It’s remarkable how often, when two differently resourced organisations tackle the same problem, the one with fewer resources will deliver a product that is as effective as the other but is easier to use and also less costly.

Operating in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, we’ve never had the luxury of supplying business solutions to a market that could afford complex offerings that take years to implement and entail months of intensive user training.

So when our customers started growing and asking for a system that could go beyond accounting and give them the benefits of enterprise resource planning (ERP), we knew we had to keep the system both simple – in terms of being easy to implement and use – and affordable, in terms of minimising consultancy requirements and total cost of ownership.

We succeeded so well that the system can happily scale up to 1 000 users while being operational within a month and costing less than half of competitor products.

And we achieved that by ensuring that the basics that had always worked so well in our accounting products – financials, payroll, human resources, and purchase order and procurement management – formed the heart of any additional functionality we provided. To use a piece of jargon, we ensured that the best practice we had perfected in accounting was transferred into the broader ERP solutions we developed.

That, in turn, meant that additional functionality was automatically based on best practice without complicating the use of the software in any way.

Then, we created a software development kit (SDK) that third party software developers could use to develop niched, customer-specific applications to run on our products. That way, customers could get what they wanted without having to pay for functionality in the main system that they would never use.

And we created separate, pre-integrated modules covering universally applicable disciplines, such as business intelligence, that customers could acquire when they were ready.

In other words, through the sheer necessity of keeping our installed base happy (and, thereby, ensuring continued organic growth for ourselves), we unwittingly stripped the mystique out of ERP. We acted on our belief that ERP is just a single system for running the whole of your business.

It doesn’t have to be complex. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be expensive. And it certainly is not something mysterious to which only certain software vendors have the magic key.

You see, there’s money to be made wherever there is mystery – and for too many years ERP systems have been shrouded in awe. And with that has come an enormous price tag and the myth that ERP is suitable only for very large organisations – that are able to afford them and have the extensive internal information technology (IT) resources to manage and maintain them.

The great irony is that we proved the opposite to be true not because we set out to do so but because we just got on with doing a job our customers needed us to do. Common sense prevailed – to the benefit of our customers as well as ourselves.

So, the next time you’re in a conversation with a vendor about implementing ERP for your SME, think twice if the implementation is going to take longer than a month…

Call us on 04 3594459 or email us at alroman@eim.ae, or even better, you can speak to our customers, who have implemented the solution.

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Wishing all our customers a prosperous and

happy new year – 2012.

Al Roman Technologies LLC - UAE 40th National Day.

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Keep your eyes on the cash flow

No matter how much collateral you have, your business will fail if you can’t pay the bills. You need cash on hand to pay the rent, electricity and other fees. Having millions of rands tied up in property, forthcoming orders, bank loan promises or clients who owe you money, will not help you with the cash you need now. Implementing an accounting program will go a long way in helping with overall financial management of the business.

Target your sales

Research has shown that business owners who focus on sales have a better chance of survival. Of course you must not neglect the other functions of your enterprise but sales must come first. Don’t worry if you feel that you haven’t the smooth-talking salesman personality. Integrity, commitment and a strong customer relationship management (CRM) system that tracks leads, hot contacts, etc will all breed sales success.

Prepare a finance strategy

One of the ironies of the business world is that when you don’t need finance it is readily available but as soon as you urgently need it, the money fountain has dried up. So if you can, it’s advised to make financial arrangements during the good times in preparation for the bad.
• Collect credit cards
• Raise excess capital
• Apply for a bank loan and extend your business overdraft
• Open up accounts with your suppliers

Find new clients

It is easy to get comfortable with just having one or two main clients. You know them well, can service their needs and they keep you ticking over. This is very dangerous as you have no control over what could happen to their business. Focus energy on seeking out new clients so that if one falls away the orders from others can keep you going.

Develop systems

In the beginning the business owner will be taking on all the tasks from answering telephones to sales. It is important to extricate yourself from doing all these tasks so that you are free to expand your business. The trick to doing this is to employ systems. This allows for delegation and automation of including book keeping, accounting and customer relationship management (CRM). As the owner you will end up with the overall management of each system instead of performing the tasks within them. Of course it’s imperative to maintain systems!

Be serious about your business skills

Running a good pizzeria depends on more than a light crusty base and imported Italian cheese toppings. The best pizza-maker in the world can still be a total failure as a business man. If you want to be successful do not only focus on your craft, build your business acumen and go on courses like Pastel Accounting’s broad range of product related training programmes.

Time-out

Business owners may well live for their enterprises and it does require hard work but take a break. Not only will a holiday revitalise your stamina and creativity but it will test your business’s robustness. If you come back from a trip and everything is still intact this is a good sign that your systems are strong and independent. A business that constantly needs your attention so that things don’t go wrong is unstable and vulnerable.