Significant changes are occurring in the global landscape that require a fresh look at one of the most important business processes in the supply chain—demand management. Companies that more accurately predict product demand and integrate a single view of demand into operational planning are poised to win in today’s competitive landscape. Read this white paper and gain strategic insights for accurate demand planning.
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Each day brings a new set of challenges for process manufacturers. Some of these challenges need to be addressed with personalized company policies and well-designed standard operating procedures (SOPs). Other challenges can be addressed through implementation of an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The six most common challenges addressed by an ERP system are described in this paper.
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For manufacturers, barcoding carries with it numerous benefits, including increased accuracy, efficiency, and traceability, along with easier adherence to customer or regulatory requirements. Discover how implementing barcoding as part of an integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution can help manufacturing companies of all sizes, and in many different industries, improve operations and business performance.
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Although the industrial equipment market has been growing, based on strong customer demand, companies cannot rest on their laurels. Manufacturers and distributors must keep adding value to maintain existing contracts and win new business. They must be efficient enough to meet new demands while maintaining margins. Discover solutions that can help total industrial solution suppliers stay profitable during this expansion.
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To expedite planning production, many companies have gone the way of integration with a manufacturing resource planning (MRP) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Although these systems have paved the way in planning production, they can leave a lot to be desired. Learn how manufacturing production scheduling (MPS) can be enhanced by finite scheduling and advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems.
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Now that the economic recovery is under way, many food processors are investing in enterprise solutions. This special report explores how food and beverage processors are moving to a predictive maintenance model; the critical role of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) in safety and compliance; how to “go green” without breaking the bank; and how to renovate processing plants for energy efficiency.
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Condition monitoring is a critical component of predictive maintenance. In this special report for the chemical processing industry, you’ll learn six steps to implementing a condition-based maintenance program; condition-monitoring techniques that can increase equipment uptime; how to protect your condition-monitoring program during the recession; and how to supplement your condition monitoring program to reduce downtime.
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Today’s technology and application leaders are pressured to deliver functionality that drives efficiency, innovation, and growth—while reducing costs. As a result, technology and application portfolio management (APM) are top business priorities. Learn about a framework for implementing an APM program that can enable your company to monitor and analyze the impact of application changes and reduce portfolio complexity.
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Oracle’s Accelerate is a program in which Certified and Certified Advantage partners build industry-specific solutions combining Oracle enterprise applications and rapid-implementation tools with the partners’ own expertise or software. The program aims to reduce the time, complexity, and cost of deploying Oracle solutions, to make them suitable for mid-market companies and governmental organizations. Learn more.
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Everything manufacturing executives thought they knew about project management and operations management is changing. Now, project managers may be connecting elements of an ongoing enterprise with a project in order to achieve certain defined goals, or use projects in a recurring way. Discover the many benefits manufacturers can realize by adopting a management-by-project approach with project-centric ERP software.
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Acts of cyber aggression could lead to a cyber war or worse. Capitol Hill is giving attention to this security issue, and vendors are creating new offerings and expanding existing programs—creating new opportunities in the defense industry and opening doors for new players. Learn more about the blurring between information security vendors servicing the private sector and those in the defense and intelligence industry.
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Heinz Frozen Food Company was set on improving its manufacturing and maintenance process efficiency, and knew that implementing a new enterprise asset management (EAM) system would involve monumental change for employees. Heinz choose a Web-based system to help it gain better visibility into processes and work towards more progressive lean manufacturing and lean maintenance practices for greater efficiency. Learn more.
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At Mohawk Fine Papers, a new Web-based enterprise asset management (EAM) system replaced a maintenance management system (MMS) to provide efficiencies for paper-making and converting equipment. Since implementing the new EAM, Mohawk has standardized its maintenance processes, streamlined work order flow, automated business rules, and achieved more detailed tracking of assets. Learn more about the EAM software’s modules.
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Pressures to reduce costs still outweigh all other business drivers that have an impact on enterprise resource planning (ERP) in 2009. ERP is more than a necessary infrastructure; it’s also a strategic weapon in streamlining and accelerating business processes—while providing visibility to those processes. Discover more about the overall value ERP brings to manufacturing, with Aberdeen’s annual assessment of ERP usage.
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To ensure the safety of domestic and global food supplies, demands for brand protection assurance are on the rise from customers in the food industry marketplace itself. To address these requirements, food processors and distribution warehouses now find automated traceability systems a necessity. Discover an automated approach to traceability that’s both cost-effective and a good fit for your current business operations.
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Too often, manufacturers implement technology for financial reporting, but overlook efficiencies that can generate cash flow and reduce costs on the shop floor. While credit won’t cure the credit crunch manufacturers are facing, automated processes that improve cash flow and keep lenders in the loop can go a long way in convincing lenders that their risk is low. Find out more about how automated systems can help you.
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In today’s demanding project delivery environment, meeting contract deadlines is paramount. Companies are under pressure to rapidly establish plans, isolate deliverables, and deliver quality products. Learn about a project delivery management system that can help you streamline collaboration between business units, ensuring each step is monitored and controlled so you can deliver your project on time and on budget.
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Kempe, a provider of innovative engineering solutions and services for a variety of industries, was using separate systems to manage the financial and operation aspects of the business. These systems were out of date and made accurate financial reporting almost impossible. With the help of a value-added reseller (VAR), Kepme implemented a centralized, integrated solution that stores information in real time. Learn more.
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Heineken USA imports, markets, sells, and distributes its premium beer products through its network of 650 beer distributors. This supply chain requires precise forecasts and meticulous planning—and an easy-to-understand forecasting tool that provides greater transparency in the collaborative forecasting process. Discover more about the benefits of the forecasting solution on Heineken’s sales and operations planning.
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Terumo Cardiovascular Systems, global manufacturer and distributor of medical products, has more than 1,500 finished goods, many of which are assembled in one factory and sterilized in another. With so many products and steps in the supply chain, supply and demand planning abilities are key to smooth operations. Find out how the company saved $1 million (USD) with forecast management and requirements planning solutions.
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An effective traceability system involves determining which product and manufacturing process attributes to collect and maintain—and deciding when during the manufacturing process to begin collecting those attributes. Do you begin with raw material attributes from the supplier, at inspection, at assembly, at shipping? Explore the many facets of meeting product traceability challenges using automated data collection.
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Currently, India’s population is approximately 1.0009 billion. The middle class is large and still growing; wages were low, but now are some of the best in various industries; many workers are well educated and speak English; and investors are optimistic and local stocks are up. Despite political turmoil, the country presses on with economic reforms. But for potential investors, there’s still cause for worry—find out why.
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Since 1996, Air International US (AIUS) has used an outsourced manufacturing strategy instead of maintaining its own facilities. For the first few years, communication between AIUS and its outsourced partners was manual, which formed a barrier preventing the company from maximizing its contract manufacturing strategy. To improve outsourcing processes, AIUS chose a change management solution with bill of materials (BOM) management and a software-as-a-service architecture. Learn more.
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Pixel Velocity, provider of video automation systems to governments and other organizations, grew from having one supplier to having dozens with which they needed to collaborate and source hundreds of components. Knowing operations were becoming too complex to be supported on spreadsheets, the company decided that using a dedicated collaborative bill of materials (BOM) and change management solution would be the smartest choice. Learn about the on-demand solution Pixel now uses.
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With all the discussion, books, Web sites, and other materials on the topic of lean manufacturing, it’s hard to know which resources are credible—much less understand the mounds of information. The first part of this series breaks down the definition of lean manufacturing into easy-to-digest concepts and shares the real-life example of a supplier of remanufactured solvents that is working toward the goal of lean. Get tips on how to determine what you need in your production operation and why.
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Pronto Software's enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, PRONTO-Xi v.670, is now TEC Certified. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations who rely on the integrity of TEC's research services for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this 39-page TEC report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Specialty Products needed to address several warehouse and manufacturing management issues, including real-time inventory tracking. As it looked for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, the company also wanted one-step order processing. Learn how the new ERP system, featuring a virtual shop front and electronic data interchange (EDI) capabilities, meets the company’s business and warehouse operating needs.
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Following several acquisitions, Colombia-based ceramics manufacturer Corona found itself with multiple enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to manage. To find a single ERP solution that was suitable for all of its facilities, and would integrate with its existing business software, Corona turned to Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC). Learn how TEC’s selection methodology helped Corona choose the right ERP software.
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Hydrocontrol, manufacturer of hydraulic components for mobile applications, grew from its founding offices in Italy to being a leading player in the global market. Needing to gather the knowledge of its specialist staff and make it available throughout the company, Hydrocontrol decided to look for a solution that would automate its processes and reduce costs. Discover the product configurator solution it implemented.
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For years, SEM Products Inc.—manufacturer of interior and exterior auto body repair and refinishing products—was managing its business with two software systems and various manual processes. As the business grew, it became clear that these systems were lacking in data accessibility and overall functionality. Learn about the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution SEM now uses for improved order entry functionality.
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Global demand for food and beverages continues to rise, and the market will pay a premium for partially prepared healthier choices. Food and beverage manufacturers with innovative solutions for these niche markets are in a position to gain brand dominance, resulting in higher revenues, profits, and market share. Discover tactical and strategic innovative practices that can help support changes in your business processes.
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At Nagoya Guidance and Propulsion Systems (NGPS), more than half of production time goes into to products such as aircraft guidance systems. In 2003, NGPS installed Asprova’s advanced planning and scheduling system for greater efficiency from the planning it had been doing manually until that time. In 2007, NGPS added the sales module for more uniform production planning. Learn more about the efficiencies NGPS gained.
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As you streamline your supply chain, don’t forget about the shipping or receiving department. Often, a company aligns its supply and demand but doesn’t provide the key inventory prioritization rules for shipping and receiving—and the right product is delayed from its final end-point. Learn how appointment scheduling can help—meet with your supplier, customer, and carrier to plan an efficient and effective flow of goods.
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A growing number of smart suppliers recognize the competitive high ground to be seized as they deepen their connections to retail clients in regional markets. By adding value in the replenishment process through vendor-managed inventory, small and midsized manufacturers can differentiate themselves from larger brands. Most importantly, they can develop more loyal and profitable relationships with retail clients. Learn how.
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Electronics enterprises must respond to business drivers such as reduced time to market, technological innovation, and distributed operations and cost control to remain competitive. Effective collaboration among internal engineering and manufacturing, as well as external suppliers and distributors, requires great effort. But an engineering collaboration solution can help teams work together in real time. Learn how.
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Today, food manufacturers face significant challenges. Increasing costs, government regulation, safety concerns, and constantly changing consumer tastes are a way of life. Senior management must know about these food industry issues; why an integrated business software system is essential for controlling costs, managing inventory, and meeting regulations; and the key functionality to look for in new business software.
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ODG’s industrial division has a reputation for the design and manufacture of quality gears and transmissions. But back in 1991, ODG was using four separate systems for inventory, accounting, sales, and materials resource planning (MRP). The challenge was to combine all four into an integrated management system, with an emphasis on data integrity and scalability. Discover the solution ODG chose to help improve processes.
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Industrial equipment manufacturers (IEMs) have been hit especially hard by today’s economy. But the industry has come back better than ever before by adopting new efficient manufacturing methods and new software and business processes that let them compete head-on, satisfying customer demands while reducing costs and raising margins. Learn about the methods industrial equipment manufacturers are using to stay competitive.
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Industrial equipment manufacturers (IEMs) face fundamental changes to the way they do business. Combined with ailing economies and cash-strapped customers, the ability of IEMs to effectively manage their operations—and those of their supply chain partners—can determine success or failure. Get insight into the changing IEM customer market and the skills and tools you need to fully address these changes and challenges.
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Diamond Plastics has a nation-wide network of PVC pipe manufacturing facilities. After years of customizing its financial software, the company was unable to upgrade to newer versions. The existing system also could no longer accommodate the company’s continued growth. Needing a new accounting and business management system, Diamond chose to implement Microsoft® Dynamics AX. Find out about the near-flawless transition.
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King Plastic manufactures polymer products for worldwide distribution. Upgrading to the latest versions of Microsoft® Dynamics GP and Microsoft® Dynamics CRM, the company wanted to boost user adoption without scaling support costs. Now, it uses the solutions to track sales leads and manage profiles for its growing list of customers. Find out how it gained better control over IT costs while improving employee productivity.
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As a result of exponential growth via acquisition, an international metals manufacturer realized it was trying to function with six disparate systems. Because of this lack of integration, transportation costs were skyrocketing. Learn about the solution that helped the company automate tendering processes, centralize core functions like carrier management, increase management’s visibility and control—and more.
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The IT investments that have allowed firms in process industries to increase the efficiency of their operations and supply chains have also created vast stores of data. Unfortunately, many companies are still unable redeploy that data to drive innovation. Learn how the next generation of business intelligence (BI) tools can help your company gain a competitive advantage by harnessing the information IT systems generate.
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Best practices in technology can help manufacturers of complex products and equipment get their offerings to market more quickly and profitably by enabling them to become more cost effective and efficient. But there are still challenges to be overcome, due to product life cycle complexity. Discover the best practices that can help you make the product and make it right, on time, and within budget—while making a profit.
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A producer of whole milk powder for the chocolate industry, VernDale Products wanted to replace its existing manual system with automated, fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The company, aided by technology consultants, found an ERP software system that was the best functional fit—reducing the time needed to perform routine office tasks and improving accuracy in financial statements. Learn more.
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Headquartered in Shoreview, Minnesota (US), PaR Systems, Inc. provides specialized material handling and automation equipment to many diverse industries. Each of the company’s customer contracts is unique—like a separate job—with charges included for labor and materials in these jobs. Find out how PaR’s engineer-to-order (ETO) solution helps the company manage its contracts—from engineering and manufacturing to final delivery.
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Order-driven manufacturers—those who engineer-to-order (ETO), assemble-to-order (ATO), and make-to-order (MTO)—face numerous challenges. To stay competitive, they must contend with increased competition, more demanding customers, and the need to refine business processes. Learn how enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can help your company meet marketplace challenges and create sustainable competitive advantages.
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In fast-paced, low-margin manufacturing environments, companies must embrace technology in order to solidify or gain competitive advantages. It is equally important to avoid adopting technology for technology’s sake. Find out how leading companies are focusing on efficiency and cost reduction by integrating manufacturing execution systems (MES) or manufacturing intelligence (MI) with enterprise resource planning (ERP).
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To better support mobile employees, Lifetime Products deployed a unified messaging solution focused on the flexibility of wireless devices. Using features in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, Lifetime replaced its voice mail system with a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution, and streamlined access to e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages. Learn how this solution helped the company boost productivity and reduce costs.
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Recent EquaTerra market research finds a consensus among western business leaders that increased globalization is inevitable—and that it will generally be beneficial. Quickly and efficiently leveraging opportunities created by globalization is the best way to avoid being overwhelmed by its challenges. Learn how to compare buyer and service provider data and get insight into developing a responsive global strategy.
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For many companies, the second largest cost after people is facilities. Solutions have evolved from traditional out-tasking and outsourcing to the more recent strategy of integrating facilities management and real estate under a single service provider. But first, understand marketplace realities: provider capabilities don’t always line up with buyer expectations. Learn about the challenges of integrating these services.
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Chief financial officers (CFOs) and procurement directors want to speed up and simplify the outsourcing provider selection process, to reduce costs and gain benefits sooner. Here are key issues you should consider when fast-tracking the process of scoping and negotiating a sourcing transaction. Collaboration and interaction are key to shortening the process while still achieving your end goal. Find out more.
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Globalization and digital technologies provide great opportunities for companies operating in business to business (B2B) markets. There are many strategies you can use to automate the demands of business communication so it is more reliable, efficient, and profitable—and delivers more value to your customers. Learn about the four key practices that can help you improve your B2B relationships with buyers or sellers.
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The printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing market has changed, as production shifts from Europe and North America to countries in Asia. As markets migrate to these low-cost suppliers, how can a PCB manufacturer in Europe or North America compete? The best opportunities lie in high value-added products and services that can’t be easily duplicated. Learn more about taking the lead with new technologies and processes.
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When Johnstown Wire Technologies left its parent company, it had to quickly establish its own IT resources, as the legacy system inhibited growth. The new system would have to be integrated, responsive, and include functionality for quality, lot tracing, scheduling, and cost management. Learn about the return on investment (ROI) the company found after it implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
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Toronto, Canada-based printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer Coretec expanded from one location to three. But its custom systems weren’t well integrated and were difficult to maintain. The company needed an integrated system to facilitate its goals for order volume and customer service and growth. Find out how an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution helped the company increase capacity and improve delivery times.
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A few years ago, the top customer complaint for plastics provider Rowmark was shipping errors. For several reasons, customers weren’t receiving what they ordered. Problems were traced back to handwritten inventory labels, and manual counting and checking of orders. Learn how the company upgraded the system it already had by adding bar code labels and scanning, as well as other electronic data interchange (EDI) techniques.
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Swedish-based Tylö is the world’s leading manufacturer of sauna, shower, and steam bath systems. Family-owned since the 1940s, today Tylö generates growth by leveraging IT-based operational support. Thus, when new growth objectives called for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Tylö considered four alternatives: Movex, Jeeves, Axapta, and an upgrade of ASW. Find out which system it chose.
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Swedish-based PIAB is a global leader in industrial vacuum technology, and develops and sells solutions for improving productivity in the graphical, medical, and automobile industries, among others. Established in the 1950s, PIAB has subsidiaries and distributors in over 50 countries. In the early 2000s, PIAB sought to replace its aging enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Find out which system it chose, and why.
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Escalating health fears, new global policies, and a highly competitive market means that traceability is an issue food and beverage companies cannot afford to ignore. All this has led to a need for information on quality and food safety that companies must live up to. Explore the key issues surrounding traceability in the food and beverage industry, and find out why you might need to consider a new traceability system.
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In the competitive auto industry, Nissen Chemitec America knows the need for lean manufacturing. Its legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was preventing the company from adopting lean principles, and so in 2003 it looked for an ERP tailored for contract manufacturers serving the auto industry. Learn how the new system helps the company stay lean within the confines of compliance and changing customer demands.
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Genius Project4Domino and Microsoft Project are both project management tools, and though their range of features is different, they are also complementary. Using the solutions together can bring a well-rounded project management solution to companies of all sizes. Learn how they can be used to ensure consistency and eliminate downtime, so your long-term strategic project plans are a success.
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Manufacturers today must respond quickly to ever-changing customer demands—while keeping costs low and efficiency high. How can original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers (CMs) effectively manage the demand-driven supply chain? A solution that increases your visibility of inventory planning and management throughout the supply chain can help reduce your response time. Learn more about the benefits.
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To maintain a leadership position in the high-tech complex equipment industry, electronic equipment manufacturers need reliable solutions to improve order accuracy, optimize fulfillment, and increase revenue for value-added services. Does your solution quickly commercialize new technology, integrate software with systems, and differentiate those systems with value-added services? Find out about what you might be missing.
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Food and beverage manufacturers must aim to keep up with customer demands for a wide range of products, while managing the complex global supply chain and taking advantage of growth in new markets. For fast-growing or midsize companies, the challenges are even greater. Find out about a solution that can help optimize sales and marketing, and enable consumer-driven supply chains by speeding collaboration with suppliers.
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Like other successful technology solutions, once proven in an enterprise environment, virtualization spreads quickly. While virtualized resources can address your growing capacity needs, they can also pose significant challenges—with long-term success depending on how well you can manage the virtualized system. Learn about what tools you’ll need in order to provide seamless physical and virtual server management.
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Data security breaches are a common occurrence in business. As such, today’s business climate needs to find better ways to collaborate—without compromising sensitive information. Documents can be kept more secure through best-practice, persistent security strategies that provide end-to-end protection beyond the firewall. By deploying such a strategy, you can securely accelerate business and gain competitive advantage.
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Inventory has been—and continues to be—the lifeblood of the distribution marketplace. While many companies are slow to adopt new strategies and technologies, a growing number of distributors are leveraging inventory practices to improve key metrics like customer retention, gross margins, and inventory turns. Read these research survey findings to find out how you can make better inventory management technology decisions.
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In today’s increasingly competitive global economy, manufacturers must find ways to improve quality while maintaining compliance with government and industry mandates. But in the search for a suitable enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, many are often left with empty promises. Discover why key capabilities such as traceability are vital in an ERP solution—especially for high-precision manufacturers.
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When it comes to the business challenges of the distribution industry, one solution does not fit all. Packaged with smart functionality to address key business issues, Infor’s products have successfully fulfilled the needs of distributors worldwide. Learn how its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) solutions have helped companies improve market position, streamline business processes, and more.
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What does it take to give your clients a better customer experience? While there are many answers to that question, a common answer these days is “through a customer relationship management (CRM) portal.” Learn everything you need to know about CRM portals, including their key characteristics, the different kinds of CRM portals available, who is using them—and most importantly—how they improve customer service.
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To be successful today, companies must form and maintain strong profitable relationships with their customers. Failing to maintain a complete 360-degree view of all customers’ interactions can leave a company in a weakened competitive position. While customer relationship management (CRM) can improve customer interaction, it’s important to know which system will provide you with the best total cost of ownership (TCO).
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With today’s varied communication technologies, there are more ways than ever to stay in touch—and more pressure to respond immediately. This and the need to prioritize multiple messages prove that companies must provide employees with tools suited to managing an increased flow of messages. Learn more about second-generation enterprise communication solutions and how your company can deploy them for maximum benefit.
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In today’s competitive market, creating and maintaining successful customer relationships is vital. That’s why everyone involved with the customer must work together as a team. In most companies, sales, engineering, and marketing often use separate systems—causing communication gaps in customer support. Discover how sharing information through integrated customer relationship management (CRM) can help bridge those gaps.
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Most businesses recognize the strategic importance of customer relationship management (CRM), but some small to medium businesses (SMBs) continue to use basic contact managers or simple spreadsheets to track customers, manage leads, and collaborate on sales. Achieving great results requires more than just installing CRM software. Learn how assessing your business’s CRM maturity level can help build your road map to success.
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In the computing world, a dramatic shift is taking place—enabling a new way for IT departments to manage services. The promise of a leaner, more efficient data center has many businesses clamoring to go virtual. In the rush to virtualize, however, they have forgotten the painful and expensive lessons learned from introducing risk into the physical environment. Find out how detective controls can mitigate those risks.
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Migration can be risky and expensive if handled by inexperienced developers. Seemingly small things can lead to bigger issues and cause performance problems. Hence, the services of a professional migration service provider who has executed similar projects is recommended. Learn about the different ways you can completely migrate from Windows to UNIX and Linux, so that you can make an intelligent, informed decision.
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It seems that these days you need a password for everything. And with so many to remember, it’s no wonder helpdesks are bombarded with calls that tie up the IT department’s resources. Password inflation and the resulting fatigue increasingly frustrate not only end users, but the support teams that deal with the fallout of strict password polices as well. Find out how some businesses are putting an end to this madness.
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While the growing trend among companies today is to implement stronger password policies to increase network security, it seems that many still struggle with finding the most cost-effective solution. Read about what a recent survey of over 600 IT professionals discovered about password policies, and find out why implementing a low-risk, cost-effective, and secure password management solution is just what you need.
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Companies looking to expand their facilities and strategize their way into the marketplace often focus most of their efforts on bottom line results. During the process, they factor in infrastructure costs but often pay little attention on how to control them. Find out how a Web-enabled solution that puts infrastructure management sharply in focus can help you easily access distributed information while helping curb costs.
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As with any project, implementing a new content management system (CMS) for your web site must start with a set of ideas outlining the types of services, capabilities, and desired outcomes you wish to have. Choosing the right Web CMS will undoubtedly take some time, but with the proper guidance—and this handy system pocket guide—you’ll be on your way to a successful implementation and a number of new opportunities.
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There’s no disputing the fact that content management systems (CMS) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) are closely related. From reuse, the ability to loosely couple service and functions, to being able to combine services into a new form, SOA and CMS share many common threads in the enterprise world. Find out how the forces that have made SOA so important today are now doing the same for CMS in web site management.
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While consumer products manufacturers are relatively recent adopters of lean programs, they are already achieving value through a firm commitment to understanding how lean will affect their business processes. Those who are eager to begin the lean journey, however, must learn how to prioritize the metrics that matter, and frequently measure them in order to monitor the effectiveness of the program. Discover why it works.
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As a fast-growing company, you have the same objectives as any business. But you’re probably finding it challenging to gain the control you need to achieve these goals without sacrificing your IT budget. And when you try to achieve control, it’s often at the risk of slowing down your business. Find out how having enterprise-wide visibility of your business processes and activities can put you back in the driver’s seat.
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Compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is mandatory. As such, businesses must think seriously about their data storage security and the day-to-day encryption management of their customer data. As a merchant or credit card processor, will you be ready when the auditors come knocking? Learn more about the foolproof way that many businesses are passing PCI DSS audits.
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Enterprises are becoming increasingly aware of their fiduciary duty and legal obligation to protect confidential and personal information. As such their IT departments must find a way to effectively secure storage tiers from unauthorized access and viewing. Discover why today’s storage security technology with integrated encryption processing is the type of solution that many IT professionals are turning to.
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This report identifies the major IT issues faced by small to midsized businesses (SMBs), including information silos, lack of IT staff, and outdated business applications. Because they lack the right information to meet customer expectations, SMBs have difficulty reacting quickly to fast-changing market dynamics and growing their revenue. Find out how the elimination of information silos can create a more consistent effective customer experience.
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Industry research shows that one of the most important challenges facing supply chain professionals today is supply chain visibility. As companies scramble to adopt a way to gaining better visibility into their supply chain, they quickly realize that it’s not as simple as it seems. While achieving the right type of visibility is the first step, leveraging it to take quick and effective action is the key to its success.
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Years ago, businesses primarily focused on how to compile valuable information that could be shared within the organization. But today’s regulatory requirements have changed all that. By adhering to several fundamental guidelines, organizations can improve data accessibility, and at the same time create a proactive e-discovery environment. Find out why establishing content management principles is critical to your success.
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Today, financial services firms are increasingly focusing on organic growth—forcing contact centers to drive cross-selling efforts as well as strengthen customer relationships. But in order to contribute to profitable growth, they must be able to quickly identify and address customers in a personalized fashion and present offers that are highly relevant. Discover how a customer interaction optimization solution can help.
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For Dillard’s Inc., copying thousands of documents a day was just part of the routine. It soon came to realize, however, that this practice was not only wasteful, but costly too. To manage its documents more efficiently, the company turned to Xerox’s Document Centre multifunction system and DocuShare software. Since installing the new system, Dillard’s has reduced its copying costs from $1.54 (USD) per print to 28 cents.
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High-speed Internet access (HSIA) has become a key technology asset for many hospitality providers around the world. But as a widely regarded bottom-line impacting resource, HSIA must be properly managed in order to prevent negative impacts on a facility’s revenue. Learn how to create a strong, winning HSIA strategy that will increase your guest satisfaction and secure recurring revenue well into the future.
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Billions of dollars are spent each year on business travel worldwide, of which over 5 percent is spent on tracking and reporting expenses. But is it possible to complete an expense report with virtually no human intervention? Now, automated corporate travel and expense management solutions are making this possible—reducing both direct and indirect costs, and providing significant savings to your bottom line.
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With the globalization of business, the rise of virtual offices, and an increase in traveling employees, travel and entertainment (T&E) spend is ever increasing. While business travel is considered a vital function and a cost of doing business, it’s not always seen as a category of spend that can be controlled and reduced. To efficiently manage T&E expenses, the procurement department must be involved. Find out why.
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Although information technology service management (ITSM) is not a new discipline, many organizations have yet to adopt it as a part of their IT service improvement strategy. To be successful, businesses must start by building a custom road map. Read about how focusing on long-term, strategic objectives—including a realized return on investment (ROI)—can greatly improve your IT service delivery and support.
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In the public sector, where it’s often more about process than the business case, recompeting a current outsourcing relationship doesn’t always make the most sense for ensuring continued value. Due to the cost and time investment in the recompete process, it can often cause more problems than solutions. In many cases, outsourcing agreements simply need to be updated to meet changing business requirements. Find out how.
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Empirical evidence demonstrates that the benefits of a distributed IT services model are considerable—yet many companies still resist the change. If IT professionals took the time to fully understand the positive impact of distributed services models on both cost and value, they’d be better equipped to fight organizational resistance and develop a road map for successful change. Find out how you can build yours today.
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A contact center is a mission-critical component of any organization’s operations—regardless of who they service. Yet stakeholders often remain dissatisfied with its performance. In the past, contact centers benefited from advances in information and technologies, yet many companies struggled to determine how they could take advantage of these benefits. Find out how embracing both old and new technologies today can work.
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For many organizations, undertaking IT and business process outsourcing involves everything from finding and assessing providers, to selecting locations, to determining which services are required. But the hardest part of outsourcing occurs after the deal is done. To help businesses ensure consistency in outsourcing governance, there are nine critical factors to keep in mind that can help guarantee its success.
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Collaborative tools are becoming essential to sharing data in today’s office environment. You need a solution that can grow to accommodate new projects and uses—and a storage system that is flexible enough to meet initial demands and adapt to changes. Find out how a multiple-node storage area network (SAN) can maximize the scalability and functionality of your collaboration tools, and ease storage administration.
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To retain the integrity and availability of your key operational data, your server infrastructure must provide effective data backup and recovery. When used with a storage area network (SAN), a data protection manager (DPM) can help increase your storage space, reduce time needed to create backup, and allow for quick recovery of data when disaster strikes. Learn more about this scalable and cost-effective solution.
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Many businesses today rely on telecom expense management (TEM) for mission-critical functions ranging from sales to service to customer relationship management. But despite its overall importance, nearly one-third of a telecom staff’s time is spent on processing orders and invoices. Maximizing the potential of a telecom system requires a data-driven approach. Find out how Map-To-Win is helping businesses do just that.
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The days of telephone switchboard operators are long gone. In today's electronic age, through private branch exchange (PBX) technology, operators have been replaced with Internet protocols that automate the switchboard process. But how can you make the most of your modern phone system when you're not really sure how it works? Discover some tips and tricks that can help you understand—and optimize—your business phone setup.
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A lean supply chain consists of two major components—lean manufacturing and lean distribution—which focus on satisfying customer demand efficiently, at the lowest cost, with the least amount of waste. But what if your replenishment strategy is your distribution center’s weakest link? To improve customer satisfaction and achieve efficiency and balance, your replenishment strategy must consider all the key variables.
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Getting lean is not a simple task; it requires an aggressive, iterative approach to examine complex tradeoffs. And given the number of variables that characterize a distribution center (DC) and its constituent stock keeping units (SKUs), performing this type of analysis without using the right tools can be daunting—if not impossible. Find out how a tool-based approach can make getting lean easier.
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Earlier-generation spam systems all share a common weakness—they rely heavily on analyzing content that can easily be manipulated by spammers. As such, state-of-the-art antispam systems must go beyond content examination by analyzing messages in the full context in which they are sent. Find out how using a multilayer defense approach can help you successfully eliminate spam and blended threats in your enterprise.
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Every enterprise must be prepared to confront an incident that threatens the security, privacy, or general operations of the company or its customers. But how is it possible to respond to an incident quickly, without interrupting corporate operations? By building an incident response team (IRT) with the right skills, authority, and knowledge to properly deal with a range of known—and unknown incidents. Find out how.
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Like telephony, radio, and television, the Internet has become the ultimate disruptive technology—dramatically changing many aspects of daily life. With each technological revolution, sales professionals have had to learn how to use disruptive technology effectively. Find out why some software firms are now launching their products under the Sales 2.0 banner, and how you can use it to leverage Web 2.0 technology.
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It’s almost a certainty that every company will, at some time or other, face a significant incident. As such, many experts are turning to enterprise incident management. It empowers professionals from a variety of fields to work together to solve problems in a coordinated, disciplined manner so that budgets can be justified and progress can be made quickly. Learn how incident management can benefit your business.
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While there are numerous strategies for dealing with the restoration of functions through a recovery process, there is only one for continuing operations with minimal interruption. It’s called a reserve system, and it’s vital for business continuation. It’s fast and easy to activate, simple to move, low in cost, testable, available, and highly reliable. Find out how it compares to some of the more traditional strategies.
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JM Family Enterprises knew there had to be a more efficient way to organize its picking, packing, and tracking systems. Because of the specific nature of its documents, it was vital they arrive at the correct dealership on time. In order to achieve continued growth, it would need an automated system. Since implementing a warehouse management system (WMS), the company has reduced its paper processing by 80 percent.
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International Marketing Group (IMG) was used to tall orders. And although fulfillment mistakes were rare for the third-party logistics company, any errors that did occur were extremely costly. In order to stay competitive, IMG realized that it would need to increase its fulfillment output. With its new warehouse management system (WMS), IMG’s shipping time has gone from several days to mere hours.
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Just when malware design seemed to have reached a plateau, new and more complex attack techniques have now emerged. For a while, security controls designed to manage spam, viruses, and malware were working, but as a result of this success, the threats they protected against were forced to change. Learn about today’s key security trends and how you can fight against the sophisticated new generation of Internet threats.
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Once a revolutionary concept, data warehouses are now the status quo—enabling IT professionals to manage and report on data originating from diverse sources. But where does log data fit in? Historically, log data was reported on through slow legacy applications. But with today’s log data warehouse solutions, data is centralized, allowing users to analyze and report on it with unparalleled speed and efficiency.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) software can work as a strategic business initiative to help companies accelerate sales while enabling staff to satisfy every customer. But your software is only as good as your business processes, which are good only if employees adhere to them. Monitor your team’s performance with four crucial steps—for a successful CRM implementation, and a successful and growing business.
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To effectively serve their customers, operations managers need to have visibility as well as control of the delivery and quality of their outsourced components. And because supply chain management is such a critical part of the manufacturing process, it’s important to have the right tools to optimize performance. Find out how real-time collaborative manufacturing is now helping to solve some key manufacturing problems.
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Telephony is a key element of convergence—and the primary reason for the hype surrounding it. But why is telephony so important to convergence? Voice or telephony traffic is very sensitive to latency on the network. The fact that converged networks must provide timely and reliable delivery of voice traffic makes it a key component to a successful converged solution implementation. Learn more about how it all works.
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Is your business tangled in a maze of voice data networking equipment that burdens your staff and is cumbersome to support? If the answer is yes, then you may want to think about network convergence over Internet protocol (IP)—the foundation for IP telephony, unified messaging, and multimedia customer contact centers. Find out more about how your business can benefit from data and voice convergence solutions today.
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Most spam, viruses, phishing, and e-mail denial-of-service attacks can be traced back to a single common cause: lack of e-mail protocol authentication. This lack of authentication means that a receiving mail server cannot reliably verify that a particular message is in fact from the sender it claims to be from, making it harder to distinguish friend from foe. Find out more about new standards that can help.
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While a great deal of attention has been given to protecting companies’ electronic assets from outside threats, organizations must now turn their attention to an equally dangerous situation: data loss from the inside. Given today’s strict regulatory standards, data loss prevention (DLP) has become one of the most critical issues facing executives. Fortunately, effective technical solutions are now available that can help.
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Understanding the full scope of risk in today’s complex business environment is a must for achieving compliance with governmental mandates and industry regulations. However, many companies have a limited perception of risk and struggle to make compliance an enterprise-wide, integrated process. Compliance is no longer a one-time isolated project; it’s an ongoing effort—and you’re just tens steps away from discovering why.
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For years, manufacturers have been driven by sales forecasts and the need to maximize production efficiency at every level of operation. But in order to be successful, manufacturers must look toward adopting a lean mentality. While lean techniques are more easily applied to some manufacturing styles than others, new software tools are now able to deliver the benefits of lean to both high-mix and low-volume operations.
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For food-service manufacturers, effective trade-spending and contract management are essential to stimulate demand, and to reward distributors and operators for achieving volume and growth objectives. The execution of such programs, however, is often a painful process for all parties involved. Find out how you can manage the entire bill-back life cycle, from initiation to settlement, and minimize error-prone manual intervention.
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In the past, full efficiency was almost impossible for most manufacturing sites thanks to lack of integration between plant systems and business systems. But that’s changing now, with the advent of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA). SOA allows you to change and improve your processes without expensive IT integration projects. Learn about the business opportunities SOA can create for you.
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Developing business acumen isn’t easy, but it is fundamental to business alignment. What does that mean exactly? It means understanding what it takes for a business to make money, and it involves the financial literacy of how strategies, decisions, and actions impact the bottom line. Through classroom-based training, your managers and employees can learn how these connections are made to the business. Find out more.
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Organizations today, in the face of increased global competition, need educated managers and employees who can solve problems, understand complex issues, and learn new skills quickly. This means that training organizations need to provide learning opportunities that effectively address these issues in ways that produce high retention rates. But if lectures don’t work, then what does? Enter discovery learning.
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DIRECTV is one of the largest broadcast satellite providers in the US. Faced with increased competition, the company decided to transform its supply chain by synchronizing its material requirements with its main equipment providers and automating its return materials authorization (RMA) process. With the help of SAP Solutions and Services, DIRECTV has improved its processes and reduced nonqualified returns by 20 percent.
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Managing growth is a monumental undertaking—and one that Valero Energy Corporation has mastered. But as one of the largest oil refinery companies in North America, with revenues exceeding $90 billion (USD), the company needed to find a way to fit new applications into its existing infrastructure in a quick and cost-effective manner. By switching to SAP’s NetWeaver platform, Valero saved $480,000 (USD) in the first month.
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As supply chains continue to grow in size and complexity, companies are focusing more of their energies on managing supply chain risk. While the topic is gaining prominence in boardrooms, many companies do not yet fully comprehend the risks they face. But understanding risk is the first step to managing it—and using the right IT tools can help. Learn what steps you can take to better address your supply chain risks.
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A common issue facing small to medium business (SMB) manufacturers today is finding out how to increase revenue and grow business without significantly adding staff. With larger firms able to compete by drawing upon greater financial resources, the SMB manufacturer is at a distinct disadvantage. Find out about five ways a lean strategy for small business can help you maximize resource use and minimize overhead costs.
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The procure-to-pay (P2P) environment has become a major challenge for companies adopting global sourcing and distribution as a strategic component of their business. And the increase in global trade has shifted their focus from manufacturing efficiency to global supply chain efficiency. Discover what the current P2P gaps in global commerce management solutions are and what can be done to deliver optimal P2P capabilities.
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A recent study by Jupiter Research found that e-mail marketers using Web analytics click-stream data to generate targeted e-mail campaigns produce an impressive average click-through rate of 14 percent, and a conversion rate of 3.9 percent. Can your business claim numbers this high? If not, find out how you can with Web analytics tools that will help you gain insight on your subscribers’ behaviors while increasing sales.
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As one of North America’s premier producers of duck products, Maple Leaf Farms knew the importance of delivering fresh, quality goods to its customers. But in order to streamline its manufacturing, shipping, and reporting processes, it would need to invest in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Since implementing ERP, the company has profited from greater inventory control and improved customer service.
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As one of the largest gear manufacturers in India, Sona Koyo knew that in order to retain its competitive edge, changes to its legacy systems would be required. On average, Sona’s employees were wasting 5 percent of their time redoing paperwork and tracking activities. Since integrating a business process management (BPM) system, Sona’s employees have cut down their tracking time down to zero hours with minimal efforts.
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As an international leader, the American Management Association (AMA) was focused on maximizing the advantages of instructor-led training, while minimizing its disadvantages. Before adding a blended learning offering to its core business, AMA needed to define its strategic targets, and turned to Eedo Knowledgeware for help. Since launching its blended learning offering, AMA has greatly increased value to its customers.
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Lufthansa, one of the world’s leading airlines, wanted to improve the way it trained its Miles & More loyalty program customer service staff. Traditionally, training was a five-day, classroom-based workshop, but the company now wanted more flexibility in its training approach. By moving to a blended learning content management system (LCMS), Lufthansa experienced a 65 percent savings on course development costs.
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The reasons most enterprises upgrade to an IP PBX system range from wanting to replace outdated equipment, to saving money, to adding needed functionality, to keeping up with growth. To evaluate competing offers from both established and new vendors, you need to learn about the market, background information, technology, standards, and the features and services that are critical and important to enterprises. Learn more.
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In the past, training was seen as a preventive action or default activity. Then learning came into the forefront as a proactive initiative that was more strongly linked to enhancing performance. This radical change from training to learning has created a new awareness of measurement that chief executive officers (CEO) need to take note of. Discover the 7 key learning indicators that can get you started on the right path.
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Look at any office around the world and you’ll see how the workplace has changed dramatically in the last decade. Rapidly changing technology coupled with geographical dispersion has meant that organizations need to be more flexible than ever. Workers too have had to face this constant change and need to retool themselves to not only adapt, but survive. Discover how collaborative technology is becoming their saving grace.
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To understand the meaning and value of dynamic content, you must first look at the various approaches to e-learning. Traditional e-learning hard-bakes content into static material, causing updates to become a very lengthy process. Dynamic content strategies, however, delivered through evolving learning content management (LCM) technologies, provide efficient, error-free content revision. Find out how LCM can benefit you.
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Euromadi was looking to automate its business processes and increase effectiveness. With hundreds of suppliers all over the world, it needed a system that could help manage the relationships of more than 220 associate companies. By integrating business process management (BPM) with an enterprise content management (ECM) system, Euromadi has increased productivity and reduced data input and maintenance by 30 percent.
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Purchasing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a huge investment for any business—and knowing whether or not you’re buying the right system for the best price isn’t easy. Before meeting with your ERP vendor to negotiate the contract, there are a few important things you should take into account. Discover ten tips that can help you reach an agreement on pricing and service levels quickly and painlessly.
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There’s no doubt that competing in today’s global marketplace is tough. In order to survive, organizations must become more aware of what’s going on throughout their supply chain. While many realize the importance of supply chain visibility, some businesses aren’t sure exactly how to achieve it. Find out the five things you’ll need to put together a visibility solution that’ll give you timely, accurate, and useful data.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) is being adopted by businesses worldwide. But the key question for many executives as they create their CRM strategy: how can they gain strategic advantage if their competitors are implementing these same CRM systems? The answer: through integration. Find out how leveraging your existing information assets can turn CRM from a tactical project into a key strategic initiative.
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In today’s fast-paced business environment, providing customers with timely support when problems occur is critical. But in order to do so, information must be readily available throughout the enterprise. By integrating your customer support, defect tracking development, and knowledge management systems, your business will benefit from improved customer satisfaction and retention, as well as increased staff productivity.
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The world of business is constantly evolving, often making it difficult for midsize businesses to keep track of their leads and contacts. While larger companies have benefited from increased efficiency with sales automation (SA) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, midsized enterprises haven’t been as fortunate—until now. Learn about their challenges and discover how SA and CRM software have helped.
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When it comes to US Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, safe change actions are critical. But what’s the best approach for file integrity monitoring and change detection? While there are many solutions on the market, continuous file integrity monitoring (CFIM) is winning over the competition worldwide. Find out how CFIM can handle your operational control monitoring requirements.
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If the auditors came knocking, would you be prepared? When they do come, you’ll need to be ready to answer some tough questions regarding your change management processes. Implementing and assessing change management controls for Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliance in the US can be a very expensive and time consuming process. Find out how you can reduce the SOX burden by improving the way you manage your change processes.
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The University of Maryland School of Medicine had already experienced VMware technology as a way to consolidate its servers; what it didn’t realize was that the company’s solution could also address its disaster recovery needs. By combining two storage technologies—creating a common storage area network (SAN)—the school has reduced unexpected downtime from hours to seconds and has saved thousands of dollars in hardware costs.
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As the Microsoft Exchange environment continues to grow, building and managing the underlying IT infrastructure becomes increasingly difficult for Exchange administrators. Adding more and more storage can lead to frequent system downtime and slower response times. Discover seven ways your administrators can spend less time on day-to-day Microsoft Exchange management—while planning for future growth in the process.
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The pressure to reduce costs, increase network performance, and improve productivity has been a constant battle for IT and telecommunications groups alike. While new technologies have emerged to help solve some of these requirements, in many cases they have proven to be inefficient and expensive. Find out how Layer 2 link balancing technologies can help your organization build a faster, smarter wide area network (WAN).
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Is it possible for a business to ensure uninterrupted, secure, and high-performance access to network-based business applications and web sites? Yes. With network load balancers, user requests are evenly distributed among available servers so that individual servers do not become overwhelmed. Learn about the basics of load balancing and how it can improve the performance and security of your business applications.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) can benefit from the expansive use of IT just as much as their larger counterparts. And in many cases they have to, because of their interactions not only with remote users, but with suppliers and customers as well. To this end, an SMB’s IT infrastructure needs to be resilient and secure. To ensure end-to-end care of data assets, businesses need to adopt the right strategy. Find out how.
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While today’s regulatory environment poses significant challenges to businesses, it should be looked at as an opportunity—one that turns compliance efforts into capital gains. You can accomplish this with an internal audit of your change management policies. This checklist will help your business prepare for a high-level process audit while providing tools your IT managers can use for maximum results.
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While most organizations have some integrated sales and marketing (ISM) elements in place, few have adopted a comprehensive approach. To achieve this, they must identify an ideal goal, establish a supply chain strategy, and then work methodically toward that objective. While the appropriate path to achieve ISM differs from company to company, there are a few key steps that can help simplify the process.
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The blade server market is one of many fast growing in the IT industry, helping large businesses resolve issues with power, cooling, and space constraints in their datacenters. But what about the mid-market customer whose needs are very different? Hewlett Packard (HP) addresses these needs with the launch of its new HP BladeSystem c3000—a complete blade server and storage solution designed with the mid-market in mind.
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As businesses become increasingly dependent on technology, service quality becomes more important. With so much riding on IT’s performance, a new service-centric model has emerged: service lifecycle management (SLcM). Based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles, SLcM provides a framework that enables organizations to optimize business outcomes and facilitate continual service improvement.
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Founded in 1985, Taiwan-based In-Win manufactures desktop PC chassis, server chassis, and power supplies. With channels covering Europe, America, and Asia, In-Win’s multiple sites were complicating its internal work processes—and increasing its communication costs. The solution: a document management system (DMS). Find out how In-Win used a DMS to automate workflows and increase work efficiency by a whopping 80 percent.
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Production lines and distribution centers have optimum target levels for leanness, but reaching these levels can be difficult. By implementing LeadTime Technology (LTT), manufacturers benefit from leaner inventories, greater customer service levels, and increased economic profit. Find out what the five most important points on LLT and lean operations are and how applying these tools can work to your advantage.
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Today’s configuration management tools focus on collecting and reporting statistics, logs, and failures, but fail to address the need for analyzing this data to determine best practices for improving efficiencies. That’s why Configuresoft has developed software that enables you to link core systems configuration and change management disciplines into actionable analytics. Find out how it can work for you.
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Canadian manufacturers are getting squeezed. Challenged by a rising Canadian dollar, forced to hold the line on prices in the US market, pressured by customer demand for lower prices, better quality, and quicker service, these manufacturers need a way to retain their competitive edge and increase bottom-line profitability. Find out why product data management (PDM) is a solution you can turn to in these challenging times.
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Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS) is a popular tool for the Windows platform that offers essential version control features and helps promote team collaboration. However, while it performs certain functions well, it’s not optimized for remote access, lacks many critical security features, and suffers from stability problems. Find out why many developers are now switching from VSS to SourceAnywhere Standalone.
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When implementing customer relationship management (CRM), organizations often lose sight of their customers and focus on efficiency gains instead of looking at the bigger picture from a customer perspective. But organizations that can build a business-centric system flexible enough to quickly respond to changing customer needs will have a sustainable competitive advantage and enjoy profitable growth for years to come.
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A business phone system is only as effective as its implementation. Despite its streamlined architecture, installing a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone system can present some challenges. The key to a successful rollout is a well-planned, phased approach. Following these 10 steps can help you lay the foundation for a system overhaul as well as streamline your business communications for many years to come.
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Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) helps ensure that projects are delivered on time and within budget, and creates a system for improving accountability. Once KPIs are established, there needs to be a way to easily track this data—otherwise it will become an arduous task that may be done improperly. Learn how leveraging integrated project management software can help drive your business process improvements.
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What’s the difference between the right enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and the wrong one? What it’ll do to your bottom line. Knowing which questions to ask when researching your options, however, can help mitigate this risk. Here are five essential criteria that should top your list when evaluating ERP vendors. Find out how exercising due diligence can help you choose a system that won’t drain your IT budget.
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It’s an inescapable, undisputable fact that most organizations have conflict between IT security and IT operations. Having been given two distinctive—yet potentially contradictory—goals, in a sense they were destined to be at odds with one another. What does it take to bridge the gap between these two teams to achieve compliance? Can standardized processes and software tools help (or hinder) this effort? Find out here.
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Choosing the right professional services automation (PSA) solution may be one of the most important decisions a billable services organization will ever have to make. It’s a decision that can clearly impact your company’s bottom line, so it’s crucial that you get all the facts—up front. When talking with PSA vendors, knowing what questions to ask in order to make an informed selection is vital. Read here to find out why.
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With the growing significance of services to the bottom line, it’s never been more important to effectively monitor, measure, and manage your services business. Knowing which key performance indicators (KPI) can help drive success and contribute to your bottom line is essential. But with over 150 KPIs available, where do you start? Discover how these few small key improvements can help your service business performance.
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The competitive nature of the financial services industry today and the changing landscape of the customer approach to investing puts an onus on suppliers to consider how well they are dealing with customers’ business transactions. In order to provide better customer service—while at the same time improving operations—these organizations must invest in a system that allows real-time visibility of the entire process.
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Managing a newly deployed voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) integration project is not as easy as some IT managers believe it to be. Delivering voice traffic over the IP network is time-consuming, and requires the right tools and a proper budget. To fully understand the costs associated with IP telephony implementation, businesses must first conduct a thorough evaluation of their management options—prior to deployment.
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The number of leads captured from conventional channels is steadily declining due to the increasing importance of web sites. While Web analytic and e-mail marketing solutions provide useful data, they do nothing to capture leads. If there was a service that could prospect all your web site visitors, would you use it? Find out how LEADSExplorer is helping businesses convert their web visitors into potential leads.
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Ensuring customer quality is the key to customer loyalty and retention. When a company treats its customers like it doesn’t know them, it’s bad for business. This occurs when companies work with disparate data—using one database for sales, another for marketing, and a third for operations. Developing a real-time solution that provides a single view of the customer is by far the best way to increase customer satisfaction.
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For a decade, IndustryWeek and the Manufacturing Performance Institute (MPI) Census of Manufacturers have provided data to US manufacturers. This year, MPI fielded a similar survey in Canada, offering an intriguing look into the differences between the Canadian and US manufacturing landscapes. This executive summary presents combined data from these surveys, aimed at helping manufacturers meet future challenges.
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This second annual survey of the warehousing and distribution industry, conducted by the Manufacturing Performance Institute (MPI) Census of Manufacturers, explores the metrics, management practices, and business concerns of over 200 US warehouse and distribution facilities. This data is presented in easy-to-understand tables and charts, and may be useful for companies currently facing distribution center challenges.
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Human resources (HR) systems have been around for many years, providing robust and efficient solutions for companies of all sizes. When properly designed, implemented, and maintained, these systems allow companies to engage and nurture their employees and critical processes. When these systems are neglected, however, the result is a loss of competitive edge, increased employee dissatisfaction, and unnecessary costs.
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Recent surveys have shown that 76 percent of respondents rated customer loyalty as extremely or very important to top management. Many companies feel they exercise due diligence in this area, but as global competition increases and markets mature, they’ll have to go that extra mile. To better measure customer’s attitudes and behaviors, companies must make loyalty management an integral part of their business strategy.
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Globalization, rising costs, and high customer expectations create serious challenges in supply chain management (SCM). Given these factors, transportation management now plays a key, strategic role in driving supply chain value. Learn how moving goods quickly and predictably through the global supply chain can help you achieve consistency and increase visibility—while supporting best practices across the enterprise.
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Manufacturers today face increasing pressures to boost revenues and secure profitability. But for them to realize the full financial value of these initiatives, they must invest in a system that can quickly and easily implement or consolidate core business applications. With QAD on-demand, businesses can reduce IT complexity and costs with simplified deployment options and complete application management alternatives.
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Many companies struggle to adapt to their ever-changing workforce, as employees start the job and then leave for better offers. Competition is fierce—and retaining highly skilled job candidates has never been more difficult. In order to achieve their business goals and stay competitive, many companies are turning to integrated talent management (ITM). Find out how you can get started on your ITM development plan today.
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Why choose on-demand when there are so many integrated software solutions on the market? Because on-demand packages provide a number of benefits that can help IT focus on innovation and creating true business value, rather than dealing with network headaches. But along with the benefits there are a number of challenges. Read more about these challenges and how you can manage your on-demand implementation project.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) has become increasingly popular, and provides enormous benefits to businesses that adopt it. So why does it encounter so much “what’s-in-it-for-me” resistance from frontline salespeople? Often, the reason is because they view CRM as strictly a management tool. With Oracle CRM On Demand, however, you can minimize data entry—allowing your salespeople to spend more time selling.
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Soudronic AG’s incoming order confirmations were getting out of hand and finding misfiled critical documents was increasingly laborious. Before implementing OCR for AnyDoc, documents were printed and filed in binders, together with supporting documentation. With AnyDoc’s optical character recognition solution, Soudronic can retrieve its documents more quickly, and its labor and storage costs have been reduced.
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Administrative errors can and do happen, but native tools do little to aid administrators in this area. While Microsoft’s Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is a great tool for managing group policy, it has its limitations. Discover how to implement best-practice approaches to help successfully extend the deployment of group policy to your server security settings, while reducing costs and minimizing errors.
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Effective IT disaster recovery (DR) and planning is essential for every business. However, IT environments have become so complex that safeguarding the business against disasters can present some major challenges. One way to improve your business disaster recovery planning is by pre-testing DR scenarios using network simulation. Find out how a simulation testing solution can help you better protect your business.
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Company employees, business partners, and customers all demand secure and low-response-time access to business applications—from wherever they are. While SAP addresses this need through its enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) solution, when security features are added the application response time is slower. So what’s the best way to test global SOA deployments? Read this white paper to find out.
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UreSil, a manufacturer of specialized health care products, feared its legacy manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software was hindering efficiency and compliance. The Sage ERP X3 enterprise resource planning (ERP) came to the rescue, and after a formal ERP training program, full implementation required only one week. All processes, including tracking and inventory, are now streamlined, flexible—and compliant.
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Are you on top of data security compliance? Is your source code secure? Are you looking for a new approach that can help ensure these things are taken care of? With SourceAnyware Hosted solution—which provides 128-bit SSL encryption—your data is protected and your source code is secured from attacks. Find out how SourceAnywhere can help you lower total cost of ownership and improve your development team productivity.
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The nature of software is that it constantly evolves, requiring regular updates throughout its lifetime as new features are introduced. But managing and implementing these changes is often left to experienced administrators who are often overwhelmed with other projects. Find out how moving to a delegated administration model can help your business improve its administrative productivity, system availability, and security.
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Increasing user productivity is an ongoing challenge for many companies. While an abundance of online information and applications is available to them, facilitating fast and secure access to the information can be a complex task. An integrated provisioning and single sign-on (SSO) solution provides secure access to the network from the moment an employee starts the job—enabling full productivity from day one.
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The threats faced by small to medium businesses (SMBs) are multidimensional and must be handled differently from big enterprises, given the smaller number of personnel dedicated to look after them. The ideal security software for SMBs looking to protect their information systems would be the combination of antivirus, antispam, and content security solutions, combined with a powerful network firewall. Find out why it works.
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Food-borne illnesses are recognized as a significant public health problem in the US today. As such, food inspection and safety administrators have implemented Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems regulations. Without the proper software system, however, complying with HACCP requirements can be difficult. With Sage ERP X3 process manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP), it doesn’t have to be.
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Today, more and more companies are purchasing goods from overseas. But once those goods are on the water, many companies find it difficult to keep track of where they are at any given time. Ineffective container management leads to extra costs, but with Sage ERP X3’s import tracking functionality, business functions are tied together in a single database—enabling real-time access to information and improving productivity.
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CTS Cement Corporation, a manufacturer of professional-grade construction cement, operates out of 15 facilities across the US. As the company grew, it needed to address the inefficiencies of its accounts payable invoice processing, which was being keyed manually into two different systems. With this lack of connectivity between systems, CTS turned to AnyDocINVOICE solution and now indexes nearly 2,500 invoices per month.
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Golden Artist Colors knew that operating its business with several stand-alone software packages would no longer cut it. To streamline the flow of information throughout its facilities, it felt the time had come to invest in a true enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Sage ERP X3 offered Golden the most functionality for the best price, and since implementing it, Golden has increased on-time shipments by 15 percent.
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The amount of malware that is being released around the world is increasing at an alarming rate. To combat these cyber-crimes, new layers of protection are needed that take advantage of automating the entire malware protection cycle—from sample collection, analysis and classification, to remediation. By combing automation with Panda’s Collective Intelligence, targeted attacks can be detected more quickly and efficiently.
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Spam has become a global epidemic. And because it is constantly evolving and mutating, spam makes it difficult to separate good e-mails from the bad. While most mail servers have mechanisms to combat spam, they often require third party solutions to eradicate spam from the network. Find out more about the shortcomings of established filtering methods, and how one community-based approach to filtering can work.
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Have you ever received a call from your existing long-distance phone company asking you to switch to its service and wondered why they are calling? Chances are the integrity of its data is so poor that the company has no idea who many of its customers are. The fact is, many businesses suffer from this same problem. The solution: implement a master data management (MDM) system that uses an accurate data matching process.
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Ensuring the quality, accuracy, and security of customer data has never been more important than it is today. The growing potential for privacy breaches and tighter compliance regulations have created unique challenges and responsibilities for many data providers. Here we discuss some of the key privacy issues surrounding data management, and how partnering with a provider of master data management (MDM) software can help.
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In order to meet the increasing need to extend services around the world, companies must be able to consolidate data centers and business applications while adhering to compliance rules and security regulations. While SAP addresses these business needs through its enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions, the question of how to test these global enterprise SOA deployments still needs to be answered.
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Virtual private networks (VPNs) are optimized to perform specific functions within the remote access architecture. But deploying the often complex mix of approaches for managed and unmanaged devices can affect your security. Blue Coat RA provides a new approach that bridges the gap between traditional and endpoint security technologies—helping businesses meet remote access requirements in a simple, cost effective manner.
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Businesses today are increasingly committed to Web-enabled applications as a cost-effective way of delivering critical business solutions. But as more and more businesses follow suit, it becomes increasingly apparent that better performance and availability across the Internet must be realized by the early movers in order to maintain their lead. With the deployment of advanced products and services, this can be achieved.
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Blade computing is a new computing architecture that provides a highly dense, scalable, and powerful flexible platform to support businesses’ software needs. Blade architecture was once used for simple server consolidation, but it has now become a way of managing IT assets, which provides significant business benefits. Find out how a blade system can benefit your company while optimizing your existing infrastructure.
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Today, more business than ever is done in branch offices or at remote sites, but very few IT resources are actually hosted there. To reduce costs, businesses often consolidate applications—but consolidation can lead to poor performance. With the right solution, however, acceleration techniques—like bandwidth management and protocol optimization—can be properly dispersed to remote applications, helping increase performance.
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Although secure sockets layer (SSL) is a ubiquitous enabler of e-commerce and outsourcing, it creates a special challenge for network administrators and security professionals because its encryption is known to decelerate data. In order to regain control over application delivery—when everything business-related is encrypted—organizations need to look toward SSL-aware solutions that can help decipher and accelerate data.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions have changed. What was once used to help sales personnel maintain records of contacts, sales-related activities, and individual team progress has now become so much more. But since CRM is now intertwined with other sales management solutions, it has left businesses that have implemented it in a bit of a quandary when it comes to the global sales market. Find out why.
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A clear customer focus is an essential part of improving business effectiveness and efficiency. But how can businesses achieve global customer visibility in today's competitive market? With the implementation of a master data management (MDM) solution, businesses can gain multidimensional, real-time visibility of their customers, resulting in improved competitiveness, higher profit margins, and reduced business risk.
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To understand the complex relationship between business and customer, there are several questions companies must ask. How much do we spend on advertising to reach out to customers? How much do our customers spend on purchasing our products? With customers scattered all over the globe, it’s difficult to know. With an organizational hierarchy management solution, finding the answer to these questions just got easier.
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What kind of tangible return on investment (ROI) can you expect from your enterprise resource planning (ERP) software? The answer: a lot more than you might expect. Purchasing ERP software represents a significant financial commitment, but in most cases, the software pays for itself within the first year—and will continue to generate cost savings for many years after. Where do these cost savings come from? Find out here.
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As the solution of choice for many companies, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have helped many manufacturers operate more efficiently and effectively. By streamlining business operations, ERP systems can solve many of the problems faced by today’s manufacturing companies—and help them become leaner and more competitive. Find out how an ERP solution can work for your company.
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For years, outsourcing has been a way of life for many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as they regularly offload certain activities to contract manufacturers (CMs). But despite the significant benefits that outsourcing provides, there are also risks and challenges involved that OEMs must consider. Learn about the seven common pitfalls to avoid, and how they can impact your manufacturing outsourcing success.
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Explosive data growth, shrinking backup windows, and unreliable restores are just a few of the issues you have to manage on a daily basis—especially if you’re using a legacy tape backup application system. But you can still use your legacy system by extending its life and enhancing its reliability with a hardware-based disk compression solution. Find out how, and considerably reduce your backup and recovery times.
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The capacity of today’s storage systems is increasing at an astonishing rate. But the truth is: the more storage you have, the more you use. So, how do you create an efficient data storage system? And how much space can it really save you? Advanced single instance storage (A-SIS) deduplication can reduce storage consumption up to 95 percent—helping you conserve disk space, while keeping your system overhead low.
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Chances are, if you’re backing up your data, you’re using backup tape as your solution. But advances in data management technologies are making disk-to-disk (D2D) backup a vital component of any sane data protection strategy. In fact, D2D backup provides answers to the challenges threatening traditional tape backup strategies. Find out how to evaluate the different advanced data protection solutions available on the market today.
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Storage system administrators are constantly battling with growing volumes of data. But can you create more space-efficient storage? You can. With a data virtualization solution like NetApp Snapshot, administrators can create point-in-time copies of data volumes—consuming only a fraction of the space normally required. Find out how using data virtualization tools can help reduce your ongoing data storage management costs.
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Every company faces different challenges and has different needs in regard to enterprise resource planning (ERP). Choosing the right ERP system can be difficult because there is really no one-size-fits-all ERP solution. However, there are certain basic principles that apply to nearly every company’s situation. Find out what they are, and learn how you can increase your chances of a successful ERP implementation.
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The first step in any enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation involves bringing together the team that will plan and implement the project—your ERP task force. But who should be a part of this task force and why? Selecting the right people is imperative and can play a major role in determining the success or failure of your ERP effort. Find out about what you should beware of when assembling your team.
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When it comes to business-to-business (B2B) communications, two of the basic requirements for regulatory compliance are having a reliable network and a high quality dial tone. So why would you want to settle for anything less? To ensure that both are obtained, many companies are entrusting their data—and their compliance responsibilities—to the Inovis Multienterprise Expert Services Hub (MESH) platform. Find out why.
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E-mail archiving systems are no longer simply tools that focus on regulatory compliance, but instead are multifaceted systems that can help companies satisfy legal discovery requirements, improve messaging-related storage management, and assist in disaster recovery efforts. While there are several solutions available, a hosted solution can offer a number of important benefits you should consider.
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With the recent amendments made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), businesses must take a closer look at how they manage their electronic data. Recent studies have shown that many companies are not prepared for how these changes will affect their business. To improve their governance procedures to meet these new requirements, businesses must invest in technology that can adequately preserve electronic data.
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Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system—even for small to medium businesses (SMBs)—is a smart move. But depending on the type of business, there can be many different processes to integrate—making it difficult to know what type of system to choose. For growing project-based companies faced with the challenge of managing many complex projects, the ideal ERP system should be customizable yet scalable.
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It is widely acknowledged that unauthorized changes made to an IT infrastructure cause up to 80 percent of a system’s unavailability. So what key ingredient is needed to reduce that percentage? By adding change control to an existing or planned change management infrastructure, businesses can improve IT service availability, lower compliance costs, and accelerate their IT infrastructure library (ITIL) implementations.
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There are key systems in every infrastructure where unapproved change can pose significant business risk. These guidelines show you how to properly categorize these systems in order to identify those that have risk characteristics. By learning how to identify critical change control failure points in your infrastructure, you reduce the threat of costly downtime, potential security breaches, and compliance weaknesses.
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Deploying and migrating JaveEE applications is hard work, the kind that is error-prone, repetitive, and time-consuming, resulting in lost man-hours, soaring costs, and potential configuration issues that are bound to pop up later. In response to this complex environment, Phurnace Software has created a software application that accelerates the deployment of JavaEE applications and helps to minimize errors.
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Before an organization can truly realize the cost and agility benefits of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA), there are a few concepts it should know about. By understanding the various stages of SOA adoption and by knowing what technologies are available, an organization will stand a better chance of succeeding in its SOA initiatives. With these seven steps, effective SOA can be realized.
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For over 30 years, Madison Chemical Industries has sold 100 percent polyurethane coatings and linings to companies around the globe. With the technical challenges it faced as a growing company, it was becoming clear that the DOS-based system it was using to maintain its inventory had to go. With an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, however, Madison has been able to reduce its inventory by 15 percent.
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Raining Rose, maker of body care products, started as a family hobby back in 1996. Since then, business has soared—making it one of the fastest growing companies in the US. In 2004, however, it faced serious challenges related to this rapid growth; poor inventory control was affecting customer service. But since deploying an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, it has seen vast improvements in inventory accuracy.
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Corporate governance encompasses the processes and systems by which organizations operate—and it affects every business. To effectively participate in governance processes, businesses should consider closed-loop service oriented architecture (SOA). Although stand-alone applications for governance, management, and security exist, find out why they do not enable the demand and value management that closed-loop SOA offers.
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Corporate IT organizations are struggling to satisfy the demands of a constantly evolving business environment. Lowering costs and responding to changing markets are a few of the challenges they face. Another is understanding how to leverage mission-critical applications as they develop new composite applications. Find out how deploying a service-oriented legacy architecture (SOLA) can help—and save you time and money.
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Corporate IT departments and independent software vendors (ISV) alike are faced with a number of similar business challenges. One such challenge is the problem of how to derive additional value from their existing Windows and UNIX software applications and create advantage with Web-enabled solutions. Discover the pros and cons of Web-based and Web-enabled applications—and learn about the solutions that lead the pack.
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Nearly half of all US companies have serious data quality issues. The problem is that most are not thinking about their business data as being valuable. But in reality data has become—in some cases—just as valuable as inventory. The solution to most organizational data challenges today is to combine a strong data quality program with a master data management (MDM) program, helping businesses leverage data as an asset.
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“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack!” That saying and Internet site searches go together like ham and eggs. To help maximize search effectiveness, many online retailers are now establishing competitive advantages through site search analytics. By manufacturing and analyzing search content, they’re improving the relevancy of search results, thus closing the gap between searching and finding—and buying.
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Despite the defensive efforts of firewalls, intrusion detection, antivirus solutions, and the like, criminals, careless employees, and contractors have exposed more than 158 million digital records of consumers personally identifiable information since 2005. With this critical need for stronger network security, Qualys has developed an on-demand solution that effectively manages these vulnerabilities.
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While most information vulnerabilities stem from external intrusion and theft of data, there remains a greater potential for information to be lost, stolen, or accidentally erased by internal sources—the employees. Don’t let this be the case with your business! Information vulnerability management (IVM) is a corporate issue—one that needs addressing. To learn how you can reduce your exposure, download this white paper.
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As with all things, there’s a good side and a bad side—the Internet is no different. Although it improves communication between businesses and customers, it can also overwhelm customers that are bombarded with marketing e-mails on a daily basis. Customers want more convenient contact channels. Smart companies understand this and are responding by adopting a multichannel approach to customer relationship management (CRM).
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One of the largest expenses for distributors and wholesalers is stock. Many have difficulty finding the perfect balance between ensuring products are available when they’re needed and not holding too much inventory. So, how is it possible to increase profitability while lowering inventory costs? By exploiting an inventory optimization system, businesses increase automation and collaboration—allowing greater profitability.
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With a vast global network that supports over 60,000 employees, vulnerability and risk management programs are crucial for Oracle GIT. To further enhance its IT system risk management capabilities, Oracle deployed QualysGuard’s on-demand software vulnerability and compliance management solution. Since its deployment, Oracle has optimized its scanning capabilities and automated its demand security auditing processes.
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The communications landscape has never been more complex nor offered so many choices and solutions as it does today. As more employees go mobile, companies need to be able to offer better communication capabilities to their people. The convergence of technologies involved, however, can cause service provider issues and create confusion for customers. To solve these issues, several questions need to be asked.
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When testing firm Promissor’s system kept crashing, it knew it was time to make a change. With over 800 employees made up of part-timers, temporary workers, and employees on various pay cycles, its payroll team was constantly reconstructing lost time sheets and wasting valuable time. Since implementing an automated Web-based solution, it has benefited from improved data collection accuracy and reduced manual processing.
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Non-profit organization The March of Dimes realized that to continue its success, it would need to find more efficient and effective ways to work. Its human resources (HR) department was doing most of its HR and payroll processes manually—for over 1400 employees in various locations. To automate these processes, it turned to a Web-based application and has since significantly cut down on processing time and expense.
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TESTCo was accustomed to managing its issue tracking for software testing using Microsoft Excel or one of its customers’ homegrown solutions. But as operations expanded, the company realized it needed a better system to manage this process—one that could monitor issues and ensure they were resolved and documented. Using ProjectLockers Issue Manager, TESTCo has benefited by saving on maintenance hours and costs.
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For many years, S&C Electric, a global provider of electric power system equipment, used internally built tracking and Subversion data to manage source code and documents and to track viruses. But as it grew, its needs became more complex, and more maintenance time was required. A managed source control solution now manages and protects S&C Electric’s intellectual property, and saves the company a lot in man-hours.
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Software company Terra Technology’s development team often worked remotely, without a centralized development system. Managing documents manually was quickly becoming an unproductive use of the team s time—and increased its chances of making errors. Since using ProjectLocker’s document management system, Terra Technology has saved valuable time and money, and can now focus on its core competency—supply chain software.
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When crafting an e-mail marketing campaign, a few guidelines should be followed in order to maximize its effectiveness. Believe it or not, e-mail marketing is not only an art, but a science as well. Carefully balancing the needs of the audience, properly communicating your inspiring message, and using the right technology to manage the interaction are some of the key ingredients needed to make it a success.
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Any geographically distributed business with three or more remote sites has likely dealt with tape-based backup systems. If this sounds like your business, then you certainly understand the complexities involved with managing growing data—not to mention the risks. The good new is that an agentless, multisite backup and recovery software solution is available that can offer a high-speed alternative to tape-based systems.
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Would spending millions of dollars and countless hours securing your data center be enough for it to pass a compliance audit? While many businesses work hard at securing their data centers, they often forget to secure remote office data. With the consequences of non-compliance ranging from financial penalties to job loss and worse, it could mean the end of your business. Don’t let compliance become your Achilles heel.
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IT managers today face plenty of problems when it comes to protecting remote office data—problems that agentless architecture could eliminate. Many organizations outsource their data protection, which can be costly. But an agentless architecture disk-to-disk (D2D) software solution can offer your business bottom-line benefits that range from lower administrative costs to pay-as-you-grow scalability and increased security.
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Amcor Sunclipse realized that although it knew the importance of encouraging and rewarding employees, to actually demonstrate support for them through timely, comprehensive appraisals was becoming a challenge. Since implementing Halogen’s employee performance management (EPM) solution, Amcor has improved the speed and quality of its employee appraisals and has centralized the results to enable reporting of employee skills.
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Today’s IT professionals are often challenged by unrelenting changes in the enterprise, increased data growth and compliance regulations, and geographic distribution of assets, to name a few. Keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) over Internet protocol (IP) can help by providing an effective tool that can remotely manage servers—regardless of their physical location. When looking for a KVM over IP solution, you should consider some basic requirements first.
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An estimated 55 percent of users of business critical applications work in remote locations. With so many users working remotely, networks become congested and user productivity suffers. Until now, wide area network (WAN) monitoring and shaping has required special appliances, but there’s a new alternative software-based solution available that leverages the power of the user’s PC—providing unprecedented traffic control.
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What’s all this hype about wikis anyway? According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, wikis are descending from the crest of a hype wave and coasting into areas where real business value can be recognized. Why? Because their ability to allow corporate users to collaborate on any number of internal projects in an online environment where everyone is given an equal voice is not only empowering, but speeds the process of innovation.
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What can a managed Subversion solution do to help .NET businesses solve their integration problems? Subversion meets the challenge of software development by allowing teams to use branching and tagging methods that help them work better with their QA organizations. It also saves .NET businesses a lot of money over setting up and maintaining a development infrastructure in house, which keeps the cost of ownership manageable.
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Software development best practices can save you money and make your team more productive. When software development teams don’t invest in a solid development platform, it makes their work harder and often ends up costing them more money over time. A hosted platform, however, provides a level of convenience and savings that makes it the obvious choice for today’s IT development, management, and consulting organizations.
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What does Visibility’s .NET enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution have that others don’t? .NET technology. And because it contains no legacy code, it provides a system that’s accessible using a web-browser and has a user interface equal in functionality to a client-server application. In fact, any client PC with Internet Explorer 5.5 or later can operate it—without compromising the quality of the user experience.
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In their efforts to accelerate time to market and improve business process efficiency, many marketing organizations adopt customer relationship management (CRM). But CRM often falls short in exploiting the exponential growth of content associated with product and brand marketing. By using a digital asset management (DAM) solution, however, you can increase productivity and achieve a favorable return on investment (ROI).
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In today’s business world, heightened privacy concerns and tightened regulations such as the US Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act have forced organizations to improve their workflow and archival and records management processes. That's why many results-oriented organizations are now using workflow software—bringing together people, processes, and documents to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and meet compliance requirements.
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The future of customer service management (CRM) is changing—and SAP’s CRM 5.2 is a big part of the reason. SAP is known for constantly enhancing its products—whether it’s changing its tier architecture or introducing new dimensional components. But its latest in CRM technology provides many new features and functionalities, and introduces some of the latest trends. If you want to know more about SAP CRM 5.2, here it is.
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Today’s complex enterprise networks present unique challenges to those whose task it is to manage and secure them. Existing security measures that worked yesterday may not be sufficient tomorrow. But by combining Configuresoft’s Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) with Microsoft’s System Center 2007, businesses can secure their data, protect their bottom lines from costly downtime, and meet regulatory standards.
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Manufacturers’ business needs have changed significantly over the past few years, evolving the roles that technology plays within the manufacturing process. Two key technologies—enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM)—have developed into key success factors for manufacturers and when combined, provide a collaborative environment that adds value and helps in maintaining a competitive edge.
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Developing a good disaster recovery plan (DRP) in today’s business world is a must. In fact, downplaying the importance of a DRP can be costly—especially if you’re a small to medium business (SMB) that is slow in adopting DRP. Recent studies have shown that 40 percent of businesses that have encountered a disaster close their doors within the following five years. To stay afloat, here are ten steps that should be taken.
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In order for a business to stay on top of compliance requirements required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)—and avoid financial penalties or possible jail time—it must take a good look at its IT environment and financial reporting processes. The collection, management, and analysis of log data are integral to meeting SOX requirements and as such, require a system that automates these processes across the IT infrastructure.
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Organizations of all sizes face similar challenges when managing storage—not enough capacity or protection. Help has arrived with Internet small computer system interface storage area networks (iSCSI SANs)—and they're steadily gaining momentum. With iSCSI SANs, businesses can effectively manage their storage needs, while lowering costs and increasing security. Find out why many industry leaders are choosing iSCSI today.
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Today’s extensive use of data collection tools coupled with the easy access to communication networks has woven more devices and systems into the fabric of our daily lives. As the scale of integration and complexity grows, so does the need for the appropriate paradigm to address it. In order to scale, system software architecture must be organized around a common-shared information model that can span multiple systems.
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Information lifecycle management (ILM) is rapidly gaining acceptance as a process crucial to the success of many IT initiatives. The reason for this is the importance of managing data. With the growing demand for ILM comes a variety of solutions that follow a disjointed, point product approach. By choosing an ILM software designed to scale to its needs, a business can benefit from software built on a unified platform.
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Every day, sensitive business information finds its way into the wrong hands—through external breaches or internal theft. Such data is highly regulated, and any risks of exposure can result in stiff penalties and legal liabilities. Many of these security risks lie in the test/dev environments, and as such require a solution that protects data application clones from unauthorized access without jeopardizing its integrity.
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The growth of application data has placed an enormous burden on IT organizations to maintain acceptable application performance and availability. The weight of managing and navigating through vast amounts of inactive data has caused outages and raised budgets, among other problems. Active archiving software, however, addresses complex data management issues and delivers lasting benefits to organizations and its users.
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Data breach is a very real problem in business today. Every day, organizations store massive amounts of data inside database tables—data ranging from credit card transactions to product inventories. This valuable information is what runs the business. In order to protect this data and stay on top of compliance, an enterprise data management solution that respects information privacy regulations should be considered.
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Because products ultimately define a manufacturing company’s success, product development is mission-critical by definition. It’s also expensive—in most manufacturing sectors, companies annually reinvest between 3 and 8 percent of their total revenues back into product development. Find out how to leverage global product development to gain a dramatic increase in productivity within your product development operation.
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As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction and mining equipment, Komatsu has enjoyed significant growth. In fact, 2004 marked the best business performance in the company’s history. Now the company is focused on accelerating product development by making better, faster decisions throughout the product lifecycle. The solution: PTC’s ProductView.
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When it comes to product lifecycle management (PLM), unreachable information is as expensive as excess inventory lying in a warehouse. That’s why ITT Industries, a multibillion-dollar manufacturing enterprise, needed desperately to reach its goal of a single source of data for everyone, everywhere. Unfortunately, the transition would require overcoming serious resistance and cultural issues. Find out how they did it.
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After adopting two-dimensional computer-aided design (2D CAD) in the 1990s, Dalian Shipyard discovered that 2D technology didn’t meet the real-world challenges facing ship designers. For example, 2D CAD could not graphically reproduce real ship design challenges, such as collisions. Dalian Shipyard needed better product lifecycle management (PLM) tools. The solution: CADDS 5i—a complete 3D CAD tool for shipbuilding.
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Asyst Technologies develops and delivers factory automation solutions for the protection, transport, handling, and management of semiconductor wafers and flat panel display glass plates. Not only did Asyst want to automate product data and document management, but it also wanted a true paperless process for tracking information and facilitating design team collaboration. Find out how Windchill PDMLink got the job done.
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Medical device manufacturers face the usual manufacturing challenges, with the added burden of having to plan, develop, test, and produce in an environment controlled by strict regulatory requirements. With paper-based systems, product lifecycle documentation adds a huge burden to an already colossal task. Find out how you can “hardwire” compliance into product development—without short-circuiting your business processes.
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For automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, consumer demands are high and global competition is fierce. To compete successfully, manufacturers must meet expectations and still generate an acceptable profit margin. By using QAD’s Just-in-time (JIT) Sequencing process together with its Manufacturing Execution Workbench (MEW) tools, automotive manufacturers will have the foundation needed to meet these challenges.
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Three strikes—your out; that’s what lockout management does. But employees often forget the many passwords needed to access information. What ensues is a flood of calls to the help desk that, over time, can become a huge administrative burden. Adopting a strong password policy is critical. By implementing a lockout management strategy via automated management solutions, businesses enhance security and improve workflow.
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Best-in-class manufacturers are driven to improve plant floor data management by the need to enhance performance improvement program effectiveness, as well as operational performance visibility. Up to two-thirds of these manufacturers address these pressures through technology. If you want to lead the pack—instead of getting buried under it—read this white paper to find out which technologies are right for you.
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Leading research finds that the top pressures for improving sales and operations planning (S&OP) processes include rising customer order fill rate expectations, shrinking profit margins, and customer retention challenges. However, current S&OP processes are failing to alleviate these pressures. Is your company on the wrong side of the industry benchmark? Learn what steps your company should take before it’s too late.
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Process industries (chemicals, food and beverage, oil and gas, etc.) face rising manufacturing and logistics costs. And they’re finding that the old strategies for cost containment no longer pack the same punch. Some surveys show that 75 percent of all respondents are redesigning their supply chains to keep these costs in check. Are you one of them? No? You’ve got a lot of catching up to do—and very little time to do it.
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When Naghi Group’s annual revenue began to soar, it realized that running core business operations on multiple systems was no longer feasible; its current solution lacked the integration capabilities necessary to communicate with its distribution and manufacturing departments. After only a few months since integrating VAI’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Naghi has already realized its many benefits.
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Are virtual appliances really more advantageous than physical appliances? For businesses looking to decrease server complexity, increase load balance, and optimize scalability and mobility, the answer is yes. Virtualization has brought distributed computing to a new level and provides many key benefits. This white paper looks at four of those benefits and uncovers why more organizations need to consider making a change.
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While virtualization technology can simplify server management and reduce operating costs, in production environments it presents a disaster-recovery challenge. The problem: simply backing up a host server doesn’t always ensure that data within virtual machines is recoverable. With Acronis’s True Image, IT managers can rest assured their data, settings, applications, and operating systems are protected against disaster.
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When it comes to data, it’s all about location. Although more than 80 percent of enterprise data has a geographic dimension—such as stores, customers, and competitors—it’s rarely used in traditional business intelligence (BI) analysis. In order to react faster to market changes and to improve competitive advantage and operation efficiency, businesses should consider adding location intelligence tools to their BI platform.
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Improving the content of technical publications is possible with a product development system (PDS). A PDS solution can automate and optimize the technical publishing process and can end publication bottlenecks caused by launch delays due to poor process. A PDS solution allows for concurrent development of products and publications—keeping your engineering and publishing departments in sync.
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To boot or pre-boot, that is the question. There’s no doubt that operating systems (OSs) are complicated given the sheer amount of code that must be flawlessly interfaced and the potential vulnerabilities that can ensue. While full disk encryption (FDE) is one step closer to a more secure OS, encryption without strong authentication isn’t enough. For security-conscious users, pre-boot authentication is the only way to go.
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Many manufacturers want to increase production efficiency and improve quality—but how can they ensure their efforts are successful? A process-oriented enterprise resource planning (ERP) system may be the answer. This white paper includes case studies on a variety of process manufacturing industries and provides valuable insights into the ERP capabilities required to successfully manage a process-oriented implementation.
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On top of the many challenges faced by IT managers today comes yet another challenge: ensuring efficient and secure user access to SAP. Because of the unencrypted communication between users’ workstations and the backend servers, the SAP environment—and the confidential data it stores—become vulnerable. With a secure single sign-on solution to SAP, however, you can significantly improve the security of this environment.
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Today’s business environment is more mobile than ever. With more employees traveling—using laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and home computers to conduct business—vulnerabilities increase. Companies are now protecting their digital assets with full disk encryption (FDE). Recent advances in FDE allow businesses to protect data stored on users’ mobile devices, without jeopardizing intellectual property.
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Protecting your company’s data is not only wise, but often legally necessary. In order to beef up their data security programs, more companies are implementing full disk encryption (FDE). In the past, FDE was software based, which left it open to greater security risks. With the advent of new technology, however, it is now possible to migrate from software- to hardware-based FDE while still protecting your existing systems.
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What would you do if a critical error occurred during production—all because the wrong data was input into your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system? You’d probably be asking “how could this happen?” The ability to communicate information between teams can mean the difference between production success and failure. Avoid these snafus with a system that can integrate the data of both the design and ERP systems.
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Why is Vyatta’s open source networking approach so successful? Because it is in touch with today’s users needs. By eliminating the reliance on specialized hardware, Vyatta’s open source, Linux-based approach to networking is changing the way networks are being purchased and deployed. With its strong community of users, Vyatta is challenging even proprietary networking vendors like Cisco. We challenge you to find out more.
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How can you get the most out of your virtualization project and avoid the common mistakes made by many businesses? By adopting a strategy that’ll allow you to be free of risk and save on your pocketbook. Don’t let your virtualization project become another implementation failure; make it a success. Sensitizing yourself to the five mistakes common to many enterprise virtualization implementations is a good place to start.
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Microsoft development tools will help developers and independent Microsoft software vendors integrate Microsoft Dynamics GP with existing applications. This accounting and business management system includes many features and benefits, as well as guidelines to help developers choose the right tools for various development tasks and create custom applications that integrate with Microsoft Dynamics GP.
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With ever-changing technology, businesses often spend too much time and money trying to sustain their outdated systems. But is it possible to maintain a legacy system without the substantial costs of frequently updating it? By adopting service-oriented architecture (SOA)—which provides a suite of automated tools and services for migrating and extending legacy platforms—businesses can maximize quality and minimize costs.
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The role of finance departments needs to shift from cost center and scorekeeper to that of key advisor to the business. That’s why you need to change processes to help employees work more efficiently on high-value analytical tasks. Implementing next-generation enterprise financial systems will help balance control, transaction processing, and decision support—as well as lower your total cost of ownership.
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Chemical companies struggle with outdated manufacturing and financial systems, often not reaching their profitable goals. How can they give customers high-quality chemical products while improving the bottom line? Industry best practices can help you gain control over every aspect of your business by increasing your visibility into operations, helping production go more smoothly, and reducing costs and lead times.
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To survive in today’s global marketplace, companies must develop a competitive advantage. Your business can thrive with the help of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA). With the ability to implement business strategies more quickly, this greater flexibility will help your new business processes and empower your information workers—giving your company long-term growth and an ongoing competitive advantage.
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Globalization is one of the top issues affecting organizations’ supplier management strategies. True supplier collaboration can no longer be avoided: working closely with suppliers around the globe is the best way to streamline and reduce costs and increase value. With practical tips and techniques on how to achieve your vision statement, you can attain sourcing excellence while setting a pace that’s right for your company.
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Most IT managers have proven, cost-effective ways to increase the return on investment (ROI) of existing infrastructures—that is, storage area networks (SANs). SANs provide high-availability storage to servers within corporate infrastructures. Connecting low-cost servers to SANs makes business sense, as it dramatically reduces the cost-per-server connection to well below $100 (USD).
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Development and problem solving happens too often at the testing stage, once product prototypes have been built. This can be costly, both in terms of the time and the resources expended. Computer-aided design (CAD) and exercises (CAE) can address your concerns about product safety and performance, as well as augment your return on investment (ROI). Shift your product development paradigm with digital engineering tools.
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With 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models taking on a broader and more significant role in the development of new products, CAD files must flow smoothly into downstream applications. Sometimes, however, errors do occur. An off-the-shelf software tool can detect problems in the design stage so they aren’t discovered at a crucial moment in the manufacturing process, when it may be costly—or even too late—to correct them.
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As products become more complex and customer expectations continue to rise, service and support become increasingly difficult. So how can service and support managers transcend these problems and use each customer interaction to build customer loyalty and drive service leveraged revenue? By empowering customers with Web 2.0 technology and enabling users to manage their own experiences. Find out how.
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Server and data center consolidation has never been more important. Issues such as server sprawl and increasing costs have made consolidation the number one priority among IT managers. New virtualization technologies, however, are helping data centers combat these problems. Learn about the factors that are driving consolidation initiatives today, and find out what best practices can be used for ensuring its success.
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As your business grows, so too does the complexity of your data center. Along with this complexity, there are problems such as the inflexibility caused by operating systems, applications, and associated data, which are bound to the hardware they are installed on. Discover eight ways to optimize the infrastructure in your data center using virtualization products designed to work with your current technologies.
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Today’s data centers are an increasingly complex mixture of server platforms, hardware, operating systems, data, and applications that have accumulated over time. So how do you take your data center from a tangled mess of suboptimal servers which may be hampering your service levels, to one that can maximize performance? With the use of virtualization technology, data center optimization can become a reality.
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Over the last 25 years, successful manufacturers have made dramatic improvements in the speed and efficiency of production. But with increasing global competition and time-to-market requirements, the need to continuously improve efficiency—and become lean—has never been more important. But these days, it’s difficult to imagine any enterprise software provider as being truly focused on efficiency for the customer.
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As a leader in x-ray analytical instrumentation and software, PANalytical’s global business was growing rapidly. But with that growth, complexity in its information and communication infrastructures had also grown—making it impossible to optimize and standardize its business processes. Since partnering with QAD, PANalytical has successfully consolidated two manufacturing sites, 31 sales offices, and 17 databases.
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Laird Technologies has been executing its global growth strategy since 2004. But in order to form a unified global enterprise with the 20 independent companies it acquired, Laird needed a new system—one that could address its needs in every country where it had manufacturing facilities. With QAD’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, 10 of those 20 sites were up and running in just nine months.
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As a global leader of products designed for use in the manufacturing process, TigerStop LLC realized that in order to remain competitive, it would need to invest in a customer relationship management (CRM) system. After purchasing a CRM solution from a leading software developer, it has realized many benefits, and at the same time empowered its field sales team with a system it can access while on the road.
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As management visionary and author Peter Drucker once said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” No statement rings truer—especially when it comes to security risk reduction. By having an accurate depiction of your network, however, you can identify real-world security threats and learn how to evaluate your organization’s ability to respond to them. Find out how, with these seven essential steps.
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With the growing global epidemic of data theft, tougher regulations are being enforced by government bodies worldwide. As such, organizations need to work harder at proactive security. With the right technology, identifying network vulnerabilities and measuring overall security exposure becomes manageable. By using these eight steps as your guide, you can put an end to network security vulnerabilities once and for all.
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Worldwide, various standards have been created to provide some form of structure with respect to delivering products and services. Over time, however, the adoption of industry compliance guidelines has seen many pitfalls, specifically with the advent of technology. Developing a sound compliance strategy requires a unified solution—one that includes all the necessary components, but also keeps the business users in mind.
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Joshen Paper & Packaging needed to update its enterprise resource planning (ERP) distribution system. Joshen partnered with Vormittag Associates Inc. (VAI) and found a solution that consolidates its financial reporting and provides its sales team with real-time inventory information access. The result: faster inventory turnaround and order fulfillment—and to date, about 100 new clients in its customer base.
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Whether you’re a manufacturer, vendor, or customer service company, the increasing pressure to make sales and decrease service costs affects you. The key to its success is to look at your customer experiences as repeatable life cycles. Instead of viewing sales and service as independent challenges—solved by using disconnected software packages—an integrated solution that accelerates the total life cycle may be the answer.
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Knowledge management (KM) can mean different things to an organization depending upon the nature of the initiative. KM is not a technology or set of methodologies, but a practice or discipline that involves people, processes, and technology. If implemented correctly, a KM initiative can improve the productivity and efficiency of an entire organization. With these ten basic principles, your organization can learn how.
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Today’s support organizations often face the challenge of providing efficient and effective customer service. Without the right tools, it can become an uphill battle. To gain true scale and effectiveness in service and support, many organizations are now turning to knowledge management initiatives like knowledge-centered support (KCS)—a business process that directly addresses the root causes of support inefficiencies.
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To build or not to build—that is the question. Is building an enterprise application from scratch better than modifying existing application code? With a .NET framework, the answer is an emphatic yes. Building applications from scratch using only .NET code not only provides cost savings, it also allows software developers to extend applications to users via the Internet—without sacrificing functionality or security.
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Today, there is less clarity in wholesale, retail, and vertical sales operations than ever before. In a marketplace that dictates increasingly complex operations, distribution centers of all types need to ensure that their warehouse management systems keep up with customer demand. To keep your supply chain from exploding in your face, defuse complexity with a simple distribution indexing tool.
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Many manufacturers have already implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. That’s why questions about the need for an additional system to track, analyze, and manage costs are no surprise. Does it replace the entire ERP system? Is there additional work for cost personnel? While each user of enterprise cost systems uses them differently, the road to success lies in using them in conjunction with ERP systems.
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Success in today s manufacturing sector requires disciplined approaches to all aspects of business strategy. For process improvement, companies implemented lean manufacturing programs. Data integration needs led to data warehouses and enterprise resource planning systems. Companies must now dedicate the same level of strategy and planning to developing a cost management process that drives results.
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In today’s datacenter, management costs have eclipsed all others. Server management puts a huge strain on IT budgets and, as a result, solutions that reduce costs by simplifying IT infrastructures and automating management processes are in high demand. Thankfully, a Linux-hosted management tool delivers automation for key management process—allowing your IT talent to focus on real-time business needs.
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In stark contrast to a few years ago, IT executives now rank power and cooling among their top concerns. As IT continues to support more servers, power and cooling have become limiting factors to the number of data center servers. However, there is a solution. Blade server thermal technology optimizes power and cooling while improving energy monitoring—real benefits that reduce the overall IT total cost of ownership (TCO).
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For organizations deploying many servers, total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses favor blade over rack-optimized systems. Blade server systems—reducing both capital and operating expenses—exploit economies of scale when deploying servers in volume. Saving power, cooling, and space by more than 25 percent, the blade advantage is particularly relevant for servers working in conjunction with storage area networks (SANs).
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The world is focusing on environmental awareness, and reducing greenhouse gases is now an inevitable part of doing business. But how can you conform to compliance regulations and still remain competitive? Green-centric asset management implementations—valuable tools in resource conservation—are helping companies increase productivity and improve their bottom lines. Maybe getting greener isn’t so hard after all.
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Reducing inventory and satisfying customer demand are high priorities in manufacturing and distribution. Being able to fill orders on time and satisfy every customer is an integral part of order commitment—and a very attainable goal. Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) can help your company become responsive and accurate—and that’s what counts in today’s “demand and supply” environment.
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For chemical producers Akzo Nobel, managing a complex supply chain producing more than 2,000 chemical products was an extremely complex task. Akzo Nobel decided to implement a multi-user sales and operations planning (S&OP) system that would be available company wide. Increasing its forecast visibility raised awareness of critical issues earlier—thus reducing inventory and increasing productivity on a global scale.
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For thermosetting resins producer Hexion Specialty Chemicals, a portfolio of over 50,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) created unique supply chain efficiency challenges. Hexion needed better supply chain management—the key to sustaining growth and profits. In adopting Zemeter solutions, Hexion reduced inventory by more than 20 percent and increased margins—exactly what Hexion needed to stay competitive on a global scale
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For dried fruit producer Sunsweet, a spreadsheet-based planning system just wasn’t working. After reviewing several solutions, Sunsweet selected the Zemeter supply chain planning suite to eliminate the repetitive work involved in spreadsheet management. Zemeter’s accurate forecasting and planning process ended up saving Sunsweet money by increasing production line efficiency and reducing overruns by 18 percent.
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For cheese producer Mozzarella Fresca, producing multiple products was a scheduling challenge, and it needed a solution that could do more than Excel-based tools. The Zemeter Scheduler solution was able to add 15 percent capacity by optimizing scheduling processes. In fact, from molding to packaging, Zemeter Scheduler increased efficiency without Mozzarella Fresca needing to invest in new equipment.
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Forecasting and planning conventions dictate that planning far into the future is a necessity. But is long-term planning really the most productive way to organize your business? No, not really. Detailed forecasts and plans are needed only inside the “planning time fence”—a critical period for acquiring specific components and building certain products—and for many companies, only four to eight weeks into the future.
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For businesses to respond quickly to customer demand, timely metrics need to be supported. Monthly metrics can provide guidance on modifying the planning process and tactical plan, but there’s more to it than that. By monitoring daily fluctuations, early warning signs can be detected to indicate possible performance issues. Combined, metrics and monitoring can help you effectively manage your supply chain—proactively.
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Many small companies have limited resources to devote to the implementation and maintenance of enterprise resource planning (ERP). Fortunately, the price performance of ERP and the underlying infrastructure supporting it have improved steadily and significantly over the past two decades. In fact, solutions that were once beyond the reach of these small companies are now well within their grasp.
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There is no single antivirus engine on the market today that is the fastest and most effective at identifying viruses, spam, or other threats. According to a recent survey, 97 percent of organizations have antivirus software installed, yet 65 percent have been infected at one time or another since. One way to reduce the chance of virus infection is to install multiple antivirus scanners at the mail server level.
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Is it beneficial to use multiple types of virtualization software together? The answer: yes. Combining complementary virtualization technologies provides a stronger, more robust solution that reduces costs, maximizes return on investment (ROI), and minimizes the number of servers to manage. By consolidating these technologies, organizations can get the most out of the application, hardware, and operating system (OS).
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Today more than ever, retailers are faced with the challenges of selling locally while competing globally. To be successful, they must provide a shopping experience that inspires customer loyalty. Retailers that understand their customers’ shopping habits can build strategic global supply chains that anticipate demand. One way to achieve this is with a scalable technology platform based on industry standards.
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As the creator of performance apparel, Under Armour has become the fastest-growing designer and distributor of its category of apparel in the world. In 2005, to sustain growth and compete on a global scale, it needed a flexible IT landscape that could offer better visibility to data and scale over time. With an out-of–the-box scalable solution, Under Armour is on its way to reaching the $1 billion (USD) revenue mark.
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Just when you thought you had all your security measures figured out, along comes the portable storage device to make you question them all over again. With the popularity of portable consumer products—and their ever-increasing storage space—comes a greater risk of losing sensitive corporate data. To secure corporate data, companies must not only focus on perimeter security, but on internal security weaknesses as well.
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Benchmarking is a process where companies compare their performance over time against their competition. In doing so, they can identify where their strengths lie and where improvement may be needed. The point of benchmarking is to focus on areas that will yield the best return. For companies to succeed in their benchmarking efforts and gain a sustained competitive advantage, five key steps should be considered.
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Improving the supply chain is essential for any company that wants to gain or maintain a competitive edge. To do this, companies are adopting sales and operations planning (S&OP) strategies. Years ago—when the pace of market change was slow—S&OP was a nice-to-have; today it’s a business imperative! But it doesn’t have to happen overnight. By taking a five-step approach, companies can implement S&OP at their own pace.
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When it comes to disaster recovery (DR) software, companies should think of it as an insurance policy—not just software that recovers lost data. Being prepared for disaster makes good business sense, but oddly enough, few companies are. Because Linux distributions don’t include DR tools, companies must look to a file-based recovery solution that can recover the entire system and eliminate the need to rebuild.
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As pressure increases to reduce costs and improve customer service, many companies are outsourcing outside the US. Although India and Malaysia are the least expensive options, companies that want to build strong long-term partnerships with a call center—while taking quality, political climate, and cost into consideration—should look north of the border. Canada builds a solid case for any company’s outsourcing dollars.
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An increasing number of companies are turning to business process outsourcing (BPO) because of the many advantages it provides. In 2002, the outsourced call center industry reached $22 billion (USD) and is projected to increase to $25.7 billion (USD) over the next two years to serve the growing demand. For outsourcing to be a success, companies need an overall strategy. After that, it boils down to one question: where?
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To respond to an ever-changing environment, steel manufacturers are making investments to improve their systems. But over time, these modification dollars can add up! With an integrated and collaborative approach—combining the capabilities of a manufacturing execution system (MES) with the advantages of an advanced planning and schedule (APS) solution—manufacturers can realize considerable benefits without the added cost.
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The complexity of the metal manufacturing process often poses problems when it comes to planning and scheduling production. The sector’s many different processes often cause bottlenecks that slow down production—not only within plants, but throughout entire supply chains. With an industry-specific production planning and scheduling system, manufacturers can improve productivity, reduce lead times, and increase revenues.
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As with any hot market, point-to-point wireless is bait for the pathologically
opportunistic. In this atmosphere—often termed "anarchy"—trust can t be a matter of faith. To get in on the wireless opportunity without getting shafted, you need to know a few basic and incontrovertible facts concerning the difference between licensed and license-free wireless. In fact, a successful outcome depends on choosing the right one.
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"Wild West" is a metaphor often used to describe the wireless wide area network (WAN) business. But it s worse than that. In the Old West, everyone had a gun. In this business, customers are defenseless. What s going on? Well, for one, vendors are playing fast and loose with terminology that should mean something. Wireless is compelling, but how do you decide what s right for you—and who do you trust?
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For most companies, e-mail is an integral part of the business workflow and a primary channel for communication. For these reasons, e-mails can be considered legal business documents and should be retained for a predefined period to satisfy government regulations. With an e-mail archiving system, message contents and attachments are stored in a read-only format, ensuring they are archived in their original state.
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Research shows that between 65 and 95 percent of all e-mail is considered spam. On an individual level, spam is an annoyance more than anything else, but on a company-wide basis, spam causes significant problems—and the cost to manage it is sizeable. Spammers are always one step ahead of antispam vendors, so to combat this persistent problem, companies need a single-source product that can eliminate spam for good.
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Over the past few years, vulnerabilities have exploded across all types of platforms—leaving IT security and operations teams scratching their heads. Today, many companies use the scan-and-patch method for managing vulnerabilities—a reactive security process that should be avoided. By combining assessment and remediation, companies create a vulnerability management program that can rapidly respond to emerging threats.
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With data theft on the rise, many companies are forced to improve their network security. And although they spend millions of dollars every year on securing these networks, the focus has largely been on securing the access to the network rather than protecting the information itself. Secure information sharing (SIS) solutions integrate additional intelligence into the process—and protect your data without added overhead.
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Research shows that the occurrence of multivendor Internet protocol telephony (IPT) environments is on the rise. As such, an increasing number of companies are faced with the challenges of using multiple tools to manage these environments. With a single, specialized IPT management solution, companies gain a unified view across the entire voice infrastructure—which can significantly impact total cost of ownership (TCO).
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Now that you have planned and assessed your new system, it’s time to explore the next phase of the integration process: design and pre-deployment testing. Part 4 of this 4-part e-book series provides a basis for the exploration of network design. In addition, it includes a report card that will help you select the appropriate design and validation software tools for your Internet protocol telephony (IPT) system.
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When deploying any new system, preparation is key—and Internet protocol telephony (IPT) systems are no exception. Part 3 of this 4-part e-book series provides some basic steps you can take to successfully deploy voice and data network services. A complete capabilities inventory has been included to help you ensure that every feature of your current system will be considered for inclusion in your new system.
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Chapter 2 of this 4-part e-book explores the Internet protocol telephony (IPT) life cycle, and discusses how understanding the key phases of this packet-based system can increase implementation success. By harnessing your knowledge about this system's natural rhythms, you will begin to establish key concepts that you can put into action—facilitating the management of the system and reaping its long-term benefits.
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Data loss can be damaging to a business—hurting short-term stock prices, impacting customer relationships, and reducing revenues. As more companies conduct business via network communication, the need to protect their customer data and intellectual property becomes greater. With a data protection solution, organizations can secure their data in motion—without introducing unmanageable cost and complexity into the network.
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When it comes to security architecture, choosing a system that’s scalable and applicable to a broad set of security needs is a wise move. New security services for Internet protocol (IP) networks are emerging that enable new levels of scalability and manageability—while remaining completely transparent to the network. By applying this type of system, you build an optimal framework for future security applications.
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Spam considerably lowers user productivity, as it delivers unwanted, irrelevant, or anonymous e-mail messages. The best way to manage the incidence of spam is to measure it. The Spam Index—a tool for measuring improvement in spam control systems and for comparing spam control performance with competitors—is a method used by businesses worldwide to achieve lower spam levels and improve business performance.
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E-mail is a powerful business tool that most enterprises can’t live without. Unfortunately, along with its capability of accelerating commerce, productivity, and social interactions, there are some drawbacks—such as spam! Companies that rely on e-mail to do business simply can’t afford the negative affects of spam. However, new technology is emerging that helps stop spam and allows users to get on with business.
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In this new era of corporate governance, risk avoidance, and responsibility, organizations are more than ever held accountable if their data is not properly protected. As such, many are finding new ways to address security risks, by developing multiple layers of defense to reduce points of weakness. Deploying data encryption technology is a good place to start—but the key is making the right choice.
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Heightened awareness of vulnerabilities in sensitive stored data has resulted in the increased application of encryption technology. To secure data at rest, a well-defined process for handling the keys used to encrypt data—as well as the keys used to safeguard the data encryption keys—is essential. With the proper key management controls in place, companies can ensure that data is effectively secured and recoverable.
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In order to stay competitive, growing organizations need technology that allows them to react quickly to changing industry. According to recent polls, nearly 40 percent of midsized businesses are getting that technology through customer relationship management (CRM). With a rapidly growing market of choices, it’s important to look within your company to assess its needs and goals—before you commit to a CRM solution.
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If you could have a 360-degree view of your business, wouldn’t you want to take a peek? Most companies would say yes, but no business could benefit more from this panoramic view than large enterprises. Today, they’re getting that view—and more, from customer relationship management (CRM) technology. For large enterprises, CRM represents a powerful opportunity for positive change—and you ignore it at your own risk.
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You can’t pick up a business or IT magazine today without seeing numerous articles about the growth of mobile and wireless technologies. Why are these technologies so trendy? The answer is simple: developments in mobile computing, wireless communication, bar codes, and other data collection and communications technologies help businesses extend visibility and control over the operations that really matter to them.
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It s hard to go anywhere these days and not see ads for mobile wireless carriers. But the technology is so confusing and the choices so overwhelming, it can be impossible to know which solution to choose. Before making the wrong choice, it’s best to have a basic understanding of mobile wireless communication—how it is currently being used in the industry, and how it can benefit your organization in the future.
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How can you establish a priority-based mobile networking system that provides workers access to company and customer records that they can manipulate from the field? By employing a total solution system that provides various methods of transmitting data. While this type of system may be more costly to implement than a stand-alone pager or cell phone, the benefits it offers can directly impact your bottom line.
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When it comes to two-dimensional (2D) symbologies, less is more. While 2D bar code symbols may be less costly to print, they are considerably more expensive to read, because of the complexity of developing decode algorithms. However, with the integration of public domain 2D symbologies into a range of application standards, solutions employing these codes are beginning to reach their full potential.
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For manufacturers, improving internal processes and supply chain responsiveness can help maintain profitability. That is why many are tuning into radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. With RFID, the benefits are immediate throughout the supply chain, and organizations that take the time to understand its capabilities and limitations can increase their inventory visibility while streamlining their operations.
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has retailers talking. The reason: RFID helps reduce labor and improves the ability to gather data. Retailers can use this data to make positive changes to business processes, which can be tremendously advantageous for them. With careful planning, an RFID system can provide immediate benefits, as well as long-term competitive and total cost of ownership advantages.
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Imagine this scenario: an infected laptop within your company has accessed the network and is spreading malicious code to thousands of other devices. This incident could cripple any business, but with network access control (NAC) products, companies can rest a little easier. NAC’s ability to measure, enforce, and report on an array of security issues has gained it attention amongst security conscious organizations.
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As proprietary network hardware appliances become obsolete, unified network platforms (UNPs) are slowly gaining momentum. UNPs are the new paradigm for networking and security—operating on a single system that can be implemented on off-the-shelf hardware. With a UNP, organizations can design, build, manage, and maintain secure networks, without the limitations and expense of vendor proprietary hardware and software.
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Although small to midsized manufacturers employ more than half of all workers in the US, today’s demand-driven, global economy is challenging them to operate with the same agility as their larger counterparts. To stay competitive, it is essential that these manufacturers implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology. With the right ERP system, they can become mighty and thrive in the face of bigger competition.
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Consider the ideal manufacturing and distribution process—one that eliminates human error, improves speed and efficiency, and increases information availability; a process that offers high security and delivers data without a network connection. This is what a radio frequency identification (RFID) system can do to help solve logistical problems that may be affecting your manufacturing and distribution processes.
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Malicious hacking and illegal access are just a few of the reasons companies lose precious corporate data every year. As the number of network security breaches increase, companies must find ways to protect data beyond the perimeter of their businesses. But how do they build a data-defensible architecture that will protect data on an ever-evolving network? The answer: by first developing an in-depth defense strategy.
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The supply of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) services and service providers has grown exponentially with the demand for Internet protocol (IP) and Ethernet services. But while MPLS enhances packet processing speed and network performance, it lacks in security. As government and industry compliance regulations increase, organizations must invest in tools that can ensure security without affecting network performance.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) often face the same challenges as large businesses—just on a smaller scale. One such challenge is finding a business solution that manages expansion and addresses complex reporting and compliance issues. Many SMBs are now adopting enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions—complete with tools to help them meet the current and future needs of their growing business.
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Wide area networks (WANs) are essential to the majority of businesses, enabling effective communications within the organization and with customers, partners, and suppliers. As more bandwidth-intensive applications are added to the mix, these networks are expected to handle the extra load—which can decrease its performance. Ensuring WAN usage is well-managed eliminates unwanted traffic and accelerates business activity.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) face the same challenges as large businesses when it comes to IT management—they have increasingly complex systems they rely on to drive their businesses and gain a competitive advantage. Operating and maintaining a complex IT infrastructure requires specific skills, but getting the right staff at an affordable price can be a problem. Outsourcing IT management may help to ease the strain.
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In any organization, people remain one of the largest sources of value when it comes to business processes. But providing them with tools that can be easily accessed and used has its challenges. As we move into the era of service-oriented architecture (SOA), portal and collaboration software now delivers the essential people-focused capabilities businesses need, while adding significant value to the organization.
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How can a budget administrator, burdened with the task of gathering data from hundreds of spreadsheets from all over the organization, manage this monumental undertaking? Additionally, how to avoid using a costly packaged budget application that doesn’t take the organization’s business rules into consideration? The solution: a spreadsheet automation tool that easily adapts to the organization’s unique corporate processes.
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Today, companies are looking to improve work processes, comply with legislation, and increase productivity—and they’re implementing electronic document management systems (EDMS) to help them effectively manage their information. By deploying EDMS—which are capable of capturing, storing, and retrieving records, files, and folders—these companies are achieving unprecedented levels of control, efficiency, and automation.
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Industry today demands more quality of manufacturers, and as such, ISO 9001—the yardstick by which quality products and services are measured—is forcing more and more companies to become ISO-certified. However, companies can use a browser-based tool to help bridge any information gaps they may encounter during the process—and to give them the head start they need to intelligently manage their ISO certification.
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What is compact, lightweight, ergonomic, and power-friendly? A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based scan engine—an innovative scanning technology that provides outstanding reliability and performance. When it comes to supply chain laser scanning, the advantages MEMS scanners have over traditional lasers are unparalleled. While MEMS is not a new technology, it does provide a new option for bar code scanning.
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When it comes to workers’ safety, companies shouldn’t take any chances. The growing safety, security, and regulatory and reporting requirements are forcing many organizations to implement more sophisticated systems to monitor and manage their work environments. To help determine which mobile devices are approved and appropriate to use in your work environments, it’s important to have clear guidelines on what to look for.
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One of the first and seemingly simple questions that companies ask when making IT investments is “how much does it cost?” Many often find themselves wondering why—even after a successful implementation—their costs keep going up. When evaluating a mobile workforce automation project, companies should take the time to conduct a thorough total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis to detect hidden costs—and avoid nasty surprises.
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can provide a strong return on investment (ROI) when combined with improved business processes that reduce labor and prevent errors. But mobile RFID systems, with forklift-mounted readers, can be implemented for a fraction of the cost of traditional infrastructure configurations. They can improve supply chain visibility, reduce capital expenditure, and slash labor costs.
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Scanning technology has changed dramatically over the years with new, more powerful, and reliable imaging scan engines now surpassing the laser scan engines of yesterday. Although both laser and imaging technologies continue to improve, there’s a debate on which technology is superior. When researching data capture equipment, you may be asking yourself, “How do I choose the best scanner for my application?” Here’s how.
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In the $1.8 billion market of document management services, only 10 percent is billed by dealers. So how can they increase their share of the managed print services trend? The dealer’s path to advantage lies in its service and supply organization. To make this transition, the dealer needs a tool that gathers knowledge of the client’s fleet and identifies where printing dollars can be saved.
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How do companies address the out-of-control costs associated with network printing? Many look to control them by outsourcing their managed printer services. The transition from basic dealer services to a holistic approach—where the dealer manages the print services for the entire organization—has its challenges. With printer fleet management tools, companies gain a competitive advantage and save on printing costs.
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Many companies believe their employees are their most important asset—and spend significant amounts of money every year on their training and development. But how can these companies quantify what this investment will do to their bottom line? With the right tools, decision makers can gain the critical business intelligence they’ll need to confidently invest in their human capital, and measure and report on its impact.
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For a lot of companies, making the decision to replace an existing business software system can be a difficult one. The process can be so unpleasant that many organizations may be reluctant to even get started, coming up with a number of reasons why they could probably get by with the systems they already have. If your company is struggling with this tough decision, you may want to ask yourself these ten basic questions.
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Choosing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) package that’s right for your business can be difficult and time consuming. Finding a software provider and discovering what doing business with them will be like is as important as the overall functionality of the software itself. Before committing to a long-term relationship with any potential software provider, there are some really tough questions you need to ask them.
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Carefully tracking components and assemblies throughout the manufacturing process can prevent costly production and sequencing errors, but executing these procedures can be difficult. While bar codes provide accurate, efficient product identification, they are not viable in many common industrial processes. Specialized RFID tags, however, are optimized for use on or around metal, and are an effective and viable alternative.
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Going mobile has become a growing trend, with many businesses reaching well beyond the use of cellular phones as their only lines of communication. Why? Because these businesses realize that linking the mobile workforce with the enterprise and its data resources—using mobile applications—is key to enhancing productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Choosing the right devices, however, can be very challenging.
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been around for more than thirty years, and today’s manufacturers are using this technology to help connect trading partners and align supply chains. But just as businesses need to look beyond the manufacturing supply chain to see the benefits of investing in RFID, they need to look beyond the tag to understand how RFID will create value and provide a return on investment (ROI).
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Technology has fundamentally changed the way industrial and manufacturing companies manage their businesses. Sophisticated solutions like warehouse management and enterprise relationship management (ERP) systems—with their advanced data capture and wireless networking tools—enable companies to squeeze more efficiency out of their operations by providing real-time data to all interdependent parts of the supply chain.
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In today’s global market, providing quality products and services is essential for any manufacturer’s continued growth—but maintaining a competitive edge is not always easy. For success, quality awareness must begin at the conception of the product and continue throughout the various stages of its development. To improve in this area, many manufacturers are now adopting the total quality management (TQM) approach.
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When considering any software solution, two things come to mind: flexibility and cost. With virtualization technology, multiple applications can now be hosted safely and securely on a single server, eliminating the overhead of running multiple operating systems (OS) per server. This capability can greatly reduce costs and help organizations deliver consistent service levels despite unpredictable workloads.
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Any organization that deploys multiple same-application servers with regularity could benefit from virtual appliances. Virtualization solutions eliminate the need to copy an operating system (OS) and application into each virtual environment, by creating a single, centrally installed master copy instead. It saves time on installation and enables greater levels of efficiency, manageability, flexibility, and resource use.
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Cox Communications, a leading cable provider, needed to find a way to centralize the IT requirements of its customer support team. With over a hundred users, its challenge was to move from single desktop applications to a centralized server which would offer many concurrent instances of the application—and minimize the cost. By deploying a virtualization solution, Cox realized a return on investment (ROI) of 300 percent.
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To be certain its materials management functions were up to par with industry best practices, a South African fertilizer plant obtained the services of an inventory optimization firm. In doing so, it was able to identify weak links in its inventory control processes, and achieved a savings of over $2 million (USD)—an impressive return on investment (ROI) considering it had invested less than 4 percent of that amount.
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An important question facing IT professionals today is how best to harness computing power to further improve automated business processes. This is especially critical in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. While service-oriented architecture (SOA) delivers the benefits of IT integration to business, it needs a programming language—such as Lisp—that can optimize its capabilities and scale in size and complexity.
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The computational complexity of problems faced by programmers today is growing exponentially. With accelerated changes brought on by the Internet, companies need to explore new methods of enabling their programmers to focus on these complex problems. When dealing with complex data, an object caching database system can alleviate the task of programming special code for persistent data while writing applications.
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New Star Asset Management was looking to maximize its existing sales channels and drive more information gathering via the Web. In order to achieve its aggressive targets, it needed to find a way to make better use of the Web, while reducing costs. Since integrating a Web content management system, New Star has seen a significant drop in Web-related expenditure—with cost savings of nearly 68 percent in the first year.
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The Web has become a vast potential business asset for many companies today. But while business users have the vision, it’s the IT department that actually creates and deploys the Web application. This often raises the question of Web site ownership. Empowering both parties with the right tools to match their respective skills can help address this question—and many others—for businesses in this confusing situation.
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It’s no coincidence that the surge in counterfeiting over the past decade has coincided with a huge increase in Internet access around the world, and the more recent shift toward broadband connections. The Web provides a shop window to the world, yet it is impossible to police. New, intelligent, automated monitoring technologies are beginning to offer powerful solutions to this rampant online problem.
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Understanding how a system really works is the first step toward using, improving, automating, or explaining it to others. The basic concept of a system is that it is driven by cause and effect—but there is so much more to understanding its full complexity. The best place to start is by learning how causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are used to model dynamic systems by identifying variables and causal effects.
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What’s the best way to know if your customers are satisfied? Simply ask them. Conducting customer surveys without the right tools, however, can demand a lot of staff time to manage and analyze the results. Indeed, response time can make the difference between keeping customers and losing them. One way to respond faster to customer issues—and save time and effort—is by investing in an automated customer feedback system.
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The clock is ticking for Canadian manufacturers to come up with a solution to the ongoing loss of knowledge capital. Natural employee attrition, such as departures or layoffs, inevitable retirement, and the brain drain are contributing to an exodus of knowledge. That’s why the best hope for Canadian manufacturers lies in introducing knowledge management strategies across the enterprise—before it’s too late.
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Traditional business intelligence (BI) solutions are becoming a thing of the past. Companies today are moving toward business solutions that can help maintain a competitive edge while empowering business executives across the enterprise. Operational BI is an approach that incorporates traditional BI best practices with the benefits of real-time information flow, resulting in more user-directed initiatives.
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Point of sale (POS) software was designed to speed up sales checkout processes. However, it has evolved to include many more features, and is now more commonly referred to as retail management systems (RMS). The benefits of implementing RMS are clear—they can help increase profits, improve marketing strategies, automate manual processes, manage inventory, and—most importantly—make the customer experience more memorable.
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Small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) encounter many of the same challenges as larger companies in unlocking information from the data they collect, yet they lack cost-effective solutions. Many must choose between expensive business intelligence solutions or complicated homegrown solutions. With many hosted reporting solutions now available, SMBs have an option that may meet their requirements—at a fraction of the cost.
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As a business employing IT, you may have encountered situations where the software application you purchased didn’t come with a help file. With no time to write complete documentation yourself and no budget to hire a professional technical writer to do it for you, what do you do? By applying the basic principles of cost-effective documentation, your business can develop impressive documentation quickly—for a minimal cost.
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Manufacturers of all sizes are more efficient, better managed, and more profitable because of lean—yet this improvement has plateaued at many companies. What’s holding up the progress of lean? The real problem is that as lean evolves and spreads beyond the plant floor, its conflict with traditional accounting is escalating—and becoming more dangerous to the financial health of manufacturers.
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Wisconsin Film & Bag, a leader in the flexible packaging industry, was set on expanding its business to the global market. The goal was simple: center its business model on superior customer service and quick turnaround. Since implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that could address its unique industry requirements, it has enhanced customer relationships and significantly reduced sales lead time.
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As a plastics molder, Dreco Inc. required an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that could manage its sizeable inventory. The original application it had purchased ten years earlier delivered a minimum of manufacturing functionality at the greatest possible expense. What did Dreco do about it? It replaced the old system with an industry-specific ERP system, and is now realizing a significant return on investment.
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Chemtech Plastics Inc., an injection molding company founded in 1982, believed technology could help it obtain an edge over the competition—but the first generation software it was using had some limitations, and many of its processes were manual. By implementing an industry-specific enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Chemtech has doubled its sales volume to more than $20 million (USD) in the last seven years.
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Tackling the transformation to lean production is high-priority in the aerospace industry. After all, lean manufacturing eliminates waste from essential manufacturing processes and helps you measure up to your competitors. But how can you attain true lean transformation—and what specific steps does your company need to take? Take a self-rating test and see where your company really stands.
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While the board has no business telling management which employee performance management (EPM) system to use, it does have the right to ensure an effective system is in place. EPM is one of the central tools for directing and monitoring activities right across an organization. Employing this system will ensure that any goals set out by management are clearly visible to everyone up the chain of command—including the CEO.
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As organizational storage allocation requirements multiply, the time required to back up file-based data also continues to increase. While software vendors continue making advancements in technology to speed up the disk fragmentation process, it continues to remain an issue—one that needs to be addressed at the file system level. Defragmenting the hard drive volume prior to performing the backup may be the answer.
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SANs, NAS devices, corporate servers, and high-end workstations all suffer the effects of fragmentation because of their multiple physical disk drives. This is attributed to the impact of fragmentation on the logical allocation of files and their physical distribution. The solution to this problem: implementing an automatic defragmentation software solution, together with intricate modern hardware technologies.
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The most effective project managers know that accounting for the effort, cost, and profitability of each person or project is the best way to succeed—and doing so is not as hard as you might think. The process will take you from where you probably are right now (the state we affectionately term “chaos”) to a prosperous state of order—and will also save your organization financial resources and valuable employee time.
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Based in Vancouver, Washington (US), TigerStop LLC is the global leader in stop/gauge and pusher systems designed to improve the efficiency of manufacturing processes in the plastics, woodworking, and metal industries. Having experienced business-jeopardizing technical issues with the company’s initial customer relationship management (CRM) system, TigerStop went to the market in search of a viable CRM system.
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We’ve all heard the same story time and again: the project that started with such high expectations has turned out to be—like many others—mediocre at best. The product development team is asking questions—"Where did the project go wrong? Why didn’t we see the problems earlier?" Many companies are turning to product lifecycle management (PLM) for help.
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Research shows that companies implementing product portfolio management (PPM) solutions achieve greater success in profitability because of their ability to monitor product value throughout the product selection and development processes. With the ability to evaluate this information through PPM capabilities, companies can take corrective action to maximize product value during new development—or kill projects that won’t deliver sufficient returns.
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Products may fail to meet expectations for many reasons—most of which are self-inflicted wounds (such as unclear product definitions) by the company bringing them to market. What’s more, politics and inertia all too often win the day when it comes to making difficult product portfolio decisions. What actions can you take to rank among those companies which realize margin advantages of over 50 percent for new products?
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A customer relationship management (CRM) solution is now a standard business requirement. With origins as a system for sales teams, CRM has clearly evolved into a mandatory tool for providing benefit to the entire organization. However, methodology and training play instrumental roles in successful CRM implementations; if designed well, these critical components will ultimately ensure user buy-in and success.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) like yours are the lifeblood of the economy. However, you may feel you need an operational boost—one that transforms your enterprise into a customer-focused business with the ability for future growth. An integrated suite of applications can give your business processes the depth and flexibility to achieve what a collection of stand-alone applications cannot.
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The printed circuit board (PCB) industry is changing rapidly, and information technology (IT) is becoming an essential part of it. PCB manufacturers are challenged to reduce production costs and lead times, while improving profitability and product quality. So what steps can you take to identify solutions that decrease costs and time-to-market, all while providing you with up-to-the-minute business intelligence?
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Few printed circuit board (PCB) companies create dedicated engineering system, and even fewer are successful when they do. Some computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) suppliers promise the capability to customize their systems—but the task is usually left to overburdened engineering and IT staff. So how do you transform engineering from organizational bottleneck to a corporate asset?
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The earned value management system (EVMS) is a method of tracking cost and schedule performance using work breakdown structure/earned value (WBS/EV) techniques. Formerly called C/SCSC (Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria) by the contract industry, an understanding of WBS basics is essential for any US contractor wishing to be selected for new major systems contracts over a certain funding threshold.
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Whether you’re familiar with the world of accounting or not, understanding the basic concepts and principles of accounting functions can give you an essential edge in the competitive manufacturing sector. This in-depth guide, complete with glossary, takes you through the step-by-step process of cost accounting for manufacturers—from prototype manufacturing, shipping, and full production, through to financial reports.
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Just as back-office automation became critical for competitive success in the last half of the twentieth century, customer relationship management (CRM) is today’s imperative for success. However, the key to creating business value with CRM is remembering that business strategy and technology strategy are linked. Companies that believe they can implement CRM capabilities based on technology alone will fail.
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Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy, enabled and supported by various techniques, to eliminate non-value adding activity. However, aerospace and defense (A&D) government regulations impose very different business practices from those followed in the commercial sector. Can lean manufacturing principles really work in A&D? The answer: it depends on the architecture of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
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For many years, business intelligence (BI) has proven to be invaluable for enhancing database information in the retail and banking sectors. But to be truly useful in the manufacturing sector, the manufacturing environment’s existing technology information structure needs to continually inform the BI system. This can now be accomplished more efficiently by embedding BI into the enterprise software itself.
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The process of implementing a new enterprise solution is incredibly complex. This process can send your organization down a long road of beneficial—and sometimes painful—change. The good news, though, is that if the implementation is done right the first time, you won’t have to travel that road again. The key question: how do you do it right?
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Most metals companies are recognizing that it’s time to consider replacing their aging in-house developed information systems with a commercial enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. There are many reasons why these companies should make the move to an industry-specific solution—the first being that the quality of their systems can be the limiting factor for growth in today’s competitive markets.
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As a wire and cable manufacturer, you probably already have a computer system in place that you couldn’t operate without. However, this system may be outdated, or may not provide the capabilities you need. But moving to a new enterprise-wide business system is an important step—one you can’t afford to take lightly. What, exactly, do you look for?
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Since 1985, TrailTech Inc. has provided the agriculture, construction, and transportation industries with state-of-the-art trailer equipment. However, inaccurate bills of materials (BOMs) were causing bottlenecks, missed delivery dates, and substandard productivity. After TrailTech implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that created real-time BOMs and eliminated bottlenecks, customer complaints of delinquent deliveries reduced dramatically, improving stress levels throughout the plant.
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Qualitel couldn’t keep up with the growing demand for its electronics. With revenues increasing 30 to 40 percent per year, its order entry and accounting systems were rapidly becoming obsolete. Qualitel needed a solution—and fast. Just one year later, after selecting and implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Qualitel’s revenue exploded 471 percent to $12.89 million (USD).
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External forces can knock your business off balance with no warning. Spikes in fuel prices, worker strikes, and shipping delays can significantly stress the supply chains of manufacturers, logistics providers, and retailers. To meet these external challenges, you need the capability to extend supply chain visibility, respond to changes in real time, and improve performance measurement across the entire chain.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) need technology to survive in a competitive business environment. However, regardless of the business type, size, or industry, incorporating technology into existing frameworks involves risk—to productivity, customer service, operations, and the bottom line! The key to reducing risk and increasing productivity is thus the selection of technologies that will accommodate change in your business.
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Within the manufacturing community, the arrival of the latest, greatest enterprise software technology is often met with skepticism. The right service-oriented architecture (SOA) application, however, can reverse such doubts, as SOA continues to emerge as the dominant technical platform for building next-generation business applications. Its potential to transform enterprise software applications is not only well hyped—it’s also well documented.
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In times of economic recession, many businesses take the opportunity to look inward and seek ways to streamline their operations. It’s no wonder that lean manufacturing has been such a hot topic across the manufacturing industry. Lean manufacturing helps manufacturers work smarter and more efficiently, and has become a refined version of traditional just-in-time (JIT) and demand flow manufacturing concepts.
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The indifference of software vendors to the industrial and commercial machinery manufacturing sector has limited this market’s progress in leveraging IT tools to their advantage. This indifference also affects the sector’s success in addressing key business issues. For these manufacturers—and the software vendors that serve them—recognition and response to these issues can no longer be delayed.
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Engineer-to-order (ETO) and project-based companies look to information technology (IT) to improve processes and gain a competitive edge. However, building complex products to exact customer specifications requires unique software. But what exactly are the software requirements of ETO and project-based manufacturers? Remember, the wrong software can cost about the same as the right software—until you try to use it!
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Keeping track of your key business indicators is the difference between a thriving business concern and a business on life support. But even with this knowledge, one-third of chief executive officers (CEOs) feel they don’t spend enough time reviewing financial and operating numbers. But is spending more time agonizing over piles of data really the best solution?
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Customers are the lifeblood of any business, and receiving quality customer service is a major factor in their purchasing decisions. There are six key elements that can help distinguish your organization’s product or service from your competitors. By applying these key elements, you can unlock the lifetime value of your customers and build an outstanding referral platform for future growth.
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The average personal computer (PC) costs an enterprise $10,000 (USD) per year to own and maintain—five times the purchase price of the hardware and software! Is it possible to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of technology platforms? Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) manageability can be a crucial step in self-provisioning users and unburdening valuable network professionals.
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Enterprises of all sizes are adopting Internet protocol (IP) telephony for cost savings and productivity gains—but high quality voice service takes more than just buying the latest equipment. Is IP telephony right for your organization and your network? Get the straight facts from an industry leader—along with a 7-step assessment and deployment checklist for a successful implementation.
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In asset-intensive industries, the need for an overall equipment efficiency (OEE) system is driven by the need to capture real-time information. When equipment operation data is automatically collected and refined by the operator, the quality and quantity of data, and the ability to access and analyze it in a specific manner can greatly help to reduce costs and maximize productivity.
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The key to plant efficiency and profitability is open communication between those who design industrial facilities and those who operate and maintain them. Communication between these entities has long been lacking, however. Companies that use design, operate, and maintain (DOM) concepts can facilitate and standardize their proactive approaches to this open communication—whether collaboration takes place internally, or with outside designers. Learn more now.
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The US Bioterrorism Act aims to counter terrorist attacks on the nation’s food supply. But what does it mean for your company? Can your company access and present documentation within twenty-four hours of the FDA’s request for any set of records? If not, a fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is mandatory unless you are the smallest of businesses.
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Business strategy execution requires the control and automation of complex processes, and the ability to quickly analyze data relevant to the enterprise. Companies have to address these processes in a responsive, flexible way. However, this cannot be achieved simply by optimizing local activities. Multiple activities from different departments must be synchronized, toward the overall goal of increasing organizational profitability.
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Effective communication uses many senses, but visual communication provides huge amounts of information, and can convey all sorts of meanings. Face to face, we can rely on visual cues; however, the amount of information transmitted via distant communication is limited by cost and complexity. And when the costs of transportation rise, broader use of remote visual communications becomes increasingly practical.
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There is a considerable need to understand how technical performance and the problems within the technical infrastructure impact the capabilities of the business itself. The majority of companies can only measure specific asset and application performance, whereas many issues within the infrastructure lie at the transport level, where packet switching can present both great opportunities and major issues.
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Information management, which includes both data and content management, is an essential element of service-oriented architecture (SOA). Taking a service-oriented approach to information data can thus help you achieve greater value from your information assets. Implementing master data management (MDM) services can provide a multiplier effect, by delivering high-value business services over and above information integration services.
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Predictions of the death of software are overstated. In reality, businesses are becoming more reliant on technology, not less. What’s changing, however, is the number of options available for managing, delivering, and paying for software applications. Many independent software vendors recognize the benefits of offering software as a service--a delivery alternative that can present long-term benefits for all parties.
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In today’s fast-paced, dynamic business environment, organizations need timely, accurate information to make critical decisions about their businesses, and to respond quickly to changes in operations, competition, and customer needs. However, many organizations that have adopted business intelligence (BI) tools to address their informational needs are faced with critical challenges in deriving benefit from these technologies.
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By automating financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics AX links people, processes, and information. This document consolidates the core features and functionality in the solution, and is intended for use as a tool for users to familiarize themselves with the full scope of the solution.
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Performance reviews are an essential and productive use of employee and manager time. A well-defined competency model can discover insights into individual, workgroup, and even entire workforce performance, helping enterprises gain true business advantage in their industries and marketplaces. Employee consultations and reviews, appraisals, and developmental decisions no longer need to exist as isolated business functions.
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The role of human resources (HR) professionals has changed dramatically in recent years, as cost control and compliance measures vie for their time. Self-service intranet applications help employees and managers perform key HR activities themselves, reducing the need for HR professionals to get involved in routine minutiae—and allowing them to play a strategic role in their organizations.
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Traditional business intelligence (BI) software has not been available to line-of-business managers, frontline employees, or external stakeholders, but that is no longer the case. New BI solutions unite transactional and analytical worlds. Knowledge workers and executives can now analyze operational processes in real time. Decisions can be made and entered back into operational systems combining BI and performance management strategies.
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The Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) have become mission-critical services as the Internet and other Internet protocol (IP)-based networks become business necessities. Services like IP telephony are intolerant of down-time—they require “dial tone” reliability and a solution that enables them to remain available despite any of the unforeseen circumstances that can incapacitate a server.
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Domain name system (DNS) best practices are becoming more standardized. However, DNS services are often overlooked simply because they are so commonplace. The result is poorly configured services that are either not fully functional, or easily compromised. To ensure that the Internet remains a reliable medium for information and commerce, further implementation of secure and efficient DNS will be required.
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Small to medium businesses have typically built their own domain name system (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services, used Windows DNS/DHCP, or turned to a hosted service provider for these services. This approach may appear to offer tremendous savings, but contains many hidden costs and risks that are not always apparent until a catastrophic loss of service occurs.
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To understand the power of cache poisoning and pharming, imagine that you’re logging on to your Internet banking service. The page looks a little odd, but the address is correct, and it has the same fields as usual. You might enter your credentials without thinking twice. Unfortunately, you’ve just provided a criminal syndicate with the contents of your bank account.
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It’s common knowledge that asset downtime disrupts production and drives up both process and per-unit operating costs. However, executives often lose sight of this because they focus on output, not on the assets used to create it. The irony is that companies can use asset performance management not only to make more widgets, but to make each widget more profitably.
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Demand planning applications can help manufacturers establish baseline sales forecasts and perform analysis to improve resource usage. They can also help manufacturers optimize pricing capabilities and better understand their markets. Yet to get the most out of these tools, manufacturers must be willing to reorganize their planning processes—and to share the resulting insights with supply chain partners and customers.
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Competitive pressures and increasing customer demands are driving most manufacturers to produce goods ever faster, at lower cost, and in compliance with more exacting quality, regulatory, and market requirements. However, technology can help manufacturers meet these challenges, increase operational efficiency, and step ahead of competitors with more proactive planning, greater shared visibility, and more profitable responses to change.
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Fraenkel Company is an employee-owned manufacturing distributor of household furniture and related products and services. The company created a sophisticated in-house ERP system in the early 1990s. However, homegrown software can be unwieldy to maintain and difficult to upgrade. In 2001, Fraenkel saw a solution that offered more advanced capabilities, and implemented VAI’s S2K Enterprise Edition for Manufacturing.
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There are seven core operational measures that can be leveraged to fine-tune a company’s business processes and achieve a higher return on capital employed (RoCE). Even modest gains in these measurements can spur a significant increase in RoCE. If the level of performance against each core operational measure rises by just one percentage point, for example, RoCE can nearly double.
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Executives watch time slip away while they plod through payroll, benefits management, and other human resources (HR) tasks. This time is spent writing paychecks, negotiating with benefits providers, and updating employee records. But instead of squandering resources on "administrivia," executives can transform HR into a competitive advantage by outsourcing or streamlining non-strategic HR—thus providing increased focus on strategic HR.
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Formalized risk management is underused in project management, where the focus is typically on schedule and budget. This affects most aspects of a project, including evaluation, selection, planning, execution, and control. How many project decisions are made without formally evaluating the potential consequences? When budgets are tight and competition is fierce, this question is more relevant than ever.
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We all know about the three monkeys: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. But as project managers, we need to control our projects. In order to do this, we must ignore the advice of the three monkeys. We need to see the potential for cost overruns, hear about the risks, and speak about the likelihood of failure.
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Chemical manufacturers are faced with change at unprecedented levels. Some manufacturers are experiencing tremendous growth, while others are simply trying to keep their doors open. Regardless of current strengths and weaknesses, every company in the industry faces every type of operational pressure, and no company can afford to wait for the pace of change to slow before making key decisions.
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What manufacturers must realize is that through efforts to comply with regulatory standards, they can make their manufacturing operations more competitive. Indeed, compliance is transforming the companies that have taken the time to re-architect the many processes used for managing suppliers, channel partners, resellers, and customers. For manufacturers that ignore compliance, on the other hand, the costs can be steep.
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A process manufacturing company has several options in its approach to deploying a single integrated clinical supplies or commercial product supply chain system. However, rolling a project out in phases is the most attractive option for many firms because it reduces risk, breaks the project into manageable and affordable stages, and spreads out resource demands over time.
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Thanks to pressures in the telecom equipment manufacturing industry, application-ready platforms (ARPs) in Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) are increasingly indispensable. ARPs must provide standards-based platforms to support diverse sets of applications. The ATCA ARP provides such a platform, but in light of the ATCA specifications that define the basis for the platform, ARP implementations still present some interesting challenges.
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The history of the oil and gas industry is one of meeting relentless changes and overcoming obstacles. Traders are expanding into emerging markets in remote locations with high energy consumption demands. The complexities of meeting those demands has compounded the need to drive profitability with accurate forecasting, risk mitigation, and increased integration and visibility up and down the value chain.
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New product development and introduction (NPDI) is probably the most important process for many companies, but also one of the least understood. While NPDI is responsible for revenues, few companies assign an owner for the whole process. Instead, it is usually driven through a series of functional “silos,” causing delay—and the loss of the original market requirements.
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Founded in 1989, Plastic Components, Inc. (PCI) uses complete process automation to keep costs low and quality high. To support this vision, PCI adopted lean manufacturing principles, such as staffing for efficiency, investing in quality equipment and support systems, and pursuing process improvements. In 2002, with these goals in mind, PCI sought to replace its multiple databases and software packages.
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For over eighty years, the Edlund Company has been a leading supplier of stainless steel appliances and equipment to the food service industry—a highly competitive sector with lean operating margins. In 2003, to uphold quality standards and gain tighter control over its manufacturing process and customer service functions, Edlund decided to replace its material requirements planning (MRP) software system.
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Industrial machinery and components (IM&C) manufacturers are challenged by global rivalry, industry consolidation, and shrinking margins. And with more manufacturers vying for business, customers are demanding customized products delivered on short lead times—all at lower costs. At the same time, manufacturers are struggling to extend their supply chains to incorporate offshore manufacturing. So where can they turn for help?
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You may have survived the slowdown of the last few years, but you must still find new growth opportunities to stay competitive. However, you can only cut so much. Midsize businesses in particular need to ask new questions: What strategies and practices are right for the company? And what are the best solutions for facilitating—and even improving them?
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High tech is the most brutally competitive of any manufacturing sector—which is why complacency can mean death for your company. How to secure lasting advantage without letting technology constrain your business processes? And how to prevail despite your partners’ legacy applications, the IT landscape of your recently acquired company, or the heterogeneous mix of your own IT landscape?
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Today, engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturers—also known as project-based manufacturers—experience significant market pressure across their sales, engineering and manufacturing groups as they strive to win business and streamline end-to-end processes. But by capturing engineering knowledge and using it to automate key business processes, manufacturers can increase sales bid and win rates, decrease internal operating expenses, and shorten lead times.
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Significant management issues posed by multisite manufacturing environments include optimizing resource use at each site and delivering the lowest possible cost for each stage in the product manufacturing cycle. To facilitate meaningful results in achieving these requirements, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software must thus provide the right tools for ensuring that multisite processes come up to “best-in-class” standards.
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Lean manufacturing strategies and ever-lower tolerance for late deliveries are putting pressure on manufacturers to ensure that facilities and equipment operate at peak performance. While some companies are struggling to execute preventive and predictive maintenance procedures, better performers have implemented holistic asset management strategies enabling them to proactively ensure the health of plants, factories, and equipment across global manufacturing networks.
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Créée en 1991, Chief est le numéro un français sur le marché des gondoles réfrigérées. Son chiffre d’affaires s’élève à 40 millions d’euros et ses produits son distribués à partir de 3 sites de production. La complexité de son offre et la spécificité des besoins de ses clients – plusieurs centaines de milliers de configurations sont possibles pour chaque unité – ont rendu nécessaire le recours à une solution de configuration d’offres personnalisées.
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Established in 1991, Chief is the leading French supplier of cold-storage units. With revenues of €40 million (EUR), it distributes products from three production sites. Given the complexity of Chief’s operations and the specific nature of its customers’ requirements—including hundreds of thousands of possible combinations for each unit—Chief decided to deploy an interactive selling and product configuration solution.
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In 1999, specialty chemicals manufacturer Rohm and Haas Company wanted to move to a new platform to simplify the complexity resulting from over 300 disparate information technology (IT) systems. First, Rohm and Haas wanted to adopt common global processes to increase efficiency, and implement smart sourcing strategies. Second, management needed a better way to see customer trends and evaluate competitors.
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When Luxembourg-based AZ Electronic Materials was carved out of Clariant International and sold to a private equity firm, the new company was given one year to wean itself off its parent’s information technology (IT) system. AZ beat the clock by three months, working with partner Accenture to roll out SAP business software across nine countries and six manufacturing plants.
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Industrial equipment manufacturers have historically embraced shop floor improvements as a way of increasing efficiency and maintaining profitability. But in today’s radically altered industrial environment, there is a clear imperative to look beyond the shop floor. To hold down costs and compete against other low-cost companies, manufacturers must find areas of improvement in all aspects of business.
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Manufacturing analytics is fundamental to enabling an enterprise to run at peak performance. For management to achieve this condition, it needs to have an underlying data collection and management system that looks to the total enterprise. Data collected at the packaging line must be available and compatible with financial and operational data, so that maximum value can be achieved.
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With retailers trying to stem consumer migration, and consumer-packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers striving to achieve sustainable growth and profitability, retailer and manufacturer joint value propositions can increase inventory turns, improve cash flow, and increase revenue and profits. However, joint value propositions involve more than retailer-specific packaging or unique products. For ultimate success, a different way of doing business is required.
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In the automotive industry, companies face an ongoing struggle for market share and constant pressure on margins. To differentiate themselves in this competitive environment, many companies focus on sales and service operations, which are key to providing a high-quality customer experience. With that in mind, companies must automate processes and leverage integrated information to increase efficiency throughout the value chain.
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Large or small, every company can profit from streamlined processes, insightful business intelligence, and systems that are flexible enough to grow with changing business needs. SAP Best Practices for Automotive comprise preconfigured business scenarios that cover the most important requirements of the automotive supplier industry, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), supplier relationship management (SRM), and a business information warehouse (BW).
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If you’ve worked for more than one manufacturing company, you know that each one is different. Different processes, systems, problems—all these variations mean you need a system tailored to your needs. And with so many available solutions, you could spend months looking at demos, and still not find it. However, you can start by asking yourself eight simple questions.
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Today more than ever, companies are looking for near-term return on investment (ROI)—and the sooner, the better. That’s why successful solution vendors must now use a much more analytical approach to selling. Customers want assurances that an investment will pay for itself over an acceptable time period—either by increasing the top line, decreasing operating expenses, or both.
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Outsourcing is increasingly embraced by manufacturers seeking ways to reduce costs, increase agility, and enhance market competitiveness. Yet poorly managed distributed manufacturing operations compromise visibility and quality control, which in turn erodes execution, management effectiveness, and profitability. To truly optimize the value of outsourcing, business systems and procedures must be deployed that create a collaborative, transparent information environment for manufacturing.
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The aerospace and defense (A&D) manufacturing industry is always changing. That’s why A&D manufacturers are constantly seeking better ways to manage complexity, cut costs, and boost productivity. In pursuit of these objectives, A&D manufacturers are looking beyond standard practices to new business strategies that promise solid business results. But which strategies and practices are right for your company?
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Today’s manufacturers are feeling pressures from many directions. Dynamic market needs, increased compliance requirements, more distributed manufacturing operations, and the transition to new technology are all manifested on the plant floor and throughout the enterprise—often leading to pleas for technology solutions. Integration and data utilization are thus the key issues to address in order to improve responsiveness and performance.
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You have convinced upper management that flow manufacturing will enable your company to leapfrog the competition. You have appointed a flow process leader, and selected a line for your flow pilot. Now it’s time to physically perform your first line implementation. The big question is, what exactly do you need to do to make the transition from discrete to flow?
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A group of serial entrepreneurs was look¬ing to jump-start business operations at a series of high technology startups by implementing advanced manufacturing software early in the business cycle. In implementing Expandable ERP at each of their startup companies, the entrepreneurs were able to minimize their risk by developing a repeatable methodology for establishing sound manufacturing operations.
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After receiving US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its ground-breaking product, medical technology startup Thermage, Inc., was looking to install manufacturing software that would fit a limited budget and meet its long-term needs. By going with Expandable ERP, Thermage was able to implement a full-featured manufacturing system that helped it ramp up production and maintain FDA compliance.
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Sermatech Manufacturing Group, a producer of precision components for the aerospace industry, was at a crossroads with its business management software. Its original 1980s software was outdated, and it needed a more robust system to guarantee company-wide access to real-time operations data. After researching numerous enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, Sermatech turned to Enhanced Systems & Services’ Finesse ERP system.
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Enabling lean manufacturing and six sigma principles to improve operations requires a nontraditional approach. The old idea that lean manufacturing and six sigma principles don’t require IT isn’t valid anymore. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) applications are critical for enabling holistic, lean manufacturing operations, and work hand-in-hand to better enable consumption—not forecasts—to drive replenishment.
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On the path toward global competitiveness, the benefits and basic principles of “Lean” are widely known. However, many organizations struggle to gain a foothold when embarking on the Lean journey. Or, perhaps more commonly, Lean initiatives stall and are sometimes eliminated due to a lack of understanding of what it takes to both make and sustain the Lean transformation.
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Pulse is a global leader in the design and manufacture of electronic components. With its far-flung design centers, manufacturing facilities, and customer care centers, Pulse sought to adopt a global supply chain management strategy, integrated with demand planning and manufacturing operations. The benefits, Pulse reasoned, would include faster order response time, lower inventory costs, and more intelligent planning and scheduling.
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The markets served by Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), India’s largest consumer goods company, require flexible planning, production, and distribution scenarios on the manufacturing side of operations. In 2000, HLL identified improved supply chain management as a critical business priority. It sought a solution that would increase supplier and distributor responsiveness, reduce inventory buffers, and optimize planning and scheduling.
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Despite its success and profitability, Samsung’s network division—operating in a rapidly changing, highly volatile sector of the technology industry—nonetheless faced a continuous series of internal manufacturing challenges. In 2000, recognizing that it faced multiple opportunities for improvement, Samsung initiated a strategic campaign to revamp its supply chain management efforts. It turned to Adexa for a solution.
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Pricing and revenue optimization is the process of improving business margins by either increasing unit prices or increasing gross revenues. This type of optimization is fast being recognized as having the capability to help businesses grow margins significantly. In fact, studies have shown that it can add a 15 to 50 percent incremental margin to the bottom line.
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Managing complexity while enhancing agility is a real challenge. To respond to customer needs, manufacturers must reduce their time to market and time to volume. And to respond to demand and supply shifts, they must be able to adapt to changing situations. To meet these challenges, companies require integrated solutions ensuring that manufacturing runs at the pace of their business.
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Adaptive manufacturing enables companies to produce goods efficiently and manage variability proactively. However, it must be managed as an end-to-end, closed-loop process with tight linkages between manufacturing applications, adjacent enterprise applications, and—most importantly—the technology behind these applications. Such integrated networks enable the process visibility and collaboration capabilities that, ultimately, are the key to building an adaptive manufacturing enterprise.
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Industrial equipment manufacturers have historically embraced shop floor improvements as a way of increasing efficiency and maintaining profitability. But in today’s radically altered industrial environment, there is a clear imperative to look beyond the shop floor. To hold down costs and compete against other low-cost companies, manufacturers must find areas of improvement in all aspects of business.
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Adaptiveness in the manufacturing sector depends on being able to push decision
making to the shop floor. But that’s often easier said than done. However, manufacturing intelligence dashboards aggregate content from the full range of manufacturing systems into a single view of operations. These role-specific dashboards thus enable employees to manage manufacturing performance, and respond quickly to changes.
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Many manufacturers are seeking to deploy manufacturing technology to satisfy increasingly rigorous business demands. However, the prospect of traditional software implementations can be daunting. Furthermore, managers and executives often cannot wait for IT resources to become available to implement traditional installed software to address pressing manufacturing needs. Many companies are thus willing to consider a new alternative: on-demand manufacturing software.
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A typical manufacturing business today is faced with countless business challenges: domestic and global competition; high sensitivity to economic cycles; rising labor, materials and energy costs to name just a few. To combat today’s challenges manufacturers can easily and affordably leverage the web for internal efficiency gains, enhanced customer service, and increased sales.
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US-based Skarnes, Inc. distributes material handling products and provides warehouse storage and material handling solutions. Migrating from RealWorld to Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision provided Skarnes with improved reporting capabilities, the ability to track costs, and the ability to view work in process. Furthermore, elimination of redundant data entry provided a 40 percent reduction in accounting work time.
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Chemtech, a plastics injection molder, experienced doubled sales, achieved a 99.7 percent on-time delivery rate, and generated time savings and process efficiencies after implementing DTR Plastics ERP. In fact, after running this application for seven years, they were winning new clients as a result of being able to handle more demanding orders, and provide more comprehensive documentation.
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Lean execution strategies within enterprises and across supply chains can dramatically reduce cycle times, improve quality, reduce waste, and improve bottom lines. In other words, lean is more than an advantage: it is a competitive necessity. Oracle’s Flow Manufacturing module capabilities in lean execution can enable the transition from a discrete, push-based manufacturing environment to a flow, pull-based one.
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In today’s manufacturing environment, suppliers and manufacturers alike need to be highly selective when choosing an enterprise resource planning vendor to support their product-specific Lean value-streams. Technology is a key element in the success of Lean manufacturing, and should be selected with an eye to the entire value-stream. Infor examines all elements of a Lean value-stream in this must-read white paper.
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The evolution of global discrete manufacturing is ongoing. How executives at manufacturing companies answer questions and anticipate what will be the right answer six months, a year, or two years from now will determine the success of their company. Infor examines current industry trends and identifies what it believes to be the seven trends producing the greatest stress and change in discrete manufacturing today.
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Fusion UV is the world s leading producer of ultraviolet curing equipment. Its outmoded legacy system couldn t handle the company s complex manufacturing system, and was threatening Fusion s ability to meet its promised delivery dates. By implementing FastTrack, a mySAP All-in-One partner solution, it improved accuracy in pricing, shipping, and purchase order processing.
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The globalization of discrete manufacturing is forever changing the notion of what a "small manufacturer" is. Even companies that are considered relatively small in revenue, employment, or client base, must now operate like the largest corporations when structuring and conducting their businesses. Infor examines how today's mid-market manufacturers are transforming themselves—focusing on business processes and employing ERP systems for their own operations.
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"Lean thinking" can cut down waste, enhance quality, and reduce lead time. This philosophy is part of an overall fitness campaign for the manufacturing sector. Businesses that are fitter are more flexible, responsive, and efficient. Navigating through the decisions required for Lean projects requires the decision support that only a well implemented enterprise resource planning system can provide.
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Successful demand-driven fulfillment manufacturing, include optimal channel and customer relationships, informed on-line buying and selling, order fulfillment, and integrated operational infrastructures. Manufacturers need to overcome challenges to demand-driven fulfillment by implementing a system that supports flexibility, openness, visibility, planning, e-commerce, collaboration, and integration where the ultimate objective is to minimize waste and optimize resources.
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Plastic suppliers require software systems that provide resources for multisite operations, including engineering, warehousing, and purchasing. However, most vendors solutions do not meet the specific needs of the plastics industry. IMPACT Encore solution gives plastics suppliers an encompassing solutoin that minimizes waste and streamlines process.
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Adopting on-line payment systems can help businesses improve cash flow and save time and money. Inovium’s integrated, web-based account receivable management application for electronic invoice payment presentment is one such system.
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Any company efficiency improvements are going to involve business process management (BPM). BPM ensures process consistency, optimizes business processes, and ensures compliance. The result is not only cuts in cost and time, but it adds a price value and creates a price advantage which helps companies enhance their competitive edge.
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For food and beverage manufacturers, the failure to meet demand peaks can result in poor customer service, lost revenue, stockouts, brand erosion, and—in extreme cases—being delisted by a major customer. However, with stock build optimization, manufacturers can minimize the time and total value of the stock being held, and realize higher profits and working capital.
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By integrating data from disparate systems and delivering data in a management dashboard on a personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone, Persistent enabled service engineers to collect and update data related to tire usage. This solution seamlessly integrated approximately 1,000 dealers in more than 15 European countries to central data servers and a CRM solution. The result? Improved customer end acquisition and satisfaction.
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Global manufacturers want an integrated view of the shop floor. In response, manufacturing execution systems (MES) have emerged as a powerful tool for integrating plant-floor data with information provided by applications, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). MES can connect the world, and it has an exciting future when combined with promising technologies such as business process management (BPM) and service oriented architecture (SOA).
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Formed by a merger, Saint-Gobain Semiconductor Equipment decided to replace its dual systems with a single application that could handle many users, but be supported by just five people. Sage ERP X3 was chosen for its enterprise-wide capabilities, ability to interface with SAP general ledger software, and ability to accommodate a large concurrent user population on a single client/server system.
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In 2002, Ganong, a midsize confectionery, selected Sage ERP X3 to fulfill its requirements for a software application with both batch and discrete capabilities for their mixed-mode manufacturing processes. Since the implementation, Ganong has reduced billing errors, and improved the accuracy and timeliness of production.
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One of the most neglected areas of the manufacturing and retail supply chain is the inbound logistics segment. Following best practices and creating a collaborative allows companies to save money and streamline operations.
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Aberdeen research shows that developing innovative products is a top priority for manufacturers today. Such manufacturers must understand how enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, like Arena Solutions, support innovation.
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DNA Group, Inc. is the North American distributor for Defond Manufacturing Limited, Inc, a major supplier of switches and electronics to the appliance, marine,
transportation, power tools, white goods, lawn & garden, and consumer electronics industries. DNA Group serves the global marketplace by emphasizing responsiveness and the
ability to focus on the needs of each individual customer and project.
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One of the unforeseen ramifications of the competition among software suppliers for market leadership in the high volume automotive and electronics industries has been a lack of attention to the industrial and commercial machinery manufacturing sector.
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The competitive drivers of the twenty-first century are time and service (responsiveness and flexibility). Many small and medium enterprises (SME) have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) as one of the technology tools to improve their performance. This whitepaper on supply chain management (SCM) for SMEs highlight the crucial role and importance of supply chains to SMEs, and distinguishes the different roles of ERP and SCM.
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As apparel and textile companies move to outsourcing production—relinquishing direct control in favor of a more cost-effective manufacturing model—a lean supply chain may appear to be the next logical step for further implementing cost and operational improvement. Not so, however. You can’t have a lean supply chain without lean manufacturing. Regardless of whether you or your partners engage in production, lean manufacturing is the lean engine that drives lean supply chain efficiencies. Accordingly, the business requirement for stability in a constantly changing demand environment motivates the fashion industry’s search for lean supply chain management principles and practices.
Intentia, in cooperation with industry experts, have written a series of thought leadership white papers on the concept of implementing lean supply chain in the fashion industry. The second of this series, From Lean Manufacturing to Lean Supply Chain explains how lean manufacturing relates to lean supply chain management and where it differs and sometimes conflicts.
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The biggest single issue in ERP is the failure of a successful implementation. It is mind-boggling to continually encounter companies who make major ERP gaffes in this day and age, especially since most of the trials and tribulations of MRPII implementation were suffered and
learned from in the early 1980's with alpha, beta and gamma releases.
The pertinent question is what are the main causes of ERP failure and what can be done to prevent this from happening to you? There are twelve major reasons for why companies get bogged down or fail in implementing ERP. This white paper addresses them.
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As international competition becomes more intense and as national barriers for trade gradually reduce, the era of global business is here to stay. Increasingly the difference between success and failure in the global marketplace will be determined not by the sophistication
of product technology or marketing communication, but by the way in which the global supply chain is controlled and managed.A global supply chain has to be agile and flexible enough to cope with differences in customer requirements
and yet should be able to reap the benefits of focused manufacturing in terms of economies of scale.
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In today’s hypercompetitive markets, process manufacturers and distributors face extremely challenging opportunities that require revisiting what were once thought of as basics in their industry. Two major components that can make or break a typical process company are in the areas of materials and machine and equipment management. Learn about the drivers that are specific to process manufacturing and distribution and how to satisfy them with an appropriately fitting ERP.
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Dillen Products, Inc. is a major supplier of plastic planters and trays to the grower segment of the horticultural market. Dillen needed a better way to manage its increasingly diverse inventory, meet the labeling and distribution demands of its major retailers, and integrate its warehouse management system (WMS) quickly and seamlessly into existing supply chain and financial systems. Dillen implemented Click Commerce’s WMS to offer customers a stable and reliable solution that is easy to install and support, while providing the flexibility and scalability necessary for future growth without the risk of major future investment.
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Invacare is the leader in the manufacturing and distribution of innovative home and long-term care medical products. For Invacare, warehouse management was a complex program, involving thousands of pieces moving through distribution centers, controlled by manual business processes. A typical customer order could vary greatly, ranging from a single carton to 4,000 cartons. The company needed to implement a new system that could handle orders equally well, regardless of size. Invacare implemented Click Commerce’s Warehouse Management Solution to meet the unique requirements of its warehouse operations.
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This paper discusses best practices observed from the most successful inbound logistics programs of manufacturing organizations in the automotive industry and among consumer packaged goods manufacturers. It also discusses the role of third-party logistics (3PL) service providers in terms of transportation and warehousing.
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Over the past 30–40 years, manufacturers have made dramatic leaps in improving their businesses by using lean manufacturing and Six Sigma techniques. The systems these businesses use, however, have changed relatively little in comparison. The ERP systems manufacturing companies rely on to run their business are greatly at odds with the strategy and processes lean manufacturers use to maintain their competitive advantage.
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Production based on the principles of lean manufacturing combined with Movex APP has been the key to significant improvements since the end of the 1990s at pump manufacturer APV Products in Horsens, Denmark. “By streamlining the many workflows, we have been able to cut out all the redundant processes. Thus we have seen an amazing reduction of delivery time, from twenty-five days to only a couple of days. At the same time our inventory turnover has increased, which means that our inventory has been reduced to a third. And last but not least, our productivity is higher.” Bjorn Sommer, Product Line Manager, APV Products.
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Every corporation needs to make decisions about the selection and implementation if new IT solutions on a regular basis. However, an industrial manufacturer or retailer cannot see this as being one of their core competencies. In most cases such a selection process is seen as a necessary evil rather than a challenge that uncovers new potentials within the company. Only the ones that are able to fully understand and control this process in conjunction with all internally and externally involved parties will be more successful then others. The implementation of new IT solutions can be a chance to increase efficiency, but only if the right goals are defined, the right solutions and partners selected, and results are being monitored on a continual basis. This white paper was designed to deliver you many hints on what to consider and help you reach your goals in your IT selection process faster.
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Extending supply lines overseas brings new commercial and operational challenges that are far more complex than ever before. Enterprises are exposed to an entirely new universe of costs and liabilities, operations, and resource and management needs. Next generation global cost control systems can help organizations overcome these challenges. These systems help enterprises understand the real time cost impacts and financial liabilities of global sourcing initiatives--while protecting profits.
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Core business processes must be at the center of go-to-market strategies if a company is to attain its revenue objectives. Sales configuration and pricing are a lethal combination—and an overlooked process. Learn how leading companies are using technology to successfully leverage this combination.
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Manufacturers everywhere are turning to “lean manufacturing” to help them combat competition from low-cost countries and meet the increasing demands from customers for shorter lead times, more product variety and smaller orders. Lean manufacturing is a philosophy that focuses on customer value-adding activities, elimination of waste and continuous improvement in order to meet pull-driven customer demand.
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Data integration is a key enabler for supply chain modernization. Competition is driving increased integration of the supply chain, both due to direct cost pressures and to increased globalization. There can be little doubt that well implemented supply chain integration saves labor costs and improves inventory control. This has often been a complex and costly proposition. Standards, improved products and a common understanding of best practices for distributed systems are reducing the price of entry to supply chain automation. This will, in turn drive broader integration of manufacturing and distribution endpoints.
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Maintaining a competitive advantage is paramount, no matter what business you operate within. Engineer-to-order (ETO) companies that produce complex products, usually in low volumes, and with project control techniques, are no exception. A lean enterprise involves the reduction or elimination of any activity that does not add value to a customer. In order to effectively utilize lean, lean concepts must be taken from the manufacturing floor and used thorough the ETO enterprise. This paper demonstrates how IFS applications supports the principles of developing a lean enterprise for ETO organizations. It demonstrates how process improvements apply equally to office-based functions, manufacturing, installation, and service activities.
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Manufacturers of capital equipment and highly engineered products face design, production, and delivery obstacles. The most challenging of these activities is scheduling projects and resource demand in a concurrent engineering environment. Learn about a resource scheduling tool that can allow you to put demand on materials, work-centers, and labor as soon as it is known—so you can deliver projects on time and on budget.
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With product lifecycles accelerating and pricing pressures increasing, organizations must focus on delivering unique customer experiences to differentiate themselves from the competition. Customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning technologies play a critical enabling role.
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SKF (AB Svenska Kullagerfabriken) was founded in 1907, with headquarters and a laboratory in Gothenburg, Sweden, and an R&D center in the Netherlands. SKF is the leading global supplier in its field, offering products, customer solutions, and services for rolling bearings, seals and specialty steel, claiming 20% of the world market share. SKF has 80 manufacturing sites employing about 40,000, and an additional 20,000 distributors in 130 countries worldwide. Revenue in 2001 reached 24.6 billion U.S. dollars, and for the first 9 months of 2002, SKF Group’s revenue showed 25.3 billion, grossing 2.04 billion.
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Following the general tendency in the metallurgy industry -knowing very well your product costs - Ductil Steel "alloyed" with Epicor iScala 2.2, the enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system provided by Epicor Scala in Romania, in order to maintain its leading position in manufacturing wires and wire products," said Gellu Brotan, CIO of Ductil Steel Romania.
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Tal como sucede con todas las empresas que mantienen una evolución y crecimiento constantes, hace un par de años Spring Air se enfrentaba con el grave problema de que la información se encontraba en diferentes sistemas que, en la mayoría de los casos, no estaban entrelazados
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Companies everywhere have realized the need for greater efficiency and improved quality within the enterprise to stay productive and competitive in today's business environment. In order to obtain these efficiencies, corporations have turned to the successful model used by manufacturers for years known as lean, just-in-time (JIT), or kaizen. The fundamental goal of lean manufacturing includes the reduction of waste increase in productivity and improved quality. Most manufacturers launch their lean initiatives in order to maximize work flow and obtain dramatic improvements in performance.
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Tighten and speed up the manufacturing supply chain to better align raw Materials inventory levels with production plans, and reduce inventory and administrative costs.
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When flexibility and speed are requisites for success, it’s the lean organization that leads the race. World-class manufacturing organizations know the value of focusing on the lean fundamentals: eliminating waste, simplifying processes, and continuously improving. By pursuing lean strategies—optimizing inventory and streamlining manufacturing processes—they can reduce inefficiencies and costs in their production processes, and improve customer responsiveness.
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Think SAP's Industrial Manufacturing Solutions are too big, too difficult, and too expensive? Our 30,000 midsize customers beg to differ. Companies like yours get powerful, proven solutions that are developed with industry specific functionality, live in as little as sixteen weeks, and delivered with fixed, affordable pricing. Smart solutions that save you time and money. That's no myth. With more than 30,000 companies under $1 billion and over 80 percent of the Fortune 100 as our customers, nobody knows how to support your business objectives better than SAP. Two-thirds of our customers are midsize companies like yours ... and the other third used to be.
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The challenges that face the manufacturing industry today are also opportunities. Manufacturing is being revolutionized in its processes, routines, and ways of doing business through the growing emergence of order driven production methods. This shift towards demand driven manufacturing is emerging in tandem with the larger currents caused by globalization. This cross industry brief focuses on the manufacturing industry from the standpoint of a demand driven IT solution and is aimed at manufacturing and distribution businesses. It describes some major market trends and issues, provides an overview of IBS supply chain solution, and offers details on how the IBS solution for demand driven manufacturing can address current needs of the industry.
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SAP's manufacturing solutions are based on thirty years' experience of the processes that drive your business. When you choose SAP, you're assured of powerful, best-in-class solutions designed specifically for midsize manufacturing companies like yours. All from a single provider. SAP provides mission-critical solutions to more than 1,400 industrial manufacturing customers around the world. If fact, we're currently the market leader, with a commanding 54 percent share of the global market, compared to just 13 percent for our next closes competitor. Gain greater visibility across your enterprise, get closer to your customers, and reduce inefficiencies.
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is fast replacing ScanCode technology in asset tracking and inventory management. Traditionally, asset tracking and inventory management in retail supply chain or manufacturing or service units depended heavily on manual scanning of bar code printed on each item at every strategic point. This white paper focuses on details of RFID technology and how you can automate asset tracking and inventory management of your enterprise using it. The white paper takes aid of a case study on how FicusSoft has developed and successfully implemented RFID integrated asset tracking and inventory management solutions for a reputed manufacturer of ultra-sensitive instruments used in the field of biotechnology and pharmaceutical research.
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No matter how sophisticated your ERP solution may be, the most critical factor in its success will be how well it handles exceptions--the seemingly quixotic mission of planning for the unplanned. These issues outside your established operational parameters can include supply, operational and demand exceptions, and can have a "butterfy effect" on your enterprise--impacting customer service, purchasing, plant scheduling, shipping and accounting. How well you respond depends on four critical factors: The speed at which you identify these exceptions; how thoroughly you communicate them within your enterprise, the business rules you have in place to handle these exceptions and how responsive your ERP system is to handling the above four factors. In this white paper, we will explore how you can manage these four factors in planning for exceptions in your enterprise.
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It’s all of these, plus more. Read this new white paper, Any Color Including Black: A New Guide to Demand-Driven Manufacturing, to find out how successful manufacturers—enterprises of all sizes, in industries as varied as consumer goods, industrial, life sciences, high-tech, and process manufacturing—-are using principles of demand-driven manufacturing to successfully compete again low-cost competitors.
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In the relentless pursuit of profitability and competitiveness, more and more companies are turning to lean manufacturing to reduce or eliminate waste in their production processes. Once confined to the automotive industry, lean principles are becoming standard operating procedure in many industries today. The reason is simple: When implemented with a good performance management system, lean principles have a proven track record of operational and strategic success, which ultimately translates into increased value to the end customer. This paper illustrates how IFS Applications supports lean principles, particularly in the many manufacturing environments that require both rate-based (takt-driven) and order-based shop-floor execution.
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Food giants and technology providers work together to improve the efficiency of food processing, and storage and distribution operations, so that food products can be harvested, stored, and moved to the dinner table quickly and at less cost. This vertical brief focuses on specific issues within today's food distribution industry, explaining how IT solutions can help food distributors improve efficiency and reduce overall costs that drive up profits in an extremely competitive, low margin business.
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Current manufacturing practices have been made cumbersome by the imposition of data recording activities required by manufacturing systems through the release, issuing, and expediting of the infamous work order. An integrated lean system utilizes full containers to signal the completion of product and backflushes the component material within the ERP system. Additionally, the integrated lean system (pull) can work simultaneously and in harmony with your MRP planning (push) to schedule your shop floor bottlenecks so that the bottleneck becomes the heartbeat (pull) for the remainder of the plant. Although originally scheduled, the bottleneck may use the integrated lean backflush routines as well! This white paper defines the integrated lean environment.
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A decade ago, process manufacturing excellence was defined by long runs, high capacity utilization, and low production costs. Today, excellence is determined by a company’s ability to respond to customer and market demand. In this report, Aberdeen and Ross explore winning strategies leveraged by world class manufacturers to achieve process manufacturing excellence.
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Productization of services is accomplished by associating tangible features with intangible service offerings. Tangible features may take the form of personnel, collateral, methodologies, pricing, facilities, or other attributes. Automation tools like enterprise service automation, database, and project management tools serve as enablers to service productization. By associating tangible features with intangible services, the professional services firm can build client confidence.
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Successful implementation of an extended ERP system is the result of knowledgeable and dedicated people working together. It entails company-wide commitment, openness to change, good planning and experienced guidance. Three primary criteria determine the probability of recognizing significant return on investment (ROI) from an ERP system. Using these criteria as guidelines during the system selection process and subsequent implementation can ensure that the chosen system will support and enable the business improvements envisioned. That’s ROI.
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Howard Johnson’s Enterprises, Inc. (HJE) is a provider of lawn and garden fertilizer products whose discrete manufacturing package assumed a discrete process. It took ProcessPro eight months to implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that worked to address HJE’s unique needs.
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Lean manufacturing, which focuses on eliminating waste in the production process, has been called the production system of the twenty-first century. Learn how IFS’ lean manufacturing solution gives you the technology platform you need to make your lean initiative a success—and your business more profitable.
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Vantage 8.0 is the next generation manufacturing solution developed by Epicor Software Corporation. It builds on the successes of the Vista, Vantage, Avanté and other associated discrete manufacturing product lines by introducing a total manufacturing solution for the midmarket. It is built to leverage the Microsoft® .NET Framework™ and Progressreg® OpenEdge™ Business Platform in order to provide a leading-edge technological solution that offers Epicor’s manufacturing customers a framework that will support their business needs now and in the future.
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To keep pace in today's automotive industry, suppliers must be able to move information swiftly through and beyond their organizations. With manufacturing sites increasingly scattered across the globe, the ability to exchange information rapidly is key to staying in the competitive race. Learn about the growing need for interoperability and how to overcome its challenges.
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This case study shows how Cephalon, a biopharmaceutical company, adopted the QAD MFG/PRO enterprise solution to address the management problems for their global spread manufacturing sites, packaging site, and workers. Read how it improved visibility and synchronization across global operations, improved inventory tracking, and better leveraged knowledge of enterprise assets.
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Today's cost conscious automotive environment requires that information technology (IT) projects be implemented rapidly, be delivered on time and on budget, and meet or exceed expected return on investment (ROI) projections. Learn how Cascade Engineering increased its efficiency and eliminated waste in virtually every aspect of its business, and saw cost savings of $500,000 per year as a result of business process improvement.
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The new reality for manufacturing CIOs is that budgets are far less than what they used to be and the ability to provide business intelligence to front line users in a simple and workable format is a new measure of information technology (IT) performance.
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Primarily due to rapid development of technology in the past thirty years, the market structure throughout the world has changed considerably. Local markets have become accessible to foreign manufacturers, who are able to perform well in their newly established territories in part due to their superior application of technology. In this light, most companies, including small and medium size, have embedded globalization in their expansion strategies, consistently seeking for new markets abroad. Consequently, local manufacturing companies are facing global competition, forcing them to adopt new concepts with respect to people, process and technologies. This document describes these approaches to production planning in detail as well outlines a software solution. The software solution (Production/3) combines both pull and push techniques and enables small to medium size organizations to fully automate their production system while retaining their investment in their legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
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Without strong system controls in place, job shop and make-to-order manufacturing environments can be extremely challenging. So where do you begin to make improvements? The Sales and Profit Growth Strategies report will help you evaluate your business and make that determination.
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E-mail marketing is experiencing dramatic growth as marketers in virtually every industry begin to take advantage of this power technique that helps to increase revenues and reduce sales costs. Learn how to take full advantage of this high-response, low cost marketing technique by learning the characteristics of this unique medium through proper management to generate metrics and facilitate future successes.
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In this document, we will explore the power of online self-service and how it contributes to healthy customer relationships and delivers viable cost savings. We will also address how technology from Epicor Software Corporation, a leader in the CRM space, can help deliver successful self-service.
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Product lifecycle management (PLM) enables companies to manage all information regarding a product, from the initial design and engineering through to manufacturing, sourcing, support, and run down. Traditionally, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions have successfully managed manufacturing-related information, but have at best, limited integration to the engineering systems such as product data management (PDM). Learn how the Vantage manufacturing solution offers a complete end-to-end solution that manages all aspects of a product's life.
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Enterprise performance management (EPM) is the validation of perceptions. It is the ability to analyze business conditions and provide visibility into day-to-day operations to enable more effective and timely decision-making. Learn how to link strategy and execution to encourage the continuous improvement with your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
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Whatever the reasons for pursuing a lead-time reduction strategy, time compression across all company processes is critical to growth, and in some cases means survival for today's manufacturers. Learn about the complementary nature of enterprise resource planning (ERP), value chain exceleration, and quick response manufacturing (QRM).
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Successful implementation of an extended enterprise resource planning system (ERP) is the result of knowledgeable and dedicated people working together. It entails company-wide commitment, openness to change, good planning, and experienced guidance. Learn about the three primary criteria of recognizing return on investment (ROI) from an ERP system and how using them during the system selection process and subsequent implementation can ensure that the chosen system will support and enable the business improvements envisioned.
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Midmarket service organizations face challenges in administration, project management, and business management. Learn how Australia's NATA reduced expenditures and increased return on investment (ROI) and how FMC improved customer visibility with Epicor's integrated solutions and enterprise systems architecture (ESA).
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When researching the right manufacturing software for your business, it is important to realize there is a difference between process and discrete software. A discrete software solution for a process manufacturing company will inevitably fall short, but after you identify your manufacturing operation and requirements, what is the next step? Learn about what guidelines to follow when viewing manufacturing software to ensure your company needs are addressed.
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This case study covers why a sporting goods and apparel manufacturer's selection team chose to purchase and implement the Made2Manage® Enterprise Business System from Made2Manage Systems.
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In 1999, Qualitel Corporation, an electronics manufacturer, earned $2.85 million (USD) in revenue. Just one year later, after implementing a new business model and the Intuitive enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Qualitel's revenue exploded 471 percent to $12.89 million (USD). By modernizing its operations, Qualitel decreased lead times and increased on-time delivery from 30 to 90 percent.
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Learn how Fabcon, once a small manufacturing company and now the premier sheet metal shop in Southern California catapulted its 55 percent on-time rate in 1993 to a 97 percent on-time rate a year later through business vertical integration and the help of Global Shop Solutions enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.
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Learn how SunGard Treasury Systems, a provider of Internet-based treasury management solutions to global corporate, government, and financial services organizations, consolidated its disparate databases into one centralized database for company and customer information.
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Learn how Boeing Autometric, a software and technical solutions provider for modeling, visualization, simulation, and analysis to customers in the defense, telecommunications, and commercial mapping industries, implemented a solution to manage customer communication and information.
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Learn how Viewpoint Construction Software used Clientele to combine its different databases into one common customer database that is customized to fit the unique needs of the company.
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Learn how InVision Technologies Inc., a leading provider of explosives detection systems (EDS) for airports, implemented a flexible support system that gives real-time visibility into customer issues.
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Learn how Mid-West Spring Mfg. Co., a spring manufacturing and stamping wire forming company, improved inventory accuracy by nearly 100 percent, streamlined operations, enhanced customer service, and improved intelligent analysis.
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Learn how Eastern Plastics, a small precision plastic machining, design, and assembly company, implemented an integrated solution and document management system to aid in its growing, international business.
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Learn how Harvey Vogel Manufacturing Co., a metal stamping and value-added assembly company, improved job costing and reporting.
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Learn how three small and medium businesses (SMB), ITW Wilsonart Canada, Neutronics, and Polk Audio, respectively employed an enterprise system to improve operation, visibility, and performance.
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Learn how Manitowoc Beverage Equipment, a leading designer and manufacturer of ice and beverage systems equipment, streamlined its new product introduction and engineering change order processing.
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Learn how Oetiker Inc, the foremost manufacturer and distributor of quality clamps, rings, and couplings improved customer satisfaction, shipping accuracy, and on-time delivery.
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Learn how AVCOM Technologies, a provider of comprehensive information technology (IT) products and suites to high-growth middle market companies, integrated its business processes with Microsoft .NET Framework and "e by Epicor" suite.
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Learn how Swiss-American Inc., a leading manufacturer of medical products, improved the accuracy of its inventory levels by adopting a new manufacturing system complete lot traceability, manufacturing resource planning (MRP), purchasing, and manufacturing projections.
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Learn how Cubic Defense Systems improved their overall product quality and government compliance, while conforming to support mission-critical processes by using Cincom's integrated quality management solution.
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Learn how Boeing Aircraft and Missile Systems reduced its manufacturing costs and increased production, while decreasing its warehouse footprint, and keeping all of its current staff in place.
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Many manufacturing companies have adopted or are considering the adoption of a demand-driven strategy. However, if you want to be demand-driven, you aren’t going to achieve it without adopting many of the tools, techniques, and principles that commonly reside within all of them. Some philosophies require a more intense re-engineering of processes and products than others. This paper addresses the various components and strategies for becoming a demand-driven organization, and how Cincom’s solutions can help you achieve that goal.
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