Slack Integration

Receiving instant notifications of the company’s activities is one of the most painless ways to keep track of them. With the help of the Slack Integration, you can get insight into the major actions through the specific channels as, and when, when they are performed.

Zoom Integration

Virtual meetings are nothing new anymore. The Zoom Integration provides a platform where you can create a zoom meeting after giving inputs of asked details like; Client, User(s), Meeting Time, Duration, and it generates a link through which people can join the meeting. You can create, View, Start, and Delete meetings with ease. Along with that, the Zoom meeting created, will be synced with the calendar which will show the meeting details, as well as which people will be joining the meeting, at what time. This calendar syncing feature helps to avoid overbooking.

Telegram Integration

Hassle-free instant messages is one of the absolute ways to stay in tune and connected with projects and activities of the projects. With the Telegram Integration, you can get notifications of the actions performed regarding anything which interests you. Staying in tune with the performing of jobs is smooth with this feature.

Twilio Integration

The Twilio Integration for receiving text messages of the jobs performed is a very handy and convenient feature. You can get an instant text message of the activities on the registered mobile number even when your phone is not connected to the internet, which is one of the most important benefits of Twilio Integration, especially in remote areas.

No, you can use our month-to-month contracts, our annual contracts, or if you have really fallen in love, we can negotiate a bespoke deal, where we look at the software already used in your business and how we could potentially have them communicate with Ubuntu SBS. For this last option, there will be some more stringent contractual commitments to ensure that our development cost is recovered.

Yes, you can upgrade or downgrade at any time before the following billing cycle.

What is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)?

Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet—as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management.

SaaS applications are sometimes called Web-based software, on-demand software, or hosted software. Whatever the name, SaaS applications run on a SaaS provider’s servers. The provider manages access to the application, including security, availability, and performance.

Still confused?

A good way to understand the SaaS model is by thinking of a bank, which protects the privacy of each customer while providing service that is reliable and secure—on a massive scale. A bank’s customers all use the same financial systems and technology without worrying about anyone accessing their personal information without authorization. A “bank” meets the key characteristics of the SaaS model, namely:

Multitenant Architecture

A multitenant architecture, in which all users and applications share a single, common infrastructure and code base that is centrally maintained. Because SaaS vendor clients are all on the same infrastructure and code base, vendors can innovate more quickly and save the valuable development time previously spent on maintaining numerous versions of outdated code.

Easy Customisation

The ability for each user to easily customise applications to fit their business processes without affecting the common infrastructure. Because of the way SaaS is architected, these customisations are unique to each company or user and are always preserved through upgrades. That means SaaS providers can make upgrades more often, with less customer risk and much lower adoption cost.

Better Access

Improved access to data from any networked device while making it easier to manage privileges, monitor data use, and ensure everyone sees the same information at the same time.

SaaS Harnesses the Consumer Web

Anyone familiar with Amazon.com or My Yahoo! will be familiar with the Web interface of typical SaaS applications. With the SaaS model, you can customise with point-and-click ease, making the weeks or months it takes to update traditional business software seem hopelessly old fashioned.

SaaS v packaged software

In the past, businesses bought and relied on packaged software – from multi-application systems covering spreadsheets, databases and email to specialist packages for particular tasks like project management or business intelligence.

Packaged software – the drawbacks

To use sales and marketing as an example, a business may have used on-premises software for CRM. This software needed to be evaluated, bought, installed, kept secure, maintained and regularly upgraded on in-house systems by the internal IT department.

Using packaged software placed a burden on the IT team which could turn into a bottleneck for projects.

A business could end up needing to support a wide variety of systems side by side, but find it tricky to integrate them as they were coded and built differently.

This approach also presented upfront costs for software and licences and potentially servers for the software to sit on.

The costs of the CRM software and hardware might mean it is not affordable for small businesses. It could also be difficult to scale up quickly in response to growth or change.

Definition of enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) refers to a type of software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, and supply chain operations. A complete ERP suite also includes enterprise performance management, software that helps plan, budget, predict, and report on an organization’s financial results.

ERP systems tie together a multitude of business processes and enable the flow of data between them. By collecting an organization’s shared transactional data from multiple sources, ERP systems eliminate data duplication and provide data integrity with a single source of truth.

Today, ERP systems are critical for managing thousands of businesses of all sizes and in all industries. To these companies, ERP is as indispensable as the electricity that keeps the lights on.

What is an ERP system?

How can these solutions manage organizations day-to-day business activities, such as accounting, finance, procurement, project management, supply chain, and manufacturing.

Enterprise resource planning systems are complete, integrated platforms, either on-premises or in the cloud, managing all aspects of a production-based or distribution business. Furthermore, ERP systems support all aspects of financial management, human resources, supply chain management, and manufacturing with your core accounting function.

ERP systems will also provide transparency into your complete business process by tracking all aspects of production, logistics, and financials. These integrated systems act as a business’s central hub for end-to-end workflow and data, allowing a variety of departments to access.

ERP Systems and software support multiple functions across the enterprise, mid-sized, or small businesses, including customizations for your industry.

What’s the difference between ERP and financials?

Although the terms “accounting / financials” is often used when describing ERP software, accounting / financials and ERP are not the same thing. Accounting refers to a subset of modules within ERP.

Financials are the business functions relating to the finance department of an organization and includes modules for financial accounting, subledger accounting, accounting hub, payables and receivables, revenue management, billing, grants, expense management, project management, asset management, joint venture accounting, and collections.

Accounting software uses reporting and analytical capabilities to comply with the reporting requirements of governing bodies, such as the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS), Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (GAAP), as well as for other countries (HGB in Germany and PCG in France, for example).

For public organizations, accounting software has to be able to produce periodic financial statements for governing regulators. For these types of financial reports, a narrative reporting tool is used. The person who is ultimately responsible for financials is the CFO.

While accounting software handles one area of the business, ERP encompasses a wide range of business processes—including accounting / financials. ERP software can include capabilities for procurement, supply chain management, inventory, manufacturing, maintenance, order management, project management, logistics, product lifecycle management, risk management, enterprise performance management (EPM), human resources / human capital management.

ERP systems also integrates with or creates front-office applications to build holistic views of customers, including customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. Additionally, cloud-based ERP applications are often embedded with next-generation technologies, such as the internet of things (IoT), blockchain, AI, machine learning, and digital assistants. These advanced technologies deliver data and capabilities that not only enhance many traditional ERP functions; they create new opportunities for increased efficiencies, new services, and deeper insight across an enterprise. Since ERP systems are comprehensive across an enterprise, their management often involves a partnership with the CFO as well as the CIO, COO, and other key executive leaders.

Cloud-based ERP applications are often embedded with next-generation technologies, such as the internet of things (IoT), blockchain, AI, machine learning, and digital assistants.

ERP fundamentals

ERP systems are designed around a single, defined data structure (schema) that typically has a common database. This helps ensure that the information used across the enterprise is normalized and based on common definitions and user experiences. These core constructs are then interconnected with business processes driven by workflows across business departments (e.g. finance, human resources, engineering, marketing, and operations), connecting systems and the people who use them. Simply put, ERP is the vehicle for integrating people, processes, and technologies across a modern enterprise.

For example: consider a company that builds cars by procuring parts and components from multiple suppliers. It could use an ERP system to track the requisition and purchase of these goods and ensure that each component across the entire procure-to-pay process uses uniform and clean data connected to enterprise workflows, business processes, reporting, and analytics.

When ERP is properly deployed at this automotive manufacturing company, a component, for example, “front brake pads,” is uniformly identified by part name, size, material, source, lot number, supplier part number, serial number, cost, and specification, along with a plethora of other descriptive and data-driven items.

Since data is the lifeblood of every modern company, ERP makes it easier to collect, organize, analyze, and distribute this information to every individual and system that needs it to best fulfill their role and responsibility.

ERP also ensures that these data fields and attributes roll up to the correct account in the company’s general ledger so that all costs are properly tracked and represented. If the front brake pads were called “front brakes” in one software system (or maybe a set of spreadsheets), “brake pads” in another, and “front pads” in a third, it would be tough for the automotive manufacturing company to figure out how much is spent annually on front brake pads, and whether it should switch suppliers or negotiate for better pricing.

A key ERP principle is the central collection of data for wide distribution. Instead of several standalone databases with an endless inventory of disconnected spreadsheets, ERP systems bring order to chaos so that all users—from the CEO to accounts payable clerks—can create, store, and use the same data derived through common processes. With a secure and centralized data repository, everyone in the organization can be confident that data is correct, up-to-date, and complete. Data integrity is assured for every task performed throughout the organization, from a quarterly financial statement to a single outstanding receivables report, without relying on error-prone spreadsheets.

The business value of ERP

It’s impossible to ignore the impact of ERP in today’s business world. As enterprise data and processes are corralled into ERP systems, businesses can align separate departments and improve workflows, resulting in significant bottom-line savings. Examples of specific business benefits include:

Improved business insight from real-time information generated by reports

Lower operational costs through streamlined business processes and best practices

Enhanced collaboration from users sharing data in contracts, requisitions, and purchase orders

Improved efficiency through a common user experience across many business functions and well-defined business processes

Consistent infrastructure from the back office to the front office, with all business activities having the same look and feel

Higher user-adoption rates from a common user experience and design

Reduced risk through improved data integrity and financial controls

Lower management and operational costs through uniform and integrated systems

ERP deployment models: From on-premises to the cloud

ERP’s past: 1990s to the new millennium

From the 1990s until the beginning of the twenty-first century, ERP adoption grew rapidly. At the same time, the costs of implementing an ERP system began to climb. The hardware required to run the software was typically on company premises, with big machines in a server room. Both the hardware and the software licenses required capital investments and depreciated over 5 to 10 years. In addition, organizations nearly always wanted to customize their ERP systems to fit their specific needs, entailing an additional expense of software consultants and training.

Meanwhile, ERP technology was evolving to embrace the internet, with new features and functionality such as embedded analytics. As time went on, many organizations discovered that their on-premises ERP systems couldn’t keep up with modern security demands or emerging technologies such as smartphones.

Cloud ERP—A new ERP delivery model

Software-as-a-service (SaaS)

Enter the cloud—specifically, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model for ERP. When ERP software is delivered as a service in the cloud, it runs on a network of remote servers instead of inside a company’s server room. The cloud provider patches, manages, and updates the software several times a year—rather than an expensive upgrade every 5 to 10 years with an on-premises system. The cloud can reduce both operational expenses (OpEx) and capital expenses (CapEx) because it eliminates the need for companies to purchase software and hardware, or hire additional IT staff. These resources can instead be invested in new business opportunities, and the organization is always up-to-date on the most recent ERP software. Employees can shift their focus from managing IT to more value-added tasks such as innovation and growth.

7 reasons to move to an ERP cloud solution

For businesses of all sizes, including enterprise and small to midsize, retiring on-premises systems and moving entirely to the cloud all at once isn’t always possible. Or, at the very least, it’s not something they’re comfortable doing within a short development window. Meanwhile, staying the course with an on-premises ERP, ignoring all the advantages of enterprise resource planning as a cloud solution, is no longer an ideal path, either. Why should you consider using cloud applications to replace or augment your on-premises system?

1. Readily adopt new and evolving SaaS technologies

Next-generation technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI), help cloud-based systems rapidly improve their capabilities with no need for periodic updates, unlike your legacy system. Now, with no additional or new input from the end-user, ERP systems continually become significantly easier to manage and use.

2. Extend the value of your existing ERP System

Augmenting and integrating legacy software with cloud applications can complement, enhance, and supplement important tasks. This approach can breathe new life into legacy ERP systems, giving businesses a great opportunity to start adopting cloud capabilities.

3. Access new technologies

Finding cloud applications that complement your legacy ERP software modules lets you immediately take advantage of rapidly advancing new technologies and improving user paradigms. These provide complimentary systems that deliver immediate business capabilities and value without a fundamental change in your operations.

4. Reduce third-party dependencies

Reporting and analytics for legacy systems typically require involvement from a third-party vendor to generate operational business intelligence. Using cloud applications from your legacy ERP vendor often produces the same or better intelligence without needing an additional vendor relationship.

5. Evolve your financial systems

Legacy systems were never meant to be modern reporting engines. Cloud-based technology was born in the last decade and developed, as a core principle, with an entirely different mindset and understanding of not only what was possible but what was needed to be successful for ERP platforms.

6. More robust security resources

Cloud solution service providers have large, full-time teams that are exclusively dedicated to proactively monitoring and staying current with cloud security issues and threats, 24 hours a day.

7. Attract in-demand talent

The next generation of young workers have grown up with seamless technology that is mobile, easy to use, and always-on. No company that continues to rely purely with on-premises technology will be able to recruit top talent, regardless of age.

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system manages all aspects of a business, including projects, planning, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, distribution, human resources, accounting, and customer service, from one fully-integrated system.

Small businesses use ERP software to improve communication across departments and optimize business processes by providing easy visibility of all operations. ERP software also helps small businesses integrate both their financial information and customer information into one system.

What Do Small Businesses Stand to Gain from an ERP?

A common misbelief about ERPs is that they are for large-scale businesses only. ERP’s first developed to meet the needs of large scale enterprises — like the name suggests — but ERPs can help businesses, large and small alike, to integrate all of their business processes and data into one place.

No business is too small for an ERP solution — just because you are a small shop doesn’t mean that you can’t operate like an enterprise-scale business — and take advantage of smart business solutions, like ERPs, to streamline your production.

ERPS let small businesses:

1. Share Information

Connect and integrate all departments in your company, so you can easily share data and information between divisions to streamline processes. ‍

‍2. Increase Throughput ‍

Boost throughput without hiring new staff or expanding operations by automating processes, eliminating redundant work, and increasing shop efficiency. ‍

‍3. Gain Business Intelligence ‍

Use accurate data and reporting to track progress, productivity, and performance — giving you improved insight into your business for better decision making.

Why No Amount of Data Is Too Little for an ERP

If you think you are too small for an ERP, think again. Over 75% of small businesses use ERPs to manage their operations.

First off, no matter the size of manufacturer you are, you will have lots of data — manufacturing is one of the most data-intensive industries out there. Even if you aren’t a large scale business, you will have plenty of data that an ERP can help you make sense of.

Second off, no matter how much data you do or do not have, you need a system that can organize it, and help you effectively communicate and collaborate across your business.

To run a profitable manufacturing business you need to have a handle on your business resources — i.e. what your business has in terms of cash, raw materials, personnel, and production capacity—to operate at full capacity and maximize your throughput.

With no overarching system that collects data, reports on your processes and systems, and sees the big picture, how can you accurately know where you stand?

Your business resources are what you use to keep your business running, and you should be aware of where you stand at all times.

One of the greatest advantages of an ERP system is its ability to provide complete visibility of your entire operation, giving you insights into how your operation is performing. With an ERP, what used to take hours of meticulous data collection and report creation can be done automatically, providing you with a sweeping overview of your operation, allowing you to measure critical performance metrics through real-time dashboards. You can use this information to always know where you stand, to optimize production schedules, and to maximize capacity and increase your throughput.

And not only will you have visibility into your organization, you will also be able to easily share information and collaborate between departments, letting you increase operational efficiency.

How Can ERP Pricing Flex to Accommodate Smaller Budgets?

The right ERP for your small business is all about fit, and it will vary depending on your business, your industry, your size, your budget, and your needs. What may be the best solution for a multinational organization will not meet the needs of an SME that is just starting out.

To find the best ERP for you, you need to take a hard look at your business, your strengths, your weaknesses, and your needs, and then do a little research to find an ERP that was built for your unique situation.

ERP providers also offer flexible pricing models, meaning you can buy the right-sized system for the right price. The ERP best suited for your small business will let you choose from the right modules and features for you, providing you with an ERP that fits your business and budget., and that is where we believe Ubuntu SBS is the right solution.

How ERPs Can Facilitate and Accommodate Growth

ERPs let you:

1. Deliver more jobs on time

2. Reduce inventory costs

3. Eliminate purchasing errors

4. Improve production efficiency

5. Lower operational costs

The reality of running a small shop is that employees wear multiple hats. Everyone pitches in wherever and whenever the need arises (which, as you know, is often). With so much going on, who on your staff has the time to manually process multiple spreadsheets and separate mountains of data?

ERP systems geared towards small businesses are able to automate key business functions such as order processing, production, and finances, freeing up your staff to focus on more important tasks than data entry. In fact your small business will get many benefits from having an ERP:

• Increased Efficiency

All your job information in one place — accessible in real-time — means quicker decision-making, less miscommunication, and greater coordination.

• Simplified, Error-Free Accounting

An accounting system fully integrated with inventory, purchasing, manufacturing, and sales makes accounting tasks and financial reporting easier.‍

‍• Smarter Cash Flow

Organize how you source, track, and manage orders to reduce inventory costs and enable smarter purchasing.

• A More Effective Sales Team

With all the information they need at their fingertips, Your sales department can more effectively interact with prospects and customers, as well as make faster and more accurate quotes and estimates.

Ultimately, ERPs will help you increase your throughput and grow your business.

From the minute a potential job comes through your front door, to delivering the last invoice, small businesses need a system that helps them move jobs quickly, efficiently, and effectively. ERPs are just that tool: a fully integrated system that will help you manage every aspect of your business.