ERP Software Disaster Recovery and Your Business

Often times, disaster recovery is just a distant thought.  Not much preparation goes into the planning stages until, unfortunately, a disaster strikes and your business is left trying to put all of the pieces back together.  I recently read in an article titled, Is Your Workplace Prepared?, that "according to a 2012 study of more than 1,300 U.S. workers, 75 percent of employees believe their company is not well-prepared for a natural disaster."

That's correct, a whopping 75 percent!  There are so many scenarios that could lead to a business disaster, this statistic made me wonder what business were doing to prepare for disaster in terms of their data too.  I'd venture to guess if many don't have simple plans in place for emergencies, their ERP software disaster recovery plan is probably a distant afterthought as well.  But, it doesn't need to be that way when there are simple and affordable plans such as the Sage 500 ERP Cloud Disaster Recovery Solution.

More times than not, however, business disasters result in massive data loss at the hands of a human error or a system(s) failure.  This type of disaster is simple to prevent using plans such as Sage 500 Disaster Recovery.  The Sage 500 Cloud Disaster Recovery Solution was developed specifically for Sage 500 ERP software and gives you a live standby copy of your production ERP environment in which you can fail over to and operate from in the case of a disaster.

With sobering statistics related to businesses surviving a disaster, it's important to do what you can to protect your business when you can.  For more information on this disaster recovery solution, visit www.evs-sw.com.

Growing Food Manufacturers Transition to Sage 500 Food ERP Software

As your food manufacturing business grows and becomes more specialized and dynamic, so must your ERP software.  At EVS, we've worked with food and beverage manufacturers that have grown out of their small accounting systems and need to move into something more robust in order to manage their growing business.

Many times, food processors find that growth highlights some problems in their operations.  For one, disparate systems can create a real reporting headache.  Not only do you have multiple systems to manage, but you also have multiple areas of data entry and reporting that can lead to discrepancies and human error.  This is all before realizing how time consuming it is to operate in this manner.

O2 Process Manufacturing ERP software for Sage 500 is the right move for growing food and beverage manufacturers in the mid-market space.  O2 Food ERP software can provide the tools and structure you need to manage your business from start to finish in a central location.  Here are some of the key areas improved by this food manufacturing ERP software:

• Research & Development: R&D in food manufacturing can require specific functionality such as percentage-based recipes, nutritional calculations, allergen tracing, product costing, etc.  With the O2 food manufacturing software, employees will be empowered with industry leading tools, which are completely integrated with the rest of the organization.
• Regulatory: Regulatory reporting is critical in food and beverage manufacturing.  With full lot recall capabilities for Bioterrorism compliance and nutritional labeling capabilities, the O2 Food ERP software will help you maintain all of your regulatory reporting data in one central location.
• Costing: Whether you product custom blends or your ingredients are commodities with volatile prices, this food software will help you better manage and forecast costs to help you maintain product margins.
• Quality Control: Quality plans are integral to the food manufacturing process, with our food manufacturing software system your quality system can now be integrated with your ERP.
• Real-time: In fast-paced food processing, shop floor data entry is critical.  The O2 Food ERP provides mobile warehouse bar coding for ease and accuracy of data capture as well as machine integration with PLC's, both facilitate real-time reporting for you.

If you find yourself outgrowing your current software or ERP software system, I encourage you to look at the food manufacturing software system by EVS.  Visit www.evs-sw.com and check out the brochures, short videos and even hear what other customers have to say about their success with O2 Food ERP software.

Is Cloud Hosting of Your ERP Software Right for Your Manufacturing Business?

Ah, the cloud.  These days, there are more options than ever and "to cloud or not to cloud" is frequently a hot topic.  Since not all companies are created alike, it's safe to say there is no straight forward and easy answer to that discussion.  However, it's important to note that there are a lot of great advantages found in the cloud.

EVS is a software developer in the ERP market space and their product portfolio includes process manufacturing software (O2 Process Manufacturing ERP software), warehouse distribution software (O2 Mobile Warehouse) and their current ERP software work in progress (500R2 for Sage 500 ERP).  While all of these solutions are available with standard in-house implementations, they are also offered as part of the Sage 500 Cloud Hosting Solution to give companies more options and better solutions to fit their business.

The Sage 500 Cloud Hosting Solution by EVS offers a number of benefits, such as:

• Lower Costs
• Lower Risk
• Quick to Deploy
• Scalable
• Secure
• Safe
• Fast
• Accessible

There are hundreds of examples of potential hidden costs and risk associated with self hosting your ERP software system.  By implementing a solution such as Sage 500 Cloud Hosting Solution, the costs become fixed and quantifiable and the risks are mitigated and liability is shifted.

For more detailed information on the cloud ERP software solution by EVS, visit www.evs-sw.com.

Manufacturer and Consumer Demands on Food Safety Could Mean Better Tools in the Near Future

As food safety regulations form various organizations and governing authorities increase, food manufacturers are looking for ways to improve on testing their products for food safety issues.  The food manufacturers are also facing pressure from the public as consumers demand fast and accurate testing of products going into the marketplace.

As mentioned in an article on MeatPoultry.com, food manufacturers are looking for solutions that provide accuracy and save on time and costs among other features.  As the industry moves ahead and technologies are introduced to help food manufacturers improve on safety concerns, it's also important to look at other ways to manage food safety.

For example, food manufacturing ERP software systems, such as O2 Food ERP software, offer manufacturers a number of industry specific tools to help manage the entire organization, including food safety.  This food software can manage HACCP, lot recalls and lot tracking all within a single system.

While technology is advancing making the food manufacturing industry safer, food processors can help themselves manage their entire operation along with the food safety concerns under a single system using food manufacturing software.

For more information on this food and beverage ERP software system, visit www.evs-sw.com.

EVS Welcomes New O2 Mobile Warehouse Distribution Software Client

EVS is excited to announce that they have just signed on another new client to their warehouse management software system, O2 Mobile Warehouse.  Implementing a warehouse distribution software solution can make incredible increases in inventory forecasting, warehouse management and overall operations.

O2 Mobile Warehouse was developed for Sage 500 ERP software and offers pallet tracking, cycle counting, pick-while-you-pack/ship and pre-shipment staging.  This inventory management software will also increase the speed and accuracy of your warehouse operations.  O2 Mobile uses handheld scanners and Smart-Barcode technology to maximize warehouse efficiency.

For more information on the new warehouse management system, visit www.evs-sw.com.

O2 Bakery ERP Software for Commercial Bakery Management

At EVS, we realize there are a number of options when it comes to selecting an ERP software for your commercial bakery operations.  However, when you dig down to see the tools that will really make a difference in your business, you can quickly see there are a some significant differences in software solutions.  Right off the top, you should start by reviewing process manufacturing ERP software solutions as they are made with your type of manufacturing in mind.  Here's where you need to dig a little deeper.  Not all process manufacturing software systems are created equal.

At EVS, we've developed O2 Bakery ERP software for Sage 500 ERP.  This process manufacturing system has tools that are tailored for your specific commercial baking industry.  You're not only getting the strong financial software from Sage 500, you're also getting a key process manufacturing system that understands the unique needs of your business.

As a bakery software, O2 Bakery ERP will manage the unique inventory requirements and constantly changing production planning and scheduling found in your facility.  Offering Bakers Percentage calculations, inventory forecasting, formula management and security and lot tracking are just a few of the tools this commercial bakery software will provide.

With competition high, regulatory requirements increasing and the costs of raw materials fluctuating, it's important to have a bakery management software system to give you the accurate and real-time information you need to make the best business decisions.

If you don't take my word for it, just visit the O2 Bakery ERP product page on the EVS website (www.evs-sw.com) and read some of their impressive success stories.

500R2 for Sage 500 ERP Software Enters Beta Testing

EVS is excited to announce that 500R2 ERP software, the future of Sage 500 ERP software, has entered the beta testing phase.  Currently, ten clients are participating in the beta testing that is underway.  This is a large step in the movement to have 500R2 become the next generation of Sage 500.

Many of the clients and VAR's that had a chance to see a sneak peek at 500R2 during this years Sage Summit were excited about the new Sales Order screen.  Some of the 500R2 features that will now be standard, include: instant grid search, auto-complete, instant search within the lookup itself, plug-ins to add functionality without changing the underlying source code and finally, the ability to customize the format of every grid in the system.

What's so different about 500R2?  The new technology brings a Microsoft .Net framework.  This platform for business systems will allow ERP software to be social, provide an improved user experience and offer advanced technology and expandability for the future technology upgrades.

For more information on 500R2, stop by the product page on the EVS website (www.evs-sw.com) and download the brochure.  I'll be sure to post updates on the beta testing as the project moves along.  As always, feel free to send me your comments or questions.

The Road Ahead for Sage 500 ERP Software Includes 500R2

After the announcement of 500R2 for Sage 500 ERP software during this years Sage Summit conference, there has been a great deal of buzz surrounding the project. So what does the road ahead look like for Sage 500?  It will definitely include the new 500R2.

One of the areas that many were excited to see is the new Sales Order screen. Have you had time to read about it? If not, I encourage you to head over to the 500R2 page on the EVS website to learn more. I also have a number of previous post on here giving a glimpse into some of the upcoming changes.

ERP software is changing and evolving with new concepts and new technology. 500R2 is no exception, offering the next generation of technology in a .Net platform that will lay the foundation for future enhancements. An exciting new feature included in 500R2 is adding a "social ERP" aspect to the system. Again, I encourage you to check out the web page to see what this involves.

However, even with all of the additional technology and enhancements, it is still the focus of EVS to improve the user experience. 500R2 will have features that improve efficiencies and increase the ease and speed in which you are able to find data in your ERP software.

Over the next month, EVS will be giving a few webinars to continue to give you insight into the new 500R2 system. Be sure to follow my blog to receive your notifications of when the webinars will be taking place.  In the meantime, give me your thoughts in the comment section.

For more information on 500R2 or EVS's other products, such as process manufacturing ERP software or their warehouse distribution software, visit www.evs-sw.com.