BSI Article: The benefits you get from an integrated enterprise solution, in a nutshell

You've long had accounting software in place at your company, yes? You've been getting computerized balance sheets and income statements for years, yes? And yet ... you're thinking, something's not quite right, right?

By now, as a business owner or manager, you may have come to the realization that "computerizing your accounting" is not really enough to make your business more successful.

The truth is, many business owners and business managers fall victim to a harmful ambiguity when they talk about "computerizing the business."

"Computerizing the business." Some people in your organization will take that phrase to mean: getting the books of accounts computerized. These would be your accounting and finance people. Others will take that phrase to mean a very different thing: enabling customer-facing employees with computerized aids. These would be your sales and marketing people. Still others in the company will take it to mean: giving all line personnel - sales, purchasing, operations - computerized real-time information to do their jobs more accurately and efficiently.

In truth, most companies in the Philippines are not really "computerized." Using spreadsheets is really just using a powerful calculator. Doing word processing? You're really just using a more modern iteration of a typewriter. Neither really confers real "computerization." They're just piecemeal solutions. And they do nothing to break you out of an age-old condition of business organizations: the silo-ization of information.

A lot of companies think they're computerized because they've gone beyond spreadsheets and word processors. They're not really computerized, either. A lot of them, including some of our own clients, have only computerized their accounting department.

You know how that goes. The accounting department runs some kind of accounting software. It takes pride in being able to produce balance sheets and income statements swiftly. It can print out journals, T-accounts, vouchers. But that's computerizing the accounting department, not the entire business.

But what have you done to help out the sales department? Your salesmen can't use the balance sheet or P&L in their day-to-day work. Not enough detail, you see.

What have you done to help out the purchasing department? As a practical matter, your purchasing people can't make purchasing decisions based on the balance sheet or P&L. Again, not enough concrete detail. Assuming you even give them access to that information to begin with.

What have you done to help out your credit and collections department? Your accounts payable people?

Nope, the balance sheet and the P&L are far too aggregated to be of any use to frontline personnel.

So: even if your accounting department is computerized, you are not really a computerized enterprise. Not quite yet.

Financial accounting has two necessary aspects: there's the compliance aspect, and there's the management information aspect.

If it's only your accounting department that's computerized, then you've only addressed the compliance aspect of your operations. Financial statements for the board of directors. Reports for the BIR. For the SEC.

But reflect on this thought: balance sheets and income statements are no help at all to the people who run your day to day operations. The people who make the money for you - and disburse the money for you.

If you've computerized your accounting department, then you've addressed the compliance aspect. Congratulations. Top management will have the satisfaction of getting its financial reports on time. The board will get a nice neat balance sheet and P&L at every meeting.

But by computerizing just the accounting department, you've probably neglected the Management Information aspect. Management information is: the fine details of transactions, invoices, delivery receipts, inventory quantities of specific items, outstanding receivables per customer, outstanding payables per supplier, collections on individual transactions, disbursements, details of adjusting entries. Management information provides your frontliners with a level of fine detail that a balance sheet, or income statement, or trial balance, or cash flow statement, will not yield.

So what does a Filipino company need to be able to call itself truly computerized. Which is the same thing as saying, What does a Filipino company need to be able to compete with a German mittelstand, an Indian BPO, a mainland Chinese manufacturer, a Thai agribusiness?

Cheap labor, yes. Strong processes, yes. And...

... real-time information.

Real-time information comes from an integrated enterprise solution software.

An integrated enterprise solution, installed in a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), provides a single source of synchronized, consistent truth about your operations.

And it's available in real time to all team members to whom you grant access.

"Real-time information" is the true game-changer. It's the whole point of an integrated enterprise solution. Real-time information is what lets your purchasing guys implement just-in-time inventory. Real-time information is what gives your sales guys the true inventory picture, and therefore the certitude to assure customers of stock availability - or lack thereof. Real-time information is what tells your treasurer your exact cash position, so she can manage your bank relations.

If you can achieve real-time information, company information becomes truly "at everyone's fingertips," and ambiguity and uncertainty melt away. Every team member gets the info he needs to do his job - instantaneously, at the very moment he needs it.

Task execution speeds up companywide. Average productivity shoots up. The firm's operating tempo quickens. The organization grows nimbler, more competitive. Who says only rich multinationals can enjoy this capability? Want to attain this state? Call us now, and let's have an in-depth conversation about SURE! DMS.

Click here for more information about Balmori Software's user-friendly enterprise solution.

Title: The benefits you get from an integrated enterprise solution, in a nutshell

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