I’m glad 2008 is history. Collapses and oversights like Bear Stearns, golden parachutes, a $700 Billion bailout (or whatever you prefer to call it), the Dow falling nearly 34% for the year; the worst year since the great depression, Bernie Madoff (?!!?), and more bad business from our automakers, make me crave change. I just want to move on. Unfortunately these events are not just last year’s chapter. Recovery will take time, require foresight, planning, and creative change.
It’s not a time to hunker down and wait it out. Rather, it’s time to step it up and take advantage of the investments you’ve already made. Maximize your resources. And for those of you who are my clients, that means maximizing productivity and business intelligence with your Microsoft Dynamics GP system.
Below I’ve provided some suggestions and also the tool you would use to carry each out. I have focused on specialty construction clients, but these ideas apply to most businesses:
Suggestion
Review vendor contracts, renegotiate, and hold your vendors accountable.
Tool
Dynamics GP purchase history reports and vendor Smartlists to analyze vendor performance. Then renegotiate and use inventory pricing controls and SQL Business Alerts to control costs.
Suggestion
Ensure your revenue recognition and retention methods are automated.
Tool
Revenue Recognition and Retention (for both Customers and Subcontractors) methods built into Dynamics GP and Wennsoft Job Cost. You don’t need to do this manually. If you’re using Excel, you’re wasting valuable time.
Suggestion
Speaking of time, make time for your current and past customers. There are contracts to be had; you need to be at the right place at the right time.
Tool
Dynamics GP as one of your marketing tools. Use the built-in Microsoft Office Word letter templates to target customer groups such as a) those in specific geographies, b) with contracts over a specific dollar amount, or c) with contracts that came in under budget. Simple, low cost stuff that puts your company in the customer’s mind.
Suggestion
Empower your employees and be more transparent in specific areas. People step up when it’s expected. They may have ideas on cost controls, project management, or customer relationships that you’ve not thought of.
Tool
Dynamics GP budgeting and FRx financial reports. Show them costs for only those categories where you want to be transparent. Set goals and share budget to actual. Use project management Smartlists.
Suggestion
Connect your Excel spreadsheets to your ERP and Job Cost system. Stop manually entering data in Excel!
Tool
Smartlist Builder to create Excel exports from Dynamics GP that automatically update as your GP data changes. Another benefit: if you want to share these spreadsheets with others, they don’t need a GP license! They need access to the spreadsheet; and they have real time GP data! So, step it up!
Don’t be afraid to change. One of my favorite authors, Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great (which you should read, if you haven’t already) says this of change: “In truly great companies, change is a constant, but not the only constant. They understand the difference between what should never change and what should be open for change, between what is truly sacred and what is not. And by being clear about what should never change, they are better able to stimulate change and progress in everything else.”
Tags: business-intelligence Microsoft DynamicsGP tools marketing budgeting change
