WBSRocks: Business Growth with Enterprise Software and Digital Transformation

Send us a textDue to how companies function in the startup phase and evolve, most of them operate in silos because it's hard to find cross-functional talent. In addition, the cross-functional processes are perceived to be slow. It's also tough to train people in multiple disciplines. As a result, most SMBs will have one person responsible for each function: sales, purchasing, AR, AP, HR, etc. While this siloed nature may help you sail through the startup phase, it's the cross-functional alignment that will help propel your growth.In today's episode, we have our guest, Pam Fox Rollin, who discusses how to drive cross-functional clarity in a siloed organization. She describes the entire process of driving this clarity, including setting the shared promise and how it differs from a shared vision. Finally, we discussed several stories of executives who may be afraid of driving this clarity in fear of disruption to their organization.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 textManaging digital projects have never been easier. While there have been tons of attempts to improve the process with Agile methodologies, the timeline, budget, and scope are still tough to manage. There are several explanations as to why digital projects are harder. For example, each digital project is fairly unique, even if it is repeatable ERP implementation. Then you have the problems of invisibility. Managing digital projects have always been art and science. That's probably the reason why the success of these projects varies so much.In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise to discuss planning for digital projects. We covered many grounds in this episode, including capturing the appropriate scope, iterations, and phases. We also discussed the pros and cons of using process templates from various vendors. Finally, we discussed several stories to identify the initial beachhead for e-commerce success and ongoing measurement and development.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 textE-commerce opportunity is highly lucrative. As an executive responsible for e-commerce success, you will come across several options and opportunities. But if you don't know how to plan for e-commerce, you might be out of cash without knowing what went wrong. For example, it could happen as you overcommitted in channels that didn't perform to your expectations. Or you stocked too much inventory in the hope of getting significant traffic from your e-commerce efforts. E-commerce budgeting requires comprehensive planning across 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 e-commerce budget planning. We covered many grounds in this episode, including the cost buckets that need to be considered for e-commerce budget planning. We discussed the framework of e-commerce spend in many industries and ratios of how they plan for e-commerce spend. Finally, we discussed several stories to identify the initial beachhead for e-commerce success and then ongoing measurement and development.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 are a small business operating as a single entity with one warehouse and site, most of your suppliers will have a handshake relationship. But as you grow, you are going to add more sites. Each site may have its procurement functions and may manage its supply chain. This is where having accurate supplier intelligence and a comprehensive risk profile of suppliers becomes important. In today's episode, we have our guest, Matt Keyes, who describes the importance of supplier intelligence and how that helps uncover supply risks before it's too late. He also discusses how centralized relationships can help companies save money through centralized contract and supplier profiles. Finally, he describes supply chain risk concepts through the stories of his recent engagements.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 textEvery user in a company has different needs when it comes to completing their jobs. The warehouse users, in particular, are worried about how fast they can move the goods and organize accordingly. Therefore, to be effective with warehousing operations and organization, you need tons of data that can help you analyze the most efficient way of running them. In today's episode, we have our guest, Roy Strauss, who describes WMS systems and how they can help meet your operational operating goals. He also discusses how to build an operating plan and how WMS systems can help monitor and measure the KPIs. Finally, he describes WMS concepts through the use of several stories from his client engagements.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 textAutomation technologies are advancing at a rapid pace. There are tons of options available whether you are looking to automate some of the operations of your production process. Or you may be automating process steps such as trailer unloading that are essential but may not be billable. And the more repeatable tasks you can automate in your facility, the better quality products you can produce, and the more cost-effective your products will be. But to take full advantage of these technologies, you need your information systems to be fully connected and integrated.In today's episode, we have our guest, Jake Hall, who discusses the current state of automation and challenges with its adoption in manufacturing industries. He also discusses the reasons for the success and failures of automation initiatives and describes several automation technologies available for industrial manufacturers and distributors. Finally, he shares several stories of where automation technologies make sense and where they might be overkill.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 textTo understand the total cost of ownership of software, one of the critical pieces that you need to understand would be the software license and pricing. There are several nuances of the licensing model with several variables that could impact your total costs. The licensing and pricing nuances could be as simple as whether you are buying a single-user or multi-user license, or it could be as complex as whether you would still be paying for your license if the user leaves the company.In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise in selling and procuring software packages to discuss software licensing/pricing. We also discussed several variables that executives need to review to understand their implications and how that would impact the total price. Finally, we discussed the difference between named vs. concurrent licenses and the nuances of consumption-based pricing.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 game has completely changed when it comes to serving customers in the new world of e-commerce. The personal touch that existed in the traditional world may not exist in the e-commerce world. The customers also operate in self-serve mode, so they need a lot of information to research and make decisions. You might think that the role of salespeople may not be relevant in the new world of e-commerce, but their role is even more relevant as they need to become coaches and provide the same hand-holding as they would get in the traditional world.In today's episode, we invited a panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise implementing e-commerce websites to discuss customer service strategies. We also discussed the challenges with e-commerce customer service and how it differs from traditional customer service. Finally, we discussed the effective ways of measuring customer service and the newer trends and technologies available to improve customer service.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 vital could bookkeeping be? Isn't it all about capturing all the transactions and creating a bunch of statements to file taxes? Well, strategic financial planning is where your real opportunities reside. If you are not strategic about it, you may be chasing wrong opportunities that may not have as much financial value as you would if you were strategic with your bookkeeping.In today's episode, we have our guest, Jeannie Doherty, who discusses how strategic bookkeeping differs from tactical bookkeeping. She also describes the five pillars of strategic bookkeeping and how most owners think of bookkeeping as numbers 101. Finally, she discusses how to find comparable industry data to lead the negotiation and keep your costs in check and how to do budgeting and spend analysis to create the strategic financial framework that will help you scale.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 textToday's consumer requires most stores to provide the same experience that they will get from larger brands. These experiences could include click-and-collect, also known as buy-online-pick-up-at-store, integrated loyalty across channels, and omnichannel experience across all the channels. These experiences require you to have your inventory centralized and reconciled across channels. Or there will be friction to the process with significant customer experience issues such as not buying the product on the site that consumers may be looking for. These issues could also include delays with shipment at the store or challenges with traceability of the order. In today's episode, we have our guest, Jason Greenwood, who discusses the nuances of the click and collect process and why you need to centralized inventory and distribution strategy to enable this experience. He also provides some easy hacks on how brands can enable this experience without having a true technology and operational infrastructure to enable this experience. Finally, he discusses several scenarios and implications if the businesses might not have a true click and collect experience system.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.