Category: small business

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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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It’s Not Easy Being Small – Thoughts on the Disruption and Rethinking Business Priorities

The global pandemic has been the source of disruption to business and personal lives for over a year now and businesses have found that, regardless of the challenges they face, business must continue.

With operations and supply chains strained and positive cash flow at a premium, companies everywhere are focusing on the fundamentals while enabling work-from-home and distancing mandates. COVID-19 has, in many ways, become the event that is forcing many businesses (and entire industries!) to rethink how they operate, and to look to transform their global supply chain models.

A fact that can’t be argued with is that the pandemic has exposed where many businesses are vulnerable, being heavily dependent on supplies of raw materials or finished products that are no longer readily available.

What’s also been exposed is the lack of agility in business I.T. infrastructure, as operations struggle to find ways of continuing operations with reduced personnel or users working from various locations and finding that their systems aren’t really helping in those efforts.

“Supporting small manufacturers has probably never been more important that it is now”, said a panelist at the “National Conversation with Manufacturers” session hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP). While larger companies are certainly impacted by what’s happened this year, small manufacturers face the challenge of running a company with a smaller available base of resources, technology and supporting tools.

“The conversation’s participants represented very small manufacturing companies with fewer than 20 workers. They all recounted a mad scramble over the past six months. First, they had to figure out whether their operations were essential enough to stay open under their state-mandated shutdown orders.

Then began the efforts to keep their workers safe, implement cleaning regimens, source protective materials, respond to public health protocols that evolved during the pandemic, determine what emergency support they qualified for, and go through the steps to access funds. All of this was being done with a small staff that needed also to continue getting product out and deal with obstacles to normal operations. Hurdles included delays and disarray in the supply chain, disruption in cash flow, with both account receivable extensions and overnight changes in credit terms, shipping impediments and customers still expecting on-time deliveries.”

https://www.nist.gov/blogs/manufacturing-innovation-blog/sometimes-its-not-easy-being-small-manufacturer?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_campaign=

To add to the troubles, disruptions in global trade with China have created significant impact in supply chains worldwide. Companies who rely on direct and secondary suppliers in China are currently experiencing significant disruption, and this is likely to continue. But it isn’t just China… countries around the globe are experiencing challenges with having enough personnel, materials and technology to deliver their goods.

For so many years, businesses have focused on optimizing their supply chains to minimize costs, reduce inventories, and increase asset utilization. This streamlining has also removed the buffers and the flexibility to absorb disruption. COVID-19 has shown that many companies aren’t aware of their vulnerability when supply chains suffer from a global shock of some type.

So, how can organizations respond to the immediate challenge?

There are steps that businesses can take to help address the changing conditions facing businesses today, and a major item that should be addressed is the alignment of IT systems and support to evolving work requirements. Further, enhancements in operational systems should be made to illuminate the extended supply network and enhance inbound materials visibility, and a new focus on production scheduling agility as well as evaluating alternative outbound logistics options should be approached.

NOOBEH’s cloud solutions have been the foundation for business continuity and operational support throughout these difficult times.

We’ve helped companies around the country implement Microsoft Azure cloud servers where they are able to run their entire operations. From order entry, manufacturing, inventory management, pack and ship, and through to accounting and finance – businesses run their applications, integrations and services that allow them to keep the business operating even with reduced personnel or as their users are forced to work from home. OneDrive and SharePoint file storage, and TEAMS for closer collaboration and simplified access to information, helps hybrid working models and distributed workgroups stay in step with projects and business goals.

As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, Mendelson Consulting and NOOBEH provide and administer Microsoft 365 and Azure services, enabling us to more closely manage the licensing and computing platform to make sure it works in the best possible way for your business. With NOOBEH managing your services, you get predictable performance at predictable costs, allowing your business to operate without interruption or subscription overages.

As the past year has proven, life is unpredictable. Let Mendelson Consulting and NOOBEH help your business implement the cloud services and technologies that will give your organization the ability to adjust to changing conditions because you’ll have the most agile IT platform available.

jm bunny feet

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J

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Update your Mac to keep getting Office application updates

Microsoft’s upcoming November 2020 update has some direct impacts to users running macOS, especially if running macOS 10.31 or earlier. As of November 10, 2020, existing Microsoft 365 for Mac users running macOS 10.13 or earlier will not receive any further Office application updates. If the machine is upgraded to macOS10.14 or later, updates will be allowed to proceed on that computer.

With the Microsoft 365 for Mac November 2020 update, users running macOS must be running 10.14 Mojave or later in order to continue to receive updates for Office applications, and any new installs of Microsoft 365 for Mac will require macOS 10.14 or later.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote are the applications included which will no longer receive updates – including security updates – if the macOS they’re running on is too outdated.

Among the benefits of using Microsoft 365 is that the software is always kept up to date, including enhancements and new features as well as security and safety updates that help keep the software (and the associated data) more secure. You may continue with the older version of macOS, and your Office applications will continue to work. But losing out on updates not only keeps you from benefitting from the most current capabilities of the software (and getting full value from your subscription), but it also puts your security and compliance at risk.

Microsoft 365 applications are continuously updated with new features, connected services and enhancements to security. Modern operating system platforms are necessary to support some of these improvements, requiring users to update their computer operating systems as well as the applications running on them. With the Microsoft 365 November update, Mac users need to be running one of the three most recent versions of macOS to keep their Office applications recent, too.

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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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Cloud for Small Business: Gain Hardware Independence

Small businesses tend to approach their business IT in terms of the tangibles.. the hardware and software they can see and touch.

The desktop PCs where the programs are installed, the server in the back room where the files are stored, and the backup that goes offsite (tapes? discs? usb drives?) is the stuff most small business owners think of when asked about the computing technology they use. This view isn’t very comprehensive when it comes to considering the costs of purchasing and maintaining IT in the business, yet it identifies a major problem with the typical small business IT approach.

The problem is the dependency on the hardware and the reliance of the small business on the operation of individual computers.

The solution to this reliance on on-premises hardware? The cloud.

The solution to the problem isn’t centered on using web-based applications. The real solution to this small business IT problem is cloud platform, like Microsoft Azure. When businesses deploy a private cloud server they get solution that allows them to run all their desktop and network applications and store their data on a virtual platform that isn’t tied to any particular piece of hardware in the office.

Microsoft Azure offers virtual computing resources, managed and secured on Microsoft’s hardware in Microsoft datacenters. Rather than purchasing and maintaining hardware on-premises, business can deploy virtual networks and servers on the Azure platform. This makes the systems far more versatile and resilient than would be affordable to do otherwise. Surprise server hardware failures become a thing of the past, and buying ahead for possible future needs is no longer required because the systems can be upgraded on demand.

Businesses still need desktops where users access their programs and data, but the “desktop” can be a cloud desktop rather than the local PC desktop.

Remote desktops on the cloud server keeps software licensing and business information securely stored on the cloud server rather than being resident on user computers where it is more easily compromised. Users may still browse the internet and do other things with the local PC desktop, but using the cloud desktop for business applications and data means that just about any PC could safely be used for work.

When applications and data are managed on-premises, it makes changing servers or workstations a big deal. 

Changing desktops or servers means that software must be uninstalled and reinstalled, data must be migrated and user profiles and permissions may need to be recreated. When the cloud server is where users get their desktops, computer workstations become interchangeable because nothing is really installed on them other than the connection to the cloud desktop. This is also why traveling laptops and home computers become more secure for business use, because the applications and data are really running on the cloud server and not on the local device.

The cloud platform provides what the business needs without the lock-in to on-premises hardware or SaaS/Web-based software.

Rebuilding servers due to hardware failures, upgrading systems to handle future growth or replacing aging hardware all contribute to the unpredictable cost of managing and maintaining on-premises computer systems. SaaS and web-based software solutions lock-in data and lock-out many future options, yet they don’t address user desktops and the rest of the applications and data the business needs.

Rather than risking outages and lost productivity, businesses are finding that running their systems on a managed cloud platform provides more stability and consistent performance for a reasonable and more predictable cost. Desktop and server software licensing is able to service multiple locations when installed on a cloud server, and workers at home can access the tools to be just as productive as they are in the office (maybe more).

Make Sense?

J

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Windows Server 2012/R2 Not Aging Well, Loses Support for Microsoft 365 Apps

Lots of people loved (and continue to love and use) Windows Server 2012/R2. This Windows Server release introduced several new and improved features that made it a cornerstone of business and service provider networks worldwide. Notable improvements in virtualization with Hyper-V, along with improvements in storage, networking, remote access and server administration features, made 2012/R2 a necessary upgrade from the 2003 and 2008 versions still present in many networks.

Sadly, even though Release 2 (R2) for Server 2012 was largely a new OS due to its features and capabilities, it did not receive a new lifecycle end date and instead inherited the end dates for 2012 version. And an extended lifecycle end-date doesn’t guarantee extended usefulness or compatibility.

Windows Server 2012 began with mainstream support on October 30, 2012 and that mainstream support ended in January 2018, including for R2. Extended support for 2012/R2 goes through January 2023, but that is only if you are paying for Software Assurance for your licenses.

During this period where extended support may still be available for the OS, there is no guarantee that it will remain as a supported platform for your application software. An example of this is the Microsoft Office 365 Apps suite formerly known as ProPlus. The Office 365 apps, which include Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and more, are staples of business users worldwide. These applications are no longer supported on Windows Server 2012/R2.

Microsoft 365 Apps ended support on Windows Server 2012/R2 on January 14, 2020.

Innovative features and functionality continues to be released for the Microsoft 365 Apps and Microsoft needs to know that the platforms running the applications will work properly with those innovations. As the software is improved and new capabilities introduced, stability and performance issues can plague the install when it is running on older or unsupported operating systems.

Microsoft has pointed out that any Microsoft 365 Apps updated to version 2005 or later will result with functionality and stability problems because there are changes that are specifically not compatible with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

The pace of change is increasing no matter what industry you are in. With technology adoption rates rising faster than ever in all sectors, business owners cannot rely upon outdated systems if their operations are to remain competitive. Application software as well as the operating system platforms it runs on must be regularly updated in order to provide the reliable performance and useful functionality demanded by today’s business users.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J