WBSRocks: Business Growth with Enterprise Software and Digital Transformation

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.

Send us a textWhat's an ERP and what's not an ERP will always be the classic debate in the ERP community. Surprisingly enough, even the largest of the largest companies missed their understanding of the secret sauce for Salesforce. They had always felt that CRM was just a module of ERP. And how much damage could a CRM company cause? Well, Salesforce is no longer just a threat. They have created a completely new category and expanded the market further than any ERP company would ever imagine. But what's next for them? Would they ever be able to replace the traditional ERP players in the departments other than CRM? Do they even want to or care to replace? If not, how are they going to grow? Can they keep creating a similar category as CRM? Well, Salesforce has been trying a lot of new things, including their expansion in the field service, e-commerce, and community category. But would these initiatives have the same impact and provide the same revenue growth as the CRM category?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 Salesforce's capabilities. We covered several grounds, including the core focus of their product and acquisition strategy, what their potential plan could be to meet the ambitious aim of the next revenue milestone, and their competitors. Finally, we covered their exposure in each micro-verticals and where they are likely to be fit as a solution, and where they win the most.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 textAgriculture and F&B industries are unique beasts when it comes to their ERP needs. They have unique traceability requirements that you might not find with most companies. They also have unique formulation, and their product management processes are fairly involved. One process that is unique with these industries is the field-to-fork process, where the traceability and farm accounting requirements might throw your ERP implementation off if you have not selected the right tool designed for this industry. And then, the process doesn't end even if you have shipped the goods from your dock due to the recall requirements.In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss Field-to-fork business processes and best practices. We covered many grounds, including the scope, process boundaries, food production and catchweight issues, and the challenges in accounting and business processes because of the uncertainty of the processes. Finally, we discussed the shipping cost and traceability issues in the seafood industry, and why the agriculture industry faces unique challenges even if pharma and MedTech are able to manage similar challenges due to the advancements with standards in those 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.