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As I review “As Is” business processes at new mid-size customers I constantly run into applications that claimed to be “integrated”. Customers have environments that have integrated CRM, Accounting, Inventory, Job Costing, Project Management, etc. However, rarely are these software systems truly integrated. Behind the thin veil of “integration” is often a mess of data batching, incongruent information, orphaned data, re-keying of information and always lots and lots of spreadsheets cobbled together to try and make sense of it. But the marketplace is full of “integrated software” claims so who can tell the difference or fathom the ramifications when you are researching and making a choice. So let’s take a look at what “integrated” can actually mean.
The amount of paper used by businesses today is staggering. While the movement towards a paperless office has picked up over the past decade, there are still many ways you can reduce paper consumption. The reality is: often paperless is truly just less paper, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Automation in sales and marketing should be about improving the ability to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time via the right channel.
For years, industry and analysts have been touting the benefits of integrated systems that would improve the decision-making process by taking information from disparate functions and processes and organizing it efficiently. Strides continue to be made in driving efficiencies throughout the organization through just this sort of thought: Inventory and purchasing systems, payroll and HR systems, HVAC and fire systems, door entry and VOIP systems all coming together in solutions that drive productivity by correlating the data that these formerly disparate systems generated.
Project Accounting, sometimes referred to as job cost accounting, is the practice of creating financials specifically to track the financial progress of projects. Project Accounting enables the professional services organization to monitor the progress of their projects from a financial position, separately from standard organizational accounting such as by departments, divisions or by company, which are tracked over time periods, typically weeks, months, quarters or years. Projects frequently cross these boundaries as they may last from a few days to years.
Professional Services Automation (PSA) software includes a number of high level benefits. We can whittle this down into three groups of benefits; streamlining operations and execution, improving business performance and winning more business.
Every asset, machine, tool and person you have must be accountable and cycle more quickly. Your business cannot survive unless you know where your resources are and how they can be used efficiently. Imagine being able to view where your people and equipment are at any moment so that you can plan to intelligently dispatch them to the next job.
No matter what kind of change you are trying to invoke in your business; there are five key considerations to address to give you the best chance for success. According to Dave Gustafson, NIATx (process improvement specialists) Director, these are the five most important factors in predicting organizational change improvement success.
Author: Tasha Caruso TELUS Talks Business