Warehouse Management: Planning For the Future

In the ever-evolving world of just-in-time purchasing
and materials requirements planning, today’s customers demand efficient
cost effective supply chain management. The most costly resource in supply
chain management is “space” or the cost of the warehouse. Real estate
costs continue to rise. Warehousing environments generally do not have
very strong forecasting systems so purchasing departments typically overcompensate
so that customer demand can be met. As a result, the warehouse contains
too much inventory, which means warehouse turns are much more infrequent.
Higher inventories use more cash, leaving less capital to fund the business.
Space is often underutilized or inefficiently managed.

In order for businesses to reduce internal costs in supply chain management,
more efficient systems are needed to reduce space requirements, increase
warehouse turns, and decrease the amount of inventory kept on hand. To
obtain these results, companies should consider using a warehouse management
system.

What is a Warehouse Management System (WMS)? The textbook definition
is “the management of warehouse resources (materials, supplies, people,
space, equipment) from the point of acquisition to the point of disposition
– efficiently and accurately.” (Webster’s 2099 Unabridged Dictionary via
Google online) WMS systems that are integrated with accounting and business
analytical systems allow companies to efficiently manage inventory, personnel
and space.

Dan Schell was quoted in saying that “the Holy Grail of distribution
center operations still is a framework of an integrated ERP, WMS and transportation
management system.” (~ Integrated Solutions, December 2001). The dilemma
faced by businesses today is that most companies are currently operating
front offices with 21st century technology (email, high-speed internet,
etc.) but are managing back-end operations (like the warehouse) with outdated
“horse and buggy” systems.

Let’s talk about other benefits of an integrated WMS solution. Do your
customers return their orders because of inaccurate shipments? Do your
customer service representatives spend time resolving short-shipped order
problems? Can you currently identify your most productive warehouse employees?
How much time is wasted in the warehouse because products can’t be quickly
located? Do you know exactly when your peak warehouse order fulfillment
happens during the day, for scheduling personnel and shipments? Are the
fastest moving products in the warehouse arranged so orders for those
items can be picked, packed and shipped quickly? How much training time
is necessary before new warehouse employees can function independently
and efficiently?

In conjunction with an integrated WMS system, inventory and purchasing
management becomes the strongest tool in internal cost reduction. Is it
time that your company looks at improving its efficiencies and reducing
overall costs of operation while delivering top notch service to that
most important asset, your customers? Let us know how we can help you
achieve these goals.

Posted in January 2006, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Case for eCommerce

There is overwhelming evidence in the value of an effective
eCommerce strategy across many industries. Thousands of business have
used the Internet to not only increase sales, but to also reduce costs
and to provide superior customer service, driving the value of Business
to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) online transactions to
hundreds of billions of dollars The size of the opportunity is too large
for any business to ignore.

Implementing an eCommerce strategy takes careful thought and planning,
and those that have been most successful have taken the time to fully
integrate their online presence with their traditional back office systems
and processes. In doing so these businesses have created effective multi
channel sales and support processes with which to provide service to their
customers.


Online Sales Growth Impressive in 2005


Retail internet sales rose 25% for the period of November 1 to December
25th to $18.11 Billion US according to comScore Networks Inc. compared
to the same period last year. Computer hardware was the top-ranking category
in sales volume with $4.1 billion spent online this holiday season, up
14% from last year. Apparel and accessories, representing $3 .0 billion
in online sales for November 1 to December 25, were up 37% from last year.
Online sales of consumer electronics rose 20% from last year to reach
$1.3 billion. The category seeing the biggest percentage of gain over
last year was sports and fitness products, where online sales during the
holiday period rose 49%.
According to Forrester Research overall online sales for 2005 will reach
$172 Billion, growing to $329 Billion by 2010, excluding online travel
which is expected to grow to a $120 Billion business in the same time
period. In addition, Forrester predicts that in 2010 the most significant
online categories will be tickets, books, consumer electronics, small
appliances, gifts, cosmetics and fragrances, linens, music and video products.
Many organizations are also successfully leveraging the internet for Business
to Business (B2B) transactions. And for good reason; according to Forbes.com
and GartnerG2 51% of businesses consider the Web as their single most
important source of business information regarding purchasing decisions.
In addition, Pembroke Consulting reports ‘that business customers are
taking a more active role in the pre-sale and transaction portions of
the buying process as comprehensive product information moves online’,
showing an increasing use of web based self service tools.
Keys to eCommerce Success

As with any sales environment attracting customers to your site is a
fundamental key to success. Without traffic you cannot generate sales.
In a Business to Consumer (B2C) environment implementing effective Search
Engine Marketing techniques is extremely important. Ensuring your site
is ranked highly by the search engines takes time and energy to do it
right and in some cases paying for positioning on key Search Engines like
Google is justified. Search engine marketing can also be a key tool in
a B2B environment as well, especially given the amount of purchasing related
research that business now do on the Web. However, once you have successfully
driven traffic to your site, the site needs to provide customers with
what they are looking for in a manner that they enjoy.

Many studies have shown that price is not necessarily the top driving
factor in online sales success, but rather the overall customer experience.
A website should accurately reflect a businesses brand and be compelling
enough such that a customer does not quickly move on to the next site.
Highlighting new products, or promotions and providing industry specific
information through whitepapers or useful links are also methods that
have been successfully used to build and maintain customer traffic on
a website.

Successful websites are not only visually appealing, but are intuitive
to use and generally require few clicks of a mouse for a customer to find,
and hopefully purchase, what they are looking for. This might require
search wizards to assist customers in navigating a large product catalog
of parts, or high resolution images of products so that customers can
accurately visualize what they will be buying from you. Ideally the product
information provided on a website reflects up to date pricing and availability
of products as well.

In a B2B environment, successful sites accurately reflect a business
customers pricing and shipping terms, and provide simple tools for business
customers to place repeat orders or to look up the status of orders and
outstanding invoices. A website can also be used to provide a wide variety
of customer self service tools, including the ability to look up the status
of orders, review account history, and perhaps to review and pay invoices
on line.

Common eCommerce Pitfalls

Perhaps the most common trap that organizations fall into when deploying
an eCommerce website is to not take the time to integrate it into existing
back office systems. Rather than taking full advantage of pre existing
product catalogs, pricing, terms, and order and payment processes businesses
deploy stand alone sites that may have some visual appeal, but require
duplication of processes and in most cases additional manual steps to
process orders and payments. The result is often a poor customer experience
and increased costs.

It is also not uncommon for a business to launch an eCommerce site with
great effort and fanfare, and to then not regularly up date the site either
visually to reflect the companies branding or more importantly product
mix. Customers may get frustrated with out of date content, or just bored
with the fact that there is nothing new to view.

Fortunately, as an organization that has chosen Sage Accpac ERP you can
cost effectively deploy a proven fully integrated eCommerce B2C and B2B
solution today that provides true two way integration of Sage Accpac Order
Entry, Accounts Receivable and Payment processing and an eCommerce enabled
website. These capabilities are made available to you by Iciniti Corporation,
which has been providing e-Commerce solutions for Sage Accpac customers
for more than eight years.

eCommSuite.net from Iciniti Corporation

eCommsuite.net is the leading eCommerce solution for Sage Accpac ERP
worldwide, supporting businesses in North America, the UK, South Africa
and Australia. Iciniti Store provides all of the tools necessary for an
organization to create a corporate website and webstore that takes full
advantage of existing inventory, pricing and customer account information
in Sage Accpac ERP. No longer does an organization have to manage web-based
data separately from data that already exists in Sage Accpac ERP. Organizations
can also provide customers with consolidated account and order information
regardless of where a transaction was initiated.

For organizations with a busy order desk environment, Iciniti provides
Iciniti Credit Card a fully integrated payment processing solution that
eliminates most of the manual steps associated with accepting payments
from invoiced items. Credit card and debit card processing have been seamlessly
integrated into both Order Entry and Accounts Receivable. In addition,
the system can be configured to match credit card batch cut-off times
simplifying bank reconciliation processes.

For organizations with complex order processing and payment requirements
Iciniti has provided Custom Solutions that use the basic building blocks
of Iciniti Store and Iciniti Credit Card to create solutions that integrate
order processing and payment processing across separate organizations
to reduce re-keying of order and payment information, as well as, brick
and mortar Point of Sale solutions for Franchises that use Sage Accpac
ERP.

Book your eCommSuite.net demo today

Axis Global Partners and Iciniti are jointly sponsoring online eCommSuite.net
demos during January and February. Please contact us at info@axisglobalpartners.com or Jim McLean jmclean@icintiti.com to arrange your demo today.

Posted in January 2006, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Just Hired My 50th Employee – should I care?

Yes, actually. You are now what the Federal Government
classifies as a large agency and subject to FMLA (Family Medical Leave
Act). Noncompliance with FMLA will subject the organization to penalties
and possible exposure to additional legal liability. You’ve already had
to comply with COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act),
possibly OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Agency) and definitely EEOC
(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) reporting.

Fortunately, HR Series Software makes basic compliance fairly simple.
For instance, the FMLA allows employees that have been employed 12 months
and worked 1250 hours to take up to 12 weeks off without losing their
job. This is a rolling 12 month period and the employee can take the leave
just about any way they want to,, including one day at a time. Tracking
this information manually is cumbersome and non-efficient, but Accpac
HR Series comes to the rescue by keeping track of who is eligible, how
many days they’ve taken and how many days they have left. (see http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/ for more information).

As for COBRA, if you have over 20 employees and provide group health
insurance benefits, you are required to send a letter to each employee
when they become eligible for the benefit. The letter states that the
plan can be continued under COBRA if you terminate employment. When a
qualifying event occurs, such as an employee leaving, you must send a
letter explaining the employee’s rights under COBRA and how much the premiums
are. Sage Accpac HRMS Series provides templates of these letters and audit reports
to show compliance. (For more information, visit http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html).

What about OSHA? Tired of looking for the form every time there is a
work place accident? HR series version 6.5 has a built in OSHA tab that
collects information and prints out the 300 and 301 forms when ever needed.

How long does it take you to manually compile the information for the
EEO-1 report? HR Series can keep track of that as well, and print the
EEO-1 report at any time.

Tracking this information and timely reporting to regulating bodies will
save your organization substantial money. More important, it saves your
HR department time and allows them to focus on more critical issues. For
more information on the Sage Accpac HRMS business solution, please contact us
at info@axisglobalpartners.com and will be happy to schedule your web demo.

Posted in January 2006, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Frequently Asked Questions

Sage
Accpac ERP

Q – How do you setup a sick pay earning code when
it is being paid through a third party company?

For example, when an employee is unable to work due to illness
and they receive sick pay based on their benefits plan, the insurance
company (or another party) will issue the sick pay directly to the employee.
Some of these companies prepare W2 forms indicating this which they send
to the employee who are receiving pay from them but some do not.

In the cases where W2 forms are not issued by the third-party
payer, the employer is responsible for accounting for this pay on the
employee’s W2 form.

A – This can be setup in the US Payroll module by creating a new
Benefit type Earnings code. On the Employer tab of the Earnings and Deductions
window under Payroll Setup, select “Sick Pay Not Includible as Income
(3rd Party Sick Pay)” in the W2 reporting drop down box.

Q – F1 Help or Menu Help Is Not Available or No Help Content
Is Present. This may occur after installing the Microsoft Windows Server
2003 Service Pack 1, or Microsoft Security Update #896358 and #840315.
How can we correct this?

A – In order for Help to display properly, please follow these steps:
*** Note: This article contains information about modifying the registry.
Manually modifying the registry can cause problems with the normal operation
of your computer including preventing Windows from starting up. AXIS Integrated
Solutions is not responsible for problems arising from the manual editing
of information in the Windows registry. Before modifying the registry,
it is important to verify there is a known good back up. For information
about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, please refer to
article 256986 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base located at http://support.microsoft.com ***

1. Click Start, click Run, type "regedit"
in the Open field, and click OK.
2. Browse to the following Registry Key Paths:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | SOFTWARE | MICROSOFT | HTMLHelp | 1.x
a. If HTMLHelp does not exist, then with MICROSOFT highlighted in the left-hand pane, right-click on the right-hand pane
and select New – Key.
b. Type HTMLHelp and hit enter on the
keyboard.
c. If 1.x does not exist, with the HTMLHelp key highlighted in the left-hand pane, right-click on the right-hand pane
and select New – Key.
d. Type 1.x and hit enter on the keyboard.
3. With 1.x highlighted in the left-hand pane, right-click
on the right-hand pane and select New – Key.
4. Type ItssRestrictions and hit enter on the keyboard.
5. With ItssRestrictions highlighted in left-hand pane,
right-click on the right-hand pane and click New, then
select DWORD Value.
6. Type MaxAllowedZone and hit enter on the keyboard.
7. Double-click on MaxAllowedZone or right-click and
then click Modify.
8. In the Value data field, type 1 and then click on OK.
9. With ItssRestrictions highlighted in left-hand pane,
right-click on the right-hand pane and click New, then
click String Value.
10. Type UrlAllowList and hit enter on the keyboard.
11. Double-click on UrlAllowList or right-click and then
click Modify.
12.In the Value data field, type:

\\ServerName\Share\ACCPACFOLDER;file://\\ServerName\Share\ACCPACFOLDER
and click on OK.
Where ServerName = Name of Server
Share = Location of Network Share
ACCPACFOLDER = Location of Shared Data for Accpac
For example: \\Win2003\Accpac;file//\\Win2003\Accpac

Sage Accpac
CRM

Q – We want to display a notification at the top
of the screen of the “Assigned To User” showing the Opportunity Description
when the opportunity is set to the Stage of "Qualified". Is
this possible?

The "Show Notification on Screen" workflow action for
an Escalation Rule is not triggered when the Escalation rule is created
using a View. However, the actions are triggered when the Escalation rule
is created using a Table.

A – The key is when the Escalation Rule Action is created with the
type "Show Notification on Screen", make sure
that the Table: field found under the "New
Workflow Action Details
" screen points to the entity where
the view is stored under.


Image.1

For example, when you create an Escalation Rule using the vSummaryOpportunity
as per the image below and you click on the New icon
to create a new Action, the view name used to create the Workflow Rule,
gets automatically transferred to the Table: field in
the "New Workflow Action Details" panel as
per image 3 below.


Image.2


Image.3

What you need to do is manually change the Table: field
to the Entity name where the view is stored under as per Image 1.

This Escalation rule will be triggered when an Opportunity that is assigned
to the current logon user is set to the Stage of "Qualified".

A notification displaying the Opportunity Description of the opportunity
will appear at the top of the screen when the escalation is triggered.

Please note that this example is based on an Escalation rule that is
created outside of a workflow.

Q – We would like to setup CRM so that it will automatically
send an email out to the Opportunity’s assigned user when the opportunity
meets a certain condition. Is this possible?

A – Here are the steps to setting up the Escalation Rule:

1. The Escalation Rule is created under Administration | Advanced
Customization | Escalation | New.

2. Type the name of the escalation under the Rule Name:
field.

3. Create the Escalation rule using a view or table.

4. Make sure you enable the escalation rule by making sure the Rule
Enabled
check box is selected.

5. Enter the SQL Clause that defines the criteria for the Escalation
Rule action to trigger.

6. Click on the New icon to create a Workflow action
and select Send E-mail action.

7. Under the E-mail to: field enter: #oppo_assigneduserid#.
Make sure that the user email addresses are entered correctly under the
Users area in the application.

8. In the E-mail Subject: and E-mail Contents:
fields you can use #[field name]# with any field from the current table,
view that is used to in the Escalation rule or any field from the User
table.

Other settings to verify the system is ready to perform this
action

1. Confirm that you are able to send email out of SageCRM by
sending an email out from a Person’s email address.

2. Ensure that the Escalation: rule feature is activated
under Administration | Advanced Customization | Workflow &
Escalation Configuration.

3. On that same Workflow & Escalation Configuration screen, enter
a name and an e-mail address under the Notify E-mail name & Notify E-mail address: fields. The name specified
here appears on an e-mail sent by the system. The e-mail address should
be a valid e-mail account that is used to send the e-mails.

Sage Pro
ERP

Q – What are the limitations of the
Bill of Materials Module as Compared to Production Entry?

A – The Bill of Materials module is a simplified
version of the Production Entry (PE) module. It was designed to allow
for the creation of single level Bill of Materials (BOM) only. This is
ideal for kitting, however, it is not optimal for building to stock. This
article clarifies and compares the functionality of the Bill of Materials
module to the PE module.


The following table displays the differences between the Bill of Materials
and Production Entry

modules and which features are available in each:


























































Ability
Bill of Materials
Production Entry
Revision Levels
N
Y
Subassembly/Multi Level BOMs
N

(Allows only single level BOMs)
Y
Kit During SO Entry
Y
Y
Generate WO on SO Entry
N
Y

(Work Order module must be installed)
Explode on SO Shipment
Y
Y
Configure During SO Entry
N
Y
Post Completed Manufacturing/Back Flushing
N
Y
Replace BOM Items

(found under the Maintain menu in PE module)
N
Y
Import Bills of Materials

(found under the Maintain menu in PE module)
N
Y
Print PE reports
Y

(Except the Configuration report)
Y

Q How to determine if a client needs Bills
of Materials, Production Entry, or Production Entry

and Work Orders?


A – There are three main questions that must be determined:


1. Do component parts need to be allocated?

2. Does a production document separate from the sales order need to be
created?

3. Is the Material Requirement Planning report needed?


If the answer to any of the above questions is "Yes", then
Production Entry and Work Orders may be the best solution.


If the answer to all of the above questions is "No", then
ask:


1. Are subassembly parts specified on the bills of material?

2. Do parts need to be configured during sales order entry?

3. Is there a build-to-stock requirement independent of sales order shipments?


If the answer to any of the above questions is "Yes", then
Production Entry may be the best solution.


If the answer to all the above questions is "No", then Bill
of Materials may be the best solution.


Q What is the general purpose and usage
of the Work Order Traveler?


A – A picking ticket may be needed after a work order
is created: the Work Order Traveler may be used in this regard.


To use the Work Order Traveler as a picking ticket the following steps
may be used:


1. Set up the Bill of Materials (BOM) in either the Production Entry
(PE) or Work Order (WO) module. Go to the Bill of Materials Maintenance
screen under the Maintain menu and create the BOM.


2. Create the work order by one of the following two methods:

a. Set the BOM to "Generate WO on SO Entry" through the BOM
Maintenance screen.

b. Create the work order in the WO module through the Transaction menu
and selecting Enter Work Orders.


3. Go to the WO module, choose the Print menu and select Work Order
Travelers. There is the option to print the Work Order Traveler as a Batch
or Individually. Refer to the page 149 of the WO Module Doc on Disk, for
details on how to use the printing options.


4. The Work Order Traveler may now be printed for all work orders
that need to be completed. It can be sent to the shop floor and issued
to an employee who can use the Traveler to determine the location and
quantity of the item to select.

Sage Accpac
HR

Q – Our company needs the ability to send out
COBRA notices to employees whom have quit or left the organization and
I do not want to pay a third party administrator. What can we do?

A – Sage Accpac HRMS Series allows companies to print HIPAA Certificates
of Coverage, with COBRA notices or separately, at any time for their employees.
Medical coverage and COBRA can be maintained with third party administrators
or can be independently by your company in ACCPAC HR

Q – Our company would like the ability to track additional information
on our employees. Is this a feature of the system and how do we go about
doing this?

A – Sage Accpac HRMS Series allows users to easily create an unlimited number
of custom tabs and fields in minutes. This flexibility allows clients
to track and report on anything that is important to them. Custom tabs
can include up to 12 custom fields per tab.

Back to Top^
Posted in January 2006, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tool of the Month

Budget Macro

As the new year commences, many of our clients begin entering their budgets
figures into Sage Accpac ERP. Most users are unaware that there is a budget
macro available to assist with this cumbersome task.

This month’s tool includes a copy of the macro (which should already
be installed on your system but is included for your convenience) and
a step-by-step guide to use the macro to export information from your
accounting system, update the information in Excel, then import the data
back into the accounting system. You must be running the General Ledger
program in version 5.1 (or higher) for this macro to work.

Please feel free to contact our office if you have questions concerning
this article or if there is anything that we can do to assist you with
your daily or periodic processing. This is also a good time to review
the financial statement formats that you’ve been printing to see what
additional formats would be useful in analyzing business trends.

We can also help with financial statement design, and don’t forget to
ask about a free demo of the ACCPAC CFO tool to optimize your scenario
building and historical analysis (using your existing GL information).

Click
here to download

Posted in January 2006, Newsletter | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Welcome to the first issue of our AXIS newsletter

The objective of our monthly newsletter is to inform you of the numerous service offerings and solutions currently available in the market that will empower your businesses to become more efficient, competitive and hopefully, more profitable.

We hope you find this and other subsequent issues informative and valuable. In this connection, we encourage your feedback and participation in order to provide a steady stream of information that is important to you. Lastly, we kindly encourage that you provide us with additional contacts in your organization that you feel will benefit from this newsletter.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of service.

Posted in Newsletter, November 2005 | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Financial Impact of CRM: The Real Story (Part I)

By Dr.Nancy Rauseo

Although many consulting and research companies caution that a high percentage of the CRM projects don’t produce measurable business benefits, the reasons are associated with wrong approaches to implementation. When using the right approach, companies can experience phenomenal results. IDC, a research consulting firm, conducted a study in 2004 on thirty-three companies that effectively implemented CRM software applications. The return on investment (ROI) results ranged from 51% to 500% for over half of the companies. Of the companies that participated in this study, 58% experienced a payback in one year or less.

IDC also found that technology-related savings account for only 7% of the average return, while benefits accrued from increased productivity and business process enhancements account for 51% and 42% of the return. The rest of the returns originate from increased revenues and increased competitive differentiation. So can your company afford not to implement CRM? What will it cost your company if you don’t invest in a CRM strategy?

This article is the first of a series of articles focusing on the financial impact of CRM on an organization. This article centers on the benefits that a company can attain when implementing CRM solutions using best business practices. Before we discuss the benefits, let’s review what these practices consist of:

1. a customer-centric strategy and a plan;

2. customer-focused business processes;

3. a relationship marketing strategy;

4. the right people, both internal employees and external partners; and

5. the right fit between technology solutions and your processes

While the overall success of a CRM project tends to focus on the successful implementation of a software application, this is only a portion of the ‘success’ equation. The success relates to the company’s ability in managing a complex process of change within the company. Planning, remaining flexible while managing the evolving business processes, gaining support and facilitation from key people and employees and practicing patience are key elements to success.

The Bottom-Line Benefits of CRM

The impetus for CRM began with studies conducted by Frederick Reichheld, considered as the Customer Loyalty Guru. His studies showed that there are dramatic increases in profits that result from small, incremental increases in customer retention. Reichheld showed that a 5% increase in customer retention had impacts as high as 95% on the net present value delivered by customers. Other studies by McKinsey & Company have concluded that repeat customers generate over twice as much income as new customers.

A key ingredient to attaining CRM benefits is more focus on customer retention, rather too much on new customer acquisitions. After all, it costs six times more to sell to a new customer than to sell to an existing one. The chances of selling a product to a new customer are 15%, whereas the chances of selling a product to an existing customer are 50%. The primary emphasis of a CRM strategy is to look at ways to retain valuable customers in an effort to gain their loyalty.

A core CRM philosophy is that a customer should be viewed not as a set of independent transactions but as a lifetime income stream throughout the customer’s lifetime relationship with the company. Customer lifetime value is being used by companies to measure the return on customer to the company. It originates from financial concepts and models such as interest rate (opportunity cost) and net present value (NPV) of the future profits. The shift is from thinking of product profitability to customer profitability.

The diagram below is a visual representation of the concept behind Reichheld’s research and customer lifetime value..

The horizontal axis represents the years of the relationship with the customer. As we’ve mentioned before, it’s very expensive to acquire the customer. It’s an investment so there are no profits to the company the first year. As the customer remains with the company, profits begin to increase each year. The longer the customer is with the company, the higher the returns on investment. These income streams result from:

– profits derived from increased purchases (increased revenues);

– profits from cost savings (improved efficiencies/reduced operating costs);

– profits from referrals to other customers; and

– profits from price premium (charging a premium for the customer’s confidence in the business).

In our next article, we will address the CRM benefits associated with increased revenues. We will also highlight a few best practices related to attaining higher levels of increased revenues.

Dr. Nancy Rauseo is on the faculty of Florida International University’s College of Business Administration where she teaches marketing. Nancy holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A and Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University. She is also IBM-certified as an e-Business Solutions Advisor. Prior to her teaching career, she held various senior management positions for over 20 years in the areas of sales, marketing and technology implementation. Dr. Rauseo is also Instructor for FIU’s Professional Certification Program in CRM. For more information, visit: http://cba.fiu.edu/web/ope/crm.htm

Posted in Newsletter, November 2005 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why can’t Jim Sell? (Or Sally for that matter) Are your sales becoming more difficult? Read on….

It really comes down to just a few factors, to quote Dr. Phil, “we can not change what we do not acknowledge”.

1. The company does not have the ability to buy

2. The product or service has no apparent , or great enough value to the company

3. The salesperson or company has not become a trusted advisor

If #1 is true, acknowledge it, record the prospect for nurturing, and move on.

If # 2 is true, this will open the door to many related questions. However this question can be directly related to #3. If our salesperson is truly a trusted advisor, due diligence will be performed that clearly states if a product or service provides value to an organization. The value of a product or service is a synergy between product/service and company. Let’s first examine that synergy. A product or service must be, above all, in the buying company’s best interest, not in the selling company’s interest. This paradigm aligns principles that provide a true win-win scenario.

So how does an organization create and nurture that environment? In an effort to keep things simple, and provide value here, take note at the principles that are inherent in this process. Here are two:

Provide excellence in all you do.

Every product, every service, every call, every letter, every brochure is a statement of who you are as a company, as sales unit, as a person. Keep in mind excellence is a journey not a point of arrival. It begins with attitude; and its vehicle is constant education. Some education may have to do with efficiencies; some may have to do with more effective techniques. Both are required. “Excellence honors and inspires people.”

To become a trusted advisor, you must be trustworthy.

The sales role must be to help the client succeed. If you do, you both win. It is no longer sufficient just to get them to buy. If you cannot reduce their costs; increase revenues or margins; leverage their cost of capital, increase productivity, augment strategy, and/or increase critical performance, you cannot earn their business over time.

…Trust, is also earned

How? Give me an example, please!

An example would be writing a customer centric proposal, as in providing ROI analysis or value to cost ratio. Another specific example would be a process or tool providing and tracking customer relationships and interactions in a central place that would provide easy access to information to those who need it. In the latter example the company can start to fulfill its obligation to itself, its employees and shareholders. How, because this creates efficiency, that allows for a decision making process both on a management level and a sales level. The ability to make decisions is greatly enhanced because it becomes an informed decision, a decision that can be made quickly because information is now “real time”. This provides a clear path to customer service and if properly implemented and utilized, sends a message to the client that they are important!

..Look for Self Image, how to position yourself as a Real Professional, and…, What is the worlds oldest profession?… in our next newsletter

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Announcing the Release of Sage Pro Version 7.3B

Sage Software is pleased to announce the release of Sage Pro 7.3B. This release includes Pre-authorization support for our Credit Card modules along with several manufacturing feature enhancements.

Pre-authorization functionality in the Credit Card modules will allow clients to process their credit card transactions in a manner that will best fit their business. Do your clients need to know that their customers’ credit card transaction will be approved before they send large orders to the warehouse for processing? Pre-authorization will allow them to do that. Sage Pro Credit Card Processing now adapts to the way your clients want to operate their businesses.

The Manufacturing module enhancements will give clients better access to information and help streamline their manufacturing operations. Increasing client productivity is the basis for the following improvements:

– Additions to the Recommended Reorder Report to include Work Order Allocations.

– Better support for nested Bills of Materials to include modular and variable components in one BOM.

– Filtering capabilities on the IC journal to allow manufacturing transactions only.

– Manufacturer’s Name and part numbers now included in Item Master.

For more information, please e-mail us at info@axisglobalpartners.com.

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What’s New in Sage Accpac HRMS Series 6.5

We’re happy to announce Sage’s release of Sage Accpac HRMS Series version 6.5. With enhancements to the employee self-service function as well as other core functions, this new version will save HR professionals and employees valuable time and effort. Sage Accpac HRMS Series keeps your staff up to date with a comprehensive framework for organizing, streamlining, and automating benefits and administration processes. Powerful and flexible, Sage Accpac HRMS Series helps you accurately and efficiently manage your human resources and employee benefits responsibilities with real-time data available through your company intranet.

New features of the product include:

Now only one platform and one name-Sage Accpac HRMS Series.

Sage Accpac HRMS Series now ships with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) as the backend database, providing industry-leading database security, integrity, and performance. MSDE replaces Jet (Microsoft Access) as the backend database for our Sage Accpac HRMS Series Corporate Edition customers. It also supplements existing support for our Sage Accpac HRMS Series Enterprise Edition customers already relying on Microsoft SQL Server. Sage is now shipping just one North American edition of the product.

New open enrollment capability.

Now, employees can enroll for their own benefits on their own time, right from their own computer. This feature, part of the Employee Self-Service module, will save HR administrators from getting bogged down in time-consuming paperwork.

Updated Employee Self-Service.

Employees can now request time off through the Sage Accpac HRMS Series Employee Self-Service module. Managers can view and approve the time-off requests online. If managers want to see all requests from their direct reports at once, a new “My Team” tab allows them to do so.

Expanded and improved reporting.

You can now produce the following reports through the HR Series Report Wizard:

– New EEO-4 report allows government agencies to quickly and easily compile the information they need to complete the EEO-4 form provided by the federal government.

– New Beneficiary report produces a list of an employee’s beneficiaries and their percentages for life and retirement plans.

– The existing Remittance report has been improved to support consolidated billing.

For more information on all the reports available with Sage Accpac HRMS 6.5, please download Accpac HR Reports.

New OSHA forms.

OSHA incident tracking and reporting is now capable of producing OSHA forms 300, 300A, and 301.

Updated COBRA administration.

– The Sage Accpac HRMS Series Cobra module has been updated to comply with the latest regulations, so that you can quickly produce the proper notices and letters required by law.

– Additional improvements to the COBRA module now make it easier to mix Active and COBRA Active Coverage-a need that may arise when an employee is divorced from his or her spouse.

Expanded employee selection criteria.

The Report, Employee Correspondence, and Batch Enrollment Wizards now allow users to filter employees by Hire Date, Termination Date, Next Review Date, Benefit Plans, Pay Period, and Self-Service Status.

Improved help system.

Customers will now find more detailed information about the uses and capabilities of the tools available in Sage Accpac HRMS Series.

More powerful importing.

– The Quickstart Import utility can now import employees’ review histories, making it easier than ever to centralize all your employee data.

– Other enhancements to Sage Accpac HRMS Series include multi-company support in Applicant Manager, a new Employee Picture report, and improved security for hiding employee social security numbers.

For more information, please contact us at info@axisglobalpartners.com.

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