Running a small business can feel overwhelming at times. Business owners wear many hats: accounting, financial, product management, sales, customer service, warehouse, logistics. Even if you have a strong support staff, the final decisions about the direction in which your business is headed rests with you.

Accounting may be the back-office folks while logistics is on the front line but both have to work together to support the overarching business goals. Without the teamwork in place to achieve common goals, you’ll end up wasting precious time and energy. Instead, shared software can help you achieve a common framework.

Fortunately, Sage software products such as Sage Business Cloud Financials can take some of this burden off your shoulders. Ensuring that accounting and logistics are in sync is a big step in the right direction.

Accounting and Logistics: Are You on Speaking Terms?

There are aspects of accounting and logistics that, if they aren’t in harmony, can seriously curtail business. If your company ships tangible goods rather than performing a service, proper handling of its logistics is essential.

Problems arise when accounting and logistics aren’t in sync. For example:

• Shipping fees are too high: According to a UPS survey, 79% of the survey’s respondents said that shipping fees influenced their decision to purchase from a vendor. Logistics may offer insight into methods of getting shipping costs down but accounting must be responsive to the changes and adjust invoicing and other factors accordingly. If they aren’t in sync, customers can still get overcharged or you can drive away business with high shipping fees.
• Late payments: Late payments can cause a small or mid-sized business to fail. Yet, many companies suffer from cash flow issues because payments are late, slow, or missed. Why do some customers withhold payments? Look to your shipping department to see how quickly items are shipping out of the warehouse If they are slow to ship, or if orders are incomplete or damaged due to poor packaging, customers may not pay quickly which can lead to lead payments.
• Thinking too small: Accounting may be pushing for more customers and higher sales. Logistics balks, saying it can’t be done. Who is right? Both. Logistics need to be able to handle global shipping to help reach more customers. Without increasing your company’s reach into additional markets, you may be thinking too small. Think beyond your country’s borders to help expand and grow your business.

Is your accounting department in sync with your logistics department? They needn’t be so far apart that they aren’t on speaking terms. Help them understand the impact that each has on the overall business, and you’ll see enhanced cooperation and better interactions.

Sage Business Cloud: A New Strategy for Better Business

Sage Business Cloud offers your company a new approach to managing its operations. With Sage Business Cloud, all the software you need to run your manufacturing company is in one comprehensive cloud-based package. Accounting, financials, reporting, CRM and more are available at your fingertips.

With enhanced information and reporting, you’ll be able to manage both logistics and accounting better. Tighten control over your finances and make smarter, better decisions based on accurate and real-time data.

Cloud-based software offers numerous advantages. It’s more cost effective, safer, and offers better flexibility to scale up or down according to your business needs. Explore Sage Business Cloud and other fine Sage software products for your Canadian business with IWI Consulting Group.

Sage ERP Software from IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps Canadian businesses and non-profits choose and adapt the best enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for their needs. Small to mid-sized companies will find the help and resources they need to choose the right software at the right value. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) is an exceptional business software product. Not only does it include both classic and web versions, it integrates with Microsoft Office and other common business software packages so that you do not need to hire a special developer to integrate your software with existing products you are using. It’s a robust tool on its own that easily connects with others to form the perfect software package you may need for your business.

This year, Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) has made many improvements. Sage is known for listening to its customers and responding quickly with improvements as needed. Let’s take a look at what Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) has to offer your business in 2018.

Many Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) Improvements

• Two versions: Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) offers a classic and web version available and running in parallel: Each person in your company can choose the interface they like best. You don’t all need to be on the same interface – the person at the desk next to you can choose classic while you choose the latest web interface.
• Microsoft Office 365 integration: The new connected ecosystem includes Sage Contacts Dashboards so that you can include contacts in one place.
• Improved ad hoc inquiry: The web user interface enables ad hoc inquiries.
• Accounts Payable: You can now automate the entire AP process from purchase through payment. Invoices entered into the system are securely stored in the cloud. This saves time and removes manual data entry from the process.
• Customized folder structure and multiple browser support: More flexibility and customization built into your system.
• Export declarations field: A new field has been added to the tax tab of the A/R and O/E Invoice Entry Screens that lets you enter an export declarations number right into the field. This is a requirement for some countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, and having the declarations number right in the system is a big help for many companies.
• Check profitability at a glance: The Profitability dashboard in Sage Intelligence enables you to see at a glance the customers, products, and salespeople who are the most profitable to your company.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) Classic Receives Unique Updates

Everyone loves a classic and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) users are no exception. Sage 300 “classic” edition remains quite popular. The latest update to Sage 300 classic screens changes the visual process and workflows. It’s been enhanced so it is easier to follow on screen. Redesigned buttons also make information easier to find and access. Instead of menus and toolbars, a ribbon now appears on the desktop. This is another feature aimed at making information easier to find. New themes are also available for visual process flows.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) Intelligence Reporting

New intelligence reporting in Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) enables you to make swift, confident business decisions based on accurate and timely data.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) remains a popular product among manufacturers and businesses worldwide. With so much flexibility and power in one ERP system, it’s a great choice for many companies.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) from IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps Canadian businesses and non-profits choose and adapt the best enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for their needs. Small to mid-sized companies will find the help and resources they need to choose the right software at the right value. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Sage software is always at the leading-edge of innovation. In 2016, the company’s chatbot, “Peggy,” made her debut. While she could only respond to simple commands like “How much do customers owe me?” and “What’s our gross revenues for the month?” the new chatbot continues to evolve as a so-called “smart” assistant.

Peggy, and other innovations like this, demonstrate just how far the world of technology has come, and how it continues to evolve. Sage software embraces new technology and adds it whenever it makes sense to do so for their customers. Here are the areas that Sage is watching. You may wish to keep an eye on them, too.

Three Tech Areas to Watch

Technology evolves at a speed today which was previously unheard of in decades past. Innovations can be sweeping or incremental, completely disruptive or simple updates. Devices such as smartphones available today hold more computing power in a pocket-sized device than most offices had twenty years ago.

The following three tech areas are ones to watch now, for these are the areas affecting companies in manufacturing, distribution, and many other industries. Even if they aren’t impacting your business now, they will, and soon.

1. Chatbots and autonomous interfaces. Sage software’s “Peggy” is a great example of a chatbot. While it may seem odd to be typing queries and speaking with an AI chatbot, most of us have done this without even noticing we’re not speaking with a human being. Banks, retail websites, and other companies are using chatbots that think, learn, and respond intelligently to simple questions. Someday, even a computer mouse and keyboard may go the way of the quill pen and inkwell.
2. Artificial and collective intelligence. Systems that learn as they grow are “thinking” computers. Data collections through the internet of things are making it imperative that larger volumes of data can be handled efficiently. AI and collective intelligence systems can process, sort, and distill such data.
3. Blockchain technology: Perhaps nothing is more disruptive than blockchain technology. Originally used to create, mine, and trade digital currencies such as bitcoin, blockchain is poised to take off as a secure data transfer method with applications beyond the banking and finance world. Any industries that work as intermediaries between two parties may be able to use blockchain technology to keep transactions and information secure. While the future applications of blockchain are uncertain, it’s like we are watching the start of the era of the printing press or the application of the telephone to the world of business. It has that much potential to transform industries. Smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain may make third-party contracts obsolete someday.
4. Money transfers: New digital technologies have helped online-only banks open their virtual doors to customers. With lower overhead and infrastructure, they can afford to pay higher interest. Automatic bill pays, e-checks, and other forms of electronic money transfers are all new technologies that have changed how companies conduct business. One-click invoice payments may be on the horizon for many small businesses who currently can’t offer the same secure one-click payments as the bigger companies can offer.

Will these changes bring us faster, better workplaces? That remains to be seen. Some innovations—the 8-track tape or Beta videotapes, anyone?—came and went. Others, like the cell phone, have evolved into a basic daily necessity for the workplace. No matter what you think of these technologies, innovations such as AI, chatbots, smart contracts, blockchain technology, and more are what the business and technology world is looking at these days for the next big idea of the future.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps businesses gain insight into their operations, inventory, and profitability. We provide software and support for a wide range of industries throughout Canada. For more information, please visit IWI Consulting Group or contact us today.

Sage software includes both on-premises and cloud-based versions. It is the latter that we’d like to address since some people hear “cloud” and think it is insubstantial—here today, gone tomorrow.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software offers a lightweight, agile system that is easier to implement, mobilize, and customize and a feature-rich enterprise system that is powerful enough to support every aspect of your business. Sage Business Cloud offers you the best of Sage products combined with mobile, agile features only available through cloud systems.

Site-Based ERP Has Its Place

Many site-based ERP systems have helped businesses to grow and be profitable by streamlining the entire business from manufacturing, warehousing, sales, and financial management. Such ERP systems have been customized to meet specific company requirements and have been entrenched in company processes. On-premises implementations were required for these critical systems because of the need for reliability, speed, and control. Because of this, while many other business systems have moved to the cloud, ERP has been one of the last to do so.

Legacy Systems Losing Ground to Cloud

In almost all areas of software adoption, legacy systems are losing ground while cloud-based systems are increasing in popularity and adoption rates. Gartner has predicted that at least 30% of businesses will move the majority of their ERP applications to the cloud by 2018. Traditional ERP systems have a reputation for costly, time-consuming deployments and maintenance, outdated user interfaces and inflexibility—the definition of a legacy system.

Cloud-based ERP, such as Sage Live and Sage Intaact, offer flexibility, scalability, security, and cost-savings. It can be your company’s one-stop shop for all its business needs, without the cumbersome maintenance and support needed for on-site ERP.

Cloud ERP Makes Implementation Easier

ERP implementations have been the stuff of legends—major fanfare of a renewed, integrated business model, months of customization, implementation, training, and headaches as the system doesn’t quite live up to expectations. Implementing cloud-based ERP is easier, because often these systems are more modular and provide greater accessibility. In addition, when companies choose to outsource the hosting of their ERP, they do not need to ramp up to accommodate, train, and support new hardware and software platforms.

Cloud ERP Increases Business Agility and Transparency

Systems such as Sage Business Cloud can help your company with issues of both transparency and agility. Sage offers your sales department immediate views of their work. It is a Salesforce platform that offers real-time collaboration and mobile data. You can even link banking information with it to accommodate payments through Salesforce’s world-class CRM system.

When your business is growing, whether through increased sales, geographic expansion, or acquisition, cloud ERP systems can help your business be agile and flexible. By leveraging cloud ERP capabilities, such as improved access and transparency, organizations transform processes to ease growing pains. Cloud ERP can ease the migration of shared processes and data, helping to move toward integrated systems and provide multi-location access.

An easy-to-use, mobile user interface is expected today, which means that Internet and mobile offerings need to be provided. Cloud-based ERP software allows for much easier delivery of corporate data and information on mobile platforms allowing employees, supplier, and customers access to critical data on any device and from anywhere.

Cloud ERP Saves You Money

Cloud systems can cost much less than older legacy systems. Site maintenance and security are taken care of by the cloud provider, so you don’t have to worry about them. You don’t need to purchase expensive hardware or pay the salaries of IT people to maintain an extensive network of computers. Instead, all this is taken care of by Sage software, who maintains both Sage Intaac and Sage Live.

When it’s time to choose new ERP software for your business or update your CRM system, choose Sage Business Cloud. Cloud software isn’t light and fluffy. It’s a robust software package that can provide your company with the edge it needs to achieve even greater success.

IWI Consulting Group

For Sage software, visit IWI Consulting Group. We offer Sage ERP, Sage Intaact, Sage Live and many more products to boost Canadian businesses. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Sage ERP, along with innovations such as the Internet of Things (IoT), is changing how manufacturers view and use best practices.

The Internet of Things is the interconnectivity of devices and objects in which software is embedded to track data. Through the IoT, networks can include buildings, vehicles, software, and more. The data derived from the IoT can improve delivery times, production management, safety, and much more, depending on how it is used.

Used wisely, the IoT—along with Sage ERP—can provide you with unprecedented amounts of data that can help you manage all aspects of your business better.

Monitor Shop Floors

One of the innovations affecting manufacturing from the IoT is the ability to monitor conditions on the shop floor. Sensors embedded in equipment, pallets, trucks, and other devices can relay information and make adjustments based on real-time data.

For example, think about plant equipment that can get hot during operations. Plant equipment sends temperature data to the HVAC controls, which understands that the rising temperatures may affect quality output. It then adjusts the fans to blow cool air over specific equipment in use, and keep the temperature at an optimal level, so that outputs maintain quality standards.

Such equipment may also provide enough data to help you gauge the time between routine maintenance tasks, as well as the shelf-life of components, or weigh the need to take something offline for maintenance. Predictive maintenance schedules can also be adjusted based on IoT data, making such schedules more in sync with actual equipment needs. The IoT takes the guesswork out of the shop floor.

Improve Safety Based on Data

Data from such sensors via the IoT can also be used to enhance workplace safety. Workplace safety is a major concern for everyone, but especially for manufacturers.

Data—relayed from sensors embedded in equipment, HVAC units, and air sensors—can monitor conditions and notify plant managers when such conditions stray outside acceptable levels. Items that can be monitored include air quality, ambient temperature, and more. This data can then be used to assess whether workers need more frequent breaks.

Additionally, machinery can be serviced according to IoT data. This keeps it in better working order so it jams less often, breaks down less frequently, and otherwise prevents problems that can impact safety. Even something as simple as a wet floor with sensors in it can trigger warning signs to flash that keep people from slipping and sliding.

If your plant uses mechanized vehicles to move equipment, raw materials, or finished goods, the IoT can be used there to improve safety, as well. Vehicles outfitted with safety sensors connected to the IoT can monitor driving habits so drivers who exhibit safety best practices can be rewarded and those who take risks can receive remedial training.

Lastly, all the data collected from the shop floor can be used to enhance safety training programs. With the data at hand to identify all the potential issues, you can target training sessions to address specific needs based on data from your manufacturing plant.

Democratization of Data

Free and open access to data through the IoT and systems such as Sage ERP means that everyone involved in the manufacturing process can use data available to them. A warehouse foreman has the same access to shop floor data as the CEO or COO.

Why would you want free and open access of data in your company? Today’s job are interconnected. No job or unit works in isolation. Seamlessly taking orders, producing goods, and shipping them in a timely fashion requires teamwork throughout the company. The IoT can provide data from every point in a manufacturing company to a centralized system, such as an ERP system, that produces vital data for everyone. Access to such data can encourage teamwork, collaboration, and improvements that benefit everyone but, most importantly, benefit your customers and your business.

The IoT is really forcing many manufacturing companies to change how they think about their workplace. It’s helping to save costs for repairs and maintenance, improve worker safety, and address data access issues. Sage software, including Sage ERP aligned with the IoT, can help you collect, store, and utilize such data effectively in your company. It’s a big change, but one that is worth it in terms of competitiveness, lowered costs, and improved workplace safety.

Sage ERP Software from IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group is a Canadian-based firm that assists businesses of all sizes to adapt the best ERP systems for their needs. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Sage software, such as Sage People, can help you solve the ongoing problem of finding and recruiting talented people for open positions in your company. It’s getting harder to recruit and retain great talent. According to Glassdoor, the recruitment website, the market has shifted to one in which job seekers have more options than before. The current ratio of unemployed Americans is now 1.4 to 1 in 2017 compared to 6.6 to 1 in July 2009. This means fewer applicants for jobs and a more difficult time for employers to find the best people to fill vacant positions.

One way to improve your recruiting average and to shorten the time it takes to attract qualified candidates is to use software such as Sage People. Sage People offers award-winning human resource management software that’s available to companies of all sizes. It helps you manage personnel, records, positions, and more—so, when the time comes to recruit, you are ready.

Sage People: Shorten Recruiting Time

Old-fashioned methods of recruiting meant sending out lots of classified ads and hoping for a flood of qualified resumes. Most of the resumes that came in weren’t qualified and, among those that were, it was hard to sort out the serious applicants from those just looking to see what was out there on the job market.

Today, the motto is ABR—always be recruiting. Recruiting doesn’t stop when jobs are filled. Instead, people-focused companies are always recruiting and promoting their brand. Recruiting is now part of brand management and a shared responsibility among marketing and human resources. By promoting a positive brand image, companies gain attention from people who, when they finally do start looking for work, come to them first because their brand image is already strong.

Sage People includes a platform that helps recruitment managers find the best people and onboard them as soon as possible. By automating the onboarding process and many of the tedious tasks that come with a new hire, you can get people through the paperwork and to their actual work as soon as possible.

Tips to Promote Your Employment Brand

Want to promote your company as an “employment brand” or a great place to work? Here are some ideas to get started:

• Use Sage People to create a database of potential candidates. Gather resumes and business card information from people you meet at conferences, business events, and more. Add them to the database and, when it comes time to recruit, use your database first.
• Update the Careers page on your company website. Most Career pages are a sleeper, offering little insight into the company, its culture, or its values. Instead of posting a laundry list of jobs, add character to the page with images of the employees from company events, products, services, and more. Add tips for job seekers about what it’s like to work there and how to get a good job. Don’t be afraid to make your Careers page unique.
• Encourage employee referrals. You know the people who work at your company are great and birds of a feather tend to flock together. A referral is usually stronger than a cold lead because those who are referring new employees have already told candidates everything about what it is like to work at your company. You already have a very interested candidate for an interview.

Managing Paperwork

Once you have candidates in the pipeline, what then? Sage People enables you to manage the recruiting and hiring process using the tools found in the Sage software. Work through your database, record results, and then add someone as a new hire once the happy moment has occurred.

Now that you have new hires, what then? Onboarding is shorter with Sage People. Let the new hire complete paperwork before their first day at work so they can start with their actual job tasks. This makes people feel like they belong to a company faster than a slow onboarding process. It also improves productivity and retention.

Sage People and Sage HRMS from IWI Consulting Group

Sage People and Sage HRMS are two Sage software products that can make a big impact on your recruiting, hiring, and human resources management abilities. IWI Consulting Group is here to help you choose the right software for your needs. We are a Canadian-based company that assists businesses of all sizes to find the right software for productivity and profitability. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) offer more than a great way to manage the information from all areas of your business. They also provide you with better cash flow management.

Businesses need cash to fuel growth, development, and innovation. Better cash flow management ensures that you have the necessary cash to make sound investments into new projects. It helps your business flourish. Here’s how an enterprise resource planning system can help your business grow.

What Is Enterprise Resource Planning?

An ERP or enterprise resource planning system is business process management software. It integrates and automates many back-office functions to help you improve productivity. ERP systems such as Sage 300cloud (cloud-based ERP) offer many advantages to your business.

Improves Cash Flow

Enterprise resource systems help you automate and integrate systems and processes throughout your company. It can automate routine tasks such as billing and invoicing, and integrate with systems such as accounting and finance to run reports on unpaid invoices, past due invoices, cash flow, and much more.

ERP systems such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) can help you with:

1. Late purchase orders: It can be frustrating when orders aren’t shipping out quickly. Customers get annoyed, and delays in shipping items may delay payment. Late purchase order reports can help you keep track of partial orders, delayed shipments, and other issues that may be keeping you from fulfilling orders promptly. You can then follow up, improving both cash flow and customer service.
2. Planning reports: Purchasing and planning reports can help you plan your inventory more effectively. Businesses often have most of their capital tied up in inventory purchases, and any excess inventory merely takes up space and bogs down money that could be spent elsewhere. Purchasing and planning reports can help you decide what to restock and when to order it. It helps you plan more efficiently and effectively for the future to keep stock levels sufficient without creating overages.
3. Improved workflows: Streamlining your workflow can save you time and money. ERP systems automate as well as integrate. Some processes may benefit from automation. Time can be wasted with manual tasks. This may save you considerable time, and as the old saying goes, time is money.
4. Past-due invoices: Integrated systems also enable you to follow up on past due invoices easily. When you can see all of the open invoices and the day outstanding, you can prioritize around the oldest ones first. Following up on open invoices can add cash back into the cash flow and close out some past due accounts. It is easy to see these open invoices on an ERP system.
5. Current cash flow: ERP systems provide you with accurate, real-time reports. These reports can help you keep a close eye on your cash flow. Many companies now struggle to understand their cash flow simply because they lack data on specific transactions, patterns, and more. With easy-to-run reports, you can quickly review your current cash flow situations. More importantly, you can get to know your cash flow and how it fluctuates on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis. It’s the start of regaining control over your cash flow.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300): Great ERP from Sage Software

Many ERP systems can help you improve cash flows, but only one can do that and more—Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) . Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) , the cloud version of this popular Sage ERP software, can help you build a strong foundation for growth.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) reduces time-consuming manual tasks, automates workflows, and more. Its accountability capabilities enable you to quickly and easily see and manage your cash flow, invoices, purchase orders, and more. The improved data from Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) enables you to make better business decisions.

Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) is available from IWI Consulting, a Sage Accpac Toronto business consulting company. We can help you improve your business’ efficiency with the right software. This includes helping you see and manage your cash flow.

For more information, please visit IWI Consulting Group or contact us today.

One of the advantages of many current software packages for small and mid-sized business packages, such as Sage X3 and Sage Business Cloud, is that they level the playing field. What does that mean?

Many years ago, companies that wanted a robust enterprise resource planning tool had to invest heavily in their own infrastructure to support such an endeavor. It wasn’t just the cost of the software. They had to buy hardware to run it, install the hardware in their buildings, and hire people to manage and maintain the systems. This alone made the costs off-limits for many small businesses.

Today, cloud computing offers unlimited scalability for manufacturers, as well as access to robust software that can power your business operations. Sage software such as Sage X3 and Sage Business Cloud puts the same powerful software into the hands of a small business owner as it does to a large, multi-national corporate. The result is that small businesses can finally compete on a level playing field against the big guys.

Cloud Computing Requirements

Everyone seems to be talking about cloud computing these days, but what exactly is it and what does it do? We define cloud computing along five metrics. Cloud computing must be:

1. On-demand – cloud computing is available on demand, 24/7, through internet access.
2. Pooled service – instead of one company purchasing software for its own use, resources are pooled. Multiple companies can share server space, software, and more for maximum cost effectiveness.
3. Infinitely scalable – you can expand cloud services in an almost infinitely scalable manner. From giant, intricate, global computing networks to a small manufacturer’s cloud computing needs, the cloud expands according to what you need.
4. Measured – cloud services are measured and billed according to a prescribed payment system.
5. Broadly accessible – the service is accessible to many people.

Sage X3 and Sage Business Cloud meet these criteria. Both offer on-demand, scalable, measured, and accessible software to companies of all sizes.

Cloud Computing and Its Impact on Manufacturing

ERP, BI, warehouse and distribution systems, and many other systems now run on the cloud. This enables manufacturers to track shipments, products, inventory, receiving, accounts payable and receivable like never before. Business intelligence software enables you to synchronize and use data from multiple sources to make better, faster decisions.

Digital services such as cloud computing now provide approximately 25% of the total inputs that go into the manufacturing of finished products. Thanks to cloud computing, manufacturing operations are safer, more productive, efficient, and better able to keep pace with supply and demand.

Today, over 90% of global manufacturers use some form of cloud computing. A 2015 IDC study that surveyed 600 companies from 17 countries indicated that 66% of manufacturers were using public cloud systems while 68% used a private cloud (the study indicated that some overlap, with companies using both public/private cloud hybrids).

Even supply chain management is being changed by the cloud. With the Internet of Things, RFID devices and chips, barcode scanners, and more all linked through cloud-based feeds, manufacturers are able to see, track, and monitor their shipments.

Cloud computing has made it easier for small businesses to compete, especially in the world of manufacturing. With the data and information now available to small businesses, you can use this knowledge to your advantage to make competitive products, offer better service and prices, and more. It’s a great business advantage.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps businesses gain insights into their operations, inventory, and profitability. We provide software and support for a wide range of industries throughout Canada. For more information, please visit IWI Consulting Group or contact us today.

In August, we began a series looking at the use of HR software such as Sage People. Among all the departments in your company, human resources are probably the last department to use data and analytics to improve performance. It may seem cold and unkind to refer to people as data or statistics, and we would agree that you can’t reduce human beings to numbers. But you can manage your organization better if you do so with the numbers in mind; the number of new hires, vacancies, training days, and more can all help you improve how your company recruits, hires, and retains employees.

The Challenge of Becoming a “People” Company

People-based companies run a little differently from other companies. While the definition of a people-based company may vary depending on who you asked, the accepted definition is that a people company puts people first. People are viewed as the most valuable asset, not the land the company owns or the patents they hold or another asset. The knowledge, skills, and abilities of the workers are paramount.

Even during times when it is difficult to find people with specific skill sets, a people-company typically has no problem attracting great talent. That’s because it develops a reputation for being a wonderful place to work. This leads to fewer recruiting costs and challenges and continues to generate positive results for the organization.

Leader Perspective Differs from Employee Perspective

Sage produced a study earlier this year that examined many aspects of companies claiming to be “people” companies and the attitudes towards such companies. One thing that stood out in the study is the discrepancy between how corporate leaders viewed their companies and how employees within viewed them.

The results indicated that 55% of senior management within a company viewed it as a people company while about 29% of employees within the same company held that view. Prospective employees viewing the company from the outside were also asked if they thought the same company was a people company, and 34% said it was.

What accounts for the discrepancy? Leaders seemed to hold a different opinion of the company from the workers and potential employees.

One key area that may account for the difference is in the area of communication. The leadership team may be aware of all the things the company does to put people first and to treat people as the most important asset, but somehow, this isn’t being communicated to the employees. For the employees, the company feels like “business as usual.”

Another reason may be that leaders aren’t listening carefully to the feedback they are receiving from their employees. The leadership team may be implementing actions they believe make the organization people-centered, while the employees are telling them they want and need something different. The results can be a discrepancy between what leadership thinks people want in an employee-first organization and what people actually do want.

Building a People-First Corporate Culture

To build a people-first corporate culture takes time. But there are several steps you can take today to work towards a great people-centric organization.

• Set a purpose: Purpose-based organizations tend to gather people together around a shared, common goal. It acts like a compass, pointing the way forward. Purpose then builds employee engagement, which leads to a people-centered culture.
• Improve communications: Work towards two-way communication, with leadership listening more than they talk. Have mechanisms in place for gathering employee feedback. Don’t just go through the motions of gathering feedback but actually listen and respond to it.
• Add technology: The right technology can put into place the mechanisms by which you can listen and respond to your employees, fostering a culture that puts people first. Sage People helps you gather data on things like employee turnover rates so you can see which areas of your company may need work to help build a better culture. It also helps you assess many areas of your human resources that can be built upon or improved upon as you work towards a people-first goal.

People-oriented companies aren’t new, but they remain rare. The Sage People survey indicates that only about 29% of companies worldwide can make the claim comfortably that they are people-first organizations. Perhaps your company, if it can successfully make the shift, will boost that number. The results you achieve can help you build a better, happier workplace.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps businesses gain insights into their operations, inventory, and profitability. We provide software and support for a wide range of industries throughout Canada. For more information, please visit IWI Consulting Group or contact us today.