True Cloud vs Fake

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True cloud vs fake cloud: do you know the difference?

How organisations can identify true cloud ERP software.

You’re a bustling organisation, and you’re ready to enhance your operations and productivity. To do that, you need real-time visibility across the full spectrum of your operations: sales, order management, inventory, purchasing, production, services and finances. A cloud-based solution will give you that visibility. However, not all cloud solutions are created equal.

So, how do you distinguish between a fake cloud and a true cloud solution? This whitepaper explores why making the right cloud decision is essential – and the eight ways to identify true cloud manufacturing software.

1: Up in the cloud

Taking advantage of new business opportunities before your competitors requires speed. So does keeping your team’s productivity optimised so your service levels stay high and your customers are happy.

But, as your business grows, it gets more complex – and moving and responding quickly is harder. Your supply chain might have expanded with raw materials from all over the world. Changes in customer demand and skilled labour shortages may force you to adapt your production.

Keeping a close watch on finances is, therefore, critical. Business strategies – and how they play out on the shop floor or in the field – are intrinsically linked to your financial information, meaning teams need real-time access to make informed, data-driven decisions.

Being mobile is great – but is it enough?

For this and many other reasons, mobile devices have been game-changers. But they’ve also significantly increased supplier and customer expectations. When making decisions required days, even weeks, of planning to get all key stakeholders in the same room, there was some leeway. Today, customers and suppliers assume that any member of an organisation can quickly get their hands on order or project information – from anywhere.

For some, that scenario is still a pipedream. They still need the real-time visibility required to make critical business decisions fast. Why?

Here are some of the key obstacles:

1. Data is stuck in legacy MRP systems

When materials resource planning (MRP) software was introduced in the 1960s, it revolutionised the speed at which business was transacted. Technology has come a long way since then, and modern, cloud-based MRP systems are much more sophisticated. But if you still need to upgrade to a system with online capabilities, you’re likely battling to access data through a legacy system.

2. Multiple disconnected systems and tools

There are now digital apps and tools galore that streamline and automate business processes. Whether optimising inventory management, shift scheduling or managing customer orders, these tasks can be done largely from any location, on or off-site.

The problem is that getting these apps to work in harmony often requires custom integrations (or, worse, manual workarounds) that are clunky and expensive to maintain. Teams are left juggling multiple logins, and without a complete view of any business issue, they waste time piecing the puzzle together to find a resolution.

The cloud delivery model

Today’s business environment is hyper-competitive, which makes production efficiency more critical than ever. Cloud solutions can connect widespread teams as companies disperse their operations across one or more shop floors (or countries). But, choosing the right cloud solution can be overwhelming – if you don’t know which features and capabilities are most important.

2: Unlock better productivity in the cloud

Taking your business to the cloud is smart, but why? The simple answer is that when the right cloud technology is deployed and you maximise its capabilities, it can remove some of the most significant obstacles that most manufacturers face.

Here are the four ways the cloud can boost productivity:

1. Broader and deeper functionality

Your business is unique, so you need systems that help you manage core business processes.

So, what exactly are these industry-specific features?

• Advanced financials
• Advanced planning and scheduling (APS)
• Bill of materials and routing
• Estimating and purchasing
• Inventory and fulfilment
• Material requirements planning (MRP)
• Order management
• Project accounting
• Product configurator
• Production management

2. Digital connection

While you can build custom integrations that bring various applications together, it costs time and money. It’s an option you want to use sparingly and when it makes strategic sense.

But, with the right cloud-based platform, you can access all your business applications from one hub. Prebuilt integrations let you connect external apps to bring everything into a single, shared workflow.

Here’s what these integrations can help you achieve: · Streamline order processing from every channel.

• View calculated material requirements and create schedules and work orders to meet demand.
• Manage and sign documents digitally.
• Streamline document management.
• Implement warehouse automation.
• Support multi-carrier shipping and automate shipping rules.
• Automate supply chain processes.
• Manage human capital and payroll.

3. Higher levels of data security

In today’s digital world, security is a spiderweb of password, virus and malware protection to stop cybercriminals from attacking your network and stealing your business data. Most manufacturers employ small IT teams, but with so many potential access points, deflecting cyber threats on your own is risky – and almost impossible.

The right cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform will provide the highest levels of data security because it’s in the vendor’s best interests to prioritise it.

4. Easily embrace innovations

The world of manufacturing is constantly evolving: Internet of Things (IoT) technology, 3D printing, breakthrough materials and robots – the possibilities are truly endless.

The right cloud-based ERP platform will make it easier to incorporate emerging technologies, whatever that looks like for your business, and connect your supply chain to your bottom line. It’ll also serve as a hub for collecting and analysing information from your machinery on the shop floor.

3: Not all ‘clouds’ are created equal

Like all technology, ERP has developed significantly over the past 30 years. Internet access has also changed people’s expectations – they want and expect to access their information anywhere at any time via the cloud.

So, what does that mean for ERP vendors?

In some cases, legacy ERP vendors have moved their software onto a server where they ‘host’ it and provide access over the internet using adapter software. This is known as ‘fake cloud’ software, meaning that these legacy applications aren’t designed to be used via the internet.

What are the downfalls of fake cloud solutions? In the long term, they’ll cost you more and hinder process improvement, making it harder for your business to adapt to changing market trends and customer expectations.

Here’s how:

• Some require specialised software for access – making it harder to give all teams complete visibility.
• Personalising the user interface requires expert programming – which takes time and resources.
• Legacy solutions were written using older tools and techniques – it’s becoming harder and more expensive to find the expertise to modify them.
• Legacy solutions offer less streamlined integrations – making it more difficult for your systems, apps and tools to work well together.
• Legacy solutions often lack modern functionality – ultimately restricting your ability to scale and innovate.

4: The eight must-have features of true cloud manufacturing software

Consider these features when choosing your ERP solution.

1. Full functionality (including reporting) across all devices

Many ERP vendors only offer scaled-down versions of their ERP solutions for mobile users. Look for a solution that provides full functionality and reporting on mobile and desktop.

2. Personalised dashboards

A good ERP solution will let you customise your user and reporting dashboards to meet the needs of your business and workforce.

3. Full integration of all your current tools

Part of the ERP implementation process will be connecting all your existing digital tools and apps to the system. Your cloud-manufacturing ERP solution should have that capability without forcing you to re-enter years (and years!) of data.

4. You can pay based on usage, not per user

Look for a solution that charges you for only the products and integrations you use, not a standard ‘one size fits all’ out of the box product. This will also enable scalability should you need to expand or shrink your business processes over time.

5. Meets the highest data and access security requirements

It only takes one piece of a system to be compromised for cybercriminals to access your company’s most valuable assets. So, you want to work with a vendor that has the resources to ensure your organisation’s safety.

6. Delivers a robust implementation approach

Several ways to deploy a new ERP system in your organisation exist. They all have pros and cons, so it depends on your business. But, with the right ERP vendor, you can choose your implementation approach.

7. Easy upgrades with minimal downtime

Legacy software upgrades are notoriously slow and costly. A good cloud manufacturing ERP solution will be the opposite – quick and easy without disrupting your business. However, the gold standard is finding a true cloud software provider that handles all your upgrades.

Optimise your business performance for growth with MYOB Acumatica Manufacturing.

MYOB is an ERP business management platform that delivers a range of robust, industry-leading solutions for businesses across any industry. It’s designed specifically with high performance efficiencies in mind, enabling you to efficiently manage your entire business using one system.

• Streamline your business
  Efficiently plan and coordinate production and resource management, sales and finance from one central real-time system.
• Improved cost tracking
  Track material and labour costs as you manage your products. Compare standard and planned production costs to actual costs.
• Balance supply and demand
  Respond to demand and market changes while optimising inventory and resources for effectiveness and cost control.
• Insight-driven decision making
  With real-time visibility across your business, make informed decisions using accurate data to ensure continual growth.

See MYOB ERP solutions in action

Get in touch today to see how MYOB can transform your business.

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