Your bottom line depends on your ability to exploit new business opportunities before your competitors do. Consider why a cloud system is needed to deal with this challenge:
- Every decision you make on the shop floor or in the field is closely tied to accounting—and every accounting decision requires heavy input from the shop floor, sales, and service departments. Wherever your employees are working, they need speedy access to all the information that’s relevant to the decision at hand.
- Mobile technology has certainly streamlined communication for manufacturers— but they still lack the real-time visibility they need to answer a question or make a critical decision.
Installed in one central location and accessible by an extended team via desktop computers, laptops, or mobile devices, hosted or cloud solutions are designed to meet these challenges.
True or False- All “cloud solutions” are equal
False. Many legacy ERP vendors from the 1990s have not updated their applications to be true cloud solutions. In some cases, they moved their legacy software onto a server where they “host” it and provide access over the internet by way of adapter software. This is not true cloud software; it’s fake cloud software.
This is more than just a technicality. Fake cloud solutions can have severe consequences for those who use them, such as:
- Increased long-term ownership costs
- Hindered future business process improvements
- Difficulty accessing business data from the field
The bottom line: Not all legacy applications hosted on the internet are cloud software. Fake cloud software occurs when legacy applications are adapted and hosted on the internet, but never truly designed to be delivered and used via the cloud.
Eight Ways to Identify True Cloud Manufacturing Software
Even after you’ve identified what seems to be a viable
Here are eight things your cloud ERP solution must offer:
- Full functionality and reporting offered on common mobile devices as well as on the desktop
- Personalization
- Full integration of spreadsheets, data services, apps, and equipment
- Software that was built using modern, commonly available tools and standards
- The ability to pay by resource usage, not by the user
- Industry-standard security
- Deployment options
- Easy upgrades
Your manufacturing firm needs real-time visibility into sales, order management, inventory, purchasing, production and services—and accounting information.
Cloud solutions can help, but only if they’re built the right way. Before you consider implementing a
To do so, download the full whitepaper
Are you ready to evaluate Acumatica? Contact CAL Business Solutions at sales@calszone.com or 860-485-0910x4.
By CAL Business Solutions, Acumatica and Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner,