automated data collection Archives - Page 2 of 2

How to Gather Requirements for ERP Implementation

Posted on February 16, 2021October 25, 2022 by Kseniia Goldovska

When choosing an ERP for your organization, don’t make the decision based on another business’s experience. Often, the same system could be both super-efficient and non-efficient depending on the specific needs of the business.

The best way to thoroughly implement an ERP? Involve your employees in the process.

Where To Start

As you assess the requirements that an ERP will need to functionally support your business, you should evaluate the status quo.

Every organization has bogged down, bottlenecked processes that hinder progress—

analyzing your organization’s bottlenecks is the first step in determining the reasons your business will benefit from implementing an ERP. As you do this, define the main goals that you’re hoping to achieve by implementing a new software solution.

Invite your team to collaborate—you’ll need as many insights as you can to develop a clear picture of what your business needs in terms of an ERP solution. Don’t limit your collaboration to the C-suite. Everyone in your organization—from the CEO to the newest intern—will be able to give you valuable insight into the different requirements different members of your organization require. You can also include a third-party ERP consultant to get an outside perspective.

Prioritize The Processes You Need

The selection of ERP software mainly depends on your business’s specific areas of need. For example, if you’re looking to manage your projects more efficiently, you should enlist the services of a software system focusing on project & portfolio management.

Together with your team, understand which processes your business places a priority on.

Your first task: gather feedback from as many members of your organization as possible. A good way to optimize the process is to send each employee a questionnaire to collect as many independent opinions as you can.

The next step: sit down with your employees that deal with the most frustrating bottlenecks your business has. They deal with them directly, so they’ll be able to give you the clearest picture in terms of what part of the process needs to be adjusted.

Brainstorm with your team to define the specific pain points that your employees identified. This list of needed features and improvements will guide you in choosing an ERP.

List Your Requirements

After you have collected enough data to analyze, it’s time to make a list of the specific ERP functionalities that your organization needs.

Your Requirements Should Be:

Avoid high-level descriptions and turn the pain points that your employees voiced into specific requirements.

For example: Your employees spend too much time manually tracking financial flows → The Erp software you choose should have extended automation functionality for financial management, including keeping detailed financial records on all of your projects, should allow you to check their status anywhere, any time, and should generate financial reports at time intervals of your choosing.

You should be able to clearly determine the value that certain upgraded features will add to your business.

For example: track how many hours are saved by ERP automation. If your employees are manually entering data in Excel, track how many hours were saved as a result of automation. In this way, you should be able to easily calculate the return on investment of your chosen ERP.

Don’t fall victim to unrealistic expectations—a software is only a software. There is no magical solution that will mend your business ailments overnight. The right ERP will act as a catalyst for your business—make sure that your employees are working diligently to make the most of the powerful new tools at their disposal.

Making The Decision

After you’ve formulated your requirements list, it’s time to choose the ERP software you want to use. Most ERP vendors offer a free demo of their product. These demos are custom-tailored to give you a preview of what specific functionalities the ERP can offer—make sure you choose an ERP that is deft in handling all of the delicate intricacies that only your business needs.

Make the most of the ERP providers’ experience. Utilize their team of software experts to ensure that their solution is able to be a comfortable fit for what your business needs.

Technical implementation is a major factor to consider. If you have an in-house team of developers, consult with them before making a decision. They will be able to provide insights that someone less tech-savvy may have glanced over.

If you don’t have a team like this on your payroll, enlist an ERP that is able to walk you through and assist you with the oft-complex process of data migration and implementation.

Training Your Employees

The successful implementation of your new ERP isn’t the end of the journey, it’s really just the start. Your employees need to learn how to use the system.

Although your enterprise resource planning software was designed and developed to digitize your organization’s processes and increase employee efficiency, many of them may be reluctant to learn how to use a new software. Your task here will be to communicate the value of the system and to teach your employees to build new and better professional habits.

This is an arduous task at first glance, but there’s good news—most ERP vendors offer personalized support & employee onboarding. Not only will a team of experts develop a software tailored to your businesses specific needs, but they’ll show you the ropes and train everyone in your organization on how to get the most of the software.

Wrapping Up

The prospect of shifting the entirety of your business’s operations to a new ERP can be daunting on the surface. But like most things in life, breaking down this large undertaking into digestible chunks will help you through the process.

The Best Steps To Follow In This Process:

Gather as many insights from as many employees as you can
Determine the main objectives of ERP implementation
Make a list of the specific ERP functionalities you need
Prioritize them in order of importance
Talk to your ERP vendor
Implement the ERP
Utilize the ERP’s vendors expertise in teaching your employees how to use the software

ERPs contain a wide-ranging set of functionalities across an even wider range of industries. Not every ERP will be perfect for your business, but don’t fret—the perfect ERP for business is out there.

Data-Driven Decision Making: A Guide To Working Smarter

Posted on January 25, 2021November 22, 2024 by Matt Bernot

We all have hunches. Whether it’s at work or at home, we often rely on our gut.

Sometimes, it points us in the right direction. (Yes, that person across the bar did in fact smile at you.)

Other times, it keeps us out of harm’s way. (Aren’t you thankful that you dodged that foul ball with almost no conscious effort?)

While your gut is a valuable resource in scenarios like these, it can often lull you into a false sense of security for those looking to translate natural, instinctive insight into the business world.

There will always be those special, gifted few. You know, the ones who are able to make sense of and intelligently act on overwhelmingly complex data sets using only their natural brainpower.

There are exceptions to every rule. Always have been, always will be.

But when it comes to your business, don’t bet on the exceptions. Bet on data-driven decision making. Let’s find out how data-driven decision-making can help your business.

What is Data-Driven Decision Making?

According to Northeastern University, data-driven decision-making can be defined as “the process of making organizational decisions based on actual data rather than intuition or observation alone.”

To break it down even further, there are two types of data that will be relevant to your business: quantitative and qualitative data.

Quantitative data focuses on cold, hard numbers. Sales figures, employee turnover, and shipping costs are examples of quantitative data.

Qualitative data focuses on non-numerical data. Examples of qualitative data relevant to your business would include things like employee interviews, customer reviews, and the job satisfaction of your employees.

Both are important, yet neither provides a complete picture of your business and how it can build and sustain future success. When successfully cultivated, categorized, and deployed, these two types of data sets can transform the way your business makes decisions.

Why Data-Driven Decision-Making Is Important

Sticking to the data allows systems and their respective algorithms to be strong in areas where humans are notoriously weak—acknowledging bias and false assumptions. Computers remove the ever-so-fickle emotional component of decision-making that more or less defines our humanity.

By allowing technology to guide and assist you along your decision-making process, your business will reap tangible benefits.

Reduced spending – If your technology is able to guide you in a more innovative direction (i.e., making less of one product than others) then your process has already begun to bear fruit. Ideally, allow data-driven decisions to limit waste.
Faster decisions – Instead of belaboring over a decision and arguing over fickle details as a deadline approaches, allow data to make the best decisions for you. When a decision is able to be backed by data, the more sound that decision will be.
On-the-fly improvements – One of the best—and often most belaboring—things about data is that it is always shifting. While this may seem tiresome at first, it serves a purpose. By having access to a continuous stream of up-to-date information, you’ll be able to adjust your projects on the fly based on the most accurate information.

How to Support Data-Driven Decisions

It’s one thing to acknowledge the importance of how data-driven decision-making can help your business, but it’s another thing entirely to act on it. So how can your business use data to its advantage?

Before this process begins, some housekeeping is in order—organized data is the best data.

Let’s start by running through a list of questions to ask yourself:

What goals do you aim to achieve from making data-based decisions?

Are you primarily focused on brand awareness or conversions? Is your goal to improve an existing product or to launch a new one? Are your efforts focused on customer retention or customer acquisition?

Where does your data come from?

Is your data reliable? Has it been cross-referenced and analyzed for its authenticity? Have you gotten input from all of the pertinent employees from different silos of your business? Beyond all of that, is your data secure?

In what ways, if any, are you able to universally and easily view all of your data?

Can your data be viewed in digestible formats? Do you have dashboards, charts, and metrics accessible from all kinds of devices? Can your data infrastructure adapt to your growing and changing business needs?

If you feel that you haven’t adequately answered these questions, that’s ok. There are plenty of ways to keep your data organized and all in one place.

Data for data’s sake is only valuable for mathematicians and scientists. For the 21st-century business owner, data needs to be clear, concise, and actionable.

Data-Driven Decision-Making Examples

No matter the size of your business, your business generates data. Whether it’s customer financial data, employee feedback, or social media activity, business data comes in all shapes and sizes.

While all data is valuable and useful, not all data serves the same purpose. For example, datasets containing customer transaction history won’t necessarily help you build a better HR department. A car is a great method of transportation—until you reach the ocean.

Let’s take a look at how businesses big and small used data to drive them toward profitable decision making:

Netflix’s Hyper-Specialized Content – As a pioneer of mass digital streaming, Netflix has a huge subscriber base. Now, you’ve probably heard people say “You can’t please everyone.” Well, Netflix has come awfully close. By analyzing scores of consumers’ watching habits, Netflix has been able to tailor content specifically to their target audiences. One of their first success stories using data to drive their decision-making? House of Cards.

Google’s Project Oxygen – In 2008, Google embarked on an ambitious journey to figure out how to better scout and develop managerial talent. They sourced lots of data points—performance reviews, technical assessments, surveys, etc.—and came to the conclusion that there were 8 main points that led to managerial success. In this case, data enlightened us that “having key technical skills” was the least consequential managerial asset. Who knew?
Horne Label Manufacturing Success – Data-driven decision-making isn’t just for mega-corporations. Horne Label, the largest manufacturer of custom labels and tags in North Carolina, realized that they needed to work smarter. Feeling unorganized and limited by their current methods, turned to the help of a trusted ERP to improve their processes. By taking advantage of the streamlined automation and virtual dashboards now at their disposal, Horne Label was able to cut order input time by 50%. Beyond that, they can now view their data from anywhere, on any device.

Your Data Is Unique

Every business has data, but only your business has your data.

It seems like an obvious point to make, but for some businesses, it’s not so clear. In our copycat culture, companies and business leaders are always aiming to replicate the success of their peers and competitors. This is great in many ways—the best innovations and ideas are often directly sourced from older, less fleshed-out concepts. But in other ways, it’s detrimental.

Instead of looking at the insights and profit margins that have come from large corporations analyzing their data, it’s best to look at how and why they did it.

Rather than asking “What kind of success and profit did their data analysis generate?” you should ask yourself why they chose to analyze data to begin with, and how exactly they went about parsing it.

With all kinds of data solutions out there, it’s important that you choose the right one for your business. But one thing is for sure—data-driven decisions are the best decisions for your business.

7 Places to Automate Your Data Collection

Posted on April 26, 2019July 17, 2023 by Scott Hammer

As you read this, there’s a good chance your employees are busy typing. Listen closely and you’ll hear the familiar clicking. It’s a sound we associate with being busy and, therefore, with productivity.

And maybe it is, for those employees who work creatively to manage, interpret, and project information. But you likely have those other employees whose job it is to enter data. They do it manually, copying information from one source into another.

Like medieval scribes in the digital age, they work diligently to make sure nothing gets lost in translation. They input bank records, invoices, and sales orders.

It’s painstaking work and, because to err is human, there’s plenty of error involved.

Solutions for automated data collection have been around for a long time—namely in the form of ERP software systems. But with continual advancements in technology, it has become completely viable to eliminate many of the most common manual processes.

Problems with Manual Data Entry

Before discussing solutions, it’s important to see why an organization that uses manual data capture processes should reconsider doing so:

Manual data entry is time-consuming

How much time it takes to enter data will always vary by employee, task, and scope. Highly technical data or complicated forms will inevitably include some manual entry.

But there are plenty of organizations still using paper processes and Excel spreadsheets. Some organizations tend to keep these processes simply because they’ve employed people to do them.

However, eliminating manual processes that can be automated doesn’t mean having to fire people. Instead, those employees who use their time entering data can reallocate it towards higher value tasks. After all, people will still need to review and monitor data for quality assurance.

Manual data entry is prone to error

Even the most detail-oriented among us make mistakes. When dealing with large amounts of data, entry errors are statistically bound to occur.

How much do these errors matter? It depends.

In healthcare, they’re extremely serious. Data errors in patient health records often result in malpractice lawsuits. The ECRI Institute notes that “incorrect information in the electronic record resulted in… about 20% of [malpractice claims].” Importantly, these claims averaged $415,000 per case.

binary code with error could be fixed with erp software solution

Wired reports that “the U.S. proudly touted a 7 percent drop in Taliban violence in 2012 as a measure of progress in America’s longest war. Only one problem: The drop never happened. Its explanation: a data-entry error.”

The consequences of data entry errors can extend to any industry. Accounting errors can mean the difference between a successful fiscal year and an audit. And while larger organizations are used to remediating erroneous data, smaller businesses may not be able to absorb the financial or legal consequences of such issues. The best way to remedy these issues? Enlisting the best business management ERP software.

Automating Your Data Collection with ERP software

Despite the hazards of entering data manually, there are plenty of areas where your organization can automate the collection of information using an ERP software system. Here are just a few:

1. POS & E-commerce Systems

When you add a new customer or make a new sale, you should be able to pull that data directly into your ERP and CRM software. In this case, “data” can include customer information, invoices, and sales receipts, all of which you should then be able to organize and track. This process takes no human intervention, provided you have the right integration between your third-party system and your customer management software.

Having an all-in-one business solution can help you automate not only the way you collect data but how it moves through your company divisions. For example, when your accounting department needs to collect sales receipts, you shouldn’t have to manually hand them over. An ERP system can help you centralize and store data, so it’s instantly accessible by anyone who needs it.

2. Online Banking

When you automatically import your transactions into a management system and match to the invoices you sent out, you’ll save a lot of time in reconciliation. It’s a process no one particularly likes to do, but the more efficiently it works, the less strain you put on your workforce.

A great management system will learn to categorize recurring transactions. The first time they come in, you’ll choose the appropriate categories; with each subsequent transaction, the fields will populate for you and the transaction will reconcile itself. This process saves a great deal of time by eliminating potentially repetitive work.

3. Vendor Management & Purchase Orders

With a vendor management portal, you can have vendors enter bills directly into your system. This way, no one on your team will be responsible for collecting that information.

Depending on the management system you use, you can create a process where vendors can only bill you from the purchase order you’ve sent. That process allows for more accuracy and ensures that you won’t get charged for anything extraneous.

4. Inventory & Accounting

Inventory is all about knowing what your business has on-hand and determining its value. It may seem obvious, but you can’t sell what you don’t have. Unfortunately, inventory issues like these plague businesses that don’t have a good automated tracking process.

While you could have employees entering and updating inventory records, that’s a time-consuming process. The right management system will do it for you.

Then, of course, you’ll want to tie your inventory to your accounting. When your system says you have 3,500 units, that’s exactly what you should actually have in your warehouse.

If your numbers don’t match, you could be dealing with issues of theft or employees who are sending out inaccurate package counts. Though software solutions like Quickbooks are great for your business’ accounting needs, they leave a bit to be desired when it comes to integrating the various silos of your business.

5. Customer Quotes & Invoices

If you have a software that can build your quotes and, with just one or two line items, automate the rest, you’ll save both time and effort.

You should also be able to create an invoice directly from a customer quote that you’ve sent out. Your company may have many different ways of billing. Whether you do it monthly or based on specific types or percentages of orders, you’ll need a way to automate your management of billing processes.

6. Lead Forms

How does your business currently handle leads? Sadly, too many of us have seen the “sticky note” system: co-workers leaving random slips of paper letting you know that you’ve got a lead to follow up with. Or worse, you get voicemails about leads, which you promptly ignore.

Lead forms should be automated and routed to the appropriate point of contact to make sure your sales department can stay on top of them. This process isn’t just about saving time by eliminating manual entry. It’s really about providing better marketing and sales experiences.

7. Emails and Issue Tracking

Let’s say you get an email. In the email, there’s an issue that needs to be addressed. What do you do with it? Call someone? Forward an email? Use a sticky note?

You could do that. Or you could turn the email directly into an assignment for the appropriate person. With a few clicks, you can enter the issue directly into your business management system. Unlike forwarding the email, which is likely to get lost, the assignment is stored, easily accessible, and entirely trackable.

Conclusion

There are plenty of reasons (and ways) to automate your business data. But remember, simply automating a process doesn’t mean you’ll have instant clarity and accessibility.

Multiple software products don’t always integrate as well as they should. Communication breakdowns occur often, especially with desktop or legacy software that needs to be updated manually. That’s even true for cloud applications with automatic updates.

Once you are able to automatically collect data, you should be certain that it can flow through your company’s information system without causing new errors— either in communication or data loss.

A fully integrated, cloud-based business management software is your best bet for making sure you have a system that actually knows what to do with the data you’ve collected.

Tag: automated data collection