In today’s feature white paper, you’ll find 10 key questions to ask your finance and accounting software vendor before you buy a new ERP system. With so many vendors clamoring for your business, the answers to these questions will help you get the ERP system that genuinely fits the needs, business processes, and priorities of your organization.

One of the vendors you could end up directing those 10 questions at is SYSPRO, a mid-market ERP vendor bridging the gap in offerings between the “early adopter,” visionary-type buyer group and the more pragmatic, “early (market) majority”-type buyer group. Here’s a question and answer session in which SYSPRO expands on its unique vision of the future.

In today’s feature case study, you’ll discover how a scalable ERP solution enabled a growing, high-volume distributor to take orders off the Web, improve customer service by providing key information to sales representatives in the field, and update inventory levels in real time—all the while adding 100 new accounts to their customer base.

If you’re not entirely clear on the differences between discrete, process, and mixed-mode manufacturing, today’s feature blog post will help set you straight. Click here to learn about the differences that help define them, and the major characteristics that make each type of manufacturer unique.

Because BI and business performance management (BPM) are so closely related, you may be unsure of the differences between them. In this straightforward guide to BPM, you’ll learn more about BPM’s components, how they link up, and the way in which this business-oriented application of BI can optimize business performance and help drive corporate strategy.

An ERP system alone will not deliver significant return on investment (ROI), as many midsized businesses are learning the hard way. The real ROI comes from employing a BI solution that allows you to use your ERP data in a meaningful way. Here’s a look at five building blocks you need to have in place so that your BI deployment is both successful and profitable.

With the ERP system serving as the IT heart of a process manufacturing operation, it’s absolutely crucial that you get a system that meets your company's special needs. Today’s feature white paper gives you a guide to the questions you need to ask—and the issues you need to look at—before you commit to a new process ERP system.

Find out how attribute-based demand planning, essentially a method of lean inventory management, can enable you to reduce inventory levels and supply chain connections, resulting in lower manufacturing costs and higher levels of customer satisfaction. It’s in today’s feature article.

And speaking of buzzwords, ever wonder if IT white papers sometimes contain a group of buzzwords that the vendor might, just might, be including to try and bamboozle you? Or could that just be your imagination at work? Our take on the truth of the matter is revealed here.

On a more serious note, today's feature white paper shows how you can run a better operation by maximizing your inventory management system and maintaining accurate stock balances.

For an in-depth product review of ActiveBatch v7 job scheduling software, check out today’s second feature blog post.

Finally, to help you make sure you get the job scheduling software that best meets your company’s needs, here’s a detailed checklist of job scheduling evaluation criteria.

Whether you’re buying or developing software, test tools help you get the most from your investment. Here’s a complete guide to software test tools—including vendors, the test tool market, and the different kinds of test tool applications.

Enabling security in the software development cycle is better than dealing with it down the road. In today’s feature white paper, you’ll learn all about software security quality assurance, and how to avoid getting locked into a game of security vulnerability catch-up.

No longer the exclusive domain of manufacturers, today’s second feature blog post looks at how retailers and service providers are also in a position to enjoy the benefits of a PLM solution.

In today’s feature white paper, discover how the 2007 Microsoft Office System can help manufacturers drive product innovation, provide the best possible customer experience, and improve operational performance.

While there are good CRM buzzwords, there are also the bad: the ones that mostly serve to confuse—or worse—actually mislead you. Here are the five worst CRM buzzwords, and why they should be forever banished from the CRM lexicon.

Best-in-class companies are boosting their bottom lines by improving sales effectiveness and productivity—and you can too. Learn from the world’s best at bringing in the bucks, in today’s feature white paper.

The Sarbanes Oxley act requires the segregation of certain key duties to prevent unrestricted control over any transaction or group of transactions. To help you understand the potential areas of conflict, TEC has created a SOX Segregation of Duties Matrix. Click here for your Excel copy.

In today’s feature white paper, find out how you can interface Web service with other applications from Siebel 7.8 or 8.0 without writing a single line of code.

The Sarbanes Oxley act requires the segregation of certain key duties to prevent unrestricted control over any transaction or group of transactions. To help you understand the potential areas of conflict, TEC has created a SOX Segregation of Duties Matrix. Click here for your Excel copy.

In today’s feature white paper, find out how you can interface Web service with other applications from Siebel 7.8 or 8.0 without writing a single line of code.

As industry pros know, IT project failure is shockingly common—and there’s one leading cause in the vast majority of cases. Discover what that cause is, and what your organization can do to avoid it, in today’s feature executive brief.

In today’s feature blog post, TEC’s analysts look at the basics of ERP data mining: what it is, what it’s used for, who uses ERP data mining, and how it can benefit your business.

What are the five keys to becoming a world-class distributor? Today’s feature white paper spells them out for you.

In a down economy, everyone wants to control spending and cut costs without reducing operational effectiveness. Here’s how some Fortune 1000 experts suggest you go about it.

Thanks to the Internet, customers no longer have to rely on your salespeople for product information. So what can your salespeople do to fill that gap, engage the customer, and close the sale? It’s 3-D applications to the rescue, as you’ll discover in today’s feature article.

In today’s second feature article, learn about the challenges involved in making the transition from mass production to mass customization, and how tools like quote-to-order can help you succeed.

Interested in reducing HR call volume and transaction costs, while improving workforce productivity, company data accuracy, and employee satisfaction and retention? Learn how in today’s executive guide to employee-self-service (ESS).

If you still think HR is mostly about handing out gold watches and planning the company Christmas party, you may be surprised to discover an HR reality that is both highly diversified and critical to the company’s health and well-being.

If you’re comparing finance and accounting (ERP) software, here’s a good way to make sure you’re asking all the right questions.

For a look at the challenges facing process manufacturers today—and there are many—we recommend today’s feature article.

Customers and prospects want it. It can help vendors make sales. It’s relatively cheap and easy to do. So why don’t vendors put videos on their web sites to show end users and potential customers how their software really looks, feels, and works? Today’s blog post looks at that question from a frustrated end user’s point of view, something you can probably relate to.

Your call center is often the only point of contact your customers have with your company—it’s your chance to either satisfy them or turn them off. Today’s blog post looks at how one call center set up its protocols to make sure that problems got solved, and that customers walked away satisfied from the experience.

For an in-depth look at outsourcing and supplier management at a global level—both blessings and curses—check out today’s second feature article.

With small margins, stiff competition, and complex supply chains, original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have to carefully and efficiently manage their relationships with contract manufacturers if they expect to make a buck. Here’s how to turn those relationships into a win-win proposition.

Outsourcing and offshore manufacturing can be a double-edged sword: efficient and profitable when everything goes as planned, a potential black hole for margins and profits when the unexpected happens. Here’s a look at a response management program that enables you to respond quickly and effectively to on-the-fly changes in your supply chain, resulting in improved operating peformance.

Today’s interconnected global supply chains are more efficient, yet more at risk than ever before. A supply chain interruption ranging from supplier bankruptcies, to natural disasters, to geopolitical problems could shut your production down cold. Find out what you can do to assess your risk—and prevent the collapse of your supply chain—in today’s feature blog post.

Here’s a look at Microsoft’s business solutions’ underlying platforms, including where they originated, which Microsoft solutions share the same platforms, and where Microsoft’s platform strategy is heading. It’s all in today’s second feature blog post, along with links for a free evaluation of a half-dozen Microsoft ERP and CRM solutions.

Today’s feature white paper examines the benefits of running Dynamics CRM 4.0, Microsoft’s flagship customer relationship management (CRM) solution. See how you can save money on a CRM solution that extends Microsoft Outlook into a central location for all customer data, lead information, marketing pitches, and sales call information.

Here, then, are three lighthearted, tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek looks at enterprise software—two that view software selection from, well, let’s just say, unusual angles, and one that pokes gentle fun at the often mind-bending language of white papers …

Today’s feature case study looks at a midsized appliance manufacturer forced to implement a radio frequency identification (RFID) solution in order to meet Wal-Mart’s distribution requirements. It was a classic case of come through or lose the business. Here’s how they pulled it off.

Today’s feature article gives you a closer look at the history, rise, and functionality of ERP-distribution software—a powerful combination of traditional ERP and supply chain management (SCM) designed to meet the complex needs of global manufacturing.

Today’s feature blog post gives you a look at some of the issues involved in switching over from paper-based patient records to an electronic system, as well as a list of questions to ask before you commit to an EMR solution.

To get an overall grasp on the history of EMR, its benefits, and the challenges to an EMR implementation, check out today’s feature article.

Find out about a 360◦ solution designed to help health plan providers increase sales by applying “best-selling” practices to every prospect, at every touch point, in the sales and marketing cycle. It's in today's feature white paper.

If you’re a software vendor dazzled by visions of penetrating the huge Chinese market—but are wary of the well-publicized risks and challenges—you might want to know how heavyweight SAP managed to pull it off. But don’t be put off by SAP’s size, even small to midsized vendors can adopt the same strategy for success, as you’ll discover in today’s feature blog post.

IT outsourcing is smart business, but be careful, in many ways it can be like a marriage. In today’s feature white paper, you’ll learn about the most important thing you can do to ensure your IT outsourcing relationship lives happily ever after, instead of ending up in conflict and divorce.

With so much riding on your company selecting the right accounting software, and with so many solutions to choose from, what should you base your decision on? Today’s feature white paper recommends you start with an understanding of both the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s financial information capabilities.

Did you know that digital dashboards, browser-based accounting, and .NET technology allow you to get away from traditional reporting systems that produce endless pages on financial and business conditions after-the-fact? In today’s feature article, learn how you can get the financial information you need on the fly, without having to rely on static, often dated financial statements.

But today you have an advantage you didn’t have before—you have access to software solutions that, until recently, were beyond the reach of SMBs. To help you weather these difficult economic times, and emerge from them even stronger, here are five IT articles and white papers that show you the way to a more efficient, more competitive, and more profitable business operation.

It isn’t only big companies that can benefit from ERP finance and accounting solutions. Small to midsized businesses (SMBs) can also see their revenues increase, productivity go up, and costs go down with the right ERP solution. Here’s a handy, common-sense guide to understanding ERP from the SMB point of view: the ERP market, the benefits, the features, the costs, the vendors, and more.

Creating one company out of two through merger or acquisition almost always requires you to migrate the two businesses into a common enterprise application. In these cases there’s a real need for speed—but can the implementation be done quickly? The answer is yes, sometimes in as little as nine weeks, as you’ll discover in today's feature white paper/case study.

If you want your learning management program to succeed, you must understand that your company’s corporate culture can make all the difference. That’s the message of today’s feature article, which not only shows you how to factor corporate culture into the e-learning experience, but also informs you about e-learning programs from all the important angles.

Your employees may know their stuff, but if your partners and suppliers don’t deliver a consistent message about your products, brand-identity, marketing, and quality practices, your overall business effort will be weakened. To get your ‘”extended enterprise” speaking with one powerful voice, you need an LMS for partner and supplier training. Here's a 10 step program to help you justify it.

One of our readers wanted to know: So, this ERP thing… how does it work? Since a good question deserves a good answer, here then, is ERP in a nutshell giving you a look at it’s history, the functions of a modern ERP system, one of the secrets of a successful ERP selection process, and the ways you can get around the high costs associated with a full-blown, on-premise ERP system.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) can give your small to midsized business a better chance of weathering difficult economic times by helping you to respond more quickly to change, and by enabling you to fulfill demand in a more timely way. But before you commit to anything, you need to know the five worst mistakes to avoid when embarking on an EDI integration project. You’ll find them here.

With business seemingly operating at the speed of light these days, you need to be able to rapidly interpret your company’s data in order to drive peak performance, while monitoring and reacting to your competitors and the constantly changing dynamics of the marketplace. In today’s feature white paper, find out how business analytics, the next generation of performance software, can help you achieve it—making your company agile, responsive, and competitive in a tough, fast-paced business environment.

If you’re a manufacturer still running without a BI solution, today’s feature podcast is one you shouldn't miss. In a conversation between BI analyst Lindsay Wise and Robert Abate, a leading expert in BI solutions for manufacturers, you’ll find out how a BI solution can bring you substantial return on investment (ROI) by boosting efficiencies, while enabling you to make better, faster business decisions. You’ll also find out how to optimize a BI implementation.

ERP is good. But ERP plus PLM is better if you want to reduce data duplication, speed up product development cycles, and improve product turnaround time. In today’s feature white paper, you’ll learn how the combination of ERP and PLM can enhance your overall process of getting new products to market, and help give you a competitive edge in difficult economic times.

While the ability to leverage globalization, outsourcing, and Web-based collaboration technologies has created tremendous growth opportunities for manufacturers, it has also created a whole host of logistical problems and competitive pressures. For a look at the history of global product development, and the role PLM plays in helping manufacturers meet the challenges of the new global marketplace, check out today’s feature article.

The success or failure of your ERP selection process can depend on how you define an ERP system, which in turn depends on how you define your business needs. To help it all work out for you, today's second feature blog post offers you a working list of ERP definitions, as well as a link to a practical guide to defining your business requirements. You can also win $100 off the RFP template of your choice just by telling us what you think the best definition of an ERP system is.

In times of recession, many manufacturers look for ways to streamline their operations. That’s why lean manufacturing is one of the hottest topics in manufacturing circles today. In today’s feature white paper, you’ll find out how lean manufacturing can help you work both smarter and more efficiently, at just the time when you need to the most.

Given the bad economic news of late, here is a timely white paper on using CRM to recession-proof your business. You'll learn about the three different CRM strategies you can employ to build a competitive advantage in tough times.

Roughly seven out of ten CRM programs involve a great solution but a bad implementation plan, resulting in an all-around negative CRM experience. The culprit turns out to be vision—or more precisely, the lack of an appropriate one. To help you improve your odds of CRM success, here are the four steps to developing an effective and attainable CRM vision.

In today’s PJ's Industry Spotlight, you'll get a look at xTuple, and at how this vendor is responding to trends—and bringing forward new products—in the open source market.

In today’s feature podcast, find out how an international manufacturer using a traditional, local enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution shifted gears to end up with an on-demand, remotely hosted ERP system. It wasn’t the kind of the change the company originally intended, but the benefits proved too attractive to resist.

If your ERP system is falling behind when it comes to responding to changes in your business, you may be blowing most of your annual ERP budget just trying to get the system to keep up. Find out what you can do about it, and the efforts software vendors are making to remedy the situation, in today’s feature report.

Part 2 looks at Progress Actional and Mindreef, solutions designed for SOA governance, testing, and management in distributed IT environments.

For a look at the nature of—and trends in—enterprise applications, with a particular focus on SOA, check out today’s feature article.

Find out how enterprise SOA is enabling manufacturers to run at far greater levels of efficiency by enabling tight integration of plant and business systems. You’ll also learn about the business opportunities enterprise SOA can create for you—it’s all in today’s feature white paper.

In today’s feature case study, you’ll discover how a scalable ERP solution enabled a growing, high-volume distributor to take orders off the Web, improve customer service by providing key information to sales representatives in the field, and update inventory levels in real time—all the while adding 100 new accounts to their customer base.

If you’re not entirely clear on the differences between discrete, process, and mixed-mode manufacturing, today’s feature blog post will help set you straight. Click here to learn about the differences that help define them, and the major characteristics that make each type of manufacturer unique.

Here’s a handy reference guide that lays out the accounting features and functions currently available to small to midsized businesses (SMB). It’s the quick and easy way to help you determine which accounting features your organization really needs.

Financial services organizations are engaged in an ongoing struggle to boost efficiencies and improve their bottom line. Learn about three success strategies that will not only work for financial services companies, but could assist you in achieving these goals as well.

CRM has so far endured a difficult birth and a troubled life, and the future is far from certain. End-users are dissatisfied, and the industry remains unable to effectively articulate its value proposition. Get the inside story on where CRM is now—and where it needs to go in order to truly succeed—in today’s feature article.

Here’s a handy comparison guide to 10 of the most popular hosted CRM solutions, including offerings from NetSuite, Microsoft, SAP, and Entellium. At a glance, you can see how they’re priced—and what sales force automation (SFA), service and support, and marketing features they offer.

All the ERP functionality in the world won’t get you the return on investment (ROI) you’re looking for if your system doesn’t handle your company’s business processes and workflow efficiently, or if your employees don't use the system properly. Find out how the next generation of end-user experience and performance management (EPM) software can solve both of these problems, and get you the maximum ROI from your current ERP system.

Finally, here’s your opportunity to get current on the trends producing the greatest stress and change in global discrete manufacturing. You’ll find it in today’s feature white paper.

Today’s feature white paper looks at the issues—and solutions—for organizations trying to manage sales teams and the consolidation of financial reporting across different countries or different companies, including requirements for addressing different currencies, taxation rules, and local and consolidated reporting.

Caught between general purpose big-vendor ERP offerings that require heavy customization, and small off-the-shelf project management solutions that are easily outgrown, project-oriented organizations have a special set of accounting needs. Here’s a look at those needs, along with recommendations on how project-oriented organizations should best approach the acquisition of a new accounting solution.

Because BI and business performance management (BPM) are so closely related, you may be unsure of the differences between them. In this straightforward guide to BPM, you’ll learn more about BPM’s components, how they link up, and the way in which this business-oriented application of BI can optimize business performance and help drive corporate strategy.

An ERP system alone will not deliver significant return on investment (ROI), as many midsized businesses are learning the hard way. The real ROI comes from employing a BI solution that allows you to use your ERP data in a meaningful way. Here’s a look at five building blocks you need to have in place so that your BI deployment is both successful and profitable.

Finance and Accounting Solutions Comparison Chart
Getting the right finance and accounting software can be a tricky, complex task. To get you off in the right direction, here’s a handy chart that gives you a high-level view of ERP offerings from 10 major mid-market vendors, including industry heavyweights Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP.

With the ERP system serving as the IT heart of a process manufacturing operation, it’s absolutely crucial that you get a system that meets your company's special needs. Today’s feature white paper gives you a guide to the questions you need to ask—and the issues you need to look at—before you commit to a new process ERP system.

Find out how attribute-based demand planning, essentially a method of lean inventory management, can enable you to reduce inventory levels and supply chain connections, resulting in lower manufacturing costs and higher levels of customer satisfaction. It’s in today’s feature article.

Here's an article about a demand-based supply chain approach that provides for the kind of flexibility, visibility, customer response, and operational efficiency CPG companies could only dream of with traditional pull supply chains.

More than ever, direct store delivery (DSD) is giving CPG suppliers a critical competitive edge. Learn why in today's feature white paper—and discover a seamless DSD solution that updates delivery, warehouse, and back-office information with no latency, data inconsistencies, or mismatches.

In today’s feature white paper, you’ll find 10 key questions to ask your finance and accounting software vendor before you buy a new ERP system. With so many vendors clamoring for your business, the answers to these questions will help you get the ERP system that genuinely fits the needs, business processes, and priorities of your organization.

One of the vendors you could end up directing those 10 questions at is SYSPRO, a mid-market ERP vendor bridging the gap in offerings between the “early adopter,” visionary-type buyer group and the more pragmatic, “early (market) majority”-type buyer group. Here’s a question and answer session in which SYSPRO expands on its unique vision of the future.

An integrated steel plant is a large and complex operation, with a unique set of issues revolving around process parameters and variations in the properties of raw materials. Today’s feature article looks at steel manufacturers' special needs, and how mixed-mode ERP solutions are being designed to address them.

Under constant pressure to reduce lead times, increase quality, and lower costs, make-to-order and mixed-mode manufacturers may be best served by powerful new integrated manufacturing applications built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Find out more in today’s feature white paper.

While on the subject of PLM, it’s important to realize that it's not just a series of add-on tools for computer-aided engineering (CAE), nor is it just another ERP module. Today’s feature article looks at PLM as the next enterprise application suite, and examines two critical aspects of PLM applications: innovation and integration.

And finally, check out the surprising conclusion of virtual company TurtleSpice’s long and often difficult journey to choosing a new ERP system. After many twists and turns, a winning vendor has finally been selected. Click here to find out who the winner is, and to cast your vote on how useful the entire selection process has been.

Today’s feature white paper goes ”under the covers” of a process ERP solution by linking the unique business processes of process manufacturers to specific ERP functional capabilities, data model structures, and enabling technologies. You'll also find case study references to help illustrate process ERP capabilities.

Also today, our virtual company TurtleSpice, still in the throes of selecting a new ERP solution, is in dire need of a shortlist to keep the process moving forward. Which five vendors should stay alive, and which should be cut loose? That’s up to you to decide—you can make your selection here.

For a high-level view of SOX—its history, rationale, and basic requirements, as well as how to keep you and your company out of trouble for failing to comply—check out our second feature article on this groundbreaking US accounting and reporting compliance law.

Managing compliance activities is a major IT challenge. Governance aims to optimize resources, reduce risk, and gain more business value from compliance spending. Here’s a look at a framework that provides an integrated, sustainable strategy for IT governance and compliance management.

As a small to midsized business (SMB), why should you opt for a BI solution? When is the right time to go for it (most SMBs get this wrong)? And how do you calculate the return on investment (ROI)? Get the answers to these questions, and more, in today's feature BI white paper.

For all the benefits BI offers your business, getting it right can be tricky—BI projects carry an estimated success rate of only 30 percent. Here, then, are the five steps you must take to avoid the common BI pitfalls, and ensure that your BI project goes into the win column.

If you don’t regularly—and effectively—keep track of key business indicators, you may discover one day that your company's doors are closed. Today’s feature guide will help you make sure you’re getting the kind of vital business information you require as an ETO or project-based manufacturer.

In the ongoing saga of virtual company TurtleSpice’s ERP selection process, today we find out why the TurtleSpice VP really wants BigGun on the shortlist. Is that a good idea for the company or a bad one? You can help make that decision by casting your vote here.

Given the array of powerful new software solutions available to midsize manufacturers and distributors, you need accurate and unbiased information to make sense of all the choices. You'll find it in this comprehensive guide to ERP - Distribution solutions and vendors from TEC and SupplyChainBrain.

You can stay ahead in the wholesale distribution sector in spite of rising customer expectations, shrinking margins, and industry mergers and acquisitions. Find out how in today's feature white paper.

For a closer look at the trends in manufacturing that have led to the development of Q2O systems, check out our second feature article of the day.

A visit to TEC’s new Q2O Evaluation Center will help you to better understand and formulate your own unique requirements for a Q2O system. Here you can explore what Q2O systems have to offer.

And finally, for an extensive list of Q2O features and functions, check out TEC’s Quote-to-order RFP Template, available for purchase at our online store.

The best way to head off future problems with your ERP system is to get the one that’s best suited for your company’s needs, and much thought has been given to that concept through the years. But no one has quite compared selecting an ERP system to a 12-step recovery program. Till now, that is.

Finally, TurtleSpice, our virtual company on the twisted, torturous path to selecting a new ERP system is facing yet more problems, decisions, and forks in the road. This time, one software vendor is asking for preferential treatment. Get involved and vote on what step(s) the company should take next—in the world’s first and only ERP selection simulator.

If you’re looking for an accounting system, here’s a handy reference guide to show you what features are available. It'll help you determine which ones your organization needs—or doesn’t need.

Finding the right payroll solution for your company can be a challenging task. To help out, today’s feature white paper gives you a bird’s-eye view of 17 hosted (web-based) payroll solutions, compared in over 30 key categories.

What the fundamentals of PLM are, and how do you successfully approach a PLM initiative.

Why PLM is such an essential tool in bringing a product to market, and what are the major benefits a PLM system brings to the process of product innovation.

How do you ensure a successful PLM implementation.

Here’s an example of a professional services firm that got it right when it went looking for a new enterprise solution . Find out how making the right choice enabled the company to enjoy improved functionality, a 22 percent reduction in maintenance costs, better software performance, and streamlined business processes.

Our virtual company, TurtleSpice, is still in the thick of selecting a new ERP solution. Today’s installment presents new roadblocks and new choices, and it’s your turn to vote on what you think the company should do next.

For most organizations, the trick to effective maintenance is finding the optimal balance between a proactive and reactive approach. But where is that balance to be found, and how do you get there? You’ll find some of the answers, as well as an excellent tutorial on the key aspects of asset maintenance, in today’s feature article.

Today’s feature blog post looks at how hotels are using EAM solutions to deal with challenging asset management issues, including demanding customers, complex reservation systems, and the need to integrate a large number of third-party hospitality systems—pay TV, food and beverage, kiosks, health clubs, and more.

As supply chain management has become more sophisticated, the strategies to reduce supply chain costs have multiplied. From third-party logistics providers, to RFID outsourcing, to attribute-based demand planning, learn about the many ways you can cut your supply chain costs while improving customer satisfaction.

And finally, a detailed look at the nuts and bolts of how one SCM vendor solves the distribution puzzle.

Like our virtual creation TurtleSpice, every company wants to find and deploy the ERP solution that provides the most benefits to the organization—but many companies fall short in their efforts. Here’s some advice on how to select and implement the ERP solution that will best help your company grow and prosper.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. But what if that weak link is restricting your manufacturing throughput? Constraint-based scheduling (CBS) is designed to manage bottlenecks so that you can maximize production. Find out more about CBS here.

Today’s feature blog post walks you through the ABCs of EAM, starting with its basic definition, and followed by a list of benefits EAM can bring to your organization and a look at some of the more popular EAM vendor solutions currently available.

But simply having an EAM solution in place won’t necessarily make it a success. In today’s feature white paper, find out which approaches get results and which don’t, what works and why, and which best practices have proved effective while withstanding the test of time.

For asset-intensive organizations, historically the choice has been either to deal with the nightmare of integrating a best-of-breed solution, or to sacrifice critical functionality by using the EAM module of the company’s enterprise system. Fortunately, integrating a best-of-breed solution is no longer the nightmare it used to be. Find out why in today’s feature article.

One basic change in thinking has been the movement away from the process-oriented business model toward one that is project-centric. This is a fundamental shift from backward-looking financial measurement based on accounts and cost centers, to company-wide management of cost, time, resources, cash, and risks, supported by real-time information. The result: a more responsive, more agile operation, one better able to weather downturns and stay ahead of the competition.

Another change common to all businesses is selecting and implementing new software solutions. But a disturbing number of IT projects fail to meet expectations, or simply fail outright. Who is to blame when projects go wrong? The answer may surprise you.

Also in this issue: TurtleSpice ERP, Part III: You decide the fate of a virtual company's search for an ERP solution! And if you get it wrong along the way, well, there's no money lost, and no one's career crashes and burns...

Compliance requirements have caused pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) and product approval cycles to lengthen. Today’s feature blog post looks at how software solutions can help automate and streamline the compliance process, helping to minimize compliance-induced delay factors in bringing new pharmaceuticals to market.

Today’s feature article explores the benefits of deploying a process-based governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) program:. ensuring compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), reducing the number of control tests that need to be maintained, and quantifying the financial exposure from control exceptions to properly prioritize necessary resource deployment are just a few.

While midsized life sciences companies have all the business requirements and compliance issues that their larger competitors do, they have fewer resources with which to deal with them. Today’s feature white paper outlines options midsized life sciences companies have to address these issues as part of an ERP-based solution.

For insurance companies, banks, and financial services organizations, the quest is for ways to improve business processes in order to implement tighter control. Today’s feature executive brief offers three key success strategies designed to help them boost both operating efficiencies and their bottom line results.

For the small to medium-sized business (SMB), the challenge is different. To maintain growth, SMBs must eventually leave behind the basic, stand-alone financial and spreadsheet programs they’ve relied upon, and graduate to an enterprise-wide, integrated software system. Today’s feature white paper shows you how an integrated system can help take your business to the next level, and how to ensure you get the right system for you.

Relentless market and competitive pressures means constant change as well. Yet most installed ERP solutions are falling short when it comes to addressing change. Why are nearly half of all businesses essentially blowing their annual ERP budgets to support change? And what are software vendors doing about it? Find out now, in TEC’s 2008 Market Comparison Report.

Given this challenging, pressure-filled landscape, supply chain management is one of the key solutions ETO manufacturers turn to in order to help them maintain efficient, competitive operations. Today’s feature article looks at the role of SCM in the modern ETO environment, as well as some of the leading vendors that offer supply chain solutions to ETO manufacturers.

Today’s feature white paper looks at the ETO environment from a different angle, examining the unique problems ETO manufacturers face, and laying out a five step program for effectively automating ETO business processes.

As well, today we offer week 2 of TurtleSpice’s journey to select a new ERP software solution. And once again, you get to not only follow the company's progress, but you can cast your vote on what you think should be the next step in the process.

Social networks, podcasts, blogs, and wikis are enabling customers to become advocates rather than simply targets―giving them the means to express their thoughts and feelings when they go to your store, buy your product, or purchase your service.

Social networks by themselves are turning the relationship between businesses and their customers upside down. Today, businesses are using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, or developing their own, to create organic, online, highly “niched” customer communities. It’s the ultimate feedback loop, one that gives you insight into your customers you could never get before.

And finally, with call centers playing a key part of the customer experience for so many companies, we also provide a look at how one company set up call center protocols to make sure customer problems were handled properly and quickly.

With the number of parallels between the operations of mining companies and manufacturers whose products are sold on store shelves, mining companies should be able to benefit from ERP systems just like manufacturers do—and they can. Find out how in today’s feature article.

Customer information systems (CISs) are mission-critical cash registers for the utilities industry. But CIS projects have earned a reputation for being disruptive to business, very expensive, and always behind schedule. Learn about the perspectives on strategic CIS assessment frameworks, and how a structured solution can help you improve the agility of CIS without making a huge investment.

We’ve borrowed the same concept to create the world’s first and only simulated ERP selection project. Here’s your chance to follow—and vote on—the various stages of the selection process as virtual company TurtleSpice searches for a new ERP system. And if you get it wrong along the way, well, there’s no money lost, and no one’s career crashes and burns—that’s the beauty of a simulation, right?

We think you’ll find this a fun way to learn more about successful enterprise software selection, and every Friday we’ll feature another blog post in this ongoing adventure until the project is completed. So put on your thinking caps: here’s the first installment.

Also in today's edition, we'll give you a look at how US Food & Drug Administration's pedigree guidelines are helping to stem the flow of counterfeit and adulterated drugs in the United States. And you'll also find a case study showing how Kelly Moore Paints sped up and simplified its software selection process by reaching out for third party support.

As revealing as it is to compare ERP solutions right out of the box, as we do in our Vendor Showdown series, the right ERP solution for you is the one that best supports your organization's specific needs. To help make sure you make the right choice, here are 10 key questions you should ask when selecting a mid-market ERP solution.

Given the complexity of ERP selection, many organizations opt to use the services of an analyst firm to help them through the selection process. That, of course, begs the question: how do you choose the right analyst firm? Here's some advice on how to go about it.

For a high-level look at supply chain basics—the what, why, when, where, and how of it—we present the blog post Supply Chain Management 101.

Cross-docking is an essential supply chain function, and it's an area where you simply cannot afford to have problems. Our second feature blog post will walk you through the ABCs of cross-docking, with a look at how four vendor solutions stack up in cross-docking functionality.

For logistics service providers, winning business is not just about operating talent and facilities. Clients, customers, suppliers, and carriers must work together to fulfill perfect orders. But few supply chain communities consist entirely of companies with top-notch supply chain applications. In our feature white paper, learn how a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution can help fill the gaps.

One place you cannot afford to make a mistake is with your ERP system, the information backbone of your business. Fact is, the questions you ask before purchasing an ERP solution can make the difference between success and disaster. Here are 12 key questions you need to ask.

If you’re in the market for accounting software, here’s a handy reference guide that lays out the accounting features and functions currently available for SMBs. It will help you determine which features your organization needs—or doesn’t.

IT managers of SMBs have very different needs and concerns from their counterparts in large corporations—and software vendors are now marketing solutions that recognize that fact. Whether on-premise or hosted, SMBs have more options than ever before.

The marriage of virtual machines, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud computing has allowed the organization to save significant amounts of hardware space, as it is now possible to run ever more powerful and space-hungry applications from virtual machines or remote third-party servers.

Advances in data protection and backup are allowing for a much more efficient backup process. Disk space requirements have been significantly reduced, while the need for tape backup systems has been eliminated altogether—a real savings in space, hardware, and energy requirements.

The process of protecting your your SQL server database has become simpler and more efficient as well. Software applications can now provide both local and remote database protection, allowing for quicker and more efficient data recovery in case of data loss or site failure.

After evaluating the pros and cons, more and more mid-market companies are choosing to outsource all or part of their ERP systems. But what are the real benefits of ERP outsourcing? What are the different outsourcing models, and the advantages and disadvantages that come with each? Which model is best for your organization, and what are the critical success factors? These are the questions you must ask, and here are the answers.

Today we also provide some analyst insight into one of the software industry’s leading solution providers: Infor. With its numerous new software license sales, new product deliveries, and its dedication to complicated technological rejuvenation—namely, an ambitious open service-oriented architecture strategy—Infor’s star is clearly on the rise these days.

PPM software enables your company to analyze, recommend, authorize, activate, expedite, and monitor projects. And that kind of control turns into dollars, whether your organization uses an engagement profitability or budget alignment model, or a hybrid of the two. A properly exploited PPM system can cut up to 30 percent off product development time, significantly improve on-time and on-budget rates, and boost R&D productivity.

Finally, on a different note, today’s feature blog post offers a look at Japanese decision-making, and how it uses a bottom-up flow rather than the familiar top-down North American model. You’ll also discover how this is spawning Japanese-style enterprise content management (ECM) software that helps manage this seemingly upside down (from a North American perspective) process.

If saving money is the name of the EAM game, then zero downtime is the holy grail. Best-in-class companies are using holistic, proactive strategies that include rationalizing data across all asset-related systems and databases, empowering decision makers more often, and leveraging emerging technologies such as smart devices to optimize plant and equipment performance. Where does your company stand?

Not meaning to blow our own horn, but you should be aware that TEC has a powerful yet easy-to-use tool to help you shortlist EAM vendors based on your organization’s specific needs, and today’s feature blog post tells you how to use it. Want to find out which EAM vendors are the best fit for your organization? This is an excellent place to start.

Some manufacturers require a stand-alone warehouse management system to meet their supply chain demands, while others—even some with high inventory turnover—would be better served by extending their current ERP functionality.

But even if you have the right inventory system for your business model and processes, you still require visibility into your supply chain, and the ability to leverage that data, in order to make the right business decisions and to function efficiently.

Ultimately, it all comes down to your processes on the warehouse floor, where the ‘rubber meets the road.’ Since warehouse workers execute more that 95 percent of physical inventory transactions in most facilities, it’s essential to eliminate communications issues, interruptions, and incompatibility problems.

The first is talent management, a must-have for any forward-thinking organization. But talent management involves more than organizational will and strategy: it requires the support of the right HR IT infrastructure.

The second is employee performance management, a powerful HR tool that unfortunately dwells on the wish list of too many organizations. But there are ways to make employee performance management a reality within your organization, and you should act upon them before your competition does.

Why? A lot of people just don’t get what process manufacturing is and how it differs from discrete manufacturing. Then, to add to the confusion, there’s mixed-mode manufacturing, which contains some elements of process and some elements of discrete manufacturing. And if all that isn’t enough, some discrete ERP vendors have marketed so-called ‘process’ ERP solutions that are really nothing more than re-jigged discrete manufacturing solutions—which, not surpisingly, perform poorly for most process manufacturers.

All this said, it seems to us a little clarity and good advice is in order. So here is some handy research to explain exactly what process manufacturers are, the major challenges and opportunities they face, and how they can find the ERP solutions that best serve their unique manufacturing needs.

It’s an ugly list. And your organization has to be protected from every item. Which means you have to know how to perform a comprehensive security risk assessment. And how to protect your company laptops. And how to choose and use data encryption software. And how to recognize the trends and emerging security threats.

To help you win the war against the cyber forces of darkness, we present the following article and white papers, all dedicated to keeping your organization secure from top to bottom.