How Acumatica Makes Remote Work More Productive

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Remote Work Opens Up Additional Competitive Opportunity – Acumatica Can Help with That

Right now, many business leaders are discovering that remote work is achievable for companies of all sizes. Leaders are also discovering that remote work may increase productivity while reducing overall costs – as long as the right tech setup is in place.

Being forced to work remotely is not necessarily a bad thing for your company. As you will see in this article, working from home could be a source of your future business success!

Find out how you can plan for your organization’s successful remote work future by tapping into the flexibility of a modern ERP like Acumatica.

Is It Time for New Tech? 3 Ways to Tell.

Many business leaders have been considering a move to the cloud for the past few years, but they have not yet made the leap because the cost-benefit analysis of cloud ERP selection, implementation, and training has not evened out for them yet. If that describes you, now could be your perfect opportunity to get ahead of the game.

Right now, your business may be running a real-life test of your remote work tools and discovering which ones work well for you… and which ones do not.

If your business is experiencing unforeseen delays and slowdowns due to remote work requirements, you may find yourself reconsidering the benefits of cloud transformation with a leading cloud solution such as Acumatica Cloud ERP.

To some leaders, the benefits of cloud have become loud and clear, other leaders are still considering making the switch. It does not matter what your current deliberations are, it is clear to all of us that, as we move to a more digital society, being on a platform that can utilize modern solutions more readily positions your company for future growth.

During your considerations, think about the three remote work examples below, each of which creates varying levels of work disruption. Of course, if you are running a 20+ year-old system, you understand that you are bound to face some level of disruption, especially in a remote-work situation – but at a certain point, the costs of disruption and delay outweigh the costs of cloud transformation.

Consider this analogy:

An old ERP system is like the old car in your driveway that you let your kids drive. At a certain point, the car costs more in upkeep than the value you get out of it. You have thought about getting a new car to replace it, but you are waiting for the right time. You are balancing your costs versus your value. In business, that balance is known as ROI – and you do not want your “maintenance” costs to outweigh the value.

[Are your legacy ERP costs, such as maintenance and workarounds, outweighing your system’s value? Find out when you calculate your ROI here.]

As you laugh (or cringe) your way through the following three examples, take a moment to think about which one best describes your current levels of employee productivity. Could you do better?

1. Remote Work for Sales

Bob is a salesperson trying to make calls and keep up with contacts using his legacy ERP system, but his office VPN is down so he has to wait until it is fixed before he can move forward.

 

Jane, also a salesperson, has been making calls, sending emails, and keeping in touch with clients by text since her coffee was brewing this morning because her contacts list is always available on her phone, her tablet, or her computer, making it easy for her to work from anywhere, at any time.

2. Remote Work for Customer Service

Bob is a customer service tech in the middle of a support call, but Oh No! A popup on his computer screen informs him he has a desktop error. Bob is forced to request that he call the already-irate customer back later, which certainly does not help business.

 

Jane is also a customer service tech in the middle of a support call, and she receives the same error message on her laptop. While easily maintaining her conversation with the customer, Jane accesses the same data on her tablet using the cloud-based Acumatica ERP, and helps the customer solve the issue easily.

 

3. Remote Work in Accounting

Bob is in Accounts Payable and is trying to print checks, but the AP manager disconnected the check printer from the Citrix server, so she could take it home. Without the Citrix server connection, the permissions do not seem to work, and Bob and his manager are forced to spend an entire day troubleshooting various ways to print checks.

 

Jane is also in AP. Since she uses Acumatica ERP to connect to the check printer wirelessly and securely anytime, the printer easily recognizes Jane’s verified check-printing permissions, even though she is at her home and the check printer is at the AP manager’s home. She prints checks in a few minutes, as usual, and moves on with her day. (Jane also has the option to use Acumatica to generate an ACH file and send the checks electronically, removing the need for the printer and expensive check-printing paper entirely.)

If you identify more with Bob in these scenarios, you may want to consider transitioning to a cloud ERP to improve your business productivity.  

[Get the white paper, “The Cost of Doing Nothing,” for help determining the total costs of implementing a new cloud ERP versus maintaining your current on-premises system.]

Cloud ERP Is an Undeniable Benefit for Growing Businesses

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, you have probably been considering a cloud-based ERP for many years. Most savvy business leaders have. During the past few years, you have heard about the cloud’s flexibility, convenience, and user-friendliness – but those arguments have not been strong enough to help you decide if a modern, cloud-based ERP like Acumatica is worth it for your company during “business as usual.”  

As software solution experts with nearly 25 years of experience helping companies implement effective, affordable, efficient business tech solutions, we at SWK Technologies would venture to say, “Yes, a cloud-based ERP is a great choice for today’s growing businesses.”

[Read about a $2.75 Billion company that employs only remote workers. Here’s how it works.]

Cloud-Based ERP – The True Choice for Business Agility and Strategic Growth

The same flexibility that a modern ERP like Acumatica brings to a remote work environment will also ease work and improve productivity.

See the results for yourself:

  • A 2019 Airtasker study of 1,004 employees showed that remote workers worked 1.4 more days per month than their in-office counterparts, resulting in an extra 3 weeks’ worth of work per year.
  • A robust, 2-year Stanford study of 500 employees showed that remote employees made 13.5% more calls than comparable in-office counterparts, the equivalent of one extra full days’ work every single week.
  • A 2016 self-reported survey conducted by TINYpulse had 91% of remote workers reporting that they are more productive at home than in an office.
  • A 2006 work from home experiment by Best Buy showed that productivity surged by 35% after instituting more flexible remote work policies.
  • A 2015 CoSo Cloud study found that 77% of remote workers were more productive than office workers, with 30% accomplishing more work in fewer hours, due to fewer workplace distractions.

Remote work helps on-the-go business leaders stay on top of work during travel or while meeting a client at a coffeeshop. And with a modern ERP like Acumatica, you can provide a remote-work option for employees to maintain their productivity on days they would normally have to call in, such as when their child is sick or they have a personal appointment they need to attend.

In fact, the Stanford study showed that remote work employees had 50% less attrition than their in-office counterparts, as employees took shorter breaks, fewer sick days, and less time off.

Increased productivity and reduced attrition can result in extreme benefits to a business – which is what remote-only workplace GitLab discovered. The $2.75 billion unicorn attributes a large part of its success to its remote work culture, and that culture has also made it one of the best places in the country to work.

Modern cloud-based ERP solutions like Acumatica are built to reduce absenteeism and increase business productivity every day, across all departments and functions. As you will discover, a cloud ERP can be an incredible resource for your company to tap into.

 

Download the “7 Serious Business Risks Eliminated by Cloud ERP” eBook to learn more about how your business can benefit from Cloud ERP, now and in the future.

 

 

Have questions about Acumatica? Then take your time and learn more about cloud ERP, research ERP solutions, or evaluate the ERP systems you are considering.

 

 

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