Over the years I have been lucky enough to meet with many brilliant entrepreneurs. Most of these are business owners and I work for one as well at CIS. These individuals see the vision of where they want the business to be and are typically experts in selling their ideas, products, and services. Some also have the vision of how they want their internal systems to work, but most of the time they just have a high level idea of the output needed to determine the health of the business and if their vision is working. Often times the infrastructure to support the vision is just not there and in the end the business struggles, staff work overtime, and profitability is small due to the increased labor costs needed to support the business. It is hard to look at growth as a bad thing in the business world, but as most of us know, it can put you in a tough spot if you are not ready for it. So whether you’re just starting out or have been going for years, is important.
Managed growth is critical to a business whether you’re a new venture or are an established business ready to expand operations. We’ve all heard of businesses that were thrust into the media spotlight, or otherwise stumbled upon success, and discovered that it can really be hard to keep up with customer service and client demand. Of course most businesses grow by the hard work and diligence of the entrepreneur and their team working toward the vision. Maintaining any type of success can be especially difficult when servers overload due to volumes of Internet traffic or when supply chains can’t keep up with demand for the raw materials needed to create your product. Although this might seem like a great problem to have, the risk of failure is equally great. If you aren’t prepared for business growth and opportunities, you risk poor customer service and response when it’s most needed, which could result in bad press, loss of clients, and loss of revenue.
Without a crystal ball, how do you watch metrics, spot growth trends, and make the tough decisions needed to be a successful, competitive business? You could have several different business software packages and labor costs for the staff monitoring all aspects of the business or you could start with . Microsoft Dynamics GP has virtually unlimited customizable reports that will give you information on the financial health of all aspects of your business. You can watch current metrics and make changes in budget, client demands, and address other business needs as they arise.
Take a look at the images below. These are just TWO examples of the power of the Microsoft Dynamics GP software and Microsoft SQL database.
Microsoft Dynamics GP can take your business one-step further by comparing current activity with historical activity. This analysis provides contextual information that can be used to keep performance on track. Evaluating past activity can help fine tune future goals. Customized Business Alerts can also be created in the software that will notify you of business changes so you can make immediate decisions before significant issues arise. Imagine being able to watch business metrics and know whether performance is above or below a certain value in real time – and not have to wait for month-end or quarterly accounting reports.
Pair this great business software with a deployment option that meets your budget and / or staff skill set such as SaAS (software as a service), on-premise, , now we even offer . Seriously, there is a plethora of deployment options and I believe a company should look at these with an open mind. Do not rush into a contract without looking at the options and working with a firm that will give you an honest assessment of what works best for your business and why.
I of course market and sell Microsoft Dynamics GP and with that said, I will state that I am a bit of a GP cheerleader. I absolutely love selling this product. Microsoft spends a lot of money in development of this product, which means our customers have made a very good investment in a long term business software solution. It is extremely rare that I come across a prospect that has a vision we can not meet with GP. Whether a company is in manufacturing, wholesale distribution, financial services, members association or anything else (I ran out of industries to think of!), Microsoft Dynamics GP is a solution the entrepreneur needs to evaluate to see if it will match the long term business vision.
By Nancy Phillippi with Custom Information Services (CIS), . Your feedback and comments are welcome. Contact Nancy at nphillippi@customis.com or by phone at 817-640-0016 x 109.
