Getting what you want in the ERP world

 Capacity vs Productivity

We’ve been running a series of posts that engage you to think about your business much earlier than is  customary. Why? Some distributors voice an opinion that they seem to have reached the maximum output of their  ERP systems (databases are out dated or obsolete) and that CRM’s are now the software they need to help drive  their businesses. Keep in mind most distributors have not used all of the functions of their present ERP system  but they are running into terrific cost when they want to add or plug bolt-on products such as some CRM’s.

CRM’s are great, but your ERP system probably contains a lot of information that will help you better look for business that you have been driving by with the same customers. While others need to enlarge their capacity of functions some feel that they have reached the max productivity level.

Quick Books Pro…. +ACCTIVATE

Believe it or not a number of electrical distributors run their business on Quick-books Pro (QBP) but the program itself limits what they can do. Remember this is an off the shelf and out of the box program that you may have used to start your business.

So, it’s not often that you see some software up close and see a really big bang for the buck. Such is the case with Acctivate when coupled with Quick Books Pro (QBP).  Acctivate is an add on product for QBP. Essentially Acctivate opens up QBP warehouse and distribution management as well as provides an EDI capability. For the functions and capability, the price tag is modest if you are running Quick Books Pro. Now QBP is not in the same league as INFOR, Epicor, xTuple or SAP.

INFOR

With more distributors looking for stable software companies, “Infor offers an excellent migration path for older character based software say 16 out of 25 distributors based on a survey that we conducted that asked questions about stability, migration paths, current databases, support responsiveness and open source abilities..

Infor is encouraging distributors to start asking questions after viewing a short movie (click here for video and 200 question workbook) and letting you download a Free 200 question workbook . Infor’s challenge revolves around the universal problem that most software companies end up staging a “Beauty Contest” to show off their best functions and not necessarily answering all of a distributor’s needs.

SAP

SAP is asking how far can ambition take a small to medium size distributor?  They are now offering a white paper to engage you. Click here. One of SAP’s strengths is financial stableness along with many installations, albeit for larger distributors (and for many manufacturers).

SAP has been actively seeking customers that are looking at the Cloud as well as on site software.  You can attend their web broadcast by clicking here

APAX Partners (EPICOR= Eclipse, P21, Speedware, Prelude, Trade Service Systems and etc)

Epicor has been offering up a series of emails that talk to the issues of working smarter, not harder. To get their report click here. It was learned on Friday the 10th, that more corporate level and some sales personnel were terminated. We continue to talk with client distributors who are looking for other sources of support. The latest description from distributors  is that Epicor is in a state of turmoil, at least from a support stand point. The outdated database is now causing concern for some. Others feel differently. Whatever their feelings there are some that are lining up other means of support.

Meanwhile Apax Partners, the owners of Epicor, had problems selling the company for the $2.8B+as announced earlier. So,  APAX Partners is buying EXACT,  a European software company.  You can read the press release offering by clicking here. EXACT ANNOUNCES RECOMMENDED CASH OFFER BY FUNDS ADVISED BY APAX

Here is a brief highlight “Exact and Eiger Acquisition B.V. (a wholly owned subsidiary of certain funds advised by Apax Partners) have reached conditional agreement on a recommended full public offer for all of Exact’s issued and outstanding shares of EUR 32.00 (cum dividend) in cash per share”. Sounds like an in-house sale. Good luck to them.

As ERP software systems age, databases become obsolete, hardware becomes obsolete and the attraction of newer software grabs at you, do you have a plan to move or change or improve your ERP software?

Do you have a migration path to follow that opens up, but keeps your sales data (customer data, products bought, branches where product is bought and etc). Do you have a pathway to improve your Internet sales? If you think you are in a quagmire how do you get out? Got a Plan? How good or bad will your current system support it?  Is your ERP an asset, moving forward, or an inhibitor?