporting, and comprehensive approaches to compliance. Today, industry-leading contractors are embracing connected cloud technologies so they can scale and future-proof their businesses.

The modern contractor takes advantage of connected platforms, automation and real-time data that feeds data analysis and business intelligence… innovations only available with the cloud. That’s what NOOBEH delivers.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Building Smarter Businesses

Achieving Growth, Efficiency and Sustainability Through Greater Business Intelligence

Every business needs to know how they’re doing so they can find ways to do better. This is what business intelligence is, and it’s the key to taking advantage of new opportunities and building success.

Consider the IBM commercials that were aired, about developing models for the prediction of traffic conditions in Singapore and “infusing intelligence into the systems and processes that make the world work”.   What they’re saying makes sense, but most business owners would likely say that it addresses bigger issues and doesn’t really speak to them. Yet those messages are for even the smallest of enterprises because you must really understand what’s happening in a business – and how it’s happening – to improve and excel.

The ability to leverage technology to collect data and analyze it in real time can make a huge difference, whether it is in a small business or a global system. With an intelligent approach to enabling the enterprise, we can build smarter and stronger businesses.

“Together, we have to consciously infuse intelligence into our decision-making and management systems, not just infuse our processes with more speed and capacity . . . We are moving into the age of the globally integrated and intelligent economy, society and planet. The question is, what will we do with that?”

former IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano

Business software and systems have reached the point where data collection and raw business intelligence is being gathered in real time by businesses small and large. This is where businesses must transform, replacing paper-based systems with digital workflows and enabling the collection of real-time information as data for analysis.

Forward-thinking accounting and finance professionals realize that accounting is not simply the final resting place for after-the-fact financial data. The finance department is where collected data is turned into actionable information, and information is power.

The competitive landscape for businesses of all kinds is changing along with the progress and adoption of technology.  Business owners and accountants should learn to use the tools which will help them find the patterns and trends in the system that help to forecast more accurately.

Working with NOOBEH cloud services and Mendelson Consulting, accounting professionals and business owners can implement the agile platforms and connected technologies to help achieve the benefits of growth, efficiency and sustainability envisioned by the Smarter Planet initiative.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Is Your Business IT Ready for Industry 4.0?

Over the past several hundred years there have been trends which revolutionized industry and manufacturing around the world… steps taken in an industrial revolution which advanced the evolution of civilization and life as we know it. The first revolutionary phase was combining mechanization with steam and waterpower, and the second was the combination of mass production with electricity. The third was the rise of electronics, IT systems and automation. We are now at the start of the fourth phase of industrial revolution.

PwC’s Insights suggests that Industry 4.0 “refers to the fourth industrial revolution, which connections machines, people and physical assets into an integrated digital ecosystem that seamlessly generates, analyzes and communicates data, and sometimes takes action on that data without the need for human intervention.”

This next phase advances on concepts introduced through digitization and connected frameworks, tying in the industrial IoT (Internet of Things) and smart manufacturing. This meshed model relies on interconnectivity of systems, lots of automation at high levels, machine learning and AI… all collecting and generating data in real-time.

Where physical operations and production join with smart digital technologies, big data, and machine learning, businesses can forge systems which focus directly on manufacturing and supply chain management, gaining new insights and getting actionable data at all levels.

Virtualizing physical resources and digitization of analog data is now coupled with improved access to and management of the platforms. Rather than building out on-prem physical servers and systems, businesses are finding that the agility, scalability, and fault-tolerance of the cloud is necessary when designing an operation that connects, communicates and collects data, performs intelligent analyses, and potentially acts without people getting directly involved.

Every company is different, but all face a common challenge — the need for connection and access to real-time insights across processes, products, and people.

The consulting team at Mendelson Consulting and our NOOBEH cloud services group know how to get businesses in the best position to implement the tools and services that will propel the operation forward. From the most popular and powerful small business financial software to cloud platforms which enable connectivity in applications and workflows, we understand what it takes to help small businesses transform.

jm bunny feetMake 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

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Next Generation Accountants and Businesses

Understanding the value and application of information technology is the cornerstone of building a successful “next generation” accounting or consulting practice. Professionals are finding that new opportunities to engage with new and existing clients comes from closer involvement with client financial and operational systems. Collecting and analyzing data, integrating applications and automating data exchanges, and leveraging cloud platforms and services is rapidly becoming the next level of “standardized” service offered by many professionals.

The pace of change is increasing, which makes it increasingly important for business owners to wisely select their technology partners and solutions. While many accounting professionals consider themselves to be the business owner’s trusted advisor, their clients often seek advice on increasing efficiency and reducing costs from software and IT consultants instead.

Yet conditions will change and could force the client business to make adjustments that impact the applications and services supporting the operation. Do the solutions in place have the agility necessary to meet changing business needs, being adaptable enough to meet new conditions or orientations? This is where accounting professionals can help their business clients make the right choices to address current and potential future needs.

Even as information management paradigms continue to shift, accounting professionals can help their business clients achieve better business performance and profitability through innovating workflows and increasing process efficiency. Whether or not the existing systems lend themselves to these efforts remains the question, and represents an area where the professional could provide great value.

Accounting professionals should look at services they can provide to clients that have direct and meaningful impact on operational efficiency and resultant profitability.  These areas represent not simply cost and efficiency improvements, but speak to quality of service and sustainability as well, creating better and repeatable outcomes that can support the operation even as operating conditions may change.

Improving data collection and analysis provides the foundation for understanding more about the operation, and delivers the insight required to identify areas where performance might be improved and then to prove the outcome.

Automating data exchanges and imports, eliminating redundant entry and the potential for manual errors, establishes structure in processes which can then be streamlined to deliver consistent and predictable results.

Utilizing cloud platforms and services allows the business to utilize the infrastructure required to support operations while providing a level of affordable scalability that doesn’t push the business beyond its reasonable boundaries.

What this discussion touches on is the subject of digital transformation and what that really means for small businesses and the accounting professionals who support them.

Rather than performing the accounting and financial work as after-the-fact participants, accounting professionals should help their business clients take a new view of processes and activities performed throughout the business, identifying areas where new approaches can be applied to increase efficiency as well as agility, developing a stronger foundation for growth and profitability. 

From the adoption of paperless and electronic workflows to merging social media with marketing and support activities, digital transformation represents an ongoing effort within a business to fundamentally shift from manual processes to electronic exchange, and expanding considerations beyond physical boundaries to include the virtual, as well.

All of this represents new opportunity and enhanced value for the accounting professionals ready to help their clients become “next generation” businesses.

Make Sense?

J

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Model Your Dreams, Not Your Workflows

Jurassic Park: “Are those heavy? Then they’re expensive, put them back..”

Process modeling, process improvement, workflow design and quality management all sound like big, complicated things that larger companies do. Analyzing and re-engineering processes and developing highly structured workflows is often work performed within an enterprise; heavy and complicated and expensive work that’s required to keep large or distributed organizations operating as a single unit. But structure isn’t just for big business operations; it’s a big deal for small business, too.

The truth is that modeling business processes and workflows isn’t necessarily difficult or expensive, and the benefits to be gained apply as directly to small businesses as they do to large enterprises – perhaps even more because smaller businesses can change their trajectory early on, before things are too fully entrenched.  Ongoing, the development of workflows to guide process activities and the regular evaluation and testing of the outcomes may reveal wondrous opportunities to increase performance and profits. It’s all about drawing that picture of what you want the business to be, and then finding the best way to make it be like that.

While business owners and managers may be familiar with projecting financial performance under different scenarios, how often do they look at the actual processes supporting business operations and “project” performance based on changes to processes, worker activities or operational workflows?  It just isn’t something you hear much about in the small business world.  When I reached out to Ben Boomer of ParkPro to have a discussion about this type of stuff, I had no idea that the conversation would turn into a real example of how one single software solution could be the foundation for incredibly beneficial change in the organization, the business performance, and the satisfaction of workers and customers alike. The software is from the Dutch company Exact, and the product is Synergy Enterprise.

ParkPro has been operating for just about 40 years, providing an array of services and solutions ranging from auto gates and access controls to parking revenue management and camera solutions, and even anti-terrorism solutions.  Their deliverables are mostly project-based and there is a very large installation and maintenance services aspect to the business. What all this means is that there are a lot of moving parts, lots of scheduling, projects and recurring activities, and lots of possible product and service combinations. There’s also a lot of inertia behind the processes and methods that have been standard business practice for a long time.

“Making any change to how the business operates is akin to changing tires on a moving vehicle” says Boomer. “You still have to get the work done and move forward”.  With Synergy Enterprise, ParkPro’s system is agile enough to allow them to use the software and at the same time configure and tweak it to meet the needs of the business and not the other way around. He suggests that this is the problem with systems that lack of the flexibility of Synergy Enterprise; businesses must adjust to the way the software works rather than making the software really work for the business. Ben discussed an example and the good advice he received from Jeff Sachs when the company wanted to implement barcodes and thought they could use whatever came in a “canned” solution. Jeff’s suggestion was that “if the process doesn’t work, then this will simply make it not work… faster”.

Greater efficiency and performance are always important, but what it also comes down to is configuring accountability into the system.  The very act of formalizing the processes and the workflow forces ParkPro to think about and define the processes as they really are.  The system that helps them set up work requests and structure activities also helps establish accountability along the way. This has allowed the company to benefit in ways they couldn’t even imagine.

Synergy allows them to make copies of their system where they can pose questions and model the answers and outcomes.  “Do we really need to do this step, or is it just because it’s written down?” he asks. “We can pose questions and then find efficiencies in answering those questions”.  Just as with financial modeling and forecasting, workflow modeling informs on the potential result of the adjustment, allowing businesses to make better decisions and avoid missteps.

The ability to adapt Synergy Enterprise to the requirements of the business has been central to the company’s success in creating new efficiencies and improving overall performance, and the effects are felt throughout the company.  Boomer says that the changes they’ve made in their processes and the workflows which connect them has even resulted in restructuring the organization and management hierarchy to be more reflective of how things are in Synergy because its more efficient.

Reliant upon the “open” nature of Synergy Enterprise and its ability to flex with the needs of the company, Ben knows the solution will continue to support beneficial change in the operation.  In Ben’s own words, “Synergy allows us to project our future dreams and know the software can keep up”.

Make Sense?

J

 

  • Series Introduction:  Fringe to Foundation: Aligning Business Goals and Lifting Business Performance through Digital Workflows
  • Article 1: Every Business Deserves a Chance to be Better
  • Article 2: Improve Processes and Profit More
  • Article 3: Workflow Has 3 E’s