Enterprise software, commonly referred to as enterprise resource planning or ERP software, is designed to support the operations of the business. Client relationship management (CRM) software, on the other hand, is designed to support the relationship part of the business. Where ERP software focuses on ensuring that the product gets made or the service gets delivers, CRM software focuses on maintaining a positive relationship with the client who receives the item and supporting the item’s life after it has been delivered.

At first glance, ERP and CRM are nothing alike. Used for two different purposes, each system has its own set of capabilities, benefits and payoffs. When paired together, however, they complement one another and provide businesses with a comprehensive software package to sustain growth, lower costs, and improve overall efficiency.

What Makes Enterprise Software Unique?

Before we take a look at the benefits of using client relationship management and enterprise software together, you need to understand the strengths unique to each solution. For years, enterprise software has been the primary software platform of accounting and operations. By providing the necessary functions to support the business (such as inventory management, record keeping, data collection, etc.), ERP software is crucial to the life of a business, no matter the industry.

What Makes Client Relationship Management Software Unique?

CRM software are intended to meet the needs of the front office, the customer-facing departments. CRM tools perform functions that address sales, marketing and customer service issues. They keep track of marketing campaigns, keep record of transactions and customer data, project future sales, and support the customer service department. CRM software is just a critical as ERP software, just in a different aspect.

CRM and ERP: The Benefits of Pairing Two Separate Solutions Together

As we discussed above, CRM and ERP have two distinct purposes. ERP software serves the back office, and CRM software serves the front office. This is exactly why the two solutions need to be paired together. Say a client calls into the customer service department about a broken part on his recently purchased photocopier (which your company manufactures and sells). You can use CRM to record the details of the phone call and report what is wrong, but you cannot order the replacement part from the CRM system. For that, you will need ERP. Once the problem has been reported, ERP kicks in by checking stock for that component. Once the part is found, the part is sent out to the client using the information stored in the CRM system.

This complementary relationship is what makes the pairing of CRM and ERP so crucial for business success. When your enterprise software solutions are not integrated with your client relationship management solutions, you experience a disconnect between the systems that often results in delayed service times, frustrated customers and increased costs. By integrating these solutions, you are ensuring communication between all departments and increasing your efficiency across the business.

IWI Consulting offers ERP and CRM software integration services to help your business operate more cohesively. You can learn more about our integration services here.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Is it Time to Replace Spreadsheets with Client Relationship Management Software?

Whether you want to or not, sales forecasting is a necessary part of running a business. Companies use sales forecasts to determine their position in the market, plan for future inventory and scheduling needs, and create effective strategies to meet predetermined business goals. Sales forecasts do not predict the future. They can, however, help businesses plan for the future and be better prepared to meet whatever happens along the way.

Even in today’s technology-heavy world, many businesses still rely on spreadsheets for sales forecasting. While spreadsheets are a great tool for building lists, creating budgets and generating basic reports, they are not effective in the area of sales forecasting. Not only are they inefficient and cumbersome to maintain, but they are also limited in the information they provide. Businesses often unknowingly pay a high price when they use spreadsheets to create sales forecasts, for spreadsheets take a lot of time to create and maintain and are often filled with data inaccuracies. In the most extreme cases, this can even translate into lost sales and unmet revenue goals.

If your company is struggling to create accurate sales forecasts or if you have grown to a point where spreadsheets are no longer a viable option, client relationship management (CRM) software can pick up where the spreadsheets left off. Here are seven compelling reasons to move your sales forecasting to CRM tools:

1. Improved quality of forecasts
2. A stronger sense of reality
3. Better business protection
4. Increased efficiency
5. Better planning for the future
6. More accurate metric tracking and measuring
7. The ability to act quickly on accurate sales information

Sage CRM: Sales Forecasting in Less Time

Sage CRM is a client relationship management solution designed to not only enhance your customer relationships but your sales processes as well. The sales forecasting tools within Sage CRM eliminate the need for sales teams to spend unnecessary time manipulating spreadsheets. Built into Sage CRM’s framework, the sales forecasting system reduces the time it takes to create sales forecasts and increases their accuracy, allowing businesses to spend more time prospecting for new business.

The sales forecasting functionality within the Sage CRM software allows:

• Individual users to flag opportunities in their pipeline to indicate whether or not they should be included in sales forecasts
• Sales Managers to base their forecasts on their own personal pipeline (if applicable), as well as on the forecasts of the team(s) they manage
• Individual users to enter forecasts using their opportunity pipeline as a starting point

The benefits of Sage CRM for sales forecasting are numerous. IWI Consulting sells and supports Sage CRM software and even offers customization for your more advanced sales forecasting needs. Learn more about Sage CRM and its capabilities here.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Client relationship management (CRM) systems were originally designed as a database capable of storing the most important client details and order information. Over the years, it has evolved into a capable system not only used to store important client records and information but to also manage marketing, sales and customer service processes. Companies around the world use CRM software on a daily basis to manage the day-to-day tasks involved in serving clients. From creating new and innovative marketing campaigns to measuring client engagement over a specific period of time, CRM software has many uses to the modern day business.

One of CRM’s most critical functions, however, lies in its ability to support the customer service department. From its moment of origin, CRM software was designed to serve as the company’s central source for important customer details: names, addresses, phone numbers, order histories, inquiries, service requests, etc. CRM is a treasure-trove of information, holding the answer to virtually any question you could ever have about your clients. It paints the picture of each client’s history with your company, allowing you to better serve and support the client now and in the future.

4 Convincing Reasons Your Customer Service Departments Needs Client Relationship Management Software

Despite its capabilities, many companies are not using CRM software for customer service. Instead, they rely on the software to streamline sales processes, attract new clients, and improve marketing strategies. The potential to boost customer service is there; many businesses simply have not yet tapped into its potential. Here are four reasons to expand your use of client relationship management software into the customer service department:

1. Improved productivity. CRM software contains customizable dashboards that allow users to manage customer queries and support cases from a single screen. This allows customer service representatives to identify which cases are assigned to them and their order of priority. By having all of the information they need in a central location, customer service representatives can provide the kind of service your clients expect both efficiently and accurately.
2. More useful reports and more effective decision-making. CRM software, such as Sage CRM, contains both standard and customizable reporting tools to relay important customer service metrics (such as case volume and resolution time) to managers and executives. This, in turn, will help improve the service experience.
3. Case management will be a breeze. When support cases are properly managed, you demonstrate your commitment to superior customer service. With CRM software, customer service representatives can create support cases as soon as the client makes initial contact, whether that be in the form of an email, phone call or in-person visit. Workflows are then assigned to each case to ensure that no step is missed and the issue is resolved.

IWI Consulting offers client relationship management software designed to simplify the CRM process and improve customer service. 

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Today’s world is highly connected. In a moment’s time, you can open your Internet browser, see what is happening around the world, chat with a colleague or friend, and place an order for a product or service sold in another country – all without leaving the comfort of your own desk. While globalization has certainly opened up new opportunities for businesses in terms of reaching untapped markets, it has also further complicated the balancing act known as client relationship management.

In the past, businesses only had to compete with companies who sold or provided similar products and services in their community. Today, however, they are having to compete with companies all over the world, whether they be mere cities away or entire continents away. As new stores and suppliers emerge, companies are having to develop new strategies for winning new clients and retaining existing ones. While no one can deny that globalization has had a positive impact on the consumer, we must acknowledge the challenges globalization presents to modern-day businesses, particularly in the area of client retention.

Client Relationship Management: The Importance of Communicating Value in Today’s Global Market

In order to improve client retention, you have to change the way you approach client relationship management. Simply adopting new and creative marketing strategies will not do the trick, especially when there is someone else out there who can probably do the same thing – only bigger and better. You can offer your existing clients discounts and incentives to encourage them to remain loyal customers, but if your client relationship management processes are not effective, even the best client loyalty offers will fall flat.

Client retention begins and ends with your client relationship management (CRM) process. How you manage your clients through every stage of the process can say a lot about your company and your values. If you respond to queries in a timely manner and take the time to talk to the client personally, you are saying that your clients are valuable. If you rush through the sales process, forget important details about their order or history, or fail to establish personal (not automated) contact with your clients, you are not communicating value. In these instances, the clients will most likely leave your company for another company that will appreciate their business.

CRM Software: The Key to Customer Retention Concerns

Utilizing tools and technology to improve customer retention is important. For companies looking to combat the impact of globalization on their business, client relationship management (CRM) software is key. By implementing effective CRM solutions, you can begin to start communicating value to your customers the moment you connect with them. Designed to help companies manage marketing, sales, and all other client interactions in a timely and efficient manner, CRM software can bridge the distance between you and your customers and help you maintain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

IWI Consulting offers client relationship management (also referred to as customer relationship management or CRM) solutions to help you maintain strong relationships with your clients and ease the information overload on your customer-facing employees. Learn more about our software options here: Sage CRM.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Enterprise software systems make it possible to produce reports and charts using sales, purchasing, financial, supplier, and production datasets. These can be used to compare results against industry-wide key performance indicators over time and also can lead to resolution of problems and furthering of successes. Who doesn’t want this kind of fine-tuning capability of best practices and decision making using these reports? It is likely that your company could benefit from all of this. To learn more about big data and how it can improve inventory management, visit here. Now, let’s look at tools for forecasting and analyzing that are gaining strength and helping companies to create reports and successfully use this data.

Enterprise Software Tools for Analysis

Inventory specialists can take data analysis functionality to a whole new level by integrating inventory optimization tools with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3). These enterprise software optimization systems provide graphics that can illustrate the synthesis of data from all departments. These graphics can help analyze, diagnose, and identify seasonal demand shifts, order patterns, likely stock-out dates, lost sales, excess orders, unsellable items, price reduction patterns, and patterns of production downtime among many other capabilities.

Forecasting Tools

The analysis done by an inventory optimization tool can then use this big data to forecast demand with greater accuracy and faster speed. Through this, the system can recommend optimal inventory levels for sales availability. It can take into account possible stock-out and overage risks giving managers the advance warning needed to take care of stock levels when they are becoming too high or too low.

Tools for Management

Managers need to know what is happening with inventory to best respond. Inventory optimization tools make this easy through recommendations given about optimal restocking schedules in addition to automated ordering and re-ordering. In addition to helping find and act on trends, the tools can also help alert managers of exceptions to these trends so they can mitigate them. Through integration with enterprise software such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) or Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), the tools communicate across departments and even outside of the organization using actionable intelligence. This can inform decisions about recommended stock levels, replenishment schedules, automated orders, and exception alerts.

Using these tools combined with management and inventory specialists making decisions based on the data and information provided by them, inventory optimization can be achieved. These decisions can help balance the trade-offs between the costs of a stock-out versus the costs of overstocking. Inventory management tools must adjust recommended stocking levels that are dependent upon variable risk tolerance. There is a balance to strike between pushing risk tolerance in the direction of avoiding stock-outs and having more inventory ready versus pushing management to stock as little inventory as possible to avoid storage and waste costs. The ability of an inventory optimization tool to adjust forecasts based on the “what-ifs” is a huge plus to management.

Inventory management is all about making better decisions that result in better balance that depend on the shifting goals that are influenced by the reality of the events going on in the warehouse. Tools that can improve balance provide a large and ongoing return on investment. The goal is to reduce inventory levels by 20 to 50 percent that results in significant savings. Because right-sizing is a complex challenge, cost control and customer satisfaction have become the focus. These are driving the adoption of more sophisticated systems of inventory management. By utilizing new, flexible, and refined tools that provide for dynamic optimization of inventories to maximize customer service and market share while decreasing inventory investment and lowering costs, inventory managers can significantly impact overall competiveness and profitability.

IWI Consulting offers two ERP solutions that have the tools needed for successful inventory management. Learn more about Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3). Learn more about Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300).

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

“Big data” is a big deal. Have you heard this “buzzword” recently? Big data is so important, and thanks to new inventory optimization tools and technologies, the power of big data is being harnessed like never before. To learn more about inventory optimization in addition to physical inventory control and inventory planning that make up the inventory management process, contact us. Now, let’s dive in deeper to big data and how it can be used best to improve inventory management.

The Internet, mobile technology, and software advancements have all enabled businesses to amass and expand gigantic datasets within their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Inventory optimization is only possible because of the capabilities offered by these technologies. The data found within enterprise software has been used to prepare tax returns and financial statements plus improve productivity through information sharing within and outside of an enterprise to facilitate communication and collaboration between stakeholders.

Enterprise software has provided ways to manipulate data sets within customized financial reports in new and improved ways. The ERP solutions offer the potential to have deep insight into operational trends, customer behavior, and ways to improve efficiency of business models. The goal of data has always been to use it for improved agility and responsiveness. With big data and ERP solutions such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) or Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), companies now have the ability to use more massive amounts of data better than ever with steady advancements in data collection and use functionalities.

Even still, dataset sizes have accumulated and grown so consistently that they have outpaced technology’s ability to realize, understand, and use the full potential of the intelligence within all of that data. Enterprise software houses lots of data related to inventory, but this must be used effectively. Instead of simply tracking the amounts of inventory that are on hand and alerting workers when levels of inventory run low, the software should be able to do so much more. With inventory optimization systems, technology is showing signs of catching up with the large quantities of data and using it more effectively while doing more with it overall.

Remember that there is a consistent battle within manufacturing and distributions companies to effectively balance having enough inventory in stock to keep up with customer requests and demands while simultaneously not having too much inventory on hand. This plus the complex organizational needs and fluctuations of supply and demand coupled with complexities in having tons of SKUs, global supply chains, and far-flung warehouses have real impacts on inventory levels. Using big data in modern inventory optimization systems that are designed to exploit data generated from everywhere within enterprise software is essential to truly honing in on success in inventory management.

Ultimately, inventory optimization depends upon decisions made by inventory specialists and senior management based upon considerations unique to their companies coupled with effective use of big data. Better decisions are made when balancing trade-offs that depend on shifting goals influenced by events on the ground. Ultimately, inventory managers can significantly impact overall competitiveness and profitability.

Two ERP software offerings from IWI Consulting meet the needs your company has to maximize use of big data and improve inventory management. They are Sage 300 ERPcloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3).

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Inventory really is the lifeblood of sales and production processes within manufacturing and distribution companies. Therefore, it is important to have a sufficient stock to avoid lost sales and keep customers satisfied. At the same time, only carrying the necessary quantities of inventory avoids the need to pay extra carrying costs like taxes, insurance, security, and storage. In order to improve inventory control and management, it is important to understand the process and the three key facets of the process. These facets are distinct from one another and yet interconnected so understanding them all will lead to bettering the entire inventory management process using enterprise software to help get you to where you need to be as a business.

The Three-Part Inventory Process

Part 1: Physical Inventory Control

Physical inventory control is all about receiving, moving, stocking, and the physical control of inventory. This is typically an ongoing process with arrivals and departures occurring daily. Barcoding, consigning, and kit repackaging are all important parts of physical inventory control.

In addition, data entry is an important part of the physical side of inventory operations. All items must be tracked using enterprise software to ensure accurate and timely inventory data collection that is essential for success. Cycle counting is also necessary. This is a manual intervention that serves to check and verify that computerized data records match physical stock in terms of both quantity and location.

Part 2: Inventory Planning

Unlike the control and movement emphasized by the physical process, systematic management is the emphasis of the planning process. Planning relies on varying rates of demand and methodologies. This involves right-sizing inventory that gets turned over reliably and is replenished frequently by avoiding stock-outs and lost sales in addition to avoiding trapping working capital in overages of pricey stock. Another aspect involves purchasing new inventory based on customer demand.

Data, just like the physical inventory process, should drive the stocking of inventory. Therefore, accurate data is essential and is driven by conscientious data entry using Sage 300 ERP, Sage ERP X3, or another enterprise software system. Systematic and preplanned approaches to replenishing inventory involve using information that is relevant to sales, finance, purchasing, production, and shipping/receiving. Enterprise software helps store and use this data efficiently.

Part 3: Inventory Optimization

Even with planning and physical inventory controls, it is still possible to have too much or too little inventory. Frequent occurrences of stock-outs and stock overages indicate inventory levels that lack optimization. Thanks to technology, inventory optimization systems now help with supply chain management by calculating where and when inventory should be deployed to fulfill predetermined objectives. By better classifying stocking levels according to past demand and improving demand forecasting for future use, these systems greatly assist in optimizing inventory.

Although mismatches between stock and demand cannot be entirely eliminated, they can be significantly reduced by forecasting more accurately and quickly. This allows the predetermined objectives (such as measureable reductions in inventory investment, increased customer satisfaction, maximized output, and cost containment) to be more within reach.

These processes come together to make up the important inventory cycle. All of them are improved with technology meant to handle many important facets of inventory management and data collection. Learn more about out IWI Consulting’s ERP system offerings: Sage X3 here and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) here.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Using Enterprise Software for Inventory Management and Control

If you take a moment to ponder your business’ balance sheet, you will likely realize that inventory is typically one of the biggest numbers on it. Is this true for you? It is probable that your manufacturing and distribution company relies heavily on inventory to get the job done. Inventory is one of the biggest assets in a company. With so much of your business success relying on inventory, effectively controlling and managing it is vital. The good news is that enterprise software such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) or Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) can help!

How is this inventory control effectiveness measured? Traditionally, this is done by measuring how successful a company is at reducing inventory investment while still meeting customer needs and customer service goals. It is also done by achieving maximum output while simultaneously keeping costs contained. In essence, it comes down to determining what items to stock, how many of each item is necessary to keep stocked, and when more of that item should be ordered.

This “simplistic” rule for effective inventory control does not create a complete picture of the complex reality. In practice, simply knowing what to stock and how much is difficult to carry out in practice. Three overarching categories complicate the process, but Sage 300 ERP or Sage ERP X3 can help. Let’s take a closer look at the complications.

Factors Complicating the Inventory Control Process

1. Conflicting Objectives in Different Departments within the Company
   If you think about, there are some parts of your business that are probably seeking to increase inventory. At the same time, others are trying to decrease it. This complicates things as viewpoints differ on how to truly achieve better profitability.If the sales department wants to emphasize and prioritize the speed of delivery to keep up with customers and satisfy demands, they will want inventory amounts of finished goods to be high. Likewise, the purchasing departments wants high levels of inventory as well because they can get discounts when ordering large quantities at the same time. The production team wants all parts and materials to be readily available to keep efficiency along the line high. In addition, running large batch sizes is more efficient. In these three cases, increased inventory is a good thing,On the other hand, the finance department and product developers are watching trends. They want to decrease inventory of existing products in order to make room for new products. Management want inventory decreases as well because large amounts of inventory translate into less cash flow.
2. Unpredictable Supply and Demand
   There are so many factors that make predicting supply and demand difficult. These supply difficulties include unsteady supplier performance, supply chain disruptions, material scarcities, perishability of raw materials, obsolescence of products, etc. Buffering stocking levels is important in order to provide safety days of lead-time supply. The demand difficulties include the fluctuating economy, constantly changing products due to innovation, and high-traffic sales on some products with only occasional or seasonal sales of other items. This requires responding to demand individually by item in order to achieve appropriate stocking levels.
3. Warehousing across a Variety of Locations
   Manufacturers and distributors also face the problem of accessibility. This stems from finished good for sale and parts for assembly are not all housed in the same location. Instead, they are spread over multiple location making easy access to needed items difficult.Even with these complications in mind, it is still important to focus on two inventory management keys to success: meeting customer needs and stocking the least amount of inventory possible. Enterprise software can help you with both of these. The reality is that inventory management is an area being targeted aggressively for improvement by distributors and manufacturers. Do you need to improve inventory management as well?

IWI Consulting offers enterprise software system options to meet your company’s needs for improved inventory management even with the potential complications. Learn more about two solutions we offer here at IWI Consulting by clicking on the each solution: Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage (formerly known as Sage X3).

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Over the past month, we have taken a closer look at the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), what it involves, what deadlines it outlines for food manufacturing compliance, and how companies are affected by it. For more information on what the FSMA expects out of businesses your size, visit here. The FSMA is sub-divided into sections that impact different food system areas. Within each area, there are individualized deadlines and schedules. Let’s take a closer look at these areas by exploring statutes pertaining to them that are included in the FSMA.

Statutes within the FSMA

• Traceability- Of all the elements food manufacturing businesses will be impacted by, they will be most greatly affected by the traceability requirements that are listed in the act in the realm of “food defense.” Existing product tracking requirements are expected to drastically expand once this element is fully defined within the act. In the future, the current requirement of tracing one step in both directions (forward and back) will likely be significantly modified. Even though the defined requirements are yet to be complete, it is important to consider implementing food industry software that will help in creating more accurate and efficient tracking procedures. In order to meet transparency requirements, this should take place along the entire supply chain.
• Preventive Controls- The idea behind this element is mandating strong food safety plans throughout the food industry. Facility registrations are already mandated throughout the industry, but this is only a starting point of preventive control rules. Next up will be creating food safety plans and dealing with hazard analysis. These statutes will be determined by the end of the year, and compliance will be expected by the end of next year (2016). Again, being prepared by implementing food industry software can be beneficial because hazard analysis and expanded food safety plans will demand the use of it.
• Verification Programs for Foreign Suppliers- This element of the act requires stringent quality and safety checks on imported products. The Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) will greatly expand existing required verifications to include more record keeping and extensive verification of proper supplier conduct. The Food and Drug Administration will even be requiring current supplier lists that can be furnished to them at any time. In addition, food manufacturing companies will be required to verify supplier hazard analysis practices and a variety of other checks to be performed.

In order to comply with these statutes and the many others detailed in the FSMA, your company will need food industry software and a renewed emphasis on record keeping, transparency, assessment of risk, and food safety. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can be of significant assistance in these areas. ERP for food manufacturers allows your business to keep these records well and leads to increased transparency. In addition, ERP for food manufacturers helps with a variety of business functions and supports.

Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) is one example that can help your business track suppliers, lots, and processes and easily provide essential documentation to everyone who needs access. For more information about Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), visit here. For further information about food manufacturing regulations and compliance, contact us.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

The reality is that the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has far-reaching impact. No food company in the United States nor any food company that does business with the United States (including many of here in Canada) is left unaffected by the act. Believe it or not, the beverage industry is impacted as well, and this includes alcoholic beverages. With such a wide reach, companies need to understand that they are very likely affected by these rules and should be considering enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for their businesses to help in meeting them. This food ERP can be essential in keeping up with the processes and information needed to uphold the FSMA’s regulations. To understand the timeframes and deadlines for compliance of these regulations, visit here.

How does the FSMA affect companies? For starters, it is important to realize that the nature and size of a company correlates to how the act applies to it in either direct or indirect ways. These same factors also impact how stringent the compliance schedule will be. Let’s take a closer look at all shapes and sizes of businesses to see the affect the FSMA has on them.

The Smallest of Food Manufacturing Businesses- Local Producers

Very small businesses, such as local food producers, are largely exempted from the regulations if their revenue is less than $500,000 annually and results from primarily local sales. The reason for the exemption is the FSMA’s goal to preserve local food systems and keep them local. Even still, state and local regulations must be met, and evidence must be provided by these producers demonstrating state or local certification. In addition, the name of these small producers and farms must be displayed prominently throughout marketing and product labels.

Small Businesses in Food Manufacturing

For those companies that expand the majority of their sales outside of their local area and make more than $500,000 per year in revenue, compliance with FSMA is mandated. The caveat is that they receive more time to reach compliance buying them a year to 18 months to meet regulations.

Large Companies and Multinational Food Manufacturing Corporations

The larger the company, the tighter the margins. For large companies and corporations, the FSMA regulations apply in full, and the deadlines for compliance are not extended. The stakes are high to be in compliance and to do this quickly.

No matter what the size of your business, having food ERP to help with record keeping, tracking, accounting, and other tasks will be essential to your company’s ability to be FSMA compliant. In essence, it will help in getting the focus right. This focus should now be on risk assessment, food safety, record keeping, and transparency. For food manufacturing companies large enough that they are not exempt from the rules but lack resources of major and multinational companies, this is particularly the case. ERP for food industry businesses can be an integral part of successful compliance.

For more information on ERP for food industry companies, consider Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3). This ERP for food industry software will help you avoid overhead while simultaneously expanding compliance and transparency programs.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.