Analysis & Information Services

Top 2 reasons that distributors decide, “We need new software.”

1. You have new top management

Maybe a son or daughter takes over, or the company is sold. After many years of things at the company being done the same way, the new CEO is ready to make decisions that are pertinent to today’s market, leveraging technology to innovate and improve the workflow.

2. Your volume is up, bringing new requirements

Perhaps a new, large customer requires that you to add EDI capabilities. Or you expand into a regulated market where you must be able to track expiration dates and product sources on a lot basis. Or you need more sophisticated calculations for your purchasing re-order points as your inventory costs rise.

A good place to start is to assess which is most critical to your business:

Maintaining a high quantity or volume without workflow blockages or inconsistencies

Or

Maintaining a high level of quality control over your items (number of steps, decision points, or details and attributes tracked per item) to ensure accuracy

Then, focus your technology budget on the appropriate software and expertise to help you optimize those mission-critical processes. 

Don’t spread your software budget evenly across your workflow

Your high-value process is the place to really tailor your system. That’s where it pays to remove all constraints, optimize things, and bolster your ability to innovate and iterate.

In the other areas of your workflow, stick with the standard choices that come with the software. Or add smaller software tweaks just in the places where it will make people’s jobs a lot easier. And for any functions you don’t need, don’t buy them.

We’d look forward to walking your warehouse(s) with you to understand your business. We’ll bring you ideas and recommendations based on our experience with other distributors who were at a similar stage of growth as you are now. Email us with what’s on your mind or give us a call at (410) 561-0778 .

Have you bumped into the limitations of off-the-shelf software?

When a manufacturer is innovative by nature, they innovate not just with products and customer service, but with their internal processes as well.

Examples of special requirements you might have:

• You use different units of measurement for purchase vs. manufacture vs. sales, where the logic to sync these up isn’t simple

• Your pricing rules vary by customer contract or quote

• Your customer buys their own raw goods and materials and you need to track those separately

• Your scheduling needs change with the types of jobs you work on

• You need to track items by serial number. Or by lot, with full traceability for regulatory compliance.

The trouble is that most software can’t adapt to special requirements like that. Or if it can, it involves a costly, year-long programming project.

Remove your technology constraints

Our specialty is setting up your financial and ERP system to fit your needs.

We use flexible source code software that’s specifically built to encourage any aspect to be changed. 

Those little bits of tailoring can make a big difference, allowing you to track and manage things exactly the way you want to.

Once you get used to how easy it is to tweak how things work, you’ll be able to make cost-effective improvements to your system on an ongoing basis to keep ratcheting up your productivity and ease of work. It’s an exciting way to work.

From a single  plant to multiple worldwide locations…. from one $2M unit/month to a thousand $2 units/hour:

• Line manufacturing 

• Discrete manufacturing

• Process manufacturing

• Job shop

• Integrated distribution and services functions 

Your specialty manufacturing situation can be easily supported. Your “weird” requirement can be handled. Expert consulting is included.

Our flexible mid-tier systems cover the full range of manufacturing and accounting capabilities. We invite you to begin a conversation with us about your vision for how you want things to work. What brings you to our site today? Email us or call us at (410) 561-0778.

Would you like to track your impact performance as well as you track your profits?

You can assess your social impact metrics as systematically as your financial metrics, by using a flexible accounting system that can track both.

• Measure individual human impacts – You might set up alerts for steps in your workflow to learn where you can proactively make your employees’ jobs easier.

• Measure community impacts – Perhaps you want to measure how your vendors and suppliers align with your company values so you can prioritize where to support them in improving weaker areas.

• Measure environmental impacts – You could go deeper than typical sustainability checklists (“organic,” “recyclable,” “green”) to a meaningful system that helps drive down your company’s environmental footprint.

• Report with transparency to any stakeholder group whether customers, investors, supply chain partners, board members, customers or employees.

• Demonstrate the benefits you’re producing, clean and clear, free of harm to people and planet.

• Document compliance for internal and external validation.

What do you wish you could measure and monitor as you focus on making the world better?

We believe that true accounting in business includes social impact assessment. Let’s talk about innovative ways to report on the data that will give actionable insights for your decision making. What aspect of your business are you seeking to improve? Email us or call us at (410) 561-0778.

Is the complexity of your funding increasing?

Consider managing your operations with a robust financial system that custom-fits your mission and makes things flow better.

• Fund accounting with unlimited funds (permanently restricted, temporarily restricted and unrestricted) with customizable fund types

• Automatic inter-fund balancing to prevent errors, and transparency and traceability tools keep your stakeholders up to date

• Contribution management and secure acceptance of online payments and recurring donations

• HR, donor and volunteer databases to make it easy to track current contact info, log communications, and as many other data fields as you want.

• Unlimited reporting options offering standard reports plus any type of reports or financial statements you wish. No more piles of spreadsheets.

• Adapt to unique needs – Maybe you have an inventory of physical items to track, or delivery routes to optimize, or another process that’s less typical for nonprofits. Those can be integrated into your system too.

We’ll set up reliable financial tools and internal controls to help you optimize the strength of your nonprofit, your connections, and your beneficial impact. 

We’d be genuinely thrilled to talk with you no matter how large or small your nonprofit is. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with your questions. Email us or call us at (410) 561-0778.

Do you need a better way to track and organize your time billing?

If your jobs and billing cycles are getting more complex, take a look at a financial management system to help you stay on top of the hours you’re billing.

• Automate your billing – Get invoicing that’s tailored to your off-site or in-house services (consulting, installation, inspection, repair, training, accounting, engineering, etc.)

• Keep your projects current – Access project status, key dates, earned revenue, billed-to-date amounts and more. Easily answer questions about work you’ve done and billing.

• Manage labor costs – Track sub-contractor and employee time with the option to post actual costs to client projects.

• Document anything for your projects – Time stamps, screen shots, warranty info, serial numbers, photos, work notes, follow-up actions, etc.

• Simplify job costing and estimates – Clone previous project estimates, issue change orders, compare actual costs to estimates, and define your own cost codes

• Invoice for parts – If you resell items and manage an inventory, use a single system that integrates this with your time billing

A flexible accounting system will give you a consistent operations protocol and ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks.

We’d welcome a conversation about ideas to maximize your profitability without stressing you out. What aspect of your services workflow are you hoping to enhance? Email us or call us at (410) 561-0778.

Does your old billing technology frustrate your members and your staff?

You could phase in a flexible, modern system that integrates with your accounting system and works the way you want to.

• Electronic billing accepts online payments—even from your members’ mobile devices―with options for check scanning and deposits, budget and payment plans, automated phone payments, and more. Your members can access all their account information online.

• Automated network administration takes care of regular system backups and data security for your billing system

• Remote access gives you the freedom to do billing, customer service, payment processing and reporting from any internet-connected computer and printer

• Multiple services billing handles it all if your electric cooperative also provides gas, water, sewer or trash pickup services

• Billing and payments processing is an option if you’d like to outsource repetitive mailings and collections or have a backup in place

Does your cooperative handle something in a unique way that your members enjoy? No problem. Your new system will fit your service area.

At AIS, we deeply believe in self-reliance, cooperation and the concern for community that cooperatives embody. It would be our pleasure to talk with you. Which aspect of your member services has you looking at new solutions? Email us or call us at (410) 561-0778.