Visual South Insights

Equipment rental companies manage assets and customer service. Infor Service Management (ISM) does the same.

At a very high level, the goals of an equipment rental company and ISM are the same: to manage assets and customer relationships. The company needs to have assets customers want to rent; it’s also important for those assets to be maintained properly to reduce downtime. If either of those needs are not met, valuable sales opportunities may be lost forever.

Infor Service Management’s functionality is aligned to help companies meet these goals. Let’s start with the most important aspect of ISM: It’s one system, one database.

What should I be thinking about?

If you are in the process of choosing an ERP, it’s important to consider the company you could be partnering with. An ERP selection is a big decision in many ways, one that will affect your company for years to come. But it’s not entirely about the product itself (although making sure it has a good evaluation is important). The partnership you enter into with the vendor must also be the right move for your company. You should be comfortable on a variety of levels with this partnership, but here are the top three things to consider as you shop around:

ERP modules and functions through the years

The roots of today’s ERP systems were pretty humble. They were originally designed to take and ship orders, figure out what had to be made and bought, track who owed who money, and produce financial statements. Today, an ERP modules list covers all of that and so much more.

What does ERP stand for?

You may have been asked to find ERP software for your company but are still wondering, “What is an ERP system?” An internet search of the term “ERP” will yield quite a bit of information, and not all of it is helpful. So let’s start with an ERP definition: ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, which refers to the management of business processes in an organization. These processes typically include:

• Financials
• Production planning
• Engineering/manufacturing
• Shop floor control
• Sales
• Inventory management
• Purchasing
• Quality

Things to consider during an Infor VISUAL ERP Implementation

The question of what to expect during an Infor VISUAL implementation usually comes up when a company has already decided on Infor VISUAL ERP as a solution, or when it is on the final list of contenders. It’s a good question to ask before you decide to commit, as you must consider the entire solution, not just the software. In any ERP project, I would suggest that the implementation methodology is even more critical than the software itself. Let’s look at a few reasons why….

Growing pains

If you are a small- to medium-sized manufacturing company that is growing, you are likely experiencing growing pains. Those pains can come from a lot of different directions, but in our business, we hear about growing pains as they relate to software. As a business grows it becomes more sophisticated and complex, and in turn, the software tools used to manage processes need to match that level of sophistication.

Knowing isn't doing

One of my blogs dealt with problem solving. In a nutshell, I discussed the need to fully understand what the root of the problem is before trying to solve it. Once you know the cause, get ideas on how to fix it. Talk to people. Google it. Figure it out.

The manufacturing problem solving traps

I've always remembered three lessons I learned trying to solve problems at my manufacturing job back in the 80's. I was a Supervisor at a manufacturing plant and I took over two departments that were in desperate need of leadership.