Category Archives: Technology

BizSlate, an ERP for the Small to Mid-Size Distributor

If you’re a small to mid-size distributor, with revenues under 100 M who is still running on QuickBooks (or even Microsoft dynamics), BizSlate is an ERP solution that you should be looking at — right now! BizSlate is doing for small-and-midsize distributors what Compiere and Made2Manage, are doing for small-and-midsize manufacturers — bringing usable, affordable ERP with exceptional supply chain support to the masses. And even though the official release of V1 doesn’t come out until Q4, BizSlate is already approaching two dozen distributors who are already using the solution, almost a dozen of which pre-paid for it over a year ago to be part of the usability design team.

With the sheer amount of data an organization needs to keep track of these days from an e-procurement, e-sourcing, spend analysis, risk management, and compliance perspective, it’s almost impossible for an organization with more than 10 Million in revenue to do without an ERP, but given that the annual total cost of the big ERPs still end up being in the seven figure range once implementation, training, maintenance, and infrastructure are factored in, these solutions are not affordable for the average small or mid-sized business. And while there are a number of SaaS best-of-breed solutions in each of the aforementioned supply management areas (like Coupa, iValua, Iasta, BravoSolution, BIQ, SupplierSoft, Vendormate, Lavante, etc.) that will allow an organization to collect and retain all relevant data, this data still needs to get into a centralized data store for inventory, warehouse, and logistics management; accounting; and spend analysis — a central data store that should probably take the form of an ERP solution. (And we recently pointed out how best of breed on an ERP backbone provides the best of both worlds.)

But not any ERP will do if you’re a small to mid-sized distributor. It has to be lightweight (as small to mid-size organizations don’t have the needs of large multi-nationals), SaaS (as they don’t have the IT departments either), low-cost (as they also don’t have large software budgets), and come in default configurations appropriate for distributors in different verticals (apparel, food & beverage, pre-manufactured components, etc.). And while Compiere and Made2Manage do well in the manufacturing world, and for the distributors who handle manufactured components and electronics, it can require some consulting and effort to customize them for apparel and food and beverage distributors, especially for certain organizations with certain processes.

Enter BizSlate. Before they spun it off from Ezcom software, the founders of BizSlate — who were focussed on low-cost EDI solutions for retailers — noticed the lack of appropriate ERP support for the small and mid-sized retail and distribution space, and decided to do something about it. Over the past year, they have designed a new SaaS-based ERP from the ground-up that addresses the everyday accounting, inventory, catalog management, and order management / e-procurement requirements of small and mid-sized distributors through a simple web-interface that is as easy to use as most of the new SaaS enterprise e-Procurement systems on the market. And they did it with the unique needs of the retail distribution space in mind.

The importance of their focus on the retail space, and the apparel space in particular, cannot be overlooked. In this space (as in food and beverage, but to a much greater extreme), it is generally the case that each distinct instance of a product (which is often a combination of colour, size, and style) needs to be its own line item and have its own SKU. As a result, setting up a clothing line in a traditional ERP system can often require days of manual entry as a user often has to create up to 100 products just to handle one shirt (10 sizes * 5 colours * 2 styles). If an average clothing line contains six shirts, two sweaters, four pants, three jackets, etc., and four new clothing lines are being carried, it is easy to see how thousands of new product records might need to be created in a traditional ERP, making the data entry so egregious that the ERP is almost unusable. In BizSlate, an administrator can batch-create new products simply by entering all the base product information and then defining the characteristics that define different instances and the set of values for each characteristic. A user can create hundreds of combinations in a matter of minutes.

In addition, they also looked at how orders were created and came up with bulk order template functionality that allows a user to quickly generate an order form for a product group, with a line for each instance of each product in the group, and a default order quantity for each group, or product. As a result, a user can generate an initial start-of-season order in a matter of minutes as all the user will have to do is change a few order quantities.

And this focus on process support is not limited to product and order creation. They also looked at the inventory management and accounting processes and made each step as easy as they could for the average user, focussing on collecting only the information that is required and only when it is required. The entire goal of the design is to keep the user out of the system as much as possible as success in this space depends on selling and generating orders, and then optimizing the inventory levels and logistics, not on mucking around with an ERP or trying to optimize pennies when the volume doesn’t exist to achieve FTL discounts from a big carrier.

As they are only in the process of releasing V1, there are still a few week areas, such as reporting which is limited to canned reports and accounting which only supports GL integration with QuickBooks, but even the functionality in these areas supports 80% to 90% of the needs of a typical distributor in retail or a related channel. V2, slated for Q2 next year, will have a fully integrated report writer, a (punch-out enabled) shopping cart, and support for carrier integration. But from an efficiency perspective, which was their goal, they’ve hit the nail on the head. The manpower savings alone will more than pay for the solution, and the value that a company will be able to generate through even the most basic spend analysis effort after deploying the solution for a year will be substantial.

In summary, if you are a small to mid-sized distributor, with revenues under 100M, in a retail vertical, and you don’t have an ERP, BizSlate is one company that you have to check out. They’re on the right track, and once you have your data in a centralized data store, bolting on a best-of-breed e-Sourcing or Spend Analysis engine will be a breeze, and your savings will multiply. (And yes, the doctor hasn’t been this impressed with an ERP effort since the early days of Compiere.)

All Roads Lead to Poland … Starting with Technology.

Recently, I pointed out how All Roads Lead to … Poland. As I was writing it, Venture Beat published a piece on why Poland is ready to hit the tech big time. According to the article, Poland has plenty of innovative companies with global potential, such as Appcod.es (which proclaims to be the Swiss Army Knife for App Store Optimization), Mobeelizer (cloud sync for your mobile apps), or Positionly (to track and improve your website’s position). Plus, with over 55% of the population online due to its solid level of technical education, it’s no surprise that Poland rank second in the world in the Top Coder ranking, with only Russia scoring higher.

And when you consider the English competency, and the relatively low wages, it makes it a very attractive destination for companies looking for an alternative to India, with companies such as 10 Clouds and Applicake looking to help you with your business. And now there is Angel and VC support in the region, including Hard Gamma Ventures, Innovation Nest and Point Nine Capital.

And blogging has hit the big time in Poland. Poland leads European markets in blog engagement, with only Japanese and South Korean visitors spending more time visiting blogs worldwide. The tech blogsphere is ablaze, with the most influential polish bloggers reaching an average of 11% of the technical blog audience.

And the fact that it still hasn’t adopted the Euro gives it an advantage in the financial crisis. Its weaker currency, the zloty, supports exports and foreign investment. Plus, as per the I Love Poland website, eating out in Poland is superb value for the money, making it very attractive to valley-types who like to travel, and dine well.

And it’s gearing up for technology. Over one quarter of its 66 industrial and technology parks, indexed on the Invest in Poland site, are dedicated to science and technology. And if you need help breaking into Poland on this side of the Atlantic, the USPTC (US-Polish Trade Council), the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (Poland), and the Poland Trade & Information Office of North America are there to help.

Best Practice Vendor Selection for True Multi-Nationals Part V: Stuck with an ERP? You do have options!

Despite claims to the contrary, you are not stuck being a sap or hearing prophecies from an ethylene-gas inhaling delphi. You do have options. Acquisitions might have some analysts in a tizzy, but you only need to remember one thing. Don’t Panic.

Ariba & Emptoris were not the only best-of-breed game in town
You still have options, and these options are on both sides of the Atlantic.

Best of Breed vendors eat, sleep, and drink procurement
Unlike do-it-all or ERP vendors, best-of-breed procurement vendors are focused entirely on procurement and, as a result, they tend to be much better at it than do-it-all or ERP vendors, especially supplier enablement, which we all know fuels the e-procurement benefits engine.

Best of Breed on an ERP backbone can offer significant advantages

  • Best of Breed providers often know the ERP systems better than the consulting implementation partners, who care more about weaseling their way into long-term strategy consulting than a successful implementation. (For example, there are a couple of vendors with over 100 customer SAP implementations, who know the system way better than a Big 5 consultant on his second implementation.)
  • Best of Breed providers have enabled hundred of thousand of suppliers, maybe more, over the years … in all regions of the world … your 347 suppliers aren’t going to make them flinch (and it’ll be faster and cost less, because once again, they’ve been there, done that … a few hundred thousand times.)
  • Best of Breed provider’s customers are all former ERP e-procurement / consulting implementation customers … that’s right, most of whom have already failed using the ERP/consultant approach, spent the millions, got 7 punchouts and 11 catalogs implemented … now they spend thousands and get … well, you already know … actual results and benefits.
  • Best of Breed providers have to be better than the ERP or broad portfolio providers, because they can’t fall back on their CRM sales or app server license revenue if they don’t deliver.
  • And because of all of this, Best of Breed providers have way more references than the ERP providers. Those big ERP guys based in Germany have two significant e-procurement references … one they’ve been using for 3 years, and another from a company I never heard of on this side of the Atlantic … I know of one Best of Breed provider who has 19 published case studies, and has only lost one customer in 14 years, and that was after this company was a customer for 9 years, and decided to outsource IT, and the outsourcer, IBM brought in an ERP to replace all of the internal systems.
  • Best of Breed providers’ SaaS-type offerings and supplier networks eliminate the need for your IT department or external consultants to be involved, so they implement faster and less expensively
  • The most successful Best of Breed providers have service organizations around the globe to assist with implementations and provide stability.
  • Best of Breed providers fill in the gaps where ERP fall short. ERP may try, but it is not all-in-one and they are usually a year or more behind the Best-of-Breeds functionality-wise.
  • Best of Breed works and they have the client stories to prove it. Follow SI’s advice and check their references.
  • Best of Breed will help your SUM (Spend Under Management) soar.

Consider your options carefully. A Best of Breed solution on your ERP backbone might be the best decision you can make.

Best Practice Technology Vendor Selection for True Multi-Nationals Part IV: Open the Doors for a Truly Successful RFX

In the first three parts (I, II, and III) of this series we discussed the proper RFX process to follow when attempting to select a technology(-based) solution provider (for e-Procurement and e-Sourcing in particular) as a true multi-national. We noted that while most companies more-or-less understand the high level process, most get the implementation wrong, focussing too heavy on feature-function checklists (that are usually put together by vendors, even if they are obtained from third parties) and too little on a vendor’s global implementation and support capabilities.

If your organization follows the advice presented, starts with the customer references, and only spends time and energy reviewing those vendors with a track record that suggests that the vendor could meet your global implementation and support needs, then your organization is off to a great start. But this isn’t the only best practice that your organization should be following in the selection of a vendor for your global technology needs. In this post we’ll cover five more.

The Core Solution Litmus Test
Once the vendor has passed the customer litmus test, the next litmus test is the core solution requirement litmus test. After dividing all of the stakeholder problems into must solves, should solves, and nice-to-solves, make sure that the vendor has solutions (technology, services, or a combination thereof) that address each of the must-solve problems and most of the nice-to-solve problems. The vendor is not right for you unless it is a global, cultural fit that brings the right solutions. (There’s no checking of feature/function boxes at this step.)

Third-Party Claim Verification
Most vendors will make big claims in terms of their platform capabilities. Just like a vendor’s ability to serve your organization globally should be challenged and verified with customer references, so should its ability to fill your technology gaps. Not only should you talk to their partners, but talk to analysts, bloggers, and other third-parties they have interacted with and whom have seen (part of) their solution.

Open Book Negotiations
In addition to third-party claim verification, don’t be afraid to force a vendor to prove every claim, statement, and assumption. This should not stop at current, successful, customer references. The vendor should let you speak to analysts it has relationships with, consultants who have implemented their solutions, auditors to verify their financial stability, and even ex-customers if asked.

End-To-End Total Cost of Ownership Elucidation
What is the true cost of the solution to your organization AND your supply chain? This goes beyond the end-to-end platform cost, as discussed in this classic post on Cost Model Calculations in SI’s Enterprise Software Buying Guide series, but also includes any costs that will be borne by your supply base. It’s often the case with e-Sourcing/e-Procurement solutions with Supplier Information Management, Supplier Portal, or Supplier Network functionality that a vendor will charge your suppliers an access fee. An access fee that is just going to hit your organization with interest in a year when your suppliers raise their prices to cover the fees you caused them to incur. In Procurement, a penny saved today at your supplier’s expense often translates into a quarter spent tomorrow. (And if you don’t believe me, then you need to work on understanding the cost of capital throughout your supply chain. Remember that sound, conventional financial management is NOT good for supply chains.)

Open Finals*
Typically, the final negotiations in this space are more secret than what goes on beyond closed doors at Area 51, scientology headquarters, and the backroom of the club where Wall Street mega deals really happen. This is dumb. Blind auctions may be okay when buying commodities, but it’s the last thing an organization should do when buying a critical piece of functionality where a failed implementation will cost (tens of) millions or more. Not only should each vendor be aware of whom it is up against, but vendors should be asked to promote their strengths and counter their opponents weaknesses. They should be instructed to tell the truth, even when asked tough questions (about customer retention and defection to a competitor), and penalized for false answers. Remember, good vendors are honest, especially about the occasional (big) mistake that they made, learned from, and put measures in place to prevent ever repeating it.

If your organization implements the best practices covered in this series, then chances are, it will have no choice but to prepare for success!

In order to get you started, if you are a multi-national looking to roll-out an e-Procurement solution in a multiple countries and languages, want a single solution provider with a global presence that can manage all aspects of the solution implementation including integration to the back-end ERP and supplier on-boarding and support, and has a proven track record of delivering globally, your short list should probably include: Wallmedien, Hubwoo, and Capgemini/IBX. If you are looking for e-Sourcing, your short list should probably include BravoSolution, GEP (Global eProcure), and growing up-start iValua.

* Nothing to do with tennis, folks!

Best Practice Technology Vendor Selection for True Multi-Nationals Part III: RFX – You’re Missing the Most Important Point!

In this post we continue our series on best-practice vendor selection for your enterprise e-Procurement and e-Sourcing solution. As per Part I, this series specifically relates to the selection of technology(-based) vendors for your enterprise software needs, and e-Procurement and e-Sourcing solutions in particular (as reiterated in Part II).


What is the ultimate goal of your organization’s technology acquisition project? To get an e-Procurement/e-Sourcing system? No. To increase efficiency / save money / get more spend under management? No. To get satisfaction? No.

The ultimate goal is your organization’s success. That’s the only metric you care about when initiating the technology acquisition project (TAP) dance . And if your organization is a global multi-national, then your organization’s success depends on the vendor’s ability to deliver globally. Not how many boxes the vendor can check on some random feature / function check list. Because, as we discussed in our last post, where large-scale roll-outs are concerned, there are only a few standalone best-of-breed sourcing and procurement technology vendors that will make the shortlist for a given organization.

One thing that your organization needs to be aware of is that this is not 2002, this is 2012 and both e-Sourcing and e-Procurement functionality is more-or-less commoditized among the established vendors. Sure, some will have features G, H, and I while others have features J, K, and L, but they all have critical features A through F. And as for features G through L, if they are valuable, the other vendors will catch-up, and the time it will take them is usually less than six months nowadays, and if a feature is made a contingency of a deal, the catch-up time is probably shorter still!

Another thing your organization needs to be aware of is that starting with a short-list of vendors that it is fairly certain can meet its needs will not only significantly reduce the length of the evaluation process (as it is no longer a question of “can the vendor meet my needs” but a question of “is this the best vendor to meet my needs”), but also significantly reduce the organization’s risk. If the organization needs to operate in forty countries and twenty languages, and doesn’t do it’s homework, it could end up wasting six months evaluating three vendors who don’t have a reference outside of the US and UK and who don’t support customers in a language other than English. If it has a deadline of nine months, what does it do? Either it takes the last vendor in the pipeline, if any are left, or rushes out to find another one, with no time to consider how appropriate the vendor it is for its needs or its organizational culture.

Which is another point that is often missed in the traditional implementation of an RFX cycle. Cultural considerations are typically ignored in technology selection, ignoring the fact that people have to use these systems — people who work, think, act, and like to conduct business in a certain way (and like to interact in a certain way with technology and technology / service providers). As a result, good technology selection is not just a matter of check-the-box when a strong vendor interaction is required. If two or more vendors are more-or-less equal from a functional/process selection, the tie-breaker should be cultural alignment. Does the vendor have the same goals? Work to the same metrics? Conduct itself in a similar manner? Give your customers and suppliers the same respect? These are important, but often overlooked, questions. Don’t forget them.

In our next post we will dive into more best-practices to truly take your technology acquisition project to the next level now that your RFX process is back on the rails.