Over the past decade, staff IT presence has dwindled inside most small to midsize companies. Instead of spending dollars on headcount, smart money advised most executives to move to contracted IT to save costs and begin moving to more cloud-based applications. This perfect storm of migration and adoptions created an industry-wide problem called Appegeddeon. 10 Years ago, technology sales representatives would contact IT employees as the initial point of contact asking 2 basic questions. Is our technology offering on the 3-year roadmap? And are there budget dollars this calendar year for a decision? Now we’re looking at an industry-standard where any department head with a minimal budget can make a business decision to adopt an app with virtually zero planning and zero premeditated apprehension for just what another platform means for employee adoption, new hire training, IT infrastructure/ data access, and more.
So to ask the question, “How many apps does it take to run your business?” or better yet “How many apps is too many apps to avoid creating diminishing returns?”. The time to begin correcting this industry misstep is now, and we believe it is the responsibility of the technology consultant to begin the re-education process.
Value-Added Resellers (VARs) need to begin spending less time setting up demo’s of 3rd party add-ons, and more time doing technology utilization consultations. The best way to begin establishing your role as not just source for Product demo’s, but source for advisorship is by taking a leadership role in establishing a technology road map for a client. Now is the best time to begin this consultation as we begin the exciting transition towards true Cloud ERP.
With Cloud ERP, the reliance on Niche 3rd party applications will become less relevant and the rise of new data process management solutions or Intranet Portal Platforms that will create seamless end to end solutions like never before. These next generation platforms such as Omnidek (No Code, Intranet Portal Platform) will allow Consultants and VAR’s to engage their customers at a deeper level diving into each departmental process, and establish solutions without the requirement of purchasing additional applications.
Steps for Establishing your Role as Consultant and Advisor….
1. Meet with the client to do a technical review of software stack.
- What Technology is in place and being used
- What technology is in place but not being used fully
- What technology is in place but can’t make the transition to Cloud ERP
- What technology is a fundamental process of Form, Approval, Reporting, Importing and can be easily consolidated into an intranet portal?
- What solutions can be immediately implemented in the intranet portal to begin employee adoptions of core features (Forms, chat, approval, reporting, analytics, self service)?
2. Advise on setup and implementation of no code intranet portal solution.
- Begin working with client to implement intranet solutions based upon workflow requirements to establish transition from file based workflows to data workflows.
- Establish data sets are able to meeting management reporting requirements and make modification or enhancement.
3. Identifying, Choosing, and Implementing Cloud ERP Platform
- Identify, Consult and adopt cloud based ERP solutions with robust API end Points.
- Implementation of core cloud ERP modules
4. Connecting your Portal and Cloud ERP
- Establish data sync to intranet portal solution, and import routine via API’s
- Set Web Hooks to initiate process flow inside portal.
- Create data feeds from Portal back to Cloud ERP.
- Establish Dashboard Reporting for real time cost, productivity, etc.
5. Create Smart Data ECM Strategy
- Set Archive Rules form Portal PDF’s generated by portal activity to company servers or share file sites for archiving.
