3. Ask Yourself . . .
. . . if only we had known . . .?”
“. . . during your everyday business activities,
have you ever felt like saying . . .
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4. If Only We Had Known . . .
“. . . that Ace Ltd has overdue invoices in the amount of $7,500.”
“. . . that client ‘Folsom’ had significantly lowered their purchasing level.”
“ . . . that salesrep Ramey is overly-discounting her sales.”
“. . . that the lease to Integra is due to expire in 30 days.”
“. . . that no one has reviewed or approved this pending purchase order.“
“. . . that our supplier ‘Bentor’ raised our cost of this item by 30%.”
“. . . that we received a shipment that could fulfill our backorders.”
“. . . that Louis spent all that time closing a new sales opportunity for a client
with overdue payments.”
“ . . . that the price list our reps were using was from last year.”
5. The Cost of “Not Knowing”
(or of “knowing too late”)
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6. Scenario:
• A customer who normally pays within 30 days
• They currently have $30k that is 45 days old, but …
… you don’t know it because you run your reports at month-end
• Today you ship out a $25k order to them
• At month-end you recognize the issue and discover the client is
having serious cash flow problems . . .
Cost of not knowing?
• Best case: Carrying $55k in A/R
• Worst case: Writing off $55k when they close shop
The Pain: Writing Off Receivables
7. The Pain: Writing Off Receivables
To prevent, you would want to:
• Alert the account manager about their overdue client
• Notify the finance dept to start collections
• Automatically re-send the client their statement
• Automatically put the client on credit hold
• Set up the A/R Aging report to auto-run whenever a client’s balance
and days overdue exceeds your threshold
The Solution:
Sage Alerts & Workflow
8. Data-Driven ERP
“Giving Your ERP Data a Voice”
Too many managers spend too much time wading through voluminous
reports, often looking for “exceptions”.
Too many ERP staffers (e.g., finance folks) only have time to handle the
most obvious and glaring requests.
But . . .
. . . if you had a way to identify what information your managers and
staff needed . . . when they needed it . . . and then enabled your ERP
data to deliver it – to “speak” and “act” on your behalf . . .
you would have data-driven ERP.
9. Sage Alerts & Workflow. . .
. . . empowers data-driven ERP.
Previously known as . . .
“KnowledgeSync” & “Sage KnowledgeSync”
-- Started in 1999
-- Over 9,000 clients
Our History:
-- Sage Software “Endorsed” & “OEM” Partner for Alerts & Workflow
-- Sage “Endorsed” & “OEM” Products of the Year (2011, 2012)
-- TMCLabs “Editor’s Choice”
-- ISV of the Year
-- Partner’s Choice Award
-- VARBusiness Five-Star Award
-- Forbes’ “Top Productivity Enhancing Tool”
12. Alerts & Workflow identifies conditions such as . . .
Overdue receivables (re-send invoice or dunning notice)
Suppliers with perpetually late deliveries
Terms discounts that are about to expire
Inventory stock approaching re-order level
Receipts against purchase order lines
Orders with unapproved discounts
Overstocks for products that need to be sold or written off
Clients whose monthly sales dropped by at least ‘x’ percent (trend analysis)
Clients put on / taken off credit hold
Clients on credit hold who have open sales opportunities in a CRM system
Financial Conditions
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13. Alerts & Workflow monitors manufacturing . . .
Project delays
Cost overruns (or potential cost overruns)
Order configuration errors (missing components, duplicate orders, etc.)
Product price & cost errors, gross margin too low
RMA alerts; reported defects; late shipments or deliveries
Customers who have not ordered within ‘x’ days
Changes to project start or estimated completion dates
Tasks requiring review or approval
Special pricing begins or ends within ‘x days
Purchase Order receipts against backordered line items
Manufacturing Processes
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14. Other Apps
(e.g., CRM)
Other Apps
(e.g., HR) ERP
Monitoring
Sage Alerts & Workflow
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15. As well as sales activities such as . . .
Opportunities that are overdue for closing or have not been followed-up on
Client contracts that are due to expire
Customers who have changed their buying habits
Missing or erroneous data
A client whose credit rating has changed
Opportunities with unapproved discounts
Salesreps who are “rolling over” their activities from one day to the next
Leads that come in from your website or from an email campaign
New or updated sales literature
Time-sensitive pricing or promotions
Remote salesreps who have not synched in over ‘x’ hours
Sales Activities
16. Alerts & Workflow monitors customer service . . .
Call escalation
Calls not made (or not made within ‘x’ hours)
Changes to call priority
Too many calls assigned to one rep
High number of calls regarding issue ‘x’
Support contracts about to expire
Delays in service (e.g., part) delivery
Automated follow-ups (e.g., surveys)
Requests for additional information
Automatic closure of calls after ‘x’ days
Customer Service
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17. Sage Alerts & Workflow monitors HR for . . .
Applications that have been received, reviewed, or approved/rejected
New hires or terminations effective today
Changes in an employees benefits
Certifications that are about to expire
Employee drug test results
Unusually high number of absences or vacations
Upcoming employee performance reviews
Pay rate changes
Employee leave of absences starting or ending soon
Training class reminders or certification of completion
Human Resources
19. Alerts & Workflow monitors and auto-processes incoming email,
such as . . .
Email messages sent to generic account such as “finance” or “sales”
Order-related emails – such as questions about delivery dates
Emails that are from existing clients, partners or vendors – matching the sender of the
email with the corresponding contact record in your Accounting database
Emails that are from new clients – automatically creating the appropriate account
record in your Accounting databases
Website requests for information, automatically sending back the requested materials
Website form registrations, automatically updating your applications with the details of
who signed up for what
Web form content, automatically sending a receipt confirmation back to the person
who filled out the form, and notifying your staff about that visitor
Email Monitoring
21. Uncompleted activities
Changes to sales opportunities
Dips in a salesrep’s pipeline
Prospects not contacted in ‘x’ days
Limited-time specials
Changes in buying habits
Salesreps who don’t synch
Overloaded support reps
Repeat buying incentives
Leads not followed-up on
Clients put on/off credit hold
Overdue receivables/dunning notices
Sending order confirmations
Stock that is nearing its re-order level
Delayed order/part shipment
Auto-gen picking lists
Orders with un-approved discounts
Early payment discounts
Match incoming stock with backorders
Time-sensitive stock
Sage Alerts & Workflow can combine data from across an organization and
analyze it jointly, such as calculating whether a new sales opportunity in CRM
would put a client over their credit limit based on
information within their ERP data.
CRM App ERP App
Enterprise-Wide Analysis
Enterprise-Wide
26. Alerts & Workflow generates & delivers Forms, Documents, and
Reports either scheduled, or based on business conditions, such
as . . .
Delivering Invoices for newly-created orders
Sending out monthly customer statements
Generating Picking tickets / Picking lists
Producing daily, weekly, or monthly reports, such as Stock Status or A/R Aging reports
Auto-sending dunning notices for clients who are behind on their payments
Delivering work orders for mobile service technicians
Generating purchase orders for items nearing their re-order level
Reporting on leases and contracts about to expire
Sending out thank-you letters, surveys, birthday greetings, etc.
Enabling customer self-service reports
Form & Report Generation
28. Alerts & Workflow can auto-update your applications, such as . . .
Creating a scheduled follow-up call after an order is placed
Copying order details from an ERP system to a CRM system
Updating the status of an “approved” request
Re-assigning a project that has reached a certain stage
Updating a client’s history with the details of an overdue invoice
Exporting financial data to a spreadsheet, Access database, or external file
Updating a client’s records with the details of a received email message
Creating a new client record based on a web inquiry or order
Auto-placing a client on Hold based on overdue receivables
Synchronizing data between multiple applications
Workflow (Updates)
29. Client Case Study: Toyo Ink
• Multi-national manufacturer; ink for printing presses
• Problem: Staff had to go to too many sources to learn about account
activities, payment status, and order status
• Problem: Staff used their IT Manager to run analyses
• Problem: No way to automate exception management
• Solution: Alerts & Workflow to “auto-push” data to staff
• Result: In six months, over 20,000 info-packed emails to staff
• Benefit: Better insight into who has been sold what, their financial
status, and current stock, order, & delivery status
• Benefit: Staff is more savvy about client accounts (e.g., acct status)
• ROI: Automated alerts saves over 100 work hours each month
• ROI: Improved A/R collections nets an extra $10k-$12k a month
30. Pricing: No Per User Charges
Monitor: one application for unlimited conditions
Alert: as many people as they wish
Deliver: via any communications method
Price: $1,799 (no per-user fees)
+
Monitor additional applications: $1,799 per application (4 = Unlimited)
Add report generation & delivery: $999 (one-time cost)
Add workflow (data update) ability: $999 (one-time cost)
Options:
32. For More Information . . .
-- Free download of Sage Alerts & Workflow; 30 day trial software
-- Free access to tech support
-- Free access to documentation & video training library
-- Technical Support: Sage Alerts & Workflow clients may call Sage or Vineyardsoft
(support provided by Vineyardsoft) and are covered by annual M&S
-- Ordering coordinated thru Sage North America (single point of contact)
-- Professional services for implementation, customization, etc. for you provided
by your authorized & certified Sage Business Partner.
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Notes de l'éditeur
But first let’s take a look at look at what the true cost is of not knowing what is going on in your business, or maybe more appropriately not knowing what is going in your business in time to do anything about it. Difficult question to answer because it can only be answered from an historical perspective, which means you have to wait until you finally become aware of the problem and the dust has settled, which unfortunately is way too late. It is a little like getting directions from someone that include instructions to “take a left a half-mile before the railroad tracks.” You don’t know you are a half mile from the railroad tracks until you go all the way to the railroad tracks, at which point it is too late to take a left. The reality is, we often don’t bother looking back to see what the true cost was because it is a lot of work, it is way too depressing and in most cases it is too late to do anything about it anyway. Just like with the driving directions, what you really need is a GPS system that alerts you when it is time to turn. And this morning, we will be looking at a GPS for your business. But, first let’s take a look at a few simple examples of the true cost of not knowing in time about what is happening in your business. Maybe some of these will hit home with you.
Example #1 involves Accounts Receivable You have an existing customer who pays religiously within 30 days and has been for years. They currently have one (or more) invoices that are over 45 days old, but you don’t know about it yet because they aren’t on credit watch and you only look at you’re A/R aging as part of the month end close. Today you shipped out another order to them for $25,000. At month-end, you recognize the A/R issue and call the customer, expecting to find out that they never received the old invoice, only to discover that the real problem is that they are having serious cash flow problems and will try and pay off the balance over the next 6-9 months. If only you had known before you shipped that last order, you would have held it or shipped it COD. What is the cost of not being alerted to this problem until too late? Well, best case is that you are going to be carrying that last $25,000 shipment in A/R for way longer than 30 days, costing you interest and impacting cash flow. Worst case scenario, you may end up writing off this additional $25,000 invoice if your customer ends up closing down and going into bankruptcy. If only you had known!
Example #1 involves Accounts Receivable You have an existing customer who pays religiously within 30 days and has been for years. They currently have one (or more) invoices that are over 45 days old, but you don’t know about it yet because they aren’t on credit watch and you only look at you’re A/R aging as part of the month end close. Today you shipped out another order to them for $25,000. At month-end, you recognize the A/R issue and call the customer, expecting to find out that they never received the old invoice, only to discover that the real problem is that they are having serious cash flow problems and will try and pay off the balance over the next 6-9 months. If only you had known before you shipped that last order, you would have held it or shipped it COD. What is the cost of not being alerted to this problem until too late? Well, best case is that you are going to be carrying that last $25,000 shipment in A/R for way longer than 30 days, costing you interest and impacting cash flow. Worst case scenario, you may end up writing off this additional $25,000 invoice if your customer ends up closing down and going into bankruptcy. If only you had known!