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Jack Shannon

Jack is the President of Visual South and has been working with ERP since 1996 when he bought it in his role as a Plant Manager. Since 1998 he has worked for Visual South with roles in consulting, sales and executive management.

Recent Posts

Here’s How to Keep Your ERP Real Time

By Jack Shannon on 8/4/21 10:00 AM

Are you guilty of any of these data flow blockades?

A modern ERP system is an amazing thing to behold. A materials manager can look at a screen and know what to buy, and when. This can be achieved with confidence, without a spreadsheet and without a meeting. Someone in order entry can check on a realistic promise date for a product that hasn’t begun to be built yet. Again, there’s no spreadsheet and no meeting needed to accomplish this.

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Is Inventory an Asset or a Liability?

By Jack Shannon on 7/21/21 10:00 AM

Spoiler: It could be both

There is an old saying in purchasing: You get yelled at for having too much inventory; you get fired for not having what you need. I think this perfectly describes the situation the purchasing department finds themselves in when they don’t have good data on what to buy. They do what any of us do when we must make a decision without having enough information – we guess. It may be an educated guess, but it is a guess nonetheless.

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Why Top 10 ERP Lists Are Worthless

By Jack Shannon on 3/17/21 10:00 AM

The ERP search begins

When a company decides to start an ERP search, the people involved can articulate why they are looking for ERP because it’s their reality. But finding the right solution is more difficult because looking for a new ERP system isn’t something they do every day. In many cases, people involved in the search have never looked for a new ERP system. In other words, it’s a lot easier to identify why you need an ERP rather than what ERP you need.

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Top 6 Evaluation Criteria for ERP Product Selection

By Jack Shannon on 2/24/21 10:00 AM

Jumpstart you ERP evaluation

Looking for ERP can appear to be a daunting task. This is not surprising because chances are it is not something you do every day. Plus, there are plenty of stories of failed ERP implementations going around. Unfortunately, failure is an option. The risk is real.

Topics: ERP selection
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Why Evaluating ERP Implementation Consultants is as Important as Evaluating ERP Software

By Jack Shannon on 12/9/20 2:00 PM

This isn’t just about functionality

If you are in the market for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, don’t just focus on the software’s functionality. Limiting your search criteria to just the ERP is like shopping for a new house and not factoring in the location. Not paying attention to, or discounting the importance of other critical factors can narrow your choices, but increase your chance of being unhappy with what you ultimately choose – whether that’s a nice house in a bad location or new ERP that isn’t working for your company. The good news is this can be avoided. In the case of ERP, it comes down to closely evaluating the ERP implementation consultants you’ll be working with just as much as evaluating the ERP itself.

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3 Benefits of Infor VISUAL ERP for Manufacturing

By Jack Shannon on 12/9/20 12:00 PM

There aren’t only 3…

Listing all the benefits of VISUAL ERP would be a book, not a blog post. But you didn’t come here to read a book, so I’ve chosen what I think are the most significant benefits that manufacturing companies will get out of using VISUAL ERP.

Topics: ERP selection
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Are You Considering Going Through an ERP Reimplementation?

By Jack Shannon on 11/25/20 10:00 AM

 

Video transcript

Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. Are you thinking you're not getting as much out of your ERP as you should be? Perhaps you've even thought about reimplementing. Well, let's talk about that.

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Infor ERP Evaluation Criteria – Built-In Reporting & Analytics

By Jack Shannon on 10/14/20 11:15 AM

 

Video transcript

Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP software, you're probably wondering how are you going to get the data that you need out of that ERP software.

Infor understands this. So, this is what Infor has to offer:

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Infor ERP Evaluation Criteria – Integration Capabilities

By Jack Shannon on 10/14/20 11:00 AM

 

Video transcript

Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP, you might be wondering how you're going to integrate your other programs into that ERP.

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Infor ERP Evaluation Criteria – Affordability

By Jack Shannon on 10/14/20 10:45 AM

 

Video transcript

Hi, I'm Jack Shannon. If you're looking for ERP, there's a lot to choose from, but is it affordable?

Affordability is a subjective topic without any defined boundaries; but it's an important topic. You don't want to waste your time looking for software you can't afford, but how do you know that you can't afford it if you haven't figured out what you can afford?

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