Mobile ERP for manufacturing can transform your organization. Companies worldwide in many industries are embracing mobility to enhance productivity, efficiency, and profitability.

Workers may be fine with using standard PCs, but managers, supervisors, and salespeople absolutely need mobile ERP for manufacturing. With mobile ERP, they can take their workplace anywhere they need to go. As they move about the shop floor, visit with customers, or meet with suppliers, they can use their smartphones and other devices to access critical information that can help them make decisions and share information to close sales. Now that’s something worth investing in!

Include these four steps for an effective mobile ERP strategy

If you’re considering mobile ERP for manufacturing, but aren’t sure where to start or how to implement if effectively, these tips will help you move in the right direction.

1. Offer primary access through mobile devices. Instead of making mobility a secondary data access method, enable mobility for all of your data access and reporting and encourage adoption of it as a primary method of access. Universal, secure mobile access will encourage more people in the workplace to adopt it as their main method of retrieving and using data.
2. Establish goals, measure results. It’s difficult to ascertain the success of any endeavor unless you set goals. Quantifiable goals can be measured. It’s easier to see what you have or haven’t achieved when you have a shared goal and are measuring results.
3. Use cloud ERP. Cloud ERP systems with built-in web-based dashboards facilitate mobile ERP for manufacturing. They also make it easier to update and upgrade systems, as well as add new users. Cloud ERP is secure, flexible, and mobile. It’s a great way to add mobile ERP for manufacturing to your company at a reasonable cost.
4. Encourage and accept BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Businesses used to push back against BYOD because it meant supporting multiple devices, formats, and software. It was both unwieldy and expensive. Newer cloud-based mobile ERP for manufacturing systems makes it much easier to support BYOD initiatives. Employees can use a device they would normally carry anyway for both work and pleasure with little ramp-up costs for you.

Advantages of mobile ERP for manufacturing

There are many advantages of mobile ERP for manufacturing. Companies in the food or pharmaceutical manufacturing industries will find that mobile ERP enhances their ability to track shipments and lots and to ensure compliance with manufacturing guidelines. Traceability and in-process checks are easier with mobile ERP.

Managers will find that mobile ERP makes it easier to keep track of information as they move about the plant or manufacturing facility. Instead of scribbling notes to themselves, they can tap them quickly into the ERP system. This can instantly update and alert everyone in the company about things happening down on the shop floor instead of waiting for a manager’s report or update.

Barcode readers are also a big part of mobile ERP for manufacturing. They aren’t just for retailers or big warehouses. Barcodes affixed to raw materials and equipment can be used to track usage, monitor stock levels, and find things fast in large warehouses.

The right tools support an effective mobile strategy

Companies considering mobile ERP for manufacturing should ensure they have the right tools in place to make the change. Working with a partner such as IWI Consulting, you will find it much easier to choose and implement a new ERP for your manufacturing system.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) offers a powerful ERP system with built-in mobility. It’s an excellent tool, whether you’re just getting started with ERP or seeking a more robust system to achieve your business goals.

IWI Consulting Group offers businesses assistance choosing the right Sage products for their needs. We can help you convert your company’s systems into a single, integrated solution that supports your business and enhances productivity.

Contact us today for a consultation.

Integrated business systems may be the hot new trend for manufacturing leaders today. The push to integrate systems so that information is shared, synthesized, and combined for new insights and useful actions is proving to be just what the manufacturing sector needs to fuel innovation and change. ERP systems are at the forefront of this technological revolution along with business intelligence, accounting, inventory systems, and more.

Improving Speed Through the Manufacturing Process

One way that integrated business systems are helping boost manufacturing success is by improving speed throughout the supply chain and beyond. Contextual intelligence, or the knowledge gained from using data derived from multiple systems throughout an organization, helps companies keep pace with customers’ rapidly changing needs. Speedy insights gleaned from integrated systems are improving speed throughout many aspects of the manufacturing process.

• Real-time order status: Integrating ERP, CRM, inventory and warehouse management, and other systems ensures that customers can get fast responses to their order status questions. For someone anxiously waiting for important parts or goods, knowing the answer without delay may earn your company loyalty for future orders. It certainly saves time by improving customer self-service portals and other methods of helping customers find the answers to their own questions quickly and efficiently.
• Reaching time-to-market goals: Innovations must reach the market faster than a competitor’s in order to gain market share. Improving time-to-market speed is another way of boosting competitive advantages, especially in crowded industries with multiple, similar products vying for purchase. Real-time integration of ERP, BI, and quality assurance programs helps companies create better products faster and achieve their time-to-market goals. It saves time, provides milestones and checkpoints, and ensures that all working on the project have accurate, timely data to work from.
• Addressing product problems faster: Another benefit of integrated systems is addressing any potential flaws, problems, or recalls quickly, thanks to accurate data. When all your systems integrate and communicate with one another, noticing an uptick in the CRM system’s complaint status can help you pinpoint the problem and address it quickly before it escalates. Integration ensures that all parts of the company have access to the same data and can understand and respond in harmony to the questions that arise from product issues.
• Creating “smart” factories: Smart factories are factories built around the IoT (internet of things) and communication among the components within the factory including machinery, equipment, and raw materials. Barcoded materials indicate when stock counts fall below an accepted threshold; integrated systems can trigger a reorder, adjust time to market status, and more. Machinery can be better deployed for maximum efficiency in smart factories that “know” when to use certain equipment and when to power down. The use of sensor data and smarter factories means greater speed and efficiency throughout all aspects of the manufacturing process.
• Discovering connected products: Another benefit of integrating business systems is the ability to gain new insights into useful products. Some businesses even find ways to connect existing products, forging new and useful items out of the old. The integration of ERP, BI, CRM, and other systems points the way to potential new products made from old. This offers efficiencies, cost savings, and revenue potential for manufacturers.

Integration Made Easy

Integrating business systems doesn’t have to be hard work. IWI Consulting Group offers businesses assistance choosing the right Sage products for their needs. We can help you convert your company’s systems into a single, integrated solution that supports your business and enhances productivity.

Over 45,000 midmarket businesses in 150 countries using Sage 300 can’t be wrong. Reap the benefits of integrated business systems today. Contact us today for a consultation. Call 1-866-916-3851.

It is time to refresh and renew your Sage CRM system? If it’s been more than a year since the implementation of your CRM system, it may be time to take a new look at your entire CRM program. Like any project, assessing goals and objectives annually in your CRM program ensures that you’re not doing the same thing repeatedly just because it’s always been done that way. It can help you pinpoint your goals and tailor CRM projects to achieve those goals.

Common CRM Objectives

Good CRM objectives align with your company’s core goals. CRM is a philosophy of conducting business, not just a software. Good CRM objectives infuse that philosophy throughout your organization.

Most CRM systems have at their core three sales and marketing objectives:

• Acquisition: Quantify, monitor, and acquire new customers.
• Retention: Retain or keep customers. How long you keep a customer may be determined by your industry average.
• Satisfaction: Satisfaction can also be called loyalty. As an offshoot of retention, it’s a mark of a company that is building long-term customer relationships.

Align CRM Objectives to Corporate Goals

Your Sage CRM goals should be aligned to corporate goals. Most companies evaluate and update their goals annually. They adjust goals according to the economy, industry changes, new product launches, and many other factors that affect operations, sales, and marketing.

Your CRM goals should also be adjusted to account for the same factors. When company goals shift, so too should CRM goals shift. If you haven’t adjusted your Sage CRM goals since its inception, they may be misaligned with the current corporate goals. Although many companies set their CRM goals during annual strategic planning sessions, sudden market fluctuations or other drastic changes may require you to take a step back and redefine your CRM.

Teamwork for CRM Updates

CRM systems are usually maintained by the sales and marketing department. Some companies may assign them to the IT department. But neither group should have sole purview over the CRM system. Instead, appoint a group, team, or task force to assess the current CRM situation and make adjustments or changes as necessary. Each group lends a unique perspective to the CRM project.

Sage CRM at IWI Consulting

If it’s time for you to upgrade your CRM system or change to a new one entirely, contact IWI Consulting Group. We offer Sage CRM for unparalleled business planning and efficiency. It integrates well with other Sage products such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) and offers excellent support for communications, sales, and marketing.

With Sage CRM, you can take complete control of your sales automation pipeline. You can:

• Automate your sales and marketing functions. Set up systems to send messages automatically, respond to different scenarios, and continually communicate with your customers.
• Track the ROI of marketing programs. Measure response, sales from responses, and more.
• Improve customer service. Faster response times enhance service.
• Maximize every customer interaction so that it enhances and builds customer relations.

Sage CRM integrates with Microsoft Outlook and offers many advanced features including offline synchronization, automated process workflow, and much more. If you are looking for a robust CRM system that offers excellent integration with Outlook and Sage ERP systems, contact IWI Consulting for more information about Sage CRM.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group offers businesses assistance choosing the right Sage products for their needs and making the switch to a new Sage process. We can help you convert your company’s systems into a single, integrated solution that supports your business and enhances productivity. We offer CADLink for Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300), and many other Sage productivity tools to help your business thrive.

Contact us today for a consultation.

Engineers love accuracy. Their world revolves around it. Tools that provide faster and more accurate data flow from sales to engineering, purchasing, and production such as CADLink for Sage X3 make your engineers’ jobs easier.

CADLink for Sage X3 Links Inventory, Bills, and More

CAD (computer assisted design) helps engineers create designs on the computer that can then be made into prototypes and projects. Typical CAD system require a list of materials entered into the CAD system and then entered into other systems used throughout the company such as inventory management systems and ERP systems. This multiple data entry is time-consuming and increases the chance of data entry mistakes.

With CADLink for Sage X3, engineers are able to build out the specs for your projects while they simultaneously create item lists, including a list of supplies. They enter one set of materials for the project into one system, eliminating duplicate entry and the potential for mistakes inherent in any duplicate system.

With CADLink for Sage X3, you can:

• Design new products and create the bill of materials (BOM) in one system.
• Earmark materials in the warehouse now for design projects currently on the drafting table.
• Enter one set of materials into the system and have the information sent automatically to multiple systems, reducing data entry and mistakes.
• Conduct live searches in Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) Items Master List and insert raw materials and non-CAD items into your BOM.
• Write back your CAD model properties so that CAD engineering data remains in sync with Sage X3 data.

The Many Benefits of CADLink for Sage X3

Engineers just want to focus on engineering—they don’t want to waste time typing material lists into multiple systems, fussing with invoices, or adjusting entries to ensure that changes are made throughout the system when a design is tweaked.

That’s why CADLink for Sage X3 pleases even the pickiest engineer. The system takes care of sending changes out through the entire Sage X3 system. One small engineering change that updates the BOM won’t be forgotten, leading to multiple mistakes. Instead, a change recorded in one part of the system flows throughout the entire system. It increases accuracy, which in turn improves efficiency and profitability. The more accurate your orders are, the better the service to your customers. This cycle of improved efficiency can be felt throughout the organization from the warehouse to the client, from sales to finance, helping everyone in your company succeed.

Sage X3: ERP for a New Era

Sage X3 is a powerful ERP, or enterprise resource planning, software tool. ERP programs help businesses centralize their data so that all information is available for access, collaboration, and sharing across teams.

Sage X3 puts powerful knowledge right at your fingertips. Mobile access means you can access your business data whenever you want to, wherever you want to. Check on inventory, open invoices, shipping updates, and more on the go.

Tools like Sage X3 help everyone in your business improve productivity. Errors are reduced, and collaboration among teams and employees is easier. When all systems improve, customer satisfaction increases. It’s a winning combination for all.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group offers businesses assistance choosing the right Sage products for their needs and making the switch to a new Sage process. We can help you convert your company’s systems into a single, integrated solution that supports your business and enhances productivity. We offer CADLink for Sage X3, Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300), and many other Sage productivity tools to help your business thrive.

Contact us today for a consultation.

If there’s only one thing you do to improve your warehouse management this year, make it barcoding. Bar codes are a simple improvement in your warehouse management process that can add great value to your bottom line. How? They make inventory management faster and easier.

Three Ways Barcodes Make Your Job Easier

There are probably dozens of ways that barcodes make a warehouse manager’s job easier. These three, however, are those cited by many warehouse managers worldwide.

1. Better inventory tracking: Keeping stock levels consistent so that you can fulfill incoming orders is important, but it can be difficult to know exactly what you have in the warehouse at any given moment. Managing multiple inventory locations within a single warehouse, or multiple warehouse locations containing the same SKUs, make the job even harder. Barcodes scanned into the system enable you to check inventory in and out of warehouses, monitor stock levels, and reorder before inventory levels drop too low. It makes inventory tracking faster, easier, and more efficient.
2. Easier receiving: Receiving is often a bottleneck in many warehouses. The press to get customer orders out the door as fast as possible sometimes results in incoming shipments backing up in the receiving area. When you use bar code scanners and barcodes, you can swipe and scan inbound shipments quickly and efficiently, adding them to your inventory with just a single swipe. Processing inbound shipments takes only minutes compared to hours of manually inputting information.
3. Pinpoint accuracy: Recalls aren’t something companies like to talk about, but when a recall is issued, it’s important to find the defective goods in your warehouse as quickly as possible so they can be returned to the sender. Barcodes enable tracking by lot and SKU so that if an entire lot is recalled, you can find it with pinpoint accuracy in your warehouse even if you’re juggling thousands of SKUs. Finding the bin or shelf location and tagging the recalled items for return takes much less time with barcode tracking than manually locating such inventory in a large warehouse.

Better Inventory Managements Means Higher Profits

The inventory in your warehouse represents money spent with an eye to making a profit in the future. If you don’t manage your inventory efficiently, you could lose money. The better you manage your inventory, the better your company’s cash flow. You’ll always have goods on hand to ship to customers without sinking extra money into excess inventory.

Companies who excel at inventory management find that not only do they rarely over-order goods, but they improve customer satisfaction, too. Having the right items in stock ensures that orders can be fulfilled in a timely fashion. Customers never have to wait for their shipments, and your company can develop a reputation as a reliable vendor.

IWI’s Barcode Scanning Module for Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300)

IWI Consulting Group offers a unique barcode scanning module for Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) that connects the powerful Sage ERP application with your inventory management and barcode scanning system. This cost-effective module reduces mistakes, improves efficiency, and increases profits through better inventory management.

Many complicated inventory management procedures can be streamlined with the right barcode scanning modules. IWI barcode scanning offers matching to purchase order receipts, ability to direct items to the proper warehouse with receipt, matching shipped items to a pick sheet to reduce picking errors, inventory count, stock transfer, and serial and lot tracking.

If there’s just one thing you improve in your warehouse in 2017, improve your inventory management. Ask us about barcode scanning for Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) today.

IWI Consulting Group offers business assistance choosing the right Sage products for their needs and making the switch to a new Sage process. We can help you convert your company’s systems into a single, integrated solutions that supports your business and enhances productivity.

Contact us today for a consultation.

Food manufacturers and others should take note of these important accounting trends, and check out the new financial reporting standards detailed afterward. Both may help your business in the new year.

Accounting Trends: Data, Analytics, and the Accountant

Accountants have always been the number crunchers of the company, but there’s an emerging trend of marrying both accounting data and other data from within a company to inform business decisions. ERP systems such as Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) provide companies with powerful data. Accountants are in a unique position to help them harness and analyze that data.

Income sheets, balance sheets, and cash flows remain important reports for any company. In addition to those standbys of the accounting world, new data reports added to these basics can provide an enhanced picture of the company’s financial health. An in-depth analysis of all of the data can give your company’s managers the information they need to make smarter business decisions

Accountants and financial professionals have the skillsets to analyze complex data problems and distill valuable information from them. By adding your skills to the data picture, you can help drive good decisions.

The Right Tools Provide Great Data: Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3)

With the right tools, you can generate accurate data that informs all aspects of your business. IWI Consulting Group offers many business software systems to help you collect, distill, and harness the power of your business’s data. Two such tools are Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3).

Accounting Updates: IFRS-16 for Canadian Businesses that Lease Equipment

Do you lease equipment? Canadian businesses who lease equipment should take note. New international financial reporting standards incorporated into the Canadian CPA Handbook in the summer of 2016 will impact how leases are accounted for starting in 2019.

As with most accounting changes, the new suggestions take effect far enough into the future so that Canadian businesses and the CPAs who advise them have plenty of time to make business changes for a smoother transition.

The new changes seek to add clarity and detail to how leases are reported on financial statements. In the former method, operating leases were only disclosed in the notes on the financial statements. Finance leases alone found their way to the balance sheet. That system resulted in many leases structured as operating leases for simplicity’s sake. The new guidelines make it easier to list leases exactly as they are so that they can be reported accurately.

IFRS-16, as the guidelines are called, also requires lessees to report all leases—with the exception of short-term and low-value leases—on the balance sheet as assets and liabilities. Lessors are now required to supply enhanced disclosures about the lessor’s risk of exposure.

These changes are made in the hopes that the new information will help both companies who lease and those who lease to them report their information accurately and fairly. Food manufacturers and others who lease equipment will need to make these adjustments in time for 2019 reporting.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting offers ERP consulting and accounting software systems to help you manage your data efficiently. With the right ERP systems, you’ll never feel as if you’re drowning in data. We can help you select the best system for your needs and learn how to use it for maximum benefit.

We also focus on Sage software for food manufacturers and distributors. Contact IWI Consulting at 1-866-916-3851.

Using Manufacturing ERP Software to Meet the Next Revolution

Manufacturing ERP software paves the way for companies to enter into this new fourth era of manufacturing. Yes, we’re entering a brave new world of manufacturing, powered by technology, driven by data, and serving a global community. The Industrial Revolution kicked off manufacturing as we know it today, but we are now entering uncharted territory.

The first wave of manufacturing was, of course, that famous revolution that saw innovations in manufacturing everything from clothing to shoes. New steam and water-powered engines fueling vast weaving machines made manufacturing faster, producing less expensive goods for public consumption. The second wave of manufacturing was ushered in by Henry Ford, who positioned the assembly line as the new method of manufacturing consumer goods quickly and inexpensively.

Now we are leaving the third wave of manufacturing and entering the fourth. The third brought us automated systems: information technology, computerized processing, and robotic assembly lines that transformed how manufacturers build products.

The fourth wave or revolution of manufacturing uses cyber-physical systems to bring goods to customers with more precision and accuracy than ever before. It’s an exciting time for manufacturers throughout North America and, indeed, throughout the world. Powered by manufacturing ERP software, the data driven by these new systems can help companies achieve prosperity and productivity.

Customer-Centric Mass Production

Since the earliest days of towns and villages, goods were hand-produced for individuals. The local tailor knew your measurements and cut the cloth for your suit by hand. The cobbler had a last or mold of your feet to create a pair of boots just for you. With the rise of the industrial revolution, mass production of goods, and computer-assisted factories, hand-crafted goods took a quiet backseat to inexpensive mass-produced goods.

Now we are entering an age where cyber-production is transforming the quality of goods yet once again. Personalization is producing everything from same-day dental crowns, milled from 3D images taken in the dentist’s office, to 3D printers producing other goods and services. Soon, the proponents of cyber production promise us, we will see mass customization rather than mass production.

Image a world in which instead of ordering thousands of car seats for an assembly line at an automobile factory you can customize the order to request fifty of one model and four hundred of another. Or perhaps you have a custom order for a vintage reproduction car seat for a 1960s Rambler someone is restoring; simply produce the specs and the computer can make it to order at the same or similar cost to old-fashioned mass production. It’s possible in this new fourth dimension of manufacturing.

Predictive Analytics

Although we’re not yet at the point in which manufacturers can completely customize a production run like the car seat example, we are getting close. Predictive analytics, available now with some manufacturing ERP software, can help companies scan orders and find patterns to predict future ordering trends. Manufacturers can then use data to produce a close match between supply and demand.

Manufacturing: Always Changing

Not since Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin or the first mills produced reams of inexpensive cotton textiles has the face of manufacturing changed quite like it did in the 1980s with the advent of computer-assisted production. Today’s new systems are slowly turning manufacturers away from technology and into the world of artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and custom orders.

It may seem like we’re forging ahead to some, and to others, that we’ve gone full circle. From custom, handmade goods to customized machine-made goods, the future looks bright for manufacturing. Manufacturing ERP software is part of this bright future and provides data for all your business decisions.

We’d like to invite you to check out our new videos showcasing manufacturing ERP software, such as Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) and other products, that will help you maximize the data from your business. Learn more on our website.

IWI Consulting offers ERP consulting and systems to help you manage your data efficiently. With the right ERP systems, you’ll never feel as if you’re drowning in data. We can help you select the best system for your needs and learn how to use it for maximum benefit. Contact IWI Consulting at 1-866-916-3851.

Change is in the air with the new year. It’s time to embrace Sage ERP software and surrender the spreadsheets. If your company has recently purchased Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) or Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300), you’re in good company. Hundreds of businesses trust these software systems for accurate, reliable data. They reduce time and effort spent on data entry and make reporting a breeze for many companies.

Yet, despite all the promise found in software like Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300), some people cling to their spreadsheets. We love what we know, and business people are no different from the person who has always purchased a certain brand of soap or paper towels and refuses to change when the shop no longer has them in stock.

Many people forget that spreadsheets weren’t invented for the complex and often complicated reporting we force them into. It takes considerable time and effort to key data into the spreadsheet, set up charts and graphs, and run them accurately. Tracking down a mistake in a spreadsheet that leads to an erroneous graph can take a long time. Spreadsheets, while they have their place, have significant limitations.

These three tips will help your company transition from spreadsheets into the new and wonderful world of Sage ERP software. If 2017 is the year your company plans to take a great leap forward into the world of automated data and reporting, you’ll find these tips helpful.

Three Tips to Leverage ERP to Make Your Work Life Easier

1. Be inclusive during the information-gathering stage: You’ll need more than your IT people at the table during the information gathering and requirements stage. Make sure to include everyone from the company who will be using the ERP system. The more people you can include during the development stage, the more invested they will be in the successful implementation of the system later. Those who see value and benefit in the Sage ERP software from the beginning are the ones who will become your internal champions and help others use the system later on
2. Do internal marketing: Internal marketing means spreading the word inside the company that an ERP system is a good thing to add to the workplace. Get people on board. Share information and make sure that the ERP selection and implementation aren’t a secret. The more you can market and promote the new system inside your company, the more excited people will be to welcome it when it is finally rolled out.
3. Train early and often: It’s not enough to get people excited about the new system. They must learn how to use it. Schedule training sessions early in the process and repeat training sessions often to ensure that people learn the basics. Add times to the workday when experienced trainers will be available to answer questions or assist with work-related projects. Delegating one person the “ERP expert” and sending them for advanced training is another great strategy. You’ll have someone within the company ready and eager to help their coworkers with Sage ERP software questions, problems, and projects.

Vendors Are a Great Source of Help

IWI Consulting Group, a provider of Sage ERP software such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), can assist you with the implementation plan for your new ERP system. We welcome customer questions and look forward to assisting you with your ERP rollout this year! Contact IWI Consulting at 1-866-916-3851.

Inventory Accuracy is Just One Hallmark of a Great Inventory Management System

Does your inventory management system have what it takes to boost your business next year? Inventory accuracy is just one part of a great inventory system. Systems such as Sage Inventory Advisor have all the right stuff to maximize profits, minimize losses, and manage your inventory like a pro. Let’s look at some of the characteristics of a terrific inventory management system.

Why is a good inventory management system important? For most companies, inventory represents a hefty investment of capital. Products remaining idle and collecting dust in the warehouse are costly. Not only does a business pay to produce laggards, it must also pay to warehouse and maintain them.

Good inventory management reduces excess goods, maintains adequate stock, and optimizes warehouse space by thoughtful placement of shelves and bins. Inventory management is both an art and a science, fueled by accurate data from inventory systems married to your company’s ERP systems and more. The right inventory management system can help your company control costs and maximize profits no matter what industry you are in.

Five Characteristics of Terrific Inventory Management

1. Well-organized inventory: Inventory that is organized well is placed strategically throughout the warehouse to minimize the amount of time it takes to pick, pack, and ship. Frequently purchased items may be placed near the packing area. Bins and shelves are carefully labeled. If barcodes are used to identify goods in receiving, the bar codes in the shelving areas are matched. All areas are kept clean so that goods look appealing.
2. Inventory accuracy: Inventory accuracy means that both starting and periodic stock counts are accurate. Barcode scanners enhance inventory accuracy by reducing clerical errors and miscounts. If manual systems are still used, inventory is taken regularly and systems are updated to reflect the latest counts.
3. Consistent item names and numbers: A good inventory management system uses a consistent nomenclature and/or numbering system for parts, products, and goods. This makes it easy for workers to learn the products and find them quickly in the warehouse and in the systems.
4. Integration with ERP and business systems: The best inventory management systems integrate easily with ERP systems and other back office systems. Sage products, such as Sage Inventory Advisor and Sage ERP X3 integrate well and can easily add functions for other business areas if needed.
5. Well-trained workers: A system is only as good as the people using it. Warehouse management and inventory management includes having people trained on how to handle the stock, take inventory, run the systems and equipment, and perform their job duties safely throughout the warehouse. Hire the best people you can afford and invest in on-the-job training to ensure that the people running and working in your warehouse can effectively use all inventory management systems to run the warehouse.

Inventory Accuracy with Sage Inventory Advisor

You can improve inventory accuracy with a good system. Sage Inventory Advisor is a cost-effective solution that uses data from Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) to help you manage all aspects of your inventory.

Sage Inventory Advisor can help you:

• Reduce excess inventory
• Reduce stock-outs
• Reduce time spent on manual tasks and labor
• Reduce mistakes
• Improve forecasting
• Improve fill rates
• Improve inventory replenishment data visibility

Optimize your entire supply chain with better data. With Sage Inventory Advisor and ERP system such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), you can transform your business.

We’d like to invite you to check out our new videos highlighting manufacturing ERP software such as Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) and other products that will help you maximize the data from your business. Learn more on our website.

Learn More about Inventory Management Systems

IWI Consulting offers inventory management systems, ERP consulting and systems to help you manage your data efficiently, and much more. With the right systems, you’ll never feel as if you’re drowning in data. We can help you select the best system for your needs and learn how to use it for maximum benefit. Contact IWI Consulting at 1-866-916-3851.

Customer-centric enterprise software is the latest buzzword, but it’s more than a fad: it’s a competitive strategy to set your business apart. With customer-centric enterprise software, you can focus on adding value to every transaction to build customer relationships.

In an age in which information flows freely through electronic devices, customers are a lot savvier about finding vendors with the best price. Competing solely on price offers little when customers can always find the next option online. To truly make your business indispensable to customers, you need a customer-centric approach. Enterprise software that helps you build a customer service-based business model can help you add that special touch to every transaction that keeps customers coming back for more.

A new white paper from IWI Consulting, Customer-Centric ERP: Integrated Systems for Satisfied Customers, is available at no charge to help demystify the concept of customer-centric enterprise resource planning and to help you consider the many benefits to your business.

Using Your Enterprise System for Maximum Benefit

While all ERP systems offer many benefits, there are specific actions you can take to maximize the benefits of your current enterprise software. Three benefits stand out:

1. Data entry at the point of activity.
2. Standardized processes for order fulfillment and delivery.
3. Sales and product department collaboration to set customer expectations.

The common ingredient among these three activities is standardization. Instead of continually performing one-off activities, you can standardize them throughout the organization using your enterprise system.

Data entry at the point of activity, rather than later after the activity has been completed, leads to fewer mistakes. Fewer mistakes in data entry means fewer mistakes in orders and higher customer satisfaction.

Standardized processes for order fulfillment and delivery can help you control costs, timelines, and expectations. Because processes are standardized, you can project potential costs easier. You know how long an order will take to fulfill and deliver since the same process is used every time. All this information is now housed in one centralized system that can be shared with every person in the organization. If customers ask for the information, they receive the same answer each time.

Lastly, collaboration is easier with enterprise software. Data can no longer be siloed and protected by special interests within the organization. Shared data enables easier price setting and goal setting among departments. The more this information is standardized and shared freely, the more it benefits your company and customers.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3): Two Enterprise Software Packages to Grow Your Business

IWI Consulting offers business consulting with Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) software to help your business grow. Each of these enterprise software packages offers different benefits and values to a company, but both can help you achieve your goal of running a customer-centric business.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) integrates and streamlines your data for complete end-to-end financial management. You can empower your workforce with all the data it needs to provide customer-focused service. Automated workflows and more help you establish standardized processes throughout the company for maximum efficiency and benefit.

Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) integrates operations across the company for seamless data. You’ll improve productivity, reduce time-consuming manual tasks, and automate workflows for fewer mistakes and greater efficiency. Grow your business with confidence on this reliable, stable enterprise software platform.

Contact Us

IWI Consulting offers ERP consulting and systems to help you manage your data efficiently. With the right ERP systems, you’ll never feel as if you’re drowning in data. We can help you select the best system for your needs and learn how to use it for maximum benefit. Call IWI Consulting at 1-866-916-3851.