WBSRocks: Business Growth with Enterprise Software and Digital Transformation

Send us a textThe developer community often thinks that the problem associated with ERP complexity or costs is technical. Time after time, we have seen developers championing how concepts such as no-code or open source can solve problems of the ERP world. The problems associated with ERP failures are very rarely technical or product-related. The hardest problem in the ERP world is getting everyone in one room to discuss or agree on a decision. Now, if you might take a couple of days to make a decision, what are the odds that you will be able to write all of the business requirements in a couple of years? And if you can't do that, how will you write the code and test it? While the concept of no-code is excellent, the problem in the ERP world is not of the code itself. It's to define the state of a system. The code is typically the easiest part. So while there are a lot of ERP systems that are riding the wave of no-code, how successful would they be in penetrating the ERP market? One such vendor is, NextWorld, which champions the idea of no-code and how they will be the next big revolution in the ERP industry.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry experts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to discuss major stories in the ERP and digital transformation space and an objective and independent review of NextWorld's capabilities. We covered several grounds, including their no-code/low-code approach, product roadmap, and go-to-market strategy. Finally, we reviewed their data model and capabilities through their current screenshot and which industries and company size will most benefit from NextWorld's capabilities.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 textUnit economics is critically important for product-centric businesses. If you don't understand your true cost, you might be selling at a much higher price, which would mean that you might not be able to win against your competitors. Also, if you are selling at a lower price as you may be missing on some cost elements, you might be losing money or selling unprofitable products. Product costing has deeper implications on your finance, supply chain, and operations. It could especially be trickier to implement if you have multiple systems involved in the process and don't have a consolidated plan for master data and inventory. So what are the best practices to implement product costing for a business? How much is too much? And how much is not enough?In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss product costing business processes best practices. We covered many grounds, including several stories related to costing and the implications of poor costing practices. Finally, we covered concepts such as how to ensure the actual run rate of the machines, aging inventory and the inventory not tracked, how to reconcile inventory when it may be off during the physical and cycle counting processes, how to capture overhead appropriately, and finally the costing differences in the custom vs. commoditized businesses.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 might start selling on the website without going through the structured thinking of enabling user experience and mapping customer journeys. They may also start coding without going through the design process and wireframing the ideas. Wireframing plays a vital communication tool to align the expectations and test if the design is aligned with the user's expectations. But how to start on the journey of wireframing? What do you need to have before starting on this journey? What tools are available to help you with the wireframe? These are the questions you will have if you are thinking of re-platforming your current eCommerce experience or maybe opening a new eCommerce channel.In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss strategies for creating wireframes. We discussed various topics as they relate to wireframing, including its importance and the role of testing. Finally, we discussed the difference between low vs. high fidelity wireframes and the various tools that can be used to help with the wireframing process. 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 textIf you asked most salespeople about whether their software can integrate, their standard answer would be that they have APIs. Well, APIs allow you to retrieve data from systems in a structured fashion and remove the technical boilerplate of that system. You still need to design your integration flows around your business requirements. APIs are NOT meant to have self-integration capabilities. This is especially true for integration between your eCommerce and ERP systems, as that disrupts your operational core and transactions. A well-defined and vendor-agnostic integration model can provide the cushion you need for your business model to succeed.In today's episode, our guest, Ingo Hagemann, shares his insights into the integration challenges of ERP and E-commerce software. He also discusses the shortcomings of point-to-point vs. middleware-oriented integration and in which situations they might not be the right fit. Finally, he discussed the expensive nature of real-time calls and how they need to be analyzed for enterprise performance, and the role of ERP-integrated commerce solutions.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 cultural factors drive how users will perceive an ERP or WMS product as each geography may have different ways of processing transactions. They might also be using terms and keywords that they might not be able to relate with in a system that might be built for completely different geography. But the cultural factors are not only limited to just the terms and keywords. Sometimes what profit may mean in a developed country may be completely different in the developing country. So how complex is the South East Asia market, and how are business processes different in this market?In today's episode, our guest, Bernard Hor, shares his insights into the nuances of the South East Asian market. He also analyzes cultural barriers and how the developing world is different from the developed world, and how that affects the ERP and WMS processes. Finally, he describes why the standardized ERP or WMS solutions may not be suitable for complex geographies such as South East Asia as the users might not be able to relate with the product.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 textGrowing through acquisition is not a new strategy. Infor started it. And now several companies are following, especially the PE-owned ones such as ECi and Aptean. PE companies pursue this strategy in the hope of gaining quick market share through edge products or specialized products purpose-built for specific industries. Most of these products are typically built by companies that were cash-starved, and they had to cut corners to survive and sell at a lower price than their bigger competitors. Typically there are three pieces that are absolutely critical for the success of a product: 1) code/features, 2) infrastructure, and 3) documentation. Since the companies would be able to notice differences if they cut corners in the code and infrastructure, the most obvious choice to cut down would be on documentation and thinking through the design, which typically requires a lot of investment. While the premise of integrating several specialized apps might seem compelling on paper, your users will never get the same experience as they would if they were using a product in one piece. One such company is, Aptean, which is still trying to grow through acquisition with no clear strategy for its product portfolio and roadmap.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry experts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to discuss major stories in the ERP and digital transformation space and an objective and independent review of Aptean's capabilities. We covered several grounds, including the core focus of their products and acquisition strategy, their corporate and cloud-native strategy, and their target market. Finally, we reviewed their history, where their portfolio was originated, and their strategy compared to other companies that grew through acquisitions similar to Infor and ECi.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 textCannabis is a beast when it comes to its process complexity. Also, the ever-changing regulatory compliance and reporting increase the challenges. The critical process of cannabis is seed-to-sale that starts with the grower facility, where every plant needs to be tracked. Then, as cannabis moves through the processing stages where even multiple companies could be involved, such as growers and extraction facilities, the reporting requirements are still the same, with tight yield and waste reporting regulations. The moisture content makes it even more challenging, similar to catchweight in the food and beverage industry. But what are the best practices of the seed-to-sale process, and how can companies scale without getting in legal trouble?In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss Seed-to-sale business processes and best practices. We covered many grounds, including the scope, process boundaries, payment issues, regulatory and compliance requirements in the US as well as Canada. Finally, we discussed the system communication issues, the specialized systems that are going to be required to meet the needs of the Cannabis industry, and why the APIs may not be the solution to meet your integration and compliance challenges.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 textHow many people here like to receive promotions in SMS? Not many, right? And yet Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will be using SMS and messaging rather than native apps. SMS could be used for promo, remarketing, order confirmations, and dispatch notifications. SMS is also not as intrusive as other forms of communication such as email and phone. In addition, SMS forces you to limit your message and get your message across in fewer characters. This also helps customers as they can quickly glance through hundreds of messages without feeling that they are being distracted by lengthy and unnecessary emails. But is it relevant for every business and situation? Also, what are the tools that can help you automate workflows just like emails?In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss SMS Marketing. We discussed various use cases for SMS and where it will be fit and where it will not be fit, along with pull vs. push marketing strategies. Finally, we discussed SMS strategies for B2B vs. B2C and concepts such as caller ID, phishing, links embedded in SMS messages, and the unsubscribe mechanism. 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 textIndustry4.0 could mean a lot of things to different people. While the idea of Industry4.0 is compelling, it requires a lot of moving pieces from identifying appropriate processes for data collection and then having monitoring and alerting infrastructure in place so that the maintenance can take action before it's too late and expensive. Condition monitoring is one area that plays a very important role with processes, especially if you have several manual interventions in the process that is likely to change the overall profile of equipment and machinery, which might result in product quality issues and rework.In today's episode, our guest, Dave Roth, shares his insights into the importance of condition monitoring for your critical equipment why that is important for industry4.0 initiatives. He also analyzes the root cause of several stories where the manual processes resulted in process variations and product quality issues. Finally, he touches on how condition monitoring can help detect the issues earlier and avoid any expensive downstream implications.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 textAmazon has become so big that it has its own constitution and regularly publishes legislation with clear guidelines for vendors and suppliers. While Amazon recognizes the importance of the Vendor ecosystem, they have always been customer-focused. Also, if your business is not diversified, the business buyers might perceive you as a risk as they don't like to see your business to be completely concentrated on a few customers or channels. But, even for Amazon-centric businesses, you have several options through aggregators who would prefer to buy a business that is crushing on Amazon than being average for multiple channels. In today's episode, our guest, Yaz Malas, shares his insights into the exit readiness strategies for Amazon founders. He also discusses what business buyers look for when they acquire an Amazon business and why buying is more attractive for them than building a brand from scratch. Finally, he describes risk factors for investors for Amazon-focused business and business risks you can expect from the Amazon channel.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.