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Technology Resources

Documents

  • IT Strategic Planning Guide

    The IT Strategic Planning Guide can be used to formalize the course of action an organization can take to align technology with the company’s business strategy.
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  • The Essential Guide for Selecting Today’s Business Software

    When you invest in a business solution, you are buying a relationship, not just a product. The essential guide is intended to give you valuable, street-smart information about the inner workings of business technology partners. Throughout the guide, you will find supporting questions you should ask yourself and prospective partners.
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Articles & Publications

  • A CRM Blueprint: Maximizing ROI from your Customer-Based Strategy

    This white paper analyzes the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) marketplace and provides in-depth perspectives designed to help you build your company’s customer-based strategy. The report also includes a list of 12 key steps that can help your company become more customer focused.
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  • Collaboration, Integrated Information, and the Project Lifecycle in Building Design, Construction and Operation

    Building owners, regularly experience project schedule and cost overruns. As a result, Construction Users Round Table has evaluated how alternative processes—namely, use of information technology combined with changes in project structure and delivery processes—might address these issues.
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  • Customer Compliance Demands: Beast of burden, or new business opportunity?

    The movement towards highly advanced electronically collaborative supply chains is well underway. Compliance demands are the wave of the future, and it’s time to build a strategic relationship with them rather than fight the inevitable. A small Distributor can compete with a competitor ten times it size by simply using IT as a strategic weapon.
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  • Demand Planning: Optimizing operations across the supply chain

    Manufacturers and distributors who have invested in new demand planning systems have benefitted not only through improvements in internal operations, but also from the greater collaboration fostered by these technologies. The end results are tighter, more efficient, and more responsive supply chains—and happier customers. The benefits are significant reductions in inventory and warehouse space, an improved ability to supply the customer, and increased sales.
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  • Effective Financial Reporting — From Strategy to Action

    Productivity and efficiency are key to the success of your business. So why expect less from your financial software? This collection can help you evaluate your core processes to ensure you have the speed and efficiency you need. It offers successful tactics for improved reporting that can ultimately increase efficiency company-wide. Plus, a simple diagnostic assessment helps you discern if your software is up-to-speed with the latest demands.
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  • Finding the Strategic Power in Projects

    This book explains how your company can use new project management techniques and software to track labor expenses more efficiently, anticipate customer needs better, reduce administrative data entry costs, and increase profits. Finding the Strategic Power in Projects is written by Cynthia LeRouge, CPA, an industry expert in project management, accounting and technology.
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  • First Steps to Achieving Effective Inventory Control

    Our goal is to help distributors reach their maximum business potential by delivering connected solutions designed to meet unique business processes through trusted partnerships and ongoing service. This report is designed to help forward-thinking distributors increase efficiency, customer service and profitability with smart inventory management strategies based on tried and proven methods and best practices.
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  • Five Ways Non-Profits Can Simplify Reporting and Reduce Costs

    Based on work with thousands of non-profit organizations, Microsoft Business Solutions has developed five strategies for simplifying your reporting processes. In this guide, they also included inspirational success stories from two leading non-profit organizations who have managed to turn some daunting accounting and administrative challenges into an exciting opportunity for improvement and growth.
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  • Improving the Accuracy of Your Forecasts

    Accurate demand forecasts are a critical factor in achieving effective inventory management. If you do not have good estimates of future usage, you are forced to overstock in order to maintain a high level of customer service. It costs a lot of money to maintain this excess inventory, money that probably could be put to better use. You need to develop the most accurate forecast of future demand possible for every stocked product in your inventory!
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  • Inventory Management: Analyzing inventory to maximize profitability

    It is unfortunate that management in many companies is convinced that the primary key to increasing corporate profitability is to encourage salespeople to increase sales and gross margins. This action is important, but not the only path to success. In fact, effectively managing your inventory investment can contribute as much or even more to your organization’s bottom line. You’ve got nothing to lose and a lot to gain by actively managing what is probably your largest asset.
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  • Keeping Stock Balances Accurate

    If you don’t know what is actually in your warehouse or storeroom, you cannot provide customers with reliable stock availability information and you won’t reorder products at the proper time. Maintaining accurate stock balances is a vital component of an effective inventory management program.
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  • Key Performance Indicators Drive Best Practices for General Contractors

    No one single KPI can provide a complete picture of business performance. Viewing all KPIs as a group provides a more accurate total picture. With this information, managers can understand the pulse of their business at a glance and determine if action is required. Therefore, KPIs prod management to drive organizational behaviors since they require specific business processes to make them meaningful performance measurements. This white paper identifies and explains the KPIs used by best-of-class contractors.
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  • Manufacturing Solutions: Five Strategies for Lowering Inventory Costs

    As a manufacturer, you need the right technology tools to help your company stay ahead of the competition. Based on work with many successful manufacturing companies like yours, we show you which factors directly and indirectly affect inventory costs and how you can control them. Regardless of the size of your business, we’re confident you’ll find an idea or two that will help you better manage and control inventory costs.
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  • Microsoft .NET: A Foundation for Connected Business

    Today’s business has an almost overwhelming choice of technology tools to choose from—probably more than at any other time in history. In 2001, Microsoft announced a business strategy, a set of technology architectures and products, and a renewed developer and partner initiative called .NET. This executive white paper is designed to provide you with details about .NET and the vision for connected business.
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  • Optimizing the Construction Process: An Implementation Strategy

    This paper envisions a substantially changed project environment, where projects are undertaken by deeply collaborative, multidisciplinary teams that contribute to project fruition. For the construction industry to step forward into an optimized future and realize these significant benefits owners must change the organization of projects and teams, change ineffective behaviors, and demand that project teams use technology to its fullest. This paper examines these areas of change and offers examples of how they might lead to maximum capitalization on unique opportunities.
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  • Optimizing Warehouse ROI

    This white paper addresses the areas that are directly involved with the value-adds and ROI opportunities in automated warehouse processes using bar-code and wireless RF technology along with Warehouse Management System (WMS) software. Specifically, this paper focuses on how progressive companies can keep mistakes at an acceptable minimum, improve efficiency, maintain compliance, maximize personnel utilization, and maximize inventory investment through effective use of inbound and outbound logistics and warehouse operations. In a modern, automated warehouse management environment, these activities take place in a smooth, uninterrupted flow.
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  • Processes, Systems and Automation: Becoming a Superior Builder

    This white paper takes an in-depth look at each of these challenges; and responds to them which will help the builder not only cope, but grow through the process to become a stronger company - financially sound, more efficient and more effective. How do you determine what systems or procedures you need; how do you tweak your methods of operation to bring out the best in your company and its employees, the trades and your buyers? Making changes can be challenging and time consuming - but can yield huge rewards. Come with us as we take a look through these, and many other questions and their solutions.
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  • Software Helps Trim Waste in Lean Distribution

    The concept of “Lean” seems to be everywhere. In our industry, we are more likely to be discussing manufacturing operations than waistlines. However, “Lean Thinking” has a number of applications within the warehouse and office of a distributor as well. Deploying the right software and using it from a lean perspective can be critical to achieving Lean results.
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  • Striking the CRM Balance — Greater Productivity, Lower Costs and Tight Integration

    Rich customer relationships that generate loyalty and revenue are critical to sustained performance. Now more than ever, organizations must be able to flexibly adapt to the unique needs of individual customers. To meet this challenge, companies of all sizes are deploying Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications and strategies across their organizations. To achieve CRM success, organizations must strike the delicate balance between greater productivity, lower implementation costs and tight integration with applications already in use.
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  • The Bottom Line on CRM Success

    This guide explores strategies for effectively choosing and implementing your company’s next Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution.
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  • The Manufacturing Software Evaluation and Planning Guide

    Speed, quality and customer service are critical components to success in the manufacturing environment of today — and tomorrow. If the software that controls your manufacturing process can’t provide all three, your company may find itself at a distinct disadvantage in an increasingly fast-paced economy. But how can you analyze the health of your manufacturing software? With this guide, you can evaluate your current system effectiveness and determine if your organization would benefit from implementing a new manufacturing system.
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  • Winning Distribution Strategies — 6 Sure-Fire Ways to Boost Profits

    This report contains six strategies that have been proven to streamline processes for distribution-focused companies. Regardless of your years in distribution management, we’re confident you’ll find an idea or two to help you reduce costs and boost sales.
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