Tag: AI

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Write it Once – The Value of Integration

It’s amazing how much time and energy continues to be spent on duplicate data entry and re-keying information generated by one system into another.  Human-based data entry is prone to errors, takes time, and carries with it the burdens of employee costs and resources.  It is a problem that businesses of all types have battled for years even though enabling solutions have been around for a while. 

Methods of integrating applications and data have existed for quite some time, and in recent years these methods have expanded to include a wide variety of platforms and more open standards-based approaches.  Even in the small business world, business owners using traditionally limited software products can enjoy sophisticated extensions and integration of their applications and business data.

To provide a simple example of the problem: when an individual writes a check, that check must be recorded for several purposes including the recording of the cost or expense as well as the reduction of funds in the bank account.  When a product is sold to a customer, inventory is relieved, sales are increased, accounts receivable or cash is increased, costs of goods sold are experienced, and customer activity is captured.  All of this information must be recorded, and the activity accounted for throughout the financial and operational systems and can represent a tremendous burden if not automated. This also means that data exists in a variety of places, increasing the challenges of information collecting and reporting.

 Cloud-based integration and infrastructure services such as DBSync and Microsoft Azure enable seamless collection, transformation, aggregation and storage of business data. Whether linking accounting with sales CRM or pushing financial and operational data to an Azure data warehouse for analytics, Noobeh and DBSync provide the data engine and the infrastructure to put it all together.

A small business owner’s situation offers a direct illustration. He sells computer parts through an ecommerce website.  Orders from this website are emailed to his order operators, who then turn around and re-key the orders into their accounting system where the inventory is also tracked.  Because of the increasing number of sales orders and product purchase orders to enter on a regular basis, there were three operators working in the department responsible for making sure website orders make it into the accounting system. Orders were frequently missed or misplaced, entry errors caused problems in accounting and product delivery, customer satisfaction went down, and the cost of handling web orders was increasing.

By implementing a single software solution, the company was able to not just address the current problem, but was set up to seamlessly increase business without increasing headcount. The solution was a system which takes transaction data from the ecommerce system and imports it into the accounting/ERP system. This single step allowed the business to reduce and redirect personnel costs, improve accuracy and timeliness of data entry, and increase customer satisfaction as well as overall business performance.

In even a small company, one piece of information may be used in a variety of ways and in a variety of systems. This complexity is found in simple business models as well as larger and more complex enterprises, revealing the value of integration solutions and automation tools at every level of operation.

Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh cloud services recognize that every business needs the right information at the right time to operate effectively. Our expert teams help businesses implement the solutions which bring business data together, empowering workers to be more productive and giving stakeholders the decision-support tools they need.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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For Franchise Business, Platform Agility Helps Deliver Customer Value

In every corner of the franchise world, businesses are talking about growing value. Customers are pursuing lower prices and are spending less, and the competitive marketplace often pushes businesses into a race to the bottom. With pressures coming from all sides – rising labor and supply costs, inflation and the cost of capital, changes in consumer spending habits – franchise operations are looking for ways to differentiate themselves and delight customers while supporting profitability and growth.

Value is not simply a discounted price on an item. To the buyer, value is often found in the quality of the product or service, and fast friction-free transactions made without errors. New bundles of products and offering new add-ons may also improve the customer’s value perception. The introduction of online and mobile ordering and partnering with third-party delivery services is not only an enhancement to the customer experience but can open new revenue streams by reaching new customers and serving current customers better.

Understanding where changes might be made to not only improve value to the customer, but also to the business and stakeholders, is the challenge. Only through close monitoring of operational and financial data will businesses understand what adjustments are needed to achieve the desired results. Yet the complexities of data collection, integration and reporting often pose barriers to exposing the information needed to fully inform stakeholders.

Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh Cloud Services understand that many franchise organizations are faced with challenges in identifying, collecting, combining and reporting on their operational and financial data. Working with Microsoft Azure and having team members and partners experienced in working with a wide variety of financial and operational systems, Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh help businesses create the foundations for flexible, agile and massively scalable data collection, storage and analysis.

From standardizing accounting systems and processes to establishing data lakes and foundations for data analysis and reporting, Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh have the range of services and solutions and partners to help support new, established and fast-growing franchise operations. Its about delivering more value… to our clients and to theirs.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Timing is Everything: Security, AI and the Tech Stack in Restaurants

Running a restaurant or chain of restaurants is no easy task. Margins are often razor thin while customer demands continue to expand. Food service, like so many other industries, is struggling to bear the weight of change as labor shortages, rising costs, increasing cybersecurity risk, and demands for an improved customer experience push the industry to do more efficient and effective business. To keep up, businesses must learn more about what’s really going on in the operation, and to turn that insight into action. Timing is everything, and now is the right time to look at technology and platforms which will deliver greater insight and intelligence.

Whether it is leveraging commercial solutions available from partners or through building the tech stack by DIY, businesses in the restaurant industry are looking for innovative solutions to drive more profitability as well as increasing revenues leveraging resources they’re already paying for. AI is playing a big role in this evolution and businesses of all sizes, from the single-location entrepreneur to the multi-location franchise, are taking steps to incorporate it into the operation. Yet AI is all but useless if it doesn’t have the data to analyze.

An example of a transformational solution for the restaurant industry might be Curbit’s products, which include digital infrastructure and real-time AI capabilities that enable the software to analyze the data around service, real-time order progress, kitchen performance and guess sentiment. Microsoft’s Azure and Azure AI platform is key to Curbit’s innovation and development, enabling them to give the information which powers timely decision-making rather than offering only after-the-fact reports or outdated dashboard data.

In the category of maximizing the resources you’re already paying for, look at new services available through DoorDash, where lunch special and happy hour promotional offerings help businesses drive demand in off-peak times. Designed to increase revenues and drive greater sustainability, the service also reflects how restaurants are increasingly faced with the need to leverage online tools and mobile ordering to replace the reduction in foot traffic at brick and mortar location.

On the other side of that coin is information security and privacy and how businesses deal with the realities of cybersecurity threats and the need for greater levels of protection. Collecting more data for analysis means there is an increased risk of exposing private data if not adequately protected.

Considering high profile incidents like what happened with Panera, adequate cybersecurity protections must be part of the essential infrastructure that supports the operation. What was initially described as a systemwide technical outage at Panera was ultimately found to have been a cybersecurity breach exposing some employee personal data and the basis for a class action lawsuit filed by Panera employees.  

Whether it belongs to employees or customers or others, personal and private data must be protected. The cost of protecting the data is likely lower than the cost of dealing with a data breach and the potential resultant backlash, which is another part of the equation which must be considered.

Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh cloud services recognize how businesses need to modernize their systems, developing greater intelligence and resilience in the operation. We also recognize the importance of redundancy and agility in systems, and how quality managed cybersecurity solutions and services help guard against attack.

From ERP and specialized business solutions to platform, hosting and managed service, Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh cloud services can help your business meet the demands of doing business now and in the future.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Enhancing Business Insight: Noobeh Cloud Services and Azure-Based Solutions

Technology is evolving and so are our ways of using it. While the rules of accounting haven’t changed for years, the solutions we use to do the work have changed a lot. Yet there remain many businesses that haven’t yet embraced the idea of fully digital workflows, integrating and automating how data moves through the “system” to provide a comprehensive view of the business and how it is performing.

This is where accountants and bookkeepers can best serve their clients, by helping them implement the platforms and solutions which transform operations and provide greater insight into these areas.

Over 20 years ago, a technology model was developed which allowed businesses and the accounting professionals who serve them to work directly and collaboratively in the clients’ accounting system. By hosting QuickBooks and Sage desktop products on host servers, small business users and their accountants could both access the software and the data in real time.

This new approach was a boon for accountants, bookkeepers and others working with small business clients as it not only enabled closer work, but also provided those advisors an opportunity to do more – and more complex – work with the client. Yet many platforms and working models created barriers to broadening the scope of service or access to client systems, limiting to just basic accounting products like QuickBooks, and not effectively addressing the rest of the business need.

As technology has evolved, so have these transformations.

More accounting professionals understand the benefits as well as the necessity of moving from analog to digital workflows, removing manual entry and improving efficiency and accuracy of data. Yet this improvement doesn’t require changing accounting software and undoing years of learning and business knowledge. Rather, the platforms and connections must be the primary focus, replacing the manual with automation and smoothing out the bumps where data isn’t flowing at all. If the system isn’t in place to handle the complete flow of the data, there is a break. Like a pipe leaking water, this break results in data loss – which is also loss of business intelligence.

A key to all of this is the consideration of where the data ultimately resides. When business data exists in closed silos – whether web-based software or closed hosting platform – it takes a comprehensive approach to collection, storage and analysis. This is among the benefits to be derived from the modern cloud and Noobeh’s Azure-based hosting approach.

Noobeh’s hosting is not just about the desktop or the applications.

The cloud platform, and Azure in particular, also provides resources for data analysis and business intelligence, workflow and data flow automations, improved security and identity management, IoT and computing on the network edge.

For professionals looking to evolve their practices by helping clients go beyond basic recordkeeping and reporting, it’s time to delve into the operational details, data flows and development of real business intelligence and insight. Noobeh Cloud Services and Mendelson Consulting have the platforms and the supporting services to help bring it all together, improving profitability and performance of their clients through the intelligent application of technology.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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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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Big Data, Analysis and Business Intelligence

Big Data, Analysis and Business Intelligence

big dataThere is a lot of talk among IT professionals of “big data”, and discussions at many business conference tables center on how the organization might find greater benefit and advantage from the intelligence buried in the business systems and information.  It is a two-part problem, where the collection and the analysis each play essential roles in developing real business intelligence.

“So what’s getting ubiquitous and cheap? Data.

And what is complementary to data? Analysis. ..”

Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google and emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley
“Hal Varian Answers Your Questions,” February 25, 2008 (http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/02/25/hal-varian-answers-your-questions/).  BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYTICS: FROM BIG DATA TO BIG IMPACT; MIS Quarterly Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 1165-1188/December 2012

The information technology and systems in a business support the operation.  Software and computers help people do their jobs, and the information collected in and generated by those systems becomes the foundation for developing business “intelligence”.   Today, businesses must reach beyond their own direct operational support systems and consider the full realm of data to be collected, including IoT sensor data or social media data.

Business intelligence is gained from the analysis of the critical business data – analysis which helps owners and managers make better and more informed decisions which are based on an understanding of the business and market.   Business intelligence was a term popularized in the 1990s, but the key was the analytical component (business analytics), which gained focus in the late 2000s. Today it is big data and big data analytics, where organizations are working with massive data sets not previously even imagined.

“…one of the most significant challenges facing enterprise IT teams today is how to efficiently support and enable the “science” of big data, while providing the confidence and maturity of more traditional (and often better understood) infrastructure services.”

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2015/05/26/hadoop-big-data-storage-challenge-overcoming-science-project/

The volume and velocity of information collection is ever-increasing even in the smallest of businesses, creating a great need for tools which can structure and correlate data so that it might render some insight.  Simply storing and managing these huge and growing data sets has become a challenge, and there isn’t one right way.

Once the business has the data, then it must find a way to analyze the data, which generally involves also applying visualization tools. Many IT departments are feeling pressured in the development of new skills and capabilities around data collection and management, yet it is more frequently the business user who provides the analysis and applies visualization tools to the task.

“Data collected by the Aberdeen Group, found that employees in organizations that used visual data discovery were more likely to find the information they need, when they need it. These same companies were able to scale their use of scarce IT skills more effectively.”

http://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/visualization-set-your-analytics-users-free#0vXrkWZbizxyutw

The use of business intelligence and advanced analytics continues to grow in every segment of the market – from small business to enterprise – and plays an increasingly important role in supporting business success.

Until this point, most businesses didn’t have the technology or the data to enable significant quality or business transformation, but the times are changing and deployments of data collection, analysis and visualization software and tools are expanding with it. This is a fundamental aspect of business digital transformation and fuels the next step, where intelligence is applied to conditions revealed in the data and activities are automatically performed guided by that intelligence.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J