The ERPodcast

E31 SuiteWorld 2023 Timestamp Subject 5:36 Sponsored by Acura MDX 15:45 Apple Never Introduced a Category Killer 20:15 NetSuite Keynote Coverage 22:43 The Hype that is AI 26:01:00 Suite Up 31:30:00 NetSuite New Releases 35:08:00 AI Becomes Real 38:00:00 Peak Outliers in ERP Marketing 42:00:00 Importance of ERP Development Links of note Keynote SuiteWorld 2023 Evan Goldberg, CEO Details on New NetSuite offerings, Gary Wiessinger's Keynote Global Smartphone Market Share PFE Open/PFE MFX up and Under October 2023. NetSuite is hosting SuiteWorld, the annual gathering of users, partners, developers, consultants, and anyone else affiliated with the NetSuite universe. It’s been a busy year in ERP in general, NetSuite in particular. There are now over 37,000 companies running on NetSuite – phenomenal growth. Around 2019? They had just broken the 18,000 companies on NetSuite mark – so the user community has doubled in 4 years, or 3 years plus a Covid timeout. Anyway – SuiteWorld attendance is critically important for top performing NetSuite-using Companies. Even more important for companies not yet using NetSuite. Why is that you ask? Why would you go to a users conference if you’re not a user. Here’s the story. New to ERP, clients are looking at ERP, considering which ones to select. User conferences in general are a great idea. I mean, everyone wants references – demos are really great, but not great reality. You want to see real-life examples. Well, there’s about 3,000 users at NetSuite you could talk to. Does NetSuite really work as advertised? You’re going to see lots of companies, who, at one time were exactly where you are. How does this work? And the answer is two-fold – it doesn’t work like you think it would, and two, if you follow the process, just like these 3,000 folks did, you too will get there. Is it worth it? The majority of the folks at SuiteWorld will tell you they wished they’d started sooner. The rest got into NetSuite as a startup – mostly because they’d used it at a former employer already. Another critical thing we’ve learned from past clients. About a third of ERP failures can be attributed to implementation fatigue – and we’re talking the entire system up and running but features they expected and wanted, well, doesn’t really work.  Truth is, It gets hard at the very end of an implementation and it’s been a long haul to get there, and the internal team often quits at the 5 yard line – says something like ‘well, the software really doesn’t work like it did in the demos’. When the issue is, yes, it does work, but not the way YOU’RE trying to do it. So having the opportunity to actually see the intended functionality working for other companies – your internal team will realize that yes, we can do this if they did it – there is a way. And they take the ball from the 5 and push it over the goal line. If you’re already running NetSuite, then it’s even more important to get to SuiteWorld. You’ll find out first-hand all about the new developments being released this year. Even get a chance to see demonstrations and some hands-on labs working with new features. Plus there’s the best-in-class Presentations. Other companies who use NetSuite, who have seen tremendous results, telling you exactly how they did it. You can ask them questions, take notes, get handouts, follow up with the product leaders from NetSuite – why they designed it that way, how it works best. Then there’s everything else. All the affiliated software products, apps, programs, platforms, portals – everything that works with and around NetSuite. Might not be something you’re doing this year, but you learn about it and next year, when Management tells you your department needs to...

E30 CFO Leadership Conference West 2023  E30 CFO Leadership Conference West 2023 ERPodcast Episode 30.2 Intro MFX This week in ERP….(or at least my week in ERP) Hey Folks – Gene Hammons, Director of ProfitFromERP with Episode 30 of the ERPodcast… Interesting week however you look at it - locally, here in AZ, Tempe to be specific, the CFO Leadership Council held CFO Leadership Conference West 2023 - thanks to my friends at Oracle NetSuite and Avalera (the tax guys) they were able to sneak me into the Networking Event held poolside at one of the local mountainside Marriott Resorts. And fortunately, fall came to the desert three days prior to the event and it was a great evening under the stars. A week earlier and it would have been 103 degrees with the smell of roasted CFO’s wafting across the desert. Got to talk to a lot of different CFO’s from lots of different companies all across the country. I’d say attendance was in the 200-400 range, but that’s a guess on my part. A lot of the sessions were on technology for finance, using automation in driving better data and how data driven organizations had clearer and faster reads on how their specific company was performing in a wildly fluctuating market. It goes without saying that we’re dealing with challenging market conditions these days. Makes me wonder if it goes without saying, why do I keep saying it. We’re beginning to see real functionality with AI in finance software – more on that next week – Many CFO’s report their staff spending more time on accuracy than analysis, and the focus here was using automation to drive the accuracy, AI to report anomalies and staff can concentrate on analysis to provide real service to the rest of the organization. Many of the CFO’s were with companies already using NetSuite - and the new numbers are out, NetSuite is now over 37,000 companies using the Suite. I remember 2019, not that long ago, when they were ecstatic at breaking the 18,000 companies mark. The conventional wisdom at the time was NetSuite had seen 30% growth year after year but driving 30% increases of a 10k customer base is a lot easier to achieve than pulling off 30% growth on a base of 18,000 customers - so surely there was a ceiling coming soon. Execpt it didn’t….and here’s a few reasons why The Oracle Boost – I don’t know if you know the NetSuite history, initially, Larry Ellison Oracle Founder and CEO, provided once Oracle employee now NetSuite Founder CEO Evan Goldberg with initial funding to start a cloud based business software – so Larry owned a good deal of the stock in NetSuite. Oracle, for reasons we’ll cover other places, wasn’t a big player in cloud technology, but as NetSuite grew, Oracle could shortcut it’s way into cloud technology by acquiring NetSuite – which turned out to be really great in many areas. Going Global 2019 I also was at a NetSuite Suite Success Training in Denver . We heard that Oracle, was driving huge development dollars into the NetSuite platform.  I first saw NetSuite really take off in our customer base around 2014, back then, NetSuite was a US market product. As I met my fellow Suite Success team members in Denver, I met other students from Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Ireland, London, Paris, Germany, Thailand-I think, India, Sri Lanka - and that’s the ones I remember. That kind of illustrated the global impact NetSuite was starting to have in foreign ERP providers and global markets with Oracle-backed development rolling out NetSuite versions specific to other countries, localized to tax and legal issues of those particular markets - that was part of the new development Oracle was providing - driving new markets globally, so NetSuite could replicate the tremendous success they’ve had stateside and start serving a worldwide market. And that’s just some of the huge expansion of NetSuite capabilities and functionalites Actually that turned out to be pretty fortuitous on my part The ERPodcast,

ERPodcast Episode 29 The Perfect Time for ERP MFX/Intro Welcome to the ERPodcast Episode #29 – The Perfect Time for ERP – that’s the title and theme of today’s examination of just that - when should a growing company undertake an ERP project? And it’s not a simple question. Any ERP project is massive, whether you’re a $12m annual revenue company going from Quickbooks to Sage Intacct or a $200m company replacing DynamicsGP with a new cloud-based ERP. ERP is an intensive project, needs a ‘all hands on deck’ approach and the stakes are high. There’s legendary stories of Hershey’s Chocolate almost losing the company when a failed SAP effort meant they couldn’t ship product in the middle of the peak Halloween to Christmas season – not good – and there’s also scores of those types of stories from lesser known and more private companies. So when is, The Perfect Time for ERP? We’ll talk about 3 real world examples of recent ProfitFromERP clients and the drivers behind those examples. There’s also a world of opinion in the world of startups – do you do the ERP project Pre-IPO to show potential investors solid financial controls and operational efficiency? Do you wait until the next round of funding to be able to afford the higher end ERP’s with related SEC reporting tools to make sure of compliance needed by a public company? Then there’s the staffing balance – we’ll have more people on board next year so we can spread the ERP implementation workload across more resources….but if we had ERP already installed we’d need to hire fewer people for the same size operation. Here’s the conundrum – most of us don’t hire for excess capacity. It’s more like we’re not really sure of the data, it’s coming from disparate spreadsheets, running late, last minute– but the staff is working overtime and Saturdays – if we just had one more person to chase down the data… which is a good solution, but by definition, a growing company continues to grow and we keep adding one more person just to keep up, pretty soon there’s 22 desks in the business office and we’re looking for more space because everyone’s working overtime and Saturdays. Putting things off til some magical ‘some day’ only gets us from complexity to mass complexity. Then one day we wake up and we realize ‘WOW - it would have been a lot easier to implement ERP when the business was simpler and we could have managed growth in a lot more systematic method’. Plus, instead of rolling out training to 50 people all at once, we comprehensively train the first 10 and teach each onboarding employee the exact steps using the new software specifically for their job duties. And maybe even start hiring people who’ve already been using the same ERP we just implemented. So what’s The Perfect Time for ERP?  Let’s look at some real-world examples. Stories of companies that took a leap at different stages and how that all turned out. I’m your host, Gene Hammons, Director of ProfitFromERP,  our business consulting firm helping clients actually create Profit, From their ERP projects. Right back after this! Stinger out. Hey – a word about sponsors. Putting together the ERPodcast is a labor of love, it’s often our first introduction to new clients, we also think it’s about giving back to the community, sharing stories of real world ERP projects, how the market works, things we’ve experienced over the years and so on. . As long as there are still ERP projects that fail or have huge cost overruns or don’t do what the demo looked like it did – as long as there’s a bad project out there, we’ll keep pushing out the know-how to avoid those situations But – running a growing company ProfitFromERP – just like any other emerging company, there’s a lot to do. Time is critical. And if we’re going to allocate the time to the ERPodcast – well, we need to do it as more than a net loss leader – so we have sponsors. The easiest way to get podcast sponsors for a podcast is through placement brokers – you can te...

Digital Transformation What don't you know about ERP? Industry secrets, mis-aligned incentives and drivers of behavior all impact your final result - Today's ERPodcast let's you get a handle on some of the largest pitfalls threatening your project before you start.  LinkSources   ERPodcast E27 CEO/CFO Report 2021 Links   Links mentioned in today’s Episode 26 of the ERPodcast SaaS Success Series - an online seminar series brought to you by Sage Intacct. Register for this week's sessions and find links to previous panel appearances by Gene Hammons Here ERPodcast Episode 24 and Episode 25 Is a case study on one company, Nice Link Home Furnishings, who implemented the Cloud ERP Acumatica in the middle of the pandemic – here’s the link to the ERPodcast ERP News Page.   About today's ERPodcast MIsaligned incentives - budget shortfalls - tight implementation timelines - How do you conquer the most common pitfalls leading to a failed ERP implementation? The ProfitFromERP methodology bakes in best practices so you end up watching company goals exceeded and, like we say, ProfitFromERP, our clients make ERP PAY!   E27 – What They Don’t Tell You About ERP (but you soon find out anyway)   MFX up and under   It’s Episode 27 of the ERPodcast, What They Don’t Tell You About ERP (but you’ll soon find out anyway).  I’m your host, Gene Hammons the Director of ProfitFromERP - a business consultancy revolving around software, it’s uses and misuses – and as we like to say, Our Clients Make ERP Pay – pay for itself, pay off, pay back, break even and we even have the cash flow analysis to prove it. But all that aside. What’s this about what they don’t tell you about ERP? Who are they? And Why are they so hush-mouthed about important ERP situations?  We’ll get to that in today’s episode, what they don’t tell you, but more importantly, what’s their motivation, what’s their incentive and how are we going to shift incentives both for the software vendor, but also shift incentives for your internal team - all so that your company comes out on top in your next ERP project.   But here’s the Number One Thing they don’t tell you – most ERP projects fail. Some are small fails, like, the software wasn’t live on time. Some are big fails like, we went over budget. By double. And some are epic fails, like, this doesn’t really do what we saw in the demo. But we’re stuck. And some fails are Ed’s fault. Ed ran the selection committee that got us into this mess in the first place – he’s not here anymore so we pretty much blame it on Ed-ware instead of software. So today we’ll even tell you how to keep your job if someone walks into your office and says, “We need a new ERP system and we want you to run the project…say, your middle name isn’t Ed is it”? – all that and more – right after this word from our sponsor – It’s Episode 27 of the ERPodcast What they don’t tell you about ERP.   (break)           Endorsement – SaaS Success Series Sage Intacct   Much has changed in the Business world over the last year - - don’t need to tell you that. While we don’t  gather in large groups, conventions, presentations, business meetings – have moved online and I have to say the webinar content has improved dramatically. I know for myself,  instead of my normal speeches at various conventions, I’ve avoiding airlines, hotels, overserved networking parties and have still appeared on a few panel discussions over months past – most recently, the SaaS Success Series by Sage Intacct – which is still ongoing the week we release this podcast -  but even better...

Acumatica, The Cloud ERP  Cloud ERP creates incredible opportunities for integration - with internal apps but more importantly with outside vendors and customers - Through EDI and digital connection, Nice Link was able to open sales channels with Wayfair, Costco, Overstock.com, Macy's and many others - Find out how interconnected sales channels can work for you. Net at Work is not only an Acumatica reseller,  but with experience in multi-channel distribution, warehousing, and the accounting behind it all, it's more than simply implementing software - it's implementing best practices, lean staffing functionality and cost effective operational integration, with the end result, Nice Link Business Performance - Unleashed! About today's ERPodcast As Covid hit the US in February, Nice Link, a furniture distributor saw order cancellations flood into the business office. Jay Carlson, President of Nice Link had projects underway to upgrade the backend software of his US based business. Quickbooks couldn’t handle the inventory, warehouses or manage the volume of digital sales orders Nice Link was anticipating. Yet, despite the uncertainty they pressed on. Acumatica, the Cloud ERP was well underway being implemented and would go live in June. Simultaneously, as the American workforce shifted from office based to home based, online furniture sales exploded. Today, we see the success that was Nice Link’s forward-thinking strategy and Acumatica’s tactical application – creating connections with retail furniture outlets, smoothing the bumps in eCommerce and handling a workload that would have necessitated an expensive staffing upsurge to manage in a manual business software setting. It’s a story of enduring Entrepreneurship. It’s a story of cloud ERP functionality. It’s a story of Net at Work’s distribution experience. It’s an American Success Story of Profit From ERP – this week on the ERPodcast E25 – Nice Link Part Two Jay Carlson   Believe it or not, it’s Episode 25 of the ERPodcast   MFX up and under   Today’s episode is Part Two of our conversation with Jay Carlson, President of Nice Link Home Furnishings – if you caught Episode 24 you’ll remember Nice Link implemented and launched Acumatica, the Cloud ERP in June, right in the middle of a certain pandemic you may have heard something about – and as is with all ERP, especially critical during times of market disruption, Nice Link automated, so they didn’t need so much labor and so many spreadsheets. The connected digitally with their customers, so they’re taking sales orders that someone else is paying to input instead of hiring more folks internally. They got control over 7 national warehouses with a pretty complex sales model. They expanded eCommerce, with items appearing on other eTailers websites opening new channels and new market shares. Did all this just happen by ERP magic, No – it’s hard work and you need help from implementation partners such as Nice Link’s go-to, a firm called Net At Work – who if you know ERP you’ve heard of Net At Work over the years as a leading ERP implementation partner – of course ERP is something most companies pay attention to once or maybe twice every decade – but take my word for it, Net At Work is a major player – Jay will speak about them on today’s Episode. Nice Link Home Furnishings was at the right place at the right time when home furnishings kind of took off.

Acumatica, The Cloud ERP  Cloud ERP creates incredible opportunities for integration - with internal apps but more importantly with outside vendors and customers - Through EDI and digital connection, Nice Link was able to open sales channels with Wayfair, Costco, Overstock.com, Macy's and many others - Find out how interconnected sales channels can work for you. Net at Work is not only an Acumatica reseller,  but with experience in multi-channel distribution, warehousing, and the accounting behind it all, it's more than simply implementing software - it's implementing best practices, lean staffing functionality and cost effective operational integration, with the end result, Nice Link Business Performance - Unleashed! About today's ERPodcast As Covid hit the US in February, Nice Link, a furniture distributor saw order cancellations flood into the business office. Jay Carlson, President of Nice Link had projects underway to upgrade the backend software of his US based business. Quickbooks couldn’t handle the inventory, warehouses or manage the volume of digital sales orders Nice Link was anticipating. Yet, despite the uncertainty they pressed on. Acumatica, the Cloud ERP was well underway being implemented and would go live in June. Simultaneously, as the American workforce shifted from office based to home based, online furniture sales exploded. Today, we see the success that was Nice Link’s forward-thinking strategy and Acumatica’s tactical application – creating connections with retail furniture outlets, smoothing the bumps in eCommerce and handling a workload that would have necessitated an expensive staffing upsurge to manage in a manual business software setting. It’s a story of enduring Entrepreneurship. It’s a story of cloud ERP functionality. It’s a story of Net at Work’s distribution experience. It’s an American Success Story of Profit From ERP – this week on the ERPodcast E24 – Nice Link Jay Calrson MFX up and under lEpisode 24 of the ERPodcast – Nice Link Home Furnishings – a distribution story of Digital Transformation in the Age of Covid… if you’ve been listening to the ERPodcast for any time, we’ve been telling stories of how resilient companies are using cloud software and digital transformation to survive, and in some cases even thrive in the covidian economy – this week, It’s Jay Carlson, President of Nice Link talking about how their business turned to Acumatica, the Cloud ERP, as well as Acumatica Partner Net At Work, - - - initially to save money - - as Jay will put it, ‘he couldn’t keep throwing labor and spreadsheets at the problem’. Later Nice Link would find entire new lines of business made possible by simple digital integrations – so it’s a real life story of taking on an ERP project at the height of covid, and having the project succeed wildly – allowing Nice Link to actually Profit From ERP – see how I slipped that one in there. This podcast is not wild claims of how ERP is an end all - but how a growing company can use ERP to better connect, to extend sales options, to process orders electronically – and go from QuickBooks and spreadsheet inventory to 7 shared warehouses nationwide with complex cross selling all integrated into the system. Then getting closer to their customers with electronic integration into Wayfair, Costco, Macy’s and others – and how when the pandemic had everyone working from home,

The Truth of ERP  Cutting through Conventional Wisdom isn't hard for experienced ERP Selection Consultants - using tried and true methods instead of what 'everybody knows' can save time, money, even the project manager's job - How to reach the goal for companies looking for Profit from ERP.  ERP software comes with many different features and modules. It also comes with huge expectations, false understandings, simplifications, over-promised results and undersold concepts --- But the Truth of ERP is.... About today's ERPodcast   Episode 23 The Truth of ERP – Post Election Edition     MFX Up and Under   Welcome to the ERPodcast Episode 23 – the Truth of ERP and a Newsbreak – the Post-election Edition – I’m the Director of Profit From ERP Gene Hammons and your host for the ERPodcast. So – what’s up in the ERP world, well, like so much else, 2020 has changed a lot of things  – Item – Cloud Software is booming as the pressure cage of the pandemic accelerates change Item – Some things never change – listening to customers is key – even if it’s digitally collected data delivered to the managers via iPhone – companies that listen and react are booming Item – A lot of the conventional wisdom of ERP has been shown to be a lie – truth is, we’ve always run ProfitFromERP based on proven truth rather than nebulous marketing spin So we’re going to talk about the Truth of ERP – over the past few months,  I kept getting reminded about an old Winston Churchill quote – a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get it’s pants on.  I thought a lot about that as it relates to the ERP world – and realized half of our ERP Consulting work is swimming upstream with the truth on our backs – truths learned the hard way – truths proven time and time again – but implementing these truths is sometimes the hardest part of a software implementation – all that and more after the break on the ERPodcast…     Alliance of Excellence Software Coalition Today’s ERPodcast is brought to you by ProfitFromERP’s Alliance of Excellence Software Coalition – here’s the thing – you can’t be all things to all people so at ProfitFromERP we’ve put together an alliance of some of everyone. When it comes to ERP, you may need help going through the selection and evaluation process. Millions of dollars in profit can be on the line – even with ERP platforms costing a fraction of that – the profitability of your business for the next several years can be dramatically affected. And you may say, Gene Hammons, you’re the expert here, we want you to run this project. Great. You also may say, Gene Hammons, we need 7 people to cover 28 national locations and three countries – OK, we can do that too. We have Alliance of Excellence Partners who are some of the best, independent, non-affiliated selection consultants on the planet. Then you may decide you need NetSuite – which is fine, we have 6 different NetSuite Partner companies who handle implementations – each has a very specialized approach – so one ERP software, 6 different focuses -which if you’re in a very specialized industry can really be critical. But it’s not just NetSuite. There’s three Acumatica partners, 2 Intacct Partners, a Microsoft shop with 14 offices, Infor partners, QAD resources, Zoho, US, Canada, onshore, offshore – teams that do development – and right now, about 20 trusted third party providers when those services are needed. Folks, it all adds up to a small army of highly specialized, extremely experienced teams that we’ve worked wi...

Acumatica, The Cloud ERP  One of the early made-for-cloud ERP offerings - Acumatica -  has long been included in Profit From ERP client software evaluations. A favorite of consultants from it's initial release, Acumatica has matured into a more feature rich offering and is winning more and more client selection processes. The ERPodcast welcomes a new sponsor, Net at Work, an ERP and Technology leader with over 6,000 clients since 1996. Net at Work has been a go-to resource in Profit From ERP evaluations for their leading Sage x3 practice for several years, besides Sage, they offer NetSuite, Acumatica, HRMS, CRM and eCommerce   - all geared toward their tagline - Business Performance Unleashed. About today's ERPodcast On today’s episode, we’re get to go behind the scenes with Net at Work – one of the nations’ leading ERP and technology firms and we’ll talk to Stuart Blumenthal, a friend of the program for 20+ years, although we didn’t actually start the ERPodcast until 24 months ago – but we’ve known Stuart since the turn of the century – back then he was a leader in the Sage channel of accounting and ERP software and he’s not slowed down since. Net at Work has HQ in New York as well as other locations all over the country – we’ll catch up with Stuart in Dallas today. Net at work has ERP practices in the Sage channel, NetSuite and now Acumatica. Of course we covered a great deal about Acumatica, the Cloud ERP in last week’s ERPodcast  - so you might want to go back and listen to that one first if you missed it – but today, Stuart will talk about what it takes to make a great implementation partner for getting started with Acumatica and what it takes, and how it works when ‘you do it right.’  Stay tuned after the interview we’ll get into how Profit From ERP and Stuart’s Net at Work Acumatica Practice works together to make sure you get everything you pay for out of your next ERP Project – it’s all here, on today’s episode of the ERPodcast Stuart Blumenthal Acumatica Practice Director Episode 33 QuickBooks Costs the State Department $657-thousand dollars, thereby avoiding expensive ERP options. May 12, 2025. BREAKING NEWS - In this week’s episode of the ERPodcast, we examine a QuickBooks system that ultimately cost the State Department $657-thousand dollars. We’re reporting on a source document -  a May 1 Department Of Justice Press Release, and additional reporting -... Episode 32 – What’s the Best ERP Apr 15, 2024It's not another Top Ten ERP list, not a Top Five, not a shootout or comparison, but the Best ERP for Your Business. Episode 31 – SuiteWorld 2023 Dec 18, 2023E31 SuiteWorld 2023 Timestamp Subject 5:36 Sponsored by Acura MDX 15:45 Apple Never Introduced a Category Killer 20:15 NetSuite Keynote Coverage 22:43 The Hype that is AI 26:01:00 Suite Up 31:30:00 NetSuite New Releases 35:08:00 AI Becomes Real 38:00:00 Peak Outliers... E30 – ERPodcast goes to CFO Leadership West 2023 Oct 20, 2023E30 CFO Leadership Conference West 2023  E30 CFO Leadership Conference West 2023 ERPodcast Episode 30.2 Intro MFX This week in ERP….(or at least my week in ERP) Hey Folks – Gene Hammons,

Acumatica, The Cloud ERP  One of the early made-for-cloud ERP offerings - Acumatica -  has long been included in Profit From ERP client software evaluations. A favorite of consultants from it's initial release, Acumatica has matured into a more feature rich offering and is winning more and more client selection processes. The ERPodcast welcomes a new sponsor, Net at Work, an ERP and Technology leader with over 6,000 clients since 1996. Net at Work has been a go-to resource in Profit From ERP evaluations for their leading Sage x3 practice for several years, besides Sage, they offer NetSuite, Acumatica, HRMS, CRM and eCommerce   - all geared toward their tagline - Business Performance Unleashed. About today's ERPodcast There are hundreds of ERP software companies - nearly every one of them has some type of cloud-like ERP offering. That's an effort to compete with 3 or 4 made for cloud ERP products that have revolutionized the ERP industry. among them Acumatica, Sage Intacct and NetSuite.  Our new sponsor, Net at Work has practices in two of the three cloud ERP leaders, Acumatica and NetSuite. Today we look at the advantages Acumatica brings to the table as a second generation cloud ERP offering. Episode 33 QuickBooks Costs the State Department $657-thousand dollars, thereby avoiding expensive ERP options. May 12, 2025. BREAKING NEWS - In this week’s episode of the ERPodcast, we examine a QuickBooks system that ultimately cost the State Department $657-thousand dollars. We’re reporting on a source document -  a May 1 Department Of Justice Press Release, and additional reporting -... Episode 32 – What’s the Best ERP Apr 15, 2024It's not another Top Ten ERP list, not a Top Five, not a shootout or comparison, but the Best ERP for Your Business. Episode 31 – SuiteWorld 2023 Dec 18, 2023E31 SuiteWorld 2023 Timestamp Subject 5:36 Sponsored by Acura MDX 15:45 Apple Never Introduced a Category Killer 20:15 NetSuite Keynote Coverage 22:43 The Hype that is AI 26:01:00 Suite Up 31:30:00 NetSuite New Releases 35:08:00 AI Becomes Real 38:00:00 Peak Outliers... E30 – ERPodcast goes to CFO Leadership West 2023 Oct 20, 2023E30 CFO Leadership Conference West 2023  E30 CFO Leadership Conference West 2023 ERPodcast Episode 30.2 Intro MFX This week in ERP….(or at least my week in ERP) Hey Folks – Gene Hammons, Director of ProfitFromERP with Episode 30 of the ERPodcast… Interesting... « Older Entries Subscribe for the Latest Content Don't miss an episode or blogpost - stay up to date on the latest in ERP and business technology Success! Email Subscribe

Evaluating ERP is more than grids and diagrams. You need a bit more depth to create the right results.

Stories From the Jungle Digital Transformation - the Case Studies - how, what and why the pandemic reset to Digital is saving companies and doubling revenue increases. Here's concrete examples of companies who's Digital approach is yielding early results. Along with who, how and what Digital Transformation can mean for your company.     Success! Email Subscribe Digital Transformation NetSuite Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Life Sciences Replacing QuickBooks Proven Methodologies Your Road to Success The ERPodcast e18 Digital Transformation Part Three - Case Studies FollowFollow Digital Transformation – while once an aspirational IT goal, COVID 19 created an environment in many companies where Digital Transformation is survival itself ABOUT THIS EPISODE Digital Transformation Part Three sees us highlighting some of the first responders to the pandemic lockdown - the companies that sprang into action day two and determined 'we're not taking this laying down'. It's mid-August and the results are rolling in.  Last week, a LinkedIn study showed companies that attempted a digital response to the Covid Lockdown showed revenue growth of 2x that of the companies who adopted a 'wait and see' stance.  An amazing statistic unless you rephrase it. What that really says is that companies who invested in innovation and business process improvement saw results. It says companies who adapted their approach to the new reality did better in the new reality than those who didn't attempt to adapt. It says companies who replaced outdated systems with the latest cloud-based digital software and refocused on customer interactions fared better than those who stuck to their 'good enough' systems.   So this '2x revenue growth' shouldn't surprise anyone - it just makes sense. And with the baseline of companies hesitant to respond to the new marketplace we now find ourselves in, well, that's a pretty low bar numerator to double. But these are still early returns.   And here's the stories of actual clients, restaurants, distributors, manufacturers, B2B and B2C businesses - all who adopted a Digital Transformation framework to innovate and prosper.  While Profit From ERP’s selection consulting and moving to cloud based ERP is part of Digital Transformation and included within, Get Digital Velocity specializes in C-level strategic consulting on a digital approach to transform companies along with fractional CIO services to help companies elevate IT and technology approaches to meet the requirements of a changed world. Today's Interview We go to the ends of the earth to bring you the stories to avoid in your journey through the world of ERP.

It's Crazy Out There! We can't control the outside world, but as Uncertainty reigns externally, Business Equilibrium results when we create better data certainty within our businesses. See how other leading companies have managed the raging seas of uncertainty in the boat of Cloud ERP  ERPodcast - Ranked #3 in Top 15 ERP Podcasts!   Recently - Feedspot.com a digital content aggregator assymbled a Top 15 ERP podcasts list - and the ERPodcast came in at #3 - Unfortunately, we dropped in the recent rankings and today's episode contains the original recording we posted on LinkedIn when the original rankings came out - apologies for any confusion! About today's ERPodcast MIsaligned incentives - budget shortfalls - tight implementation timelines - How do you conquer the most common pitfalls leading to a failed ERP implementation? The ProfitFromERP methodology bakes in best practices so you end up watching company goals and, like we say, ProfitFromERP, our clients make ERP PAY! E28c ERPodcast - Certainty in an Uncertain World   MFX up and under (but louder than last time)     It’s the ERPodcast Episode 28 – The official podcast of ProfitFromERP.com and I’m the Director, Gene Hammons, Over the past 18 months, we’ve helped about a dozen companies get through challenges we never thought any of us would face.   If you’ve listened to earlier ERPodcast Episodes, you know what a huge advantage digital companies had dealing with a world gone virtual. The #1 Issue? Uncertainty. The country, the workforce, supply chains, inflation, is covid up or down? Opening up or locking down? - - There’s a world of uncertainty out there  - - - if we’re going to maintain the right business equilibrium we need to create more certainty within the four walls of our businesses.  We can’t control outside uncertainties but we can surely affect the internal workings That’s Our ability to respond. That’s response – ability – and here’s how some of our clients define business responsibility today.   One big uncertainty is in today’s workforce. How do we deal with the changes, what are the technology issues that can even stop top talent from joining your firm? So let’s talk about how can technology help us get more done with the fewer people we actually do have on staff We’ll examine that.   Supply Chain issues? Overseas shipments are bringing back the old phrase Slow Boat from China – which many of you didn’t even know was a phrase – tech can’t help get your boat unloaded. But we can use demand planning to anticipate shortages long before your ship is just offshore with the parts, raw materials and goods your customers are already waiting for – never mind the trucking     Creating certainty in an uncertain world comes down to the Information in Information Technology – just in case you forgot what IT stood for.  Is your information good enough, timely enough, informative enough? You may be running a traditional ERP system that wasn’t ever giving you the reports you need. Or you may have a great baseline ERP but operationally, there’s no accurate way to gather data. Or FP&A modeling – can you project your profit margins when gas goes to $5 a gallon? Sometimes it’s modular additions to your technology stack – Sometimes it’s a complete Digital Transformation – a total software overhaul of your company.   Here’s what real world ProfitFromERP clients are doing to create certainty for savvy CFO’s and operational teams.   Item One – having a hard time finding enough people?  Maybe your old technology is keeping today’s workforce away  - - Item Two It’s th...

Hidden Dangers Over the years, more and more companies are growing far past the design point of QuickBooks. Risk, Staff Inefficiencies and simple lack of features all add up to hidden costs far in excess of what it would take to upgrade to ERP Success! Email Subscribe Digital Transformation NetSuite Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Life Sciences Replacing QuickBooks Proven Methodologies Your Road to Success The ERPodcast by Gene Hammons | Episode 17 FollowFollow A rotisserie Chicken, 75 pounds of Dog food, a 350 pack of tortillas, a copy of QuickBooks for the new Garage Startup...well, at least the Chicken was good.  ABOUT THIS EPISODE Years ago, it was very uncommon to see any company over $100k in annual revenue using QuickBooks.  Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks has certainly improved the product and some of the entry level accounting packages have suffered from a mass consolidation of the local VAR’s and resellers who once served the emerging company market.   Today, there’s a point – say a $5m company, where QuickBooks becomes extremely cumbersome – lack of inventory, project based features, retail and ecommerce, the list goes on – sure – there’s lots of add ons and 3rd Party products – but features in these follow on products are limited because no one is going to pay $10k to add onto a $300 program – so you can only develop and deliver so much on limited budgets. Yet companies go forward, developing workarounds and it’s not uncommon to see $50m and $60m companies running on good ol’ QB.   Risk is an issue. Later versions of QuickBooks have added things like keystroke logs and segregation of duties protocols – but these are seldom set up early in the company, when a single user is making all the entries, why would you need a record of who did what? You know.   Today’s episode is an interview with Mark Lee, CPA and Principle behind Maui Tax. Mr. Lee started his CPA career with Deloitte and worked with or ran major CPA consulting operations based in Texas, New York City, London and even an exotic posting in Dubai for a few years.  Throughout, he encountered companies large and small running QuickBooks and his primary advise revolved around the ‘false sense of security’ that developed. Companies believed they were running a professional accounting package when the initial impetus for QuickBooks’ creation was ‘bookkeeping software for people who don’t understand accounting.’   Topics covered in today’s podcast include: Risk – with QuickBooks at the center of dozens of forensic accounting cases involving embezzlement due to lack of adequate controls in place   Waste – Labor associated with excessive manual data entry and moreso on the dozens and more spreadsheets needed to attempt adequate reporting   Functionality – limited reporting prevents full visibility of basic business operations with many add on modules not ...

ERPodcast Episode 11 NetSuite for Pharma/Life Sciences     It’s the next generation of Profit From ERP for Pharma, Life Sciences, BioTech, and Medical Device   MFX Up and Under   So a few years back, around 2014 NetSuite started becoming very popular in the ERP industry – as the first made for cloud ERP.   And through our software consulting practice, we did dozens of ERP evaluation projects – analyzing the client company requirements, bringing in the usual ERP suspects – ummm I mean vendors, doing demos and really kicking the tires.   More times than not, NetSuite would be the client’s first choice.  It was clear that the ERP world had changed, and more than anything else, NetSuite was driving that change –  - - in an attempt to compete, the rest of the ERP world reacted - So much so, that today, you can’t find an ERP  program that’s not offered in a cloud version – which is not the same as made for cloud, but it demonstrated the ERP industries’ response to the popularity of NetSuite.   The truth is, there are reasons different ERP systems were first developed. Some were developed to run on an IBM AS/400 Server, a solid machine in it’s day.  Some were developed with an idea to utilize the latest Windows 32 bit technology. NetSuite was written to take advantage of cloud technology – made for cloud.   And while there may be a few AS/400’s still running somewhere and 64 bit replaced 32 bit – the cloud is still with us – it’s an internet world.   So with a modern software architecture designed for today’s technology, with our clients evaluating ERP, NetSuite was more often than not, the top choice.   We had clients in everything from professional sports teams to services and engineer to order companies and the list goes on.   Only NetSuite wouldn’t work in the pharma and life sciences industries for a couple of reasons… and we were still having to use older, more established, and more expensive ERP solutions for those clients….until just recently.   We were able to pioneer a strategy to use NetSuite with Contract Manufacturing pharma groups – closely integrating to outside vendors to monitor the supply chain – but last year, some real development in validation protocols has opened up an entire new options. We’re able to deploy Netsuite in pharma, but also life sciences, BioTech, medical devices - - -   And that opens up some new cost saving options and productivity drivers that are especially welcome in emerging Life Sciences companies - it’s a whole new world   We took some Contract Manufacturing companies onto the NetSuite platform in late 2017 – it was kind of lonely in that space  at first– but the results were great for our client companies.   2018 saw NetSuite has opening up in full blown pharma manufacturing environments   Today will talk with one of the leading innovators using NetSuite in the life sciences industries, Mike Kelly.  Mike was behind one of the leading NetSuite resellers in Southern California, a firm called Tactical Cloud – which recently joined Eide Bailly – our podcast sponsor.   We’ll talk to Mike and get a handle on what’s going on in the world of Life Sciences and the expansion of NetSuite as whole new industry verticals move into Profit…From ERP                   Today’s Podcast is being brought to you, in more ways than one, By Eide Bailly Technology, a division of Eide Bailly CPA.   You know, Eide Bailly has a 100 year history -  and while the technology division is somewhat newer – you don’t get to be a 100 year old company without some solid management excellence.   And that excellence is what they bring to the NetSuite practice.   Growing the practice both organically and through acquisition, Eide Bailly has already developed a history of ERP excellence – people I knew and worked with back in 2001 – they were ERP leaders then, and today,

It really happened….Profit From ERP (MFX Post and under) Welcome to the Case Studies Series Level 3 Audio Visual Part Two – actual clients using real ERP and getting real results – Today we’re back with Level 3 Audio Visual’s CEO Jeremy Elsesser as well as Doug Spencer, CFO – for the second of a two part episode on how Vaco Consulting’s Selection Process and Eide Bailly’s NetSuite Implementation project impacted the phenomenal growth and played a huge role in the development of a multinational business. I’m the Practice Director for Profit From ERP and Vaco Resources Software Selection & Implementation, Gene Hammons It’s well and good to speak of how ERP mighthelp your company – but it’s also instructive to see how it reallyworks in the real world – and occasionally, here on the ERPodcast we take a look at a past client to see how everything worked out. Last week we detailed the complexity of an Engineer to Order environment where L3AV creates and deploys some of the world’s best AV systems in boardrooms, conference rooms, auditoriums, healthcare, government and education, including some of the most high tech learning centers in existence. For all the details, check out last week’s episode One for the full background. It’s kind of like Spiderman 5, you can still jump right in but it’s better if you’ve seen Spiderman 4. Or so they tell me – I’m way too involved with exciting ERP projects to keep up at the cinema. In any case, this week we’re going back to the original $5m Cost Revenue Model – we projected it – did L3AV achieve it? L3AV also had some pretty impressive whiteboards and dynamic spreadsheets driving process – was NetSuite able to move them past that?  The Quoting spreadsheet was a many-tab work of art – and what about managing resources when you have a crew in Chicago and another in Rhode Island? Project Management, CRM and Exactly what do ERP Selection Consultants do…let’s find out in Part Two of the Case Study Series Level Three AV - - - it’s the real world, where those ERP Selection Consultants help clients actually Profit, From ERP (MFX Out) Today’s Podcast is being brought to you by Eide Bailly Technology. In a recent podcast, I mentioned that there were 1,000 NetSuite Partners around the country – actually the correct number is over 500 NetSuite Partners in 80 countries worldwide. It’s my email inbox with over a 1,000 messages from NetSuite Partners - - well, that’s an exaggeration too – but with all the different software providers and projects, it’s not too far off. But I tell you what, whether there’s 1,000 or 500, the one NetSuite Partner you wanthas been named Worldwide Partner of the Year multiple times and now picked up The Americas Partner of the Year last week in Las Vegas – that makes 4 years in a row. That’s Eide Bailly Technology Worldwide Partner, partner of the Americas – Just think of it like a big Final Four bracket starting with 500 teams and Eide Bailly moving thorough and ending up on top. And the team can only score when they make you’re project successful - They’re my pick when it comes to NetSuite – even back in 2014 I’d been working with them for some time and that’s why we called them in to the Level 3 AV project. As you’ll hear in today’s Part Two, they were instrumental from the beginning and are still helping develop the ERP environment at L3AV – that’s the kind of ongoing support you want from your ERP software partner. And believe me, I know. my email inbox is full of messages from software partners of all stripes and sizes – we see the difference every day, different software for different companies - because NetSuite doesn’t absolutely fit every company everywhere – but when NetSuite is the right ERP, Eide Bailly is the right partner.  Contact them today at Eide Bailly.com – that’s E I D E    B A I LL Y.com Welcome Back to the ERPodcast  - the Case Studies Series -  Level 3 Audio Visual Part Two Now as we said before,

So let’s talk about Profit From ERP in the real world (MFX) The year was 2014 – it was a full ERP evaluation – NetSuite was selected and the project goal was for the ERP system to save $5m over 3 Years Welcome to the Case Studies Series Level 3 Audio Visual – actual clients using real ERP and getting real results – Today we welcome Level 3 Audio Visual’s CEO Jeremy Elsesser as well as Doug Spencer, CFO – for the first of a two part episode on how Vaco Consulting’s Selection Process and Eide Bailly’s NetSuite Implementation project impacted the phenomenal growth and played a huge role in the development of a multinational business. I’m the Practice Director for Profit From ERP and Vaco Resources Software Selection & Implementation, Gene Hammons It’s well and good to speak of how ERP mighthelp your company – but it’s also instructive to see how it reallyworks in the real world – and occasionally, here on the ERPodcast we take a look at a past client to see how everything worked out Today we’re going to look at Level 3 Audio Visual or L3AV – we first got involved with L3AV back in 2014. A bit about the company – so you’ve no doubt seen a conference room or auditorium where the technology just rocked – video conferences where you could actually hear and see the participants – screens that connected quickly and cleanly – great audio – sharp video - just an exceptional experience. Well, L3AV is the company you call to make that happen. L3AV might trick out your boardroom or conference room – they’ll also handle huge educational learning classrooms, and when it’s really important – L3AV goes into the nation’s leading hospitals – managing things like surgical suite technology – so the surgeon in LA can conference in the specialist from Boston, where we’re overlaying the patient’s vital signs across a surgical scope projected on a screen – it’s cutting edge technology delivered where failure’s not an option. Back in 2014, L3AV chose to go with NetSuite – for a lot of reasons – Today we’ll take a look at why, how that worked out and how L3AV continues to drive efficiencies and productivities using NetSuite. And together we take a real-world lesson, on how to Profit From ERP (MFX out) Today’s podcast is being brought to you by Eide Bailly – the same Software consulting team who helped create the success that led to the case study on Level 3 Audio Video. Thorough Vaco Consulting, I was the lead ERP Consultant helping manage the selection process, the Eide Bailly/NetSuite team was chosen. Back in 2014, the team was under the True Cloud banner, one of the leading NetSuite partners in the country.  Last year, they combined with the Eide Bailly Technology team – And it must be going OK, because back to back years, Eide Bailly has picked up the Oracle NetSuite Americas Partner of the Year award. In my consulting practice we end up with lots of different software selected by different clients and when it comes to implementation, one of the most very critical success points in any ERP Project, it’s sometimes painful to watch a project start and stumble, lurch and jerk around. But I’ve been doing this a long time and we work hard to help keep implementations on target. It can be something you worry about – but not with Eide Bailly – an Eide Bailly implementation will face challenges, every implementation does – but the EB team is ready, willing and expecting to handle anything that comes up. More than once the Eide Bailly team has forecast an issue before anyone else – and I know from experience to listen. They help keep everything as smooth as humanly possible while implementing ERP – and as you’ll see today, they really keep with it and stand behind a project till it’s completed – no matter what the assignment. So like I said, different software for different companies and NetSuite doesn’t absolutely fit every company everywhere – but when NetSuite is the right ERP,

Podcast – How to Select an ERP Consultant. Time for Profit From ERP (MFX) Today It’s the big one – you’re thinking about ERP – processes in the office are overwhelming and it seems like everyone is chasing their own tail 110 percent of the time – there has to be a better way. And given all the choices, and the long lines at the ERP store – oh, wait, there’s no ERP store. How do you go about getting a new ERP for your business? Well, for reasons we’ll talk more about later, many companies turn to ERP Consultants. So the next question, are the lines long at the ERP Consultant store – oh wait, there’s no ERP Consultant store – so what to do? Well, you’ve come to the right place at the right time – as we’re going to guide you through the world of selecting an ERP Consultant – who are they and what do they do? How do they fit in and what do they cost? Where to start and what to look for at the finish line. I’m Gene Hammons, Director of Profit From ERP and the host of ERPodcast – and besides being ERP Consultants, we’ve also seen quite a few others over the years – so buckle up your headphones and hang on for the ride as we look at the world of ERP Consultants and how to best find your fit and truly, Profit From ERP Today’s ERPodcast is brought to you by Eide Bailly Technology – purveyours and partners for NetSuite, Salesforce.com, Sage Business Software and more. You know, once your ERP Consultant has recommended likely ERP programs – the next big leap is finding the right partner for that ERP product. If you think NetSuite might be your solution, then it’s a fair bet Eide Bailly should be your partner. Eide Bailly started out over 100 years ago as a CPA firm – trusted by businesses large and small – and that continues today in the Eide Bailly Technology Group.  They’ve been leaders in NetSuite consulting from the early days of cloud ERP and now, with nationwide reach Eide Bailly is recognized as Partner of the Year, National Partner of the Year and even Worldwide Partner of the year by NetSuite themselves. That’s a reflection of the depth and breadth of talent on the Eide Bailly Team. And it’s also why when I have a client looking at NetSuite, I’m calling in Eide Bailly. It’s sort of because of my likes and dislikes. For instance, I dislike explaining to my clients why a project ran into cost overruns. Eide Bailly brought my last project in under budget AND met a totally unrealistically short client deadline for go live – that I like. I dislike complex and confusing software implementations Eide Bailly has so much experience, they’ve highly streamlined the implementation delivery so everyone is on board with the same goals and objectives – I like that. I just generally like working with Eide Bailly and I think you will too. You know NetSuite doesn’t absolutely fit every company everywhere – but when NetSuite is the right ERP, Eide Bailly is the right partner.  Contact them today at Eide Bailly.com – that’s E I D E    B A I LL Y.com Welcome back to the ERPodcast – I’m your host Gene Hammons and today, it’s How to Select an ERP Consultant. My primary goal here is not to sell you on signing on with Profit From ERP – my goal is to educate you on the ins and outs of ERP consulting, because the more you know, the better we’re going to look – and at very least – you can avoid the most common pitfalls in the ERP Consulting area. First of all, Why do you need an ERP Consultant? Here’s the deal, ERP Software is expensive, the stakes are high and the failures are more common than successes.  Done right, ERP can drive 3-5-7 percent more profit to your bottom line. Done wrong – well it’s generally accepted that over 8 of 10 ERP projects fail when you measure them by 1)   Time to go-live 2)   Cost overruns, or 3)   Expected Functionality 1)   Time to go-live – are you trying to hit July 1 go-live to run FY 2020 books on the new ERP? Well, it’s April,

Below is the transcript to this week's ERPodcast - prior to alerting us to each grammatical irregularity, please recognize it is written for the spoken word, not text, and with a conversational tone, while not always grammatically perfect - the audience tends to understand quicker.   Let’s go for Profit from ERP (MFX)   Welcome to this week’s episode of ERPodcast  - I’m your host Gene Hammons and this week we’re going to the Mailbag!   So, what is the Mailbag you ask, well, there’s a popular website called Quora.comQ-U-O-R-A .com and the idea is, if you want to talk to an expert on any topic, you can go to Quora.com and ask the expert.   I don’t really know how they define who’s an expert … but over the years, I’ve found answering questions on Quora about things I deal with all day every day has been helpful to folks who don’t actually live-breathe-eat-sleep ERP software. In 2018 I was named a Top Writer by Quora, with the #1 Ranking in the ERP software category, as well as top 5 rankings from time to time in SAP, Microsoft,Sage, Intacct,NetSuite, Ross,Lawson and Infor– which are all categories of ERP publishers if you’d not guessed.   By the time you’re hearing this, my viewer count will top the 1 – million reader mark.  I remember when I called my wife in to show her that 40-thousand people had read my answers because that sounded like a big number.  But 1 Million readers. As they used to say, THAT and a dime will get you a cup of coffee. Of course they didn’t have Starbucks when they were saying that.   Anyway.   We’re going to pull up some of the ERP related questions people from around the world are asking and go over how we answered those questions – Maybe you have some of the same questions. Maybe you can’t believe someone asked that question. Maybe there is such a thing as a stupid question.   We’ll find out today – Hey a million readers can’t be wrong – at least not all of them at the same time – It’s the Mailbag episode of the ERProfit podcast – right here in our endless quest to help you - Profit From ERP.   MFX Post and Out   The Podcast is brought to you by Eide Bailly Technology– you know it’s relatively easy to become an expert in social media – you can even label yourself a ‘guru’ or better yet, a ‘product evangelist’  Since I run the Profit from ERP website, I can call myself a Prophet of Profit – you know like a prophet- with a PH -  like prophet of old, talking about financial profit – I guess that’s all in the PH balance if you get those sorts of jokes.   But Eide Bailly is not like that – they earn their labels the hard way – by doing the actual work.   Eide Bailly is a 100+ year old CPA firm – not many companies have that kind of track record.   The Eide Bailly Technology Group is a NetSuite reseller, Salesforce.com partner, they handle Sage Business Software and much more. And they don’t have to label themselves a ‘guru’ when others are recognizing them for more impressive accomplishments like NetSuite top 5 Global Consulting Partner and NetSuite Partner of the Year for several years running – even the coveted Worldwide Partner of the Year – now that covers some ground.   And while I might be a so-called social media Expert, when it comes to consulting for my client companies – if they need NetSuite, I turn to Eide Bailly – because I want realexperts working for myclients.   NetSuite is great – it’s one of the hottest ERP’s on the market and there’s a ton of resellers and implementation partners all across the nation – but I want the best – so I go with Eide Bailly and you should too.   You know NetSuite doesn’t absolutely fit every company everywhere – but when NetSuite is the right ERP, Eide Bailly is the right partner.  No gurus. No evangelists. Just experts. Eide Bailly – that’s E I D E   B A I L L Y.com   Now onto the podcast

ERPodcast Episode 4 – 2019 The State of the ERP Address   Time for Profit from ERP (MFX)   It’s ERPodcast the verbal musings of the Director of Consulting Services at Profit From ERP, Gene Hammons – Today it’s The 2019 State of the ERP Address - We’ll talk about new efficiencies driven by cloud ERP, increasing pressure on internal corporate teams taking on a new ERP projects, ERP platform diversity which means something for everyone, and we’ll cover the strategic impact of ERP and the core competency to be a technology driven company instead of an M&A target   If you Google ERP related queries, you’ll find a world of information – most of it written from the perspective of someone who’s trying to sell you their ERP software. Which, while that is informative to a point, it’s not always the point you were looking to answer.   So, our perspective.   We help client companies analyze, select, and implement ERP software as well as related operational software and mobile apps. Granted, software selection expertise does not translate into an accurate general overview of the entire ERP industry – what we do have is a specific, laser focused, examination of real world results from actual working companies.   We do selection/implementation again and again, for client after client. In a variety of industries, business lines and verticals.  The commonalities of our clients are they’re already successful and growing, usually they’ve outgrown or outpaced the current system.   It’s gotten to the point where regardless if the cost seems huge, they know the effort needs to be undertaken –   Our consulting practice is designed to turn that around.   Instead of approaching the project as a huge cost, we look to the efficiencies – the productivity gains – the cost avoidance – the labor savings – the revenue increases – and we measure it all, as increased Profit – Profit From ERP.   Profit is the goal. ERP is the tool.   And while it’s not exactly a Congressional Proclamation, it’s definitely a real world perspective, it’s the 2019 State of the ERP address –   -Break-   Welcome back to the ERPodcast, the 2019 State of the ERP Address – before we jump into today’s content, a bit of backstory.   Yes, I know there’s always a bit of backstory with me – but just this morning, I saw a pull quote from noted economist Thomas Sowell, who said “One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and time again.”   So we don’t want to be angering Economists and we have a general policy of avoiding disasters – so let’s understand history driving today’s trends.   Trend #1 Cloud Computing Driving Efficiencies   In the early days of ERP, everything was modular to the extreme – you could buy a General Ledger or GL system from one company and tie that to an A/P or Accounts Payable system from another company. Today, all these modules have long been incorporated into different views from the same relational database, so any modern ERP will contain fairly complete financials.   Now if you’re working with a consulting firm that’s put together an RFP to send out to ERP providers, and on the front page of that RFP are questions that ask if the ERP package contains a GL, AP, AR, Purchasing and the like, there’s only two reasons – One, they’re using an old RFP form from the 1986 era of extreme modularity or two, they’re sending it out to ERP softwares that they have no idea or have never used that ERP – both big clues – take a hint.   The common model is completeness of base financial functions within a single database.   In the old model, only huge companies had the IT resources to keep all these different codebases integrated through upgrade roadmaps and changes in features – and with the changes to a single relational database,

When a company grows rapidly, and suddenly QuickBooks is not enough - there's a huge leap from accounting software to ERP and it requires a huge mental leap as well. In this episode, we look at a very common mistake - implementing by business office, when actually ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning - and it truly calls for the entire enterprise to contribute and reap the benefits. Find out how to manage this tricky implementation without the $100,000 pitfalls so many others have tripped over.