The 10 Fastest Growing ERP Solution Providers 2018

www.insightssuccess.com July 2018

The

1

Fastest Growing

ERP Solution Providers 2018

Compay of the Month

Tech Implementation Challenges in Implementing ERP Solutions

Tech Talk Jeremias Meier CEO & Co-founder Bexio

Chatbots: A Dynamic Digital Gesture for Creative Entrepreneurs

Rohit Thakral Founder & CEO

Target Integration Delivering Precise ERP Solutions with Determination

ERP: The Era of ERP Software Solutions

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oday businesses are enhancing core functionalities and productivity with the latest technology heading the market. Therefore, ERP system has become an important part of every business to manage its process through software solutions for long time. ERP system is an integrated application that handles all divisions and functions of purchasing, production, logistics, sales, orders, accounting, project management, payroll, inventory control warehouses, etc. There are many latest trends enhancing the ERP business module such as SaaS, IoT, mobile ERP solution, hybrid ERP options, and two tiered ERP.

Businesses are growing around the world with every passing minute and gaining business operations in complexity, and also enhance the use of ERP software that guarantees productivity, and integrity of any business. Basically, an ERP software solution combines with various traditional management functions and facilitates the flow of information across various functions. The ERP model is designed and automates basic business processes across the organization and eliminates the need of disparate systems maintained by various units of the organization. Hence, today numerous organizations are making immense use of this software solution to oversight its business processes.

Hence, Insights Success has shortlisted, “The 10 Fastest Growing ERP Solution Providers, 2018” who are established industry leaders and heading towards significant organizations process management system.

Our cover story features Target Integration, the company has already established itself as one of the fastest growing CRM and ERP providers in the country and has expanded internationally with offices in India and the United Kingdom. Target Integration prides itself on its independence and commitment to the right solution for every customer. This refreshing neutral approach has earned those clients that rank among the largest and most recognizable brand names in the world, including Microsoft, Zoho, Odoo, CloudYogi, VTiger, Google and Sundown AI. The issue also features Bexio AG as the company of the month, a market leader which brings new innovations to its ERP platform every day to make life easier and more rewarding for small businesses. Bexio also aims to provide faster remuneration, more efficient planning of resources and a happier workforce to small businesses. ePROMIS Solutions is a full-fledged enterprise solution provider which can be customized according to the nature and organizational structure of the company. Based on the functionalities and the size of the business ePROMIS bestows three ERP software applications. Unit4 is a Dutch-based ERP vendor provides a reliant Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution to help organizations to achieve innovative self-driving enterprise applications. ANEGIS Solutions a leading company that designs and implements the next generation of intelligent business applications – ERP, CRM, and BI. Procurify is a company helping organizations receive advantages out of their spending through an accessible, convenient and simple software solution. L-Systems is specializes in the implementation of business information systems and also partnered with global leaders such as IFS, Epicor, JDA, and QlikTech. Accentuate Pte Ltd, a Singapore based company placed its future on developing and serving ERP solutions to companies and also offer one of the most comprehensive and value for money software solutions.

Also, make sure to go through the articles, written by our in-house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector.

Happy reading!

Bhushan Kadam

Conten Cover Story

Target Integration: Delivering Precise ERP Solutions with Determination

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08

Company of the Month

Simplifying Execution 7 Obstacles in Executing Excellence

Bexio:

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Making it Easy for Small Businesses to Manage their Administration Tasks

Articles Tech Implementation Expert’s Insights

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Challenges in Implementing ERP Solutions

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What GDPR forgets: The Physical Security

Tech Talk

Chatbots: A Dynamic Digital Gesture for Creative Entrepreneurs

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nts

Accentuate Pte Ltd:

CRM & ERP Software Solutions Provider

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ANEGIS Solutions: lutions:

Transforming ransforming Businesses with Next Generation ERP, CRM and BI Applications

ePROMIS:

Smart ERP Solutions for Better Business

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L-Systems:

A Complete Business Intelligent IT Framework

Procurify:

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Redeď€ ning Spend Cultures Globally

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Unit4:

Empowering Services Organizations Globally

Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Bhushan Kadam Jenny Fernandes Kedar Kulkarni Contributing Editors Hitesh Dhamani Shubham Khampariya Visualiser David King Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Associate Designer Nagesh Tembhekar Co-designer Savita Pandav Art & Picture Editors Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager John Matthew Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan, Vijay Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Pranay Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialists Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategists Alina Sege, Shubham, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses Circulation Managers Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editor Assistant Editors

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July, 2018 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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Rohit Thakral Founder & CEO

Cover Story

The

1

Fastest Growing

ERP

Solution Providers 2018

Target Integration: Delivering Precise ERP Solutions with Determination

We have a solution to every customer’s requirement.

B

usiness management has come a long way in the digital age. Because companies are always online, their customers and partners expect to have their needs addressed promptly and decisively. However, maintaining an online presence and having the capacity to leverage it to build meaningful business relationships are two entirely different things.

Many consulting companies’ offers Client Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software but they lack the true insight and expertise to help clients master the digital realm.

To avoid that problem, customers are approaching Target Integration.

Excellence Starts with Leadership Target Integration is a CRM & ERP consultation, implementation, and support Services Company based in Dublin, Ireland.

The company has already established itself as one of the fastest growing CRM and ERP providers in the country, and has expanded internationally with offices in India and the United Kingdom. Despite being only a decade old, it has managed to grow its client network to 19 countries across the globe, including Singapore, Japan, Costa Rica, Scotland, and Switzerland.

Combining proven expertise in technology with an understanding of emerging business trends, Target Integration delivers a range of software development solutions that include CRM, ERP, e-business solutions, Help Desk Management Software and related services.

Target Integration prides itself on its independence and commitment to the right solution for every customer.

This refreshing neutral approach has earned them clients that rank among the largest and most recognizable brand names in the world, including Microsoft, Zoho, Odoo, CloudYogi, VTiger, Google and Sundown AI.

A good estimate is an estimate that provides a clear enough view of the project reality to allow the project leadership to make good decisions about how to control the project to hit its targets.

Much of the success that Target Integration enjoys can be attributed directly to the hard work and vision of its Founder and CEO, Rohit Thakral. Rohit is an electronics engineer who studied at the Pusa Polytechnic in Delhi, India as well as at the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland.

He is currently a member of the steering committee of the IrelandIndia Business Association (IIBA) and an ambassador of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Rohit’s vision for the company, and the industry, is molded by IT trends that are rapidly reshaping not just daily life, but society as a whole. He recognizes that these developments are allowing businesses in every industry to push the boundaries of what is possible.

To ensure that Target Integration is ideally positioned to build on these changes, Rohit strives to maintain the high level of professionalism for which his team is renowned. He says that he is guided by his favorite quote, which comes from visionary business icon, Richard Branson.

“You don’t learn to walk by following the rules, you learn by doing, and by falling over.”

Reinventing the Ecosystem The software development industry has characteristically been an arena with low entry barriers. While this may seem like a positive attribute on the surface, it actually creates a world that is rife with

Cover Story

correspondingly low standards of products and a saturated competitive market.

This, in turn, leads to shrinking profit margins that constrain the level of reinvestment in technology which is essential to the creation of better products and business practices.

Target Integration has completely upended this approach.

Instead of vying for the lowest common denominator, it focuses on delivering the highest quality of products and services. As a result of this distinctly superior strategy, the company has created an entirely new league of services.

With its credentials firmly established, Target Integration is now seen as the high-value option for companies seeking quality customer service and a fast turnaround.

Another differentiator is that Target Integration does not terminate its relationship with clients upon delivery of a product. The company maintains its channels of communication with them to ensure that they have a reliable partner who is just as invested in their success as they are.

While execution and follow-up are integral to the reputation that Target Integration has built, their unique approach to providing exceptional products and services begins at the very first interaction with every client.

All too often, businesses looking for a CRM and/or ERP solution try to choose the most feature-rich (and expensive) product that their budget can afford. This is due in no small part to vendors who push certain products and services, either because they have an arrangement with the manufacturer or simply because they are looking to make the largest possible sale.

In the end, the business ends up with a bloated version of the software that they need. It does not perform as smoothly or as quickly and is unwieldy due to the excessive number of components that are seldom – or never – used.

At Target Integration, the first step of every client relationship is an effort to identify which specific elements of the CRM/ERP are required. They are then separated into ‘Essentials’ and ‘Desirables’ based on consultations with the client.

This is a revenue-agnostic approach, where Target Integration conveys neutral, unbiased advice on the complexity of the solution required and recommends what they believe will be the best solution in the client’s prevailing circumstances. As the client’s business progresses, this advice may change to reflect the most current scenario.

Customer satisfaction is very important in the software industry and Target Integration invests substantial effort into ensuring that it never fails in this respect. Every

solution it provides adheres to international compliance standards and allows clients to outpace their competition without investing any additional financial or manpower resources.

Constant Evolution Target Integration has evolved considerably since it was launched in 2008. This change pervades all aspects of the company’s operations, from the core team to the services it provides. However, each change was a course correction designed to help it build better solutions for its clients and improve the relationship it shares with them.

“To grow you must adapt and to adopt you must learn,” says Rohit, “Target Integration has experienced it all and will surely learn more in the future. We believe that learning is a key that helps you sail ahead, learn from your mistakes, learn from all your projects, learn from all the ventures you go on, and apply the knowledge

We have adopted all the latest technological trends to give best solutions to our clients like AI, Blockchain and Cloud Computing.

We intend to do even better in the future.

received with the right amount of wisdom. It helps you strive towards your goal.”

Today, the company is a resilient and highly-respected member of the industry that has played a significant role in how the sector has changed over the past decade. This year, Target Integration was awarded the title of Supply Chain Software Provider of the Year 2018-19 by Business All-Stars at Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland.

Touching on how the environment has shifted and is expected to shift in the future, Rohit alludes to an increased sense of accountability that goes beyond just satisfying clauses in contracts.

“The unprecedented access and influence businesses enjoy today come with a new set of responsibilities which includes the growing expectations of customers, employees, business partners, regulatory bodies, governments, and other entities. There is always a lot to expect from those who have a lot to give.”

Target Integration plans to broaden its reach around the world by establishing offices in geographical sectors where there is potential to attract a high volume of new clients who appreciate service excellence. They are currently looking at Singapore and Japan in this regard.

“These nations are developed and companies there have access to the very best CRM and ERP software in the world. However, we know through experience that software is a great foundation for success but it is not everything. There is a void between what software can achieve and real success in the business world; Target Integration is committed to bridging that void.”

The company has already incorporated the latest technology trends, including AI, Blockchain, and Cloud Computing into its work. This has given it an agility that most competitors cannot match, and Target Integration intends to stay the course to blaze new trails in the CRM and ERP services arena.

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The

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Fastest Growing

ERP

Solution Providers 2018

Company Name

Management

Brief

Accentuate Pte Ltd accentuate.com.sg

Ken Tan Kian Hui Founder & CEO

Accentuate Pte Ltd is an ERP Software Solution Company.

ANEGIS Solutions anegis.com

Michal Tekiela CEO

ANEGIS is a Microsoft Gold Partner dedicated to developing and implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Dynamics AX) systems.

Bexio bexio.com

Jeremias Meier CEO & Co-founder

Bexio offers cloud-based business and accounting software solutions to manage their customers, write quotes and invoices, and more.

ePROMIS Solutions epromis.net

Mathews Mathew CEO & Managing Director

ePROMIS Solutions is a leading global enterprise ERP, HCM, CRM and other business management software solution provider to multiple verticals and industries.

L-Systems l-systems.pl

Robert Pawlak Founder & Chairman

L-Systems is specialized in providing implementation of business IT system.

Mayer Group mayererp.com

Jeffrey Mayer Vice President

Mayer Group is a premier consulting firm specializing in the sales, support services and implementation of ERP Software. The firm mainly focuses on delivering quality services to meet the accounting, financial reporting, project management and data processing.

Procurify procurify.com

Aman Mann CEO

Procurify provides organizations the tools to better understand spend cultures, and to get the most out of their spending.

Jon Slack Director

Softrader is leading company with more than thirty years experience in providing supply chain and ERP software to companies supplying valves, pipes and fittings to the oil and gas and industrial sectors.

Target Integration targetintegration.com

Rohit Thakral Founder & CEO

Target Integration is a CRM & ERP consultation, implementation, and support Services Company based in Dublin, Ireland. Despite being only a decade old, it has managed to grow its client network to 19 countries across the globe, including Singapore, Japan, Costa Rica, Scotland, and Switzerland.

Unit4 unit4.com

Stephan Sieber CEO

Unit4 is a world leader in enterprise applications for service organizations.

Softrader softrader.com

Jeremias Meier CEO & Co-founder Bexio

Bexio: Making it Easy for Small Businesses to Manage their Administration Tasks

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July 2018

Enterprise Resource Planning systems the integrated applications to handle all divisions and functions of purchasing, production, logistics, sales, orders, accounting, project management, payroll, inventory control warehouses, etc. One company who is raising the bar in this arena with each passing moment is Bexio.

Bexio brings new innovations to its ERP platform every day to make life easier and more rewarding for small businesses. Bexio aims to provide faster remuneration, more efficient planning of resources and a happier workforce to small businesses.

Bexio has achieved this by cleverly automating business processes, connecting market participants, reinventing themselves constantly & creating trust and an emotional bond with its customers through positive experiences.

Trailblazer with Abundant Experience Ace leader Jeremias Meier is the CEO and Co-founder of Bexio. Previously, Jeremias worked as CEO and partner at iBROWS, an IT company in Zurich, which was acquired by PwC in 2015. The 32-year-old started his entrepreneurial career while studying business administration at the University of St. Gallen.

On the Way to become the Best Swiss Software Startup Bexio’s software’s journey began 10 years ago. Jeremias Meier and his co-founders were looking for office software for the newly formed company, but couldn’t find anything that would work for them. The team programmed the software themselves, used it for several years and only then told their friends and customers about it.

At the end of 2013, the team founded its own company to develop the software even more professionally. At that time, the company was called easySYS. Today, Bexio is the leading provider of web-based business software for small Swiss companies. Since the foundation, Bexio has constantly been increasing their number of customers and employees. Presently, it has over 15,000 customers and more than 80 employees.

In the fall of 2016, Bexio received the ‘Top 100 Startup’ Award for the best software startup in Switzerland. In 2017, it was once again named the best software startup in July 2018

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Bexio makes life easier for small businesses, the self-employed and startups and helps them be more successful thanks to the web-based business software.

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n a world where the business environment is continuously changing, companies need to constantly evolve and predict consumer needs ahead of time to achieve satisfying results. The correct technology solution can meaningfully upsurge creativity, business productivity and efficiency empowering businesses to engage effectively with the digital economy. Advanced technology solutions can also deliver businesses the capability to make decisions swiftly and malleably.

Company of the Month

Switzerland. The experts have reviewed over 100,000 companies to select the most innovative and promising startups in Switzerland for the award.

Dynamic Range of Solutions The Fintech startup covers the entire administration of a SME in a single solution: from the generation of quotes through automated billing & dunning to integrate e-banking and online accounting with direct accountant access. Over 15,000 customers trust the best software startup of 2016 and 2017. The features of Bexio’s software include: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Customer relationship management (CRM) Order processing: quotes, invoices and orders Online accounting which are automated Integrated e-banking, including the 5 largest banks in Switzerland: UBS, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen and Postfinance. Integration with other banks is to follow in the near future.

Online payroll accounting Product management Time tracking and projects, managing tasks and milestones Warehouse management where the orders and invoices are linked directly to warehouse management Online collaboration with the accountant via direct accountant access Enhanced features through a variety of paid and free add-ons Bexio also offers a standardized interface for developers i.e API Free webinars and seminars

Services and Support by Bexio include: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Automated updates Free support by phone and email Automated & regular backups

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Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Free webinars Online support center with help articles Bexio TV with explanatory videos on YouTube

Tackling the Major Obstacles The CEO of Bexio explains that two developments have helped them massively, if not laid the foundation for their current success. Jeremias Meier explains, “On the one hand, these were the technical developments in cloud computing and the ever better possibilities of being able to program beautiful and easy-to-use software for the web browser. On the other hand, it was the increasing level of IT maturity at small and very small companies. Meanwhile, almost all SMEs have realized that they can significantly increase their efficiency and productivity with the help of ERP that works for them. That’s why for many, ERP is no longer a nice-to-have but a simple necessity. Of course, that helps us a lot.”

To tackle issues, Bexio have built a new way to sell the software to the SME Market: Data-based Performance Marketing and Direct Sales. This outperforms 10x traditional channel sales.

Clearing the Cloud of Confusion Ample numbers of individuals are confused about the difference between cloud-based ERP and on-site ERP. Bexio which is a Cloud-based ERP clears the cloud of confusion by listing out the key points.

In the On-site ERP, the license to use the software is purchased or rented. The software is used locally on the computer which means it has to be downloaded and installed. This way, the responsibility for the software i.e updates and functionality is transferred to the user. On-site ERP users are responsible for maintenance, backups and

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installing updates to be able to work with the current version.

In addition, the users need to make sure they have the right hardware because software is often limited to a particular operating system or doesn’t work on every OS. Advantages of on-site ERP include data protection; the users retain control over their data.

In Cloud-based ERP, users can work on any device and from any location because the hardware is independent.

They only need Internet access and a browser to work. The data is available at anytime and anywhere and no download or installation is necessary.

Cloud-based ERP is ready for use at all times without high initial costs because the data is in the cloud, in the external data centers. In Bexio’s case, these are certified data centers in Switzerland. The data is stored at several data centers in order to protect it even in extreme cases like earthquakes.

In Bexio, only IT specialists perform backups and maintenance. There are automated backups therefore customer doesn’t have to worry about anything. There are automated updates; updates are automatically installed by Bexio — the customer doesn’t have to update anything. In 2017, Bexio was updated up to 45 times.

Expectations in Foresight Bexio is currently optimizing its core: the quotation and billing process. Bexio’s goal is to further automate procedures and processes, taking into account customer feedback and wishes. There is a further development of this platform. Bexio continues its strong growth in Switzerland, racing to become the market leader in business software for small businesses in Switzerland.

July 2018

Accentuate Pte Ltd: CRM & ERP Software Solutions Provider

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he ERP market is growing at mind boggling speed. Apart from the fact that ERP software requires major investment; The efficiency of this software is second to none. An ERP software can comprise of many modules such as, crm, sales, finance, inventory management, and many more.

As businesses around the world grow with every passing minute and business operations gain in complexity, the use of this software guarantees productivity, and integrity of any businesses. Accentuate Pte Ltd, a company based out of Singapore has placed its future on developing and serving ERP solutions to companies; they offer one of the most comprehensive and value for money software solutions out there.

Ken Tan Kian Hui Founder & CEO

Ken Tan, Founder and CEO says that, “First of all, we identify our target clients and we make certain that we know every reason there is that they will not buy our services and we find a solution or an answer to them”.

A Leader, a Mentor and an Entrepreneur This brilliant ERP Solution Provider is the brain child of two dynamic leaders, Ken Tan Kian Hui and Chan Boon Ping. Having founded this company, Ken Tan also serves as the CEO, while Chan is the Chief Technology Officer.

For the first time in forever, someone cared about SMEs While technology advances at a breakneck speed, these solutions can be very expensive. Targeting at the average micro and small SMEs, Accentuate Pte Ltd reimagined the way businesses should pay for ERP Software Solutions. The company went through extensive effort to make real sure that clients don’t play a losing game in technology over a long run. Accentuate Pte Ltd’s products and services are designed and built around the clients as well as their business.

There is no substitute to hard work and here is the success story of Ken. The founder started his professional career at the age of 22 and through the rigor of reality & business as well as consistent selfimprovements, Ken learnt to be patient and wise. He understood that success can only be achieved through teamwork. Teamwork can only happen through great leadership: The right man for the right job. By the age of 32, Ken became an expert in the business and entrepreneurship.

The Entrepreneur ask himself regularly: Why do clients buy, and why do they not buy?

With the zest of using his expertise to help others, the serial entrepreneur decided to start his 5th business. Ken

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July 2018

The

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Fastest Growing

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Solution Providers 2018

knew that building his own product is the only way to make the biggest difference to the market: The micro and small SMEs. Accentuate Pte Ltd was born in the year 2013.

With tremendous leadership skills and perseverance, Ken successfully made Accentuate Pte Ltd one of the best ERP solution providing company in the market. The founder is a deep thinker, he asserts, “As an entrepreneur, it is our job to rearrange the puzzle with existing pieces to show clients a picture they had never seen before; In time, they will come to realize how much they had fallen in love with it. How attached and dependent they have become of it.”

Delivering Solutions at par with Advancing Technologies The software solutions offered by Accentuate Pte Ltd is powerful, highly-effective and affordable.

Thanks to its Fully Integrated Modules, the flow of information and data is seamless and the nightmare of having to enter data multiple times is nullified.

Integrating all the softwares including CRM, Sales, Invoicing, Accounting, Delivery, Inventory, Warehousing, Kitting, Manufacturing, Human Resource, eLeave, and e-Claims, the ERP

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Software Solution offered by Accentuate Pte Ltd ensures productivity for businesses. This means that if information or data is being keyed into a component, for example: If one creates a client in the CRM, they can select the same client in the Accounting Module to create an invoice without having to recreate the same customer.

Information is tightly integrated.

Helping clients ease into the software and moving from analog to digital, or upgrading from a simple software to Accentuate ERP, Accentuate Pte Ltd believes that proper hand holding is crucial. Initial implementation is done with a lot of support and users are usually invited into a WhatsApp chat group along with the engineers of the Accentuate Pte Ltd. This reduces the amount of formality and cut down on all the unnecessary filler lines that are normally used in emails; Thus, improving productivity. Addressing client’s problem in real time is what Accentuate Pte Ltd has mastered over the years. Staying ahead in the market with constantly evolving technologies like AI, Robotics, Automation, IoT, and many others, the company reveals that they follow a strategic plan by focusing on one objective at a time. Opportunities are vast and this technology company is

certainly making its way into every meaningful one.

Cost-Effective Yet Powerful Software The biggest take away for Small and Medium SMEs: Now they have a highly cost-effective option to choose from. Accentuate Charges $400/month for CRM Solutions (Complete with Full Accounting features) and $600/month for ERP Solutions complete with Inventory management.

Other Value Added Services No User Cap (No catch) No Ticketing Cap 2 free onsite re-training sessions for new staff per year Ÿ 2 free live webinar re-training sessions for new staff per year (All locations) Ÿ Unlimited number of report customizations to clients Ÿ Unlimited video QNA support for clients. Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

The dream of every business is probably to own a powerful ERP Software. It puts together structure and automate a great deal of boring tasks. With Accentuate Pte Ltd, micro and small SMEs can finally stop dreaming and start using one.

Accentuate Pte Ltd is truly here to level the playing field for the small little guys out there.

For the first time in forever, someone cared about SMEs.

July 2018

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ANEGIS Solutions: Transforming Businesses with Next Generation ERP, CRM and BI Applications

E

nterprise resource planning software, or ERP, is a suite of customisable applications that allows businesses to integrate and manage their most important processes. ERP solution providers offer a range of services, products and solutions that are geared to enhance business processes efficiently and cost effectively.

Whether it is a small or mid-size business, there are several advantages to adopting enterprise resource planning software.

However, employing ERP sometimes can be very costly and confusing. Often, providers misjudge client requirements and offer a product which does not match their needs or expectations. This confusion can lead to several unnecessary implementations and the solutions may turn out to be overpriced.

Businesses need an ERP provider that can accurately identify their needs and then propose a solution which can improve their organisational processes in line with their expectations. ANEGIS is one such company.

ANEGIS is the largest dedicated Microsoft Dynamics consultancy in Europe and it has offices in the UK and Poland. ANEGIS designs and implements the next generation of intelligent business applications – ERP, CRM and BI – that enable organisations to grow, evolve and transform, achieve a competitive edge and improve their bottom line.

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Michal Tekiela CEO & Founder

As a multiple Microsoft Gold Partner, ANEGIS are experts at building Microsoft platform solutions with technologies including the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality.

Wide Array of Solutions ANEGIS offers digital transformation solutions for medium to large businesses, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence (BI), Augmented Reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoT). They are experienced at complex deployments of business software systems and are often engaged to perform project recoveries, upgrades, and performance troubleshooting.

The company offers a wide range of Microsoft-powered products, including Dynamics 365, Dynamics AX, Azure, Power BI and PowerApps. It caters to the needs of clients in the manufacturing, distribution, food and beverages, professional services, retail and advertising and marketing industries.

The Dynamic Duo Michal Tekiela is the CEO and Founder of ANEGIS.

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The

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With over twenty years of experience in the ERP industry, he is one of the most respected professionals in the field of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions. After spending over 15 years at the sharp end of ERP development and implementation, Michal founded ANEGIS to service the UK market.

He has led many enterprise-scale Dynamics projects and uses that experience to develop an implementation methodology that delivers business objectives swiftly while minimising risks.

Krzysztof Langner, the Chief Sales Officer of the company is an awardwinning solutions consultant with over twenty years of experience in the IT industry. Krzysztof has overseen enterprise-scale projects in retail, distribution and manufacturing and has created several innovative industry-specific solutions.

The striking success that ANEGIS has enjoyed consistently over the years can be attributed directly to the capabilities and leadership skills of this talented duo.

Genuine Expertise and Integrity In a business sector which has a poor reputation for successful delivery of projects, the most important qualities

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are genuine expertise and integrity.

The psychological aspect of change management is often undervalued in the implementation process and can prove more problematic than technical issues.

The teams at ANEGIS possess collective experience spanning a broad range of industries and business cultures, and therefore understand the implications of change and how to successfully address the issues.

Another factor is that in today’s market, it is too easy to allow customers to plan something unachievable, leading to disappointment further down the line.

ANEGIS employs only experienced professionals and contractually dedicates specified resources to ensure its clients consistency and continuity. This is its tried and tested methodology for successful project implementation.

Tailor-made Solutions for Every Requirement ANEGIS provides clients end-to-end

ANEGIS are trusted by businesses and organisations to guide them in their digital transformation.

July 2018

solutions tailored to their unique requirements rather than piecemeal solutions that require complex integration. The company is focused on delivering solutions that improve clients’ business processes to improve both their competitiveness and their bottom line.

It has demonstrated its expertise by providing incredibly effective solutions in real-time over the years.

Many industry leaders have expressed their admiration for the way ANEGIS successfully deployed a custom-built Dynamics AX system in a leading media organisation where four previous implementation attempts had failed.

Futuristic Digital Solutions that Create Value ANEGIS is not solely an IT consultancy. The company helps its clients achieve businesses transformation in the digital age by reimagining how they bring together people, data and processes to create value for their customers. The company plans to bring even more innovative products to the market and is determined to provide and maintain a competitive advantage for its clients in a fast-moving world.

ANEGIS has grown and expanded its client base across Europe, particularly in the Nordic and central European markets, and is now planning to target other European markets as well.

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ePROMIS: Smart ERP Solutions for Better Business

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n order to understand computer networks better, it would be helpful to have an overview of the applications running on the network. ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning is an important enterprise application that integrates all the individual department functions into a single software application. ERP Systems make it easier to track the workflow across various departments. The ERP solutions reduce the operational costs involved in manual tracking of data by individual and disparate systems. However, before choosing an ERP solutions provider, the enterprises must look after credibility and fees of the facilitator, as a very few of the market leaders offer adept solutions with costeffectiveness.

Mathews Mathew CEO & Managing Director

supply chain, assets, projects, analytics, human resources, customer relations, and planning. This Full-fledged Enterprise solution can be customized according to the nature and organizational structure of the company. Based on the functionalities and the size of the business ePROMIS bestows three ERP software applications ePROMIS Lite ERP for small businesses ePROMIS Innovate ERP for mid-sized companies Ÿ ePROMIS Enterprise ERP for Large enterprises Ÿ Ÿ

Established in 1981 ePROMIS is an American multinational business software company that offers industry-specific Enterprise resource planning solutions and fully-fledged Human Capital Management (HCM) solution.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company has regional offices, support center, and solution partners spanning the globe. With the vision of becoming ‘No. 1’ in innovative business solutions and ERP solutions sector, ePROMIS is empowering organizations across the globe to attain cutting-edge technologies and have ultimate efficiency in everyday business processes.

Industry-specific Enterprise Resource Planning Solutions ePROMIS Enterprise Edition ERP tackles the entire spectrum of enterprise functionalities, including finance,

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Impeccable Benefits of ePROMIS ERP Solutions Customers utilizing ePROMIS ERP solutions are receiving benefited of admirable transparency, data-driven decision making, and increased productivity.

Transparency: ePROMIS ERP is a fully integrated system that eliminates all data silos which are common in enterprises. All relevant data can be shared and accessed by all the departments and is secured via role and user based access controls.

Real-time data and Decision-making: ePROMIS ERP provides real-time data across the organization. The built-in Business Intelligence dashboards give a real-time 360

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degree view of data which enables the organization to make vital decisions on time.

Productivity: With increased clarity by streamlined business processes, organizations can overcome the challenges involved in business growth.

Integrating Customer Centric Innovations ePROMIS offers ERP software to construction, manufacturing, trading, logistics, and real estate industries with cloud deployment models as well as a conventional on-premise deployment model. The ERP Solutions market is witnessing a fast paced growth and many of the world tech leaders are trying their hand in the emerging sector. With increasing competition customer demands are changing. They are expecting more adaptive features with cost effectiveness. The security concerns and regulations are increasing. The situation is tempting for ERP providers and companies are adopting different technologies as per customer needs. ePROMIS is a leading business software provider that continually innovates products and services. Being a customer-centric organization, ePROMIS’ product development and innovation are based on real-life

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scenarios standing at the customer’s side. ePROMIS is always keen on finding ways to improve customer service. The key differentiating factors of ePROMIS are innovation and product differentiation, service and support.

Notable Achievements In 1981, ePROMIS began as a start-up business in Houston, Texas.

Understanding the challenges businesses face due to manual accounting and bookkeeping, the initial objective of ePROMIS was to automate the basic accounting processes for companies.

As desktop PCs became widespread in the business world, the company decided to expand its horizon to markets outside the USA. In 1994, ePROMIS entered the Middle Eastern and African market, understanding the potential and opportunities. Today ePROMIS is a key player in the market and has over 2500 client companies in the Middle East and Africa. Middle East and Africa division of ePROMIS contributes 60% of the total revenue of the company. ePROMIS ERP is featured among the top 20 ERP software rankings by Capterra and also recognized by global information technology research and advisory companies such as Software

ePROMIS delivers the real benefits that today’s businesses desire in their ERP System.

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Advice, FinancesOnline, and CrowdReviews as industry’s leading business solutions. The company has admirable operations across fifteen countries, including USA, UK, UAE, KSA, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and has over a million ERP users.

Investing in Futuristic and More Secure IoT Platforms According to ePROMIS’s R&D department, by 2025 90% of the world population will have a smart device and access to the internet will be considered as a basic human right.

100 % of the businesses will enjoy enterprise mobility, and there will be more than a trillion smart devices connected to internet taking businesses to the next level of the Internet of Things and Big Data. Thus, the company envisions employing futuristic IoT platforms and extensively investing in cloud computing, big data and enterprise mobility. However, security has always been one of the most significant concerns with cloud, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and enterprise mobility. Hence, ePROMIS has primarily emphasized on platform security and credibility since its inception and envisions continuing the same while investing in new technologies. Its innovation lab is also working on the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in business, i.e., AI-enabled ERP solutions which will reshape the entire ERP software ecosystem and can transform business processes and productivity benchmarks.

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Challenges in Implementing

ERP Solutions

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ow you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose. — Bill Gates.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an application to integrate the different functions of an organization in a centralized approach in order to gather and manage information, maintain stability, and enhance efficiency.

ERP came into existence in the 90s when enterprises were using specific tools for specific tasks of a manufacturing process including material requirement planning, manufacturing resource planning and computer integrated manufacturing. ERP handled those entire tasks single handedly and all other core functional areas of the enterprise came along. The primary focus of ERP was to automate the back office functions of enterprises. With time, all other functions were added in the task list including, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and ecommerce.

Keeping the above details in mind, one must assume that every company that is using ERP must be generating large revenues and achieving all the targets. But the fact is that only 20% of the enterprises benefit from ERP systems. 60% of the implementation projects fail and 90% of the ERP systems fail to deliver the estimated ROI. Many companies also report disappointment with ERP solutions. However, this story requires a further explanation as in most cases; ERP solutions deliver unparalleled benefits to enterprises. The answer lies in the process of implementation and the challenges that arise while the same. Following are the challenges that enterprises encounter while implementing the ERP systems: Challenges: Ÿ

Compatibility The primary focus behind the implementation is efficiency. If the estimated growth is not visible in the results then the whole project of switching to an ERP system can be considered a failure. This means that the enterprises must double check the requirements before adapting the new system. Moreover, the system must be flexible to be optimized in accordance with the type and structure of the organization. There must be a proper research of the provider including its customer base, competences and other specific features related to the product.

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Change The most common mistake made by the organizations is considering the implementation, as just an update of software. It needs to be taken as the transformation of management. The process affects all the functions and it is a challenge for all the functions to respond as per the requirement to the change. There should be a proper communication to the departments regarding the new job roles and responsibilities.

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Skill It needs highly skilled workforce to successfully complete a project as large as this. However, it is doubtful for the enterprises to expect and maintain the

The global market value of ERP software market was $82.3 billion in 2016 and it is projected to reach around $84.7 billion by2021. In a recent study, it was shown that the new ERP systems enabled companies to attain 24% of growth in on-time deliveries due to increase in efficiency. 81% of the organizations have either completed the process of implementation, or are in the process. 16% of the organizations implemented the ERP system with the motive switching into an updated system. Below are the benefits of having an ERP system: Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Helps the enterprise to survive and give an edge over other enterprises from the cut throat competition of the market.

Enhances the flow and use of data in order to retrieve the optimum result from the same.

Increases the productivity of the organization as a whole by not wasting any resources.

Offers better security through the cutting edge features offered in the modern systems.

Enables the enterprise to prepare for the upcoming obstacles by offering better risk management.

Improves the quality of services offered to customers by managing their data in real time.

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same standard of work from each individual of the lot. Organizations need to invest good amount of resources while the hiring for the top level management of such process. In some cases, fresh leaders have performed immensely in these projects while in others; the experience has spoken for itself. This means a training process should be organized for the existing workforce before the process. Not to mention the training for the software after the implementation. Ÿ

Time Large projects are often known for consuming more time than expected as they are complex, dynamic and can go off the track by small errors. Delay in the completion of the projects is one of the most expensive consequences for enterprises. The cost of delay affects the estimated budget by huge margins, which means losing the purpose of implementing the system in the first place.

This happens due to lack of planning. Even though it is difficult to completely avoid the uncertainty, a better plan saves a ton of resources.

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Governance Many enterprises lack supervision in large projects. Moreover, in order to be effective, projects also requires long term vision and keen observation on the complexity of the project. Usually such planning is not possible with the help of a few managers. There should be a governing body to supervise the project and must evaluate the growth on a daily basis.

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Costing It is impossible to estimate the cost of a project with accuracy. Big projects, especially when there is an implementation or upgrade of software, cost huge amount of money. And it is difficult to predict the future expenses in advance without the help of an extensive and systematic solution. Enterprises need to consult experts in this area as it would cost much less than the uncertainty.

Looking at the trends, ERP has a bright future. With its collaboration with technologies like Internet of Things and Cloud Services, the system will become more efficient and productive. But it comes with challenges. And the enterprises must take care of these challenges in order to retrieve the purpose it offers to fulfill.

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July 2018

L-Systems: A Complete Business Intelligent IT Framework

Robert Pawlak Founder & Chairman

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rganizations often look out for an integrated application that could manage their business and automate most of the back office functions related to technology, services and human resources.

This technological edge is essential for organizations to minimize their costs and get a competitive edge.

However, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions rarely integrate all facets of an operation including product planning, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing in a single database on a single application and with a user friendly interface. Nevertheless, organizations face problem during its implementation process. To cope with this problem, L-Systems came into existence to create, supply and implement a complete business intelligent IT framework.

with a strategic vision that stems from extensive scientific research. It closely inculcates science background, realizing didactic projects within the range of implementation and using of ERP systems in many higher education schools, MBA studies and in over 100 post-middle-schools.

A Dedicated Business Firm Implementing BIS

Integrated IT Solutions and Services

L-Systems is specialized in providing implementation of business IT system. The company employs specialists who have got more than twenty years of experience and their expertise in apparent in its exceptional services.

While providing IT solutions, it connects business needs

L-Systems is a partner of global leaders such as IFS, Epicor, JDA, QlikTech and implements a full functional range of IT solutions in the areas of ERP, Business Intelligence, Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Document

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L-Systems is an authorized partner of the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing. Additionally, it is also the co-contributor to ‘Virtual Laboratories’, a platform to learn logistic at the post- middle-school level. The employees of L-Systems are also co-authors of various science publications for students of higher education schools and school text-books for learning logistic in post-middle-school levels.

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circulation (Suncode) and Business to Business (B2B). It is also an authorized partner of the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing. Besides these, it is the vendor of the solutions including L-Systems MES, L-Systems Mobile Warehouse Management, L-Systems B2B Portal, L-Systems EDI, L-Systems Shipments, L-Systems Quickie for Epicor. It also offers ERP educational packages for universities, secondary schools, post graduate studies, and MonZa, a tool supporting management decision making in the area of inventory optimization.

A Techno Geek Bounded up with IT Business Systems The visionary behind the inception of L-Systems is Robert Pawlak, Founder and Chairman. He graduated with a degree in Sociology through Poznań University of Adam Mickiewicz and in Information Technology at Poznań University of Technology. In addition, he is a coauthor of text-books for learning logistics and the originator and a coauthor of Virtual Laboratories.

Robert has been bounded up with IT business systems industry since 1996. He was a consultant and a project manager at many domestic and foreign projects. Apart from his

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job activities, he spends his spare time on yachting, playing the guitar and reading belles literature.

Staying Ahead of the Competition At the beginning of its activity, L-Systems faced a strong competitive ERP service market in Poland. Having deep knowledge of business, especially production processes, step by step the company gained customer respect and recognition in the Polish and international market. It believes that delivering quality software and services is the main differentiator factor on the market which can be supported by the customers’ strong references.

It is advisory contribution and truthful cooperation based on respect and mutual trust that has set competitive standards for L-Systems in the Polish market. It has created long-term partnerships with its customers which allow it to secure software solution support for their activity and competitive advantage on the market where it operates.

We are the provider of the responsible and reasonable IT solutions for the customers needs.

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Besides these, the deep industrial production processes knowledge of L-Systems combined with cuttingedge software solutions enables its customer to get the best possible result of ERP and other software implementations.

Strengthening the Determination

by Achieving Glory In the year 2016, based on the dynamics of the company’s value growth, L-Systems was granted with one of the most prestigious awards, Business Cheetah 2016 award. It was the result of the highest quality of its consultants’ work, whose knowledge, experience and commitment allow it to take even the most demanding challenges.

Considering good reputation, ethics in conducting business activities and a reliable approach to obligations towards its clients, L-Systems was awarded with certificates as the company worth of trust for the continuous years of 2017 and 2018.

These recognitions further strengthen the determination of L-Systems to achieve the highest standards of customer service. The company is convinced that through this it will reach the path, the aim of which is to become one of the largest consulting and IT companies in its operational parts of Europe. Following growth strategy, L-Systems will continue its path of cooperation with leading software vendors and strong international geographic presence.

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7

Obstacles in

Executing Excellence

Steven A. Rosen Founder STAR Results

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Simplifying Execution

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find it shocking that statistics show 60%-90% of companies fail to execute their strategies.

HBR quotes a survey where more than 400 global CEO’s from Asia, Europe and the United States found that executional excellence was the number one challenge facing corporate leaders. Execution directed the list of 80 issues regarding innovation, geopolitical instability and topline growth.

Before we get into the reasons why companies fail to execute, let’s agree that most companies fail to execute, and execution is a highly critical issue that companies face.

Success is a combination of brilliant strategy and excellence in execution. With highly refined marketing processes, companies tend to do a very good job building brand plans and marketing strategies.

Therefor execution is the key differentiating factor for success. If you are better in executing than your competitor, then you should take market share from them. In an informal survey of 12 Business Unit Directors where they were asked if they had a formal marketing plan in place, they laughed and said it was added. Consequently, when asked whether they had a formal execution plan in place, they all looked puzzled.

Companies spend several months developing brand/marketing plans, yet the same companies only spend a day or two rolling out these plans and in discussing execution. There is a completely lopsided approach between the times spent on strategy versus time spent on execution.

Before I layout the six reasons why companies fail to execute, I want you to ask yourself the following questions: — —

Is your team clear on how to execute?

Do you have a process to execute your strategies?

If you can’t say yes to both, I will share with you what you need to do so that you will not be another company that fails to execute.

7 Obstacles in Executing with Excellence There is a reason why 90% of companies/business units fail to execute. Execution is very difficult. There is no silver bullet. With over 25 years of sales and marketing and

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About the Author

Steven A. Rosen, MBA is the Founder of STAR Results, a leading boutique sales management training and executive coaching company. Steven is also the author of 52 Sales Management Tips – The Sales Manager's Success Guide.

business experience I have developed a solid approach to execution. I was never a great strategist but I was damn good at executing. I have helped many companies improve their commercial execution and have several new pilot programs going on this year.

Below you will find my 7 obstacles to great execution. If you don’t clear all 7 obstacles you will be one of the 6090% of companies that fail to execute.

On the bright side, knowing what the obstacles are will give you an opportunity to review what you are doing and allow you to make course corrections.

Business Execution Process All important business endeavors require some type of process. An example of a well-tuned process that successful companies utilize is the annual marketing plan process.

Execution is a full year process starting with the marketing plan, building the execution plan, leading execution and keeping the plan on track.

What are the chances you don’t have a formal process? If you don’t, then no need to read the following six points as you will fail to execute!

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Clarity on What’s Critical for Success

Leading Execution

Most companies try and do too much. If you try and do too many things you can’t do them all well. My approach to success in business is figuring out the 3 most important things you need to do to achieve your goals and doing them extremely well.

One of the final ingredients is having leadership from the front line to keep the sales people focused on what is important. When salespeople tell you that they are very busy the likelihood is that they are. Your front-line sales managers are also very busy. It is incumbent on them to lead the way. Your sales managers are the key to sales execution. When they see their salespeople off track or spending too much time on non-critical areas they need to bring them back so that they can focus on the critical success factors.

Execution is the discipline of getting the most important things done.

If you can clearly articulate the 3 things you and your team need to do to be successful, then give yourself a point. If not, you are going to fail to execute with excellence. Fail!

Team Alignment Execution is a team sport. Excellence requires alignment of not only sales and marketing but other support departments.

You need operations, production, business analytics, and all other support departments. The key is the need to be aligned on the critical success factors. All departments need to know what their CSFs are. They need to ensure that their departments have plans and can support the commercial unit on their critical success factors.

You also need to be sure that your sales management teams are aligned with the critical success factors. There have been too many incidents where I ask the business unit head to share their critical success factors with me.

I then ask their sales managers what the critical success factors are. Many times, they have identified relevant CSFs. However, if they are not aligned with the business and the other sales managers there is no way that you are going to execute with excellence.

If you team is not aligned forget about it!

Ownership of the Plan Have you passed the last three obstacles? Even with a plan in place and having your team aligned, without ownership of the plan you are doomed. You are probably ready to give up at this point. Don’t despair, getting ownership to any plan is not that difficult. No one wants to be told what to do, but they do want to have input on the plan. All you need to do is make them part of the process then they will have ownership. The key is bringing all stakeholders to the planning process to make them the architects of the plan.

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Well Defined Metrics A colleague once told me that people respect what you inspect. The key is every executable item whether it is execution of a program or if a specific deliverable needs to be measured. Let’s say you are having a customer conference and it is up to your sales people to get customers to attend, you need to give each of them a target.

As a commercial leader you know that if you don’t measure it people don’t do it. Review your plan and make sure you have built a scorecard of all the key deliverables and provide metrics for each.

Quarterly Review Meetings The last and possibly most important hurdle goes hand in hand with having defined metrics is also having quarterly business review meetings. The objective of these meetings is to review the scorecard. Having each of the sales managers, marketers and support department heads present how they are doing versus the metrics and what they intend to do over the next quarter is essential. Have a look at How to Conduct an Impactful Quarterly Business Review Meeting.

Conclusion: Execution is not a science or an art, it is a discipline. If you don’t have all the ingredients in place you stand to be one of the 90% of companies that fail to execute. Take a step back and ask yourself what are you missing to execute with excellence? Go back and review each of the 7 obstacles and see what you can do to positively impact your year.

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Procurify: Redefining Spend Cultures Globally

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ight from manufacturing to customer relationship management, the efficient performance of a business wholly depends upon its meticulous organizational structure which emphasizes adequate focus on every single operational region of that business. To cater to this need, a modern-day elixir called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been made available and Procurify is providing organizations the tools to better understand spend cultures, and to get the most out of their spending.

Due to the software’s convenience and accessibility, Procurify makes it easy to achieve greater visibility into a company’s expenditure, track purchases across an organization, and report on one’s financial data with certainty. It offers a smarter way to manage spending for hundreds of companies around the world.

A Leader with an Appetite for Innovation Aman Mann, the CEO of Procurify, believes that every organization has a spend culture, and that there is always a better way to work. After working at numerous jobs at different companies, he was aggravated by the inefficient business processes and decided to create a solution that would tackle a specific pain in many businesses, that of, managing organizational expenditure.

Aman has witnessed firsthand the pains and consequences of poor spending decisions, and so he created Procurify as a convenient, accessible and manageable solution to help organizations to improve their spend cultures.

In addition, he hopes that organizations that partner with Procurify also can find a better way to manage their

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Aman Mann CEO

expense, so that the people within them can work smarter and be their best selves. " he knowledge of ‘why’ and the power of action is so T important in organizations - revenue may be uncontrollable, but spend is, and organizations can learn to leverage it to work for you and not against you,” Aman asserts.

Reformative Solutions Procurify is helping organizations receive advantages out of their spending through an accessible, convenient and simple software solution. It offers ‘Procurify Exchange’ (PEx), a two-way marketplace that connects buyers with vendors through a Request for Quote (RFQ) process. This solution is currently available for free as an add-on feature to current users or as a free standalone platform for organizations that are looking for an RFQ solution.

PEx makes an organization’s RFQ process more manageable. Buyers are able to send out requests in minutes, see summarized quotes from vendors in a dashboard and communicate directly with vendors.

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roles such as the controller or the CFO. However, for the people who are forced to use them to report spending and to request approvals for purchases, these spend solutions are tedious.

With long implementation timelines and hefty fees, organizations are coming to Procurify after experiencing the perils of adoption.

Its product design philosophy is primarily focused on usability.

While sharing his insights about Procurify’s work fundamentals, Aman comments, “We believe that tracking spend and understanding how spending impacts organizations shouldn’t be difficult. Spend solutions should be as easy to use and accessible as your favorite social media platform.”

A Prolific Game Plan “There are many spend solutions available in the market. Procurify is designed with people in mind, with usability as the central productdesign philosophy,” Aman expresses.

Pertaining to this, the company’s solutions are more manageable, convenient, and accessible than other spend solutions in the market.

Aman adds, “Organizational spend cultures are unique, and so are the processes and people within them.

For this reason, Procurify tailors its product for each unique organization with features that work exclusively for them.”

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Striving for Success In March 2018, the organization acquired VendorBase, an independent online buyer-supplier platform, to enhance its vision. Under the acquisition, VendorBase was rebranded to Procurify Exchange.

A Gratified Clientele Gotion, a client of Procurify, is a cutting-edge company that’s disrupting the intensely competitive electric vehicle space. Its controller, Meimei Fu was able to have a better control and visibility into the company’s spending through the software and to implement a process that makes reporting swift and effortless. “For me, as a financial controller, the level of detail and visibility that Procurify provides into spending is very helpful. It’s a really good product,” states Meimei Fu. When Samumed, a widely acclaimed private biotech company which is valued at $12 Billion, installed Procurify, the company’s total procurement volume has expanded by 20% and also has seen an approximate 50% time savings over its earlier procurement procedures.

“Since we’ve implemented Procurify, I’ve heard nothing but good news about procurement, and I can think of no higher compliment for an operational platform,” expresses Cevdet Samikoglu, the CFO of Samumed.

Procurify is reinventing the way organizations spend.

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The first small win of the Procurify’s very first client deal gave the team the courage to pitch Mark Cuban, who believed in the vision of the company and invested into the initial seed round.

“Procurify will continue tackling any future challenges is turning fear into excitement and uncertainties into opportunities, as these small shifts in perspective will not only allow the company to grow, but also the people within it,” Aman asserts.

Sculpting New Benchmarks Procurify’s vision is to evolve from just a purchasing platform to becoming the Smart Spend Hub™, where all purchases and spending can be captured on one platform. In the future, it hopes to be able to offer organizations a more manageable way to be able to measure and track the impact of their bottom-line, without needing to log into multiple pieces of software.

Beyond allowing organizations to see the impact of their expense, Procurify also wants to help make important spend decisions easier for organizations. The organization is planning to catapult its position in the market by incorporating AI and machine learning into its future feature sets, so that the platform will be more tailored for the unique end user.

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he arrival of Chatbots is considered to be an incredible breakthrough in the realm of business or any kind of entrepreneurships. It is one of the smartest innovations by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) that businesses can count on. The Chatbot is a software that can be programmed to carry out a certain set of actions all by itself, like a wind-up toy, in text or spoken formats. The capability of the bots to learn from the past interactions and grow in itself, makes it more attractive and interesting. Chatbots work in two different ways.

Firstly, predefined responses are given from an existing database, based on the keywords searched by customers. The smart machine based bots attract their knowledge from Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing and adapt their behavior based on the customer interactions.

Applicability of Chatbots in Business: The applicability of these chatting bots is quite relevant in this era of digital glory. As the new tech-savvy generation of customers is always connected to the social platforms, they definitely expect a seamless and less time consuming customer experience with the brands they love. Econsultancy found in a research that 57% of customers prefer live chat to email or a phone call. There’s no surprise that consumers today are appreciating chatting or texting more than any other forms of communication. To address this priority of the customers and outgrow in this competitive business world, many business giants are adopting these virtual agents.

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July 2018

Tech Talk

CHATBOTS A Dynamic Digital

Gesture for Creative Entrepreneurs It’s a Smart Trend for Entrepreneurial Venture: With the widespread adoption of the artificial intelligence, the human interaction and connectivity has taken a fascinating turn. This extremely sophisticated and versatile tool can be helpful in crafting any small or big business plan. Apart from being awesome in resolving customer care queries, Chatbots can be a part of an entrepreneurial strategy in many ways.

That’s where the appeal of Chatbots lies. There are many different approaches to navigate this connectivity tool throughout the business venture. Let's have a look at some of these approaches: As every organization has a unique set of customers, the Chatbots must be programmed in accordance with customer journey. Knowing the finer details of the customer journey from A-Z, might be proved as the foundation for success. As AI is enacting a larger role in business reforms, having accurate foresight and experience is the most needed prerequisite to program the bot.

After programming the bot, it should be designed in a way that would enhance customer success by advancing them down the sales funnel. A microscopic view of the customer service and sales data always helps in this regard. One should have a good grasp on:

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Which patterns and questions are asked the most?

How the responses can be programmed to answer all of them? Ÿ And most importantly, in what way all the necessary information can be provided to bring people from awareness stage to a decision?

Ÿ Ÿ

In order to guide the customer seamlessly through the sales funnel with the help of the intelligent bot, an entrepreneur needs to put himself/herself in the shoes of the average customer and develop the bot around their path to success.

To build strong relationships with customers, another smarter way is to “humanize” the Chatbot. People generally want to buy something from other people, not from a robot.

Therefore, programming responses needs to be done in a way that reflects the character and personality of the brand.

The Chatbot need to be designed with a tinge of human empathy with the authentic brand voice.

Lastly, with the changing digital landscape, customer mindsets are also always in the verge of change. To stay on the top of the game, one must have to consistently analyze the data and evolve the bot accordingly.

Future of Chatbots:

of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning, the Chatbots will become more empowered to edify the conversational interface of businesses. Chatbots are going to get a lot smarter, more intelligent and indistinguishable from a human being with the advancement of AI. However, it will definitely take some trials and errors before the chatting robots master and adopt the delicacies of polite conversation.

Also, it’s quite predictable that the cost of Chatbots will eventually get cheaper as the adoption of it increases across multiple domains. An example is Facebook’s decision to let third-party applications build Chatbots in their platform has drastically lowered the price.

Conclusion: It really amazes us how far technology has come up in the last several years in the digital marketing arena. However, some things will always remain the same. Even if everything gets automated in the future, nothing will minimize the appeal of optimal user experience. The bots can be used to automate a huge chunk of the marketing process, but without making the process dull and impersonal. Only then these marvels of technology will be able to make wonders.

Chatbots are currently being utilized as easy and fun ways on websites, social platforms and smartphones to assist customers in their interactions with a brand. Even if the Chatbots are still in rudimentary stage, we can expect a lot more progressions in this trend. With the gradual evolution

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Unit4:

Empowering Services Organizations Globally

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o ensure profitability and compete in an increasingly competitive market, today’s organizations require efficient systems and processes as well as comprehensive and reliable performance data from all areas of their operations.

This data must be readily accessible and easy to configure so that business users can respond quickly and make informed decisions that ensure the organization can achieve its objectives. Many are reliant on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to help them achieve this unified and single version of the truth and Unit4 is a leading provider of innovative self-driving enterprise applications, which streamline and automate key business, financial and administrative tasks.

Over the past 30+ years the company has built a customer base and deep industry expertise in service industries and has laser-focused its efforts on specific sub-segments in four industry verticals, viz., Higher Education, Public Services, Not for Profit and Professional Services. This focus sets it up for leadership in delivering enterprise applications for these dynamic and underserved markets.

Stephan Sieber CEO

strategic customer value, and deliver leadership in its four key vertical markets.

Emphasizing Unit4’s customer value, Stephan says, “We are in business for people. Our approach and technology need to support customers in services based organizations, giving them more time and resource to focus on their core business, its growth, profitability and ability to serve their customers or end users better. As a result we are investing time and money on the development of technologies and services that support these goals today and into the future.”

Unit4 is a global company with operations in 26 countries, employing around 3,000 people. Its teams work closely with customers to deliver cutting edge innovations and end-to-end solutions that increase effectiveness and ensure strategic and financial objectives can be met.

Exemplary Leadership Unit4 is led by CEO, Stephan Sieber. Stephan joined the company in early 2014 as EVP Strategy and Operations and took over the position of Head of Sales mid 2015 before becoming CEO in 2016. He has played an instrumental role in the repositioning and transformation of Unit4 to become a pioneer in enterprise applications for service organizations.

Voyaging through Time Unit4 is a Dutch-based ERP vendor and has been in business for over 35 years. Over the last few years it has recognized technology needs to support and enable people and businesses in the services economy to work differently.

As a result the organization has changed its business focus and mindset and has benefited from acquisitions that add

Stephan lives and breathes the company strapline, ‘In business for people ‘through a very effective strong internal and external communications programme, and by actively encouraging transparency across the business, and with customers and partners. He also promotes the value of working as an integrated global business drawing on the skills and expertise that exist in all of Unit4’s regional

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offices. Unit4 people are also encouraged to get involved in good causes in the communities in which they are based. In addition, Stephan is a family man and is an advocate for a healthy work-life balance. Indeed, he established the Unit4 Moves campaign, which encourages the company’s largely office based employees to stay healthy and active by taking up sporting challenges as individuals or teams.

HRMS. Unit4 is innovating continually to deliver new user experiences and it was the first to launch an enterprise-grade digital assistant named Wanda. The company is also extending and enhancing its value proposition through a growing international partner ecosystem, which offers a wide range of value add solutions and services that integrate with and support Unit4’s own solutions and services.

Blending Innovation and Revolution From cloud to machine learning and AI, Unit4 builds self-driving business applications based on the components of the digital economy. The company studies the progression of technology to comprehend how it can bring capabilities to the real world its customers live in today and their real future. This amalgamation of industry excellence, knowledge and expertise and future proof technology is what enables Unit4 to stand apart in the market.

Overcoming Challenges While describing today’s business landscape, Stephan asserts, “Cloud computing and the prevalence of mobile and digital technologies have accelerated the shift towards the services economy, effectively giving every company the opportunity to differentiate their offerings.”

Unit4’s core product offering is based around its focus on four industries, which includes state-of-the-art applications for Student Management, and Professional Services Automation.

The company’s flagship products include Unit4 Business World ERP, Unit4 Financials and Unit4 prevero for corporate performance management.

In its APAC region the organization is also known for Human Resource Management solution, Unit4 Prosoft

“

Speaking about the fact that customers are demanding alignment of their cashout streams and the value received from their technology use, Stephan said, “We’re seeing data driven business models, where customers want to pay for the insight and the result created through their use of the software, evolving and defining a whole new set of differentiations and customer opportunities.” As a result, Unit4 is rethinking the way customers work and the way its technology can deliver innovation and solutions that can help customers achieve their business, financial and operational objectives now and in the future.

With Unit4 you can manage your entire services operation in a single, integrated, cloud ERP suite.

July 2018

Pioneering Unique Solutions “Our focus is very much on people, they are at the heart of the organizations we serve,” said Stephan.

Unit4’s software is designed to meet ongoing market and internal challenges and unlock a company’s potential; removing the more mundane tasks and allowing people-centric organizations to be more efficient and productive; spending more time on meaningful tasks that will help drive the business and its success forward.

Customer-Centric Services The company is focused on creating value, and saving time and money for its customers around the world. For example, the implementation of Unit4’s Prosoft has helped Farrer Park Hospital in Singapore to save over SGD 200,000 annually. The new appraisal system saves employees 6,400 hours a year on administrative tasks, so they can focus on projects and strategies that enable them to take care of patients. And on the other side of the globe, Unit4 is working with Wokingham Borough Council in the UK to achieve a saving of 4M GBP per year by 2020 through the implementation of Unit4 Business World.

Another great example is NGO, Heifer International. By implementing Unit4 Business World they have achieved a 57% increase in program impact, while decreasing their expenses to 27%. The company’s Professional Services Automation solution provides collective insight across complex projects in more than 40 countries.

And the net result is that Heifer has more time and money to spend working with and supporting the people and communities in most need.

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WHAT

GDPR

FORGETS:

THE

PHYSICAL SECURITY he EU’s GDPR legislature will have consequences for every company doing business in Europe, including American companies. The new directive promises sizeable fines to anyone that does not take personal data seriously. Meanwhile, the data center company DigiPlex urges companies to focus on another important aspect: physical security.

T

Ÿ

The General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) purpose is to harmonize legislation related to personal information across the EU’s member states. It does however also create radical challenges for American businesses holding information on EU customers. Come May 2018, when the legislation enters into force, companies will have publicly disclosed how the data is used, in addition to offering transparency for individuals seeking access to their data.

The GDPR includes a sanction mechanism, and the fines for non-compliance can reach 4 percent of a company’s annual revenue.

Physical security is forgotten

Ÿ

Business will obviously change for everyone not taking personal information seriously. This will clearly raise awareness regarding how the data is secured, but it’s also vital not to forget where the information is located, says DigiPlex CEO, Gisle M. Eckhoff.

Moving data to safety American computer security company, McAfee, published a study of over 800 company leaders from different sectors.

The report reveals that 50 percent of the respondents state that they would like to move their data to a more secure location. A motivating factor is the new EU legislation. The report also reveals that 74 percent of the business leaders specified that they thought protecting the data correctly would attract new customers.

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Data security is not just about protecting yourself against hacking and other digital threats. The overall security critically depends on where your data is stored.

Companies who actively select a secure data centre to host their data will gain a competitive advantage in the market as the management of personal information is in the spotlight, says Eckhoff.

While EU-based companies are in the process of adapting to the GDPR, Gartner predicted only 50 percent of American firms will be ready for the strict regulation by the end of 2018. It’s primarily the largest companies and public enterprises that are furthest along in the process of adaptation. According to Eckhoff, they are usually the ones that are the most concerned with data security and where it is stored. Fire and operational safety are two obvious challenges, but physical security also includes securing yourself against theft. Ÿ

Several smaller businesses and organizations keep their data servers at their offices, and the physical security in many of the smaller data centers is almost absent. If your data is stored in such a data center, where someone easily could break in and physically remove the hardware containing your information, then you are very vulnerable – both operationally and in relation to GDPR

At DigiPlex’s data centers, several layers of security ensure the safety of the data and the personal information that is stored there. Physical security is one of the most complicated and expensive features when building or updating a data center. That is why newly established data centers have to reach critical mass, allowing them to store enough data to compensate for the large security

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Expert’s Insights

Gisle M. Eckhoff Chief Executive Ofcer DigiPlex

About the Author Gisle M. Eckhoff joined DigiPlex in August 2014 as Chief Executive Ofcer. He brings nearly thirty years’ experience in senior positions in the IT industry in the US, Sweden, UK and Denmark as well as at home in Norway.

Gisle is the former Senior Vice President and Managing Director of CGI’s operation in Norway, and has also held a number of senior management roles at both country and regional levels in CSC Computer Sciences Corporation. The experience and knowledge gained from heading up the Financial Services vertical in the Nordic region, before becoming Vice President and Managing Director of CSC in both Norway and Sweden, is of great value when implementing DigiPlex’ growth strategy in the Nordic markets.

Gisle holds a Degree in Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Management.

investment.

Adapting to GDPR One consideration to take, as we are getting closer to the implementation date of GDPR, is where your data center should be located. Several US based companies are already relocating their centers to the EU in order to comply.

Multiple database providers are helping non-EU companies organize and segregate EU data from other personal information. The data center industry is well established in Europe, and some of the most cost and climate efficient centers are located in the Nordic countries.

amounts of hardware that otherwise would have been cooled down solely by electricity. Additionally, the electricity that is required by data centers to run their operations is supplied through easy access to affordable renewable energy. Ÿ

In recent years, we have seen political turbulence in larger parts of the world, Europe included. The stabile political environment in the Nordic countries is also a climate to consider, as the establishment of data centers is a long-term investment, says Eckhoff.

In the Nordics, the cool climate helps chill down vast

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