Enterprise Resource Planning – Dutch Uncles

Voice Technology and 5 Start-ups Who are Disrupting This Space

DU Desk — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 14:18:30 +0000

Voice Technology is a new-age enterprise technology segment that is rapidly coming-of-age. Voice AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a technology that can recognise voices digitally and can decipher speech. It’s scary and fascinating how this technology is slowly becoming more human. Voice AI can be used to emulate human voices and can even naturally converse like a human that enterprises are quickly incorporating for their use cases. Here are 5 voice tech start-ups in India who are disrupting this space.

Slang Labs

Slang Labs is a Bengaluru-based start-up that is working on a multilingual Voice Assistant as a Service platform called ‘Slang Conva’. This is a B2B product which will help other brands to create and add their own multilingual voice assistants to apps. This start-up is making noise in the voice technology space because they are propositioning voice assistants in native Indian languages. They are a disruptor because they are making the voice experience accessible and friendly to consumers. Their plug-and-play-voice assistant solution will help brands create multilingual in-app assistance for customers.

Saarthi.ai

Saarthi.ai is a deep tech start-up which offers a voice-first conversational AI technology. The company is based in Bengaluru and is disrupting the B2B segment in voice by helping enterprises automate their inbound/outbound calls and chats with their conversational voice-first AI assistant. This company is making its fair share of noise in the voice-based enterprise technology market through their conversational AI for low resource, global languages targeted at Indic, South Asian, Arabic and European users.

InCights

InCights is a voice biometrics start-up which is a B2B enterprise technology solution provider. They offer a cloud-based voice biometrics solution and a developer platform. They are disrupting the voice-based technology space with their enterprise-grade authentication security systems. They eventually want their enterprise clients to replace passwords with their product offering.

Uniphore

Uniphore is a well-known disruptor to the voice technology space. They provide a conversational AI and automation platform for enterprises. They are a disruptor because their voice solutions are transforming the customer experience for clients. Uniphore’s popular product offering is their voice authentication and biometrics solution ‘amVoice’.

Voxta

Another noteworthy start-up in the voice technology space is Voxta which is based in Hyderabad. They provide speech technology for their enterprise clients who are mostly call centres. They are a differentiator to the industry since their speech recognition engines can tap into multiple different languages and accents.

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Noteworthy start-ups in India offering conversational AI and voice based B2B solutions.

What’s in it for me?

The voice tech industry has been evolving and Voice AI is seeing applications across numerous key industries including healthcare, retail, hospitality, customer service, etc. The Asian market is seeing high adoption of voice AI solutions for commercial applications. The reason why the Asian market is a hotbed for voice start-ups is due to the sheer diversity of languages, accents, and dialects. There’s huge potential for B2B voice tech start-ups to acquire clients in the government, across enterprises, as well as investor interest.

Conversational AI tools have high demand among enterprise contact centres since they are easing the process of customer communication and subsequently enhancing the customer experience. There’s also great demand for chat and voice-based bots that cater to multiple different languages among enterprise contact centres. Ever since the revelation that massive new markets open up by targeting regional languages in India, every industry is in a race to develop multilingual products. Whether its vernacular gaming apps, social media, or speech services, the whole of Indian population can become your consumer base by being inclusive of local languages.

The post Voice Technology and 5 Start-ups Who are Disrupting This Space appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

SimpliContract is Supporting Organisations Across the Contract Life Cycle

Anju Nambiar — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 06:05:03 +0000

SimpliContract is a Bengaluru-based start-up which offers an AI (Artificial Intelligence) and SaaS (Software-as-a-service) based Contract Lifecycle Management Platform. Simply put, the platform uses modern technologies like AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to make contract creation more accessible and also helps facilitate ‘post-signature contract management practices’.

The start-up recently raised $1.8 M in a seed funding round backed by Kalaari Capital, Picus Capital, Arka Ventures, and Digital Sparrow Capital.

How SimpliContract Supports Organisations

SimpliContract’s platform and services help to manage end-to-end contract lifecycles for organisations. Creating and managing contracts is a critical task since there is frequent back-and-forth between both internal as well as external stakeholders like Vendors and Customers for:

New contract creation
Renewal of existing contracts
Revisions.

The collaboration is often a tedious process which SimpliContract helps ease.

Most importantly, SimpliContract is aimed at shortening the contract lifecycle, and to make sure that compliance and regulations are adhered to. The start-up is determined to improve the decision making process for organisations with respect to contract creation and management.

Their SaaS platform’s simplified user interface is what ticks with organisations. With the help of SImpliContract’s solution, organisations can achieve higher efficiency in terms of making, enforcing and managing contracts.

How the SaaS Enterprise Technology Works

SimpliContract’s SaaS platform integrates with the organisation’s enterprise apps. It provides actionable insights for users through the contract lifecycle from procurement, sales and even across the legal functions.

The software is built on customisable and intelligent workflows which renders it highly adaptable for organisations across multiple industries.

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SimpliContract’s platform and services helps manage end-to-end contract lifecycles for organisations.

What’s in it for me?

The market for CLM SaaS solutions includes mid-large sized enterprises and has a global potential. Although the CLM market has a number of well-established players, there is a good adoption rate for new entrants.

CLM is a lucrative space to venture into for enterprise tech start-ups. The global market for CLM solutions is expected to be valued at $5.2 B by 2027. Since digital transformation is a priority for most organisations during the pandemic, you can pitch your CLM solution/service from this perspective.

There is increasing demand for CLM solutions in the supply chain and manufacturing sector. Since these on-site industries are now trying to adapt to a work-from-home or hybrid business model, enterprise technology solutions like SaaS CLM are vital to them. These industries rely on contracts for a number of partners, third-party vendors that they constantly deal with. Thus, contract management technologies become a necessity.

Target manufacturing and supply chain organisations. Show them the benefits that AI insights provides into the performance of supplier/partner/customer contracts. Approach these clients from an educational standpoint since most organisations are not fully aware of how AI and SaaS work for contracts.

The post SimpliContract is Supporting Organisations Across the Contract Life Cycle appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

The Survival and Revival of Enterprise Tech

Anju Nambiar — Sun, 30 May 2021 06:05:04 +0000

When companies scrambled to get on online conference apps, and remote working software, enterprise tech quietly celebrated. The market was bombarded with the need for remote working technology tools, and solutions, and most importantly meeting apps.

The Hybrid work model came about without the intention of leaving. Enterprises are closing their physical office spaces and permanently going remote. Enterprise technology will have no trouble surviving the pandemic when the demand for hybrid work technology is so high.

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Enterprise technology will have no trouble surviving the pandemic when the demand for hybrid work technology is so high

Survival of enterprise tech businesses

Data security solutions

A lot of businesses are taking the route to digital transformation to survive the times. Offer data security technology solutions for them to overcome the risks from threat actors.

Cost-effective CX solutions

Enterprises need cost-effective technology solutions that enhance customer experience, end-user experience, and business results. Meet the demand to survive well during this period.

Target construction and real estate industries

Industries like Construction and Real Estate are in dire need of a strong digital foundation now more than ever. Target these industries with new-age technologies like Cloud Computing to enable safe work environments for projects that are geographically disparate.

Cybersecurity services

Organisations moving to cloud computing need to protect their virtual workplace from cyber-attacks. Offer cybersecurity services to prevent data breaches and phishing attacks for end users.

Reposition yourself as a cloud start-up

Investors have renewed interest towards cloud growth. Amp up your cloud stories to attract investor interest. If you are a small, traditional enterprise technology company, renew your products with multi cloud and hybrid cloud software to obtain increase in your stock prices. Enterprise tech companies can survive by positioning themselves as cloud start-up and investing in cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Reintroduce your product lines as cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products to increase their value.

Move to the ARR Software Model

If you are a traditional technology company, move to the Cloud based Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) Software model offering SaaS solutions. The monthly or annual revenue streams from a subscription-based model will see shares soar and will attract investor interest.

Revival of Enterprise Tech businesses

Tap into increased cloud infrastructure demand

Enterprise tech customers started migrating to the cloud when the pandemic began. However, this number will increase dramatically. Cloud centric infrastructure is in high demand as more companies go in for digital transformation. Keep an eye out for the opportunities that show up beyond the pandemic to revive from any business disruption.

Incorporate your enterprise networking company with software

As a revival strategy, revamp your traditional enterprise networking company with software. Incorporate an AI strategy to automate your cloud networking and security services. Target the software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) market. Revive your network and security infrastructure with security software like Virtual Firewall.

Enhance your enterprise network management and security services

A robust network is the backbone of today’s businesses, especially those that are either moving to or taking off on a hybrid work model. The demand for robust network solutions will be high post pandemic. You can be prepared for this demand as a revival strategy by improving hiring practices, deploying good security policies.

Tap into enterprise image data storage

Digital document images have a voluminous storage problem since most enterprises are relying on visual means for business processes. Several industries including the manufacturing sector, insurance, shipping, etc. will need image data storage. As a revival strategy, tap into enterprise image data storage. Provide enterprise-ready Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions to meet image data storage demand. You can also provide additional services like image compression technology, file deduplication, etc.

Focus on strategy to deliver maximum value

Enterprises are becoming wary of heavy technological investments and advanced innovation. This is because they want enterprise technology to drive real business value. As a revival strategy, focus on a strategy that will help your customers bounce back quickly from the innumerable pandemic induced business disruptions and lockdowns. Offer to digitally transform businesses with a long-term strategy focused on improving the experience for all users.

Vaccinations and Enterprise Tech

Move teams leading important client projects to remote work

There’s no two ways about it. Indian technology workforce in Enterprise tech companies have been hit hard with most IT companies seeing entire teams being impacted with the Covid crisis. Shift your entire IT operations to the remote work model especially in worst impacted cities. Teams that are leading important client projects need to be safeguarded the most because if the entire team is impacted, the project and business will go awry.

Prioritise safety and well-being of workers and their families

To evade through the crisis successfully, prioritise the safety and well-being of your IT workers and their families. Send your teams emergency oxygen supplies. Also make vaccinating your entire team and their families a priority before everything else.

Fix remote work schedules and connectivity issues

If your IT teams working from home are suffering from tough schedules in their personal and work fronts, ease their troubles by offering mental health assistance, time off, and flexible schedules. Also immediately get their network and connectivity issues fixed so that they don’t need to struggle to complete tasks, and the project continuity is not hampered.

Extend help and support during tough times

Absenteeism due to sickness and death in the family is still very high, especially among technology employees. Make sure that you extend all the help and support you can afford to your workers during these tough times. Provide wellness benefits, salary advances, and reimburse covid related medical costs for your workers and their family to help ease their troubles.

Join the covid fight

It’s the responsibility of enterprise tech as an industry to join the covid fight along with other industries. Deploy your platform or create a brand-new solution for vaccine assistance. The most obvious solution is a ‘vaccine finder ‘solution. Notify users about available vaccination slots in their vicinity on a subscription basis.

Conclusion

Technologies like Artificial Intelligence which are key for digital transformation will have high demand henceforth. The interest among enterprise tech customers around this technology and tools have piqued during the pandemic. Even fundamental operations like document processing need AI and businesses are only just beginning to realise the need.

Enterprise tech companies have very large shoes to fill, especially in helping these digitally transforming clients adopt AI and similar new age tools.

Its safe to say that the enterprise tech industry can survive and revive from the pandemic by grabbing the right opportunities at the most opportune time, which is NOW.

Organisations which are evolving will need automation technologies like AI and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) to automate business processes. These are markets to prepare for post the second wave.

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5 Enterprise Tech marketing Trends you Can’t Ignore

Shalmoli Sarkar — Wed, 26 May 2021 09:35:04 +0000

Indian businesses are swiftly moving towards the adoption of technology to work efficiently in the remote work environment, which is a shot in the arm for enterprise tech industry growth. Corporates are increasingly seeking the help of technology for better communication, cybersecurity, intent-based marketing, team collaboration, creation of digital stores, better management of inventory, etc. therefore, pushing the demand for Cloud technology, SaaS solutions, AI, CRM, and ERP software. With increasing dependence on digital channels, enterprise tech companies need to up their marketing game by creating personalised experiences and satisfaction to increase customer engagement.

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Corporates are increasingly seeking the help of cloud technology and SaaS tools for business continuity in the remote work culture.

Marketing Trends That Enterprise Tech should not ignore

Here are some of the novel marketing trends that enterprise tech companies must adopt in 2021:

Conversational Marketing

Potential customers before buying a tech product would like to interact with the brand more about its benefits, features, pricing, etc. The use of chatbots in conversational marketing personalises interactions that build better relationships and shortens the customer journeys that are beneficial to tech companies. To ease the sales conversation for MSMEs, tech enterprises can add local languages and make their business offerings more comprehensive to the masses. Customers can book a session of video demonstration through the chatbots at their convenient time that will help enterprise tech companies to generate leads. Potential customers on a one-to-one communication can receive prompt answers to their queries on customer time, elevating user experience and satisfaction.

AI-Enabled Marketing

AI-enabled marketing plays a pivotal role in developing personalised communication for customers that can lead to better conversation rates. It helps create a sales pipeline by filtering potential leads based on specific criteria, that aids sales teams to identify which lead or vendor is worth pursuing. It can also help marketers identify at ‘risk leads’ and target them with information to rekindle interest in the product. It can run specific campaigns to its target audience that can yield better results. At appropriate points of the buyer’s journey, AI can shoot personalised messages.

Hyper Personalisation through Predictive analytics

It will be imperative for enterprise tech businesses to opt for focussed marketing. Predictive analytics helps in hyper-personalised marketing by gathering data models, statistics and machine learning to create different consumer profiles. The creation of consumer profiles will aid marketers to design better campaigns, devise new ways of engagement, and build better content targeting the audience. Through this approach, marketers can develop a better understanding of the campaign performance and campaigns that appeal to potential buyers.

Through experiential Marketing

Startups from any business vertical can offer an immersive brand experience to their potential customers through experiential marketing. According to McKinsey research, experiential marketing is a powerful catalyst for word-of-mouth marketing. A branded experience accounts for 50-80 percent of all word of mouth activity. Several MSMEs in India who are now pivoting to new technologies were initially alien to it, therefore tech businesses should leverage AR, VR, or mixed realities to offer the potential buyers a slice of its usage. Integrating AR / VR with the demo video content will cite the exact usage of their product thus, converting a desire to firm purchase intent.

Offering customised Products

Most MSMEs do not have the financial strength to purchase an entire array of services. Therefore, the businesses in enterprise tech can market their products to be customisable following the requirements of the business vertical the startups and MSME owners operate. Offering customised products to customers establishes satisfaction and gives customers the flexibility to choose products that will be more relevant to their business without paying a lump sum amount.

What Should the Enterprise tech keep in mind?

Enterprise tech, while marketing, should keep in mind that MSMEs operate as a close-knit community and can be sceptical to accept new technologies. To convince them, the enterprise tech companies should target their marketing initiatives towards the Chair of MSME communities or unions and offer them free trials. Once they understand the technology, they will become the biggest promoters of the enterprise tech’s services/products and those will soon be accepted by the companies.

MSMEs mostly favour tech solutions that are less complex to operate and have low maintenance costs. Tech marketers should also keep in mind that the product they are marketing is feasible for Indian users. For instance, a tech enterprise selling AR and VR solutions requires higher bandwidth, mainly 5G connection, which in India is not available everywhere.

The post 5 Enterprise Tech marketing Trends you Can’t Ignore appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Most Trending Products and Services in Enterprise Tech

Roopali Kotwal — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 08:30:24 +0000

Today, digitalization is more important in any domain and the concept of enterprise technology just provides an edge to companies to run their business in the most effective way.

Enterprise Technology

After a definite stage, an organisation reaches a certain size, the business processes start getting a little complex and time-consuming. In such a scenario, managing them manually could be a humongous task. And, that is where Enterprise Technology comes into the picture that meets the essential requirements of the organisation. The software that provides a solution to the business is called Enterprise System.

Enterprise System could be an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Cloud Computing software, Web Analytics, Business Intelligence tool, Communication Software, Customer Service or Issue tracking software. Let’s look at the most talked about solutions/products/services below:

Enterprise Technology: Solutions/Products/Services

Amazon Web Services/AWS is a secure cloud services platform, offering compute power, storage, database, analytics, developer tools, management tools, IoT, security and enterprise applications for organisations to move faster, lower IT costs and scale

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform with solutions including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) that is used for analytics, virtual computing, storage and networking etc.

Google Cloud Platform is a suite of cloud computing services. It runs on same infrastructure that google uses internally for its end user products such as Gmail, Google search, file storage and You-tube

Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It includes Gmail, chat, meet, calendar, drive for storage

IBM Smart Cloud is a set of cloud computing services for business offered by IBM. It includes IaaS, SaaS and PaaS offered through public, private and hybrid cloud delivery models

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, currently as a platform inside the Google Marketing Platform brand

Sage is a cloud based ERP system targeted at high growth, small and medium-sized businesses. It includes applications for core financials and accounting, purchasing, order management and financial reporting

SAP S/4HANA is a future ready ERP system with built in intelligent technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and advanced analytics. It transforms business processes with intelligent automation

Oracle Cloud ERP is a core suite of Oracle Cloud (SaaS) applications. Oracle expense management and Oracle Risk Management are part of this solution

SAP ERP software was developed by German Company SAP SE. It incorporates the key business functions/operations of an organisation

Datapine is the business Intelligence Software. It focuses on self-service and visualization to allow a variety of professionals to understand data

JIRA is a tool developed by Australian Company Atlassain to capture, assign and prioritize bugs and track all aspects of the software development cycle. It is also used for project management

Acumatica is a Cloud ERP that supports to manage business, review all customer interactions and obtain proactive business reports and insights, all from any web-enabled device anywhere at any time

Zendesk is a Customer Service Software, a CRM software designed to improve customer relationships. The software gives the flexibility to customize the support solution with tools like advanced workflow capabilities and AI-powered automation and self-service

Zoom is one of the leading video conferencing software apps. It facilitates the virtual interaction with co-workers’. It is an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat and webinars

HootSuite is a Communication Software. With the software you can track the response time to inquiries made on your social media profiles

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a cloud based CRM platform that keeps information about leads, sales and customers at one place

Zoho CRM empowers a global network in over 180 countries of multiple businesses to convert more leads, engage customers and grow their revenue

SAP Sales Cloud helps organisations to connect and guide customers throughout their buying journey. It transforms the leads to cash process and accelerates sales performance with incentive optimization

HubSpot CRM enables customers to relate stronger with their clients, boost conversations and improve revenues based on multiple interaction channels

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The best way to predict the future is to create it - Abraham Lincoln

What’s in it for me?

Using Enterprise Technology has many benefits. It streamlines complicated workflows, improves productivity, efficiency, reduces human error and boosts the revenue of an organisation.

While Technology provides solutions to the biggest problems in the IT world, its dependency comes with its own set of problems. The cyber-attacks or unplanned application downtime can lead to huge productivity loss, interrupt processes, impact reputation as well as big financial losses. Hence, analysing the risk (identify, assess and prioritise risk) before you start with the implementation process is significant. You must take preventive measures else it will lead to chaos.

Few things as a start-up you can do is to calculate the real expenses of downtime, get a risk audit done, adopt a proactive thinking method, have proper documentation. If the company budget allows, you may want to hire an in-house programmer and if not then the entire support will be required from the software provider. Hence, find the right provider who can support with scheduled routine maintenance, backup services and expert support if you ever do experience a malfunction.

We use technology to simplify things but if it isn’t going to make life simpler than it is of no use. Hence, keeping a check in the initial stage is of paramount importance. The best solution is to invest time and money into the development and implementation. The preliminary time spent on implementation of high-quality software with proper staff training, proper IT support and getting clarity of the tool shall work wonders and mitigate the risk of failure.

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): The Digital Monitor Overlooking All Aspects of Your Business

Tanisha Achrekar — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 11:01:25 +0000

We often hear that everything is digital these days. The digital transformation witnessed in this decade is surreal, to say the least. In businesses, the role of IT has increased and taken a strategic role as well. Technology has become an inevitable part of the modern business structure. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is one such IT tool without which most businesses cease to function. It was primarily established for manufacturing industries but later it expanded to other industries like finance, education, health care, service, hospitality and many more.

What is ERP?

ERP is a software that helps in managing and simplifying all the essential processes. It enhances and smoothens the functioning of any business. Streamlining your business and providing management with valuable and insightful data. The ERP system has been around since the 1960s and is evolving ever since. The recent ones also have Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology. Also, most of the ERP vendors have an established cloud system.

How does ERP work?

ERP systems usually have different applications synchronized in them together. The different application depends upon the industry the ERP is specially designed for. Say you are running a finance business; you will have all the sectors inside your business in the ERP. The application for accounting will be different than that of HR. However, both will be able to access the same data as everyone is kept in the loop in an ERP system. ERP ensures that different departments of a business are on the same page.

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Technology like art is a soaring exercise of the human imagination.

- Daniel Bell

What are the features of ERP?

ERP systems vary in scale, scope, and functionality depending upon various factors. However, there are some general characteristics and features ERP systems have.
They are:

Enterprise-wide integration

An ERP process is well-integrated from start to end across all business units and departments. Everything is synchronized in it, making it a go-to system for any and every department. For example, when a sale is made, the amount of profit is also recorded and even the inventory check is made along with generating shipping and invoice.

Tracks real-time operations

The operations are tracked by the software in real-time. Real-time tracking helps in understanding the required action and any setback immediately. For example, if a customer has placed an order. You can immediately check if the stock is available or not. This real-time tracking helps in identifying problems quickly.

Consistent user interface

Any system that has constant upgrades and updates becomes tedious to handle in a business. This is because everyone who is handling this system has got used to its user interface. Constant changes incur further training costs. Most ERP vendors offer a consistent user interface. Their system has a consistent look and feel.

A common database

There are different departments in a business but they all use the same common database. Every department is accessing the same database and using the same data. Some ERP systems opt for separating the physical database to improve performance.

How will my business benefit from having an ERP system?

As an entrepreneur, you may wonder if it is worth investing in such a system. Especially, if everything in your organisation seems to be functioning well as it is. Knowing how your business will benefit from having an ERP system will give you a better understanding of whether it is worth your money or not. Some key benefits of having this system include:

Eliminate struggles associated with data management

One of the biggest advantages of having it is that it improves data management big time! It automatically tracks and processes your data. You no more need to spend hours logging data whether it be of sales, accounts, or anything. It automates everything saving a bunch of time and also eliminates the chances of errors that may occur while physically logging any data.
Your employees will not be wasting time balancing the book. They know the system will handle it all. The same time then can be used for other important tasks due in the business. ERP systems save time and increase the overall productivity of the organisation.

Promoting transparency by tracking all financial transactions

Financial discrepancies can cause problems in the best of businesses. It can hamper the environment of a business and disrupt its overall functioning. We as humans tend to make mistakes, no matter how diligently we work. Errors can occur while calculating the revenue, stock evaluation, tallying the accounts. The use of ERP will eliminate all possibilities of human errors. To avoid all this, the best is to have an automated system in place. It rules out the probability of transactions being missed out or data discrepancies in any manner. The system will automate your data and create an interlink amongst the different departments in your business. You can get a real-time financial report of your business and there are no chances of inaccuracies and errors.

Providing a business overview to identify opportunities and setbacks

The system is tracking your overall business in real-time. It is constantly checking about how different departments are doing and also, how the overall business is functioning. It helps in finding any setbacks or problems immediately with real-time tracking. You will know promptly what stock is reducing, what is barely selling, what needs to be manufactured more, how much profit you are creating, and so on.

Helps in boosting customer experience

Customer is the King. This statement is not a mere exaggeration but a definitive reality in today’s world. To survive in any business, you need to keep your customers happy and satisfied. There are several other options available for anything and everything these days. Your customer service can either be your USP or your setback. It is up to you. It helps in boosting the customer experience by providing data metrics. This will help you to understand the wants and needs of your customers. Knowing which products customers are leaning towards more and which they are not buying will help you further form sales and marketing strategies.

Keeps a track of the regulatory compliance

Every business has a set of rules and regulations to comply with be it any industry. It is a time-consuming process to keep a track of the regulatory compliance of your business. Having to make spreadsheets and do all the paperwork. Even after all these efforts, there can be irregularities. The system will automatically update and regulate all the legal requirements of your business. Configure your ERP system with the regulations of different departments and you are good to go.

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The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.

- Bill Gates

How can I implement an ERP system in business?

There are several vendors available out there. If you have decided to establish an ERP system, then you can go about implementing it by:

Map out the different divisions of your organization

When you have decided to implement an ERP system, the first step will involve determining the different departments and sectors in your organisation that will be using it. Every organisation functions differently. Mapping out the different sectors will help in narrowing your choices from the several ERP vendors available.

Examine and document the process, know where you are struggling

There are complexities involved in examining and bringing-in all the data of a business together. Have a list of all the documents needed before establishing an ERP system. Though this process may sound saturating as it may take several days. In the end, it is all worth it as you will have everything compiled and in one place.

Assess the technical fit

Depending upon what your business needs, you may need an ERP system that is specifically designed for your industry. Usually, an ERP solution is scalable and can easily handle an increase in data and number of users. Ensure that the ERP system you choose is well-aligned with your company’s current IT structure.

Estimate the true total cost involved in owning an ERP system

Getting a system in place for your business is a long-term financial investment. There are several costs involved in ERP pricing like licensing, upgrades, fees for add-on services, and maintenance. You need to determine which of these are one-time costs and which are the recurring ones. Have an estimate of how much you will be annually spent on the recurring costs.

Consider various vendors and choose the best for your business

Choosing the right ERP vendor is a critical step in choosing the best software for your business. While selecting a vendor, go through their track record and performance history in your specific industry. Check if they are well-equipped with resources to handle the implementation of ERP in your business. Conduct extensive research and comparison before selecting your ERP vendor.

Create a plan on how you are going to implement the system

After you have selected your vendor, the final step would be creating a plan on how you are going to implement the ERP system. This would include having the resources needed and training the staff. The employee who will be handling the ERP system should know how it works. As ERP is a huge commitment required by every department of your company, an effective plan of its implementation is a must.

ERP is one of the most convenient business systems out there. It has become an integral part of most businesses. With so many vendors out there, remember that there is no ‘best’ ERP system. The “one size fits all” does not apply while choosing an ERP system. Every business has its own unique needs and manner of functioning. With the advent of technology, businesses have transformed digitally over the past few years. Read our article on ‘digital transformation’ to know more about the impact of technology on businesses.

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How to Automate Business Processes

Shalmoli Sarkar — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:19:34 +0000

The Need of Automation for Business Efficiency

Working without bottlenecks is the dream of any business owner. Automation softwares can aid in efficient working without hiccups and streamline the routine tasks. To err is a human tendency, no matter how diligent he is. Hence a business automation software can help automate business processes go error free and reduce the task redundancies.

Automate Business Processes in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

An Enterprise Resource Planning automation system is designed to record and manage enterprise data. It links together the core business processes like – taking orders, scheduling operations and keeping inventory records. The ERP can automate business processes that are routine in nature, by storing data in a centralized location that makes it readily available to all the users who need to perform tasks, enabling automated communication across various departments.

Let us understand this with an example of a burger shop using ERP software. A burger shop receives hundreds of customers a day. A burger order that needs to be properly packed and delivered to the customer, goes through multiple processes like-heating and putting the patty, putting sauce and mayonnaise, putting salads, packing extra sauce sachets and tissues, checking if it is a parcel or eat here, and final packing. Let us consider these processes as separate departments within the store. Once an order is initiated, the ERP software automatically delegates action to the patty department that starts doing its job by selecting veg or non-veg patty. After they put the patty on the bread, it immediately updates information that its task is over, and now it alerts the sauce and mayo department to do the needful.

After the sauce department puts sauce or mayonnaise it updates the information about its task completion. The unfinished order then moves from the sauce department to the salad department. After putting salads, the same status is updated and lastly, the burger proceeds to the packing department that looks at the type of the order if it is a parcel or to be eaten here and handovers the burger to the customers and updates that the order is delivered and this marks the completion of the entire customer order.

The same information helps to update the inventory records after a day’s sale of existing stock of burger bread or mayonnaise packets or patty pieces. If the inventory falls short, it automatically prompts the procurement team to fill the stock gaps. Now imagine this entire process without automation, as the workers of one department will wait for tasks to be completed by those in other departments. With no proper information flow in place, there will be massive confusion causing delays and slowed productivity.

Below are some benefits to automate business processes in ERP:

Custom reports

An ERP system can create custom reports quickly and has a single platform for gathering and housing data, thus making it possible to detect bottlenecks about which department is lagging or which of them needs more improvements.

Demand forecasting

As workflow is simplified, turnaround time decreases and improves the production capability. It can also help in forecasting demand for inventory, less overstocking, and track real-time supply.

Smooth workflow

Workflow automation reduces the chances of human errors like missed orders, inventory mishaps, or miscommunication, saves time and low operational costs. It operates the business like a well- oiled machine that elevates employee satisfaction and increases the life of the business.

Finance

Undoubtedly, finance is one of the most vital functions of business. It is a function that demands plenty of know-how and mental ability. Small businesses grapple when it comes to the management of various finance processes such as tracking expenses, taxation, managing account receivables, and payables, etc. As the job demands a lot of work with numbers, a slight shift in concentration can cause multiple human errors. Imagine while preparing financial reports or while filing taxes we make a single typing error that will cause a drastic change in reports. While we sit to fix and identify the error across multiple spreadsheets and reports, we will have invested a significant amount of time. Here is where automation in finance comes to the rescue.

Below are the functions in finance that can be automated:

Easy analysis

For a company to make sound business decisions it needs to analyse critical financial aspects such as budgeting, forecasting, and reporting. These aspects are built on accurate business data. Technologies like robotic process automation in finance help in sourcing, aggregating and formatting data that gives quick reports thus aiding the finance team to spend more time in gaining insights and aid in proper analysis.

Processing receivables and payables

Account receivables and payables are the lifelines of any business. Getting these processes wrong will result in miscalculations of a company’s revenue. Automating receivables will help in creating a database of customers against the pending amount of money. Also, regular reminders can be sent to customers regarding the pending amount. Automating payables scans invoices and captures information of suppliers and alerts if payment is yet not done.

Hassle-free tax payments

Calculation of taxes is a labourious task where businesses consulted experienced professionals whose charges were expensive. With automation in finance, calculation of taxes has eased, where they can upload their scanned bills, invoices, and bills, and the tool will extract all the information from the uploaded files and put it into a searchable, scannable format. As the tax date comes near, you will have all your documents uploaded and organized and this saves a lot of time.

Automate Business Processes in Marketing

For newly begun ventures, their biggest challenge is to maximize reach and awareness to the target audience about their products or services. The emergence of various social media platforms and high internet consumption has led to a rise in digital marketing in the past few years that has become the most effective way of reaching out to the target group. Understanding consumer behaviour and emotions are not easy. Marketing automation tools help to compile and utilize all kinds of data about the customers. It will help in designing marketing strategies narrowed down to that particular group of audience for your business. Here are the various business processes in marketing that can be automated:

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Using automation for digital marketing can give you a detailed report of the audience engagement of the campaigns

Email marketing

We can automate emails to our customers at strategic moments festivals to target customers. For instance, say your company is planning to offer discounts, it will be a tedious task to send emails to so many customers separately. Through marketing automation, we can send personalized emails to hundreds of customers in one go informing them of discounts. Also, reminder emails in a fun manner such as ‘the cart misses you’ can be sent to the customers doing online shopping who have left something in the cart and are yet to buy.

Content Scheduling and Posting

Automation in marketing helps you in content scheduling automatic posting and saves from the routine task of logging into every social media account separately and posting content. With this feature, one can schedule the post in the desired time where the audience presence will be at its peak. For example- usually, it is found that audience presence on Facebook is high on weekends at 11 am, then one can automatically schedule posts for Sunday at 11 am to get maximum impressions or tractions.

Communicate better

Personalization in messaging strikes a chord with the target audience, since it helps customers to make better purchasing decisions and feel better about those decisions too. AI and machine learning-enabled marketing automation tools extract the insights from a pool of data that consists of customer interactions and engagement with the content that will empower small businesses to build relevant marketing campaigns and high engageable content for each prospect. AI and machine learning-enabled marketing automation tools extract the insights from a pool of data that consists of customer interactions and engagement with the content that will empower small businesses to build relevant marketing campaigns and high engageable content for each prospect. It allows marketing to be more efficient and helps to create high engageable content. It also optimizes the media spends based on anticipated outcomes.

Get insights

With the launch of marketing campaigns, it is necessary to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign. With automation in place, we can monitor response rates, level of audience engagement of the posts on all the social media handles. It helps you to understand which social media platforms are suitable for your business where the audience presence is more hence spending less on channels where the engagement is low.

Automate Business Processes in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The customer is the king of any business. After we have created enough attention for our brand to the audience, our work doesn’t end there. To keep customers recurring to use your there is a need to nurture our relationship with them. Automating CRM ensures that every step of our interaction with customers goes smoothly and effectively. CRM systems gather information on the customer’s overall purchase history, customer info, and buying behaviour patterns that helps to create a loyal customer base.

Lead management

Due to excess work, the salespeople might forget to follow up on leads. It causes them to miss out on many potential leads, which means losing business opportunities. AI-driven CRM systems can replicate sales agents acting as the first point of engagement between the leads and the company through emails or messaging. Once the lead’s buying intention is confirmed, a sales representative can close the activity. Its tools can also generate leads from multiple mediums whenever a customer shows up with a buying intention and can create accounts based on their probability to engage and purchase. It helps the sales team to focus on the best and most qualified leads.

Customer engagement and retention

Of course, we will face some irate customers who will be unhappy with our products or services, but the challenge is to win their confidence back by addressing their problems and helping them in a quick turnaround time. AI-enabled CRM can do sentiment analysis and use image recognition technology to understand customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your product in real-time. When you get this insightful data, you can identify potential problems quickly and take action to respond to customers. It can create tailor-made experiences and interactions by determining their emotional state of mind through their text-based or voice-based words, tone, and conversation pattern.

Troubleshooting

AI-based CRM can give different sales scenarios where the deals were rejected and closed. They provide useful insights and make intelligent recommendations during various stages of the sales funnel to advise sales representation on the next best course of action to close the deal. It can also help them to identify which buyer has the intent to buy and speed up the sales cycle.

Automate Business Processes in Data Security

When it comes to safeguarding vital company data, small businesses are under the impression that they are not prone to cyberattacks, due to which they do not implement any such systems as well. According to a 2019 study by Accenture, 43% of cyberattacks worldwide are targeted at SMBs. Hackers take undue advantage of the same and hack the data in an encrypted format only to ask for some ransom amount in return. With increasing digitization, such cases have seen a spurt.

Detection and monitoring

As your teams grow, it reduces the visibility of IT activities as we generate large amounts of data, and detection of threats from such large data volumes becomes impossible. SOAR (Security Orchestration Automatic Response) driven security automation helps to detect the threats by speedily analysing large volumes of data, where it can detect any suspicious behaviour even though the network traffic is high. Once it identifies the attack, it alerts the security team who takes actions by removal of the malware or by installing security patches. It helps to reduce the time and effort needed to complete security tasks. Apart from SOAR, there is UEBA (User Entity Behaviour Analytics) to detect abnormal behaviour of devices, servers, etc. For example – Suppose if a particular user downloads 20 MB of files everyday but suddenly downloads Gigabytes of files then it is a case of deviation from normal, UEBA detects this and alerts the team immediately.

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The right partnership between man and the machine allows for a greater income in the day-to-day. It also allows for the elimination of excess labor costs, since it is easy to optimize the work of the employees.

Automate Business Processes in Human Resources

Human beings are complex creatures. Managing employees by a human is a daunting task since they are different individuals belonging to different ethnic backgrounds, energies, mindset, and mentality who come together under a roof to work. Many processes in HR take a significant amount of time like selecting resumes, managing attendance records, payroll management, etc. All these processes can be easily automated to free the HR managers from the menial tasks to focus more on employee well- being. After all, happy employees create happy customers.

Sort Resumes with ease

Imagine you are the HR manager of a company where you have posted a job opening on a job portal. After you receive hundreds of resumes you are likely to get overwhelmed for sorting the resumes for interviews. Sorting resumes become a tedious task. AI in HR automation has eased the process of screening resumes from a large applicant pool. AI tools in HR conduct its search based on keywords the HR specifies like- 2+ years of experience, B. Tech, SAP skills needed, etc. and it produces a list of candidates that fit the description. Once we have the list of potential candidates, AI uses keyword analysis to determine suitable candidates for interview based on the content of the resume and narrows the list. Automation also helps in tracking and monitoring applicants, creating job requisitions, and posting them out to job boards and social media platforms.

There are certain downsides of AI-based hiring as well. When we specify too many keywords it means creating rigidity, which might result in overlooking candidates who might have non-traditional backgrounds but would be perfectly qualified to do the job. It might lead to the cancellation of resumes by the AI tool for the candidates whose resume doesn’t have the keywords.

Payroll

Calculating payrolls manually from spreadsheets has a high chance of errors causing underpaying or overpaying of employees. With automation, payroll calculation becomes easy as it automatically transfers the data about total hours worked by employees multiplied by the daily amount into the system. Rather than separately entering taxes, deductions, overtime, and commissions, the tool will calculate it together and send the correct results.

Timesheet

Maintaining manual timesheets and calculation of payroll from the sheets is a gruelling task. There are chances that employees might manipulate in-time and out-time. By automating the timesheet, HR no longer has to risk their eyesight to guess employees’ handwriting. Validations and auto-filled fields are put together in the automated sheet that ensures employees enter the correct information every time. Once submitted, the timesheets are sent to HR for approval. If there is any change in timings, it gets updated automatically.

Performance appraisal

Performance appraisals are an essential function that is primarily on human interaction. It is also infamous because performance appraisals are said to be biased. Technologies like AI and Big Data can automate this function to eliminate human bias and ensure that it is in the best interest of the employee. It works by combining the KPIs (Key performance indicators) of a particular job that can be fed into the AI-enabled tool to determine high and low performers. Automation eliminates the biases of a manager towards one employee. With this more transparency is induced in the appraisal process.

When a business is in growth mode, automating functions that are redundant and require human intervention can make a significant difference in the functioning of a company, allowing it to focus on core functions.

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