Technology in Practice

As the U.S. continues to reopen the economy, no one knows for certain what the new normal for distributors will look like. There have been unprecedented shifts in consumer habits. Distributors in every sector have been affected, with some seeing drastic increases in demand and others seeing orders plummet. These changes in consumer habits have put small businesses at a disadvantage, with NFIB reporting that 92% of small business owners are struggling because of the effects of the pandemic. As businesses look to an uncertain future, one thing has become clear: those that commit to innovating will stay on top. This post highlights seven actions that distributors can take to weather the current economic climate while preparing their business for the future. For a more in-depth review, download the COVID-19: A Playbook as the Economy Reopens white paper. There are also more distributor specific resources — The eCommerce Transition: Creating an Optimal Warehouse Using a Warehouse Management System. Re-Evaluate Your Business Model Now is the time for distributors to take a close look at which components of their business model are working and which must be adjusted. To determine what changes, if any, need to be made, it is critical to track key performance indicators (KPIs) weekly. Customer acquisition and retention is important at the best of times but has become critical. What is the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer now? How does that compare to your customer acquisition cost (CAC)? Do your customer acquisition costs vary relative to your business unit, their geographical location or respective channel? You need to evaluate how your most important KPIs have changed due to COVID-19. One of the most significant changes will likely occur in the business-to-business selling model. Historically, most distributors made sales face-to-face, relationships were built in person. Now, there is limited or no face-to-face contact. Trade shows and events have been postponed. As more buyers work from home, they will likely become more self-servicing. They are looking for price transparency, the easiest and most direct way to get product—sometimes looking to go direct to the manufacturer. This shift isn’t new, but it definitely has been accelerated due to COVID-19. Distributors need the right technology to capitalize on this new environment. Even if your business doesn’t have those tools in place today to support new selling channels, it is possible to get up and running quickly with the right partner. Bedford Industries was able to set up an ecommerce site selling newly-produced protective masks within a week and, once it was live, completed the first online order within 45 minutes. “Some of us have wanted to develop ecommerce for several years, but that method of direct sales and fulfillment is a very different model than our traditional B2B distributor model,” Bedford President Jay Milbrandt said. “This early ecommerce site has allowed us to shatter that barrier. There is already a lot of encouraging discussion about what other products we could imagine on the web store in the future.” Conduct a Financial Health Check One of the most important aspects of your business to pay close attention to during this transitional period is cash flow. As consumers’ needs have changed, the relationships between suppliers and customers have changed as well. To navigate this new environment, use key relationships with customers, partners and suppliers to maintain positive cash flow. Be sure to start with the larger clients, as they will have the most impact on your business’ finances. If possible, take advantage of cash discounts where available, in addition to the many rebates available from manufacturers. Identify fast moving items and keep on top of micro sales trends—there may be an opportunity to bring in additional inventory for items that you know are going to sell. Products as diverse as furniture, fish and fluoride have seen surprising rise in demand. Speaking of inventory, make sure you’re valuing old, slow-moving inventory accurately. Between housing, handling and additional administrative costs, the total cost of holding inventory can represent 25-30% more than the inventory’s unit cost value. Monitor Health, Safety and Legal Concerns For distribution centers and warehouses, especially those deemed essential, it is critical to ensure you are acting accordance with county, city and state health and safety regulations. Employees need to feel safe in the new working environment, and your customers should feel confident that the products they are ordering are safe as well. Within the warehouse or distribution center, there are specific sanitation and safety precautions that must be enforced. Health authorities recommend that all frequently-touched surfaces be sanitized every two hours. In a large, busy warehouse, it may be difficult for workers to maintain social distancing while also trying to effectively communicate with each other. Consider providing communication devices like walkie-talkies. Precautions such as wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), following social distancing guidelines and frequent sanitation are new to everyone and they will likely need to be reinforced by management. Establish clear, consistent protocols through signage, and digital and in-person communication. The CDC recommends that all employers implement and update a plan that is specific to the workplace, identifies all areas and job tasks with potential exposure to COVID-19, and includes control measures to eliminate and reduce exposure to COVID-19. The CDC provides a Resuming Business Toolkit designed to help organizations as they re-enter business and ensure employee safety. Make sure the new guidelines are distributed to all staff. Conduct Scenario Planning for Supply Chain Disruptions Forecasting is especially difficult in today’s environment, but preparing for possible future outcomes is absolutely necessary in order for distributors to survive. Business should pro-actively address each element of a supply chain individually to reduce potential disruptions and how its status might impact the others across multiple best, bad and worst-case scenarios. Effective communication across all parts of the supply chain is now essential. Distributors should rate trading partners by how well they are able to communicate in the current environment—this will help uncover the potential weak points. The operations group should be using all of the integration tools available to establish and monitor inventory levels. Look for delays in communication and or large adjustments to identify potential issues. Empower procurement to identify potentially fast-moving SKUs and inventory and to work with suppliers and manufacturers to obtain better pricing for bulk purchases and to investigate rebate possibilities to keep cash flow moving. Logistics is critical to make sure they can get inventory where it needs to go. Ensure you have multiple options for each line of business or geography. As businesses prepare to re-open, distributors should take this time to form tighter relationships with partners. Relationships built, maintained and nurtured right now will be stronger as a result. Focus on Customer Retention and Acquisition In many ways, COVID-19 has accelerated change and emphasized the need for automation for all distributors. Online ordering has become a lifeline in this environment and, if distributors want to remain competitive, they must adjust. However, it will take more than an online catalog to draw in new customers. Online shoppers not only require a website that is easy to navigate, they demand transparent shipping and delivery times. They want to be able to talk with a vendor if they need help. This is just as important for existing, high-value customers. Distributors should provide customer-specific portals and pricing for valued online customers. Not only will an ecommerce presence simplify ordering for your current customers, it greatly increases your ability for potential customers to find you. Star Metal Fluids, a distributor based in Phoenix, noticed its ecommerce site has gotten a small but steady stream of orders for its fluids. This suggests that smaller manufacturers are turning to Star Metal Fluids when COVID-19 shutdowns prevent them from getting their fluids from the distributors they normally work with. Explore New Packaging, Pricing and Payment Options With so much disruption to business, taking a fresh look at your product packaging, pricing and payment terms can shed some light on new opportunities. Can you offer promotion pricing or discounting to certain segments to spurt demand? Does offering payment term flexibility or use of credit make sense? Re-evaluating these aspects of your business can allow you to maintain positive relationships with customers and consumers. Maintain Organizational Alignment As distributors go through these adjustments, it is important to keep the organization informed and engaged along the way. With so much uncertainty today, transparency has never been more important. Employees feel anxious and tense, especially essential workers. At this time, it is crucial to keep all lanes of communication open. Take the opportunity to be up-front with your teams and reassure them that you are taking appropriate precautions to keep them safe. Keep them updated on what’s going on in the company. It’s important to make sure that everyone is aware of updated safety guidelines and adhere to them. Make sure that your sales teams have clear direction how they can be successful and continue to keep customers are the forefront. Originally Posted on the NetSuite Blog. Author Zizi Weiss.

For both food manufacturers and distributors, efficiently managing the shelf life of ingredients and products results in less waste, greater profits, better cash flow, fewer regulatory/administrative headaches and happier customers. The supply chain of perishable food products is fraught with time-sensitive challenges. The process becomes complicated when suppliers are inconsistent when it comes to the shelf life of the ingredients they deliver, and customers have varying requirements for the shelf lives of the products that are delivered to them. Food manufacturers and distributors need to be in complete control of their information processing systems, which is why Sage X3 is the management platform of choice for food manufacturers and distributors as it was designed to address their specific logistical challenges. Managing and Monitoring Ingredients Ingredients used in food and beverages need to be carefully monitored and tested from the moment they enter the system to the time they’re delivered and used. With Sage X3, producers and distributors are able to monitor the quality/freshness of ingredients at each stage. They can schedule testing per the freshness “window” of every ingredient, and receive alerts to know when it’s time to test. Additionally, the system allows for a range of testing protocols, including pH, viscosity, temperature, weight and other critical criteria. Managing Finished Stock Sage X3 also enables producers and distributors to monitor the shelf life of finished food products in multiple storage facilities. Users can create rules for handling specific categories, which can be universally applied to similar products that are subsequently entered into the system. Rules can also be configured to meet the shelf life demands of each customer as some retailers have specific shelf life requirements for specific products. Tracking and Moving Expiring Inventory The inefficient management of products nearing their expiration date can be tremendously costly. With Sage X3 you can set alerts that give you sufficient notice to take the appropriate steps when stock is nearing its expiration date. You can set alerts on entire product categories at all your warehouses, enabling you to systematically manage a wide diversity of food products. This allows you to move large inventories before they near expiration and turn a profit – or give you ample time to move expiring stocks by offering customers a discount and limiting potential losses. Emergency Readiness Sage X3 is also a key tool in HACCP management. When a food product is recalled due to a safety issues, you will be required to document its procurement and handling, manufacturing and distribution. With Sage X3, information can be easily accessed allowing you to identify which items are at risk and enabling you to halt the product at any point in the supply chain. It also affords you the traceability to simplify the otherwise onerous task of HACCP reporting. Shelf management, traceability and quality assurance are key ingredients in successfully managing food manufacturing and distribution. Sage X3 allows you to efficiently handle all these processes according to your specific needs, while giving you the flexibility to respond to changing customer demand or circumstances at all points in the supply chain: from production, to warehousing to delivery. For more information about how Sage X3 can help your Food & Beverage business, please contact us.

While COVID-19 has made risk management a priority for organizations around the world, it’s not the only threat to your business operations in 2020 and beyond. The hard truth is that there is a wide range of risk factors that can interrupt your business operations. From major natural disasters to disruptions to your third-party suppliers, you need to be prepared for – and protected against – anything that could throw off into your carefully-planned workflows. 1. Identify the risks The key first step in any risk management plan is to identify and rank the threats that are most likely to interrupt normal business operations at your organization. The relevant threats will vary between sectors, so there’s no real one-size-fits-all approach. For example, manufacturers may need to be most wary of equipment failure, while the threat of fire or flood may be much greater for retailers that warehouse large quantities of inventory. Corporate and professional services firms, on the other hand, may need to think more deeply about the threat of a cyber attack. 2. Minimize the risks Now you know the risks that are most relevant to your business, you can implement a risk minimization plan. While it’s unlikely you’ll be able to eliminate these risks, there are measures you can put in place to significantly reduce your exposure to them. For example, a predictive maintenance plan can help prevent equipment downtime, and installing a warehouse sprinkler system may significantly reduce the risk of fire damage to inventory. Likewise, implementing appropriate cybersecurity software and data protection protocols will help protect your organization against hacker attacks. 3. Plan for action When a threat materializes, fast and effective action is required to minimize the damage to your business operations. You should have a contingency plan in place for each of the business threats you’ve identified. Each plan should set out clear roles and specific action points for relevant employees, and the plan should be widely communicated and easily accessible across your organization. Consider developing both an internal and external communications plan in order to begin your action steps. You also need contingency plans for each identified threat. Think of these as blueprints for building bridges over the threat in order to continue business operations during the recovery process. 4. Protect your bottom line When a threat strikes, even the best-laid plans may not be able to completely protect your organization against financial loss. That’s why you need a good business interruption insurance policy. These are designed to cover – at least in part – revenue lost due to an interruption in your normal business operations. While business interruption insurance doesn’t remove the threat, it may enable you to keep your doors open while you address it. Whether you’re dealing with a global pandemic or a much more localized risk, the right planning, preparation and protection will help to keep your business afloat through the storm – and give you peace of mind beforehand.

New features in Acumatica Cloud ERP 2020 R2 includes Multiday Appointments and Negative Extended Prices Lines on AR invoices! Contact us if you have any questions or would like more information about new features and enhancements in Acumatica ERP 2020 R2.

The release of Sage X3 version 12 contains improvements in how to track revisions made to Order documents including Quotes, Sales Orders, and Purchase Orders. Revision number tracking can help us determine the number of times the order had undergone changes. Prior to version 12, users were prompted to save a revision and they could select “yes” or “no”. If “no” was selected, the revision was not tracked. Now, we can force the revision. Also, prior to v12, you could not reprint an old version unless you modified the native reports. Now, with all native reports, you can select the revision. In version 12, for Sales Orders, you will need to tweak the Parameter SALREV in VEN Sales chapter – Group ORD. There is the same parameter available for Quotes and Purchase Orders: Not managed: you will not receive a prompt and revisions will not be tracked Managed on demand: will prompt the user whether they would like to save the revision Managed automatically: revision tracking is mandated with no prompt You can now decide to print a specific revision of the sales documents or purchase documents: This will allow the visualization of the complete revision history from the Sales Order screen as well as quote and PO, and it shows the difference in Red of what was changed for that revision. In version 12, you can see the entire document in each version. Prior to v12, it was only by line that you could access revised information – much more cumbersome and difficult to identify the revisions: Access each version to see what was changed, here in red: You can also see the original order and any other version of the document by selecting the revision in the left list: With this new functionality, you get much cleaner and efficient access to revised documents for sales quotes, sales orders, and purchase orders. For more information about how Net at Work can help unleash the power of your business or for any questions regarding Sage X3, please contact us.

Sage X3 has several widgets that can be customized and added to landing pages to create a unique user experience. One in particular is the Calendar Gadget. In a previous blog post, we told you how to add the Calendar Gadget to a homepage. The Calendar Gadget is based on a query and with a little set up can be color coded to signal different event stages. This blog post details the process to configure the color coding of the Calendar Gadget. ADDING CRITERIA TO MY QUERY Follow Setup > Usage > Reports > Graphical Query Locate Query STO005. This is the query that the calendar is based upon. The Allocation Status field can be added to the query to indicate if an order is allocated, partially allocated, or not allocated. Select run from the right-side menu to see the full query. ADDING COLOR TO A CALENDAR Follow Setup > Interactive Components > Dashboard View Search for Code RSTO0051 Locate Rows 9 and 10 Color column is for the event color and category column is for the legend descriptions, these will generally be the same. This will link the values in the query to a color defined by the local menu parameters (below). Select the ellipsis and select a value from the query. Locate Rows 11 and 12 This will define the legend and the event colors. Local Menu-Category is for the calendar descriptions and Local Menu-Color defines the colors associated with these descriptions, these too will often be the same. Enter Local Menu – 416 This local menu is associated with the allocation status. CREATE A MENU ITEM Follow Administration > Authoring > Menu Items Select create new menu item. For more detailed information regarding calendar colors, visit the Sage X3 Online Help Center.

This video will show you how to add a custom field to a screen in Acumatica Cloud ERP. This customization does publish to the Acumatica instance that will log everyone out. Make sure to have all users out of the system before performing this or use a test system. 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%; }

Cloud Hosting Options for Sage BusinessWorks These days it seems like everything and everyone is “on the cloud.” However, it is important to know what that means before moving your Sage BusinessWorks to the cloud. There are undeniable benefits to hosting your Sage BusinessWorks in the cloud, including instant access to real-time customer data, reports, and analysis, via PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet, anywhere and anytime with internet connection capabilities. Also, users can access the same features, functionalities as a Sage BusinessWorks deployed on-premise, but without the cost associated with building an in-house server or the hassle of maintaining the backup of huge data, or dealing with its security issues. But as moving to the cloud has its own challenges, businesses need to understand what it entails. To help with some of these challenges, in a recent webcast our experts outlined the five cloud-clarifying concepts that you need to know before moving your Sage BusinessWorks to the cloud to help run your business, secure your data, enable your company’s growth goals and ensure business continuity. Know Your Services – Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Know Your Service Level – How much does it cost when you’re not online and your data is completely inaccessible to both you and your customers? Know Your Deployment Options – Private, Public, Virtual, or Hybrid Cloud options Know Your Risk – Are there risks in moving Sage BusinessWorks to Cloud? Understand Your Cost – How to retain your investment (ROI)? Watch On-Demand Webinar: [blogpromo type=’webinar’ link=’https://www.thecloudatwork.com/resources/the-case-for-hosting-sage-erp-in-the-cloud/’ btntext=’Watch Now’ iconlabel=’Recorded Webinar’] The Case for Hosting Sage BusinessWorks in the Cloud Sage Cloud: Moving On-Premise Sage ERP to the Cloud[/blogpromo] For more on information on Sage BusinessWorks or cloud hosting options – contact us here.

Human Resources leaders have a lot on their minds in general, and the global pandemic only amplifies their worries. While we wait to understand the longer-term ramifications of COVID-19, we continue to be tasked with running successful businesses staffed by skilled and engaged personnel. According to a 2020 Gartner survey on priorities for HR Leaders, the top concern of HR professionals was building critical skills and competencies in the organization. Why are HR professionals worried, and what can help relieve their fears? The future of work is changing—are you prepared? Everyone can agree that the future of work in America is full of changes. Trends like the gig economy, remote workforce, workforce aging, artificial intelligence, and changing demographics are already impacting the skills and competencies workers need today and will certainly continue to do so into the future. Competition for talent remains high, especially in certain critical segments like technology and financial services, and perhaps surprisingly, manufacturing. By 2030, the global talent shortage could reach 85.2 million people—costing companies trillions of dollars in lost economic opportunity. The dramatic skill shifts and resulting skill gaps cannot be solved by recruiting alone, training and retraining will both play pivotal roles in ensuring organizations have the right employees in the right roles. Ignore employee development at your peril A 2018 Work Institute report predicted that one in four workers would leave their jobs that year—and predicted the attrition rate would increase to one in three by 2020. Nearly one-third of that turnover was attributed to unsupportive management and a lack of development opportunities. The most obvious response to increasing employee retention, then, is creating more effective training and development programs. The skills gap is real The shortage of critical skills and competencies is the most commonly cited issue affecting HR leaders—cited by 86% of HR technology leaders in the Gartner survey. Addressing these skills gaps is the top priority for growing the business. HR leaders revealed that they lack the skills they need to drive future performance, that they struggle to develop critical talent segments, and that their current learning culture does not support effective new skills development. On a more macro level, 19% of current skills will be irrelevant in three years. Employers that do nothing about these glaring and growing skill gaps risk irrelevance themselves. All roads lead to workforce training Creating a workforce prepared to meet the demands of the future is a complex undertaking, involving multiple moving parts, especially now, as more training will need to evolve from the classroom to on-demand to address the increase in more employees working remotely. However, it is clear that employee training and development is a crucial component of any solution. Employee development programs provide a two-pronged approach to solving the critical skills shortage. In addition to providing the training necessary to meet the skillsets required for the future, employee development programs have been shown to improve employee retention rates—preserving your vital in-house talent. Drive digital business transformation Another one of the top five priorities for HR leaders in 2020 in the recent Gartner survey is driving digital business transformation. Driving digital transformation was among the top two priorities cited by 35% – 43% of almost every type of HR subfunction leader. The challenge is that 43% of HR leaders stated their organizations do not have a clear, consistent strategy for digital transformation. The solution – become a digital business expert. Actively engaging in digital strategy discussions on how to make HR more agile. Enable your HR teams to participate in meaningful discussions about digital business transformation. Explore HR solutions that align with your changing needs and address the challenges mentioned above so HR can sleep better every night.