Concerned about Driving Performance Improvement? Break your Manual Spreadsheet Addiction with ERP and Business Intelligence (BI)! Time to Research…

A few weeks ago I shared a shocking personal revelation —I am married to an accountant who is addicted to spreadsheets.  I than shared the 12 steps (really 5)  that we outlined to help overcome this powerful addiction that was affecting how we manage our finances. Last week I outlined step 3 which focused on defining the metrics that were important for us to measure , so we could begin to manage our finances successfully.

That outcome of our discussion of “what to measure” was a clear vision of what we needed to manage in the future. We decided that success would be measured by finding a process that would allow us to:

1. Find an automated solution that will help to budget, measure our income, measure our expenses
2. Get real-time answers to key questions on our finances, such as how much money do we have, how much have we spent on xyz, how are we tracking compared to our budget, and most importantly, can we afford more cats? Important “intelligence” that would allow us to make smarter investment decisions, while supporting day to day happiness.
3. Save time! The solution could not be time intensive.  We do not have a full-time family member to manage the process and everyone needed to be able to understand the system.

Your end vision or ERP implementation goals will be unique to your company. Because your company is unique! The importance is that you outline implementation “phases” and focus on the critical business challenges first.  Plan to automate the business processes that will allow you to track your top 10 metrics first, then move on to the next top 10, then review and optimize (repeat as needed).

Now that I have my goals—to the information superhighway to find way to obtain our vision! Google open! Hmmm, now what? I work for a software company, so I wasn’t entirely in the dark about key word searches, or possible home accounting solutions. But I wanted THE solution, not just any solution. Here are some tips that I found useful for researching a solution:

1. Utilize the metrics and goals that you defined as search key words
2. Find independent reviewers that compare possible solutions or consumer review sites. A great ERP site is Technology Evaluation Center at http://www.technologyevaluation.com/ as they provide detailed questions about the business challenges you are trying to solve.
3. Ask your friends – I used Facebook to solicit feedback, of course for your business you may use Linkedin or associates, but understanding how others solved a similar problem helps in your research.
4. Pick up the phone – I know this is a drastic measure these days. But call possible vendors and talk to them about your business challenges. Most will have a department that can point you to great resources – for free!
5. Educate yourself.  Once you think you found some great solutions, Google some more and check for customer success stories . The goal here is to avoid the errors of others  and set yourself up for success.

I was able to find some amazing resources, the plethora of information available today is overwhelming, but we made a decision and are ready to move forward.  Of course, our decision was under $100.00, so the few days spent in research was feasible.  Finding business management solutions is a bit more challenging; however, starting with an end vision will definitely help you begin your search.  I shared one online resource that helps with finding an ERP solution, now you share. What resources have you found invaluable to your search or implementation of business management software? Please share the types of information that you rely on to drive towards performance excellence. Do you prefer videos, whitepapers, whitepaper videos…well you get the point, all of our minds work differently.  I want to know what you prefer for research…

About the Author

Michele Ballinger is the Product Marketing Manager (PMM) for Sage 300 ERP. In her 16 years with Sage and a Sage business partner, she has worked as a customer support manager, product implementation consultant, QA analyst, automated test script writer, product specialist/solution consultant (sales), and product manager. She is passionate sharing the vast benefit of automated IT solutions, including ERP end-to-end business management, Business Intelligence (BI), Manufacturing, and Supply Chain Management. She currently lives in the U.S., but works in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.