Technology in Practice

Welcome to the future, prompted by COVID-19, and driven by global disruption,  companies have accelerated their digital transformation by a global average of 6 years in a matter of months.  But that’s nothing compared to what the next 20 years have in store. Rapid transformation has been set in motion for decades to come. What do experts predict our technology will look like in 20 years and what does it mean for our workforce?  Have a look at the gifographic below to see.

As Net at Work’s strategic partner, Fortis Payment Systems, LLC (FortisPay) is the leader in payment technologies to businesses and developers.  Fortispay believes that relationships matter. Our shared goal is to earn & build relationships over time, and we believe that is what separates Good from Great. However, the last year has limited our ability to have consistent in-person moments with clients. So, how do we foster new, and maintain current relationships during this uncertain period? We believe for individuals; it is finding balance between old fashioned and new innovative methods. And for us; it takes the collective to understand that the answer rests somewhere between authenticity and empathy. Fortispay’s native integration with Sage ERP (Sage X3, Sage 300, Sage 100) makes accepting payments better than ever. Let’s take a closer look at the top 3 reasons that now is the time to rethink payments for Sage: #1: White Glove Service The rabbit hole of automated phone trees, entering in MIDs, transfers, and hold times are common in the Customer Experience that the payments industry has pushed on businesses across the United States. That model is dead, a thing of the past, and Fortispay is changing the landscape of customer support. FortisPay boasts a 4.7 Star Rating on Google and Trustpilot, and we have earned every star with personal touch. So, when you need answers on-demand, expect to speak with an educated consultant that can pull a team together to provide a timely response. Do you have the cell phone or direct office number of your Card Payment Representative? They will give you theirs. #2: Back to the Future Many businesses consider processing payments in two ways: it works, or it does not. Educated owners and financial leaders are always seeking ways to reduce waste and increase capacity. Among all the priorities, leaders in an organization may not see payment processing as a priority. In fact, many companies utilizing Sage 100 are only utilizing 25% of their integrated payment platform. Fortispay is the only Sage  payment provider using the latest ERP technology. By ensuring clients can leverage all feature seamlessly, you can go Back to the Future. #3: Money, Money . . . Money! Why are companies still paying Neiman Marcus prices for Dollar Store products……and what for? What is the cost to your business for not evaluating your processing fees? A simple side by side comparison will take about 10 minutes and may be worth thousands in bottom line revenue. We are always shocked when we see processors gouge merchants with Annual, Quarter, and Monthly fees. Moreover, FortisPay often uncover hidden mark-up typically found in the abyss of your statement. A pervasive lack of transparency is common in most merchant statements. So, take 10 minutes and call. Regardless of your knowledge of payments or if you just have questions. Net at Work & Fortispay have experts you can lean on. We will assemble a team for you to listen, analyze, and provide ideas and solutions you can consider. We take pride in our transparency, teamwork, keeping our promises, and listening to the needs of our clients.

The White House has sent out recommendations to the private sector over how to protect themselves from cyber intrusions after a series of ransomware attacks left companies and government agencies vulnerable. The White House memo lists the following five best practices for safeguarding against ransomware attacks. Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems. Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware, in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk-based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program. “To understand your risk, business executives should immediately convene their leadership teams to discuss the ransomware threat and review corporate security posture and business continuity plans to ensure you have the ability to continue or quickly restore operations.” Test your incident response plan: There’s nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline? Check your security team’s work: Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors. Segment your networks: There’s been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It’s critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety-critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.

Staying current on supported software can be a balancing act. One that requires an understanding of how the lifecycles of different software interrelate to one another. In this on-demand webinar our team will help you navigate your next Sage 300 upgrade. We cover the new features and functionalities in Sage 300 (Sage 300cloud) you can take advantage of by implementing the latest version of Sage 300, as well as review the compatibility requirements for Sage 300, related products and operating systems. Watch this recording where our Sage 300 experts will cover these topics and more: Support for Operating Systems, MS SQL database and Virtual Environments. Is it the right time for you to move your Sage 300 to the cloud? What are the advantages / disadvantages? 3rd Party Compatibility – Including Sage CRM integration and the new and improved Altec DocLink Web & Mobile Interface. Taking Advantage of the Sage 300 Webscreens Many New Features in Sage 300:  New Integrated Credit Card and Click to Pay Functionality added 1009 & Sales Tax Improvements Longer Check Numbers Specify customer account sets in O/E templates Specify BOM numbers on details for shipments, credit notes, and debit notes Multiple Contacts with Long email address Watch now and learn why there’s been no better time to consider upgrading your Sage 300 ERP Accounting software.

From pandemic-driven increases in consumer demand for electronic items to a backlog of imports at clogged California ports to weather-related industrial disruptions in the United States, several variables are combining to stress the world’s supply chains. According to company leaders and analysts, they are causing cost hikes and delays in a variety of industries, hurting profit margins and prices. Expense Reduction Analysts’ (ERA’s) quarterly newsletter is designed to bring forward current market conditions and the potential impact to procurement and supply chain planning in the Manufacturing Consumables and Packaging Supply sectors. In this newsletter, ERA provides insight into how these pressures are affecting: Plastics Pulp & Paper Lumber Metal Products Plastics Market Challenges We are experiencing unprecedented times with respect to plastics market movement, as indicated in the below graphs from The Plastics Exchange, and it is highly unlikely that markets will ever return to Q1 2020 levels. Longer lead times for resin-based products have also become the norm, some stretching out as far as 52 weeks or more. The Texas deep freeze isn’t entirely to blame for what we are seeing, as the market upswing was in full effect prior to this event, but it did contribute to reduced availability as well as longer lead times. Multiple Texas plants had to be taken offline for repairs and maintenance, and some are just now coming back up to full capacity. Read the entire newsletter from our partner Expense Reduction Analysts below or contact us for more information.

At the height of the pandemic, demand for many goods and services tanked. Restaurants and retailers shuttered and millions were out of work. Today, we seem to have the opposite problem. Demand is sky-high, supplies are limited, and skilled workers are hard to find. For manufacturers and distributors, dealing with the pendulum of supply and demand is a top challenge. The volatile cost of raw materials makes it risky to know when and how much to buy. Shipping delays add to the uncertainly. It’s the time to make hay, but the sun isn’t necessarily shining. What are some of the strategies manufacturers are using to overcome their supply chain challenges and take advantage of a growing economy? Shifting Supply Chains Homeward Localization is gaining momentum due to the disruptions experienced during the pandemic. Deloitte’s 2021 Manufacturing Industry Outlook report found that nearly one-third of executives indicated that they would nearshore some part of their production back to the Americas in the coming year. Case in point — fitness industry darling Peloton just announced it would build its first US manufacturing facility in Ohio, bringing 2,000 jobs to the area. These new domestic factories are likely to be smaller and more automated, using technology that enables manufacturers to change production lines quickly as demand shifts. They may also then be more cost-effective to run. In turn, this creates opportunities for other manufacturers and distributors — those that make and sell automation components. Driving Productivity Through Automation and Robotics Manufacturers have long hurt for skilled employees. The skills gap has widened during the pandemic-related furloughs and retirements. In response, many manufacturers are accelerating the deployment of technologies including automation, robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to sustain capacity and enhance employee productivity. An example of this is the Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT. IIoT connected devices can be used for a wide variety of purposes — to collect machine performance data for preventative maintenance planning to tracking the location of tools, equipment and even personnel. The use cases for technologies like IIoT are everywhere. One industrial supplier adopted an IIoT solution and documented that it ran over 100 hours per month faster, produced 150,000 more parts in three months, and increased machine usage by 11%. Another contract manufacturer used IIoT technology to save $1.5 million and increase productivity by 20%. Taking It Online The pandemic drove B2B commerce online. A 2020 survey of 200 manufacturing and distribution companies found 68% saw online sales grew between 11%-50% during the pandemic. Another survey from McKinsey revealed that 80% of B2B leaders will retain their new, digital selling models, even after the pandemic ends. The key to maintaining this success will be investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and cybersecurity tools to support and secure this channel. Some manufacturers — such as Clorox, which grew eCommerce 35% in fiscal 2019, and Proto Labs Inc., where all orders are done online — were well prepared to respond to pandemic-related challenges. Both are also poised to grow by capturing new opportunities in the post-pandemic new normal. Many manufacturers are also extending their eCommerce initiatives directly to consumers with good success. Productivity and Agility Through the Cloud For too long, manufacturers have invested in technology that may have improved their productivity but limited their agility. The cloud delivers on both. The cloud computing model fits the dynamic manufacturing environment better than giant, complex on-premise systems that cost a fortune, take years to implement, and can’t adapt to the market and supply-chain changes we’re experiencing. An increasing number of manufacturing companies are moving their operations to the cloud to take advantage of improved security, connectivity, interconnectivity, and collaboration. Cloud-computing applications impact virtually every aspect of modern manufacturing companies — from ERP and financial management to data analytics, CRM, and workforce training. The cloud allows manufacturers to integrate data streams from supply chain partners, gain deep visibility into transactions and exchange data in real-time to better manage just-in-time production. A Good Problem? Can we call it a good problem? Demand is nearing all-time highs, driven by a rapidly improving public health situation and government subsidies to households. Concurrently, manufacturers and distributors struggle to satisfy the demand surge because of resource constraints and bottlenecks in their supply chains. If a good problem is the kind that shows you’re doing something right but leaves you with a challenge — then we’ve got a good problem on our hands. Manufacturers and distributors face supply chain disruptions and challenges stemming from the global pandemic and its uncertain aftermath. They also have been handed a red-hot demand environment. Organizations able to pivot, evolve, and adopt some of the winning techniques outlined here might even find the roller coaster ride a bit of a thrill.

Welcome to the Net at Work Sage X3 video series. In this latest episode, we take a look at how to perform intersite transfers (move inventory from one location to another) within Sage X3. We will review: How to search for available stock across all your warehouse locations How to do an after-the-fact transfer when you have already moved inventory How to do a 3-step transfer by creating a PO, generating a Sales Order and picking, packing, and shipping inventory much like a customer order .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } For more information on performing intersite transfers within Sage X3, please contact us.

If you are a Saturday morning denizen of the local Lowe’s or Home Depot like me, you know there are tons of different tools available for every job.  When I tackle my DIY projects, I try to think if I need to lug around a bag of specialized tools or can I do the job with my reliable Leatherman multi-tool? In Human Capital Management (HCM) systems, users need to ask themselves the same question – should I go with a best of breed approach and fill my HR toolbox with different tools from different publishers? Or should I rely on a handy all-in-one HCM system with all the parts designed to work together? The answer, of course, is that it depends on the requirements of the job – what do you need from your HCM system?   At Net at Work, we believe in offering choices to our clients, based on their needs. No one system is necessarily better than another, but the differences are worth noting as you select your next system. Functionality Best-of-Breed solutions like Sage HRMS, strive to partner with developers and publishers who have superior functionality in their specific area.  The idea is to find the best module – recruiting, training, performance management, timekeeping – and marry it up with all the other modules – HRIS, Payroll, paid time off management.  Best-of-Breed solutions offer users the chance to ‘pick and choose’ which modules most appeal to them.  And Best-of-Breed offers users the ability to stagger their investment – new modules for employee engagement, for instance, can be added to an older recruiting or payroll module. With All-In-One Systems, like Criterion HCM, the modules evolve together.  If the database technology changes for one part of the All-In-One, it changes for all.  Sometimes All-In-One Systems can lack the functionality for very specialized needs – certified payroll or Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) entries for long term care facilities.  Since specialized functionality is not easy to ‘bolt onto’ All-In-One Systems, they may not appeal to organizations with complex needs. Database and Security However, with a Best-of-Breed approach, there are typically multiple databases that must communicate with each other.  That can create bottlenecks in data getting from one module to the other or, worse, require double or multiple data entry.  In addition, multiple systems often require multiple logins causing multiple points of entry for cyber attacks. All-In-One systems utilize a single database with no latency between focus areas of the system.  Looking at an employee’s payroll history and training history can be done on the same screen without leaving one module and logging into another.  Moreover, a single database facilitates reporting and analytics since time and effort is not spent combining and normalizing data between different systems and database.  From a security perspective, All-In-One systems typically offer just a single login and role-based security to determine what parts of the system are available to different users. User Experience The end user experience has become especially important as systems move to greater employee and manager self-service.  With Best-of-Breed solutions, different modules may have very different interfaces and navigation.  This makes it harder for users to learn the system and use it to its full potential. With All-In-One systems, the interface is the same throughout the product, making it easier for users to find data, modify items and report and analyze.  User training becomes much easier, and users are more likely to use more of the system, increasing the company’s return on investment. Implementation and Support When it comes to implementing a Best-Of-Breed approach, the implementation process can be complex with multiple project teams dedicated to individual modules.  That may mean that companies are dealing with multiple vendors during the implementation process, with different methodologies, timelines and communication styles.  Best-Of-Breed approaches can certainly mean that critical modules – like HR and Payroll – can be stood up more quickly, while other modules can come later in the process. With Best-Of-Breed implementations, project management is critical as various teams of consultants and company staff cycle through the project as their area is implemented.  The success of a Best-Of-Breed implementation depends on keeping an eye on the broader goals of the project and there is higher probability that there may be slips in the overall project timeline. Once implemented, Best-Of-Breed support often comes from multiple sources.  Payroll may be supported by one publisher, but time and attendance may be by another.  Updates of the programs have to be coordinated so that there are no compatibility issues.  And there is always the danger that the publishers will begin pointing fingers and blaming other part of the system they do not have control over for failures. With and All-In-One system, the implementation and support teams are consistent throughout the project.  With Net at Work implementations, clients have one Project Manager and one source of truth about the status of the project. This provides continuity as the focus areas are rolled out and no delays due to consultant resources or unintended delays. Since in an All-In-One, the publisher is the same for all of the elements, there is a single voice for support as well as development. With an All-In-One tool, your opportunity to develop a better relationship with the single vendor and Business Partner is greater, leading to your Business Partner becoming a more trusted advisor. Define the Job Then Select Your Tool Sometimes it is important to carry around a bag of tools and hope you have the right one ready to hand.  Sometimes have an agile multi-function tool that you can change on the fly to accommodate the task at hand makes the most sense. Likewise, when considering changes to your HCM system, start by considering what are the goals of your HR department and the company as a whole.  Is your business growing and needs to be agile?  Are you having difficulty recruiting and engaging employees?  Have your systems become old and inefficient? Are you committed to digital enablement and technology adoption? If you understand what your goals are, then you can make the appropriate choice of the tool that makes the most sense for you.  As always, we want you to consider us your trusted technology advisor.  Let us help you as you digitally enable and grow your business.  Now, where did I put down that screwdriver?

In this video we go over how to set up Bank Feeds and use them in Acumatica Cloud ERP. We’ll review automating the bank feeds, which is a new module for Acumatica that came out in late 2020. It allows you to take information from certain banks and bring that information into Acumatica to speed up the bank reconciliation process. Contact Us if you have any questions or would like more information about Acumatica features and enhancements. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }