Cloud 9 ERP Solutions Blog

The ERP decision making process is rarely an easy one. Vendors can make wide ranging promises, different departments have different needs, pricing models can vary, and the discussions that go on in the months leading up to the final decision are tense and politicized. There are many reasons these projects only happen once every five to eight years (if successful), most notably because the path from decision to action in ERP is so strenuous on the people in the organization.

If you’ve been online in the last 15 years, you’ve heard about the cloud, the idea of as-a-service deployment, and the benefits it could provide your business. Knowing this, while you may know about how a cloud deployment differs from an on-premises one, there is still a lot more to learn.

A product is only as good as the customers it serves. However, there are times when your current solution can’t manage its output with the products it has. Often a key driver behind an ERP upgrade, customers need specific software that can handle their needs, and often realize their current solution can’t match it.

The holidays are upon us, and this means ecommerce companies are in scramble mode. Do you have enough product to fill each order? Did you send the right product? Is it time to reorder? How long will it take to restock? For many companies like yours, you are the most important part of your customers’ holidays: You deliver that one item that puts a smile on each recipient’s face.

Whether you have a legacy system, are looking to move past an entry-level accounting system, or just need to make a change from whichever solution you currently use, the path to new ERP is a winding road. From the decision on whether to stick with the status quo or not all the way to the process of narrowing down your list, any change is an investment that needs to prove itself.

Breakups are never easy. Both sides put immense effort into making it work, but there often comes a time when it just stops working. Knowing this, one of the most common reasons for a breakup is that one party continues to put more and more work into the relationship only to get less and less from the partner. Much like a real relationship, this happens quite often with business management software—you continue to put more and more effort into the equation each day, month, or year and see diminishing returns.

The cloud has changed the way that businesses access technology. Introducing a complete change to the way a user can interact with the software, cloud deployment has laid the groundwork for more agility, increasingly informed decision making, and better collaboration. Rather than creating an environment in which users are tied to a computer and server, decision makers can now access up to the minute company information securely, immediately, and from any device.

Field Services Organizations are unique. Whether their client base is residential or commercial, these companies have to control every single moving part of the organization. The right person has to be in the right place at the right time, and they have to have the right equipment and inventory when they get to the site. Keeping everything (and everyone) organized is a challenge, but it’s only half of the battle.

Whether your specialty is residential or commercial, if you install network and structured cabling, your company has very specialized requirements when it comes to business software. Few solutions today are built for your unique needs, and even fewer have proven successes. If you’re tired of using a patchwork set of applications to manage core accounting, field service, CRM, and more, we invite you to learn from your AV industry peers who have already fought the battle and won.

Today’s business needs to move faster than ever in order to keep up. Whether your industry is at risk of “disruption” or you simply need to compete with other players in your sector, it’s becoming more and more important to have the right information at the right place at the right time.