Posted by Genevieve Woo on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 08:15 AM
For our friends south of the Canadian boarder, the countdown to American Thanksgiving has begun. Only 2 short days away from the big holiday, excitement must be in the air. The origin of Thanksgiving came from giving thanks before and after the harvest cycle for a good harvest. Many communities united at churches to thank mother nature and rejoice after the hard work. Nowadays, thanksgiving is a giant feast and a secular holiday. Many new traditions have immerged from this holiday such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Turkey Run, NFL and CFL Thanksgiving Classic and Black Fridays.
(Photo Created -Creative Commons crd!)
The Thanksgiving feast has become the main event - with many Thanksgiving dishes. All of the various traditional thanksgiving food consumed during Thanksgiving dinner reminds me of ERP software my company sells.
There are 4 main dishes to any Thanksgiving meal:
1. Turkey (the essential)- Basic software system to organize and run your business operations. Acts as your backbone to your operation.
2. Cranberry Sauce, Gravvy and Vegetables (the toppings and sides) - Components and modules which will customize your software to your unique business requirements.
3. Stuffing (the flavour) - The bird is only as good its dressing. The mechanics, technology, and people behind the software will be a strong factor to your software experience.
4. Pumpkin Pie (the sweets) - Sometimes the main course is just too filling and there's no more room for dessert. Staying within budget is important and some of your 'wants' can't make the cut. It's nice to know some of your future desires are available to be implemented into your software at a later time.
A digestive drink (like Grappa) is a great way to settle a huge meal. Many after thoughts of functionality and capabilities may come to mind once you've got a good handle on the system.
ERP software is my comparison to Thanksgiving dinner. What do you compare Thanksgiving to?
Posted by Genevieve Woo on Fri, Oct 07, 2011 @ 08:38 AM
With the recent tragic news of Steve Jobs death, one of America's greatest computer entrepreneurs and inventors, we have a lot to learn from the legacy he has left behind. We can learn from his vision of creating a simpler and better life by making products that were "the intersection of art and technology". Being an ERP software company, we appreciate his innovation and courage to be different. Apple's introduction of "i" products (example: iPod, iPhone, iPad, iLife) have challenged the technology industry - stretching our hunger for innovative solutions. In this blog post, we capture three of the best Steve Jobs quotes and explain their impact.
Examples of the Best Quotes by Steve Jobs:
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose," - Steve Jobs speech at the University of Stanford in June 2005
At the beginning of Steve Jobs career at Apple, he was given $1 a year, along with stocks in the company. The quote above illustrates his determination and drive to change the company's landscape and has made him one of the most admirable businessman. Steve Jobs’ bold move in the computer, digital music and software industries is exemplary. We can only hope to have such a huge ripple effect within our respective industries as Steve Jobs did.
“We’ve gone through the operating system and looked at everything and asked how can we simplify this and make it more powerful at the same time.” – ABC News
In this quote, Steve Jobs demonstrations the strong emphasis on the user-experience. It's not about how brilliant your software can be- if your software outsmarts your users, it's useless. One of the driving forces of new development is creating powerful software that is as simple as possible for users. We can truly see Steve Jobs provide the direction of simplicity with his products having a strong emphasis on user-experiences through the evolution and development of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. A perfect example of Mr. Jobs striving for simplicity is through rebranding "Macintosh" to "Apple" - users will be able easily identify with the icon - taking out the processing step of associating Macintosh as a type of Apple.
“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” – Inc. Magazine
Apple, under the direction of Steve Jobs, did an excellent job in having users anticipate in the next product release. In order to stay competitive, Steve Jobs has taught us to never to feel complacent as users demand more and you can always reach new heights. The importance of development in the software industry is crucial in survival. Without innovation and improvements, technology companies can quickly become obsolete.
We give many thanks to Mr. Steve Jobs for allowing us to live our iLife- making it simple and stylish. We will always remember to "Think Different".
Posted by David Silva on Wed, Sep 28, 2011 @ 03:14 PM
QuickBooks is a great piece of accounting software for small businesses – particularly “mom & pop” and sole proprietor operations. Many start-ups rely on QuickBooks as a cheap way to get the business up and running. However, many businesses soon discover its limitations and before long find themselves in desperate need of a new system to accommodate their growth.
Although some variations and add-ons exist for QuickBooks to bring the software to the enterprise-level, it is still primarily an accounting package that lacks functionality like robust inventory management. Business owners often search for integration software to bridge some of the gaps in QuickBooks but their search eventually leads them to ERP software.
For distributors and wholesalers, it is particularly important to be running an appropriately integrated inventory and accounting system ERP system. Even some of the smallest distributors and wholesalers cannot run the business efficiently without a proper ERP system. When you are shipping many orders a day, drawing upon thousands of items in your inventory, it is of paramount importance that your software system is up to the job.
Over time users will hit stumbling blocks with QuickBooks as their company grows in size. Whether it is exceeding the number of products SKUs supported, exceeding the overall file-size cap or having their software grind to a halt with heavy use, at some point many businesses will hit that stage. With QuickBooks you have few options in these circumstances – either start from scratch with a new data-file, try to make do with its limitations or move onto a larger system. Any best-of-breed ERP system will allow for a substantially larger collection of items, transactions and users.
In summary, QuickBooks is a great system to start your business with but when you are ready to take your business to the next level, it is ERP software that you are looking for.
Posted by Genevieve Woo on Mon, Sep 12, 2011 @ 02:55 PM
With the Labour Day long weekend behind us, it's back to reality - the end of summer vacations, kids back to school, students getting back to the books, parents and adults back to work and saying goodbye to the beautiful summer weather. Although many of us were singing the summer time blues last week to work, for many September marks a new beginning and new year - a great time for change and to initiate some new projects. With staff returning back from vacation and having a full staff on deck, many new projects and strategic goals can now take full swing.
For example, here at Blue Link we're currently working on showcasing the important of
Ecommerce and Webstore Software with Inventory and Accounting Integration. To kick start our efforts of this integration,
Demac Media (Magento Partner) is hosting the first ever Canadian Magento Ecommerce Forum in Toronto this Thursday (September 15 @ 6pm). This provides the opportunity to network and talk shop with industry experts - Plus Blue Link will be there to answer any backend software integration questions.
To register for this event:
http://www.magentocommerce.com/company/events/ecommerce-forum#register
Also, we're very excited to welcome two new members to the Blue Link team- Tadeusz and Monique. Tadeusz Luzny, joined the Blue Link team in the beginning of August. He's joining the team of talented developers here are Blue Link. We would also like to welcome back Monique Taza. She's loved among many of our customers and was dearly missed on the Blue Link Team. We're very happy to welcome both Tadeusz and Monique to the team.
But enough about us, what new projects are you looking to tackle this fall?
Posted by Genevieve Woo on Wed, Aug 24, 2011 @ 01:38 PM
After the trembling of yesterday’s Earthquake (which was felt at the Blue Link headquarters in the Greater Toronto Area), it illustrated how unstable our environment is becoming. This made me realize that there is no better time than the present to implement change- it’s hard to predict what will happen in the future. Whether it is getting a new car, getting a new computer or going on a weekend getaway – there’s no better time than the present to take action. It shouldn’t take an earthquake or any other harmful event to trigger action- as sometimes this is the case.
This is holds true in the software industry. Sometimes, we realize that we need to change our old system and upgrade to a system that is able to handle our evolving business needs. Most companies will wait until the system completely crashes and there is no way of rescuing it. Therefore it may be a scramble to find a replacement software system. Sometimes this mad panic to find a solution without critically thinking about your needs may land you with a solution that is subpar. In a previous blog post, I mentioned that there are optimal times to replace software, however the present need for software trumps all!
If you’re unsure about whether you’ve hit the point of needing new software, take a look at my previous blog post that includes a checklist of warning signs for new software.
Has your business shaken up any change?
Posted by Genevieve Woo on Fri, Aug 19, 2011 @ 10:19 AM
It was a week ago that the doors of Blue Link were graced with a friendly UPS deliveryman who had a very important package in hand. It was a rectangular brownish box waiting for me to open. Any guesses to what it could be?
---- Read on the find out what it was---
It was a shinny, silver, slim and sleek MacBook Pro! My new toy at work had finally arrived after the long anticipated wait. She’s so pretty and works like a charm! Having been a PC user since I was in grade school, switching over to the Mac world was a big step. I heard that “Once you go Mac, you never go back!”- Only time will tell if this statement holds true.
Here’s the report so far:
A+ to Macintosh’s presentation when opening up the package and unveiling the MacBookPro. Macintosh does an excellent job of paying attention to detail such as rounding the corner edges of the form and having a tab to easily lift your laptop out of the case. Just take a look at the image!
Setting up the MacBookPro was very easy and logical to follow. I experienced no difficulties with the initial set-up and I got to start using my computer within minutes. I’m still getting used to many neat features such as some of the finger motions shortcuts and pressing command instead of control for keyboard shortcuts. But overall, I’m quite satisfied with making the switch over to the Mac world and my experience thus far.
Any advice or tips for new Mac users?
Posted by Genevieve Woo on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 @ 07:08 AM
This summer, Blue Link went on a road trip to beautiful Orono, Ontario to visit Foundation Distributing, Christian book distributor. Don't let the small town size foul you into believing its a representation of Foundations size. Rather the opposite is true- Foundation is growing organization that puts a high importance on growth.
Growth is one of the most desired goals by many, if not all, organizations. One of the ways to align your growth strategy is to do a sanity check of all initiatives and partners you're currently working with.
Here's a check list of questions to consider:
- Are you playing 'catch-up' or 'keep-up' with new market trends?
- Is your business adopting your current business software processes or are they adapting to your needs?
- Do you do a regular review of your current business software system?
- What is the primary reason you stay with your business software providers?
Watch this short 3 minute video clip of Pat Chown from Foundation sharing the challenges and triumphs with his company's growth.
How do you manage and enable growth?
Posted by David Silva on Fri, Aug 12, 2011 @ 06:45 AM
A typical search around the office can uncover some long forgotten items such as these old Blue Link version 8.5 CDs [pictured]. We released version 8.5 back in 1999 and haven't looked back since!
Finding old technology really makes you think about how quickly technology progresses. The difference between version 8.5 and our current version, 12, is night and day and we are proud of the progress we have made. Our software is now used by hundreds of companies (small and medium sized wholesalers and distributors, mainly) across a variety of industries. Our software has seen evolutionary as well as revolutionary changes to meet the needs of our ever-diversifying client base.
Soon to come - a timeline illustrating our history and a preview of what is to come.
Posted by David Silva on Tue, Aug 09, 2011 @ 03:00 PM
Several weeks ago I wrote about implementing the Google Plus One button on our company website. The button promises to improve search engine rankings as well as social relevance on sites like Google+. However, what Google had not mentioned was the fact that the button would also slow down your site - a lot.
I noticed an increase in page load times myself and was immediately concerned that it might affect our search engine rankings but felt there was little I could do - you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. The button is supposed to help your web rankings but because of its speed it could hurt it.
The worst part was that most of our pages' content would not load until the button was fully loaded. Obviously this is a huge issue as users have little patience in waiting for content to load on a webpage.
Luckily Google recently improved the plus one button!
After implementing the new code on our site http://www.BlueLinkERP.com ran much faster. Our content now appears quickly (as it should) with the button taking a mere split-second to load after. Good job Google for getting that fix out quickly - somewhat embarrassing that it happened in the first place though.
Posted by David Silva on Thu, Aug 04, 2011 @ 07:00 AM
According to an article by Thomas Wailgum, many ERP providers are jumping on the social media bang-wagon by integrating social media sites directly into their application. While it is always important for software providers to stay up-to-date, this might be an unnecessary focus rather than a strategic advancement.
Don't get me wrong; social media is an extremely important part of the marketing puzzle and ERP software is no exception. Many businesses are utilizing social media to push out content and engage with prospective buyers. However, I fail to see the need for integration directly into an ERP system.
Firstly, a number of very cheap (or free) tools exist to help manage social media channels. Secondly, with the social web changing as quickly as it does, you may be making modifications to these functions on a daily basis. And lastly, there is just no need for integration between one's financial and inventory system and the "social-sphere". Unless your company takes a very liberal approach to social media and likes to post customer invoices publicly on Facebook, chances are these integrated tools will have little use.
We are exclusively B2B and use social media (Follow us on Twitter!) but we have found, so far, that we have no need for integration with our ERP system.
Do you agree? Would you like to see social media integration within your ERP system?