Business Automation and Software Blog

There’s no doubt your IT team is talented, but not every business is going to have in-house software development resources with the expertise to take on enterprise software projects. That’s when a software consultant comes into play, providing expertise on the market, business, industry, and of course, the software solutions that meet those needs.

This year, more than ever, supply chain management has experienced seismic shifts and changes. From economic pressures to trade disputes to the global health crisis, change in 2020 has been unpredictable at best. In addition, some problems have compounded as various companies shut their doors for COVID, and others shut their doors for good.

More than any other year prior, 2020 has highlighted the need for companies to look at business operations quite critically. Especially in light of the COVID pandemic, technology has become an essential part of the process of mobilizing the remote workforce and increasing collaboration.

Over the years, the role of the CFO has transformed from “head bean counter” responsible for accounting and reporting past activities and transactions to report on what happened in the past. Now, modern CFOs are asked to focus more on taking the information of what happened in the past to shape the narrative for the future of the company.

At the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread industry shut downs that resulted in a sharp decline of production and efficiency levels in manufacturing triggered fears that the supply chain might suffer collapse. While those fears haven’t come to fruition, manufacturers are still struggling to adjust through a constantly shifting landscape, and the worst fallout might be a continually strained supply chain.

It’s almost hard to believe that 2020 is coming to a close. But Finance and Accounting professionals are already looking toward to the end of the year. For some, preparing for year-end close won’t start until the end of December. But that can involve a mad dash to review data stored in accounting software, contacting vendors to verify information, and then closing the books.

A request for a quote is a key step in closing a sale, especially for manufacturers. But if your manufacturing quotation process involves checking multiple spreadsheets and an email chain for price information, or using an old quote as a template to manually create (or populate!) a new one, or obtaining information that is only accessible so long as the right person is in the office and available to chat, you run the risk of creating inaccurate quotes that could lose business, or worse: profit.

The coronavirus crisis is a stress test for businesses across every industry and in every geography. In a very short period of time, it has changed the way we do business. What hasn’t changed because of COVID-19? The accounting calendar, for one.

Technology has proven essential to many for getting on with daily lives during this pandemic. COVID-19 has proved the ultimate catalyst for the digital transformation of many companies, accelerating major trends that were already underway prior to March 2020. Supporting digitization and updating to the latest technology for business process improvements are going to prove not only useful but essential for businesses who wish to remain competitive in the post-COVID world.

It’s no secret or surprise that the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has changed how businesses run, consumers shop, and suppliers deliver. What had seemed like a fairly balanced system of supply and demand has experienced significant ripple effects. Businesses who had previously relied on global sourcing are now working on supply chain optimization during these disruptions. Is it time to broaden supplier choices, or source more locally? How much inventory—from raw materials to finished products—should they stock? Supply chains are in crisis.