Client Testimonial – Austell

Client Testimonial – Austell

Find out what Francois and the team from Austell have to say about Sage 200 Evolution business partner Kiteview Technologies service and Sage 200 Evolution support.

About Kiteview
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.

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The Value Of Enterprise Management To Growing Businesses

The Value Of Enterprise Management To Growing Businesses

Article credit: Sage 

If you’ve been working in the business technology space, you may well have encountered the acronym ERP, and heard that this technology is a vital backbone to enterprises and mid-sized businesses.

Search for information on ERP, though, and it’s easy to get confused. This is because every vendor that says it sells ERP will have their own understanding of what the term means. If you dig deeper, you’ll find the way ERP is used by businesses can vary widely depending on the industry it’s part of.

ERP stands for enterprise resource planning – but this isn’t helpful in describing what it should or could do for your organisation.

Instead, we believe you should think of good examples of ERP as enterprise management software – allowing growing, medium and large businesses to manage vital day-to-day processes such as inventory management, accounting, human resources and customer relationship management (CRM).

At the most basic level, you can say enterprise management software supports how different business units work by sharing information through a shared database.

How can enterprise management software be powerful for your business?

This depends on the needs of your business and industry it’s part of – and that’s why implementations of ERP can vary so much.

However, we can drill down to some of the core ways enterprise management software can help employees of all organisations work more effectively through smashing the barriers between business units.

It allows you to see your data in a single place

Instead of using multiple pieces of software to get information, integration into one single database allows managers to see what’s happening to every side of the business – from finance and HR to sales, inventory and distribution.

It can update data in real time

It can be invaluable for managers and employees to see a global, real-time view of data. Without enterprise management, you might not know how much inventory a business has and what it requires at a given moment in time. For many industries, such as manufacturing and distribution, this information is crucial.

It can help maintain existing customers and find new ones

With one source of information for both billing and relationship tracking, it allows a business to serve customers better, as well as automate certain processes, which can free up time for employees to spend on more useful activities.

Problems with ERP

One reason why there seems to be confusion around ERP is due to the changes in the way the software has been implemented in the past.

ERP has been criticised for taking a long time to implement, as well as being expensive and difficult to use.

Also, many businesses would naturally have their own specific requirements for an ERP solution, which would require extra customisation and the need for more money to be spent.

Today though, we have enterprise management software that is much more robust and comprehensive than the ERP solutions we’ve seen in the past, supporting more functions within an organisation that are very often industry-specific.

Also, in the past decade, software-as-a-service or cloud computing has made enterprise management software easier to implement for organisations that want to see both short and long-term business benefits, with prices falling for newer and mid-sized businesses.

However, do consider that many companies (particularly in the enterprise space) will still opt for on-premise solutions due to their specific business requirements.

What’s right for your business?

Clearly, business leaders that want a successful enterprise management software solution need to do the right research, determining what their requirements are beforehand – with all relevant stakeholders involved.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for an enterprise management software initiative – it all depends on what the goals and objectives of the business in question are.

However, if you’re thinking about enterprise management for your growing organisation, here are some basic tips to get started.

Get the support you need 

A new enterprise management software implementation is a big decision for any organisation, so it’s important that there is boardroom or upper management support. Obviously, they don’t need to know every technical detail but they should at least be aware of issues that delay or could cause problems for a project.

Have a clear list of requirements

You’ll need to understand the scope of the project, the specific business processes that will be affected and the technical requirements required. This means it will be much easier for enterprise management software vendors to tailor proposals that match what you need.

Think about usability, mobile users and security

You want your employees to successfully use the system you choose, so make sure you bring in a solution that is easy to use. Make sure mobile and security are considered – you’ll likely have people trying to access your shiny new enterprise management system via a smartphone or outside of the office.

Carefully evaluate your options

Make sure you pick an enterprise management software solution that works for your business, rather make any kind of decision based on big promises and a dazzling sales pitch. You need to use the research as well as input from stakeholders to make a judgement that provides you with a system that is accepted and used by your employees.

Understand what you want to customise and why

Reputable vendors will generally offer enterprise management software solutions that are customisable, or ready for the demands of different industries. The business objectives and demands for retailers for instance, might be very different from advertising firms.

Enterprise management must help your firm

Enterprise management software is increasingly being adopted by small to mid-sized businesses. If it’s cloud-based, it’s cost-effective and easy to deploy, which means companies won’t need huge budgets to deploy enterprise-class technology.

The real future of enterprise management software isn’t about new technology but which applications can immediately help your business and make a difference, fast.

Choose an option that is flexible, easy-to-use and updated regularly, and which fits in with the demands of your industry.

About Us
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.

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Client Testimonial – InnoVent

Client Testimonial – InnoVent

Find out what David and the team from InnoVent have to say about Sage Evolution business partner Kiteview Technologies service and Sage Evolution support.

About Kiteview
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.

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How To Create Better Supply Chains And Achieve Global Success

How To Create Better Supply Chains And Achieve Global Success

Article credit: Sage 

The success of a business is inextricably linked to the success of its supply chain. It’s the crucial process that starts with raw materials and finishes with the delivery of the final product.

Supply chains can range in size and complexity. With a product such as coffee, for example, it could involve steps including cultivation, production, processing, transportation and distribution.

Businesses needs to deliver services and goods as efficiently as possible to meet the requirements of demanding customers and their changing needs in the digital age.

Improvements in the supply chain can save a lot of money. For instance, airline manufacturer Boeing recently reached a deal with Mitsubishi Heavy to reduce the cost of producing wings for its 787 Dreamliner by “pursuing increased efficiency in its production system and supply chain through lean production methods, automation and other activities”.

According to a survey from Deloitte, 79% of companies with high-performing supply chains achieve revenue growth greater than the average.

Fundamentally, businesses compete through the capabilities of their supply chains. They determine how they plan, source, make and deliver goods. They also determine the cost and quality of a product, as well as the agility it has in responding to customer and market needs.

With digital, the global market is only getting bigger, which means competition is doing the same. In a 2016 report by GT Nexus, 40% of senior manufacturing executives reported that a supply chain disruption impacted their business in the 12 months previous.

Business leaders are exploring ways to get and stay ahead of the competition but there are also ways they are being challenged by a changing marketplace. For example:

  • Customers are more digitally savvy, which means they have higher expectations when it comes to the availability of products, and the time between order and delivery.
  • A global marketplace means more competition from around the world.
  • Regulations in many industries are being tightened up.
  • Technology such as sensors and analytics are increasingly available, allowing businesses to predict customer demand and distribute products more efficiently and effectively.

Successful supply chain management

To face up to these issues, business leaders and managers will want an effective supply chain management strategy that allows them to control the flow of goods and services across the company.

To help, we spoke to Dr Muddassir Ahmed, a supply chain management expert who has written extensively on the topic. He believes there are four key pillars to a successful supply chain management strategy, which can allow businesses to take charge of their supply chains, keep up with customer demand and increase profit.

Pillar 1: People

If you’re a business leader, you shouldn’t need in-depth technical knowledge to understand what’s happening at every level and area of the business. To make informed decisions and think strategically about the supply chain, you should count on experts hired for specialised analytical tasks.

Muddassir says: “If you work with a business analyst on your supply chain management strategy, you’re free to spend more time defining the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the company, maintaining their development plans and making informed decisions that drive profits up.”

What you need to do:

Spread out the responsibility! Get experts in to help make informed decisions at every level and area of the business.

Pillar 2: Systems

As well as expert analysis, businesses need the technology to plan, forecast and handle inventory alongside financial information related to the supply chain. As a business leader, you’ll need to evaluate what business software is most suitable for your needs.

For example, a small company could initially be fine with spreadsheets to handle accounting information, forecast and track inventory. However, as it grows, it will encounter critical business challenges – with such basic tools, it won’t be able to perform necessary actions such as gauge what stock is required, or predict future growth.

Nick Castellina, vice president and research group director for the Aberdeen Group, says: “If you have too much of a product and it goes unsold, that’s a cost to the business. Conversely, if you don’t have enough product, you’re missing out on business.”

If your company has expanded in size, and it’s a struggle to manage your supply chain, you should be asking these questions, with feedback from all relevant teams:

  • What system or solution do we need to run the business?
  • Can we make accurate forecasts about our supply chain and future growth?
  • What are our business requirements today and in the future?
  • What are the key business challenges we need to solve?

Options include dedicated accounting software, while larger businesses will typically migrate to ERP or enterprise management solutions, when it becomes apparent these challenges exist.

What you need to do:

Ask questions of your company. Understand your needs and demands, which will help you with picking the right systems that will allow you to work most effectively.

Pillar 3: Processes

Simply having the right technology isn’t enough when it comes to managing the supply chain. As a business leader, you’ll need to set plans in motion to analyse how your company operates, providing training for all the systems we’ve already mentioned. It’s key to keep up with customer demands and market changes.

With the support of technology and your analyst, you’re in a good position to examine your firm’s financial information and inventory data. Key questions you should ask include:

  • What are the cost of your processes and how long should they take?
  • How long does it take to send customers products?
  • What is the overall productivity of your workforce?

“Look at how things are changing in the business and validate your gut feeling with real numbers,” says Nick. “The point could be to prioritise individual parts of the organisation you want to get more of.”

If you find that process prevents your supply chain from being efficient and effective as it should be, make sure you’re providing the right training for your teams on the front line.

What you need to do:

Look at your company processes. Make sure that employees are working in effective ways, and whether your supply chain is working as it should be.

Pillar 4: Execution

If your supply chain management strategy is working, then you’ll likely find customer satisfaction rates are up, supply chain costs are down, employees are using core systems and processes, and profits are being maximised across the whole business.

But this isn’t a quick fix – as a business leader, you’ll find that you’re spending much of your time working out how to achieve your key business objectives. You should also open yourself to the possibility you will fail – and learn from mistakes.

The key to good execution and the meeting of business goals is to make informed supply chain decisions based on accurate data. Inaccurate data may lead to assumptions that are simply wrong.

Nick says: “If you make supply chain decisions based on inaccurate information, about product costs or needs of the customer, for example, your decisions could reduce rather than grow the profits of the business. Make decisions based on data you trust and review results regularly.”

What you need to do:

Make informed supply chain decisions based on accurate data, and review the results of these decisions regularly.

The future of the supply chain

New technology is changing the way businesses manage their supply chains. The Internet of Things, for example, can allow enterprise managers to see and understand what’s happening on the factory floor in real time.

Muddassir says: “In the past, if I wanted to do a study in how long it takes for my warehouse people to pick stock, I would have needed to ask them to fill in a form which stated when they started to pick the product and when they stopped.

“Now you can find how long they take by using devices like internet-connected trackers, connected to an enterprise management or ERP system. This technology is becoming more useable and widely available.”

Supply chains can hold a large proportion of many company’s costs. An effective supply chain management strategy allows companies to respond to new market-growth opportunities and help them navigate economic uncertainty, financial volatility, the impact of globalisation and the constant pace of change.

About Us
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.

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Top 3 Tips To Grow South African Businesses In 2019

Top 3 Tips To Grow South African Businesses In 2019

Article credit: Sage 

2019 is well underway, bringing with it a range of risks and opportunities for startups and growing businesses. Some of the challenges your business will face – a volatile rand, Eskom load shedding, tax and labour laws – are beyond your control. To thrive this year, focus on what you can control by optimising your operations and enhancing productivity.

Growing your business is all about efficient use of staff, scaling business systems and processes, and using data more effectively. The beginning of a new year is an ideal opportunity to review and enhance your business to iron out glitches in productivity and maximise profits.

Here are a few tips about how you can evaluate and improve processes and technology.


opportunities_to_grow_small_businesses

 

1. Identify where poor-fitting or old technology is slowing you down

Begin with a thorough review of processes and technology to identify key potential wins. If your business has been going for a few years, you may have old technology in place that was right for the time, but which is a bad fit for your current and future requirements.

Even if your business is relatively new, there might be opportunities to streamline processes further or to introduce technologies that offer you better visibility into business performance.

For example, you might be using spreadsheets to manage inventory or your payroll, which is time-intensive, error-prone and inefficient, or your accounting system may not integrate with your e-commerce and inventory management systems.

If you find that you or your team are spending a lot of time on manual processes or on capturing data across multiple systems, you probably have some opportunities to automate. For example, a payroll solution can manage your payslips and SARS submissions with the press of a button. An affordable accounting solution can let you easily generate invoices, quotes and VAT returns.

2. Set goals for process and technology improvement 

Once you have identified the pain points in your business, you should evaluate what you want technology to do for you. Is the goal to free up more time for your team to focus on activities that produce more income? Try to quantify the hours you wish to save and how they will be reinvested in the growth of the business.

Do you want to improve your insight into the performance of your business? Think about which financial metrics you want to measure, and which data and tools can provide the insights you need. Perhaps you want to improve the customer experience, in which case you should look at how CRM systems could give you better insights, enabling you to respond to and even predict your customers’ needs.

Here are some ideas:

  • Automating manual processes: Make better use of your people by reducing their workload and offloading the trivial, repetitive tasks while freeing up their time and creativity for tasks that continue to grow the business.
  • Data analytics and intelligence: Ensure not only that everyone can see the data they need when they need it, but also that the data is current. This allows a predictive approach to opportunities and problems.
  • Improving accessibility: Ensure data is shared across departments and that it’s available to all 24/7, across all kinds of technologies, including mobile devices.

 

3. Identify the right tools and solutions for the job 

With so many business solutions to choose from, it can be difficult to decide where to invest and how to prioritise. Some factors you should consider as you look at possible solutions include:

Integration: Ensure the systems you set up today can be integrated with third-party solutions in the future, and that they can easily integrate with your customer and vendor systems. For example, an integrated payroll and accounting solution will save hours because you won’t need to capture payroll transactions twice. 

Scalability: Look for a system that not only meets your needs today, but  can also evolve with your business. By automating today with the right solution, you can avoid growing pains and the need for further complex integrations and implementations down the line. 

Mobility: Business today should not be limited to office hours or physical boundaries. Look for a solution that puts your customers’ and financial information in the palm of your hand. This will enable you to work remotely and boost productivity and responsiveness.

Changing to fast, agile and efficient is not easy, but it’s essential to enable scalability. High-growth firms aren’t stuck with balls and chains around their ankles, holding them back. They have typically built efficient, automatic processes and are using new technology with a light human touch to focus on the business essentials.

About Us
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.

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