| [Article] |
d
You've computer-enabled your accounting;now what about your operating departments?
Updated on 11 August 2009
Most
medium-sized and large companies, and a good proportion of small ones,
today probably consider themselves pretty successfully “computerized.”
Companies seek two things when they decide to computerize: 1) improve
the speed of their processes, in order to save time of course; and 2) improve the accuracy of their reporting, in order to banish the costs of rectifying mistakes. The motivations are pretty obvious.
But here's the rub: how much of the business have they actually computerized? It may be a bit of a jolt, but computerizing just your accounting does very little to make your business more competitive in the real world of your particular industry. Once you've computer-empowered your accounting, yes, you have probably succeeded in improving your reporting speed and reporting accuracy... in the accounting area.
But what about your operating departments? The parts that deal with customers, suppliers, bill collectors, bill payers, and warehouse issues? You may have equipped your accounting department with a software solution; but think about it, does this increase your value proposition to the customer?
But here's the rub: how much of the business have they actually computerized? It may be a bit of a jolt, but computerizing just your accounting does very little to make your business more competitive in the real world of your particular industry. Once you've computer-empowered your accounting, yes, you have probably succeeded in improving your reporting speed and reporting accuracy... in the accounting area.
But what about your operating departments? The parts that deal with customers, suppliers, bill collectors, bill payers, and warehouse issues? You may have equipped your accounting department with a software solution; but think about it, does this increase your value proposition to the customer?
Does
having computer-empowered accounting improve your speed and quality of
service to the stakeholders that determine your success in the
marketplace? Not likely.
By computerizing your
accounting, you’ve made a decent start, but the truth is, you’ve just
computer-empowered the scorekeepers, not the players – the people who
bring in the sales, the people who do the purchasing, the people who
fabricate the job orders.
What you need to become more competitive is to computer-empower your operations people, because it's they who make the transactions happen; it's they who bring in your revenues.
And let’s not forget: it’s the operations people and what they do day by day that account for most of your costs. You want them to make fewer mistakes so that those costs go down. You want them to get things done faster, again to nudge those costs down.
How do you computer-empower your operations people? You arm them with an information tool that gives them the clarity to make timely, confident decisions day by day. You give them a certitude to let them do more transactions, faster, cheaper, and error-free.
You give them the power and confidence to act fast by giving them information whose audit trail is 100% verifiable, 100% of the time. You arm them with an information resource to deal with the practical questions of right now, not just software for looking backward.
You understand that not all business questions are big-picture, board-of-directors level issues.(“Do we enter this market?” “Do we buy or lease that building?”).
You know that in fact your operating people are more likely to encounter questions of transactional details: questions for your sales guy, your credit and collection guy, or your production guy (“Has XYZ Co. paid for that last delivery and can I extend them more credit?” “Has the job order for the Acme Corp. job already been passed on to production?” “Did that last order by ABC Corp. use up all the sealant and should I therefore order more sealant?”)
If you've computerized just your accounting, chances are that these questions are still being dealt with the old, non-computer-enabled way. (Spreadsheets and word processors don't count).
These day-to-day questions may be smaller issues, yes, but they’re the ones that drive transactions. And you won’t be creating much value for anyone if these transactions aren't happening. And you can bet these transactions aren’t happening as long as those questions are pending. And the fact is, there’s so many more of these “small questions” cropping up everyday... than the big, strategic questions.
And as long as they're not computer-empowered... have you stopped to think what exactly your operating people are doing to make their work doable? The usual reaction is to build up isolated “islands of data.” Sales people build up their own data, and it's unlikely to be synchronized with accounting's data. Warehouse people build up their own data, and it probably doesn't jibe with accounting's data either. And so many other islands and islets.
It's time you turned into a true computer-empowered business – not just one with a computerized accounting department.
An integrated solution. What does “integrated” mean? It means there is only one source of truth for everybody in the organization. It means when you input one piece of data, you automatically update and synchronize multiple subsidiary ledgers and MIS reports that make use of that same data.
What you need to become more competitive is to computer-empower your operations people, because it's they who make the transactions happen; it's they who bring in your revenues.
And let’s not forget: it’s the operations people and what they do day by day that account for most of your costs. You want them to make fewer mistakes so that those costs go down. You want them to get things done faster, again to nudge those costs down.
How do you computer-empower your operations people? You arm them with an information tool that gives them the clarity to make timely, confident decisions day by day. You give them a certitude to let them do more transactions, faster, cheaper, and error-free.
You give them the power and confidence to act fast by giving them information whose audit trail is 100% verifiable, 100% of the time. You arm them with an information resource to deal with the practical questions of right now, not just software for looking backward.
You understand that not all business questions are big-picture, board-of-directors level issues.(“Do we enter this market?” “Do we buy or lease that building?”).
You know that in fact your operating people are more likely to encounter questions of transactional details: questions for your sales guy, your credit and collection guy, or your production guy (“Has XYZ Co. paid for that last delivery and can I extend them more credit?” “Has the job order for the Acme Corp. job already been passed on to production?” “Did that last order by ABC Corp. use up all the sealant and should I therefore order more sealant?”)
If you've computerized just your accounting, chances are that these questions are still being dealt with the old, non-computer-enabled way. (Spreadsheets and word processors don't count).
These day-to-day questions may be smaller issues, yes, but they’re the ones that drive transactions. And you won’t be creating much value for anyone if these transactions aren't happening. And you can bet these transactions aren’t happening as long as those questions are pending. And the fact is, there’s so many more of these “small questions” cropping up everyday... than the big, strategic questions.
And as long as they're not computer-empowered... have you stopped to think what exactly your operating people are doing to make their work doable? The usual reaction is to build up isolated “islands of data.” Sales people build up their own data, and it's unlikely to be synchronized with accounting's data. Warehouse people build up their own data, and it probably doesn't jibe with accounting's data either. And so many other islands and islets.
It's time you turned into a true computer-empowered business – not just one with a computerized accounting department.
An integrated solution. What does “integrated” mean? It means there is only one source of truth for everybody in the organization. It means when you input one piece of data, you automatically update and synchronize multiple subsidiary ledgers and MIS reports that make use of that same data.
An
integrated software solution eliminates confusion-making islands of
data. A software solution that can do this will let you a) reap serious
time savings by eliminating all back-room clerical encoding work (and
associated clerical errors) as you know it; and at the same time b) give your operating people reliable real-time information that lets them render astonishing customer 
service.
service.SURE! AR/AP (Accounts Receivable/ Accounts Payable) does precisely that.
For example, a sale, once encoded and posted, is automatically and simultaneously recorded in the Sales Book, the A/R Book, the VAT Book, the Customer Ledger, the Stock Card Postings Report, and the Gross Margin Report, to name just six.
That's at least six reports automatically, instantaneously updated. That’s at least six reports that various key people across the business can rely on to do their jobs. When you can count on data being available effortlessly and without drama – across the entire business - your people can be more effective in pursuing sales. And product excellence. And service excellence.
Automatic P.O generation, a major operations enabler. Purchasing is one of the most sensitive jobs in any company. It’s also one of the most tedious. And tedium equals errors. And errors mean increased operating costs, and lost profits.
Because it’s an integrated application, SURE! AR/AP/LAMA (an enhanced variant of SURE! AR/AP) is able to incorporate a new feature developed from our many years of working with clients in the retail trading field: an automatic Purchase Order generator.
Based on rules and algorithms that you will specify, SURE! AR/AP/LAMA will create one P.O. or 50, 000 P.O.s, entirely automatically, thereby eliminating a major clerical choke point forever. And you can do this anytime you want to.
If you’re dealing with scores or hundreds or thousands of products, you can see this is a powerful enabler. It will transform the purchasing task from a slow, error-prone clerical process into a speedy, creative one. Your purchasing can focus on the broad picture, instead of bogging down in endless detail. Your organization can start engaging in creative merchandising, instead of being on an endless frantic treadmill of stock-outs and overstocking.
Addressing the MIS needs of operating people, not just the record-keeping mandate of accounting people.
Most accounting applications address just the needs of the accounting department, period. By contrast, SURE! AR/AP empowers the day-to-day work of the purchasing department, the warehouse, the marketing and sales department, the cashiering department, the credit and collection department, the CEO himself – the people who deal with customers and suppliers. Not just the accounting department.
For example, a sale, once encoded and posted, is automatically and simultaneously recorded in the Sales Book, the A/R Book, the VAT Book, the Customer Ledger, the Stock Card Postings Report, and the Gross Margin Report, to name just six.
That's at least six reports automatically, instantaneously updated. That’s at least six reports that various key people across the business can rely on to do their jobs. When you can count on data being available effortlessly and without drama – across the entire business - your people can be more effective in pursuing sales. And product excellence. And service excellence.
Automatic P.O generation, a major operations enabler. Purchasing is one of the most sensitive jobs in any company. It’s also one of the most tedious. And tedium equals errors. And errors mean increased operating costs, and lost profits.
Because it’s an integrated application, SURE! AR/AP/LAMA (an enhanced variant of SURE! AR/AP) is able to incorporate a new feature developed from our many years of working with clients in the retail trading field: an automatic Purchase Order generator.
Based on rules and algorithms that you will specify, SURE! AR/AP/LAMA will create one P.O. or 50, 000 P.O.s, entirely automatically, thereby eliminating a major clerical choke point forever. And you can do this anytime you want to.
If you’re dealing with scores or hundreds or thousands of products, you can see this is a powerful enabler. It will transform the purchasing task from a slow, error-prone clerical process into a speedy, creative one. Your purchasing can focus on the broad picture, instead of bogging down in endless detail. Your organization can start engaging in creative merchandising, instead of being on an endless frantic treadmill of stock-outs and overstocking.
Addressing the MIS needs of operating people, not just the record-keeping mandate of accounting people.
Most accounting applications address just the needs of the accounting department, period. By contrast, SURE! AR/AP empowers the day-to-day work of the purchasing department, the warehouse, the marketing and sales department, the cashiering department, the credit and collection department, the CEO himself – the people who deal with customers and suppliers. Not just the accounting department.
SURE!
AR/AP lets operating people access needed data – but in real time,
anytime. Not just once a month or once a week. As the module that
provides subsidiary ledger, MIS, and logistics capabilities, SURE!
AR/AP allows operating managers to see transactions building up day by
day, hour by hour.
This ability to see your business information in real time gives you the clarity you need to make business decisions right now, not at the end of the month, when it’s likely too late, and the data is too processed - and intelligible mostly to finance specialists. SURE! AR/AP lets you become a true sales-and-service-oriented organization, rather than an obsolete, slow, back-room-oriented one. - rsr
This ability to see your business information in real time gives you the clarity you need to make business decisions right now, not at the end of the month, when it’s likely too late, and the data is too processed - and intelligible mostly to finance specialists. SURE! AR/AP lets you become a true sales-and-service-oriented organization, rather than an obsolete, slow, back-room-oriented one. - rsr
Questions? Reactions? Write to balmori@balmorisoftware.com.