Acumatica

Eating Your Own Dog Food: Why Cloud ERP is a Necessity for the Transformed AV Firm

Gregg Mercede

The phrase, “eating your own dog food,” is one of those marketing terms used by organizations looking to reiterate the quality of their products. Not only does it create early adoption in your organization, it shows confidence in your own products.

Introduced by Alpo Dog Food in the 1970s, in which spokesperson Lorne Green pointed out that he fed Alpo to his own dogs, the term evolved in use over the years. In fact, this term was embraced by Microsoft throughout the 80s and 90s, with the company using dogfooding to show off the company’s embrace of Microsoft LAN Manager and Windows NT.

Practicing What You Preach: Evolving Firms Can’t Stop at Their Product Offerings

So what does this have to do with AV? If you’ve been following our series discussing the reasons to evolve and the tips on starting a transformation initiative at your AV integration firm, success is based on a simple concept: Evolution. Therefore, you already know that your best path forward is built on getting younger and improving the consistency of your revenue through a subscription model.

Though Cloud ERP can make recurring revenue easier and deliver a user interface ready for your younger workforce, would it really be eating your own dog food if you weren’t selling the product? Kind of.

How Cloud ERP Delivers for the Modernizing AV Firm

Practicing what you preach requires a commitment to modernizing your own side of the business. Recurring revenue is hard without a solution to track it and no millennial is going to want to use an outdated product, but if you’re not transforming your own business, why would your customers believe that you can transform theirs?

As a services firm, it’s your job to present the best possible solution for your clients. It’s your job to be on the cutting edge of your field. How can you do this if your back-office technology stuck in the past?

Real-Time Insight

When a team is working in real-time, it is up-to-date with the latest information, which greatly helps continuity. This is even more relevant for field workers, who would otherwise be detached from the company’s central office.

Decisions need to be made faster than ever in today’s business, and those decisions rely on the most accurate, up-to-date information. While legacy ERP makes this challenging, cloud products rely on a central database that updates in real time. No more hours spent making edits, only to find out you were working with out of date information.

Always On, Always Connected—Accessible Wherever You Are

One of the greatest reasons companies choose cloud ERP is the not just that it delivers real time information to the right people, it’s that this information is accessible anywhere you need it. Especially in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the case for the cloud has never been clearer.

Cloud 9 ERP Solutions and our flag ship ERP solution, Acumatica, offers 24/7 system access from any location on any device. Content automatically reflows to respond to various screen sizes, orientations, and resolutions, which ensures the interface and workflow is consistent. This translates into improved freedom and productivity, allowing people to choose where they work and on their preferred device.

Smarter Workflows

Getting from vision to action, from quote to implementation, or from prospect to customer quickly, easily, and accurately is necessary. In this, your workflows need to match your business processes, and you can’t have inaccuracies or hiccups anywhere.

Implementing a modern, true cloud system can help the company to pull the most essential data forward as quickly as possible, giving everyone involved a clear vision of those items they have access to via user rights, which are designated by leadership. Staff across the organization can then focus on tasks that better support the company’s strategic initiatives.

The Right People, the Right Place, the Right Time

Even if you go all-in on the recurring revenue model, a fair portion of your business will still be project-based. This requires you to put the right people on the job. Whether this is during the implementation phase—requiring you to send the person with the right expertise to complete a project or in the support phase, in which you need the most accurate picture of your field service operations, cloud ERP delivers.

Powerful Project Management

From service delivery to hours tracking, projects need to happen. Acumatica delivers software that you can access from anywhere so you remain productive whether you are in your office, at a client site, or traveling. Unlimited user pricing allows your entire organization to collaborate on projects without losing control.

Functional Field Service

Being able to log in to the same systems traditional employees do improves the work that virtually-based employees face. Real-time updates keep everyone connected, so all are aware of any issues that could impact typical business expectations.

Learn more about how Acumatica delivers for the field service business by reading the following resources:

 

The Modern AV Firm Requires a Modern Solution—Connect in the Cloud with Cloud 9 ERP Solutions

Modern software from Cloud 9 ERP Solutions, like Acumatica, is designed to handle the needs of today’s AV firm. Cloud 9 ERP Solutions specializes in configuring and delivering this solution for AV/IT firms including M3 Technologies Group and more, and we would love to help you as well. 

"M3 Technology has grown dramatically since implementing Acumatica. With the move from the old on-premise solution to Acumatica’s Cloud ERP, M3 experienced a growth in revenues by 60% in just the first two years, all while maintaining the same headcount in the finance department. We came out of the gate billing larger orders, but we covered the tasks with the same people. We weren’t extra stressed or working overtime to keep up, yet we were doing way more in sales and transactions through Acumatica." - Kelly Burns, ERP Developer & former Chief Operating Officer, M3 Technology Group

Looking to learn more? We invite you to watch our free, on-demand webinar on the benefits and best practices in using Cloud ERP. Learn More: How to Leverage Business Software for AV Companies. Or, browse all Acumatica videos.

 

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