WBSRocks: Business Growth with Enterprise Software and Digital Transformation

Send us a textInfor M3 is a unique product that can meet specific requirements of certain industries. But do these specific requirements really matter? Can't you just customize a vanilla ERP system such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or SAP S/4 HANA? Well, it gets really tricky for certain industries such as Fashion and Apparel, Food and Beverage, and equipment rental. It's because you need to have a richer data model tailored for these industries. The rich data model could include native support for matrix inventory, in-process test workflows, technicians' availability, and integration of rental agreements at the work order level. So does Infor M3 have native support for these needs?In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry experts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to conduct an independent review of Infor M3's capabilities. We covered many grounds, including their strength in fashion, food and beverage, rental, and chemical industries. Finally, we discussed their full-suite capabilities such as PLM collaboration and matrix inventory support along with traceability that will be critical for regulated industries.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textMost companies feel that the insurance companies would be able to cover most financial risks for them. But without understanding your risk profile, it’s hard to predict if they will be covered. Understanding and identification of risks require a thorough analysis of your processes and supply chain and evaluating them on an ongoing basis. You might also need to monitor macroeconomic factors and how they might affect your risk profile to have complete control over your financial risks.In today's episode, our guest, Hart Brown, shares his insights into enterprise risk management and governance processes. He also discusses the drivers that result in financial and legal risks for the companies such as disgruntled employees, macroeconomics factors, and supply chain issues. Finally, he discusses what companies and operations managers might be able to do to navigate current risks because of supply chain disruptions, war, and inflation.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textConsolidated invoicing and billing are typically the outliers and don't get as much attention until they become painful issues in the organization. So what are the different variables that drive the consolidated processes? How many different types of consolidated invoicing processes exist? Does it vary by industry? Does it vary by product type? Are consolidated invoicing relevant for subscription-based products? If so, what are the data points that are relevant to capture to ensure that the consolidated invoicing is going to work? And what are the best practices you need to keep in mind while selecting your ERP system? Finally, what are the best practices that drive operational efficiency due to the consolidated invoicing processes? These are the questions you will have if your customers have asked you to incorporate consolidated invoicing with your processes?In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss how consolidated invoicing processes differ in several industries. We also discussed how larger customers and vendors typically drive the invoicing process and how they could be make-or-break for the system implementation. Finally, we discussed how revenue recognition, subscription billing, and continuous manufacturing can drive the consolidated invoicing scenarios that might be limiting even in the largest systems.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textcommercetools is the hottest darling of the eCommerce space. This is especially true for the people who are big on microservices architecture and are part of the MACH alliance. But headless architecture is a lot of work for brands and requires tons of capital. The only reason why companies such as Shopify and BigCommerce are so successful is that they made it turnkey for entrepreneurs to start eCommerce businesses easily without worrying about hiring expensive developers. But the world of headless seems to be taking exactly the opposite perspective. While we all know that the fluidity and experience of eCommerce are important, the cost of building it may be a dealbreaker for SMBs. Would there be ROI for companies who are investing in composable commerce? These are the questions you are going to have if you are planning to beef up your eCommerce capabilities and drive revenue from digital channels.In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss commercetools’ capabilities. We discussed their strength in creating customizable commerce experiences for companies in industries where it’s a critical factor such as automotive, mattress, and apparel. Finally, we discussed their weaknesses with the amount of investment and expertise required and these initiatives are likely to fire back with the lack of expertise.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textPronto is not a household name among the ERP options available in the market unless you are from Australia or New Zeeland. Also, Australia is a different beast when it comes to meeting the statutory requirements of that country. Australia's economy is heavily influenced by specific industries such as mining. Naturally, the software from Australia will have deep capabilities for those industries. But how capable is Pronto for other industries? How do they approach the market? Where are they going to be the best fit? And where would they struggle? These are the questions you will have if you are evaluating Pronto as the potential option for your next ERP project.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry experts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to conduct an independent review of Pronto ERP's capabilities. We covered many grounds, including their strength in mining and retail industries along with their exclusive focus on the Australian market. Finally, we discussed their mining-specific capabilities such as having vehicles on the BOM, chemical analysis for metallurgy, and super bills.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textLease accounting has a lot of moving pieces. And they are always changing due to the ever-evolving regulations around lease accounting. If you don’t keep up with your lease valuations and amortization schedules, you might be exposing yourself to financial risks. Also, these changes drive the admin costs that are required to maintain the leases. And ERP systems don’t make it any easier as they might be difficult for lease admins to use them effectively.In today's episode, our guest, Greg Kautz, shares his insights into the nuances of lease accounting and why they are harder to handle with ERP systems. He also discusses how leases vary across industries and which ones have the most burden of lease administration. Finally, he discusses why alignment of master data is important between your ERP and lease administration software if you plan to use one for your lease management.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textChoosing an eCommerce platform is hard. You have plenty of options to choose from in the market. But they all have specific capabilities and are designed for a specific purpose. Some of the nuanced options, such as gift wrap or style, could be harder to build if they are not supported natively by the platform. While the look and feel are typically the easiest to change, even that could be harder if the platform limits theme customizations. So, where does 3DCart stand compared to the other platforms such as Shopify or BigCommerce? Would it be cheaper than the other platforms? Would there be any limitations?In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss 3DCart’s capabilities. We discussed their strength with the B2B and B2C functionality along with their ability to integrate with any website without requiring to use their platform. Finally, we discussed their weaknesses with the lack of customizable options and their rigid URLs for SEO.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textEpicor Prophet 21 has always been extremely popular among industrial distributors. But is Epicor P21 fit for all businesses? Can it work for manufacturing as well as distribution? How about businesses that might manufacture as well as distribute? How is it different from other Epicor products such as Kinetic and Eclipse? Has it been upgraded to the cloud version? How cloud-native would it be? Would there be any limitations, such as the inability to open multiple windows or enterprise search? These are the questions you are going to have if you are thinking of evaluating Epicor Prophet 21 for your business.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry experts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to conduct an independent review of Epicor P21's capabilities. We covered many grounds, including their strength in retail and distribution industries along with their deep supply chain planning and procurement capabilities. Finally, we discussed their retail-centric capabilities such as financial collaboration, reporting dimensions, unit of measure, seasonality, and replenishment methods.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textThe furniture industry is extremely unique as while its distribution processes might be similar to other distribution industries, each product is custom-made. And this makes implementing eCommerce for furniture manufacturers extremely challenging. The manufacturers also need to make sure that there is no channel conflict. And their retailers are comfortable with their intention of going DTC and eCommerce. If communicated properly, the eCommerce efforts not only help in getting more business, it might increase the loyalty of their channels as they will be getting more business through OEMs’ eCommerce efforts.In today's episode, our guest, Robert Giovannini, shares his insights into the eCommerce nuances for furniture manufacturers. He also discusses the cyclical nature of eCommerce processes for furniture manufacturers where the OEMs might generate the lead for retailers, but once they book the order, the transaction might need to come back to the manufacturer for fulfillment. Finally, he discusses other issues with eCommerce such as ADA compliance and how eCommerce brands might get penalized if their website might not be compliant with ADA regulations.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textThe rising consumer expectations and growing trend of marketplaces are driving the order processing complexity for businesses. Sales order processing is increasingly complex. You have challenges such as partial delivery. In some industries, the entire order-to-cash cycle needs to be closed for a line before the other line can be processed. There might also be other trends, such as shipping early in the hope of getting higher margins from the order. So, what architectural considerations do you need to have in place to accommodate such business scenarios? What do you need to look for in selecting your ERP? Which ERP systems might fire back if they don't natively support these business scenarios?In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss the pros and cons of partial order processing and early shipping. We covered many grounds, including the concepts such as shipping complete, planning around prioritizing and back ordering, and how partial processing differs in make-to-stock vs make-to-order manufacturing. Finally, we discussed issues in some industries such as medical devices avoiding partial processing, creating a temporary warehouse for shipment consolidations, and implications as grave as order lines disappearing from the sales orders because of the limited system capabilities and training.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.