Category: Project Management

Real-Time Data Sage X3: Manufacturing Process advantage.

Real-time data with supply chain and logistics issues likely to persist through 2023 and potentially into the following year, manufacturers need on-demand insight into what’s happening across their entire operation, from inventory arrivals to production floor processes to product shipping details. 

As noted by the State of Service Level Objectives (SLOs) 2022 survey, however, less than half of manufacturing firms say they have visibility into the impact of current operations on meeting service-level objectives. This creates a productive paradox: While manufacturers recognize the need for increased process diversity to align with evolving supply chain and logistic impacts, lacking visibility can create additional complexity, in turn frustrating efficiency. 

The result? Real-time data is now a critical component in manufacturing success. Here’s how Sage X3 can help. 

The Trouble with Real-Time in Manufacturing Processes 

Processes on the production floor happen in real time. For example, if a piece of machinery fails or a staff member makes an error, the results are immediate and potentially disruptive. What’s more, these problems have a downstream effect — critical component breakage could slow or entirely stop production further down the line. 

While there’s no way to fully eliminate these problems, companies must know as much about what’s happened as soon as possible. Consider a sudden equipment failure. Even if data is collected every five minutes, the lag time between incident and information could lead to significant disruptions in performance until the issue is identified and remediated, after which companies still need to work through production backlogs until they’re back on track. 

Using process management tools that provide real-time data, meanwhile, offers immediate insight. In the scenario above, this means notification would directly follow incident, in turn alerting floor managers to the problem and allowing them to pause production until the error was fixed.  

While in both cases production suffered, the first saw a disconnect between incident and response followed by a backlog of orders — the second saw a stoppage of work but one that minimized the overall impact. 

Put simply, the problem with time in manufacturing is that there’s never enough. Losing even more time to delayed data collection makes it harder to stay on track, and almost impossible to get ahead. 

Keeping it Real (Time) with Sage X3 

Sage X3 process manufacturing solutions let firms take control of product consistency, production planning, and compliance with access to accurate and reliable real-time data. 

Key benefits of the Sage X3 solution include: 

Complete responsiveness 

With access to real-time data, it’s possible for companies to respond more quickly as consumer demands shift and purchasing requirements change. Long data lead times, meanwhile, can put businesses behind the curve when it comes to pinpointing key trends and ensuring operations stay on track. 

Product consistency 

Consistent product production reduces the risk of recall. This isn’t simply a time-saver — it can also help companies control costs by eliminating the need for expensive product redesign and redistribution. In addition, consistent processes make it possible to scale production up (or down) on demand to meet changing customer needs. In practice, however, this kind of consistency depends on the agility provided by real-time data — the data offered by Sage X3. 

Consistent compliance 

Compliance in manufacturing processes is rapidly getting more complex, especially as businesses branch out into global markets. Equipped with real-time data, companies are better prepared to provide the requested information to regulatory bodies and are better equipped to navigate evolving compliance expectations. 

Anytime access 

Real-time data only delivers on its potential if it comes with anytime, anywhere access. With Sage X3, managers and team leaders can quickly access the information they need, when they need it to get a clear picture of operations.  

Taking Ownership of Key Operations 

For manufacturing firms to see sustained success, operational ownership is critical. With supply chain disruptions continuing even as consumer expectations evolve and costs increase, even small problems in current processes can significantly impact processes. 

As a result, companies can’t afford to ignore the impact of real-time data. The more they know and the quicker they know it, the better positioned they are to make data-driven decisions that help boost output and reduce downtime. With Sage X3, businesses can bridge the gap between what they know and what they need to know — whenever and wherever it happens. 

Don’t keep using data processes that leave you behind the times. Take ownership of manufacturing processes with real-time process manufacturing solutions from Sage X3. 

Ready to own your operations in real time? See how IWI Consulting Group can help. Let’s talk. 

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How Sage Intacct helps Non Profits

Non-profits now face unprecedented demand – how do they effectively manage both donor retention and donation allocation to reduce the risk of errors and ensure mission goals are met?

The non-profit sector in Canada now employs more than 2.5 million people and represents almost 13 percent of all jobs in Canada. Two-thirds of non-profit staff work with non-profit organizations (NPOs) serving the government, and the sector is rapidly diversifying with the addition of immigrant and indigenous staff members.

But even as sector employment rises, new challenges emerge. More NPOs mean more choice for Canadians when it comes to their donation options, which makes both donor retention and effective donation management critical for organizations to ensure continued operations.

Sage Intacct for Non-Profits can help streamline current processes and drive sustained growth. Here’s how.

The Changing Landscape of Canadian Non-Profits

According to recent survey data, 26 percent of Canadians already use or expect to use charitable services in 2022, even as NPOs expect a decrease in the total volume of donations. What’s more, NPOs are worried about both the increasing prices of goods and services and their ability to find, train, and retain great staff.

IWI Consulting Group Non-Profit Sage Intacct blog image

The result is a two-fold challenge for non-profits: Even as demand surges, their ability to effectively manage donors and donations is stretched thin. Lacking the tools and technologies to manage multiple facets of their operations simultaneously, many NPOs find themselves dedicating more staff to manual operations, in turn limiting their overall efficacy.

Key Elements for Non-Profit Success

So what does non-profit success look like? What elements are critical for NPOs to make the most of donation volumes, keep staff happy, and ensure they’re ready to handle future challenges?

First is the ability to effectively track where donations are coming from, how much is being donated, and what purpose these donations serve. Next is ensuring that all donations are accurately accounted for across their lifecycle. This includes how much is being spent where, why, and ensuring that records are ready for potential audits by government agencies as required.

Finally, organizations need the ability to leverage this data and drive actionable insights that help inform future decision-making. For example, if donor profiles have shifted such that large donations are less frequent but more beneficial over the long term, NPOs may want to consider changing their campaign and marketing approaches to match.

In many cases, however, the disconnect between what non-profits have and what they need is substantial. Many are still leveraging legacy tools and hardware that were capable of handling donations and donor data in a pre-cloud and mobile era but now struggle to keep pace in a giving environment driven by the need for on-demand information about how money is collected, spent, and used over time.

How Sage Intacct Can Help

Sage Intacct for Non-Profits can help Canadian organizations excel in four key areas:

  • Speed

Sage Intacct makes it possible for companies to “know and show” what’s happening across their organization on-demand. Rather than waiting days or weeks for relevant donor and investment data, non-profits can maximize the impact of donor information ASAP.

  • Accuracy

Accurate data is critical for NPO success. If donation or spending information is incorrectly reported, the results can range from small mistakes that require remediation by staff to larger-scale issues that could lead to audits of current practices. Sage Intacct delivers accuracy at all stages of NPO reporting.

  • Clarity

The more you know, the better. Sage Intacct helps take insight to a new level with end-to-end visibility and clarity of NPO data, allowing teams to leverage this information for better decision-making.

  • Reporting

Finally, NPOs need in-depth reporting that helps effectively manage multiple donation and revenue streams. With Sage Intacct’s in-depth fund accounting, organizations can easily generate statements of activities, statements of financial position, and statements of cash flow.

NPOs By the Numbers

Three numbers make the impact of Sage Intacct for Non-profits crystal clear. First is time to pay back the investment: On average, it took companies just six months to pay back their entire Intacct investment. NPOs also saw an average 65 percent increase in overall productivity and enjoyed 250 percent ROI when compared with previous financial management tools.

Put simply? Sage Intacct makes it possible for non-profits to maximize their impact while minimizing the complexity that comes with managing donor sources, volumes, and distributions at scale.

IWI Consulting Group has been helping Canadian non-profits manage donations and drive future growth for more than 20 years. See how we can streamline your Sage Intacct deployment. Let’s talk.

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Time to Move Your Wholesale Distribution Software to Cloud?

Supply chain and distribution is changing as consumer expectations, inventory management and reporting expectations evolve. Cloud-based wholesale distribution software offers total package potential to overcome key challenges.

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