The 10 Most Promising ERP Solution Providers, 2021 November2021

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Vol 11 | Issue 03 | 2021

The

10 Most Promising

ERP

Solution Providers, 2021

Resolving Issues Wave your Business Troubles Goodbye with ERP

Change in Tides Evolution of ERP Industry Over Time

TVN Reddy CEO

The ERP Promise of The Future

Editor’s Desk ERP: Enhancing Organizational Efficiency, Profitability, and Performance

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nterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software helps organizations integrate and organize the necessary data for back office and front office operations. Its solutions integrate critical processes of organizations into one integrated system. Adequately implemented ERP solutions increase organizational efficiency, revenues, and overall performance. In most succinct words, we can say that ERP software helps organizations achieve the benefits of digital transformation. It consists of multiple solutions that utilize a centralized database to automate and optimize different business processes and link together various departments in a centralized location. Today, ERP solutions are at the forefront in delivering efficient and productive solutions to organizations worldwide.

In the ultra-competent global environment, organizations need to have ERP software services to enhance the efficiency and productivity of the organizations. It plays a vital role in ensuring effective utilization and deployment of all the organization's resources. More and more businesses can leverage ERP software benefits in the age of digital transformation, as it integrates business applications for automating companies' back-office functions, including accounting, sales, and operations. Basically, managing businesses effectively and profitably becomes possible with ERP software. Different companies can choose the best ERP software available in the market best suited to meet their needs.

Most promising ERP solution providers automate and streamline the overall functionalities of the companies and help them gain profitability by improving the overall performance of the companies. Some ERP software is good

at supporting a variety of workflows like order management, human resources management, financial management, and production management.

ERP software solutions are scalable, and they work well with evolving business needs and meet those needs. ERP solution providers time and again maximize the capabilities of their software to serve the evolving needs of the companies more efficiently.

ERP solutions providers help businesses avail edge over their competitors.

In this edition of The 10 Most Promising ERP Solutions Providers, 2021, Insights Success celebrates the companies that provide the most promising ERP solutions for helping businesses grow and develop.

Featuring on the cover is Aptean, one of the leading companies in the niche. Aptean works with manufacturers in industries including fabricated metals, consumer products, electronics, chemicals, beverages, automobiles, home furnishings, equipment, food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and more.

Come across the top ERP solution providers that are helping businesses achieve maximum profitability, productivity, and efficiency. Also, make sure to flip through the articles written by our in-house editorial team. Gain insights into upcoming changes in the field through the CxO standpoint by industry experts.

Let's have a look!

Sharad Chitalkar sharad@insightssuccess.com

Cover Story

08 Aptean

The ERP Promise of The Future

Articles

24

36

Resolving Issues

Change in Tides

Wave your Business Troubles Goodbye with ERP

Evolution of ERP Industry Over Time

18

AIM Computer Solutions

Maximizing Productivity and Profitability of Discrete Manufacturers with Cost-Effective So ware Solutions

26

Odoo

Ensuring Effective and Efficient Business Operations

32

Runtime

Managing Your Workforce Made Easier

40

Vault-ERP

Helping Businesses Achieve Higher Levels of Productivity and Efficiency with Lower Costs

C O N T E N T S

Editor-in-Chief Hitesh Dhamani Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor Sharad Chitalkar

Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

Associate Designer

Co-designer

David King

Priyanka Rajage

Kartik Balapurkar

Shubham Dali

Senior Sales Manager

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Martin, Irfan

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Rahul

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar

Research Analyst Frank Adams

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

sales@insightssuccess.com November, 2021

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Company Name

Featured Person

Brief

Aptean aptean.com

TVN Reddy CEO

Aptean is one of the world’s leading providers of purpose-built, industry-specific software.

AIM Computer Solutions aimcom.com

Gary Puchalski Senior Consultant

AIM Computer Solutions was founded to offer technology solutions specifically for automotive manufacturers and their suppliers.

Fishbowl fishbowlinventory.com

John King CEO

Fishbowl provides the #1 requested manufacturing and warehouse management solutions for QuickBooks.

IRIS Software Group Ltd Elona Mortimer-Zhika iris.co.uk CEO

IRIS is a company built on hiring the best people.

MariApps Marine Solution mariapps.com

Sankar Ragavan Founder & CEO

MariApps is a modern company offering maritime applications for the marine industry.

Odoo India odoo.com

Mantavya Gajjar Director

Odoo is an open-source suite of integrated business applications.

Runtime Software Private Limited runtime.one

Prashant Gupta Director

Runtime is a cloud-based people management platform.

Rechner Infosystems Pvt. Ltd rechnerinfo.com

Vikas Bahri CEO

Rechner Infosystems develops comprehensive ERP, CRM, and Internet marketing solutions for companies.

Shipedge shipedge.com

Jose-Ignacio Flores Founder & CEO

Shipedge is a Comprehensive, Simple and Flexible Suite of solutions for B2C and B2B eCommerce operations.

Vault-ERP vault-erp.com

Dušan Tomić Regional Sales Director

Vault-ERP streamlines and harmonizes your business operations and keeps all your critical data and processes connected in ONE tool.

TVN Reddy CEO

Aptean

COVER

STORY

The ERP Promise of The Future

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With deep industry expertise, decades of experience, and dedicated in-house teams, we stop at nothing to solve your specific challenges.

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RP solutions are a great awakening in most industries today. Industries have always recognized the value of efficient resource management.

However, growing umbrella solutions from ERP providers promise something more – real-time resource planning with enriching insights, to capture the future. A key challenge in the ERP solution business remains the relative lack of expertise in a client’s business. Aptean, an ERP solution provider headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia promises to solve this core challenge with experience, and expertise.

A Partner in the Food & Beverage Sector Since its inception, TVN Reddy, the CEO of Aptean, believed, “purpose-built, industry-specific software is the ERP solution every business needs.” He has led Aptean’s development of ERP software with industry-specific solutions for businesses. For example, Aptean today offers product cost calculation solutions tailored to meet growing uncertainties in the food and beverage sector. Its Food & Beverage ERP solution enables food manufacturers to estimate the price of fertilizers, regulatory costs, machinery costs, depreciation, labor, and property costs, ahead of time.

Furthermore, using its expertise of dealing with thousands of businesses in the Food & Beverage industry, Aptean offers key strategies for its clients to tackle challenges head-on.

For example, during Covid-19, the company helped its clients set an optimal price for their products, amidst a tremendously volatile pandemic, and trade wars. Its Food ERP solution took into account various factors including past sales, seasonal demand trends, and competitor models to reach the optimum price with great confidence. The pricing model was a sigh of relief for various businesses in the Food & Beverage sector as trade war, and the pandemic pushed manufacturers out of their wits to come up with a strategy. Aptean’s Food & Beverage ERP solution acts as a cross-functional interface to improve profitability, even during the pandemic. Its signature tool also improved quality, efficiency, and compliance for small, and large businesses alike. Mr. Reddy expresses, “We built in functionalities to cover real and daunting business challenges, because we live and breathe with manufacturers every day. We know the tough decisions you must make every day.”

An Expert Insider in Process and Industrial Manufacturing Apart from the Food & Beverage industry, Aptean also caters to the process and industrial manufacturing industries. Mr. Reddy asserts, “Process and discrete manufacturing require specialized ERP solutions to meet their unique needs and to achieve maximum efficiency, while simultaneously producing quality goods to meet both consumer demand and compliance requirements.”

He believes its cloud-based and on-permise ERP solutions are ideal for manufacturing companies for a number of reasons.

For example, Aptean’s Process Manufacturing ERP solution includes formula management modules to calculate, and scale ingredient quantities for batch manufacturing control.

Its Industrial Manufacturing ERP provides user-friendly functionality for real-time scheduling and planning, accurate job costing and shop floor execution.

mission is to ‘‘ Our solve tomorrow’s

unique challenges today with unrivaled, purpose-built software and superior customer experiences from people who care.

Today, Aptean works with manufacturers in industries including: fabricated metals, consumer products, electronics, chemicals, beverage, automobiles, home furnishings, equipment, food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and more. Mr. Reddy notes, “Our software is industry-specific so we create particular functionality designed for each. Moreover, we bring the best in the industry on-board to offer our customers deep expertise. Our people work tirelessly to solve the biggest problems our customers are facing.”

A Positive Culture of Growth In its relentless pursuit of being the best in the industry, Aptean management has learned a key lesson. The company values transparency as a core pillar of building a clientcentric and positive work culture. Mr. Reddy says, “In order to serve the customer really well, we need to listen to them and to our people constantly.” Hence, the Aptean management conducts quarterly surveys of both customers and employees to understand their perspectives, and also gathers data to measure employee engagement.

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With deep expertise, comprehensive knowledge of our customers’ industries and a relentless commitment to bringing their a-game, our team provides real-world value to our customers, day in, day out.

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The survey provides a priceless feedback loop to drive continual improvements in Aptean’s culture. Apart from its quarterly surveys, the company also holds a monthly ‘ask anything’ session with employees. The meeting is attended by all the managers at Aptean, globally. These sessions aim to increase agility and transparency at the organization. At Aptean, a core part of team building is to encourage constant innovation for its clients.

Aptean works in an arena where innovation, keeping up with industry trends, and maximizing efficiency are core competencies. Moreover, Aptean’s clients rely on the company to take their technological innovation capabilities to the next level. A transparent and positive culture is a strong motivator for employees to lead its clients with the best expertise in the industry. Mr. Reddy says, “We know the one-size-fits-all enterprise software model doesn’t work for many businesses for a variety of reasons. Our aim is to learn, grow, and be the best in every industry vertical including Food & Beverage, Process Manufacturing, Industrial Manufacturing, Distribution, Retail, and more.”

A Key Solution for Importers and Distributors Aptean offers a tailor-made solution for importers and distributors as well. The solution aims to end uncertainty, due to increased competition and squeezed margins. Mr. Reddy notes, “The import and distribution sector has

undergone major transformation during the pandemic. This includes supply chain disruption and ongoing changes to supply sourcing.” The result is increased competition with little room to hide in a dynamic landscape. The Aptean solution for importers and distributors delivers a real way for companies to fulfill the growing aspirations of consumers and simultaneously empower their operations with streamlined productivity. He says, “Our product is designed to take import and distribution to the next level. To increase efficiency, to increase agility, and finally, to get ready for what’s coming next.”

Mr. Reddy also shares his insights on an increasingly competitive global landscape. According to him, technology can achieve many key goals, which are still left unaddressed in the distribution industry. For example, technology can be used to standardized process with a centralized system of information and real-time data. ERP software can also streamline retailer compliance with integrated EDI. The solution can also bring in increased supply efficiency with built-in warehouse management tools. Aptean’s signature ERP solutions for the importing and distribution sector deliver increased visibility in operations, improved efficiency and better inventory control. Mr. Reddy Notes, “Technology is the key solution to increased margins in import and distribution.”

A Robust Future Roadmap Mr. Reddy shared some of his key insights in regards to technology implementation. He noted, “As a rule of thumb, investment in technology produces better ROI to investment in other areas. However, the right implementation is the key.” He believes technology is essential to an increasingly digitalized business landscape globally. The integrated commerce solutions Aptean offers, like Pay, EDI, BI, and eCommerce, promise to bring-in new sales every day.

Furthermore, technology implementation can help businesses achieve key objectives like increases in sales and productivity gains. Mr. Reddy believes the right technology, integrated throughout the operation, is essential. He declares, “The most important thing is to find the right technology that fits your specific needs.

This is the challenge Aptean is trying to solve for its customers globally.”

Apart from its core operations, Aptean also invests in building the local community. The company has invested in creating opportunities for employees to participate in local community service. It has also partnered with Children’s Restoration Network to raise funds, and donate essentials for various school requirements, and thanksgiving drives. Aptean leadership continues its love for technology with a donation of computer equipment to organizations like Atlanta Youth, and a sponsorship of Women in Technology’s Women of the Year in STEAM Awards.

Aptean remains committed to developing sustainable and prosperous partnerships with clients, employees, and its local community alike. Only time will tell, what the future may hold for Aptean. However, its promising foray into industry-specific ERP has earmarked the company to be a top player in the ever-growing ERP solution arena.

AIM Computer Solutions Maximizing Productivity and Profitability of Discrete Manufacturers with Cost-Effective Software Solutions

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ounded decades prior to Industry 4.0, AIM Computer Solutions is an industry leader in the repetitive manufacturing marketplace. It was established to offer technology solutions, specifically for automotive manufacturers and their suppliers.

ERP software product development enhancements. The strength in AIM comes from the strength of its employees, and it recognizes each employee has unique contributions to the success of the partnership with its customers.

Transforming Manufacturing Processes

The company has a legacy of understanding the unique business operations of each of the trading partners in the supply chain. Over thirty years later, AIM is still one of the top software providers designed to help manage the operations of the complex automotive supply chain through business software technology. With a strong heritage in understanding EDI requirements, in particular, AIM is the leader in tools to manage automotive order management, release accounting and shipping control systems.

We at Insights Success caught up with Gary Puchalski, the Senior Consultant at AIM to know more about the company and how it is optimizing ERP for automotive suppliers.

A Customer-Centric Approach AIM Computer Solutions is committed to providing highquality, cost-effective software solutions to discrete manufacturers that assist in maximizing their productivity and profitability. It endeavors to develop a long-term relationship with each customer in order to form a “partnership for success”. This partnership is based on the belief that the company will succeed only by helping its customers be successful.

This unique partnership is achieved through teamwork and by providing a forum to respond to its customers and their industries’ changing needs. AIM Computer Solutions hosts User Group meetings several times a year, where customers have an opportunity to impact the future direction of its

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AIM’s customers seek its outstanding modules that help them manage their supply chains, such as EDI, order and demand management, OEM, Tier-1 through Tier-N specific bar code labeling, as well as those applications that help them transform their manufacturing processes and improve their ability to gain business analytics and intelligence.

AIM is a preferred choice among its clientele because it is a single-source supplier of EDI and ERP solutions, and it cares about the success of its customers. EDI integration into ERP is where the company excels. It builds the trading partner’s business logic into its EDI and ERP software solution. It has never missed an Automotive EDI mandate for any one of its over 400 trading partners. In addition, the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data collected and managed via its solution provide its customers the opportunity to gain operational intelligence that drives business decisions and results.

Developing Technologies that Contribute to Business Success Gary mentions that one of the biggest impacts of the current pandemic on the ERP sector and related markets has been supply chain disruption and employee availability. The pandemic directly impacted semiconductor chip production, which resulted in a supply chain disruption. Additionally, as we continue to emerge from the pandemic, worker availability continues to be a challenge.

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The 10 Most Promising ERP Solu on Providers, 2021

Gary Puchalski Senior Consultant AIM Computer Solu ons

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Both of these impacts overshadow the ERP sector, and therefore there is a need to continue to develop technologies that can help positively contribute to the businesses’ success.

AIM offers Mobile App solutions for the plant floor, which integrate with machine sensors for reporting part, good counts. IoT has allowed for data capture to happen via technology rather than resources and manual tally sheets that get updated into inventory 24 hours later. Inventory needs to be dynamic and updated in real time in order for businesses to survive in this new age of manufacturing.

Solutions that make use of integration and eliminate manual data entry are going to gain market share.

AIM was able to utilize the COVID-19 pandemic, to work on a new web-based ERP software product and shrink the time to market due to users working from home and spending more focused time on developing new technologies.

Being Committed to Customer Service Excellence AIM’s commitment to assisting its clients in whatever they need to further their business with its customers is the driving force of the organization. It is a trusted solution provider committed to customer service excellence. It believes in the value of teamwork and works collaboratively to provide the best software and service for our clients. Its clients often consider the AIM software

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“Since 1991, we have designed and developed software to meet the EDI, bar code, inventory control, shipping, receiving and production needs of repetitive and discrete manufacturers.” support staff to be a vital extension of their IT Team, replying on them to help facilitate trading partner set up and testing processes.

Helping Students Learn About Manufacturing Industry When it comes to community work, AIM always stands tall.

It is committed to manufacturers and the future of

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manufacturing. For years, it has supported MFG DAY, serving as a host site for local school districts that work to educate and expose students to opportunities within the manufacturing industry.

Traditional education programs do not afford students enough exposure to all the future careers, and this is one way it can help students learn about the different aspects of the manufacturing industry.

Incorporating New Technologies for Better Collaboration Talking about the future, Gary states that as AIM Computer Solutions considers the changes in the way employees have worked remotely during the pandemic, it only emphasizes the increased need for additional technologies to be used for better collaboration. In the next five years, he sees these being incorporated not only in its corporate culture but also into its ERP package.

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Gratitude Note from Clients “The software has provided us with a great solution for repetitive manufacturing and is very strong in providing a solid solution for EDI, Inventory Control, Production Posting, Purchasing, Shipping and Receiving. On the accounting side the software talks seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics GP. Overall, we have been happy with the Support from AIM and the overall software.” —⁠— Accurate Gauge & Mfg., Inc., Manufacturing Engineer “I like the systems’ versatility because you can use it just to translate the EDI protocols or to ship all your finished goods and labeling system using Kanban systems; it will ensure the correct performance of your shipping process.”

—⁠— Manufacturas Estampadas. S.A. de C.V. (Manesa) “AIM has helped us because EDI, ASN and Bar Codes are seamlessly integrated into the software, so we never have to have a special person handling it.” —⁠— Grant Industries, Inc.

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uppose you have to build your company and make it on the top. In that case, you need to have ERP to manage the day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management, compliance, and supply chain operations.

Enterprise Resource Planning offers high-quality and costeffective solutions to increase the organization's productivity. It helps companies gather and organize business data through an integrated software suite.

ERP solutions allow users to automate time-consuming daily tasks in the changing needs of business scenarios.

Organizations can focus more time on other essential tasks and be more productive. Now, as we know of ERP, let’s dig deeper to find out what are the opportunities, and how will ERP impact the business in the future?

Filling the Gap of Business The leading companies already implement ERP as it assists them in customer management, human resources, business intelligence, financial management, and supply chain capabilities into one system. With many features it provides, it improves the business's ability to create more accurate and efficient operations, transforming the industry.

Being a single-source system, 88% of organizations consider ERP implementation to succeed. It is always accurate in managing the business insights for you. It is transparent in its work and demands empowerment and flexibility in the decision-making process. Using ERP modules will give a better sense of clarity as the data exists in one centralized place. ERP is now used widely in different sectors, including medical, tourism, hospitality, production, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, banking, retail, airline, and shipping services with its wide use.

Work Smarter with ERP When the pandemic disrupted the supply chain markets and workforce, the ERP sector emerged in this challenge. It continued its activities through technological tools and machines. While all eyes are on digitalization – robotics and IIoT sensors are ready for any challenge. The new technologies like Cloud ERP, Two-Tier ERP, Mobile ERP, AI-Powered Insights and Improvements, ERP can be used in multiple departments across the industry. ERP has attracted much attention and looks future-ready for all the challenges with a positive approach.

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Wave yo Business Goodbye Make Your Life Easier Selecting the suitable ERP will significantly reduce implementation errors, avoid unrealistic expectations, ensuring that you stay within your budget. However, implementation is the key here; the process of examining current business practices with strategic planning is essential. So, you need to understand each that serves your organization thoroughly—the three fundamental approaches: Big bang, Phased, and Parallel.

Big Bang Approach ERP software is deployed for the entire organization, which means on the go-live date, it will be deployed across business – manufacturing, operations, sales, finance, marketing, etc. This approach requires much planning since the software was implemented earlier.

Phased Approach Implementations are planned sequentially for one or more business processes. It takes more time to implement than the big bang approach, providing a high degree of safety. It

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Resolving Issues

our Troubles e with puts less pressure on the implementation team, as there are very few things to worry about during each phase.

The Parallel Approach A new ERP system is implemented in a parallel approach while running legacy systems in parallel. This minimizes implementation risks, as you can default to the legacy systems. The ERP will help identify the correct implementation for your business by factoring in your requirements and key preferences.

The Future Ready Solutions With the future-ready tools, ERP offers many opportunities to the business world. It is an effective strategy for entrepreneurs to gain operational excellence and competitive advantage. ERP implementation should be considered an organization-wide project that benefits everyone to be successful. Looking at the future, ERP will only get bigger and better to be used in every aspect of the business.

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Mantavya Gajjar Director Odoo India Odoo

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The 10 Most Promising ERP Solu on Providers, 2021

Ensuring Effective and Efficient Business Operations

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he repetitive tasks are perhaps boring for almost everyone. Employees struggle with repetitive tasks, overloaded mailboxes, and administrative jobs that could have been automated. Accessing information and adding data through painful processes can be a real waste of time. Automating business processes can eliminate the redundant and repetitive work of employees. It can streamline the workflow more effectively, and the business operations can be more effective and efficient. Odoo’s family of apps work seamlessly together - giving companies the ability to automate and track everything they do and streamline the business processes effectively and efficiently.

We at Insights Success caught up with Mantavya Gajjar, the Director of Odoo India, to know more about the company. Building for the long term, focusing on users, executing faster, being disruptive, keeping things simple, and investing in people are the principles that drive the decisions of Odoo.

accompany any business need. Odoo gives millions of companies easy access to the software they need to run and expand their business. Here at Odoo, it has developed 30 main applications that are regularly upgraded. Besides, its community of more than 1500 active members has contributed to another 16000+ apps to cover a wide variety of business needs.

The key reason for Odoo’s strong foothold in the ERP market is its advanced features, streamlined integration, and cost-effectiveness. With Odoo, businesses can control their entire business from a single dashboard regardless of their industry.

Increasing Productivity and Revenue Odoo offers a strong suit of business applications covering all the business needs such as accounting, inventory, manufacturing, project management, HR, CRM, marketing, website, and much more. Each business has its own needs, and Odoo constantly upgrades itself with their unique requirements.

Controlling Entire Business with a Single Dashboard Fabien Pinckaers founded Odoo in 2005 under the name of TinyERP. As the demand and business grew, the company later changed its name to OpenERP and then to Odoo. Odoo is currently used by five million users worldwide, over 3800+ implementation partners across 200+ countries, and has thousands of members in its online community. The company's headquarter is a beautiful farm located in Grand Rosière, Belgium. Apart from Belgium, Odoo also has offices in the USA, Luxemburg, Dubai, India, Hongkong, and Mexico.

Odoo’s mission is to provide a range of easy-to-use business applications that form a complete suite of tools to www.insightssuccess.com

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Mantavya mentions that it’s really hard to pick top-notch modules as Odoo tried to accommodate business needs in all its applications. However, Sales, CRM, Inventory, Manufacturing, Odoo studio apps are embraced by almost all businesses.

Odoo regularly publishes customer success stories on its platform, and it lists all the apps that those businesses are using. Odoo suggests giving it a read to better understand how it is solving business problems while increasing their productivity and revenue.

Providing Cost-effective, Smooth and User-friendly Platform Odoo wanted to build a platform where businesses don’t need to juggle through multiple tools and platforms. All

these applications are integrated, which means that any data added in one app is synchronized with the other apps that could need that data. For example, when you sell a product to a customer, you enter the customer details in the CRM app. Then, from the Sales app, you create the invoice. Once it’s done, the accountant who uses the Accounting app sees the invoice directly, and your colleagues working in the warehouse see from the Inventory app that they need to pack the product sold. Streamlined integration means the elimination of lots of redundant and repetitive work.

ERP systems like SAP, NetSuite are costly, and MSEs can't afford such softwares. Meanwhile, this softwares require extra effort for maintenance. On the other hand, Odoo is a cost-effective, smooth, and user-friendly platform that ensures effective and efficient business operations. From

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Odoo apps are perfectly integrated with each other, allowing you to fully automate your business processes and reap the savings and benefits.

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one-person start-ups or SMEs to 1000 employee companies, anyone can use Oddo. Businesses can add apps according to their growth, adding one app at a time as their needs evolve and the customer base grows.

Additionally, a short implementation time gives an upper hand to Odoo when businesses switch from another platform to Odoo. In a nutshell, Odoo’s user-centric approach, user-friendliness together with the complete suite of apps at an affordable price makes Odoo a preferred choice.

Creating Something Unique in the Market Odoo works on the Open-Source business model. The company built a community from great open-source products, and this model allowed it to stabilize and start growing. By being fully open source at the beginning, it was hard for Odoo to make it work. But at one point, it started getting results as it has a large community.

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Odoo has two products, but they are based on the same core, which is the open-source version. Odoo enterprise revenue helps it invest more in the Odoo community, and Open-source users help it develop the brand. The combination of both these things brings innovation, revenue, and a lot of users. This allowed Odoo to create something unique in the market where it can sell software at 8 times lesser than traditional management software.

Today, Odoo has 1700 employees, a forecasted billing of €160M in 2021, a growth rate of 70% of the billing, and it is profitable. With 3850 partners, and 90K community members living from the software, Odoo is a strong ecosystem. It also has the biggest business app store in the world, with 30k apps.

In the future, Odoo will continue solving complex business problems. Looking at its growth, Mantavya believes that it will be one of the major actors on the market.

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Prashant Gupta Director

Runtime Software Private Limited

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The 10 Most Promising ERP Solu on Providers, 2021

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o manage the entire workforce of the company is an ultimate task; however, with the help of new technology and automation, it has become more accessible. Several platforms provide specific services from the vast array of businesses but lack the exact pinpoint organizations seek out. To fill this void left by other platforms, Runtime Software developed a workforce management platform that encompasses every aspect of the business.

As the Director of Runtime Software, Prashant Gupta utilizes his extensive expertise to build the perfect employee engagement platform for businesses worldwide, with over 17 years of experience.

We at Insights Success caught with Prashant in our endeavor to find "The 10 Most Promising ERP Solution Providers, 2021." We talked to him to understand how Runtime Software is enabling organizations to streamline the management of the workforce.

Below are the highlights of the interview: Give us a brief overview of Runtime Software Private Limited, its mission, and the key aspects of its strong foothold in the ERP industry.

In 2016, Runtime Software was established as a software and website development firm. We developed a lot of CRM / ERP / HRM solutions for different industries. But these were customized solutions that addressed the needs of a single client. We soon realized that there is a good potential for a standalone solution as more and more businesses are becoming digital. In 2019, we started working on our own SaaS solution, which solved the HR and Payroll automation needs of small and modern businesses. Our learnings from various client projects gave us valuable insights that helped in the product architecture and made it user-friendly. We are committed to raising the bar and becoming the best HRMS solution provider in the market.

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Describe your top-notch modules that address the need of your customers.

Our HRMS and Payroll modules go hand-in-hand to manage the entire workforce from onboarding to exit. We take care of employee onboarding, information management, attendance, leaves, payroll, statutory compliance, and even offer salary payment options with integrations with payment service providers.

What makes your company a preferred choice among your clientele over other competitors?

What puts us apart from the competition is our ability to iterate quickly. We take our customers' feedback and issues very seriously and roll out improvements and new features as soon as possible. In some cases, our customers were so delighted that when their feedback got implemented in less than a week's time, they literally sent us an email with a note of thanks.

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From a business leadership perspective, what is your opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the ERP sector and the related market?

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of digitization in almost all industries. Technology adoption has happened at least ten years ahead of time due to the challenges posed by this pandemic.

Businesses and leaders have realized the potential of using digital tools to keep the business running even in worst scenarios like this.

Describe the values that drive your organization.

Integrity: Whether it's work engagement or relationships between our co-workers, we put integrity at the top. We believe that without integrity, we can't call ourselves successful, no matter what the numbers indicate.

Customer Centricity: The cornerstone of our success depends on how well we understand our customer's needs.

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Every day, we should try our best to put ourselves in our customer's shoes and see their perspective.

Passion for Performing: Each day, when we show up to work, we should feel like we are doing the right thing. If our heart does not fall in love with our work, it's time to change something.

In your opinion, what could be the future of the ERP market post the COVID-19 pandemic? And how are you strategizing Runtime Software operations for that future?

As I said earlier, COVID-19 has accelerated technology adoption by at least ten years in most industries. The postCOVID world is entirely different and evolving in a completely new direction. What used to be business as usual is now no longer acceptable to people and businesses.

I believe that within the next 5-7 years, evolving technologies like AI and ML will take over business operations big time. For those who do not wish to be left behind, it is the right time to get into mainstream technology. We, at Runtime, are already working to address post-COVID world problems. Our mobile solutions include contactless attendance and remote punch features for workfrom-home employees. We have also integrated GPT-3 NLP in our knowledge base to answer user questions. We want our clients to consider us as their technology partner, as against just a software provider.

In what ways have you or your company contributed to the community?

with each other. They can ask questions to like-minded people, seek assistance with technical or legal stuff related to HR, and so on. This service will be available without any charge to all our customers and will bring unprecedented value to our client community.

What are your future aspirations? Where do you see your company in the next five years?

We are constantly adding new features so that our customers get everything done on a single platform. Our pipeline of features consists of adding an R&R portal where managers can recognize employee performance by awarding points, which can then be used by employees to redeem for goodies. We are also working on integrations with third-party services to enhance the overall app ecosystem. We see ourselves as the top HRMS solution provider in upcoming years, where Runtime becomes a goto-name when it comes to HR & Payroll services.

Provide a few customer/client testimonials that rightly exhibit your company's expertise in the market.

"We have been using Runtime for almost a year now and are very satisfied with it. Runtime has constantly been updating new features that turn out to be very beneficial for our company. Price is also very affordable." – Mr. Eric "Runtime is a robust system that meets all-out HR management requirements. It has also got a good payroll system. The back-end team understands our requirements and help us in case if we need any assistance." – Mr. Somnath Nayak

We are currently building a discussion portal where users of our software (i.e., people in the HR domain) can interact www.insightssuccess.com

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F

or a long time, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have been improving the functionalities of businesses. The roots of ERP systems are in the manufacturing industry. Its history dates back to about 60 years. The history of ERP starts with inventory management and control. In the 1960s, manufacturing industries realized that they needed a system for managing, monitoring, and controlling their inventory to maintain appropriate stock in a warehouse. In different stages, ERP was known by different names. After inventory management and control, the stage of ERP was Material Requirement Planning (MRP) in the 1970s. MRPs role was in scheduling production processes by generating timelines for operations and purchasing raw materials. In the 1980s, ERP was known by the name of Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II). MRP II was significant in coordinating manufacturing processes.

The term ERP was first used in the 1990s by The Gartner Group when manufacturers realized that they required a better way to manage, track, and control their inventory.

True ERP systems came into use in the 1990s. These ERP systems expanded beyond normal inventory control and processes related to manufacturing to include other functionalities such as sales, accounting, and finance. These systems integrated multiple processes and many functionalities into one system. ERP uses a multi-module software system for improving the performance of all aspects of business processes. It integrates all business activities across all departments.

Interaction of ERP with other applications became possible in ERP II in the 2000s, like integrating ERP with CRM systems. Cloud-based ERP systems started in the 2010s in which browser, iOS, and Android applications were developed to deliver ERP systems in the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Cloud-based ERP systems are helping businesses of all scales as the cost is relatively less.

More vendors use cloud-based ERP systems for delivering their services. Later on, open-source ERP systems were also evolved to meet the needs of small and medium-scale businesses. ERP systems are not just for large-scale enterprises, but businesses with less budget are also able to afford these evolved ERP systems.

ERP systems are important for integrating critical business functions across companies. It connects all aspects of businesses. The flexibility feature of ERP systems makes such systems powerful business tools. Different ERP systems increase throughput and help in the growth of businesses by meeting the unique needs of different

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businesses. This is revealed in the widespread adoption of ERP systems to ensure businesses' successful functioning.

ERP systems provide a wide variety of applications and functions for their users. These systems help in coordinating large-scale business processes. ERP systems streamline business processes and share accurate information. The shared database supports multiple functions. This information helps workers in doing their jobs efficiently.

Additionally, ERP systems also help in avoiding the repetitive insertion of the same information and allow a more free flow of information between different stakeholders involved.

Moreover, ERP systems facilitate better planning, management, and utilization of resources of enterprises. With ERP systems at stake, it is possible to better manage businesses as a whole, collaborate easily between different departments or workers or stakeholders, and meet customers' needs earlier. With the rise of ERP systems, businesses of all varieties significantly benefit from implementing ERP solutions correctly.

Today’s ERPs are completely integrated systems that connect all departments and all aspects of businesses in one place. Modern ERPs provide businesses with a real-time and powerful business tool that runs a shared database and can be accessed by everyone involved. The ERP systems of today are very flexible, and solution providers offer a variety of features, functionalities, and tools for meeting the unique requirements of different industries. Modern ERP systems include not just manufacturing, financial and accounting capabilities, and supply chain management but also include advanced reporting and business intelligence, project management functionalities, and CRM management capabilities.

Evolved ERP systems give connectivity, integrate all aspects of businesses, and power all types of businesses forward. These systems give safe and secure information and provide accurate business forecasts. They transform manufacturing businesses, automate business processes, increase overall operational efficiencies, save time, and minimize overall operational costs. Today, ERP systems are completely revolutionizing the manufacturing industry and helping entrepreneurs realize their goals by helping their businesses grow. The continuously evolving ERP systems will continue to enhance the capabilities and functionalities of the businesses in the manufacturing industry.

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Change in Tides

Evolution of

ERP Industry Over Time

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Dušan Tomić Regional Sales Director Vault-ERP

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The 10 Most Promising ERP Solution Providers, 2021

Vault-ERP

Helping Businesses Achieve Higher Levels of Productivity and Efficiency with Lower Costs

W

hen a business grows, its workload also grows exponentially. Managing different departments and projects with spreadsheets and emails doesn’t make sense anymore.

As a growing IT company, we also had to deal with the same dilemma at Rare Crew. We witnessed chaos in the functioning of various departments. After getting frustrated with spreadsheets, emails, and having to use multiple apps, we created a tool that brings order to business processes and helps achieve higher levels of productivity and efficiency.

Insights Success caught up with Dušan Tomić, the Regional Sales Director of Vault-ERP, to find out more about the company and how its resource management tool, Vault-ERP, is helping businesses.

Managing Businesses Smoothly, Effectively and Accurately Vault-ERP is a powerful resource management tool that’s specifically tailored to meet business needs. It guarantees to help businesses run more smoothly and achieve a higher level of productivity and efficiency with lower costs. This tool stores essential company data in one system, which is super easy for employees to use and work with.

In a nutshell, Vault-ERP allows businesses to manage effectively, report accurately, and get things done.

Providing A Highly Efficient Operational Information Database Moreover, Vault-ERP provides a highly efficient operational information database regarding employees, contracts, projects, assets, clients, opportunities, vendors, an overview of costs, business trips, and day-to-day business operations, along with a spectrum of useful and innovative features for www.insightssuccess.com

managers. It’s an all-in-one tool that helps you run your business daily.

And it doesn’t stop there; it’s still in the process of coming up with new modules based on the needs of its clients.

Providing Fully Customizable Dashboards Many companies often find that they have to adjust their workflow and tweak their operations to suit their ERP solution. With a custom-made ERP system like Vault-ERP, businesses gain complete control, competitive advantage, flexibility, and scalability to suit their needs.

Besides customization, Vault-ERP is also strong with its modularity. It’s designed so that modules can work independently or as one unit. You don’t have to pay for the modules you don’t need.

A multi-company setup in Vault-ERP allows you to efficiently manage several companies in different markets or countries under one organization whilst preserving your uniqueness. With Vault-ERP, you can keep all company data separated and can easily navigate between them.

Another great feature is Vault-ERP’s fully customizable dashboard which shows all the key performance indicators that are specific to different departments and goals. KPIs allow organizations to make correct decisions that they’ll benefit from and allow them to track their progress.

Helping Businesses Increase Revenue and Profitability Dušan mentions that the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world and that many companies had to adapt to remote work quickly. Even when working from a distance, companies still need to be able to manage several projects, track financials, check the progress of sales, effectively execute daily tasks, and even manage and evaluate November 2021

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employees. For example, features like time tracking will help increase the project’s revenue and profitability, while a time off feature will provide you with a comprehensive overview of employees, teams, or the whole company.

With a project dashboard feature, companies can keep projects running smoothly on budget and on time with unique insights while managing budgets and resources. On the project dashboard, a project manager can view all the relevant project metrics, actual and planned expenses, project members details, tasks status, time off roster and much more.

With Vault-ERP, companies will get a real-time overview of key company data and can easily manage their business processes.

Making Work Processes More Efficient Vault-ERP strongly believes that employees are a company’s most valuable asset and should be supported

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wherever possible. “Vault-ERP has brought order to our IT company called Rare Crew and many others. It helped us save time and reduced our running costs by making work processes more efficient. We invested thousands of hours into designing and developing Vault-ERP so that it provides a complete business overview which’ll help businesses grow” expresses Dušan.

ERP systems are quickly spreading. They’re no longer suited to just corporations and big companies anymore.

Small companies will soon be able to benefit from these tools as ERP systems are becoming more cost effective and efficient. Modular solutions, as mentioned before, are the reason for this.

What Clients Have to Say? “The efficiency has improved by 70% within 6 months. Our team is confident of improving throughput by 4 times within this year.” – Vinay N. who managed to save time and money on administrative tasks.

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“The introduction of Vault-ERP allowed us to streamline our recruitment process.” – Elizabeth P. “Vault-ERP’s KPIs stored a wide range of information that provided us with valuable insight into our business. Being able to view these data insights on our dashboard ensured that we’d be making data driven decisions from now on.” – Lukas S. ERPs Post Pandemic Talking about the future of the ERP market post the Covid19 pandemic, Dušan mentions that cloud ERPs have several advantages like the elimination of repetitive tasks due to automation, higher effectivity and efficiency, and better decision making due to a clear overview of data. Covid-19 plays an important role in the organizational policies of companies of every size and how people cooperate with each other. Social distancing will also accelerate ERP implementation across many industries. As remote work becomes the norm, the demand for ERPs with key features like HR, project, operations, sales, and financial management will increase.

Another factor that influences the future of ERP is digitalization, which will be a necessity in Europe according to the DIGITALEUROPE manifesto. “Together we will strive for a Europe where digital technologies, innovation, and artificial intelligence can provide Europe’s people with competitive jobs, better health, and better public services. A strong unfragmented DIGITAL EUROPE that takes leadership in creating digital Inclusion, Green growth, Innovation, Trust, Agile mission-based policy making that drives prosperity and creates benefits for European society and leads globally in an open economy” asserts Dušan.

He further adds that businesses around the world need to be ready for the whole movement because sooner or later, it may be required by law.

Vault-ERP has a talented and highly experienced team, so it’d like to deliver more new features, modules, and exceptional services for those who want to grow.

“ Vault-ERP is an enterprise resource management tool that’s specifically tailored to your business needs and can help you achieve higher levels of productivity and e ciency.

“ www.insightssuccess.com

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