Visual South Insights

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Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP, you might be wondering how you're going to integrate your other programs into that ERP.

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Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP, there's a lot to choose from, but is it affordable?

Affordability is a subjective topic without any defined boundaries; but it's an important topic. You don't want to waste your time looking for software you can't afford, but how do you know that you can't afford it if you haven't figured out what you can afford?

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Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP software, you want a complete solution, not a partial solution.

A partial solution by definition is not going to handle all of your business needs. You'll have gaps and you'll need to fill those gaps with something. Chances are, you'd be filling those gaps with spreadsheets. That's probably the environment you have today. It's probably the environment you're trying to get away from now.

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Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP software, it's important that that software fits your company and has the functionality you need.

I know I stated the obvious, but sometimes you get so wrapped up in looking at what vendors have, you forget to evaluate them on what you need. So, let's talk about what Infor ERP has.

Video transcript

Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP, I know that user experience is going to be important to you.

The user experience can be explained this way. How easy is it to use the software? I know this is an important issue not because of a survey that I read. I've been working with ERP and ERP users for over 30 years. It's reasonable that you want to have a better experience with your new ERP as compared to the experience you're having today. We understand this, Infor understands this, and this is what they've done:

Customer success with Infor CloudSuite Industrial

Infor CloudSuite Industrial (Syteline) ERP is specifically designed for manufacturers. The greatest benefit, as well as differentiator of the system, is that it can address almost all business needs. Providing a complete, integrated, and single-sourced application is an important—and rare—asset to have as an ERP provider.

How should small manufacturers address their ERP needs?

Small manufacturing companies are often caught in the conundrum of aligning business needs with sometimes arbitrary budgets. Over the past 20 years, I have worked with many small manufacturers looking for ERP solutions, and it is always an interesting balance between the functionality they want, what they can actually utilize, and what they are willing to invest financially.

It’s really no contest

If you are looking for software to manage your small to medium-sized discrete manufacturing business and don’t know if you need MRP (material requirements planning) or ERP (enterprise resource planning), let me make this easy for you. You should look for an ERP system. Read on to learn why.

Manufacturers need specific software to support their operation

There are many software systems available to help companies execute various functions. For example, our team at Visual South works with many businesses that use QuickBooks and Excel to handle day-to-day operations. However, we often find that these companies—along with similar businesses running legacy systems—are looking for a better way to manage all their processes, especially if they have some form of manufacturing or production requirements.

A little background first…

ERP software is a tool that supports business processes and workflows. Some ERP software systems are generic while others are designed for particular industries. Visual South focuses on the manufacturing industry and our ERP solutions are designed for manufacturing companies—more specifically, order-driven manufacturers. Our customers are typically make-to-order, configure-to-order, engineer-to-order, make-to-stock, or a combination of all of the above. So, the ERP processes and workflows I cover in this article are primarily targeted toward manufacturing companies and their software.