Clients First USA
Clients First knows their software, but they are also astute business people, and they really understand manufacturing and distribution in particular.
Jimmy Witcher, COO, Merrick
Read More
About UsService OfferingsProduct OfferingsIndustries ServedDownloadsBlog
 
 

Latest Articles

SAP Business One Product Roadmap

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

SAP has recently published an SAP Business One product roadmap that goes out through about 2014.   You can read it right here:

SAP Business One Roadmap

MAS 200 and MAS 90 Support Services

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

This post is to remind you of the capabilities we have at Clients First Business Solutions.

Clients First Business Solutions is proud to be one of the top Sage, Microsoft and SAP Software resellers in the country.

We are a full-service business systems consulting company that specializes in the design, implementation and support of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) accounting software and management reporting systems. 

Clients First provides a variety of services including implementation, training, consulting and ongoing technical support and solution recommendations.

At Clients First Business Solutions, we offer a wide range of solutions including: accounting, human resources, payroll, fixed asset management, customer relationship management, e-commerce software and EDI. Whatever your needs, we can recommend the proper solution.

(more…)

The latest Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 (Navision) Brochure and Literature

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

We just posted up the latest Dynamics NAV 2009 brochure.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV2009 brochure

Free MAS 90 and MAS 200 Consulting…I don’t think so..

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

You may have seen claims like THIS

In this article, a company claims to offer free consulting for Sage MAS90 and MAS200.  We all know nothing in life is free.  They are simply offering to come out on a sales…um, I mean ‘consulting’ call to tell you what it will cost to upgrade your system…as long as you’re currently with another reseller.  This is something all VAR’s and resellers do, but don’t have the audacity to call it ‘free consulting’.

And to think a real publication picked up this self idolizing propoganda press release as actual ‘news.’  It really must be a slow news day in technology land.

So, it’s just a reminder, anything that is ‘free’ is usually has a hitch.  For example, the claim of 0% financing, (which likely only applies to super cash rich companies that can still get a lease) is simply the software being discounted, something often done today, but that discount is being paid to a leasing company.

Hope this helps clarify things!

Analyzing Gross Margin and Profitability with your ERP Software

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

image
Profitability and gross margin information is vitally important to sound business decision making and effectively competing in your market space. Modern business software (ERP software) is invaluable in collecting data across the enterprise and presenting it in a form that allows timely and accurate decisions. Without technology, collecting, computing, and presenting this information would be a daunting, if not an impossible task.

There are many forms of profitability analysis that ERP systems can calculate and present. The major functional areas include:

  • Overall business profitability (Profit and Loss Statements)
  • Customer profitability
  • Product and product line profitability
  • Customer by product
  • Sales Order profit
  • Job or Project profitability

On the surface, computing profitability might not seem difficult until you explore the elements included in the calculation. Let’s take customer profitability as an example. There are many components that can be included or excluded in the customer profitability calculation. In addition to selling price less the product cost for all items the customer purchased, we need to consider: returns, sales commissions, promotional allowances, advertising allowances, slotting fees, discounts, packaging, labeling, shipping, and handling.  Without including all of the important elements in the analysis, you don’t have a true profitability picture, which makes decision making a much more difficult task.

Many businesses do not have an accurate picture of profitability. This limits their ability to make informed decisions and, in some circumstances, creates a significant competitive disadvantage. I recently worked with a 100 year old manufacturing company in New Jersey that could only estimate their product costs with an accuracy of +/- 30%. Their antiquated ERP software could not capture all of the raw material and production costs, so all they could do was estimate the cost. Unfortunately, they were losing market share to a major competitor who was selling at a lower price point. With 3,300 products and no accurate costing information, the company was severely handicapped in creating a competitive response.

In today’s business environment companies must be agile and react quickly to competition, fluctuating product and material costs, regulatory, and compliance requirements. Agility requires timely and accurate information. Today’s ERP software solutions, if used properly, are designed to provide the information executives require to navigate the waters to optimum profitability.

Technology is only one of three critical pillars in the successful implementation of ERP systems. Equally important are People and Business Processes. It takes the right people with a positive attitude who are adequately trained to make full use of the technology. Business Processes are where companies frequently fall short. Taking old business processes and applying them to new technology most often achieves a disappointing result. As new technology is implemented, existing processes must be examined, challenged, and redesigned to truly leverage the benefit and value the technology can provide. Just like an annual medical exam or business audit, agile and well managed companies need to do a business process and technology review to optimize the value and return on their ERP investment.