Why modern businesses go for Web-Based Business software Solutions?

Modern business requires short lead time to market. All functions including software system integrating information across organization and modules to enhance their competitive advantage will reduce market lead time.  But alas, individual client-server package software does not allow easy integration. Linking multiple standalone software together may need specialized experts, high cost and time to implement. Not to mention the internal organization resistance towards system changes and complexity. But then, why should you change to a web-based business solution?

Integration and Visibility

As business starts to grow in size, top management has less visibility over their operation which is especially true with business that have multiple locations and retail businesses. Top management loses control over its branches, lacks visibility over business processes, often finds information outdated and difficult to make decision without real-time information.

Accessibility

Web-enabled systems allow everyone in a company to access its system anywhere, anytime via Internet. Imagine that you can even control your business simply by just logging in to the system, right at home or anyplace you travel in the world 24 hours!

Real-Time Information, Better Decision Making

Since information will be updated instantly through Internet, you will be able to view real-time information and thus be able to make better decision. This is particularly important for time-critical businesses, ie. the purchasing department will be able to view real-time stock levels for all store to allow accurate purchasing and orders.

Empowers Control

Management will be empowered to control their businesses better. How? Updates of pricing can be done online to take effect in selected branches or all branches across the world. Authorization of certain business process can be done online, ie. purchase order at remote branch over a certain amount must be authorized by Purchasing Manager in central location.

Now, having shared just a few of the benefits of using a web-based business solution, there are factors to consider before jumping off the wagon to buy one.

Availability and Support

Choosing a web-based business solution provider will be the very first step in getting your solution. It is very important that you choose a company that is able to scale their solution, able to support your business growth, local support availability and is always there to standby when you require them. You will also want to find out if the provider can give trainings to your staffs.

Background and Credibility

The world now is filled with names and alternative so how to choose a provider, you may want to look at the brand and reliability. However, what is more important is to look at the background and the credibility of the providers. You may want to avoid agents or third party providers of a certain branded software company. Be aware of their background, experience in hands-on solutions and do your due diligence in getting feedbacks from their existing customers, too.

Cost

While having a famous provider could be fanciful, it also comes with higher costs. Therefore, be prepared with a budget for your Information Technology costs, which could range from 0.5% to 3% of your annual revenue. However, if you have done enough due diligence, checked on the background of the provider and satisfied with it, might as well carry on with the provider if it offers somewhat lower in costs. Some providers even offer low start-up costs or payments on a monthly basis. Also find out the cost of trainings provided, if the providers do offer trainings. Should it be an international company, be prepared to fly in the trainers from overseas and incur additional cost which comes with it.

Services

Do find out what services that the providers provide. Get one which you can work with for long term. Some companies are only doing consultancy and provide advice while some implement the solution. You may want to look for a company who does all – from consultancy to implementation of the solutions up to support and future scalable requirements as your business grows. As explained earlier, changing may be stressful for your company – so, find out if the providers provide data mapping, business mapping and applications mapping to ease the transition period.

Ownership of Software

Also find out if the ownership of the software belongs to the provider. Some providers are only do implementation of software but do not own the software themselves. If the providers do not own the software they implement, changes in requirements of future scalability come with higher maintenance cost.

Scalability

Some software providers offer possible upgrades which may benefit your business. However, further expansion of the software very much depends on the software providers themselves. You may want to look into companies which couldprovide customizations and future expansion of its software. Do ask for the costs that come with it as most customizations come with costs.

Negotiate Terms

Once you have chosen a provider, be prepared to negotiate terms and charges with the providers. Providers which offer lower start up cost may impose a certain minimum period of usage, to cover their high start up expenses and initial investments. Discuss on warranty period, re-training your staffs should there be turnovers and support packages provided. Providers may also charge a certain amount of deposits which may range from 30% to 60% of the whole cost of implementation.

 1.  Workflow Authorization

You may have set a rule that every purchase order exceeding RM5,000 must have your authorization signature. Your staffs have issued a purchase order awaiting your signature. But alas, you are at Hawaii enjoying your holidays for another week. XeerSoft allows online authorization as long as the workflow and rules are set in the system. Logging in to the system to approve a purchase order or escalate the matter to any higher management is as easy as of clicking the mouse.

Workflow Authorization – you can see from one page all the processes awaiting your approval as well as all necessary information related with them.

2. Security Checks

Customers may have been owing you money for months or have taken stocks over credit limit. However, your staffs using manual system could not detect the risks. Even having known that the customers have far exceed credit terms or over credit limit, your staffs may still issue invoices to customers without your knowledge. By the time you found out, it may be too late. XeerSoft has various security checking that alerts your staffs as well as extra safety measures like passwords in order to carry on transactions. You may also have these transactions be forwarded workflow authorization module for your approval.

Pop up alert message for customers over credit limit

3. Photo capturing for Time Attendance

Conservative punch card system allows frauds and requires manual timesheet calculation of work hours monthly. Sophisticated biometric system may reduce frauds but increases maintenance expenses and could be inaccurate.XeerSoft Time Attendance system features photo-capturing using webcam at log in and log out. This is an inexpensive way to monitor staffs attendance especially when staffs are working in multiple locations nationwide or even worldwide. Its web-based capabilities allow instant monitoring and real-time punctuality reports. At the end of the month, calculation of work hours is brisk and could be imported to XeerSoft Payroll system.

XeerSoft Time Attendance system features an inexpensive photo-capturing capability to prevent frauds of staffs logging in for one another.

4. Audit Trail Logs

XeerSoft system also features audit trail logs for businesses to track usage of the system and monitor any modifications done to the system.

Sample of Audit Trail screen which logs the I.P. address, user login, module, date, time, changes made and remarks

• Web-based POS (Point-of-Sales) System
• Accounting and Financial solution implementation, Integration with e-payment system
• Account consolidation with multiple stores or company names
• Inventory and Stock Control
• Merchandising system with forecasting and Auto-Ordering
• Membership and Loyalty program
• WebEDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
• Online Time-Attendance system with payroll and work schedule integration
• F&B POS system catered for the food and beverage industry

Complexity of multiple locations, setup of multiple company names as well as difficulties in managing controls in multiple stores, XeerSoft completes the puzzle by providing the solutions! It is a norm to face problems in managing controls of stocks, accounts, cash flows and even human resources when any business expands to exceed three branches. An estimate of 26% of retail and service business will fail in 2009. Will your business be the surviving 74%?

The XeerSoft difference

XeerSoft understands challenges of retail industry, having long-term partnership model with Econsave supermarket since its infancy till stretching of more than 30 branches nationwide. Others include Vietmaland (Timberland retailer), Family Food Joint Stock (operates 5 Parkson supermarkets in Vietnam), Healthlane Pharmacy (12 branches), Purplecane (16 branches nationwide) and many others.

XeerSoft provides business know-how, process and consultancy for business solutions in the retail industry. More than that, XeerSoft implements the solution with our renowned in-house system, further providing support, training, research, development of new features based on industry best practice, quality assurance process, hosting of servers and maintenance. A one-stop solution!

Talk to us if you want to implement Retail Solution to empower your business. Whether you have 3 branches or a chain of 100 branches, XeerSoft is confident to assist you to greater heights!

Newly developed web-based F&B Point-Of-Sales system where headquarters could have absolute control over pricing at branches, visibility over real-time sales, and flexibility of amendments at any point of time. Integrated with online Time Attendance system, work schedule, accounting, inventory and stock control.

We will also look into factors to consider before implementing web-based accounting system or online accounting solutions.

Here, we are talking about desktop accounting where you buy boxed software off the shelf, install onto your computer and use it. Web-based accounting system will have you login to your system using Web Browser and process transactions via the Internet.

Desktop Accounting

Let us first examine desktop accounting. Fast, really simple, easy-to-use and comprises of all basic features of accounting. Anyone can simply buy the software off-shelf and use immediately. A majority of account clerks are familiar with desktop accounting, making it easier to implement such system. Come auditing time and ending financial year, accountants and auditors will spend time examining full year accounting records, do currency realizations for the full 365-day period, check on records and authorize financial reports. One-system-fits-all as accounting principles is quite similar.
So, if desktop accounting is meant for your business, continue using it until there is a need to upgrade. Allow me to shed lights into why “higher grades” of accounting systems are needed.

 Web-based Accounting

When companies grow larger and expand, one system does not fit all anymore. Even companies in the same industry may have different accounting practices. Example, a company allows a post-dated cheque to be included as credit limit but another company may think otherwise.

Understanding different needs in accounting, XeerSoft figures out a few key points to look at when purchasing a web-based accounting system.

• Up-front costs
• Implementation Speed
• Security and Accessibility
• Configurable and Scalability
• Support and Training

Implement a “ready-made” web-based accounting will be more affordable and quicker to deploy compared to writing your own accounting software. While programmers and software developers can write codes, too seldom an Information Technology expert could also understand accounting and financial terms unless he is well-trained and experienced in both fields.

Web-based accounting systems host your data in a cloud server. Therefore, it will automatically utilizes services like data replication and backups. Also find out if data can be saved or exported to a file format you could use, such as a spreadsheet. Most vendors charge extra for these services, do ask for the pricing as well.

You have the flexibility to access a web-based accounting system anywhere and have overall control even if you have multi-companies in multiple locations. On the other hand, you can set the web-based accounting system with security in restricting access – you only want your users at your fixed location to use this web based system.

Also ensure that the system can be configured to your needs. First list down requirements for your accounting needs and find out if the system could fulfill your needs. Ensure that the system is scalable – can be upgraded and integrate with other modules easily. You normally look into implementing a new system because your business is expanding. So, if your software does not support your business expansion, do not rely on it.

XeerSoft Factor

At XeerSoft, we provide a complete business requirement study to configure a web-based accounting system that fitsyour business and supports business expansion. Extra features in XeerSoft Web-based Accounting System includesmulti-currency, multi-lingual, multiple companies accounts consolidation, multi-currency realization, workflow authorizations, middleware to link to hypermarkets electronic data interchange systems and easily scalable by integration with XeerSoft modules.

Browse to www.XeerSoft.com/Accounting for more information, screenshots and articles related to accounting.

This article will explain the different stages of IT implementation maturity.

Computerization

The first transformation of a company to use IT is the replacement of paper process with data keyed into computer instead. This would immediately bring benefits of data now being able to be retrieved easily from the system, instead of inefficiency to do with paper. However, this is just the replacement of work from doing it on paper to be doing it in a computer instead.

Most companies have reached this stage of IT implementation, as they have their computers and standard software for their daily operations. They would be able to generate their reports and print their documents from the system.

Automation

When the company grows, they would find that with the company will face the same problem as before, that there is more and more work that needs to be done by the same headcount. Many companies who are not able to transform, would have to slow down their growth and expansion because of this issue. However, companies that brings their IT to the automation level will fly high.
By having IT automate the work of the staff, companies are able to gain more productivity from each employee. Things which computers are good at, should let computers to do, allowing employees to work on higher business level need of the company.

Automation tasks which IT should do are like commission calculation, where if manually staff is to do, would take days to generate. This saves not only manpower, but by opening up the commission to be daily commission, this boosts sales for salesman striving to meet sales target.

There are many processes which businesses can automate on. Do you see anything in your company which is manually done by your staff which you think IT can help in? Transform it to an automation program and reduce staff work!

Process Rationalization

Computerization and Automation would help centralize your business process and makes it faster. However, your business process is still just a migration from the previous paper-based process. Businesses needs to shift to the next paradigm of IT and Internet system and process. This level would be Process Rationalization of your business with IT.

Rationalized process would take advantage of IT to enhance your current process. If your normal process is for managers to sign off in all purchases, a rationalized process could be for the system to only show the managers purchases above certain amount that need his attention. If you have to look at a aging and post-dated cheque reports to find which customers to chase payment, a rationalized process would be for the system to find out and email out to you the customers that need your involvement.

In the rationalization process, the existing flow is optimized to remove unnecessary steps, and enhanced to add in more control to align closer to your business flow. When a business has reach this evolution, your business process would be unbinded from your paper trail, and more on data flow.

Integration

Now with your department already optimized to the new age of IT, the next phase of transformation for the company is to have an Integrated Process between the departments or with external parties. This reduces duplicate work done by different departments, and communications and aligning of data as well.

The most common data integration in the system is between inventory and accounting module. More complicated integration is between invoices and orders between companies within the same holding company. Instead of needing to key in both company accounts, this is automated and saves 2-4 times duplicate entries for the same document.

Bank Statement and Credit Card Reconciliation also takes a lot of manpower to be read when it’s a paper-based statement sent to your company by the bank. Manually using the eye to view both results from the computer and the bank statement is prone to mistakes and is tedious for the accounting department. Computers can do the same logic again and again without being tired and complain, and with better result and accuracy. Integration your system with the bank’s system output enhance your company productivity further.

Other integration includes EDI, and automated import / export functionality which saves manual process by clerks in a company

Strategic IT

The final step of IT transformation is for the company to be able to use IT to achieve Strategic IT advances. At this phase, the company would be able to make strategic decisions and benefits with information and recommendation provided by system and software.

Companies in retail use IT to transform their ordering process from manual centric calculation by buyers to an automated ordering system. The system would provide suggested order through product’s pareto ratio,  movement and sales trend calculation, allowing store operations to scale easily. Strategic reports like product ABC reports allow users to identify and take action only on the important items.

Managers of the company which has reached Strategic IT maturity are freed up to think about any company initiative, without thinking of constrains brought by manual process or IT system. IT in the company is matured into a level that it can support any new company plans for growth and expansion.

Final Words

With each IT maturity, it will bring a whole new set of IT benefits to the company. Which level do you think your company is in? How do you think IT can help you? Xeersoft can lead IT transformation in your company. Please feel free to contact us at sales@xeersoft.com if you need more information.

Laying Plans for ERP Implementation

So, your company have decided to upgrade your Accounting and Inventory software to a new ERP system. You have sent out invitations for Vendors to present the system to your company. What else is there to do? You would need to plan for this change.

Upgrading the Accounting and Inventory software is a big project for a company, but with a high potential for failure if not done properly. Survey shows that 50% of all ERP implementation fails. Therefore, your company cannot afford to fail by not planning for the ERP implementation.

To quote the famous strategist Sun Tzu:

“The general who wins a battle makes many

calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.

The general who loses a battle makes but few

calculations beforehand.

Thus do many calculations

lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat:

how much more no calculation at all!

It is by attention

to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.”

The Moral Law

Maybe you are a business owner who after seeing your friend using smartphone to view reports, decided to change the system. Maybe you are a operation manager who newly joined the company and see that the software is using DOS and a lot of excel documents and then decide to change the system. Or it maybe your boss who asked for the upgrade.

However, to upgrade the ERP, it cannot be just one person that decided and push through for a new system. There have to be a solid and beneficial reason for the ERP implementation. One have to first setup the overall objectives of the ERP system, for each levels of the company. These level would include management, operation managers, as well as entry users.

Once the reason for the upgrade has been identified, everyone need to be briefed about this reason for change and then be made to be committed to making this happen. Top management need to commit time and resources. Operation managers need to commit time for study and advice on process flow. Entry level positions need commitment to learn new system and reports.

ERP implementation is a big process. It cannot succeed by itself, or with just a small group. It would need a whole company’s commitment to ensure it’s success. By identifying the reason of the upgrade, and ensuring everyone knows the direction and aligns themselves to the change, then the ERP success would be much closer.

The Commander

To direct the ERP project towards success, the project would need a dedicated project manager for this implementation. Too often, this position is given to the ERP Vendor, but this is not recommended. The vendor’s project manager may not have the objectivity to think for your company first. Your company should assign a Project Manager from within your internal staff, to ensure the company view is taken care of.

The Project Manager role most often is given to the IT Manager or the Operations Manager of the company. This Project Manager should have the following attributes:

• Wisdom to understand the current and future operation process of the system, and the objective of the software and the future direction of the company.

• Sincerity in giving the best for the company

• Benevolence in getting everybody’s view and ensuring no one is left behind or disadvantaged during the process

• Courage to make difficult decisions and choices when encountering problems and bottlenecks

• Strict in ensuring new policy and schedules are met

You cannot have too many project managers for the project. Too many cooks spoil the porridge. When evaluating the project manager, one have to know that not everyone is suitable for this task. So, you have to decide carefully to ensure your company allocate the best person for this role.

Heaven

Preparation for the ERP project need to include creating a schedule which is in line with the company operation calendar and the resource available. ERP implementation is a disruptive force for the company. Therefore, one need to schedule the implementation to minimize the disruption to the company.

For example, if you can time the Accounting module start date to be after the year-end closing so you do not need to migrate or re-keyin the initial year’s transaction. Your Inventory and Point of Sales systems also should be migrated after Raya sales, so reduce need for staff to learn new process flow and system during peak period.

It is important to factor in the additional time and resources needed for studying, training and implementation. If you overwork the people during the implementation, you not get the result you want but get more mistakes or problems. By preparing the correct schedule that will fit the business operation calendar, you will be assured of getting sufficient resource to focus on the upgrade.

Earth

One of the reason to upgrade your company software is to get a better system. To know what is better, you have to first understand what is the current software capability. Is this a standard system, or was the software modified before? Is there any special feature that is good in the current system that you wish to retain similar in the new system? What are the documents, reports, import/export and entries that the company are using? By understanding what the software is now, you can plan for what the software should be in the future.

Similarly, one would need to prepare and identify is the business and process flow of the organization. From quotation to payment in purchasing, to order and billing, as well as new item registration and commission calculation, one would need to be fully aware of the operational process of the company. This way, one can identify what new ERP software need to handle.

Another thing to prepare is the hardware and the IT infrastructure of the company. Do you need a better client PC to handle the new system? If you are targeting a web-based ERP for better control over multiple locations, you would need to check the availability of internet or data transfer procedure in all the locations. You may also need to purchase new servers for the new ERP system. Please do necessary preparation to ensure there is sufficient manpower and budget to handle IT requirements besides the ERP software itself.

Method and Discipline

Method and discipline is needed for the success of the ERP implementation. The project manager need to ensure the division of tasks among the company structure, ensuring each group leader is sufficiently capable of handling their operation task, and therefore, able to enforce the new process and system to the next level. The department head need to commit in making sure individual migration or training timeline is met for the ERP schedule.

There maybe resistance to change the software or the process by some levels in the company. The ERP system implementation would fail if the end-users are not involved from the start and in the end refused to accept ownership in the end. We would need to ensure we prepare sufficient case for upgrade of the system and keep the discipline of those responsible to be involved in the change process.

Finally, for the project, the company need to plan the communication path between the project manager, departmental person-in-charge, as well as with vendors, top management and end-users. Poor communications prevent different parts of the organization from assessing how they will be impacted by the changes in processes, procedures and systems. Planning the communication is vatal to managing change in a corporate environment.

Conclusion

Upgrading your current Accounting and Inventory system to ERP is not an easy process. You would have a better chance of a smooth and successful implementation if you prepare well for the project.

Although these are small businesses, the upcoming proposed 6% Goods and Service Tax (GST) will equally apply to them from April 1, 2015 once Parliament approves the GST bill which is expected to be debated in the March/April 2014 session.

Early preparation is very important since April 1, 2015 date will soon be here. The following are a few things business owners should be looking at to prepare yourself :

1) Understanding the general GST mechanism.

Customs and various professional bodies such as the Chartered Tax Institute of Taxation of Malaysia and industry associations are conducting GST awareness sessions which will provide a quick overview of the GST mechanism.

There is substantial information and educational materials and GST guides on the Royal Malaysian Customs website at gst.customs.gov.my. You can also find reading materials from the websites of most professional bodies and industry associations and accounting firms.

Please note from April 1, 2015 the Sales Tax Act 1972 and the Service Tax Act 1975 will be repealed subject to certain transition rules applicable to legacy matters and will be replaced by GST. All facilities and exemptions given under the old regime will be removed from April 1, 2015.

2) Should you register for GST or not?

If an SME is making wholly exempt supplies such as financial services, healthcare services, educational, transport services and supply of land for residential or agricultural purposes etc, such SMEs cannot register for GST.

Mandatory registration is required for businesses with annual sales of taxable turnover exceeding RM500,000. However voluntary registration of businesses below the threshold is allowed, provided the business enterprise can show that it plans to stay in business in the future.

Registration, allows the business owner to claim the GST paid on the purchases or inputs which will otherwise become a cost. Of course registering comes with a cost of compliance, therefore a cost benefit analysis must be done before opting for voluntary registration of GST.

In doing this analysis business owners should also consider factors such as the availability of resources to maintain proper accounting records to meet their GST obligations that will be called upon in any future audit by the Customs Authorities.

Signing up can also become an administrative burden for SMEs, considering that filing of GST returns need to be done on a timely basis (either monthly or for those with less than RM5 million annual turnover on a quarterly basis); payment of taxes on time; issuing GST compliant tax invoices; credit notes and debit notes and receiving similar invoices to enable them to account for and claim back the GST paid; proper coding of the income and expenditure in the accounts, cost and time spent on training the staff; changing price displays and invoices to reflect GST inclusive prices, as well as time spent to check on the GST status of suppliers etc.

3) Assess the impact of GST on all the transactions of the business enterprise involving money or otherwise.

This includes both local and overseas transactions involving goods, services and financial & intellectual property transactions.

It will be important to classify on the output side (ie. sale/revenue) all the supplies into standard or zero rated or out of scope or exempt supplies as each has different implications.

The exempt and out of scope supplies are not taxable supplies but the zero rated supply is a taxable supply without GST. On the input side (ie. acquisition), the key issue is whether the input tax can be recovered. Please note that generally GST will apply if the supply is made in Malaysia.

4) When to account for GST and at what value should the GST be charged.

The general rule is GST should be charged when the supply is made. This is called the basic taxpoint. In the case of goods it is the time when goods are removed or when the goods are made available to the customer or in the case of services it is when the services are performed. However there are exceptions: for example where a payment is received or a tax invoice is issued before the basic tax point, the time of supply can be moved forward to the earlier of either events mentioned above.

There are many more exceptions to the general rule.

Again on valuation, the basic rule is that GST will be applied on the value of the supply i.e. price paid or payable excluding GST. Again there are many exceptions: eg supply made for consideration in kind, then the value shall be open market value less the tax chargeable.

When preparing for GST the SMEs need to look at the implications of all the transactions involving the whole value chain.

Examples of issues that may have an impact on their business post April 1, 2015 are:

• Contracts spanning April 1, 2015 – check whether GST can be recovered post April 1, 2015
• Pricing policies need to be reviewed – do the prices need to be increased or reduced based on the post GST situation (e.grefunds may allow for price reduction or purchase of exempt goods and services may add to the cost of the business)
• Fringe benefits given to employees – selected benefits may be subject to GST
• IT software and systems – can your system produce the information required to prepare the GST return.
• Impact on cash flow: depends on the timing of the payments and receipts to suppliers and from customers as GST may be need to be paid over to the authorities before the cash comes in.

Originally published under S.M. Thanneermalai in The Sun Daily. S.M. Thanneermalai is the President of Chartered Tax Institute of Taxation Malaysia and the Senior Executive Director of PwC.