It's Crazy Out There!

We can't control the outside world, but as Uncertainty reigns externally, Business Equilibrium results when we create better data certainty within our businesses. See how other leading companies have managed the raging seas of uncertainty in the boat of Cloud ERP 

ERPodcast - Ranked #3 in Top 15 ERP Podcasts!

 

Recently - Feedspot.com a digital content aggregator assymbled a Top 15 ERP podcasts list - and the ERPodcast came in at #3 - Unfortunately, we dropped in the recent rankings and today's episode contains the original recording we posted on LinkedIn when the original rankings came out - apologies for any confusion!

About today's ERPodcast

MIsaligned incentives - budget shortfalls - tight implementation timelines - How do you conquer the most common pitfalls leading to a failed ERP implementation? The ProfitFromERP methodology bakes in best practices so you end up watching company goals and, like we say, ProfitFromERP, our clients make ERP PAY!

E28c ERPodcast - Certainty in an Uncertain World

 

MFX up and under (but louder than last time)

 

 

It’s the ERPodcast Episode 28 – The official podcast of ProfitFromERP.com and I’m the Director, Gene Hammons, Over the past 18 months, we’ve helped about a dozen companies get through challenges we never thought any of us would face.

 

If you’ve listened to earlier ERPodcast Episodes, you know what a huge advantage digital companies had dealing with a world gone virtual.

The #1 Issue? Uncertainty. The country, the workforce, supply chains, inflation, is covid up or down? Opening up or locking down?

- - There’s a world of uncertainty out there  - - - if we’re going to maintain the right business equilibrium we need to create more certainty within the four walls of our businesses.  We can’t control outside uncertainties but we can surely affect the internal workings That’s Our ability to respond. That’s response – ability – and here’s how some of our clients define business responsibility today.

 

One big uncertainty is in today’s workforce. How do we deal with the changes, what are the technology issues that can even stop top talent from joining your firm? So let’s talk about how can technology help us get more done with the fewer people we actually do have on staff

We’ll examine that.

 

Supply Chain issues? Overseas shipments are bringing back the old phrase Slow Boat from China – which many of you didn’t even know was a phrase – tech can’t help get your boat unloaded. But we can use demand planning to anticipate shortages long before your ship is just offshore with the parts, raw materials and goods your customers are already waiting for – never mind the trucking

 

 

Creating certainty in an uncertain world comes down to the Information in Information Technology – just in case you forgot what IT stood for.  Is your information good enough, timely enough, informative enough? You may be running a traditional ERP system that wasn’t ever giving you the reports you need. Or you may have a great baseline ERP but operationally, there’s no accurate way to gather data. Or FP&A modeling – can you project your profit margins when gas goes to $5 a gallon? Sometimes it’s modular additions to your technology stack – Sometimes it’s a complete Digital Transformation – a total software overhaul of your company.

 

Here’s what real world ProfitFromERP clients are doing to create certainty for savvy CFO’s and operational teams.

 

Item One – having a hard time finding enough people?  Maybe your old technology is keeping today’s workforce away  - - Item Two It’s the end of JIT, as Supply Chain complexity looms - manufacturers react, and Item Three using ERP to add Certainty to an Uncertain world. Any one of those topics can torpedo your business – let’s find out who’s doing what and how you can make the smart decisions going forward.

 

 

And that’s what we’re talking about today – on Episode 28 of the ERPodcast. Right back after this:

 

 

 

Endorsement – Feedspot

 

So there’s this website called Feedspot, it’s an aggregator of sorts, actually a super-aggregator that becomes a custom Content Reader. You click on Feedspot and select all of your favorite websites, podcasts, news feeds, RSS subscriptions – imagine all the websites you check out on a regular basis, now imagine them combined and presented from a single platform – it’s a cool concept and they offer a lot more, like companies can keep tabs on what millions of websites are saying about their brand, tracking bloggers and influencers. Nice concept that Feedspot.

But in their aggregation of content – they group certain similar topics together – and give you a choice of following say, the Top 15 ERP related Podcasts – which they recently released a new Top 15 for ERP related Podcasts lists – and the one you’re listening to, the ERPodcast was rated #3. Which was very nice of them to do. There were some big names on that top 15 list, like Podcasts from Microsoft, SAP – even one of the largest software selection services, Panorama Consulting Group – ranked #8, #9, #13.  Now of course if they were ranking us by revenue, well, ProfitFromERP isn’t exactly Microsoft…but we have a higher rated podcast – We’re #3! In the country – heck in the world – probably the universe, but even Google can’t search Mars – yet -  never mind the outer galaxies – but we’re #3 and on our way to #1 – so you’re in good company subscribing to the ERPodcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts – and you’re always welcome to peruse the ProfitFromERP website where the latest episodes are posted first. The ERPodcast – ranked #3 ERP Related Podcast by Feedspot – so after today’s show, go check out Feedspot.com. They have particularly good taste in ERP related Podcasts – it’s a great start. #3.

 

 

 

 

 

So back to today’s Episode of the ERPodcast

Couple of things about our consultancy, ProfitFromERP.  Some critics of the ERPodcast have spouted off about how all the business cases we present end up recommending companies implement new ERP software -which they then label as ‘self serving’. OK, a fair, if completely backwards assessment. Here’s the deal, our clients, the people we work with and work for are in the process or have recently finished implementing ERP to solve real business issues – that’s why they came to ProfitFromERP in the first place – and all these solved business issues, they’re  driven by the same market you’re currently in, so you may face the same or a similar problem. Now you may well have an ERP system, it could be a wonderful system but perhaps it was implemented a few years back, so you’re not set up to address todays issues – great – get some consultants in and tweak whatever it is you need to deal with the issues others are tackling today. The point of the ERPodcast is not what ERP you use or whether you change your ERP – it’s pushing forward the ERP knowledge base. Now, when you do get ready to replace your 1980’s spaghetti code client server ERP package, we’re hoping you’ll be convinced that turning a ProfitFromERP is a good idea and perhaps you’ll remember our website www.ProfitFromERP.com  and you’ll bring us in to save yourself serious dollars, increase efficiencies, drive productivities and all around ProfitFromERP instead of our competitiors website www.SpendBigOnERP.com , we’re hoping that happens.

But here’s the thing. Change is constant. The reasons companies devote capital expenditures and company effort on ERP change. Today it’s Finance teams needing better FP&A to better plan how to move into new markets and react to changing customer habits. It’s Manufacturers looking for redundant vendor sources and increasing raw materials on hand to escape supply chain constraints.

Anyway – when more than one client starts driving projects in the same direction, it’s time for us to take notice, to figure out why they’re going this direction and if this direction is a fad, a trend or something we need to focus on for all future clients.

And we’ll tackle three of those trends today.

 

Number One – JIT Just In Time inventory is Dead. Is it really? Of course JIT – means your vendors deliver raw materials for manufacture just as they’re being needed on the manufacturing production line. We even have an earlier podcast of how Dell Computers in the late 90’s revolutionized computer manufacturing by taking the very first online orders where customers selected how much memory, drive space, RAM – and then ordered the chips and drives from suppliers to build the next day’s orders – and Austin, home of Dell soon had factories building up all over Central Texas, AMD, Intel, IBM and dozens of others so they could deliver tomorrow’s production sub assymblies today.    JIT cut inventory carrying costs for manufacturers  - of course not all manufacturers are Dell and not all suppliers are queueing up to build a plant next to your manufacturing operation. In fact, sub assemblies are just as likely to be made in China.  We had initial shutdowns during Covid-stop the surge phase. Followed by drastic changes in market demand – for example, the Ping wedges I recently ordered from Karsten Golf, local here to the Phoenix market – were having to promise a 6 week delivery –Ping’s traditional business model was to deliver custom fit clubs within a week after a custom fitting. While Ping’s main facility is in Arizona, where the customizations and assemblies take place, many of the heads, shafts and grips come from China.