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Case Study – Healthcare – Skyway Behavioral Health
Start Up Requiring Robust Infrastructure – From Planning to Implementation
The 7 Irresistible Qualities of Cloud ERP
Learn why ERP tools are an critical component for many businesses.
Why a Business Continuity Plan is Essential
Learn why your company needs a business continuity plan.
Ransomware 101
If you’re looking for ways to stop ransomware dead in its tracks, the experts at CCS Technology are here to help.
How managed services make the difference
Learn more about the benefits of partnering with a managed services provider.
Cloud Services and the SMB Revolution
Learn more about how Cloud Services from CCS make your life easier.
Office 365 Migration Made Easy
Migrating over to Office 365 has never been easier with CCS Technology.
The Advantages of Working with I.T. Pros
Learn how working with a seasoned technology pro makes your work easier.
Closing Common Cybersecurity Holes
Learn several critical cybersecurity tips and tricks any SMB can use.
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Looking at 2020 Distribution Industry Trends with ERP in Mind
/in Blog, Distribution Industry, ERP Software /by Chris HigginsDistribution challenges loom as 2020 approaches. Issues include increased costs and unpredictable spending habits by the ever-more influential Millennial generation. Distribution businesses must keep up to meet their goals of continued growth. ERP software specialized for distribution offers a solution. Here is a selection of pressing trends in distribution that can be addressed by ERP.
An Increase in On-Demand Ecommerce
Consumers now expect to have the option to buy and receive goods from anywhere after placing orders from phones, cars and personal digital assistants like Alexa or Siri. Many of them demand same-day delivery. It’s not uncommon for retailers to offer two-day shipping, while Amazon offers next-day delivery to about 75% of the U.S. population. To compete, businesses must invest in logistics infrastructure improvements.
Acumatica cloud ERP facilitates this kind of on-demand experience. It incorporates a Customer Management Suite that enables businesses to respond quickly to requests, from first contact with a customer through the entire sales process. It also helps manage fulfillment, billing and after-sales service requests. Visibility into real-time sales data helps with forecasting while customers can access information via the Acumatica Customer Portal, thereby connecting CRM functionality with distribution operations.
A Shortage of Labor Resources
As logistics operations grow in size and complexity, the need for labor is increasing. But with low unemployment, it is becoming more difficult to find available workers who can fulfill the demand for same-day delivery, especially during peak shipping times like Christmas. Automation technologies are decreasing in cost at the same time. Robotics and software solutions are becoming essential in the logistics industry, just to stay competitive.
Acumatica streamlines logistics operations with accurate cost tracking, manual or automatic allocation of freight costs and management of multiple warehouses. It can factor in location-specific inventory, quantities and costs as well as help redistribute inventory from a central facility to other warehouses. Purchase orders can be automatically generated to replenish stock and sent to vendors with optimal prices and delivery times.
Tariffs on Foreign Goods Are Increasing Costs
Tariffs, particularly those on goods from China, are leading companies to relocate so they can sell products at affordable prices. Businesses are finding the need to rework their distribution models, modify their tracking systems and find new trading partners. At the same time, they must maintain their bottom lines, satisfy customer demand and keep up with their competitors.
With Acumatica, organizations can have full visibility into inventory, prices and cost-saving opportunities from a single data source. Reports can be accessed from anywhere, including on mobile devices, so data and analytics can be viewed in real-time via intuitive custom dashboards. Users can also see sales trends, product movement and market information.
Dashboards also provide useful information such as product and material replenishment, lot/serial numbers and shelf life and expiration dates along with details on the condition of stock, drop shipments and vendor selection and performance analyses. At the same time, the cloud ERP system reduces the risk of errors and avoids requiring data re-entry and reorganization. This improves control as companies rework their distribution processes.
Acumatica Distribution Edition
If you hope to grow your business or even stave off the ongoing threats that exist from competitors, you need an ERP solution designed for you.
Acumatica Distribution Edition delivers, giving your business control over their supply chain and logistics activities, including warehouse management, inventory management, and order management. Built in the cloud and customized for your needs, Acumatica helps companies improve customer satisfaction, reduce order times, and control costs across the entire supply and distribution chain.
Contact us to learn more.
Additional Distribution Resources
Benefits of ERP Software for Distribution Business Management
Making the Most of KPIs in Distribution
5 Reasons Distributors Need ERP Software
Create An Information Security Culture to Protect Your Data
/in Blog, Security /by Chris HigginsWho do you rely on to keep your data safe? If your answer is your information security team, you’re only half right. Because everyone can cause a security incident (and insiders, either accidentally or deliberately, are the biggest cause of data breaches), information security is everybody’s job. Making everyone realize that requires deliberately creating a culture of information security.
Obstacles to a Security Culture
There are two main obstacles to creating a security culture: your management and your employees.
Management often gives lip-service to the need for information security, but doesn’t practice what they preach. Executives are likely targets for phishing attacks, but they’re often exempt from security awareness training. Many still share passwords and rely on administrative staff to generate reports and access online systems for them.
Employees see management not practicing safe computing, and reasonably conclude it isn’t really a top priority. The security training they receive is often boring or superficial. Their direct managers often emphasize getting the work done, even if it means taking security shortcuts.
Both managers and employees usually understand information security to mean technology that prevents data breaches. Building a security culture means changing that understanding; if you define information security as being about reducing risk rather than preventing a breach, it is easier to see how it’s everyone’s responsibility.
Learn more in Don’t Let These Obstacles Get in the Way of Your IT Security.
Talking About Information Security Is Key
Although much security training is ignored by employees, having conversations about security is key to changing awareness and attitudes. Look into new ways to make training for interesting and more impactful; the “gamification” of training rewards employees for the effort they put into it.
It’s also important to not only teach employees about strong passwords, but explain why they matter: what are the risks and consequences when poor security practices enable a breach. It also requires having a clear process by which employees can report suspected phishing attempts or other security incidents.
In addition, provide tools and processes that help employees use safe computing practices—but use them wisely; restrictions in places where they don’t really make sense will lead to employees searching for workarounds. Have a strong password policy, and give employees access to a password manager so they don’t write them down. Make sure you have an efficient process to grant employees access credentials so they don’t need to share them.
Learn more in The cybersecurity employee training checklist.
Security Isn’t One and Done
The most important way to make security a part of your culture is to make it clear that it’s an ongoing process—employees haven’t fulfilled their security responsibility simply by attending a once-per-year presentation. Have fun quizzes and security tests throughout the year, with rewards for employees who do well or who report potential incidents.
Make your security culture even more effective by deploying security tools that support safe computing practices and reduce the number of threats that get near your employees. CCS Technology Group provides security services that help employees keep your data safe. Contact us to learn more.
Additional Cybersecurity Resources
The Key Features to Look for In Your Firewall
6 Ways to Keep Your Cloud Secure
Closing the Most Common Cybersecurity Holes
Hybrid Cloud Provides Increased Flexibility In How You Use Cloud Services
/in Blog, Cloud /by Chris HigginsOne of the biggest advantages of cloud is how flexible it is. You have flexibility in how many resources you have. You have flexibility in the type of cloud you use: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, or Software as a Service. You have flexibility in whether your cloud is public or private. You even have the flexibility to combine a public and private cloud to create a hybrid cloud that offers the benefit of both.
Public and Private Clouds
A public cloud resides on shared infrastructure maintained and managed by a cloud provider. You don’t own any of the physical resources. Instead, you have on-demand access to virtual machines (VMs), storage, and services that run your workloads. While your VMs and data are secure, other cloud customers may have VMs and storage on the same underlying physical devices.
A private cloud gives you on-demand access to computing resources on physical infrastructure that’s used only by you. Typically companies implement private clouds in their own data centers to ensure highly sensitive data remains on premises and under their control, but cloud providers may also offer isolated environments that create a virtual private cloud. When the private cloud is in your own data center, you own the physical devices, so you still have to provision and support the capacity to meet both current and future demands.
Hybrid Clouds
Hybrid clouds have both a public and private cloud that share data and applications. In many cases, applications and data preferentially run in the private cloud, with public cloud resources leveraged to meet spikes in demand. As a result, companies retain control of sensitive data while still being able to access the infinite capacity of public cloud.
In some cases, a hybrid cloud integrates a Software as a Service offering with on premises resources. That approach is relatively straightforward and generally only possible when supported by the vendor.
In other cases, hybrid cloud requires integrating your own public cloud with your own private cloud. There are several aspects that make a hybrid cloud like this challenging to implement. First, a private cloud by itself is complex. Although you can leverage cloud software to provide on demand services, you need to provide and support the hardware. In a public cloud, the devices and maintenance are provided and supported by the cloud provider.
Two other challenging aspects are related: integrating the public and private cloud and ensuring security. There needs to be a mechanism to share data and access services across the clouds, usually via APIs. If you want to automatically leverage public cloud resources in response to increased demand, complex scripting may be required to successfully instantiate resources and direct demand to them. All of these touchpoints need to be secured to ensure that data remains safe in both clouds and in transit between them.
Is a hybrid cloud the right solution for your business? Deciding that requires carefully assessing your business needs and IT strategy. CCS Technology Group offers cloud services to match you with the right cloud solution. Contact us to learn more about leveraging public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud to meet your business goals.
Additional Hybrid Cloud Resources
Overcome the Challenges of Hybrid IT With Managed Services
What is hybrid cloud storage?