Passwords – Outdated and Dangerous, But Necessary?

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Here’s a quick test – what do these seemingly random alphanumerical groupings have in common?

  1. 123456
  2. password
  3. 123456789
  4. 12345678
  5. 12345
  6. 111111
  7. 1234567
  8. sunshine
  9. qwerty
  10. iloveyou

That is a list of the top ten passwords used in 2018. Recognize any of these? If you don’t, you’re not necessarily in the clear, but your chance of becoming compromised or hacked is far less than someone who uses one of these passwords. If you do recognize these, you’re certainly testing your luck.

These days, creating and remembering passwords has become increasingly more challenging. If we had only one device that required a password, we could probably manage it quite easily. But with every device we use, most programs we need to do our jobs, and sites that require you to change your password every few months, it is estimated that the average person must memorize up to 191 different passwords. No wonder we often choose to take shortcuts!

The problem is over 80% of hacks are due to compromised credentials, otherwise known as stolen username and password information that are often traded on the Dark Web. In fact, in one month alone in 2018, Microsoft blocked 1.3 million attempts to steal password data, which would have led to dangerous phishing attacks, and other hacking attempts.

These harrowing statistics are why you hear the recommendations:

  • Never use the same password twice (IT Managers report 73% of all passwords used are duplicated in multiple applications, opening up multiple avenues for attack)
  • Never write down your passwords
  • Never share your passwords with anyone else
  • Never use real words or known information about yourself in your passwords
  • Avoid commonly used passwords (50% of all attacks involved the top 25 most used passwords)

Pay attention to that last stat: 50% of all attacks involved the top 25 most used passwords. See what we meant when we said if you recognized anything on that list you’re testing your luck?

Following all these rules and regulations, you’ll end up with passwords that are about 16-characters long, impossible to memorize, and, unfortunately, are still completely hackable (much more difficult, of course, but where there is a will, there is a way). So, what do we do now?

Password Manager

The first shortcut is a password manager. You can store all your passwords in one place. This makes remembering all your passwords much easier, but there you’re not out of the woods yet. The password manager is also protected by a password. If you’re utilizing a software like this, make sure that this password is especially complex, so that hackers aren’t even tempted, especially in the case of a brute force attack. If possible, turn on multi-factor authentication, especially on your password manager.

Multi-factor authentication

Many sites utilize multi-factor authentication. This extra layer of protection connects to your phone, email, or other authentication source, rather than relying solely on a password. We recommend enabling multi-factor authentication wherever possible. The only caveat here is make sure your secondary authentication source is equally secured with a strong password. No sense in double protecting yourself with a wide-open source.

Random Password Generators

These sites come up with secure passwords for you, but are typically a random jumble of letters, number, and symbols that are darn near impossible to memorize. If you’ve got a strong memory, this might be a good starting point, but if you’re like most of us, this may be more challenging than it’s worth.

How to craft the best password

Use a “Password Phrase” in place of random letters, numbers and symbols. Create something that’s easy for you to remember, but has no meaning to anyone else. For example I<3Fh@ck3rs43v3r!. Breaking this down, you get:

  • I –                  I
  • <3 –               Love
  • F –                 fooling
  • h@ck3rs –   hackers
  • 43v3r –         forever

This would be easy for you to remember because you understand the phrase, but difficult for a hacker to decipher because it’s not made up of real words. There’s no time like the present to get started and change your easy-to-hack passwords to something safer, because it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Work at creating passwords that will be difficult to hack. Make sure to change them regularly. Never write them down, (especially on a Post-it Note stuck to your computer!). But most of all, make passwords an important part of your life. Don’t consider them a nuisance or a thorn in your side. Make a game out of creating passwords. Challenge yourself to be more creative each time you create one. Beat the hackers at their own game by making your password too time intensive to try and crack, and you’ll reduce your chance of your information showing up on the Dark Web.

Worried about your information already being available due to past weak password use?

If someone breaks into your home, you can usually document what’s missing so the police can track it down. This isn’t as easy with data. A dark web scan can reveal what information may have been exposed to help you take actions to correct course. Register for a dark web scanand we’ll run a scan that reveals your vulnerabilities.

What Types of Software are Helpful for Growing and Large Businesses?

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The role of software in business has evolved from “what’s that?” to “nice to have” to “have to have” to today’s essential truth, which is that software is the heart of the businesses. It’s hard to imagine a business of any size or substance operating without multiple types of software running across the organization. The software industry has responded, offering a wide range of options for companies of different sizes. There are small business software packages, solutions for mid-sized companies and enterprise-scale applications.

If your business is growing, and we hope it is, what types of software are helpful as you grow? Having worked with many clients whose companies were in growth cycles, we have found the answer to this question is far from simple.

First, a growing company needs software in all of its operating areas. It needs Customer Resource Management (CRM) and sales management software in its sales and marketing departments. It needs HR software in HR. Accounting needs accounting software. Most businesses also typically need Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), distribution management, field service management and warehouse management. It needs a relational database management system (RDBS) along with data visualization and reporting tools. These needs are in addition to desktop operating systems and productivity (e.g. Microsoft Windows and Office), file storage solutions and phone systems (VOiP) as well as any number of IT management solutions for running data centers, helpdesks, disaster recovery and on and on.

As you might see, a growing company needs a lot of software. The big issue, however, is management. For every piece of software, there needs to be (or should be) someone, or a team of people, responsible for supporting and maintaining it. In a large enterprise, there can dozens of people assigned to maintain a single application. There will be people tasked with keeping it running, securing it, backing it up, updating it and so forth. Software admin can be a costly, people-intensive area of a business. A poor choice of software tools can compound admin requirements.

Should you move to the cloud, with all this software? The maddening answer, as is so often the case in IT, is “it depends.” No two companies have the same cloud vs. on-premises dialogue. Sometimes, the best move is to leave an existing on-premises solution where it is. However, new cloud solution options are making the whole “should we move to the cloud?” discussion a lot clearer and simpler. With the advent of comprehensive cloud ERP solutions like Acumatica, it is now possible to run a wide spectrum of business software in a cloud/Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.

Acumatica is modular, with the ability to add functions like CRM and HR as needed. As cloud software, it can scale in huge increments, on demand. Admin requirements fall precipitously as the supplier’s admin staff takes over many of the laborious processes you used to have to do yourself. Without a solution of this type, growth will cause you to go through painful upgrades to software as you inevitably outgrow your earlier generation of business software.

If your business is growing and you want to think through the best software solutions to enable the smoothest possible expansion, let’s talk.

Additional Resources

Why Growing Companies Need ERP Software

How ERP Software Can Save Your Business Money

How ERP Software Solves Your Business’s Top Financial Management Challenges

Top Reasons for Installing a Warehouse Management System (WMS)

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It seems as if, for years, the warehouse was the site of rusting steel shelves and low expectations. Things have really changed. Today’s warehouse is an operational center, where customer-facing strategies come to life with services like same-day delivery and automatic stock-out notifications. These changes have not arisen out of nowhere. Competition from online businesses and customers’ demand for seamless, omnichannel experiences have transformed the warehouse. So has software. Warehouse Management Software (WMS) makes possible many of the innovations that put warehouse operations into your strategic planning toolkit.

With that in mind, here are some reasons to consider adding a WMS to your business.

  • Streamline processes—A WMS systematizes warehouse workflows like picking and label creation. The results include a reduction in errors and improvements in warehouse worker productivity.
  • Automate warehouse operations—With a WMS, you can automate operational processes and routines packaging, PO receiving, putting away, merchandise transfers and physical counts. The latter is accomplished with integrated barcode scanners. Customized workflows and forms eliminate the risk of people skipping important steps. They can also cut down on employee training costs.
  • EDI integration—Many suppliers still use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), so it’s a good idea to be compatible with this mode of company-to-company order processing. A WMS should enable full EDI compliance, including the 856 Advance Ship Notice (ASN) standard. This makes it possible to use EDI to electronically communicate order and shipment details.
  • Track lot and serial numbers—The WMS gives you the ability to stay on top of serial numbers and lot numbers. They get scanned and then printed on the pick list and packing slip. This way, there is never a mistake about what was picked and shipped.
  • Operate hands-free—A WMS like Acumatica’s provides a pre-printed smart scan sheet that lets warehouse employees interact with the system using only their scanners. This is useful for people who have to wear gloves on the job. Scan sheets might include commands like “complete shipment,” “next/previous box,” and “remove item.” In addition, the sheet may contain audible and visual indicators as well as warnings that offer instant feedback if the wrong items are picked and so forth.
  • Generate useful operational data—The WMS can create data that’s useful for managing the overall business. For example, a WMS can report on on-time shipments, stock-outs, or “shrinkage” that might reveal a problem with theft. Warehouse managers can use data visualization and reporting to stay on top of the warehouse in real time.

Acumatica WMS is a module of the software’s Distribution Edition. As a part of the Acumatica system, it can easily integrate with your company’s ERP, finance, field service management and other software applications. Such integration helps make the warehouse a core part of business operations. It can also integrate Acumatica Commerce Edition. This helps you manage advanced warehouse functions for wholesale, manufacturing, retail and other businesses.

We have worked with many companies on the implementation of Acumatica WMS. If you would like to see a demo or learn more about how Acumatica WMS can benefit your business, let’s talk.

Additional Distribution Resources

Digital Transform in the Distribution Industry and How Cloud ERP Can Help

Looking at 2020 Distribution Industry Trends with ERP in Mind

Benefits of ERP Software for Distribution Business Management

6 Signs Your Business Has Outgrown QuickBooks

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QuickBooks is useful for basic accounting and is often preferred by small businesses for its affordability and user-friendliness. However, it is not suited for managing business processes other than financials. QuickBooks isn’t a full Enterprise Resource Planning ERP solution like Acumatica. If you’re struggling to run your business using just QuickBooks, or trying to keep the business running smoothly with a combination of QuickBooks and an ERP suite, you may have outgrown the solution.

Here are six signs you’ve outgrown QuickBooks:

1) Your Company Is Increasingly Reliant on the Cloud

While you can access QuickBooks Enterprise over the Internet, even Intuit will admit the product is not optimized for full cloud functionality. A lack of access to cloud data limits mobility and is thus less convenient than having a cloud-based system. No additional equipment or software are required to use Acumatica as an on-premises or cloud solution.

2) Your ERP Requirements Extend Well Beyond Accounting

Users can’t do much with QuickBooks beyond performing basic accounting tasks. If you’re using it as a check writer and reporting using Excel, it’s time for a more robust ERP solution. It’s also time to switch if your transaction volume is going up and you can benefit from CRM functions that integrate your business processes with those serving your customers.

3) You Require Full Relational Database Export

QuickBooks uses a proprietary database, so it’s hard to import data from payroll, billing, receivables and other outside systems. This can interfere with workflows and transactions, slowing your business down. You can better serve your customers and partners by updating to an ERP system that supports databases such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or SAP HANA.

4) Your Financials Are a Mess

You can tell if your business has outgrown QuickBooks if it takes too long to bill clients or it’s difficult to determine your true cash balance. If meeting the new ASC 606 requirement or consolidating financial reports from multiple companies or divisions is a concern, it’s time to switch to Acumatica. It allows reports to be formatted the way you want. The ERP system also supports multiple currencies and multi-currency transactions.

5) You’re Entering Duplicate Data into Multiple Systems

The larger a business gets, the more data it needs to handle. If you’re spending time entering data into QuickBooks and then rekeying it into other systems, you’ve outgrown QuickBooks. Acumatica updates data in all systems when changes are made, so any user can see the latest document version or financial record, wherever they log in from.

6) There Are More Users Than QuickBooks Can Support

QuickBooks Enterprise supports up to 30 users. While this might suit a growing small business, at some point your company will probably need more people connected. Acumatica can be scaled as your company grows; it can even support multiple companies. Your business can therefore continue using a familiar platform without requiring a complete reimplementation (which can be costly and time consuming).

Next Steps After Your Business Has Outgrown QuickBooks

If you need a true cloud, full-function ERP platform that scales as you grow, you’ve outgrown QuickBooks and should consider Acumatica. The cloud ERP system offers flexible subscription and perpetual licensing options. Contact us to learn more about what this full-featured business management solution can do for your business or browse the additional resources below:

5 Disaster Recovery Disasters to Avoid

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No one likes thinking about bad news. Maybe that’s why planning for disaster recovery often doesn’t get the attention it requires. But without a solid plan that’s been documented and tested, your disaster recovery process can turn into a disaster of its own. Take the steps you need to ensure you don’t experience these disaster recovery disasters:

1. Recovery site not ready

There are two backup sites you need to think about when you create your disaster recovery strategy.

The first backup site is where your backups are stored. You need your backups to be stored securely, but also to be available quickly when they’re needed. It often makes sense to keep backups in at least two locations—one, onsite at your primary data center for use in small outages, and two, at your secondary location or in the cloud for use when the primary site is unavailable.

The second backup site is where you bring up your systems when your production site is down. Whether in the cloud or a secondary data center, it’s a good idea to keep this site relatively current with applications and data to allow the recovery process to happen more quickly.

2. Backups not available

You can’t restore systems to their production state without backup copies of systems and data. The problems go beyond potential inaccessibility of the site where backups are stored. Common backup problems include data that was never backed up or backup media that has been corrupted. Another potential problem is that the data backup doesn’t let you easily isolate the exact elements to be restored, forcing you to spend time restoring files that haven’t changed.

3. Recovery process not known

In the middle of a crisis is a bad time to discover you don’t know how to restore your systems. Not being documented at all is a worst-case scenario, but even a thick binder of recovery procedures doesn’t guarantee the process will run smoothly. This isn’t a process your staff is familiar with; maybe they remember it from a once-per-year test scenario, or maybe they didn’t participate in the test and have never executed the process.

In addition, no matter how detailed the recovery documents are, they may not be a match for your situation. Sometimes you’ll need to recover just a single file or a single server, not your entire data center, and comprehensive disaster recovery plans typically focus on the biggest possible outage. You’ll have to figure out a smaller-scale recovery process on the fly.

4. Recovery process takes too long

Every minute your business isn’t operational costs money, so restoring systems as quickly as possible is critical to minimizing the impact of a disaster. You should have a recovery time objective for every system, and conduct tests that verify you can meet those requirements.

5. Recovery process is error-prone

A manual recovery process is vulnerable to user error, and every recovery process is vulnerable to poor communication.

Take steps to avoid disaster recovery disasters before you experience a crisis. Let CCS Technology Group develop a disaster recovery solution that gets you through your disaster without creating new disasters along the way. Contact us to learn more about effective disaster recovery planning.

Additional Disaster Recovery Resources

Craft An Effective Disaster Recovery Plan

The Differences Between Backups, Disaster Recovery, and Archiving Matter

5 Changes to Make When You Switch to Disaster Recovery in the Cloud

IT Services that Meet Routine and Special Needs

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The vast range of managed services available means you can get help for every technical challenge you face. Managed services can help you handle the everyday support and maintenance your technology needs or address unusual special circumstances.

Managed Services for the Routine

Managed services shine in handling the routine tasks required to support technical infrastructure. Whether applied to networks, the cloud, desktops, or any other type of technology, the routine services handled by a managed services team include:

  • monitoring. No matter how much you wish it were different, technology can’t be left completely unattended. Problems develop, and the earlier they’re caught and corrected, the better. Managed services can ensure there’s appropriate monitoring of system activity and logs to trigger alerts that allow problems to be addressed as soon as they develop. Developing problems such as low capacity can be identified and handled before they create issues for users.
  • maintenance. It’s even better to prevent problems from developing than to fix them fast. Routine maintenance services ensure upgrades and patches are applied in a timely way.
  • backups. Every business should be routinely creating backups. Managed services can ensure they’re created reliably and stored where they can be accessed when they’re needed.
  • support. Users have questions every day; a managed services team can provide the answers they need to use their technology effectively.
  • security. Ensuring security is a critical IT function that’s made effective through execution of routine procedures such as installing patches, keeping firewall rules current, and reviewing log files.

Managed Services for the Unusual

Most of your IT needs are routine and they’re well-handled by managed services. One-off occurrences and unusual needs are also a good fit for managed services:

  • new technology. A managed services team can help you introduce new technology into your data center. No matter how much training you give your team, by definition they lack experience with a new technology. Managed services teams have expertise that comes from working with multiple clients, and they can smooth your transition to a new technology.
  • disaster recovery. No one want lots of experience with disaster recovery. Developing a solid plan is tough and executing it in the middle of true disaster is even tougher. Managed services can calmly guide you through resolution and restoration of services.
  • planning for the future. Staying competitive requires more than keeping your current technology operational; it requires assessing your needs and opportunities and developing a strategy for the future.

If you’re facing an IT challenge, managed services from CCS Technology Group can help you get on top of it. Contact us to learn more about how our range of services enable you to solve your IT problems.

Additional Managed Services Resources

5 Reasons Managed Services Are Good For Your Business

Choose the Right IT Service Type to Best Meet Your Business Needs

6 Big Benefits from Using Managed Services

Measuring Warehouse Productivity: Top 5 Metrics to Consider

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Warehouse management has a lot to do with balancing two competing needs: speed and accuracy. If you manage a warehouse, you typically want your people to work as quickly as possible without injuring themselves or causing damage to products. At the same time, if you achieve speed at the cost of accuracy, your business will experience customer complaints and costly restocking and re-delivery procedures.

Warehouse productivity is a measurement of how well you manage this conflict, together with factors like on-time delivery and warehouse utilization. The industry’s professional association, The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) studies this issue, among many others, that affect distribution companies.

Their DC Measures 2019 annual benchmarking study highlights the importance of warehouse productivity. Here are the top five metrics from the report:

1. Order Picking Accuracy (percent by order)

This metric shows how accurately warehouse employees pick products for orders. Order picking accuracy can drop with multi-part orders, where the employee has to pick products from multiple bins. The metric is also a measure of the quality of order picking instructions. For example, if the order says “Product X,” but the employee finds two bins, each with Product X in a different color, this creates a problem. He or she can take a guess at what color is needed, and then have the company suffer the consequences of a return. Or, the employee can send the order back for confirmation, which creates churn and delay.

2. Average Warehouse Capacity Used

A warehouse is a financial asset. As a result, its rate of capacity utilization is an important number for senior management. If a company is only using 10% of its warehouse capacity, that’s a problem. It means they’re paying for the rent and upkeep of unproductive space. This may seem like an easy-to-spot problem, but with multiple sites and changing seasonal inventories, it can be difficult to measure accurately without the right software and procedures.

3. Peak Warehouse Capacity Used

It’s also helpful to know your peak warehouse capacity utilization. The number itself can be revealing, like if it’s too low. But, unless its 100%, then there’s room for improvement. Peak warehouse capacity used is a target, a basis for doing better. If the number was 70% last year, then maybe this year, it could be 75%.

4. On-time Shipments

Shipments reaching customers on-time is a critical success metric for warehouses. It’s important on its own, because it reflects if the warehouse doing its job right. However, late shipments also create hidden costs and difficulties elsewhere in the business. They cause customer service calls and complaints. They cause package tracking and other wastes of time. Ultimately, late shipments can damage your brand and cause customers to defect.

5. Inventory Count Accuracy by Location

Are the inventory counts accurate in each location? This is another stealth issue that is more important than it looks. If there are fewer items in a bin than the system says there should be, that might indicate theft or unreported damage. The results of miscounted inventory include unforeseen stockouts and fulfillment problems that negatively customer attitudes.

Strong warehouse productivity metrics arise out of good management overall, but also by means of software. This is especially true for business with extensive product catalogs and high rates of inventory turnover. Software and related technologies, like barcode scanners and RFID readers contribute to tight measurement and control of warehouse operations.

We work with many distribution businesses on the implementation of Acumatica Cloud ERP for distribution and warehouse management. This software solution enables you to measure the five key warehouse productivity metrics described above, along with many others. If you want to learn more about how Acumatica can help your distribution business function better, let’s talk.

Additional Distribution Resources

Recommendations for Selecting a Distribution ERP Solution

Looking at 2020 Distribution Industry Trends with ERP in Mind

Benefits of ERP Software for Distribution Business Management

Everyone Is a Participant in Information Security

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The information security team may have security in their name, but that doesn’t mean they own it. Security requires the active participation of everyone in the company, from management to facilities staff, in order to prevent and respond to incidents.

Preventing Security Incidents

Everybody has a role in preventing a security incident:

Management: Management sets the standard of behavior for everyone else in the business. If managers are seen treating security casually, no one else will take it seriously, either. This means managers, including senior executives, need to participate in the security training that’s mandated for everyone else; they need to demonstrate safe computing practices, like not writing down passwords and sharing them with their admins; and treating compliance audits as beneficial, rather than a necessary evil.

Finance: The financial team needs to understand the value of spending on security and authorize the appropriate expenses. In addition, the financial team needs to understand the sensitivity of the data they work with and take steps to avoid falling for targeted spearphishing attacks that seek to steal account numbers or trigger funds transfers inappropriately.

Human resources: The HR team, through its training programs, is responsible for ensuring everyone receives the necessary information security training. In addition, the HR team has the responsibility for ensuring the hiring process employees appropriate background checks and handling disgruntled employees to minimize insider risks.

Facilities: Physical security of your premises is an important component of information security.

Information security: Of course, the information security team has a major role in preventing breaches through developing security strategies and implementing tools to protect valuable corporate data.

Everyone else: All employees are responsible for using safe computing practices, including creating strong passwords and not sharing them. Employees are responsible for paying attention to the mandated information security training and taking those lessons back to their workspaces.

Responding to Security Incidents

If you unfortunately experience a security breach, you need a solid incident response plan. Multiple teams will have roles in the response, including:

Management: Management is responsible for ensuring that the incident response plan is executed, as well as overseeing related activities.

Marketing and communications: One of the biggest challenges in responding to a breach is communicating the event and how you are responding to it. In addition, your teams may need to ramp up marketing to mitigate reputation damage and minimize lost business.

Legal and compliance: A data breach isn’t just an internal matter; depending on your industry and location, you may have to satisfy legal and regulatory mandates regarding notifications, compensation, and other breach-related events. Your legal and compliance teams will make sure you follow the letter of the law on these actions.

Information security: Your technology team needs to complete several different activities. First, they need to identify the impact of the breach and determine the extent of the data loss. Second, they need to discover the root cause that allowed the breach to occur, and implement a strategy to prevent that type of attack from recurring. In addition, they should conduct a thorough review to identify other vulnerabilities and take steps to reduce the risk you’ll be victimized through a different form of attack.

Learn more about creating a disaster recovery plan.

Contact CCS Technology to start developing a comprehensive information security strategy, or browse the additional resources below for more information on getting started.

Additional Information Security Resources

Create An Information Security Culture to Protect Your Data

Don’t Overlook These Information Security Basics

7 Common Mistakes That Place Your Data in Danger

Cloud Resolutions for the New Year

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The new year is a great time to review the technology you’re using and make changes, either introducing new technology or improving how you use your existing technology. Here are four things to look at to help you get more out of your cloud technology:

1. Get cloud spending under control

One of the biggest advantages of cloud is its cost savings, but you need to take steps to make sure spending doesn’t exceed expectations. Because cloud is self-service, it’s easy for users to initiate services without much review. Free trials are tempting, but when they aren’t canceled, they turn into ongoing expenses. Buying excess capacity is a good practice when you house resources in your data center, but it’s unnecessary and a hard habit to break when it comes to cloud, where capacity is available on demand. Choosing a more expensive data tier is another source of unnecessary expenses. Finally, remember cloud is pay-per-use, so make sure resources are shut down when not needed. This includes permanently shutting down development and test environments after the project is complete, as well as turning off applications that aren’t needed overnight. Learn more about controlling your cloud costs.

2. Consider going native

Probably most organizations take the “lift and shift” approach to transitioning to cloud. In this approach, you don’t rearchitect applications; you transition them as-is. The approach has the advantages of being simple. It’s also relatively fast and relatively low-risk. However, most existing applications aren’t designed to take advantage of all the cloud’s features. In particular, they don’t usually have a services-oriented architecture and aren’t able to take advantage of automatic scalability in the cloud. If you’ve already migrated applications to the cloud and things are running smoothly, take time this year to review the applications and identify where going cloud-native will offer advantages. Learn more about approaches to moving to the cloud.

3. Improve your security

Cloud security remains a top concern for many businesses, and there’s a good reason: cloud means shared resources and more points of access, meaning potentially greater risk. While your cloud provider takes many steps to protect the cloud, protecting your applications and your data remains your responsibility. Spend time reviewing your security posture, checking the tools and configurations you already have in place, and consider adding new cloud-centric controls such as a cloud access security broker. Learn more about ways to keep your cloud secure or information security basics.

4. Design your hybrid cloud

Almost no one, except for brand-new start-ups, has a pure cloud environment. Everyone else is working with a mix of cloud and legacy infrastructure, resulting in a confusing, difficult-to-manage hybrid architecture. Stop the chaos by taking a step back to evaluate the mixed infrastructure and plan how it can smartly evolve to let all the different elements work together in support of your business. Learn more about the flexibility of a hybrid cloud.

CCS Technology Can Help You Achieve Your 2020 Cloud Resolutions

If you’re ready to tackle any or all of these cloud resolutions in the new year, contact CCS Technology Group. Our cloud solutions help you design, implement, and manage the cloud you need in 2020 and beyond.

Additional Cloud Resources

New Year, New Cloud Choices and Challenges

Don’t Overlook These Aspects When You Plan Your Cloud Migration

Calculating the ROI of Moving to the Cloud

Why Growing Companies Need ERP Software

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Growing companies need Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Put another way, if your business is growing, you may need to upgrade your legacy ERP software. While software alone won’t make your business grow, executing a growth plan without the right software will be a bigger challenge than it needs to be.

What’s New in ERP?

ERP is not new. You could even argue that it’s middle aged. The core of ERP, which was created to help run big factories and logistical operations, came into existence in the early 1970s. ERP’s origins lead some to consider the software to be a “heavy iron” technology, suited to global giants and industrial processes. There is still some truth to this, but we are now into a new generation of agile, powerful cloud-based ERP solutions.

Cloud ERP, as exemplified by Acumatica, makes it possible to deploy sophisticated business management solutions without installing software or buying any hardware. It’s available over the Web, via a browser. Acumatica is an extensible system. It can do basic ERP workloads like accounting and financial management, orders and invoicing and so forth. However, from there, you can add a significant portfolio of modules. These include software for warehouse management, field service, Customer Resource Management (CRM), HR, industry-specific applications and on and on.

Grow Revenue with ERP

Used the right way, ERP can facilitate revenue growth. This happens when you take advantage of sales management tools and functionality like quote-to-order and product configuration. With these capabilities, you can engage more closely with customers, responding to their needs quickly and closing more deals. The order fulfillment and subsequent customer support features in cloud ERP keep the customer relationship on a solid footing—leading to more repeat business and client references. This is possible without ERP, but it will be a lot more work.

Save and Invest for Growth

Modern cloud ERP drives savings across the business, including Operating Expense (OpEx) and Capital Expense (CapEx). You can use the proceeds of these savings to invest in strategies that promote growth, e.g. marketing campaigns, new hires and so forth. In terms of OpEx, cloud ERP enables people to work more productively, using automated workflows to speed up business processes. The connected nature of the extended Acumatica system reduces manual process steps and re-keying of data into the solution.

The ERP toolset provides for improved scheduling of production operations and field service. With data analytics and visual dashboards, the ERP solution can help managers anticipate problems and react before they become expensive to solve. Advanced inventory management features give you the ability to conserve cash and cut down on costly mistakes like stocking merchandise for so long that it expires.

Protect Your Business, So It Can Grow

The last few years have demonstrated conclusively that a cyberattack is a costly distraction that then results in a huge remediation expense. A serious data breach, for instance, will probably put a damper on your growth plans for a good six months or more. ERP software does not guarantee security, however, modern cloud ERP solutions offer a number of security advantages compared to legacy systems. For instance, the system runs in a highly secure data center. The cloud architecture also makes possible a level of redundancy that protects you from outages resulting from attacks.

2020 promises to be a year of growth. ERP can be part of your success story. If you want to learn more about how cloud ERP can help your business grow in the coming year, let’s talk.

Additional ERP Resources

7 Important Qualities of Cloud ERP

Position Your Business for Growth in 2020 With Cloud ERP

7 Benefits of CRM Software (That’s Integrated with ERP)