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ERP and Cloud Integration
In our day-to-day world of delivering and supporting cloud solutions, we often see typical small and midsize business growing up on Accounting Systems featuring a single one-way integration, spreadsheets and worst of all, we see disconnected legacy accounting systems, all of which create siloes of often redundant or conflicting data.
Digitizing those siloes won’t fix the problem. For a business to begin to transform (become fully interconnected), the team must support being a truly connected business. A connected business that has a single database, a consistent and uniform interface and dashboard capability that synchronises all records, data sources and systems under a “single pane of glass”. This requires a modern cloud ERP solution that can easily connect with other best of breed solutions where absolutely mandated.
Our "client-discovery" experience shows that modern cloud ERP solutions are not often appreciated for the power and capability when featuring open APIs. Often legacy solutions or client experience means that they have long used file-based importing and exporting and it must be asked if this process is requested to continue as to “why change” when you continue to get a file, place it on an FTP server, which then requires the other system to pick it up as a batch process. If something goes wrong—even as simple as having an extra comma, space, or another character—the process must start all over again.
Outdated and ineffective legacy ERP practices are no longer necessary. We live in a day and age with amazing innovation in technology, services, and solutions. Moving to a connected cloud services world is happening as we speak. Customers can move between their third-party applications without feeling the seams between the products and the services.
These services, however, can vary from industry to industry. A time-entry application that’s popular in manufacturing may not be as popular in construction. There are different application requirements and needs based on each business’ processes, which means the cloud ERP solution that a business chooses must be able to integrate seamlessly with multiple third-party applications. This is where open APIs are critical in becoming a connected business. Open APIs use a universal language recognized by multiple software services and data, and if presented correctly with low code or no code, requires minimal effort on the part of the developer or developers.
In addition, an investment in a modern ERP solution isn’t just about connecting to existing solutions—it’s also about solutions that might come into play in the future. Innovation is happening everywhere. What is the next best-of-breed application that is going to take your industry by storm? Is your investment future-proof?
Ultimately, businesses in all industries are going to have to decide how they’re going to proceed in this postmodern cloud ERP world. Their search for the right solution must rest on the idea that no one-size-fits-all option exists. Instead, they need to search for a partner with the right size and shape who can provide the cloud ERP integrations they specifically need for their business and industry. A one person operation who once could use Filemaker Pro - is not the safest support for your business
Cloudfactory.co integration platforms and experience are founded on open, flexible platforms. We believe we deliver the world’s best cloud and mobile technology with standard web technologies and development languages for easy customisation and integration. We look to our partners for constant improvements through updates and investment in R&D as we continue to innovate for our clients. At Cloud Factory we concentrate on the vendor supported Tools and we don't look for further solutions to act as the integration engine:
Dynamics 365 Business Central - Microsoft Dataverse
SAP Business One - Service Layer
SAP Business One - Integration Framework
MYOB Advanced - Web Services API
Though no one-size-fits-all solution exists, rest assured that our solutions and consulting and development experience for Cloud ERP integrations, provide a platform and value-add service that not only makes it easy to connect with other solutions your company uses and depends on today or even tomorrow.
Cloudfactory.co is committed to supporting an open world full of connected, succeeding businesses through our service delivery team.
Solution Choice: App-Fatigue or a Single Business Platform.
So, you have a fabulous point solution (Ecommerce, Shop Floor, Shipping, Payroll, Warehouse, HR) and if only you can tie all departments together.......?
From a historical perspective, it means that despite the preponderance of acronyms and the lingering frustrations of some companies limiting their options, integration has become easier and “a standard” capability. If you picked up this article thinking that integrating and migrating data between applications and web sites is complex, well of course it can be, but the rules are all the same whether the integration is simple or complex with multiple rules and depends on the complexity of the data that you are given but a most important consideration is, from our perspective, how do the tools that the vendors provide stack up and what is available and documented through the Application Programme Interface, API. It is at this point I am reminded of my Maths Teacher favourite taunt - Don't assume, in this case dont assume all tables and fields exist....!
What is the option for the growing company. A single solution or various point solutions from various vendors that may or may not have been tested and seen working together?
Accounting and Add-On App-Fatigue
If you are a small business looking to move from managing various spreadsheets then your first step must be an Accounting System and again, much like the earlier comment in this article that refers to the great capabilities of leading BP solutions, they in this case, Accounting Solutions, are all well respected. However the moment you need to automate Inventory, Customer Relationship, Fixed Assets, Purchasing, Forecasting, Warehousing then the question becomes do you add several "bolt-ons" or do you take the next step and implement a Business Platform that provides for all these aspects, reduces the application landscape (and the considerable management of various application touch points) and where there are very specific point system requirements such as Point Of Sale, Ecommerce etc then deploy accordingly and work with the partner of choice to consider the integration requirement.
High Value Processes
As we move forward with the adoption of current (and I purposefully say current rather than the catch all “modern” adjective) technologies, repetitive mundane tasks are beginning to disappear as the automation of your Business Processes increase. As I said earlier in this article this allows your most valued asset (your team) to concentrate on High Value Tasks that directly contribute to the bottom line.
What does a Business Platform include?
- Administration
- Finance
- Business Intelligence
- Sales
- Purchasing
- Inventory
- Project Management
- Fixed Assets
- Customer Relationship Management
- Assembly/Production
- Manufacturing
- Warehouse Management
- Service Management
- Integration Capability
So the tipping point for Accounting with Add-ons versus a cohesive Cloud ERP must be when either the number of transactions becomes greater than the systems can handle as they were first developed or when more than 1 add-on is required. This is certainly our understanding from projects that we have been asked to assist and is certainly not a self-serving statement. When you are ready - you are ready!
We hope you found this introduction helpful. If you have any questions on the topic of Integration or Cloud ERP, please do give us a call or or click below to contacts us.
