While the great majority of businesses in America today are small to midsized, the question always comes up, how can they compete with the larger businesses who are delivering the same products and services often at a fraction of the cost?
One of the reasons larger companies are often able to do this is their ability to set aside the proper amount of resources to streamline information systems and reporting or as it is called
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). When properly executed, ERP allows larger businesses to track, organize, and integrate the reporting of many of their business functions through properly executed information system implementation.
When small businesses can leverage this same advantage, that of being able to look at their costs, sales, and overall business activity with the same set of tools, they often can begin to realize some of the same competitive advantages of streamlining business functions, saving money and in the end, offering products and services at a more competitive rate as their larger competitors.
SAP Business ByDesign has created that opportunity.
SAP ByDesign was designed as a true SaaS (software as a service) to give small and midsized companies the same tools and advantages realized by larger companies. SAP ByDesign is offered in both a modular and hosted situation to allow these businesses the ability to select business components that are suitable for their current needs as well as host the solution on the cloud, without the requirement of hardware and software purchases and upgrades.
SAP ByDesign is creating a new space in the marketplace to make the small and midsized companies just as competitive in the sophistication of its IT planning model as the larger companies who have the financial bandwidth to invest in intensive ERP.
While both models work well for the respective size clients,
SAP ByDesign is challenging the notion of ERP as a necessary process for some of the larger companies, encouraging subsidiary and even large company divisions to explore it as a serious option, just as small and midsized companies are doing, when IT responsibilities and decision making are left to the smaller arm of the larger organizations.
Whether it be the small to midsized company or the large company subsidiary utilizing its efficiently presented SaaS offering, we will continue to see SAP ByDesign changing the way companies of all sizes are doing business and building IT infrastructure in the years to come.
Henri is an industry leader in the provision of enterprise business solutions and has worked in the SAP industry since 1990. He is an owner and partner at Equal-Plus Consulting. You can email Henri at henri.eberhardt@equal-plus.com or find him on LinkedIn.
Global enterprises often have units working independently using processes that are not standardized across the organization. This creates operational inefficiencies that are very costly to the entire business. Large enterprises need Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions that facilitate integration of business processes across the organization to ensure efficiency and minimize costs. SAP Business Suite is an ERP solution designed for large enterprises that facilitates the desired integration of business processes.
Managing a large enterprise across different geographies can be very difficult for any number of reasons:
• Local laws and regulations may require the local business unit to operate a certain way and report in a certain format.
• Mergers and acquisitions bring in business units that have many different business processes and there may be sound reasons for not changing those processes, i.e., a competitive edge in the market place.
• The processes may simply have been in place for a long time without any effort being made to integrate them with the larger global enterprise.
While implementing an organization wide ERP solution the different business processes and inefficiencies must be confronted and overcome, a difficult task but well worth the effort. Using SAP Business Suite as the sole solution may not be possible to accommodate local business needs and accomplish the desired integration of business processes into the larger organization. Different deployment strategies are available, but each one has its own advantages and disadvantages and the choice is difficult. On the one hand it is not practical for large enterprises to have multiple ERP systems to accommodate local business operations, on the other hand local business needs cannot be ignored.
There is a way to implement multiple instances of ERPs so that local business units can have flexibility to meet local needs and the larger organization can still achieve the desired results of harmonizing business processes. This type of implementation is based on the “HUB and spoke” model, the HUB being SAP Business Suite (the main overall system) and the spokes being smaller ERP solutions at the local business unit level.
A logical choice for local business units would be SAP Business ByDesign or SAP Business One. These smaller ERP solutions provide the functionality needed at the local level and allow integration with the larger legacy system. This two tier approach provides a dual solution, autonomy and localization for smaller business units and integration into larger enterprises through common data and standard processes.
Henri is an industry leader in the provision of enterprise business solutions and has worked in the SAP industry since 1990. He is an owner and partner at Equal-Plus Consulting. You can email Henri at henri.eberhardt@equal-plus.com or find him on LinkedIn.
The video below shows the first prototype of the Google Docs integration into SAP Business ByDesign. This prototype represents one of the first results of the Google and SAP cloud partnership formed last year.
So, what does the Google Docs integration mean for SAP Business ByDesign users? It allows them to both open existing or create Google documents from SAP Business ByDesign, SAP's hosted cloud ERP software, and links them to the SAP record.
Brian McPhail, SAP's on-demand ecosystem senior director of business development, stated in iTnews: "Of the target market for ByDesign, we think that approximately 25 percent of that target market will be using Google Apps currently." The pilot project for the prototype is currently running in the U.S., Britain, and France.
View the demo video for the Google Apps integration into SAP Business ByDesign here:
How much does owning your business cost you? What would you be able to accomplish in your company if you could lower your costs and increase cash flow?
Some business owners would think about expanding their reach into new markets. Some would focus on increasing production. Others would look at increasing the amount of marketing that they were doing. Whether you would choose one of these options or another, there’s something you should know: Using SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI can help you reach your goals.
With SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI, you will be able to see the full picture of your business. You will be able to identify whether your money is being well spent, whether you’re reaching the right audience with your marketing materials, whether you could lower production costs, or whether labor costs could be cut throughout your business.
When you add the Rapid Marts package to SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI, you will be able to:
- Get a full picture of your business, and know that the information you’re accessing is accurate, current, and comprehensive.
- Use an intuitive interface to search for the information that’s the most relevant to you.
- Explore production and development costs and identify where there could be reductions – without a damaging impact on the amount of product that you have available.
- Eliminate the risk that comes with making decisions without having enough information.
Increasing cash flow isn’t just a matter of making more sales. It’s about understanding the costs of ownership and about making modifications that give you more control of your finances. SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI gives you the power that you need to take control of your business and have the cash you need on hand so that you can move forward and achieve your business goals.
If you’re in the market for a new CRM package, I’m sure you know there are lots of good options out there. Between Salesforce, Oracle, and others, there's a lot to choose from. But while those tools might be very useful for your CRM activities, do they integrate with the rest of your company? Some of those CRM systems may be useful now but are outdated or limited.
The biggest difference between SAP Business ByDesign CRM and other packages is that SAP gives your company and budget room to grow.
While a full Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system may sound great, you may not be ready for a full system to be installed yet. That’s ok, and that’s the reason why we’re offering the SAP Business ByDesign Starter Package. SAP Business ByDesign is a cloud solution, so it allows companies to benefit from the best of SAP without necessarily having to implement a full ERP system.
Think ahead
You can fix your immediate CRM needs while still thinking ahead. SAP Business ByDesign is a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution that lets you add components if and when the time comes. This means that when your company grows, you don’t have to switch to a bigger and better CRM. You already have SAP—so you can keep your CRM as-is and simply add the components your company needs such as financials, manufacturing, etc.
Get started right away
With the CRM Starter Package, you can immediately start to do things such as:
- Evaluate marketing campaigns: find out which messages resonate best with your target market
- Track customers through the sales cycle: figure out which customers are coming back to purchase more, who’s spreading the word about your products and services, who you’ve responded to or not, etc.
- Determine sales cycles: easily analyze your customers’ buying cycles in order to adapt your sales activities and marketing messages
View the SAP Business ByDesign CRM Starter Package Video:
Marine is Marketing Manager at Equal-Plus. You can email her at marine.denboer@equal-plus.com or find her on LinkedIn.
SnapEngage, a Google App chat application that is integrated into SAP Business ByDesign, is now live on the SAP store. The app enables customer service and sales agents to engage with customers or prospects through live chat sessions directly from a company website or even a Facebook page. By integrating SnapEngage with SAP Business ByDesign, live chats and offline conversations are stored directly in SAP, allowing agents to keep track of who they are talking to and what was said.
Online - SnapEngage allows you to chat with website visitors while it retrieves detailed contact infromation from the SAP Business ByDesign application. Therefore, new lead infromation based on chats are automatically sent to ByDesign, allowing you to keep all of your communication info in one place.
Offline - Even when no one is available to respond to chats, the app captures messages and sends them into SAP Business ByDesign.
You can view the SnapEngage integration demo here, as well as two screenshots further below.
In the screenshot 1 below, you can see how SnapEngage automatically receives information from SAP Business ByDesign at the start of a new conversation:
In screenshot 2 below, you can see that SnapEdge automatically adds chat communication to a lead info:
For a free SnapEngage trial, visit the SnapEngage webpage
SAP Business One makes maximizing your time a breeze. As you have most likely noticed, I’m all for productivity in the work place. Tell me about a shortcut and I’m the first to jump in and give it a try. So today I’ll be telling you about another shortcut to maximize your productivity.
If you’ve been using SAP Business One for any length of time you now know the three transactions you’re using most often. They’re probably even your top three in your Cockpit. Now you can access them even faster by assigning them to a function key.
First log on to SAP Business One and start from whichever home screen you normally use (traditional or cockpit view). Click on Tools >> My Shortcuts >> Customize.
This will bring up the Customize window. Under the Allocation tab you are able to assign specific transactions to your computer’s function keys. Under Shortcut you have a drop down menu to choose which function key you would like the transaction to be assigned. From here you highlight the Module in which that specific transaction resides and then under Window highlight the specific transaction you want to assign. In my example below you will see that I have assigned the A/R Invoice to the F2 function key.
Under the List tab you are able to see which transactions are assigned to which function keys at a quick glance.
This simple, customizable tool allows the user ultimate productivity at the strike of a single key!
To read more about the solution, follow the link to our SAP Business One web pages or download the brochures.
Shelly is an Executive Assistant at Equal-Plus Consulting. You can email her at Shelly.Cofield@Equal-Plus.com or find her on LinkedIn.
Are you able to easily and quickly identify options to increase profits, reduce expenses, and generate cash flow? This is a question many business owners and managers struggle to answer.
With
SAP Business One, you can quickly identify at least 5 ways to increase cash flow. Some options include:
1. Explore sales activities to eliminate ineffective marketing campaigns, identify loyal customers, and identify which customer demographic has the most potential for growth – then tailor sales activities accordingly.
2. Identify financial waste that’s the result of inventory considerations – then develop a strategy for more just in time production, choosing better warehousing options, or eliminating products that are not selling well.
3. Assess purchasing decisions and supplier relationships to evaluate potential areas for
savings such as renegotiating terms of sale, working with another closer supplier, or lowering the quantities associated with minimum requirements.
4. Eliminate time spent in meetings by ensuring that everyone who needs to access key
business data is able to do so, even when they’re on the road.
5. Identify areas in which operation expenses could be reduced, either by eliminating overtime or more clearly defining the roles of key staff members.
Naturally, all of these are just starting points. SAP Business One also enables businesses to reduce IT costs – both by using a single system to access all business data and through the ease of expanding the system as business needs change, simply by adding additional modules to the system.
SAP Business One gives small businesses a competitive edge by making it possible to access all of the same data as the bigger players in their industries. Whether you’re looking for simple solutions that allow you to increase cash flow quickly or you hope to identify areas where significant changes could greatly improve your company’s bottom line, SAP Business One offers the options you need.
Check out this short SAP Business ByDesign demo video. It shows users how to flag custom ByDesign reports as mobile reports and have them display on devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and more.
SAP officially announced that its SAP Business One ERP offering will deliver the benefits of the SAP HANA platform to SMEs. This means SAP Business One will make use of SAP's powerful in-memory HANA technology, allowing small and medium sized businesses to act on data in real time and faster than ever.
What SAP HANA technology does
In short, SAP HANA revolutionizes organizations' decision-making abilities through:
- Dramatic increase in the speed of existing processes
- Much faster access to large amounts of data in short periods of time
New analytics capabilities
With analytics powered by SAP HANA for SAP Business One, customers will have the ability to create interactive reports and analysis faster than ever.
What this means for SMEs using SAP Business One
While HANA technology has previously been helping giant corporations such as Colgate, Palmolive or Unilever NV, HANA has now made its way to the SME world. Designed with the needs of small businesses in mind, SAP Business One will now deliver a small-scale, special product version of SAP HANA that allows SME customers to access the HANA in-memory technology in a cost effective way.
When it will be available
Ramp up will begin in February 2012, and general availability of SAP HANA within SAP Business One is expected for later this year. Read source article here.
Benoit has been a pioneer of SAP software for more than 20 years. Before co-founding Equal-Plus in 2000, he held several management positions in the consulting services industry. You can email Benoit at Benoit.Marquet@equal-plus.com
Photo by Tom Raftery