http://www.ics-support.com/blog Boosting profits with the right ERP and CRM tools Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:43:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Gartner, Inc., the highly respected researcher, predicts that the worldwide cloud services market will surpass $68 billion in 2010.  Gartner and other technology pundits have been talking about and forecasting explosive growth in this market for several years now.  But when you put some specificity to it, such as $68 ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=183 We are all familiar with the standard tools for measuring the performance of our business; namely the balance sheet and the income statement.  And if we are a halfway decent backyard mechanic at working on the business, then we also pay attention to our bank balances and free cash flow.  ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=176 As I talk to a variety of client and prospect organizations about their business and what they are trying to achieve, I always find it fascinating to hear the different perspectives and tactics being deployed.  Frequently even more intriguing is the view of the business model and the investment strategy ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=161 Daily dealings with acronyms sometimes make me feel like I am swimming in alphabet soup. When those acronyms roll off the tongue, do you really know what you are talking about? Start Easy: Let’s start with the easy ones: IT, IP, FAQ, and www. You probably shouted out: Internet ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=156 This is the last installment in a series that has been discussing a problem plaguing many businesses today, and that is the situation of ERP or IT projects being aborted midstream before they accomplish their stated objectives.  In the last issue, we discussed the means by which the project’s financial ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=151 In our last issue we discussed the rationale and importance of developing a comprehensive business case for your ERP or IT project to ensure that it presses forward to completion and does not fall victim to the countless threats that swamp many projects. We also discussed the methods for determining ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=143 In the last issue, we discussed an extremely costly syndrome that plagues many businesses, namely that of projects that get launched with great intentions and then quietly run out of steam without producing tangible results or meeting stated objectives.   I see this frequently with regard to ERP or IT projects. Fortunately, ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=138 Have you ever worked on a project that started off with boundless exuberance and fan fare, yet failed to deliver the anticipated results?  Sometimes it’s a result of a head on crash with completely unforeseen events.  More often than not however, it is usually more a matter of the project ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=134 I am exploring the possibilities of a new button that appeared at some time on my Outlook toolbar. I also noticed that it turned up in my printers list. It is a program called OneNote that comes with Microsoft Office 2007. I kept seeing “Send to OneNote”, so the other ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=107 I suspect that most, if not all of you, have heard the term ERP system.  And some of you may even know that the acronym stands for Enterprise Resources Planning.   That’s a mouthful that on the surface doesn’t seem to mean much.  But since an entire industry has been developed ... http://www.ics-support.com/blog/?p=99