Author Archives: Natalie

SAP Business One Cloud (OnDemand or On Premise?) Which is best for my business?

Everyone is talking Cloud – small companies, SME’s and large corporates. Initially the focus was mostly based on e-mail, MS Office and CRM applications in the Cloud but more recently everyone is asking the question – “should I put my business management solution into the Cloud?”. The team at Leverage talks to hundreds of potential and current customers every year. Over the past three years we have noticed a huge increase in the number of customers asking about Cloud. Three years ago approximately 5% of prospective customers asked if Cloud was an option for their business management solutions. Today that number has grown to approximately 50%.

So what are the options available to an Australian SME for SAP Business One in the Cloud? SAP released SAP Business One OnDemand in Q1 2012 and the response has been fantastic. The great thing about SAP is that they give you choice – On Premise (traditional business model for business management solutions where you have a server and required licences paid for upfront and looked after using your own in-house IT skills or paying a third party to provide those skills) or a Cloud based solution – SAP Business One Cloud. You decide how many licenses you require and your SAP Partner takes care of the rest – hardware, back-up, infrastructure and more. The best part is that all of this is included in a monthly fee – great for your cash flow. So, no need to pay for the software up-front, no need for a server or back-up solution. Let SAP take the hassle out of the administration of your business management solution.

Choice is a great thing – On-Premise or Cloud. So how do I decide which is the right option for my business? There is no right or wrong answer. Companies should assess their own requirements. There are a number of factors to consider when deciding between On-Premise or Cloud for your business management solution including:

Current IT infrastructure – do you have the necessary IT skills in place to manage a server, back-up and infrastructure? For most SME’s this role is an outsourced role or an additional level of responsibility given to the Financial Manager. With a Cloud based solution a lot of the hardware and infrastructure headache is taken away as your solution provider takes care of hardware and infrastructure. But let’s not forget that you are still paying a monthly fee for this infrastructure.
Growth plans – Cloud based pricing avoids the need for upfront investment in software licenses. The advantage is that you can add users as your business grows. This will however increase your monthly costs as your business grows and you add new licenses.
Functional requirements – if your functional requirements are relatively simple then Cloud makes sense – turn on the software licences, configure the system and do some training. But what if your requirements include integration to third party applications, development work or an industry specific solution? This might be more challenging to achieve in a cloud based environment.
Cash flow – quite simply put – you can save on your cash flow by paying the monthly Cloud based fee rather than making an upfront investment in software. The potential downside is that you will be required to add to that monthly fee each time you purchase new software.
Tax – best to talk to your tax adviser / accountant about this. There are different tax treatments for upfront software investment vs monthly payments.
Internet access – what sort of connection speeds can you get, what guaranteed up time and at what cost? Some remote areas in Australia still struggle for reliable, fast internet. If the connection lacks speed or reliability then Cloud is not an option.
Distributed Vs central business model – a distributed business model lends itself to the Cloud based options – add new users in any location and you can simply get them connected to the internet and start processing. No need to set-up expensive IT infrastructure in each location.

So what’s the answer – Cloud or on-premise? As you can see there is no correct or incorrect answer. Review your requirements as a business and your unique circumstances before deciding. What is clear is that SAP has you covered either way – SAP Business One for the traditional on premise solution or SAP Business One Cloud.

SAP Business One Mobility – give your staff improved productivity wherever they are

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With the massive increase in Smartphone use, we have all become accustomed to mobile access to e-mail and the web. The good news is that the next phase of mobility – CRM, sales orders, service calls, stock availability and reporting from your business management application are all available from the SAP Business One iPhone and iPad app.

Most SMEs have previously assumed that technology like this was expensive – only available for large corporates. This is definitely not the case with SAP Business One.

The team at Leverage Technologies uses the SAP Business One iPhone and iPad app to stay connected and in touch with up-to-date information when we travel interstate and/or visit customers. Several of our customers are now using the SAP Business One iPhone and iPad app to provide salespeople with the ability to place sales orders and service calls whilst “on the road” or “sitting in front of the customer”.

There are a number of features included in the SAP Business One iPhone / iPad app :

Alerts and approvals
Dashboards and reports
Creating sales opportunities, sales quotations, orders and service calls
Monitoring of inventory levels and product details
Customer and supplier details
Managing and creation of contacts and activities

So let’s look at a few real-life scenarios –

Sales / Customer Relationship Management –your sales team is visiting customers today. Whilst traveling to and from the customer sites the sales team can use the SAP Business One mobile apps to check customer contact details, address details (including links to Google Maps) and account details. Before going onto a meeting your sales team might want to review previous activities (meetings, notes and phone calls with the customer) to see what was previously discussed and agreed to. The salesperson now enters the meeting with the customer well informed with the latest up-to-date information. Whilst talking with the customer your salesperson can access the customer price list can quote the customer for goods and services, and even create a sales order – all from the SAP Business One mobile apps. After the meeting, your sales team can update the CRM in SAP Business One with activity details (meeting notes) and an updated sales opportunity.
Service calls – allows your service team to check details of existing service contracts and equipment cards. The equipment card can be searched for by entering the item’s serial number. Your service team can handle service activities from the start to the completion of the service call.

The incredible part is this – the SAP Business One iPhone and iPad app is available for SAP Business One customers as part of their existing SAP Business One license (a mobile user only needs to have an existing SAP Business One Professional or Limited license). There are no additional license costs. Going mobile is as easy as having an iPad or iPhone connected via 3G and installing the SAP Business One mobility app. http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sap-business-one/id392606876?mt=8

SAP Business One CRM – enabling business growth

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SAP Business One includes integrated CRM. Will SAP Business One CRM enable growth in my business?

I have been using SAP Business One CRM for eight years to run a sales and marketing team and I can emphatically answer – YES – we have experienced double-digit year on year growth and we have a sales team that loves using SAP Business One CRM. CRM has been a real enabler for our team.

So what functionality is included and how do I introduce SAP Business One CRM into our company. Let’s start by looking at the SAP Business One CRM functionality.

Activities – you can record meetings, phone calls, notes and reminders into SAP Business One. Manage activities with customers, suppliers and leads. Get reports on activities for your sales team, customer, suppliers and leads.

MS Outlook integration – a standard feature of SAP Business One. Integrate business partner contact information and calendar entries with MS Outlook.

Sales Opportunities – manage strategic sales cycles using SAP Business One sales opportunities. Move away from keeping your sales forecast on a spreadsheet – use the dynamic analysis of SAP Business One sales opportunities. Report on sales cycles by customer or lead, sales rep, region, potential chance of closing and potential close date. Can you imagine the power of running a report today showing all sales that are likely to close in the next 30 days – reported by sales rep and region?

Marketing Campaigns – a new edition to SAP Business One CRM marketing campaigns allows your marketing team to plan and execute marketing campaigns. Newsletters, telemarketing campaigns and more….using your customer list, lead list or an imported list/database that you have purchased.

Sales Reporting – the real power of SAP Business One CRM. Get reports by sales rep, region, sales opportunity and a whole lot more. Image the reports you can run……show me all activities for a particular salesperson for a range of customers by date range or show me all phone calls made by a particular salesperson to our most important customer in the last 30 days…the options are endless.

Mobility – very topical at the moment. Everyone wants to mobilise the workforce and I can understand why – it pays to go mobile. The good news is that SAP Business One has mobility covered. Use the iPhone or iPad app to make sure that your sales team stays connected. Get the information that your sales team needs while they are travelling or in front of customers. Take sales orders or create service tickets from the mobile app.

How do I introduce SAP Business One CRM into my business? The best approach is to keep the initial implementation as simple as possible. Get the sales team and sales manager involved in the system design/blueprint stage. Keep the amount of data capture required by the sales team to a minimum and show the sales team some immediate benefits – better sales reporting, mobility and ease of use. Start with the basics and grow your CRM implementation from the ground up.

SAP Business One 8.82 – MRP (Material requirements Planning)

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SAP Business One 8.82 includes several enhancements to the MRP Wizard. Used by SAP Business One customers in the manufacturing and distribution sectors the SAP Business One 8.82 MRP wizard can be very useful for purchase planning. So how does the wizard work and what should we focus on when using the SAP Business One 8.82 MRP Wizard?

SAP Business One MRP has three available menu options :

Forecast (set-up your forecast sales)
MRP Wizard (a step by step process which guides the user through the scenario definitions and recommends purchase orders, production orders and inventory transfer requests to cover specified demand).
Order Recommendation – recommends purchase orders based on current levels of supply and demand taking into account lead times.

The forecast in SAP Business One MRP allows the user to create a forecast based on historical sales or to generate a forecast based on a sales forecast entered into SAP Business One by the user. If we want to generate the sales forecast based on historical sales we have several options to choose from – select range of items, historical start date, select simple average, daily average, weekly or monthly average. Once the forecast is generated the user can increase or decrease the forecast based on a percentage.

The MRP Wizard in SAP Business One 8.82 is a step by step process which leads the user through the running of MRP. The steps are :

Select an existing scenario or create a new scenario
Provide scenario details (planning horizon, whether or not to consider holidays, display preferences etc.).

Select the items are range of items that you want to consider for MRP
Select your inventory data source (which warehouses should be included)

Select the documents data source – (time range, sources of demand and supply and whether or not to include a forecast and if so which forecast).

View your MRP results and recommendations

The order recommendation screen in SAP Business One will recommend purchase orders based on the MRP scenario. Purchase orders can be generated from this screen. Purchase orders to be generated can also be consolidated. Another useful tip – if you right click in the item code column of the order recommendation you also get access to the available quantity in all warehouses, alternative items, your preferred supplier list and last prices report.

SAP Business One CRM – Marketing Campaign Management

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With the recent release of SAP Business One 8.82 SAP incorporated Marketing Campaign Management into CRM (Customer Relationship Management). The campaign management solution allows your marketing team to create a marketing campaign based on your marketing parameters (customer campaign, prospect campaign etc.). Campaigns can be created as one off marketing campaigns with a SAP Business One marketing campaign type of e-mail, mail, fax, phone call, meeting, sms, web or other. Alternatively the SAP Business One Marketing Campaign Wizard can be used to guide the user through the steps to create a promotional campaign.

The SAP Business One Campaign Management module allows users to plan, execute and track marketing campaigns in SAP Business One. :

Plan your campaign – select and maintain target groups
Execute the campaign – using the campaign wizard
Track the campaign – maintain and analyse campaign results

The steps to creating a marketing campaign are :

Either create a new campaign or create a campaign based on an existing campaign. You can create a campaign list from your existing customer listing, leads or a list that you purchase and import into campaign management.
Decide on the campaign type (e-mail, phone call etc.).
Decide on a target group (for example – all SAP Business One prospects). These target groups are defined by your marketing and / or sales team.
Allocate an “owner” to the campaign.
Put forward a campaign start and end date.
Decide which items (products that you sell) and which partner companies you want to include in the campaign.
Choose a campaign template.
Decide who the target list for the campaign should include (customers, prospects or a list which you have imported into SAP Business One).
Execute the campaign
Create summary reports and review campaign KPI’s

In summary – some great new functions and features are available in SAP Business One 8.82. Plan, execute and manage your campaigns in SAP Business One.

SAP Business One Mobility – give your staff improved productivity wherever they are

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Most SME’s have previously assumed that technology like this was expensive – only available for large corporates. This is definitely not the case with SAP Business One.

The team at Leverage Technologies uses the SAP Business One iPhone and iPad app to stay connected and in touch with up to date information when we travel interstate and/or visit customers. Several of our customers are now using the SAP Business One iPhone and iPad app to provide salespeople with the ability to place sales orders and service calls whilst “on the road” or “sitting in front of the customer”.

There are a number of features included in the SAP Business One iPhone / iPad app :

Alerts and approvals
Dashboards and reports
Creating sales opportunities, sales quotations, orders and service calls
Monitoring of inventory levels and product details
Customer and supplier details
Managing and creation of contacts and activities

So let’s look at a few real-life scenarios –

Sales / Customer Relationship Management –your sales team are visiting customers today. Whilst travelling to and from the customer sites the sales team can use the SAP Business One mobile apps to check customer contact details, address details (including links to Google Maps) and account details. Before going onto a meeting your sales team might want to review previous activities (meetings, notes and phone calls with the customer) to see what was previously discussed and agreed to. The salesperson now enters the meeting with the customer well informed with the latest up to date information. Whilst talking with the customer your salesperson can access the customer price list, can quote the customer for goods and services and even create a sales order – all from the SAP Business One mobile apps. After the meeting, your sales team can update the CRM in SAP Business One with activity details (meeting notes) and an updated sales opportunity.
Service calls – allows your service team to check details of existing service contracts and equipment cards. The equipment card can be searched for by entering the item’s serial number. Your service team can handle service activities from the start to the completion of the service call.

What does it cost to implement SAP Business One?

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What is the cost of SAP Business One? This is a question I get asked on a daily basis. The SAP Business One implementation team at Leverage Technologies has implemented more than 140 SAP Business One sites and whilst no blog can give you a 100% accurate price for the implementation of SAP Business one I can give you some information which I am sure will be useful to any business looking to implement SAP Business One and asking the question – what are the implementation costs likely to be?

Obviously one has to take into consideration hardware, operating system and SAP Business One software license pricing (more information is available at SAP Business One Pricing).

Let’s talk more specifically about implementation pricing. It is almost impossible to give a price to implement SAP Business One without asking a number of questions about the implementation services required. Leverage Technologies has implemented SAP Business One with services ranging from 2 days to 50 days plus. So what factors are most relevant when looking at the cost associated with an SAP Business One implementation?

How many companies will be implemented? Is the implementation for a single company (ABN) or multiple companies? If multiple companies are to be implemented is inter-company and consolidation required? SAP Business One offers some great tools to enable quick implementation of additional companies from a master company but you will need to ask yourself – are all companies to be configured in the same way? What about company forms (AR invoice layouts etc.) which will need to be set-up to the requirements of each company.
Geographies – is the implementation of SAP Business One going to cover multiple territories or countries? If so there are likely to be different set-up and configuration requirements based on the different legal and fiscal requirements for each country. Another potential complexity with multiple country support is different language sets. SAP Business One offers support in multiple languages covering multiple legal and fiscal requirements – great for companies that are looking to expand overseas.
Data conversion – unless your business is a start-up it is highly likely that you will want to convert data from your legacy system. Data conversions are categorised into two broad categories – master data and historical data. SAP Business One offers a Data Transfer Workbench (DTW) module which assists with the upload of master data. There is still some work to be done – export data from your legacy system, check data, import into SAP Business One and reconcile / check data again. From a pricing / implementation point of view the real relevance with regards to data conversions is whether or not there is a requirement to export historical data and if so does the historical data need to be imported in summary or detail format. Summary format might be used to compare the current year’s profit and loss to last years (historical) profit and loss whereas a detailed import of historical data will allow drill down to original “closed” document (for example AR invoice).
Reporting – SAP Business One offers many standard reports and Dashboards. Even so it is highly likely that you will want some reports changed or custom written. The number and complexity of reports to be written to your specific requirements will have an impact on the days (and therefore price) to implement SAP Business One. Report development pricing can be substantially reduced by considering platforms like SAP HANA.
Training – how many people need to be trained? Will training be on-site or off-site and will site specific user notes be required. Many companies adopt a “train the trainer” approach where Leverage Technologies is responsible for training super users of the customer. These super users then train other users in the team. This approach helps reduce implementation pricing for remote and distributed sites.
Business Processes – sound obvious but is sometimes overlooked. If your business processes are very specific to your industry and your requirements are outside of the standard functionality offered then extra days consultancy or system development will be required. The suggestion is always to try and keep the initial implementation as simple as possible. This will reduce your upfront implementation costs whilst providing you with a platform for further growth.
User skill set – the skill level of users (including accounting, business knowledge and general computer skills) are all factors in determining how long it will take to implement SAP Business One in your business.
Project Management – the amount of project management required will vary dependent on the factors listed above.

In summary – there are a number of questions to be answered before being able to give a cost to implement SAP Business One. Answer the eight questions listed above and you will get a much better idea of the days required for implementation.