This article is relevant for any organization considering new business systems but is skeptical about Cloud computing.
Forbes released an article, “What It Will Take to Sell Cloud to a Skeptical Business,” whose key point is that while many CIOs see value in migrating to the Cloud, the rest of the company’s managers may not agree. Why?
The findings show that 40% of IT executives plan to move to the cloud within 12 months; however, only 31% of business executives share that plan. To make a case for greater investment in cloud computing, the business executives’ primary concern is to not simply cut long term costs, but to drive innovation and competitive advantage.
Turning Software into Hard Cash
Most people just use software without thinking much about it. They don’t realize its potential for making money. Take this example. We have a client in the secondary sporting ticket business (think “legal scalping”). If you purchase four seats to the Los Angeles Dodgers from a major ticket exchange, you will get one multi-page PDF file representing your group of four seats.
Our client buys hundreds of these ticket sets at a time and inventory them for resale to eager fans who want to see the game. However, the single PDF file stores tickets in the wrong format. So we built software for them that automatically crawls major ticket exchanges to acquire legally purchased ticket sets and then separates them into individual seats. We then post them to the inventory business management application… all automatically.
This innovation makes money for our client every day, letting them serve many more fans and keeping their costs low to gain a competitive advantage.
Focus on Innovation
Innovation and competitive advantage are areas where Prolecto Resources can make a significant contribution to a company’s revenue and market position. My client doesn’t care about servers, networks, databases, and security. They care about the difference software will make in their business.
How do you stop just using software and start inventing with it make more money? Start with a cloud-based system like NetSuite, whose power and flexibility are why Prolecto Resources became a NetSuite specialist, and leverage it to create the capabilities you need to control costs and generate more revenue.
Here is how Netsuite and our skills address the concerns in the Forbes article:
The Tools
- Analysts tend to agree that NetSuite is the clear winner for cloud-based CRM/ERP/ECommerce offerings, and cloud-based tools eliminate concerns about IT infrastructure — servers, networks, databases, and security.
- NetSuite’s components are fully integrated — everything connects so you aren’t wasting time and money joining different applications so they can work together. That process of getting different applications from different vendors to function in compatible fashion can introduce security and maintenance problems that nobody wants to deal with, especially IT.
- As a platform, NetSuite is designed to accommodate enhancements and extensions. It’s an environment that welcomes innovation, knowing that — right out of the box, so to speak — it will not meet the exact needs of each customer 100%.
The Services
- Tools like NetSuite only provide capability. It’s how you leverage those capabilities that transforms them from something with potential into something pragmatic. Knowing how to do that is our expertise.
- Prolecto’s experts understand business challenges — from opportunities to limitations — and can help devise competitive offerings that exploit software to create those offerings quickly and affordably.
- We are restricted only by our imagination, not by systems and tools, so we can invent new services that build on what already exists yet deliver more value… without the overhead of more IT “stuff.”
Tools + Skills = Tangible Value
A tool without a person who knows how to us it has little, if any, value. A skilled person without the right tool can’t utilize his or her skill. But the combination of powerful tools in the hands of skilled individuals makes a difference that keeps our clients coming back.
I see our clients in many situations and, often, they feel limited and frustrated by their existing systems. Most of the time, we help them learn how to use tools in new and better ways, opening their perspective to understand the possibilities. For example, a recent client believed that they needed a data warehouse to get their information out of NetSuite to create meaningful reports. After reviewing their goals and IT structure, we realized that they built some custom NetSuite elements but did not effectively link the customizations to native Netsuite components. We showed them how to create appropriate models and extend their structures so that NetSuite could easily display information on managers’ dashboards in over 50 different locations around the world. We shifted their thinking about the need to invest in a data warehouse (never a small investment) while we empowered management with immediate, actionable data.
Before our involvement, our client was lukewarm about NetSuite. Now they have a new appreciation after realizing that, though the capacity was always there, it couldn’t be fully utilized because the in-house staff lacked the know-how to do it.
Innovation begins by asking “why not?” and it’s implemented by people with the necessary skills to use essential tools. The breakthrough with cloud computing, especially with platform tools such as NetSuite, is that you can now focus on innovation (and implementation) without spending money on traditional “infrastructure.
If you’re ready to move up from your current business system and use software to generate additional revenue, we should talk.
Marty Zigman
Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.
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