Business Automation and Software Blog

While these numbers are rarely released by Amazon itself, one recent survey estimates that more than 100 million people across the United States have Amazon Prime benefits. Based on recent population data, that’s nearly a third of the entire country.

Have you ever been caught by surprise when a key customer doesn’t renew a contract or place their regularly expected order? Connected supply chains and smart manufacturing put a new level of focus on the customer and the ability to predict performance, but simply having the data isn’t enough. You need to know how to dive into it at a more scientific level.

If your manufacturing and distribution business is growing, you’re likely excited about all the positives: ordering is up, there’s opportunity to increase employee headcount, perhaps add another branch or location. But growth can also make some of your “business as usual” more challenging, especially if expanding means the potential to grow out of your current ERP accounting software.

For business owners, few things are as exciting as seeing their products gain traction in the marketplace and increase in demand. In order to meet these new demands, operations need to scale, which puts manufacturing processes in the spotlight. When it comes to products that are ordered in smaller quantities (such as a larger item that is only purchased one or a few at a time) or those that require custom parts, you may default to a Make to Order manufacturing mode.

With the ubiquity of manufacturing software systems at your disposal, your business has access to more data than ever before. This data access provides manufacturing businesses with more tools to improve business management and cost-effectiveness, starting with inventory lot size.

We’re now into the second month of a new and exciting decade, and the pace of innovation is already at an all-time high. Business software solutions such as ERP software are tasked with rising to the occasion as technology embraces Industry 4.0 and preps for 5.0 (which is probably coming sooner than you think). Flexible features and easy-to-use functionalities will be the hallmarks of the most successful business software solutions. But, to get the full value out of their software solutions, businesses will need to make sure every user has the maximum insight from the system.

While customers have always been at the center of business operation focus, the customer experience journey is newer jargon that didn’t emerge until the 1990s when businesses could track more customer data than ever before, thanks to the internet. Suddenly, there was a wealth of access to data tracking customer actions, interactions, purchases, and more.

As we get further into the fourth Industrial Revolution with technologies and trends that include virtual reality and artificial intelligence, there are some who fear that AI will steal humans’ jobs. And while the majority of AI applications are already failing to meet some of the high expectations humans have placed on the technology, it isn’t going away. Instead, we continue to find the most realistic applications for AI, specifically the machine learning category. More specifically, machine learning in accounting technology.

The warehouse is chock full of potential dangers. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics cited that in 2016, there was an average of 5 injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers in the warehouse and storing industry. Warehouses boast heavy machinery and a plethora of equipment: plenty of opportunity for accidents. Safety, therefore, is paramount.

In most cases, efficiency is the relationship between ends and means. An inefficient situation is one where it is perceived that the end could have been achieved by fewer means, or the means could have produced more of the desired ends. Of course, efficiency is valued differently depending on the nature of the process, whose valuations we focus on, and how they’re weighted.