Saturday, February 13, 2010

Reasons to Implement ERP

Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) is one of the most excellent application software in the industry. ERP integrates all the functional departments in an organization and ensures smooth flow of communication between the inter departments. This piece of writing gives you some of the details of the ERP and how it helps the organization to streamline the business processes.

Integrates the Inter Departments
ERP is robust enough to integrate all the departments in an organization such as accounting, finance, production, inventory, sales and human resources. The integrated environment gets all the functional departments under single umbrella and enables the platform for the effective data flow. ERP demands employee productivity in the streamlined environment.

Decision Support System
Relevant information is the crucial factor to take the informed decisions. If there is no timely information available to the business owner, it is very difficult to take the decisions unanimously. As ERP application get all the functional departments under the same database, getting the relevant information would be very easy. This leaves the business owner take the right decisions in the process.

Return on Investment
Getting profits are the inherent aim of any company. After all, it is the profits that keep the company in the market. Improving Return on Investment is very important factor for any company. With the implementation of ERP applications, the productivity of the employees would be increased. Of course, there is direct relation ship between the Employee productivity and the profitability of the company. ERP makes the employees to become more proactive to achieve the company’s goals as a team. With the implementation of the ERP application, the business environment would become more transparent to each and every employee in the system. This transparent environment creates some kind of urgency in employee mind so that they will utilize their time more productively. All these things directly or indirectly affect the Return on Investment in a positive manner.


These are the advantages you can get by implementing an ERP applications in the business environment.

ERP for Manufacturing Companies

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), a most desired application by manufacturing companies. Manufacturing is the most challenging environment and it is very difficult to manage the processes once the company starts growing rapidly. In this situation, most of the business owners try to adopt the latest and most lively applications to ease the difficult situation. ERP is one software application that will automate the entire business processes so that there will be smooth flow of communication between the inter departments.

In the production environment, the production manager has to take care of the scheduling the work orders. Work order tracking is the most challenging issue for the production manager if there is no proper automated system in place. To schedule the process in the production environment, the production manager needs to hold the information on the machinery strengths and capability of the resources. Due to lack of information, it is very difficult to the business manager to schedule the work orders and get the results on timely basis. This ultimately leads to the higher lead times to get the final product. ERP implementation with the help of supply chain management software automates the entire production process and helps the production manager to track the work orders in the system. This will give the opportunity to schedule the work orders properly get the results on time.

The production environment is considered to be the backbone of the manufacturing company. If the business owners don’t have the relevant information on the product resources and capabilities, it is very difficult for him to take the further decisions like increasing the man power and procuring the new machinery etc. If the business owner knows the capabilities of the production resources, he can easily evaluate the resource strengths against the output. This is where the business owner decides to go for utilizing the existing resources optimally or bring the new resources to increase the productivity and profitability of the company.

If you track the origin of the ERP, it is actually designed to plan the manufacturing resources and later on, the application has been expanded to take care of the entire functional departments in the organization.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Avoid the Cash Flow Crisis in the Start-Up Companies

Entrepreneurship is one of the most desired professions in this world. There are many people, who plan to start companies around the world. There is a tremendous pressure on the entrepreneurs in the initial stages of the business venture. The critical issue they face is the cash flow problem. This article gives you a brief picture on the cash flow crisis in the start-up companies.

Cash Flow is the money that comes into the business from the customers and goes out by spending on important activities in a specified period of time. Why most of the companies fail in the initial stages just because of the cash flow problem? The answer is simple and straightforward for this question. It is just because of concentrating on other insignificant things rather than finding customers.

Yes, finding the customer is what the solution for this problem. Until and unless the business owner finds the customers who pay the money for services, he will struggle in the cash flow crisis and that eventually leads to winding up the company. The customer is the only source to pump in the money to the business survival. You can get a business loan from a bank by having a comprehensive business plan but what is the use of the business loan if you don’t find the customer for your services or products.

Especially for service oriented firms, having initial customers are very important. If there are no customers, the resources in the company including the business owner sit idle and this is not at all a good sign for the company. So, get the initial customers to survive in the business.

Most of the people start thinking about setting an office without having customers in hand. This is a bad strategy. If you don’t have customers to pump in money, it is a foolish strategy to spend all rest of money of the office setting and other insignificant things. Just think for a while, which is the most important aspect; is it the customer or having an office? Of course, you need to have office to make sure you need to show your credentials to the customers but what the use of the office if there are no customers in hand. It is something like spending whole the money you are left with in the initial stages of the start up on insignificant things.


So, focus on getting the customers in the initial phase. If you get the customers, the customer money will take care of everything you need such as an office building, other resources. Finding the customers is the only solution to avoid the cash flow crises in the initial stages of the start up

Important Aspects in Starting a Business

Most of the individuals, who always dream to build something on own to stand aloof from the other people in the world. . The first question always come to the mind is that what are the Important Aspects in Starting a Business? This piece of writing renders you the answer to this frequently asked question by budding entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur is an individual, who dreams to do something innovative so that he can serve the people and in turn earn tons of money. Yes, is the ability to make something different is what the foremost ingredient of entrepreneurs. They always try to achieve that ‘something innovative’ in their life. To achieve that they leave everything in their life starting from the handsome salary they have been drawing in an eminent company.

Idea:
Innovative idea is always plays a major role in the business. It does not require having an innovative idea always to start a company. If you find any need gap in that market, you can just strive to get the solution to fill that need gap. Sometimes, you can just copy the other business models and try to implement innovative execution process to become successful. What ever you call it, an idea is very important to become an entrepreneur.

Money:
Money is an important factor in the startup. If you are unable to survive the business get the breakthrough, you will not achieve the breakthrough. Keep sufficient amount of money in the initial stages and keep yourself busy in getting customer.

Getting Customer:
Most of the entrepreneurs keep themselves busy in fitting office and registering the company name but they need to realize the most important aspect here is getting customer. If you have a great idea and planning to start a company, you essentially think about getting the first customer. Till you get at least two to three customers, never think about setting an office and other administration work. Once you get the customers, it is obvious that the money will be flowing into the company. If you have the customers in hand, setting an office is not a challenging issue at all. After all, it is the customer money that will keep you in the business. Clearly define the priorities and start working on them.

Mentor:
Having a mentor from the initial stages is very important aspect. Most of the entrepreneurs do not have the idea on running a company. The mentor can give you the required tips to survive in the business in the initial stages. According to the research conducted, it is the mentoring, that has given highest priority in the business.

Business Networking
People are the best resources to build the company. You need to know what is happening in the market to pitch your products. If you have contacts in the market, you will get the details on the potential customers who are looking the services similar to your offerings. Try to attend as many social events as possible to get to know many people in the market.


All these things are most important aspects in the business. If you clearly define priorities as a business owner, it is not difficult to build a company.

Entrepreneurship- Who is an Entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurship is a risky career for many people but for some, it is the way of fulfilling the dreams. An Entrepreneur is somebody who always strives to do something different and innovative. As many people always say they it takes money to become an entrepreneur but is it is not always true. Yes, it doesn’t take money always to become an entrepreneur. It takes a lot of persistence, determination and willingness to do something different is what matters most.

Entrepreneurship is not only meant for some of the educated individuals; anybody who has got an innovative idea or solution to fulfill a need gap in the market can become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneur might face a lot of challenges in the initial stages of the start-up. It is the persistence and perseverance that make the entrepreneur to be focused on the far horizon. As an entrepreneur, you need to take care of many different things at the time of the start up. It is important that as an entrepreneur, you need to have support form your family and friends. This support gives you courage to make things done in your own way.

Before planning to start your own firm, you need to do a lot of things as it is mandatory to analyze each and every situation that can affect your start-up. Be it money, market research, finding a mentor or getting the partner; you need to be utmost careful in all these situations. All these things matter a lot and all these things can affect the start up either positive way or negative way. It is the responsibility of the entrepreneur to ensure all these things to work for him and against him.

There are many other issues you need to analyze before going to zero in on an idea. An idea may be wonderful in your view but if the customer does not require your service or the product based on your wonderful idea, it does not make any sense to go ahead with the same. So, market research is what the solution that will make you decide on the idea. Be clear on your idea. It is better if you get some hands on experience before getting into the business. It is not always fun to enter into the business; it takes a lot of smart work that backed by the cash flow.

Unless you maintain the cash flow in the initial days, your company may not survive in this competitive environment. Business is all about serving the need gaps and getting the money to survive. To conclude, Entrepreneurship is a profession that comes out of the individual life experience.