Sep/090
How do you NOT MULTI-TASK?
How do you keep focus when multiple demands constantly hit your desk? Recently it was in the news that Stanford University researchers pinpointed multi-tasking as a “bane not a blessing.” “Everything distracts them” was said about people who listen to I-Pods while watching online video, texting, checking email and firing off Facebook updates. Testing also showed that multi-taskers weren’t superior when it came to remembering or organizing information.
For many of us who work in a medium to small business and wear several hats, multi-tasking is a necessary fact of life. I am now imbedded in three immediate tasks. I started payroll tasks, and then IT needed to reboot the server. I started calculating support costs for a client and needed input from a technician who is tied up with other duties. As down time appears for one task, I jump into the next–all while email dings and the phones ring. At the end of the day, it is a challenge to work my way out of the nested loops I have created. I review completed tasks for continuity to check if each separately completed piece flows and connects with the others. Sound familiar?
How do I cope? Over the years I have found some simple ways to “find focus” in the midst of a multi-tasking environment.
MAKE A LIST!
1. Make a list of tasks to accomplish TODAY.
2. Prioritize the list
3. Work the list from the top priority down.
4. Smile at new demands
5. Rework the list
6. Get back to the PRIORITY task
7. Finish the task at hand
8. Cross the task off the list
Actually write down the list and keep it on the desk next to you. Studies have also proven that stress causes forgetfulness! Having the written list reminds you what task you SHOULD be accomplishing while other demands are swirling around you.
The biggest challenge after making the list is finding the time to work the list. How do you create the time?
Create some FOCUS TIME: I remember my time at a small weekly community newspaper. We did our own black and white film development in a darkroom (remember film in cameras?). Everyone knew NOT to open the darkroom door because the photos for the week may be ruined. In the midst of intense deadline pressures, one of the owners would make focused time to write her stories by going into the darkroom and closing the door. It was not a comfortable solution, but a simple one. No one was disturbed while they were in the darkroom. She did not have to answer the phone and was not interrupted by walk-in customers or other staff members. She found dedicated time to write. She found a way to put up her red flag that said “Do Not Disturb.”
Back to the Future, how do we take that example to create FOCUS TIME? TURN OFF the cell phone, email, and all instant messaging and set the telephone to “do not disturb.” As long as others know when you will be available, they can usually adjust their needs to accommodate your time. Technology lets you easily communicate with “do not disturb” or “away” messages on email, instant messaging, etc. Close the office door or put up a RED FLAG on your desk to let colleagues know that you are not to be disturbed. Now you have time to focus on the task at hand and you can start to cross those tasks off the list.
Start by creating maybe an hour each day of focused work. Then, after basking in the satisfaction of actually accomplishing an identified task and crossing it off the list, contemplate how you might expand the amount of FOCUS TIME you have. Schedule your FOCUS TIME in your calendar and plan for it. Set or negotiate more “do not disturb” time for the phones or other office demands. Check your email only at several designated times of the day. Communicate with others when your availability is limited. And I will repeat, as long as others know when you will be available, they can usually adjust their needs to accommodate your time.
Then enjoy the satisfaction of a task focused and well-done.
By Diane Essington
Office Manager
ICS Support, Inc.
Sep/090
Making the days easier with Sage Payment Solutions
ICS Support recently switched from a computer software-based credit card acceptance program to the online Sage Payment Solutions because it promised lower rates for credit card transactions. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few more advantages than just the cost-saving rates.
Send email Receipts
Sending a receipt to a customer for any sale is very easy with Sage Payment Solutions. To send a receipt via email with the old system, I would have to print a receipt to a pdf file or scan and save a printed receipt and then attach it to an email. With Sage Payment Solutions, all I have to do is include an email address in the proper field on the “Bankcard Transaction” screen before the sale is submitted. An email is automatically generated and transmitted for the sale transaction.
Retrieve receipt for past transaction
After ICS switched to Sage Payment Solutions, one of our clients changed their mind after a week or more, and wanted a receipt of a credit card transaction. I had not printed a customer receipt (save a tree!) because it was not requested at the time.
With the old system, after entering the sales information on the computer (same as swiping a card for those of you with a card reader) I would submit the sale and print the needed documentation. After the end of that day and the batch was settled, the only way to retrieve information about a sale was to pull the printed information from the files. If a receipt was not printed at the time of the sale, I could not retrieve the information to reprint a customer receipt.
With the Sage Payment Solutions, I also enter the sales information on a computer screen then step through similar actions as with the software-based system. But here is where the two systems are very different. With Sage Payment Solutions I can retrieve a sales receipt from a past transaction by simply logging into the Sage Payment Solutions virtual terminal and clicking on the “Reporting” tab. Under “Settled Batches” I can select any past batch and drill down to the requested record and reprint a receipt.
Save money
And did I mention the rates were lower than the traditional merchant services accounts? Of course rates depend on a merchant account agreement and can be affected by the number of sales, average sales price and dollar volume per month. In checking the first several months on the overall monthly cost per volume of sales, I confirmed that we were saving money with Sage Payment Solutions.
Do more stuff
Sage Payment Solutions goes beyond my simple need for occasional manual credit card transactions. The ability to reprint a receipt is just a simple feature of the online reporting capabilities. The online service can be used in e-commerce applications and it integrates with a number of software packages. Call Gary Jefferson at ICS Support at 425-284-5425 for more information on how Sage Payment Solutions can make your days easier.
Diane Essington
Office Manager
ICS Support, Inc.
Sep/090
An Easy Way to Distribute Invoices and Statements Electronically
Even though you are not ready to go completely paperless, you would like an easy way to create and distribute electronic (pdf) copies of statements and invoices.
In Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 version 4.3, Electronic Form Delivery creates a pdf version of all invoices and statements, and either prints a hard copy or delivers the document to specified email addresses (or both) according to how you set up the customer’s delivery preferences. (Previous versions of Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 may be able to add a Paperless Office Extended Solution for this functionality.)
Statements: With Electronic Form Delivery, you set up each customer for printed and/or emailed versions of the Statement of Account. You can configure it to send the statement to multiple email addresses, and you can configure it to create a printed version plus sending it out via email.
Invoices: Invoices are configured separately from Statements so that you can target the right people in your customer list to receive the appropriate documents.
Example: With just the traditional printed hard copy delivery option, the customer requests that printed invoices are mailed to a Department Head. The invoice goes through a payment approval process before it goes to Accounts Payable. Invoices seem to occasionally go missing on this route. Printed statements go to the same addressee and Accounts Payable may not see it either, so they do not know what is missing. With Electronic Form Delivery, invoices now can go to the Department Head with a copy emailed to the AP Department plus the Statement of Account can be emailed to the Department Head, AP Department, and the CFO. Now everyone stays up-to-date on your account.
How easy is it to configure? There is an Electronic Form Delivery button on the “Customer Maintenance” data entry screen just to the right of the address lines. For each client, click on the Electronic Form Delivery button and a configuration screen will appear.
• Use the “Form Name” drop-down box and select “Statement”.
• Select or deselect the “Printed” or “Emailed” check boxes as needed.
• For email delivery select the contact email address from contacts in your client’s record
• You can also add email addresses that are not associated with a contact in your client’s record.
• When finished entering data, click on “Accept” at the bottom of the screen
• Use the “Form Name” drop-down box to select “S/O Invoice” and repeat the steps above.
• When finished entering data, “Accept” and close the configuration screen
Diane Essington
Office Manager
ICS Support, Inc.
Sep/091
Do ERP Best Practices Equate to Improved Company Performance? Part 5
Where’s the Elephant? 
I concluded the previous post with the notion that there was a large elephant in the room and that we best find it soon before we startle one another. The obvious elephant in the room for me is the question of which came first? The ERP system best practices or the best-in-class companies? In other words, does fanatical discipline and commitment relative to ERP system best practices lead an organization to achieve best-in-class status? Or does a best-in-class company simply exhibit similar champion-like execution and management relative to their ERP system, just as they would in any other element of their business?
This Aberdeen report does not attempt to answer the chicken or the egg question. However based upon my 20+ years of working with ERP systems, and what the report does reveal, there are some reasonable conclusions that can be drawn. In my belief, best-in-class companies exhibit the following characteristics with regard to their businesses, their ERP systems, and their other investment assets.
- They plan well in advance
- They take the long term view.
- They systematize and integrate practices, processes, and procedures wherever possible.
- They establish objectives in advance and constantly measure against those objectives.
- They set the bar high, keep raising it whenever possible, and hold people accountable.
- They adapt to change rapidly and avoid getting boxed in a corner.
- They face touch challenges head on and make tough decisions quickly.
- They reinvest continuously in their systems and their people.
- They recognize the value technology can bring to their business and they aggressively use it to their maximum advantage.
In other words, they avoid the duct tape patch jobs and do things right the first time whenever possible.
Looking in the Mirror
We have examined several of the critical factors relative to the way best-in-class companies manage and utilize their ERP systems. But as you might expect, we have just scratched the surface in terms of the ERP system best practices exhibited by best-in-class companies. My hope is that some of the data provided herein may enable you to assess your particular situation and the correlation that your ERP decisions are having on your overall business performance so that you can move the needle in the desired direction. I would love to know whether you agree with the preponderance of the Aberdeen data or do you think it misses the mark in some way?
Jeff Mack
President & CEO
ICS Support, Inc.
Sep/090
Do ERP Best Practices Equate to Award Winning Company Performance? Part 4
ROI – What’s Possible?
Speaking of ROI and measurement of same, Aberdeen reports that best-in-class companies are way ahead of the game in this regard as well. They are 57% more likely to utilize ROI estimates to cost justify an ERP project. And here’s the big one, they are 163% more likely to continue measuring ROI even after it has been achieved. Do you get the impression that there’s a strong commitment to continuous improvement?
Typically when initial ROI is analyzed, the total acquisition costs are measured over the time required to recoup the investment. You can see below 5 unique measures that can be used to calculate the ROI. These sources for ROI are equally viable for best-in-class companies as all others; it just takes the others about twice as long to recoup their investment.
Why do you suppose it takes the average and laggard companies twice as long to recoup their ERP system investments as the best-in-class companies? The chart below reveals that the best-in-class companies are much more aggressive than the rest of the companies in setting the ROI bar high.
As you can see in the chart below, the act of setting the ROI bar higher than the rest pays off handsomely when it comes to realized ROI.
We have examined enough data to get a clear picture indicating that best-in-class companies demonstrate best practices relative to their ERP systems, and that they derive more functionality, performance, and ROI from their systems. However, from my perspective, there is still a big elephant in the room and I think we need to find it.
Jeff Mack
President & CEO
ICS Support, Inc.
Sep/090
Do ERP Best Practices Equate To Award Winning Company Performance? Part 3
Telltale Traits
You may recall that as we concluded Part 2, we were just beginning to examine what impact keeping an ERP system upgraded and current had on a companies performance. In addition to the company performance metrics that you were shown in Table 1, Aberdeen analyzed 5 other key characteristics of the surveyed companies in an effort to further delineate the best-in-class from the rest. The 5 additional characteristics are shown in Table 3 below and included process, organization, knowledge management, technology, and performance management.
There were several notable highlights in the background that went into comprising the above table. The ability for a company to standardize processes, and the degree to which they are standardized in their systems are fairly obvious indicators. With regard to the organization metric however, 88% of best-in-class companies feel that executive management support is critical throughout the entire life cycle (selection, implementation, upgrades, extensions, and continued investment) of an ERP system, rather than merely during the selection and initial implementation. I believe this fact alone is a huge differentiator. And speaking from personal experieince, I have seen several projects severely challenged simply because the process bogged down without executive leadership and involvement.
Similarly, best-in-class companies also have a strong commitment to continued training for employees. As you might imagine, these metrics are in stark contrast to the companies outside the best-in-class category. Another organizational metric indicates that better ROI is obtained from the ERP system when assigned to line of business executives outside the IT department. That’s generally because these executives stand to gain the most from full system utilization and focused performance improvement. In general, you can see that the best-in-class companies are much more committed to measurement at all phases of a project.
It appears that the evidence is continuing to mount suggesting that yes indeed there is a trackable correlation between these best practices and actual company performance. But as we know, the purchasers of ERP systems are often looking at specific ROI to justify the acquisition of a new system. So in our next installment, we will evaluate ROI indicators as they relate to ERP best system practices.
Jeff Mack
President & CEO
ICS Support, Inc.
Aug/091
Do ERP Best Practices Equate to Award Winning Company Performance? Part 2
Best-In-Class Performance
We should understand what Aberdeen defined as best-in-class so we have a meaningful yardstick by which to measure. These metrics are of course closely related to the manufacturing sector, but you can easily see that many of them would apply equally well to non-manufacturing environments. At the end of the day, there will still be a top 20% in any industry, a bottom 30%, and those 50%’ers stuck in the middle.
The data contained in Table 1 should be a huge wake-up call because it indicates that the top 20% are getting leaner and meaner, and thus stronger. The rest (average and laggard) are not keeping pace, which leads to the conclusion that the competitive advantage gap between the best-in-class and the others is growing larger.
How do the best-in-class do it? Do they have better visibility and communication across departments and functions? If so, is it due to different or better versions of software? Are best-in-class companies perhaps operating more current versions of their ERP systems than the rest of the companies surveyed? The reported data indicates that 62% of the best-in-class companies are running on the publisher’s latest available software release or one release back, compared to only 17% of the companies in the average or laggard classification able to make the same claim.
Is this the first piece of evidence suggesting that keeping an ERP system current and updated (a best practice) correlates to better hard dollar results for a company? Stay tuned as we will examine this question and more in the next posting.
Jeff Mack
President & CEO
ICS Support, Inc.
Aug/091
Do ERP Best Practices Equate to Award Winning Company Performance? Part 1
We often disseminate information about best practices for a company involved in selecting and implementing an ERP business system. These words of advice are frequently rather academic in nature as they are generally not linked with any real before and after examples. So it got me to wondering about how we can derive cause and effect analysis between ERP system best practices and best-in-class company performance. And as I thought about this further, many questions came to mind.
- Do best-in-class companies adhere to best practices regarding their ERP systems?
- If so, is there a direct and traceable connection, or is it more of a feel good association?
- Is the ERP system implementation viewed as an event or a journey?
- What percentage of system functionality is actually being used?
- Do they opt for best-of-breed point-to-point solutions or a well integrated suite of products?
- Who’s the best person to place in charge of the ERP system?
- What impact do post go-live practices and decisions have versus pre go-live decisions?
- How do they view the practice of customizing their ERP software?
- What’s their strategy regarding upgrades and keeping their system current?
- How and when do they measure ROI?
As you can imagine, it would require an exhaustive study to connect all the dots and produce empirical data to answer these questions across all major industries. So I settled for the next best thing – I found an Aberdeen Group study entitled “ERP in Manufacturing 2009 – Expanding Beyond Traditional Boundaries”. This study solicited feedback from 435 North American manufacturers in a diverse set of industries. Since the manufacturers serve a strong cross section of industries, I am inclined to believe that the reported data is reasonably comparable for distributors, service industries, and several other industries not specifically targeted in this study.
In the next several days, I will tackle some of these more tantalizing questions to determine how the star performers view and manage their ERP systems and investments.
Jeff Mack
President & CEO
ICS Support, Inc.
Jul/091
Jumping In With Both Feet
Drum roll please. Okay – perhaps that’s a little over the top. However, I have been encouraged, and not by my wife this time but rather by colleagues, to join the blogging parade. I have been running my own high tech business for over twenty years and have enrolled in several classes at the school of hard knocks. Notice I didn’t use any descriptors such as successful in describing the business because that seems to be an ever evolving pursuit. Rather I will merely let the longevity in this challenging industry speak for itself.
The Topics
The topics in this blog will inevitably center on improving company performance in one or more key areas. I will discuss methods, tools and systems for improving top line (sales), middle line (expenses), and bottom line (profits). The approach throughout will always be to find ways to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and value derived from your ERP business system and IT investments.
Comments Are Encouraged
My goal is to have some fun with this blog and to promote and facilitate a useful dialogue where I can engage with others who are passionate, or perhaps just curious about ERP business systems. I encourage your comments and sharing of your experiences, successes and concerns.
Jeff Mack
President and CEO
ICS Support, Inc.