Never let it be said TMC doesn’t scour the world to bring you fresh perspectives on business technology. From Modern Ghana we have an interview with Immo Bohm of Sage ERP X3 partner Afresh Consult, on being sure that your ERP system “hasn't gone from being an enabler to an inhibitor to continued success.”
Bohm boils it down to six core questions you’ll want to ask yourself:
“Do you do functionality, not complexity?” So many people think that complexity equals increased functionality, which equals an improved user experience. You probably use about the same percentage of Microsoft Word features that you do of your brain capacity, no? “Do you deliver deep and broad first-class functionality, while remaining simple to implement and to use?” Bohm asks.
“Are you integrated or interfaced?” Here’s a takeaway gem: “A sure sign that you're getting old is when you've become a system with all kinds of extras bolted on. Sorry, but software integration no longer means applications that work together.” Not that this would describe your system, of course, but patchwork systems are as creaky and leaky as any jerry-built contraption.
In fact, your ERP systems might be hiding its functional gaps by “modular design,” instead of offering integrated functionality for such necessary functionality as accounting and financial management, purchasing, inventory, sales, customer relationship management and manufacturing.
Read more here.
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Alex Trebek watch out: Flexera Software’s Chris Wendt claims he has found a way to beat Jeopardy, especially when his software licensing business is at stake.
“When I need answers, I found that I only need to ask the right question,” Wendt stated in a recent blog post. What can a COTS software licensing and entitlement management system do (provide) for me that an ERP or a homegrown system can't provide?"
You mean other than determining channel velocity, measuring the effectiveness of new upgrade campaigns or establishing support business readiness parameters for support? I’ll take “Software entitlement management systems” for $1,000, Alex.
Such systems are part of protecting your organization's IP, as Wendt notes, “generating licenses, and providing the customers with a nice self-serve portal to manage licensing and compliance.”
Read more here.
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You might have known it in the past as the Go Dialer, but now it’s the YTel Cloud Dialer, with upgraded features and power.
YTel’s predictive dialer is still based on a simple premise, company officials say -- “to be the most powerful predictive dialer system on the market but still remain user-friendly.”
A noble aim indeed, and the way they achieve that is offering a hosted dialer that’s turnkey, and ready to get you in contact with your customers.
What sets YTel’s hosted dialer apart is as a telephone carrier we do not need to watch the bottom line by running our predictive dialer on a low quality network so you get the best sound quality, fastest connection speeds and most reliable network in the industry,” company officials say about YTel’s competitive advantage.
Company officials outline three areas where they see their dialer as being particularly appealing:
Sales and marketing: YTel Cloud Dialer officials say that if used correctly, it can increase calling efficiency by over 300 percent. We’ll take those numbers.
Political: Now that get-out-the-vote drives are cranking up, political operations can save time, reaching “a thousand voters in the time it would have taken to reach 300 with ordinary dialing,” company officials say.
Read more here.
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Be honest now: How much time do you spend thinking about your call center furniture? Maybe it’s time for an upgrade.
One option you might want to consider when you do upgrade is Interior Concepts, which sells what they call a panel system. It takes up less room and “allows you to move fluidly within your space,” company officials say, adding that by working around the existing architecture, “you can comfortably fit more people or create more usable space in any given area.”
And when they say panel, they mean down to the inch, literally: “The customizable one-inch panel system allows you to maximize every square foot, and our Chase Wire Management System provides greater cable capacity and allows for easier reconfigurations.”
Earlier this month, TMC’s Chris DiMarco wrote that while Interior Concepts is known for their call center furniture, the company’s products “are also well suited for educational institutions and offer the tools today’s instructors need to provide constant support for students.”
With an ever-increasing focus on technology, DiMarco noted, “instructors need more than the desk and chair that supported their forerunners, and Interior Concepts offers a full line of products to keep them connected at all points of their routine.”
Read more here.
