As an Ohio business consulting firm, we have the privilege of working with some extremely noteworthy and successful Dublin-based businesses that are leveraging technology to accelerate their growth and profitability.  These organizations include:

• A workers compensation MCO that provides related services and was named the best place to work in Central Ohio last year
• The nation’s largest independent retail supplier of natural gas that is also a leading advocate for energy innovation
• Multiple internationally recognized training and development firms
• An employer services company twice recognized as being one of the fastest growing companies in Central Ohio
• A nationally recognized, rapidly growing barbecue restaurant chain
• The national Quality Assurance laboratory of an international chocolate and food products brand
• The nation’s leading distributor of emergency medical supplies – read the story of their success

…just to mention a few.

The theme for the award this year is “Health in the Intelligent Community”.  Socius works with many organizations in the healthcare industry in Dublin and beyond.  In their report, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) specifically cited our client, Neoprobe (a developer of innovative biomedical products and the global leader in gamma detection), as a growth leader in Dublin, contributing to its being named a “Top Seven Intelligent Community”. 

Other U.S. cities included in the Top Seven are Riverside, California and Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Socius has an office in California and serves a large number of clients there and in Tennessee.  Additionally, prior to narrowing the field down to the Top Seven, the ICF released their “Smart21 Communities of 2011”, which included Northeast Ohio, an area where Socius has been working (first in Akron/Fairlawn and now closer to downtown Cleveland in Brecksville) for over 25 years.  We are proud to work alongside and support the success of organizations in the most forward-thinking communities in our country. 

To learn more about how these organizations are leveraging technology solutions to succeed and are supporting the growth of communities along the way, contact us today! 

I’m sharing this with you, not because we want to congratulate ourselves, but because it puts us in a unique position to offer our clients the power of choice of the best possible solution to meet their business needs. 

If your business is looking for a new ERP solution, selecting a partner before selecting a software system can benefit your organization in a number of ways.  By choosing a partner that will guide you through the selection process, you can identify a solution that will:

• Streamline your business processes, rather than trying to mold your processes to fit a software system, to maximize your business benefits
• Work with and like your existing business systems in order to reduce training costs, increase user buy-in, and the way data moves throughout your organization
• Support your business’ agility while being flexible enough to grow with your business
• Enable you to comply with regulations and meet industry requirements

Want proof that this is the best way to find the right solution for your business?

LPK, a leading design and branding company, sat down with an independent third-party and shared with them why they chose Socius and Microsoft Dynamics GP for their ERP needs.  They explained that, based on their objectives, they had narrowed down the search for a new accounting system to Sage MAS 500 ERP, Epicor, and Microsoft Dynamics GP:

“Any of the systems could have worked for us, so we turned our focus to the partner relationship and network of users that would be available for each of these finalists,” John Keller, Financial Services Manager for LPK says. “Socius impressed us from the very start. Their process-focused approach to the project assured us they were best able to deliver a long-term software solution and make the switch a successful one.”

Keller is confident that the company made the right choice—both in the software it selected and the business partner who implemented the software. “The LPK/Socius partnership is a winning proposition. Socius challenges us to examine every angle to maximize both its usefulness and necessity,” he concludes. “With the support of Socius, this solution provides us with unlimited abilities to measure, report, and act on accurate and timely data. It’s unlike anything we’ve experienced before.”

To begin working with Socius to find the right ERP solution to fit your business, request a complimentary Business Strategy Assessment today!

The credit card processing module is new in MAS 500 version 7.3. Here’s how you use it:

First, enroll with Sage Payment Solutions (SPS), the “processor” that will process the transactions behind the scenes. SPS will serve as the clearing house that moves the money from your customer’s bank to your bank. By activating the credit card module and enrolling in SPS, you can now have the ability to:

• Enter sales orders, process invoices and process cash receipts that use credit cards.
• Add, save and maintain customer credit card information. Keep in mind the card numbers are encrypted in MAS 500 to comply with security standards
• View credit card transactions
• Print credit card receipts
• Settle credit card transactions by matching the MAS 500 credit card transactions with the data from your processor

MAS 500 v7.3 has completed all the certifications and requirements to be considered PDI/DSS compliant.

The sales order module in version 7.3 has added a couple nice features. Two features that stand out are the “Ready to Commit” feature and the “Generate Invoice” feature.

It often happens that after picking multiple pending shipments are created at one time. In the past, it was difficult to determine which of those shipments were completed and which were ready to commit. A check box has been added to the edit shipments window, telling the system that a shipment has been processed. As a result, when you are choosing “commit SO transactions” there is a new selection criterion that only allows you to choose those shipments that are “ready to commit”. This feature is helpful in filtering on those shipments that are ready to go.

Do your customers need a printed invoice prior to committing the shipment due to the need to collect payments, provide an invoice as a receipt or include an invoice in the shipment? In MAS 500 v7.3 we can now generate an invoice prior to committing the shipment. This feature has been added to the edit shipments task. We can enter payments after generating the invoice and if a mistake was made we can delete the invoice which will return the shipment status to a pending state. The ability to generate invoices from the shipments screen gives flexibility in your workflow to meet some of the demands of our customers and exceed their expectations.

Contact Lori Ramsey at lramsey@socius1.com or 440.717.3214 to request a pre-upgrade review!

By Ohio Sage MAS ERP consultant, Jeff Steel

1. Analyze your business processes, requirements, and objectives.  It’s important to first understand why you want to implement a new system and how the system will meet your business objectives.  Determine the pain points in your existing system, and map your current processes in all areas of the organization.  Then once you define your business requirements, you’re better prepared to select a software that meets your business needs.  You’ll also want to keep in mind your organization’s future growth strategies so that you select a solution that will be scalable and flexible enough to meet your changing needs.  Conducting a Fit Gap Analysis can help you identify gaps between your business process requirements and the functionality of the software solution.  This can help you determine what modifications or customizations you may need and the short- and long-term costs associated.

1. Get buy-in and commitment from management, executives, and stakeholders.  It’s important in any project to have the support of top and middle management.  Top management can help to control the project’s direction, budgets, and timelines while middle management can provide feedback from end users at checkpoints during the implementation process.  A Project Charter defines the governance, objectives, benefits, plan, roles/responsibilities, and key performance indicators for the project.

1. Budget appropriately and provide adequate resources.  Set realistic expectations, and don’t cut costs by minimizing focus on key areas such as project management, change management, and training.  Instead, involve management and staff members, including end users, throughout the project to ensure a smoother transition and build training.  You should also involve a mix of resources across departments with cross functional knowledge.  A Scoping Assessment can help you manage project requirements when setting a budget.

1. Appoint a strong project manager and experienced project team. Both of these elements, along with effective communication and a project plan aligned with the organization’s strategic business roadmap, are essential to a project’s success. When developing a project plan, define a timeline and stick to it.  You’ll also want to define your measurements of success, set baselines and targets for those measurements, and conduct post-implementation performance measurements after you go-live. Management and users will want to see the tangible benefits of implementing the system.

1. Manage change effectively and provide sufficient training.  User adoption is critical to the success of the project. Managing change with frequent communications, involving users throughout the planning and implementation process, and listening to user feedback can help limit frustrations and drive user adoption. And don’t forget to communicate with your customers if any changes will affect them.

Does the idea of going through a software selection process cause you anxiety, give you nightmares, or keep you up at night?  There’s a lot to think about and a lot of systems to choose from.  But one thing to keep in mind when you’re trying to select the right software for your company is it’s equally as important to select the right software partner.  Choosing the right partner can make the difference between the success and failure of your project.  A good partnership will ensure that your business and processes are reviewed and analyzed correctly, you’re selecting the right software for your business, you have a successful implementation, you receive comprehensive training and on-going support, and you get the most out of your system.

So how do you choose the right partner?  To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of tips to guide you when making this important decision.

1. Do your research on prospective partners.  What are the partner’s qualifications?  Do they have recognized industry certifications and awards?  How long have they been in business and working with this specific software?  Do they have strong partner relationships?  Are they in close geographic proximity?  What are their areas of product and industry expertise?  You should be able to find a lot of this information on their website.
2. Conduct an interview.  Once the partner has passed the “pre-screening” process, arrange a meeting to not only further identify their qualifications and learn more about them but to determine if their organization is compatible with yours.  What are their client and employee retention rates?  What are their processes and implementation methodology?  Ask for different members of the project team to be present at this meeting.  You may even want to arrange the meeting at their office to observe their work environment and cultural atmosphere.  Does the partner fit your company’s culture and philosophy?  It’s important to choose a partner you can work with and enjoy working with as the relationship will ideally be long-term.  Does the partner listen and communicate effectively and strive to understand your business and requirements?  The primary objectives of this interview are to learn about the partner, what they can provide, and how you can benefit from them.  It should not be a “selling” session focused on the specific details and features of the software.
3. Determine training and support options and resources.  Does the partner offer on-going training and technical support and perform upgrades and maintenance?  What type of training program or approach do they employ (e.g. train-the-trainer vs. train-the-user)?  Will the support hours service your company effectively? 
4. Discuss implementation resources and availability and experience of personnel.  Does the partner have the necessary resources for the implementation to be completed on time and coincide with your project timeline?  What are the implementation team members’ certifications and expertise?  How many of the employees focus solely on the specific software, and how long have they each worked with it?
5. View a demo but not before you’re ready.  You should already have your list of requirements before viewing a demo so that you can control what features are presented.  A software product can have a lot of fancy features, but does it have all the functionality you require?  Make sure your team understands the objectives and priorities beforehand. 
6. Request an initial estimate and require revisions as requirements are determined or changed.  An experienced partner should be able to provide you with a breakdown of costs before and during the requirements phase.  As requirements are further defined and objectives change, be sure to request revisions of the estimate. 
7. Request references.  Has the partner implemented the software at companies similar to yours (industry, company size, number of employees, etc.)?  Call the customer references and ask about their relationships and experiences with the partner.  How satisfied are they with their implementation and with the support they have received?  Are billing matters dealt with fairly and accurately?
8. Steer clear of RFPs (regardless of what you’ve heard).  Some people and companies may influence you that creating an RFP is the way to find the best software and partner.  However, the RFP process is expensive and time-consuming – whether you decide to create one yourself or hire an outside firm to do it for you.  You’ll have to create the RFP, including your requirements, figure out who you want to send it to, and then wait for responses and review them, consuming substantial and valuable internal resources.  You’ll save time and money by compiling your list of must-haves, calling prospective partners, and asking if their software can fulfill those requirements.  Then you can select your finalists for the interview process.

By following these 8 tips, you can rest easy knowing you made the right decision to ensure a successful relationship.  Contact Socius to put these tips to the test!

Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics Partner and Sage Partner, provides comprehensive consulting services including Technology and Business Management consulting, in addition to their services related to Ohio ERP software, Ohio CRM software, and Ohio Business Intelligence software.