SPONSORED CONTENT: Has your business outgrown Quickbooks?

    Sponsored by Systems Services Incorporated

    As your company grows, technology upgrades are essential. How many different platforms are you currently using to manage your business? Maybe one system for inventory control, another for accounting, one more for your customer service, and still another for communication, ticketing, ecommerce, CRM, or more? It may be time for you to streamline with an Enterprise Resource Planning system. We consulted Kyle Robinson, a business development expert, at Systems Services Inc. to learn how true ERP is accessible for small- to medium-sized businesses.

    Make it comprehensive. Your business needs a one-stop solution: no more interfaces between different software required. Kyle says, “by using a suite of business applications including sales, CRM, project management, warehouse management, manufacturing, financial management, and human resources, you can consolidate from four or five systems to just one.”

    Prepare for growth. Your system should be tailored to fit your specific business needs. “Odoo is ERP software, so the apps work seamlessly together,” Kyle says. “You can upgrade or downgrade the subscription to different modules at any time just by flipping them on or off. Customers often want to tiptoe into new technology, so for example you may want to try out the CRM or quoting system without committing to a major change like accounting. When you decide to move forward with accounting, your customer list is already there fully integrated and ready to go.”

    Automate it. If you’re still sending quotes or invoices on spreadsheets, Kyle advises, it’s time to go digital. “It saves time for your customers and increases your company’s productivity,” he says. Businesses that have integrated technology and use digital documents and signatures are able to vastly cut down on lag time and eliminate human error. “We routinely see multimillion-dollar companies in every industry run by spreadsheets, and we make it our job to eliminate them through affordable process automation.”

    Take it to the Cloud. Protecting your data is key. Maintaining in-house servers gets costly, since it requires an IT staff and could be risky should anything happen to the server. “The trend is real and isn’t going away,” Kyle warns. “The on-premise purchase of servers and software is going away very quickly.” It’s best to move to a cloud-based solution for your data to be stored in multiple locations. The benefit of redundancy is this: Even if one area is affected, your operations don’t have to suffer, and data remains accessible no matter what happens—it’s a system called de-duplication.

    Measure results. Because the systems are all operating and communicating in sync, your records are kept together and are easily accessible. No more siloed data. Measuring results is simple with access to analytics that help you dig deeper and yield better financial results.

    Schedule a consultation. Streamlining your systems gives you a leg up on the competition. Your company can run more cost effectively by consolidating and automating processes. Consulting a pro to assess your workflow will save you big in the long run. “Often in order to qualify a project we need to understand their business, tour a warehouse, or see their production environment,” Kyle says. The first step is scheduling a consultation. Simply call 225-769-1979 or email Kyle directly at kyle@ssibtr.com.