Tasos Christidis

In an older post ( http://goo.gl/jXGmOi ) I discussed how web-based or cloud Financial ERP can help you unlock new possibilities for your Business Processes. The basic argument there was that an open system (like a cloud-based system is, by definition) could involve your customers in a specific business process (like sending a Sales Order, posting a comment that needs subsequent action from within your CRM etc.). The reaction I got from a number of readers was that new best practices could be devised and applied in a very important, so to speak, business process which is of everybody’s interest, big or small: that of invoicing the end-customer. We shouldn’t forget that many small and medium enterprises are focusing their I.T. operations on Accounts Receivable, inside which the invoicing cycle represents a significant part. Therefore, in this post I’d like to focus on this specific issue: how can your invoicing change when you’re using a web-based Financial ERP . 

In this post ( http://goo.gl/DhcEZp ) I have focused on the Invoicing Cycle and the paradigm shift that takes place when the enterprise utilizes a web-based ERP. I showed how specific business process steps within that cycle can be changed in order to invite customers “in”; make them part of the process instead of just giving them “data” or – worst yet – just an invoice at the end of the cycle. In this post I will continue discussing the same example and calculate tangible benefits , for each of the steps of the process. You’d better first go through the previous post to understand how each step is altered in a web-enabled ERP and then make the comparison with the numbers below.

In an older post ( http://goo.gl/jXGmOi ) I have discussed the general benefits that a cloud ERP could bring to the enterprise, even to the SMB space. I have given some examples of specific business functions and how they can be transformed or at least assisted by the web technology that the cloud ERP inevitably brings with it. In this post I will focus more on one specific business process, that of the customer order placement and order fulfillment and show that not only is a cloud platform (such as a SaaS product) able to optimize the whole process but also enhance customer experience and finally bring tangible benefits to the enterprise , such as faster invoice payment and reduction of open receivables.

In an older post (here http://goo.gl/jXGmOi ), I scratched the surface of the idea that the cloud ERP could also serve B2B sales, by enabling the enterprise (SaaS customer) to invite its own customers in a “B2B sales portal”. I don’t see this portal as a substitute of the e-shop for B2C sales; nor do I find the idea of the SMB developing a separate system particularly interesting. Implementing a new, separate B2B sales system and having it interface with the cloud ERP would not be a cost-effective solution, or a sustainable one in terms of additional and recurring costs.

Through this channel I have been talking about the advantages of cloud and SaaS products for a long time. In this post I’d like to focus on a more specific area. An area that contains a large pool of potential customers, who at the same time are still facing basic problems in their journey towards a “computerized enterprise”. That of small business ERP and especially the Financial ERP . By the term “Financial ERP” we define the software that performs the basic functions of book-keeping, sales and purchases, stock keeping customer/vendor order management and perhaps some more like basic workflows and some kind of business intelligence. These are requirements that small and medium-sized businesses are seeking to approach first, or they have already done so with not much success. Also, they are the kind of requirement that start-ups are trying to cover, since they touch the back-bone of the business function.