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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
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Cloud Services and the SMB Revolution
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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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Improving Collaboration with Microsoft Teams
/in Blog, Microsoft Teams /by Chris HigginsThe drive for better ways to collaborate in corporate life never stops. As organizations grow more geographically spread out, virtualized and matrixed, workers need to be able to work together with as few obstacles to productivity as possible. A team with members on different continents might convene to complete a task. How will they get their work done efficiently? This is partly a matter of culture. People have to want to collaborate. But, assuming the desire is present, effective collaboration is mostly about having the right software.
Collaboration Tools: An Ongoing Story of Evolution
The history of online collaboration tooling parallels the development of networked computers. At first, the mere ability to send an electronic mail (email!) message from on PC to another was nothing short of a revolution. From there, the industry has produced a long series of increasingly advanced collaboration products.
Early on, teams collaborated using a variety of solutions at the time – chat in one app, web meetings in another, document repositories in a third place and so forth. Now, with Microsoft Teams, we have one collaboration solution that unifies the most common functions required to enable people to get things done productively.
The Collaboration Advantages of Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams represents a significant advance in a long line of Microsoft collaboration tools. It combines chat, voice and video calling, online meetings and integration with productivity applications like Word and Excel. As a native component of the Microsoft Office 365 ecosystem, Teams offers an intuitive, natural fit with the way people work today.
A typical collaborative use case for Teams might look like this: Bob video calls Sally in Teams to discuss a document they’re both assigned to write. To resolve an issue in the writing, Bob pulls up the document in Teams. With Sally and Bob both able to see the document, they can collaboratively edit it in real time. In the process, they realize they have questions for Joe and Betty. Through Teams, they can see Joe and Betty’s presence. They then kick off a web meeting where all four of them can talk about the document.
Teams adds a powerful search capability to collaborative mix. This helps solve a problem that has vexed the collaborative process for years: the difficulty finding the most recent and relevant material. Teams enables search for content, tools, contacts and conversation threads. The search feature connects with SharePoint, OneNote and Planner. Team members can instantly find what they’re looking for. Documents shared in Microsoft Teams are automatically saved to the cloud. Team members are always working from the latest version without the need to search for it.
Users of Teams have the ability to tailor workspaces with any specialized content or apps they need. For instance, a Team user could add a tab for a Word document or Power BI dashboard. He or she could also add Jira or Trello if those are required to keep people working together productively.
On the back end, Teams gives IT managers sophisticated security and configuration controls. This is a sometimes-neglected aspect of the collaboration story. A collaboration tool must be easy to administer. It has to be subject to security policies.
Interested in Microsoft Teams? Achieve Ultimate Collaboration in Just 2-3 Weeks
Get a head start with the Teams Quick Start Program from CCS Technology. We can get you up and running on the Microsoft Teams platform in 2-3 weeks so you can transform productivity and translate into more effective meetings, greater revenues, and profits. Click here to learn more.
5 Reasons Distributors Need ERP Software
/in Blog, Distribution Industry, ERP Software /by Chris HigginsIf you’re a distributor, what business are you really in? On a day-to-day level, your business sources product from suppliers, stores it until it’s sold, and then transports it to customers. In its essence, though, a distributor is in the money management business. You’re taking cash and turning it into inventory. Tick tock – the longer it sits there, the less of a return you’re earning on that cash. Any operational or customer relationship issues that further stretch out the payment for a sale is lowering your return on capital even more. If you borrow to finance a distribution business, you’ll understand this problem deeply.
Software has long assisted distributors in making their businesses run right. Today, though, modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions give you new ways to cut costs and shorten that all-important cash cycle. Here are five reasons you need ERP software if you’re in the distribution business:
1. Be able to improve customer satisfaction and cut costs at the same time
A modern ERP suite allows you to be efficient in the management of distribution processes. You get real time visibility into available inventory and inventory costs, inventory in transit and reorder quantities. This visibility translates into low operating costs and clear, productive communications with customers. You can cut down on misunderstandings and delays that negatively affect customer satisfaction.
2. Reduce order times
Automated sales order processing, which is available in ERP solutions, eliminates delays in order fulfillment and shipping. The suite usually also enables you to set up rules to handle credit, returns, drop shipments and so forth across multiple warehouses.
3. Run an efficient warehouse
The more efficiently your warehouse(s) run, the more profitable your distribution business will be. A Warehouse Management System (WMS), which comes with many modern ERP suites, lets you streamline your distribution processes. The system covers workflows across receiving and inventory management as well as the operation of tools like barcode scanners and mobile devices.
4. Stay on top of your supply chain
ERP enables you to ensure a steady supply of goods to distribute. It accomplishes this by automating and optimizing purchasing processes, purchase order management and supply chain management.
5. Know your true costs
A modern ERP suite gives you the ability to determine profitability by warehouse as well as by product line or business unit. Reporting and data visualization tools help you spot cost overages and other drags on profitability that may elude standard financial reports.
Control Your Inventory and Increase Customer Satisfaction with Cloud ERP Built for Distribution
Those are just five big reasons distributors can benefit from modern ERP. You can also push up your profitability—through a better cash cycle as well as more efficient operations—by means of advanced inventory software, requisition management and advanced financial reporting tools.
Distribution is all about logistics. Without the right tools, distribution companies simply can’t compete. We have considerable experience in the distribution vertical, equipping clients with industry-specific tools, like Acumatica, that ensure a smooth process, top-notch security, and consistent reliability.
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.
Click here to learn more or request a demo.
Check out these other articles for more ways to improve your distribution business:
How ERP Software Can Promote a Sustainable Supply Chain
Benefits of Inventory Management Software for Your Distribution Company
ERP for Distribution Companies
Don’t Overlook These Information Security Basics
/in Blog, Security /by Chris HigginsThe reason companies fail at information security isn’t because they aren’t installing the latest high-tech defensive software. It’s because they aren’t taking care of the security basics, like installing patches on time. What are some of the other information security basics you might be overlooking?
Managing employee access
Employee access rights shouldn’t be permanent. As job functions change, you should review and revise their access to match the responsibility of their roles. While ideally you’ll do this as soon as they take on a new role, at least review access privileges annually. Even more important, when employees leave the business, you should be sure to disable their access immediately.
Changing default passwords
Admin/admin? Everybody knows that login and password, including the bad guys. It’s easy to overlook changing passwords after you install new software, but it’s necessary in order to keep your systems secure. Use a unique admin password on all your systems in order to ensure you’re protected.
Reviewing security logs
Don’t just review log files after a breach occurs. Log files should be reviewed on an ongoing basis in order to spot breach attempts before they succeed. This doesn’t have to be a purely manual effort; there are good analytics tools to help identify suspicious behavior.
Enforcing secure mobile device usage
It’s convenient to have employees use their mobile devices to conduct business, but it also can be risky. Develop your “bring your own device” policy, teach employees safe mobile computing practices, and consider using mobile device management software to enforce your policies.
Protecting the cloud
Relying on your cloud provider for security of your data in the cloud is a mistake. Information security in the cloud requires both your organization and your cloud provider to take steps to protect your data. In addition, employee “shadow IT” usage of cloud resources can lead to security risks you aren’t aware of; consider using tools that help you detect unauthorized usage of cloud services.
Learn more in 6 Ways to Keep Your Cloud Secure.
Verifying configuration settings
Many security vulnerabilities, especially in the cloud, are the result of incorrect system configuration. Don’t rely on default settings, but make sure you explicitly set them to the values you need. Limit the ability to modify configurations to authorized employees, and use tools to detect configuration changes so they can be reviewed and verified. Use automation to ensure configurations are deployed consistently across all your resources.
Performing risks assessments
There are too many potential security threats to address all of them at once. In order to get the most value from the actions you take, it’s important to assess the risks you face so you can prioritize your responses.
Securing information resources requires implementing basic and advanced controls at multiple levels, including the network, the cloud, and endpoints. CCS Technology Group offers IT security services to help you comprehensively address your information security needs. Contact us to learn how our services can help protect your critical systems and data.
Additional Security Resources
Closing the Most Common Cybersecurity Holes
Is Your Network Safe From Cyber Attacks?
Ransomware 101: Keeping Your Organization Safe