Rootstock

Cloud ERP for Manufacturing and Distribution

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Dreamforce day 3 is in full swing! Visit Rootstock Software at booths 328 and 1821! #dreamforce #clouderp #erp #rootstock #salesforce

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Great news for Rootstock customers about the Salesforce AppExchange

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There’s a new IDC paper, published just this week, which quantifies the collective global impact of what IDC calls the “Salesforce Economy.” That’s the term IDC uses to describe the ecosystem of Salesforce, it’s partners and customers.

IDC expects the Salesforce Economy will create 3.3 million jobs and $859 billion in new business revenues worldwide by 2022. Rootstock has built our cloud-based solutions on the Salesforce platform, and we’re proud to be a part of that Salesforce Economy. It’s one reason why we’ve been able to deliver so much value to our customers, and why their ongoing digital transformations are so successful.

Exciting as it is to see our great partner, Salesforce, recognized by IDC, there’s other news out of Salesforce that we think is even more noteworthy because it will have a direct impact on the ability of our customers to drive innovation at their organizations.

Salesforce announces big upgrades to AppExchange

As of October 24, the Salesforce AppExchange is offering new features you can use to further customize your AppExchange experience. Upgrades like intelligent search, personalized recommendations and embedded Trailhead Learning will make it easier for you to tap into the Salesforce ecosystem and install trusted solutions from its expanded portfolio of Lightning apps, Bolts, Data, industry solutions (like Rootstock) and more.

What does this mean for Rootstock, and more importantly for our customers? Why should Rootstock customers (and prospects) be excited about the new AppExchange? Let’s take a closer look at that question.

These improvements reinforce Rootstock’s decision to build on the Salesforce platform in the first place.

According to Rootstock CEO Pat Garrehy, “Six years ago, we saw the opportunity and believed we could build a very robust ERP system on a contemporary PaaS ecosystem faster than anyone else on the market” and be ready to satisfy the emerging needs of manufacturers.

“We knew the functionality required by large companies and we knew that it was critical to choose the right technology,” Garrehy continues. “We chose Salesforce because we recognized that Salesforce was riding the crest of the new cloud momentum, and that they were building a partner ecosystem with their technology…and that their technology was industrial strength. The Salesforce platform enabled us to develop a ‘best of breed’ strategy on a single technology.”

Even before these AppExchange upgrades, being built on the Salesforce cloud has created benefits for our customers.

“We love that the Salesforce cloud is very stable,” Garrehy notes. “Having been on the Salesforce platform for more than six years now, I can attest that the downtime is nearly nil.” The benefit to manufacturers of reliable up time is fairly obvious.

“We also love that there are so many capabilities that are part of the platform, such as workflows, mobile, dashboards, and the future integration of AI and IoT.” In other words, the Salesforce platform delivers a great deal of flexibility, so Rootstock customers can readily customize their solution to their particular needs.

The new AppExchange will further enhance the ability of our customers to drive innovation and transformation.

Rootstock has always seen the AppExchange as an important resource for our customers who want best of breed options to meet their business needs. For prospects, as they begin their search for a new ERP solution, access to everything available via the AppExchange enhances their confidence in choosing Rootstock. For everyone, the impact on innovation can’t be overstated.

Now, with the new features Salesforce is unveiling – such as intelligent search, personalized recommendations and embedded Trailhead Learning – the AppExchange experience will become even more customized for every customer, making it easier to tap into the Salesforce ecosystem and install trusted solutions from its expanded portfolio of Lightning apps, Bolts, Data, industry solutions and more.

In situation after situation, being an AppExchange partner has provided unique business value for Rootstock customers.

By its very nature, the AppExchange offers unique business value for anyone who uses it, including Rootstock customers. Consider the fact that an organization can come to the AppExchange without having moved any of their applications to the cloud, and find pretty much any and every application they deem necessary for their specific operations (there are literally thousands of apps on AppExchange). Not only will those applications be cloud-based, but they can all be integrated with each other through supported APIs.

For example, Matouk, a world-renowned textile manufacturer, producing high-end bed and bath linens, came to the AppExchange looking for an ERP solution. They chose Rootstock. But they also found Zencraft, a shipping services provider whose solutions dovetailed nicely with Rootstock. Because both applications were built on the Salesforce platform and offered through AppExchange, integrating them was incredibly simple.

Rootstock will respond to the new AppExchange by identifying opportunities to deliver even more value to customers.

Rootstock will continue to embrace the AppExchange for the incredible value it delivers as a resource for any manufacturer looking to move their operations to the cloud while streamlining and improving their operations. As we move forward with enhancements to the Rootstock solution – whether through additional functionality or through the integration of technology such as Einstein and the capabilities of other AppExchange partners – we fully expect our customers to benefit tremendously from our close working relationship with Salesforce and the AppExchange.

Check out the new Salesforce AppExchange and see the improvements for yourself!

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A Brief History of ERP Software Part Three – From ASPs to the Cloud

https://goo.gl/uZ6bEA

Pat Garrehy knows ERP software. The founder, President, and CEO of Rootstock Software, Mr. Garrehy has over 30 years of management, sales and technical experience as a software architect and engineer. Mr. Garrehy recently sat down to share his thoughts on how ERP software has changed over his distinguished career. Here is the conclusion of that discussion.

Part Three – From ASPs to the Cloud

Application Service Providers

I made my first attempt at cloud ERP in the early 2000’s when my prior company, Relevant,  experimented with hosting our on-premise software using Citrix. I remember being on the podium in a conference in Orlando talking about the future being ASP (Application Service Providers). An ASP is a business providing computer-based services to customers over a network; for example, access to a particular software application. The internet was in its infancy and couldn’t really support what we know as the cloud today.

The ASP model did give us an opportunity to understand the economics of software, what  hosting software would be like, and how to gauge market acceptability. I decided that the ERP market really wasn’t ready to transform to this technology and waited to see how the technologies and the market would unfold.

First-Generation Cloud

By 2008, small companies were buying into the cloud for service companies, distribution, retail and light manufacturing. In particular, NetSuite was having some success, so our company Rootstock partnered with them. In order to support the industrial strength product companies, especially manufacturing, we had to develop software that layered on top and with Netsuite for support of the core manufacturing functionality.

The software was on the NetSuite server but for performance reasons, we had to put some of the software such as MRP on our own server. Yet compared to the systems of the past, this was more affordable and we really didn’t have to worry about operating systems or database systems. Compared to the previous generation of on-premise and client-server ERP software, this first generation cloud ERP was less expensive for the customer. In certain areas, it was easier to use, implement and develop.

Rootstock and Salesforce

Looking forward, we realized that there would be technological challenges keeping the two in sync. The Netsuite software was written in a different language than the development software that they provided to their partners. This meant that software such as reporting tools and record locking capability could not cross both technologies. If Rootstock wanted to integrate with other partners’ software, that was going to be difficult.

Additionally, our database architecture was more suited to a complex manufacturer and distributor, especially in multi division and multisite environments with complex engineering, planning and cost accounting requirements. Since that is the core of an ERP system for a manufacturer, we realized that it would be very difficult to provide the enhancements required and still be influenced and sometimes governed by an architecture that was developed for other types of companies.

Because of our ERP heritage, Rootstock understood that ERP packages need to customizable. This meant that the platform technology must support tailoring and customizing at the customer site, and these customizations need to work even when the ERP package incorporates additional feature sets of its own. With the right platform, Rootstock would be able to more easily plan what functionality to put into the core engine and what would be customized for an individual organization.

By 2010, it became clear that Salesforce would be one of the future technologies that came closest to our vision of the ideal platform. Indeed, the Salesforce ecosystem has grown substantially since then and the combination of Rootstock on the Salesforce platform is supporting this earlier vision.

Today, Rootstock is functionally equivalent to many of the ERP packages of the previous generation. When you look at the bigger picture, it will surpass the functionality of the prior packages when you consider that we can quickly add other component software to the breadth of the offering rather than trying to develop everything.

The Future

I believe that the combination of Rootstock functionality and Salesforce platform capability set today’s standard for a true ERP cloud system. Looking to the future, Rootstock Cloud ERP on Salesforce will soon surpass the functional breadth and depth of older generation ERP systems. Salesforce provides additional capabilities such as workflows, mobile, dashboards, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and the Internet of Things. When integrated with ERP, this will define the next standard and I believe it is a safe bet that our cloud ERP software will benefit from these advancements in technology.

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Taking a closer look at the 2017 Nucleus Research ERP Technology Value Matrix

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Five questions with Nucleus analyst and Matrix author Seth Lippincott

With your permission, we’d like to take a moment to brag on our team here at Rootstock.

When the Nucleus Research ERP Technology Value Matrix was published in August, we were proud and excited to be placed in the Leader quadrant for the first time.

We know this was made possible by the incredible talent and dedication of our entire team, and the outstanding effort they make every day to build and deliver solutions that provide remarkable value to our manufacturing customers.

But we weren’t just proud and excited. We were also intrigued by some of the report’s findings. We wanted to know more about the trends that Nucleus analyst Seth Lippincott sees emerging in the ERP market. And we wanted to share that deeper knowledge with you.

We approached Seth with a few questions. Read on to see what we asked him, and what he told us. Also, our thanks to Seth for taking the time to respond!

Aside from verticalization, what other emerging trends are you seeing in the ERP market?

Cloud adoption is still at the heart of the ERP market. Some vendors see accelerating adoption, others are lagging a bit, often due to difficulty demonstrating the value to their customers. As a result, many vendors are focused on giving customers a choice in how they deploy. For vendors with a large contingent of customers on legacy systems, jumping wholesale into the cloud is unrealistic, either due to too much FUD or simply no business imperative. Hybrid deployment and stepwise movement to the cloud options are on offer from many vendors and should continue to be standard for those making the transition to cloud.

A primary plus of hybrid deployments (and let’s keep in mind that that phrase carries a range of definitions) is the flexibility they give customers to determine which workloads they want in the cloud and which they want to keep on premises. For instance, a customer might be concerned with uptime and lost production if connectivity with the cloud were to fail and take the manufacturing execution system along with it. Hybrid gives the customer the choice to run the MES on premises while shifting systems like HR and CRM to the cloud, where connectivity issues don’t result in lost revenue. For vendors that offer end-to-end functionality across ERP, HCM, CRM, and supply chain management, both in the cloud and on-premises, tailoring workloads to run where the customer wants adds a layer of complexity but is doable. Pure-cloud vendors are working to ensure that customers can continue to operate when connectivity is lost (even for just a short time), then can re-synch once connectivity is restored.

You discuss “verticalization” and, based on your vendor descriptions in the report, that’s a clear trend. Over time, do you expect more or fewer vendors focused on the manufacturing vertical?

The manufacturing vertical is difficult for some vendors because there are so many microverticals to it. While it is relatively feasible for a vendor to deliver satisfactory value in a vertical catering to generic professional services, for example, each manufacturing vertical can require specialized capabilities and workflows. For example, the dairy industry benefits from vastly different capabilities compared to plastics or cardboard manufacturers.

Some vendors have left the task of servicing microverticals to ISVs instead of providing the capabilities themselves. I expect that to continue as more vendors are creating marketplaces for partner-built add-ons. With many customers looking to make technology investments that have a 10-year+ lifespan, the ability to deliver capabilities via a broad partner ecosystem, now and in the future, is a differentiator. Customers want a platform that they know will grow and evolve as technologies like AI, machine learning, IoT, and Big Data become better productized and able to deliver better value to users. I expect vendors that are able to demonstrate how customers can extend their solutions with partners while sitting atop a platform with technologic extensibility of its own will be in an increasingly advantageous position moving forward.

In delivering cloud-based ERP, do you see any inherent advantage for cloud-native vendors, or does the situation favor traditional ERP vendors who are acclimating to demands of cloud delivery?

Vendors with predominately legacy ERP deployments often have large customer bases to which they can market their cloud products. However, for many of those customers there’s no clear business case to adopt the cloud and so a significant percentage of cloud deployments traditional vendors claim to have are net new. In that respect cloud-native have an advantage of not needing to demonstrate sufficient value to overcome doing nothing when trying to upgrade legacy customers.

However, customer loyalty, regardless of the value the vendor is delivering, can be strong in the ERP space. This puts cloud-native providers at a disadvantage when looking to unseat the incumbent vendor. On the other hand, if the customer does not have an incumbent ERP vendor, cloud-native vendors should be able to better demonstrate the value they deliver in the cloud since they aren’t playing catch-up like many of the traditional vendors.

You mention the increasingly clear value proposition for cloud-based ERP. Among those who remain unconvinced, do you see any consistent objections? If so, how would address them?

For some, the stumbling block has become availability and uptime, replacing security as the primary objection. When the customer controls the hardware, they believe they can better ensure 100% uptime and more quickly address any issues than those deployed in the cloud reliant on the vendor. Vendors are looking to combat this conception by demonstrating consistent service and improving their cloud operations response teams.

At the same time, customers sometimes view their ability to maintain uptime through rose-colored lenses. Vendors reporting 99% uptime throughout a calendar year are making a compelling case that a customer’s system is in good hands when system management is outsourced. The cost savings and additional value-add they can reap by moving to the cloud and then reallocating IT personnel away from day-to-day system management may also sway customers.

Several of the vendors in your Leader quadrant – Microsoft, SAP, Oracle – are extremely large organizations. Others are comparatively small. What is it that allows vendors of such widely varying sizes to be Leaders?

In the ERP Value Matrix, we position vendors based on the value their end customers realize, specifically return on investment, so the size of the vendor is irrelevant. A smaller vendor, so long as it is delivering a quality product, is equally able to deliver value to its customers as larger vendors.

Check out the full report

Nucleus evaluated 21 vendors in their 2017 ERP Technology Value Matrix. For anyone looking into ERP solutions, reading the full report is a great place to start. You’ll find it here.

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Three tips to get Dreamforce Ready NOW

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Dreamforce, Salesforce’s largest conference is November 6 – 9 in San Francisco

Bill Clinton, Michael Dell, General Colin Powell, George Lucas and Sheryl Sandberg have all been speakers…as have Hillary Clinton, Melinda Gates, Sean Penn and Alec Baldwin. Past conference concerts have featured Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruno Mars, and U2. Salesforces’ Dreamforce is one of the largest conferences in San Francisco, and it is massive. Last year, over 172,000 attended and Salesforce had to rent a cruise ship to house attendees when the local hotels and Airbnbs filled up early. This year, Salesforce, the largest cloud-based customer service software provider will paint the city blue with its Dreamforce banners.

Salesforce end users, developers, consultants, and all Salesforce Admins know Dreamforce is an annual must attend event, bringing thousands to San Francisco. From thought/leaders and innovators, to key tech decision makers and industry leaders, Dreamforce pulls many together during four inspirational days. Each year, the campus continues to grow in multiple site venues beyond the Moscone Convention Center.  Free shuttle service will take attendees from hotel to event venue but pre-planning is vital to make the best use of your time.

This blog is for those lucky ones who have already registered (it is now sold out), have their hotel and flights booked, and are ready to jump on some pre event prep.  Here are three quick tips to build your best four day agenda, now. No matter how long you have been in the Salesforce world, you need to get conference ready, so here is an at a glancegame plan to get started.

Build your agenda NOW

Hopefully you have already gone to https://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/get-ready/ and visited the virtual trailhead to get a sense of the sessions and speakers featured during the four packed days.  Maybe you have considered your venue strategy by scrolling down from the Get Ready tab to the Schedule, Speakers, and Sessions and Expo sections. Either way, it is now time to build and book your agenda schedule.

Agenda Builder is now live, up and running, so get to the site as soon as possible to begin the selection and registration process for what you want to attend each of these four days. https://success.salesforce.com/sessions/

Agenda Builder is the best way to consider and select your sessions, and the Salesforce Einstein- on the site– will help you narrow it down using historical Dreamforce data matched to your interests. When you begin to scroll through all the sessions listed – a jaw dropping 3,032 at last check – note that they are organized by day and time. Agenda Builder will keep you from double booking or overlapping on your sessions. Most sessions range around 40 to 45 minutes at the different campus locations around town, so pay attention to travel time.  Tip: Be careful to select sessions you absolutely must/want to attend, and watch that the venue location is one you can walk to or cab to in time.

As mentioned, the Salesforce Einstein tool will assist in narrowing down your agenda by giving you tabs that focus on categories of your desired topic choices, your industry, your role in the industry, and of course, the day, start and end time, and location for the recommended sessions.  (When I used it to create a sample/practice agenda for Monday, it narrowed my needs down to 22 sessions.)

You can change your agenda many, many times…but be aware that sessions and speakers will fill up fast. As you customize your four day schedule to ensure you get the most from Dreamforce, check out https://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/speakers/ to be sure you don’t miss speakers Michelle Obama – our former First Lady- and Marc Benioff –chairman and CEO of Salesforce.  These two “buzz worthy” events will be highly sought after, as will be the main concert headliners, so don’t miss any of these if possible.

Check your plan and plan to go early

Once you have mapped out your four days with Agenda Builder and have selected your sessions, and events, go to the schedule link to get a quick conference itinerary overview, and re check your plan. Then also plan to arrive early. https://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/schedule/   Try to get there Sunday for an early check in and badge pick up. Monday will be chaotic so if you arrive a day early, you can take care of check in, make some last minute adjusts, and settle in. Plus you can get that coveted Dreamforce backpack, and watch pre-conference Keynotes, listen to live music and network with other Trailblazers.

Consider this…and that.

Once you have arrived, try to spend some more pre prep time by carefully considering your four day agenda. Even the most mapped out and prepped up Trailblazers can get overwhelmed. Review your sessions and, if possible, build in more time. Too many scheduled sessions will keep you from giving yourself time to check out the Admin Meadow, the Trailhead Zone, the Developer Forest and the Lightening Lookout, and/or anything else that may be important to you. You will want to go to Cloud Expo and the Campground – so reconsider some sessions and make some last minute changes and adjusts to your jammed packed schedule.

You will also want to visit the Rootstock team. We are eager to meet you, show some of our latest product enhancements and talk out some solutions for your needs. Plan to tune in to Salesforce LIVE for streaming content during the conference for keynotes, sessions and other free conference content, and don’t forget to pack last years’ Dreamforce Trailblazer hoodie. Wear it with pride as you meet up with fellow Trailblazers at the Trailhead!

(So before you start packing, watch for our next blog, where we will explore more useful tips, links, and must attendsessions to consider- ones that will align to your short and long term goals and needs.)

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A Brief History of ERP Software Part Two – From Client-Server to On-Premise

https://goo.gl/4SGNr3

Pat Garrehy knows ERP software. The founder, President, and CEO of Rootstock Software, Mr. Garrehy has over 30 years of management, sales and technical experience as a software architect and engineer. Mr. Garrehy recently sat down to share his thoughts on how ERP software has changed over his distinguished career. Here is Part Two of that discussion.

Part Two – From Client-Server to On-Premise

It seems that everyone uses the word ERP today but the true thread for comparison are those product based companies of today that manufacture, distribute, service and/ or remanufacture. They use ERP software that can manage the supply chain and has the software to  support engineering, procurement, sales, planning, inventory, cost accounting, scheduling and even financials.

The 1990s

In the early 1990’s we had client-server and Windows and that technology came with many moving parts. You had operating systems, windows, database management systems and programming languages. Integrations to other software packages were difficult and problematic because each software package used their own independent versioning control. Because of this, software vendors had no choice but to put all ERP functionality into a single package, and that caused the software to become bloated with with functionality that the customer didn’t need or want. Implementations were difficult and time-consuming because the customer was confused about what software switches to turn off and on.

In this era of bloated software, some of the software was bought from other companies and difficult to integrate even though it was packaged and promoted as one-stop software that had all of the functionality.

The hardware (IBM, HP, SUN UNIX-based hardware) and the database management software (Oracle, Informix, Sybase) were reliable when compared to the Windows software of the time, which was constantly experiencing programming bugs. Large companies whose main plants ran on mainframes migrated to this new client-server architecture. By the mid 1990’s, second tier plants were  running on minicomputers such as IBM’s AS400 Series.

On-Premise

Since the late 1990s, SAP and Oracle have dominated on-premise ERP in large Tier-1 manufacturing enterprises, but primarily as the ERP system at the corporate level. They have not been that successful in being implemented in Tier-2 small and medium sized plants. Therefore, most of what is written about Tier-2 ERP understandably discusses different types of solutions being considered for the large enterprises’ next tiers’ plants and divisions, and how they will integrate with these larger, Tier-1 corporate systems. As late as 2009, Gartner reported only on-premise ERP software vendors in their Tier-2 ERP magic quadrant.

But this on-premise pricing model and the old architecture required you to stuff all of the options in the same software, still burdening every customer with many features that they couldn’t use. This old architecture contained complexities in the use and certainly in the implementations as to which switches to set to ‘turn off’ functionality that they didn’t need.

On-Premise vs. the Salesforce Cloud

Today we see a lot of companies that are on AS/400s running older, proprietary IBM-based systems such as BPICS and MAPICS. These companies are now looking at cloud ERP to lower IT costs, improve operational performance, and get faster deployments and easier upgrades. So now these companies are finding Rootstock.

The Salesforce cloud lets us decide what core functionality should be inside the package and how tailoring can be easily done outside the package. For example, Rootstock has a customer that is an industrial, medical and special gases provider who supplies compressed, bulk and pipeline gases, chemicals, engineering solutions and equipment. They had a special project to track the chemicals and gases for one of their customers, who is one of the world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor chip makers. The solution provided was a combination of the standard Rootstock functionality with extensions that were easily developed using Salesforce technology. This solution couldn’t have possibly been developed in the budget and time frame required with an older on-premise software package, regardless of the functionality of that standard ERP legacy package.

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Three Crucial Components to Grow Your Business: How a Cloud Based ERP System Delivers on Investment

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Is your company considering replacing or upgrading your current ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system? Don’t let cost dictate your decision of this critical business investment. As Apple’s Steve Jobs once famously said, ‘Think Different.’  Think first of what you need and why you need it, and keep your ERP selection process focused on those factors. Future success is dependent on a number of elements, not the least of which is having the right ERP system in place to support the path forward. Here are three crucial must have suggestions for business growth.

Become Customer-focused. Having a competitive business edge means staying efficient and adaptable to market responses, and that means giving more attention to customer base retention.  For most companies, increased sales means retaining current customers and this will reduce costs and increase growth. Business growth from positive cash flow often follows increased sales and good inventory management, netting you satisfied customers. Get their orders filled fast, and deliver a product of value, then deliver it on time and you will retain your customer base.

Customer satisfaction now means more than basic service; there is a feeling- based “something else” that moves clients to comment about you on social media. When marketing focus groups ask attendees how the vendor “makes you feel,” the answer now becomes a social media driver. Good or bad impressions will either deliver on customer loyalty or customer losses.

Joseph Michelli, author of  the best seller The Starbucks Experience claims this secret sauce or ‘something else’ for Starbucks was to “create personalized experiences in every store, secure customer loyalty, stimulate business growth, generate profits, and energize employees—all at the same time.” In this era of feeling- based brand success, Starbucks continuously works to connect with customers on a more personal level, beyond just getting the order right. Customer connection has netted them customer satisfaction, and has played an important narrative in their story.

However, for most businesses, getting the order right still remains the most crucial component. Technology brings the customer closer to all transactions, and customer acquisition is now taking a back seat to retention. Customer retention is paramount to growing your revenue. Same-day delivery services are more important than ever, and the future promise of drones or self-driving trucks will only move this figure upwards, presenting new challenges to both domestic and global operations, large or small.

One constant remains and that’s value.  While your customer’s feelings about your product or brand count, product delivery and performance is the most powerful driver. You need to focus on getting their order right, getting it out on time, and making sure the product performs the function intended. Deliver on value for your customer, and their satisfaction is guaranteed. When your salespeople can react in real time to the challenges of sales, inventory, production and delivery, you will earn repeat business.

Become Employee-focused. Empowering your employees is a priority, and a crucial component of your success. Employee empowerment links directly to the retention of both satisfied employees and a satisfied customer base. You can have the best tools, the most creative, high-demand product, but your employees are your best resource. When motivated and inspired, employees are unstoppable in providing success. You want them to take charge of their own work domain.

Enterprise Resource Planning will transform your current operations by creating a more centralized data hub putting your employees in control of the data and ‘intelligence’ of your business and its best practices. ERP will enable everyone in the company to access correct, accurate data, making for better work flows. Centralized, up to date data input is always more accurate, making employees in different departments better able to complete work in a timely manner. This will naturally empower employee decision-making throughout the organization, and all will feel more responsible for its success.

When your employees have access to all department data, there is a cost time-savings in accessing information from this now centralized hub. Walls are taken down, and silos opened up, fostering open communication. This access to all data allows employees to make better decisions. Customer satisfaction is more achievable when an employee on the front-lines helps customer service by making a quick, problem fixing decision to retain them. This low cost CRM (customer relationship management) decision often will, in turn, give more job fulfillment to the employee as well as satisfy the customer in the process. It could be a decision to waive a fee or give a discount but this quick fix pays dividends to the bottom line. The ability to give an immediate, common sense gesture can keep customers happy and employees feeling more fulfilled and central to your operation’s success. To quote Howard Schultz, Starbuck’s CEO, “Employees are the true ambassadors of (your) brand.”

When you give employees both the authority and big-picture data to do their jobs, they feel important and empowered. Conversely, when poorly motivated or uninspired, employees can become resentful, and can bring the business crashing down.  “It’s not the tools that you have faith in – tools are just tools. They work, or they don’t work. It’s your people you have faith in- or not,” Steve Jobs.

Become Data focused. No two businesses use their data in the same way, but most have learned, and sometimes the hard way, that data utilization without a strategy is not utilization at all. The right ERP system can provide quick, actionable information to that empowered service rep who wants to fix the client’s problem quickly. Your cloud based ERP will give the tools to transform your bottom line. By aligning all data inputs, the inventory picture becomes transparent. Your manufacturing can be top-notch, and the product can be fantastic, but if you can’t get the right parts accounted for, or ordered, and delivered on time, no amount of customer relationship actions will overcome problems.  If you are too busy putting out fires, or trying to locate parts, or replace missing inventory, you can’t grow your operation. A solid ERP investment will power up your data so that you and all your employees can access it in real time.

View our latest webinar ‘How Manufacturers Can Survive (and Thrive) in High Growth Mode’ and how Rootstock  delivers these crucial components. Your ERP investment can have the security, reliability and scalable control – no matter the size of your business- delivering solid return on your investment.

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Three steps to ERP selection success

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The ERP selection process can be complex. If you’re replacing your ERP, it’s likely that your legacy system has been around for a long time. It can be a difficult to know where to start with large-scale software projects. Once you’ve established you’re ready to make a change, how do you move forward? With ROI in mind, this three step ERP selection checklist offers some key points that will provide a structure for making informed decisions when selecting your new ERP system.

Draw up a definitive list of requirements

Considering that 80% of customers are unhappy with their current ERP, it’s no wonder that so many organizations are looking to upgrade. Companies decide to replace their ERP for a number of reasons for example lack of native mobility or the impetus to move from on-premise to cloud operations.

The best place to begin is by auditing your existing system in order to start gathering requirements for an upgrade. Requirements gathering can be a lengthy task. The key is to approach it methodically by mapping out processes that your ERP should support.

At least 20% or your workforce are likely to be ERP users so to understand the needs of your organization as a whole, you should approach stakeholders who will help build the foundations of user engagement which will be carried out further down the line. Examples of stakeholders can include representatives from senior management, warehouse staff, department managers and the accounts departments.

Decide on the delivery method

Here’s the big question: should you choose a cloud ERP or an on-premise ERP? Cloud ERP systems exist on servers managed by your ERP provider. If you select a cloud ERP, you’ll usually commit to monthly payments. In contrast, with on-premise you’ll likely purchase a license and pay a single upfront payment.

Adoption of cloud ERP is increasing. According to Forbes’ ‘Roundup Of Small and Medium Business Cloud Computing Forecasts and Market Estimates’ 78% of American small businesses will have fully adopted cloud by 2020. The shift in interest towards a SaaS model is demonstrated by the fact more ERP project managers are searching for cloud software than on-premise.

But, ultimately it’s up to you to decide on the deployment model.. For instance, if you’re primary concern is distribution, then cloud could be the best option as it reflects the importance of real-time data and integration with supplier and client systems. It’s all about finding the right ERP system to fit your needs as a business.

Review the project budget

When selecting your new ERP, you need to think about the immediate and long-term financial implications. SaaS or cloud-based ERP implementation is often good value allowing midsize to large enterprises to recover their hard costs in around two business years, leaving only monthly licensing costs. Another advantage of the subscription-based model is speed of operational implementation and deployment.

Whatever method of delivery you decide to chose, accept that you will have to invest upfront before you see a return. On top of the price of the system you will need to factor in other pertinent costs for instance, user training can make or break an ERP project. To create a culture of ongoing learning, budget for refresher training that is flexible and can motivate staff.

Efficiency is at the heart of ERP operations. If you can find a vendor offering an ERP that looks to be cost effective and will improve existing processes then you’re on your way to ERP selection success.

—

Lauren Stafford works as a Digital Publishing Specialist at ERP Focus, a platform which gathers together the latest thinking, news, and research about ERP software.

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Five Signs Your Business Needs ERP Now

https://goo.gl/F6EVdB

Growing your business is not easy. Sometimes, it can deliver on an administrative workload headache if not managed properly. Running a new business might allow for more manualized work systems at first, you’re your accounting software and spreadsheets easily keep pace with transactions. But your business can fast become unsustainable if it is taking longer to reconcile accounts, harder to do sales forecasts, and impossible to accurately predict the stock in the warehouse. When the pace of filling orders is failing, your systems are becoming unmanageable and you likely need a single system all that all departments and personnel can access to get the information they need to do their work.   Here are the warning signs you need to get serious about a cloud based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system purchase.

1. Accounting suffers

One of the earliest signs that your company needs ERP software will appear in the accounting department. If your accounting team repeatedly asks the sales team for more up to date figures, then this is slowing down management, and growth suffers.  Another red flag is the manual entry of paper-based invoices and sales orders. Do you have different accounting and sales systems? This is all wasted time; these are tasks instantly handled with ERP software.

A lack of integration is a key sign you need one system linking all the applications. Most companies invest in accounting software and use these systems alongside spreadsheets to operate its sales’ end. While accounting systems and spreadsheets are effective up to a point, when your business begins to really grow, these multiple applications can become a problem.

If you are having difficulty consolidating or reconciling financial information across systems and countless spreadsheets, your constant reporting is now a time sap, and only an ERP solution can make fix this. With all financials in a single database, accounting won’t waste time cross-posting and reconciling data. By centralizing all operations, you won’t work at reconciling financials or having to guess at sales forecasts. A step up to ERP software saves time and money.

2. Decision making suffers

You know systems throughout the business enterprise need to talk to each other, and need to connect and communicate effectively to transfer data and transparency across the departments.  But ‘data silos’ mean one department is using software that can’t be accessed by another. Like a silo filled with grain on a farm, they are closed off to other areas of the business and can’t communicate or share data properly. A good example is when personnel from accounting can’t access data from sales, and your financials can’t be easily reconciled.

When accounting uses one software system and sales another, and the sales department has no idea of available stock, and the warehouse is unclear of stock on hand, your purchasing team struggles with ordering replacement inventory and goods are not shipped to customers in a timely fashion.

Get your systems to communicate; all data needs to flow freely and be accessed by everyone in the company. Put all departments under one software system to stop the silos of information. With an ERP system in place, staff in every department can access the needed information, so there are no more ‘silos of confusion’ and missing data. Everything is connected. Only then can data silos be eliminated at a key stroke, ensuring that that everyone has access to the same pool of accurate, up to date information.

3. Sales suffers

There was a time your business could visualize the ratio of stock on hand to sales in hand. But lately you find the volume of sales is unpredictable, and control of stock- unmanageable. When the business grows and the stock to order is out of balance and inventory can’t fulfill the sales orders – your customer demand suffers. Sales drop when your reputation “to supply” suffers. If customer demand outweighs stock availability, inquiries can’t be answered or tracked properly. If your product shipping and your inventory stock seems out of alignment, your company will start to develop a poor reputation for reliability and service.

Everything flows better with real time information. With a single source ERP solution, both sales and customer service can see the correct information and view the order or ship status, and, in turn, the warehouse has a clear picture to manage stock. Customers receive orders on time, and are more likely to become a source of repeat business. ERP breaks the log jams so smart decisions are made with respect to all in and out flows – solving your sales problems.

4. Mobile Access suffers

Many of your employees need access to software to manage and drive business from their own mobile phones. And not only reliable access, but updates and account information input in real time. Sales needs to be able to close new business, and see upsell opportunities, and this means they need to see stock availability. Everyone travels, not just senior management, so up to date information equals proper decision making.

Many ERP software developers – but not all – provide functionality designed specifically for field based staff which ensures they have everything at their fingertips. Ideally, you need a system easily accessible to all your people via a range of different devices including smartphones, laptops and tablets.

5.  IT suffers

Not having a single ERP system means your IT management is wasting time and resources. Continually customizing different systems, integrating and maintaining them with patches and upgrades can be a complex, costly nightmare.

Your patchwork of systems might include on premise and legacy business software. This is more trouble than its worth. Updates are expensive and time-consuming, and can undo customizations implemented by the IT staff.

In closing, recognize the signs, and don’t add more software to an already complex system. Step up to ERP technology; it will give you the ability to respond to your ever-changing business needs. Selecting a cloud-based ERP provider allows for your business to stay nimble and still grow in today’s new business climate.

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Four Cries for Help from Manufacturers

https://goo.gl/dfxXQY

As manufacturing companies’ top management look for solutions to improve productivity and ultimately profitability, upping your game requires focusing on the core problems. Based on our experience with organizations struggling to manage their business using outdated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, we have identified the following four cries for help. (The following problems where mentioned in Rootstock’s Demo Jam Win https://goo.gl/y68CCc

Visibility across the organization

A single source of truth – (real time)

1 time data entry with no rekeying

Connected data flow – naturally

Perhaps your business has one or all of these problems. Let’s look at how Cloud ERP Solutions can address these cries for help.

Visibility Across The Organization

Reports need to be easily accessed from any location, and systems need to be linked and ‘speak’ to each other.  Also, they need to be customizable and based on real-time data. Examples of such reports could include jobs, revenue, inventory, employee hours, customer surveys, invoices and customer data.

ERP’s response to the need for visibility provides an integrated real time platform accessible from numerous devices. This real time organization wide accessibility delivers the tools to identify problems and solve them quicker such as supply chain and production delays.  With real-time access across the company communications, top management and employees can trouble shoot faster, use their time more productively versus verifying data. The value of the visibility is real time assessment and access across all departments. For example if you think of real-time access in terms of a leaking water pipe. Wouldn’t you want the entire team to know, wouldn’t you want to know immediately, and wouldn’t you want verification of the size of the leak and the water flow and be able to trust the data as you commence to develop a solution.

Single Source of Truth

A single source of truth (SSOT) is the practice of structuring information models and associated schemata such that every data element is stored exactly once. Any possible linkages to this data refer back to the primary “source of truth” location. Updates to the data element in the primary location propagate to the entire system without the possibility of a duplicate value somewhere being forgotten.  The SSOT avoids the need for frustrating and redundant meetings where teams arrive with their own data and/ or disconnected spreadsheets. How much time does your organization spend reconciling data only to repeat the process again? What could that time be better spent doing?

How many times has one of your employees or you made a commitment to a vendor or a customer based on information that you thought was true but turned out to be false? Because you didn’t have the correct data, either it hadn’t been updated, or the depth of your systems could not provide sufficient detail. What did this cost you in terms of time, additional resources, aggravation and not to mention reputation? Accounting and inventory control cloud software provides a definitive real-time source for all users not to mention assures accuracy.

SSOT not only improves productivity but eliminates scapegoating where bad data sources are blamed and other data sources are considered a better resource to rely on. Not having to debate data validity changes the dynamic of an organization where everyone can confidently focus on improvements versus factual verification.

Is your front office seamlessly connected to your back office? What kind of results could you achieve if you were connected through Cloud MRP solutions?One Rootstock lighting manufacturing client successfully combined its CRM system and accounting platforms to achieve on ROI of greater than 250% with a payback timeframe of 4 months.

Data Entered 1 Time – No Re-keying

Data reentry can be caused by many factors some of which include multiple systems that cannot “talk to each other”. Having to re-enter data is not only time consuming, but often annoying to employees, whose time would be better served on providing management oversight, outstanding customer service and /or developing and implementing best practices procedure. Many companies run on outdated or disconnected systems.  A fully integrated, and extendable, cloud solution that includes accounting, lot/serial control, shop floor control as well as inventory, supply chain functionality can provide one platform which eliminates this mundane task.

Re-keying also increases the opportunity for error. Every time data is entered there is the chance it could be entered incorrectly. So, every re-key doubles your chances for error. Enter data a third time and it triples your chances.

Studies show that re-keying of data also creates employee frustration. Employees who desire to help the organization improve and innovate perceive this task as menial and boring which can lead to disengagement.  According to a Gallup Poll disengaged employees cost up to $550 billion a year.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/disengaged-employees-cost-us-up-550-billion-every-year-caballero

Finally, re-keying can create an audit trail nightmare in trying to track data back to its original source, and accounting and inventory software is truly a benefit to your accountants/auditors.

Naturally Connected Data Flow

Have you ever run a pivot table or a flow chart off of an excel spreadsheet only to say, “What is that?”  “Or that can’t be true?  How effective is  it to upload data from another system into a separate one in order to try to identify trends? What is the probability to make  entry errors, or manually clean your input data? Data flow also includes sifting and filtering in order to drill down to the core processes and or supply logjams that reduce productivity and profitability.  When data flow charts and representations are built into the software platform it facilitates an understanding of where processes and supply are disconnecting and or creating logjams.

One of the greatest values from connected data flow is the ability to increase production flows based on the ability to set machines and processes at optimum levels for speed and efficiency.

“Rootstock netted us at ROI of 14% and an investment payback in 2.6 years”

Chris Muto, Manager Sales Operation Pro-Tech

Succeed with Rootstock – Pro Tech Replaces Spreadsheets and Old Software with Rootstock Webinar

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Top 5 Inventory Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

https://goo.gl/frrhD6

Days before the solar eclipse of 2017 it became nearly impossible to purchase the special glasses needed to safely observe the event.  People rushing from store to store in a frenzy trying to locate the last available pair of glasses, found the stores had just not planned well… they had nothing left.  It got so bad that some stores reported customerscoming to blows as they fought over the remaining items.  To make matters worse, Amazon and Walmart had to let customers know that the glasses they purchased might not be safe.  Some brands were not made to the proper specifications and could not be trusted.

Walmart reported another problem… the stock they had ordered never arrived.  That should not have happened at Walmart, a store known for its amazing supply chain.  They manage over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, requiring a technological tour de force that rarely lets them down.

Balancing supply and demand completely overwhelmed most retail and manufacturing entities.  Somehow, their systems failed them.  Inventory planning and management are among the most important tasks, as this event clearly demonstrated.  When not managed well, the failure can be catastrophic.

Rootstock recently conducted a webinar designed to identify 5 common inventory mistakes manufacturers make, and how you can avoid them.  See if any of these are happening in your facility.

Using spread- sheets for inventory management.

Using spreadsheets to manage inventory is still very common among manufacturers of all kinds.  But the act of continuous manual data entry is flawed and prone to error.  Humans are not perfect, and the errors they will eventually make can adversely affect the ability to build and ship product.  Why?  Manufacturers require both real-time and accurate information.  Spread- sheets can not guarantee either, providing information that is often out of date and inaccurate.  Commonly, spreadsheets are controlled by one employee who is tasked with entering and adjusting the information contained.  This alone is a major cause of failure.  Since it is only as good as the last update, relying on the spreadsheet means reliance on an out of date document with limited access.  This, in turn, encourages users to develop work-arounds, expounding the problem.  The solution?  A modern ERP system will help you break the spreadsheet habit.  Rootstock offers such a solution in a Cloud ERP solution.

Not knowing the exact stock of products and components available.

Before the sales team can accurately promise delivery to customers, it must know the exact stock on hand and on order.  Accurate inventory counts and status is mandatory for any system to create the proper supply orders (work orders and purchase requisitions/orders) needed to keep production flowing.  Real-time data allows manufacturing managers to make decisions that will keep the factory humming along.  Obviously, the shop floor and sales suffer when parts are not available.  Not knowing where the parts are located (divisions, sites) or what the status of those parts might be causes problems in the entire supply chain.  Accurate pick lists (component work order requirements) that show the warehouse employees both quantities and locations allow the parts to be ready when and where needed.  An integrated ERP system offers the user reliable, up to the moment accuracy, helping them to avoid missed sales, inaccurate forecasting and inconsistent production.

Not Using a Bar Code System to track inventory

There is no doubt that manual data entry leads to inaccurate records.  The more reliance a company places on automating data entry through use of an integrated bar code system, the more accurate and timely the records will be.  The bar codes hold varying amounts of information, scaled to the company’s needs, and help you to avoid errors from manual entry, such as incorrect part numbers, quantities, locations, etc.  Bar codes can be as complex as needed, and can be used to track not only inventory but company assets and security items as well.  When a company chooses to use a bar code system, fully educates their employees in its use and provides all of the necessary equipment, it is very rare for employees to use work-arounds or go back to old methods.

Using backlogs as your main planning tool.

Many companies today view backlogs as their go-to source for planning.  Typically, these companies see the backlog as any unshipped customer orders, and that can be very valuable information.  However, the backlog can be overused and misinterpreted, causing more problems long-term than it solves.  For example, planning by backlog often puts management in a reactive mode…reacting to events rather than planning for them.  A good ERP system will provide sales order and work order detail, helping the planner to develop a forecast that comes as close to reality as possible.  All of that information combined allows the MRP system to accurately plan material needs that provide the amount of components at the correct time.  Although some spreadsheets can mimic an MRP system, all of the problems and flaws already discussed are evident.  Today’s manufacturing needs require an integrated MRP tool as a component of the entire ERP system.

Inaccurate demand planning or forecasting.

Running out of components when trying to build customer orders is something all companies need to avoid. Stockpiling excess inventory to combat that problem only leads to other, possibly more serious problems.  Having a reasonable forecast and accurate inventory data provides the foundation a good MRP system needs to properly plan.  In addition, that plan coupled with historical data and sales projections helps the planner see trends in demand and supply.  MRP action messages provide the information needed to adjust firm work orders and purchase orders as needed.  Rootstock’s MRP system is up to date and provides the solution you need for accurate and reliable supply chain management.  In addition, Rootstock’s Support is there for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whenever you need it.  You can count on their staff to provide experienced help and training to support you as much as you need it.

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Three Forces Driving the Future of Manufacturing (Part II)

https://goo.gl/aydWBU

When a company really knows its manufacturing operation, it can adjust to market forces and stay competitive and efficient. In part I, we considered two new forces of customization that would help drive this change. In Part II, we look at how data–driven manufacturing, the third force, will now push manufacturing to find the right data to stay competitive.

The successful manufacturing operation needs good data to react and to predict market forces. This kind of intelligent decision-making comes from data-driven analytics that allow operations and their marketing teams to move quickly, anticipating customer wants and needs at the right time.

Data-driven manufacturing

Data–driven manufacturing will help manufacturers use predictive analytics to extract or mine information from their data that can predict new market trends. In this way, they can anticipate market ‘behavior’ and deliver products and/ or services to meet demand.

A good example of a company using predictive analysis from proper data mining is Vodafone Netherlands (part of Vodafone Global –a telecom company.) Using a predictive analysis model, the data told them that many of their mobile customers wanted to go skiing for their next vacation. Vodafone ran a promo and launched a winter sports roaming campaign for ski markets in Europe with a roaming package making it easier and cost effective to stay connected when traveling. Using predictive analysis, Vodafone developed a predictive model based on profiling data of past customerswho used their mobile phones at winter sports hotspots in order to properly determine the repeat market of ski enthusiasts. By offering a specialized roaming product with the probability of a fixed daily cost, this predictive daily model paid off in smart product creation and in more sell-up opportunities.  Predictive analytics will turn the data into actionable insight, predict products customers want, and gain an edge on the competition.

The challenge is to get the right data so that smart changes and upgrades can be made in the system. Data-driven manufacturing is based on facts, not guesses. Emerging technology is enabling software systems to better collect and process the data needed to achieve better results. Driving manufacturing with data promotes integration and coherence across the organization throughout the supply chain.

Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analytics

With the flood of data available in the supply chain, manufacturers now need the right mix of analytics to mine their data to help improve decision making. Historical data is usually the first go to in preparing for what might happen in the future. Looking at all the analytic options can be a daunting task. These analytic options can be classified into three distinct types. No one type of analytic is better than another, and they co-exist with, and complement each other.

Descriptive Analytics: Understanding the past to answer the question, “What has happened?”

Data aggregation and data mining is used to provide insight into the past and answer this question. Reports generated describe the past and are vital to learn from past behaviors, and understand how they might influence future outcomes. Descriptive analytics provide historical insights regarding the company’s production, financials, operations, sales, finance, inventory and customers

Predictive Analytics: Understanding the future to predict the future. “What could happen?”

To understand the future, this analytic makes use of statistical models and forecasts techniques to understand the future and predict possible outcomes. Predictive analytics and data mining use algorithms to discover knowledge and find the best solutions. Data mining is a process based on algorithms to analyze and extract useful predictive modeling. Using data mining and probability to forecast outcomes, each model is made up of a number of predictors, or variables, that are likely to influence future results. Once data has been collected for relevant predictors, a statistical model is made and the information designed to uncover hidden patterns and relationships.

Prescriptive Analytics: Understanding the use of optimization and algorithms to give advice on possible outcomes. “What should we do?”

Users “prescribe” a number of different possible actions as regards possible outcomes that will guide towards a solution. These analytics are all about providing advice. Prescriptive analytics attempt to quantify the effect of future decisions in order to advise on possible outcomes before the decisions are actually made. At their best, prescriptive analytics predict not only what will happen, but also provide recommendations regarding actions that will take advantage of the predictions.

These statistics take the data and fill in the missing data with best estimates. They combine historical data found in ERP, CRM, HR and POS systems to identify patterns in the data and apply statistical models and algorithms to capture relationships between various data sets. When companies want to look into the future, prescriptive analytics can be used throughout the organization, from forecasting customer behavior and purchasing patterns to identifying trends in sales activities. They also help forecast demand for inputs from the supply chain, operations and inventory.

Global manufacturing is entering an era of radical change.  Always challenged to be watchful of forces that could disrupt efficiency, smart manufacturing must pay careful attention now to data mining to stay competitive. Advanced data analytics and the customized smart products and services they produce will give manufacturing companies true enterprise value.  The more centralized systems that sync up both production and customer demands now require a solid cloud ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) to be sure all interconnected software keeps critical data relevant. It is about staying out in front of the headwinds now.

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Three Forces Driving the Future of Manufacturing (Part I)

https://goo.gl/HZg1eW

We are already half way through 2017, and more than halfway through the decade, yet the Great Recession of 2008 continues to pose challenges for manufacturers.  Some challenges can present new opportunities and could force a remake in manufacturing operations worldwide. For both developed and developing economies, manufacturing remains a strong economic sector, accounting for about 16 percent of global GDP and 14 percent of employment. Manufacturing’s contribution the world over is still sizeable- from innovation, contribution to research and development and economic productivity-manufacturing matters.

Many feel this is now the fourth industrial revolution – a blending of the physical to the digital, and that manufacturing must move supply chains to digital frameworks. Cloud technology is becoming more connected, and agile, with less risk, and continues to require operations to become even more connectable. It is now commonplace for manufacturers to integrate their supply chains, and their plant, management, and data operations.  Manufacturers must think strategically, be nimble, able to predict the market, not react to it, and to move from information silos, to information networks. The successful manufacturing company will need to turn production lines into production ‘ecosystems.’  These migrations will help manufacturers stay the course, but to stay ON course they need to watch out for two emerging headwinds of customization that could throw them off as the future of manufacturing takes shape.

Speed-to-Market Manufacturing

Consumers today have choices at their fingertips, and can be quite literally a click away from choosing the competitor’s product. The pressure is on manufacturers to stay competitive.   One market shift- customizable demand – involves choice and is at the heart of speed-to-market developments.  The ability for manufacturers to customize, update, innovate and distribute their products to meet consumer directives in customization will help them stay one step ahead.  Innovations like the Internet of Things (IoT) are actually aiding customization by transferring data for product customization over manufacturing networks. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also pushing innovation, especially with respect to how it can impact E Commerce portals. Those who can respond and create quickly can meet these new challenges, and develop products that meet more customized demands.  If speed- to- market force continues to gather steam, then manufacturers  who can respond to the challenge, solve it and deliver the goods fast, will get the business.

One way to explain this force is to describe how the opposite- decreased speed to market– can prompt a manufacturing failure.  Decreased speed to market gives the competition the sale. A manufacturing operation will lose out when its competitor can make the prototype faster, solve the production problem and/or deliver a new product or service first. It isn’t always about creating the best design but getting the right prototype or product in faster than the competition. The right lead time, and/or the right cost may decide the client’s next supplier or vendor.

As the saying goes, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good; navigate around the risks and challenges, respond nimbly and stay on course. Manufacturers need to shorten their supply chain and bring the product quickly to market. It is also crucial to anticipate the needs of the sales team, and customize brand-approved materials for delivery worldwide. Creating value-added materials ahead of time for sales to respond quickly will deliver speed-to-market, customizable products.  Manufacturers that give more control to the sales team also give them faster response time to address these customizable demands. Having pre-approved, branded materials will facilitate product updates in this new market so speed just might win the job.

Make-to-stock / Make-to-order Manufacturing

MTS or make –to- stock means creating accurate models of demand forecasts so that manufactured products can be made to stock to minimize excess inventory.  The challenge going forward is the trend in customer demand towards product customization. MTO, which stands for make to-order is the new consumer remake of the old ‘bespoke’ concept where a tailor would make your shirt or suit to order. This concept is emerging in tech talk as bespoke manufacturing, and is in conflict with most current methods of manufacturing. It is not made-to-measure, but truly custom-made, or made-from-scratch to a client’s specifications.  Mass production and mass customization are two concepts that are at cross purposes.  Modern manufacturing networks are already automated, so this new headwind of bespoke design and customizable parts puts manufacturers in a tough spot. Needing to address the challenge of mass production alongside mass customization will demand a unique solution.  “Soon every on-site shopper can have a bespoke experience with dynamic pricing strategies rivaling today’s airline industry.” Samit, Jay. “Brick and Mortar Retail Is About to Get a Technology Makeover”, Fortune, 23 June 2017

Make-to-stock and make-to-order will present challenges to more manufacturers as consumers demand the ability to order exactly what they want.  Often the manufacturer can produce nothing until it has a confirmed order. If the customer can obtain the needed personalization, they still must wait for it to be made and delivered. It takes little imagination to see how this “upside” for the customer is a potential “downside” for the manufacturer.  When the (one) client order does come in, it goes to a center (maybe in China), where an electric scooter brings it to the factory. The carbon costs add up by the time it comes back to the U.S.  This will probably not pay off in the long run for some manufacturers.

MIT CityCar, the famed urban electric car, is one product that pays off in this make-to-order climate. As a car, it has a base design but is easily scalable, and customizable. Due to its initial design, it can be customized from scratch so it is easier to produce in a made to order mode. Not all manufacturers will have the kind of products that will make for such solutions. Challenged to stay efficient, all manufacturers must pay close attention to customization since this could disrupt the efficiency of operations and have serious consequences.

In part II, we will look at how data–driven manufacturing, the third force, will drive manufacturing to find the right data to stay competitive now.

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The Day of Cloud Computing has Dawned (Part 2)

https://goo.gl/eZyAfd

Part 2: Laying the groundwork for your cloud success story

In my last post, we took a look at some of the signposts that indicate we’ve reached a tipping point in the adoption of cloud computing among large companies and, especially, among manufacturers.

Today, we’re going to spend a few minutes taking a closer look at a simple but important question: what does this mean for you and for your IT team?

The short answer is changes. Big changes. The longer answer is that you’ll need to reconsider the mix of skills your team possesses, what you consider to be your biggest challenges, and who you work with, both inside and outside your organization.

New skills

You’re going to find that working in a cloud-centric environment requires skills that may or may not be present on your team today. You’re also going to find that you’re far from alone in needing to add these skills, so prepare to be aggressive in recruiting professionals who have them. Right now, it’s more a seller’s market than a buyer’s. Some of the more important skills are…

Migration – Moving your applications and infrastructure is not an easy thing. You’ll need people who understand the strengths and weaknesses of different cloud deployment models, who can grasp your current workloads and infrastructure, and oversee an uneventful transition to the cloud.

Security –Operating in the cloud, by its very nature, introduces new and difficult security issues. People on your staff surely know how to secure your data and network behind the firewall. Beyond it, however, different security challenges await. The Cloud Security Alliance has some good resources to start learning more.

Programming – The cloud is a new type of playground for developers. Those who understand the differences and can take full advantage of the ability to more quickly build, deploy, manage and scale applications in the cloud are valuable assets to your team.

New challenges

The more you migrate your infrastructure to the cloud, the less time and effort you’ll need to spend on the basic tasks of “managing the plumbing.” And while there’s plenty of upside to this (not the least of which is the chance to redefine the role and value of IT), it introduces new obstacles to your success. For example…

Security takes on new dimensions outside your corporate firewall. We’ve all seen the horror stories. We all know the truth: keeping your data, applications and infrastructure secure in the cloud is exceedingly difficult, no matter how diligent your cloud provider might be.

You can’t tolerate failure, but you have to assume it. Your customers, your partners…they don’t know and they don’t care if you’re in the cloud or on premise. If your site goes down or an application fails, all they know is they aren’t happy with you. So you have to ensure that your deployment can accommodate the system failures that will inevitably occur.

You’ll need new types of expertise that will be harder to find and more expensive to hire. As stated above, working in the cloud is different. It requires different skill sets. Those skill sets are in short supply and high demand. Prepare yourself to fight for the best talent.

New relationships

Internally, be prepared to sit at the table with those who create corporate strategy. Why? Because cloud deployment creates opportunities for strategic initiatives that don’t exist in the on premise world. Fundamentally, using somebody else’s infrastructure lowers the cost of experimentation. Your executive team is going to want to know how that can translate to increased velocity and innovation. They’ll look to you for answers.

Externally, you’ll need to consider new vendors. Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft Azure dominate the cloud services market. When was the last time you considered any of those companies as an IT partner? Established technology vendors like IBM and HP are doing their best to gain market share and relevance. But, as I mentioned in my last post, they’re often more interested in a “hybrid” deployment – to  protect their installed base – then they are interested in what’s best for you.

[rootstockerp-blog]

The Day of Cloud Computing has Dawned (Part 1)

https://goo.gl/uoAhN5

Part 1: This is your wake up call

I imagine you’ve heard the term “tipping point” and have a good idea of what it means. But did you know that it probably originated as a way to describe when an infectious disease can no longer be locally controlled and is about to spread more widely?

Now, I don’t know anyone who openly calls cloud computing an infectious disease (although I suspect more than a few hardware and on-premises software vendors wish they could find a way to eradicate it), but we have definitely reached a tipping point in cloud adoption, especially among large companies and manufacturers.

Here’s some evidence of that…

To service existing cloud customers and prepare for new ones, the three leading cloud providers – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud – are spending about $30 billion each year on data centers.

American Airlines recently announced that it is migrating a portion of its critical applications – including its customer-facing mobile app, global network of check-in kiosks, Cargo customer website, and more – to the cloud.

Last year, in a survey of 360 senior execs published by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, the majority was sure that cloud would be a “major” factor in manufacturing – touching every stage of the value chain – within a few years.

In the June AlphaWise/Morgan Stanley CIO report, 100 CIOs surveyed expect that 46% of their workloads will be cloud-based within three years, while 34% will remain on-premise. Spending with “traditional” vendors like IBM, HPE, and Oracle will fall accordingly.

Beware of vendors bearing hybrid cloud gifts

There’s a lot of talk right now about “hybrid IT” or “hybrid cloud.” A lot of that chatter, though, is coming from the vendors who have the most to lose if pure, public cloud implementations spread. So you have to consider the source.

To be a little more blunt about it, you should look at hybrid cloud as a stalling tactic to ease the angst of IT and delay the decline of revenues from hardware and on-premise software. But it will place unproductive constraints on your cloud progress and put you at a distinct business disadvantage relative to any manufacturer that fully embraces public cloud. And that’s happening with increasing frequency.

Here’s another reason to embrace the public cloud: it will be better for you and your career. Right now, if you’re completely on-premise, you’re managing plumbing. Shifting to cloud will free you and your team to engage in activities that deliver measurable business value. As cloud and IoT and other IT shifts gain momentum, which of those positions do you think will be held in higher esteem by your organization?

Move now, but move carefully

Turning to established vendors could feel comfortable, but some of them are trying, with varying degrees of success, to play catch up in the cloud market, which is dominated by Amazon, Google and Microsoft. This doesn’t mean that other vendors can’t provide value or get the job done. But it does mean you have to understand exactly what you need to accomplish and then be sure to review your options thoroughly.

In my next post, we’ll take a closer look at what this accelerating move to public cloud means for you, personally, and for your IT team.

[rootstockerp-blog]

Your shop floor has gotten smarter. Time for your people to do the same.

https://goo.gl/Tuzvha

We all know that manufacturing jobs are disappearing. But even for seasoned industry people, the pace of job evaporation is pretty breathtaking. We’ve lost 5,000,000 factory jobs since 2000.

Some point to the unintended consequences of poor trade deals, or cheaper labor overseas, as reasons for this phenomenon. But those arguments don’t explain what’s happening. In fact, the U.S. saw an increase in manufacturing jobs in the aftermath of passing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Something else is the primary driver of this change.

You see, those jobs aren’t all disappearing. Nor have massive numbers of jobs been moved to foreign shores. In fact, many of those 5,000,000 jobs have stayed here. But people aren’t performing them anymore. They belong to robots.

Automation has had a profound impact on your overall operations but, more importantly, on your workforce. And, despite current political rhetoric, there’s no turning back. Because of its impact on productivity, automation will continue to spread across plant floors in an increasingly wide array of industries, especially here in the U.S. where (and some might say this is highly ironic) automation is one key to a viable manufacturing sector.

So, what can you be doing to embrace this ongoing transformation and prepare your organization to stay competitive, but also minimize the negative impacts that automation could have on your workers?

One area to consider is the new skills your workforce will need and how to help them gain those skills.

Technical skills rule

Fundamentally, the current skills of the typical manufacturing worker have been honed for a shop floor that depends on human activity. Those skills tend to be non-technical. To bring your people into alignment with the needs of a more automated environment, more technically demanding skills – knowledge of math, computers and robotics, for example – will be the order of the day.

Here’s a nice summary I found in an article, showing the contrast between “old” and “new” skills.

As you can see, these are very different skill sets. Some of your current workers might have some of them, but even that rosy scenario would still compel you to undertake training, to ensure that as many as possible are capable of contributing to the success of your new, more automated environment.

What about younger workers? Being digital natives, they’re certainly more comfortable with technology. But you can’t assume that being well acquainted with a smartphone or tablet will make someone under 30 inherently more prepared to use the technology they’ll find in your workplace.

Bottom line: whether you’re talking about “re-skilling” your existing workforce or incorporating new, younger workers, some form of training will be useful in creating a team that delivers high productivity in a heavily automated shop.

Will you need to provide the required training? Not necessarily, although it might make sense if your operation is large enough to make in-house training cost-effective. On the other hand, finding appropriate training options externally could be challenging. We’re talking about relatively new skills, after all.

To start, you can contact local vocational schools or community colleges that are known for a focus on training for trades. See if they already have programs that align with your training needs. If they don’t, take the opportunity to partner with them and create a training program tailored to your needs.

If you’re in an area that depends on manufacturing to support the local economy, engage with your elected officials to advocate for new skills training. They’ll have a vested interest in making sure your workers (also known as their constituents and taxpayers) have skills that will not only keep existing employers in place, but attract new ones as well.

With every passing day, automation plays a more central role in a successful manufacturing business. Make sure you’ll have a workforce that’s capable of leveraging this ongoing transformation. Training is the key.

[rootstockerp-blog]

When CRM meets ERP

https://goo.gl/BXAkFE

In the late 90’s, the front office reception team at Nestle USA would greet incoming calls saying, “This is Nestle. How can I help?” My reaction was always a combination of ease and encouragement.  Back then, Nestle was projecting the now much talked about brand requisites of warmth and competence in this greeting, with its implied accountability, ‘I’m here to help.’

Having to centralize incoming calls, and connect callers to the right brands and/or operations, these receptionists were the early version of today’s call center. They inserted a smart CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution at the same time by promising ‘to help.’  This one line enhanced the customer or client experience and helped with any potential communication shortfalls.

Fast forward to today, the continuous evolution of technology and big data solutions work hard to better bridge the data gaps. Technology still struggles to answer questions, fix problems, provide solutions, and meet expectations, and while it may sometimes fall short, it gets the big picture right. Better technology means solid investment.

Today’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solutions are well positioned to better manage the data, collect information and optimize the efficiency of the operation.  Companies now have real software solution tools like Salesforce that have revolutionized customer service and evolved into many software and service cloud solutions.  By linking CRM (Customer Relationship Management) with ERP, companies can access big data solutions, and boost productivity at the same time.  And all this technology is becoming more accessible and affordable.

The best ERP software vendors will provide the solutions and systems to bring all operations into one organization, integrating all different modules so that the data ‘talks to each other.’  This gives call centers the analytics and intelligence software to fix the flaws, and obtain better customer data. Better customer data can deliver better information and better information means better decisions and solutions. A solid ERP investment can be the right move since without it, costs over the long haul skyrocket with a more home grown approach.

The right ERP software vendor for your company can help integrate the CRM pillar in the full ERP solution. There are clear advantages to connecting CRM since sales and marketing data and its work flows are key to all other pillars- manufacturing, financial, accounting, distribution/supply chain management, and human resources.  When ERP and CRM are connected, there is one user experience – one data base – so everyone in the company has access to the call center or customer service representative’s order and information. An integrated ERP solution can connect the operational data dots, and help resolve customer and/ or supply chain problems with smart analytics.  An ERP investment means the front office connects to the back office.  Like a good call center operation, a good ERP system will coordinate business processes, help boost productivity and competitiveness, and solve CRM issues at the same time. Success now demands a smart end to end solution. There is no need to wait any longer to transition out of the spreadsheet sandbox.