Jane plays a key role in your finance department and is a much-valued employee. Despite her full-time contract, she works in the office only two or three days a week, arriving after ten and leaving before four since getting caught up in rush hour traffic would add at least an hour a day to her commute. The rest of her time she works from home or is visiting other sites – armed with laptop, smartphone and tablet she is able to make the most of every moment.

Does that sound familiar? Or are you already having heart palpitations as you think either about the potential security risks, or what your employees would actually be doing with their time if they weren’t sitting at their desks under your watchful eye? Read the rest of this entry »

When was the last time you splashed out on an ERP system? Did you question whether an ERP system was the best solution for your needs? Did you fully consider your operational objectives before selecting your IT system?

A recent report by SourceforConsulting and commissioned by Advanced Business Solutions highlights the importance of looking at options other than an ERP system when embarking on an IT project. The report suggests that, all too often, a public sector organisation views an ERP system as the ‘holy grail’, with an ability to solve all its woes. However when the expectations of what the system can deliver do not fit the reality, disappointment and negativity can set in, ultimately giving ERP projects a bad name. Read the rest of this entry »

Very few of us, when we were children, imagined a future for ourselves as business men and women. Soldiers, yes, and fire-fighters. Maybe doctors and nurses if our instinct was for caring. Or pilots, if it was for flying. But Finance Directors and Chief Operating Officers? Probably not.

And yet when we eventually tipped out of school or college and faced the world of work, business was where a very large number of us ended up. And you know what? It wasn’t so bad! Quite exciting things happened in business. And you got to sit in a comfy chair, drink coffee, perhaps even go on trips to other countries every so often, and the dirtiest your hands ever got was when your sandwich fell apart at lunchtime. Read the rest of this entry »

Many financial professionals make the decision not to change their finance system despite this costing them far more in the long run than they realise.

This was revealed in a recent survey by Advanced Business Solutions in partnership with Financial Director magazine. Surprisingly, 83% of the 101 UK finance professionals questioned said that they didn’t have any plans to change their current finance system and 60% said that they didn’t see a ‘need’ to change systems. This is despite 57% admitting to using a system that was implemented between 2000 and 2007 and 21% using a system implemented pre-2000. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that only 34% of business managers that work outside the HR function believe that it’s critical to have HR representation at board level? We recently discovered this statistic after carrying out a survey in partnership with SourceforConsulting.

This figure is somewhat surprising considering many organisations say that people are their greatest asset. If this is true, then why isn’t the value of HR appreciated and why aren’t there more HR representatives at board level? Read the rest of this entry »

On the first day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: a mobile phone with NFC.

On the second day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the third day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the fifth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the sixth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the seventh day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Version One’s data capture, Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the eighth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Cloud for my business, Version One’s data capture, Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the ninth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Business intelligence, Cloud for my business, Version One’s data capture, Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the tenth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: StaffPlan Roster, Business intelligence, Cloud for my business, Version One’s data capture, Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Progresso Analytics, StaffPlan Roster, Business intelligence, Cloud for my business, Version One’s data capture, Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Advanced gave to me: Warehouse management, Progresso Analytics, StaffPlan Roster, Business intelligence, Cloud for my business, Version One’s data capture, Collaborative Planning, financial management software, a human resource solution, iNurse on Android, a document management system and a mobile phone with NFC!

…And with all this in place, 2013 should prove an efficient and cost-effective year for your organisation!

Happy Christmas from all at Advanced!

The Commercial Division of Advanced Business Solutions, in partnership with SourceforConsulting, has conducted a survey to investigate why finance isn’t placed at a high enough priority in mid-sized companies.

The findings have revealed that many organisations treat their finance systems much like a boiler, with the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality. Unfortunately, this mentality could actually be costing your business and wasting staff time. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a few weeks ago, Jessica Harper, a former Lloyds bank worker, was jailed for five years over a £2.4m fraud. Somewhat ironically, Harper was Head of Fraud and Security for Digital Banking.

Although her story was deemed distinctive enough to hit the news, she is not alone in defrauding her employer. According to the National Fraud Authority[1], deceptive practices cost the UK economy £35 billion in 2010, equating to £765 for every adult. Read the rest of this entry »

The government’s new pension auto-enrolment scheme was launched on Monday 1^st October, affecting businesses with 120,000+ employees.

Pension auto-enrolment is a new measure being introduced in the Pensions Act 2008 and the Pensions Act 2011 to radically reform workplace pension provision in the UK. The new law aims to encourage people to save for their retirement by automatically enrolling them into an eligible pension scheme, to take advantage of valuable pension contributions available from their employer.

To help employers and payroll departments through this challenging time, Advanced Business Solutions have introduced this pension auto-enrolment website, a live resource where you can learn more about the pension changes, how and when they affect your business, and how your payroll department can prepare.  Find out your staged implementation date here.  Read the rest of this entry »

With IT budgets tight, it is typical for organisations to be ‘making do’ with the business software systems they have in place even if they are lacking functionality and proving manually-intensive. However, not only are organisations having to cope with unsuitable and flawed business software systems, they may also be experiencing poor service from the software provider. It is therefore key for businesses to review their software systems and suppliers on a regular basis. This should include asking the following questions:

• How much time and money are being spent on manually-intensive processes which could be automated using the right software solutions?
• Do customer service levels fall below expectations?
• Are maintenance costs competitive? Could money be saved by switching supplier?
• Does the supplier support legacy products or older versions?
• What ongoing training is offered for end-users?
• Does the supplier listen to the needs of their customers and develop new releases based on user feedback?

The results from the software review may identify that the organisation would benefit from investing in alternative software systems (and suppliers) in order to cut costs, improve efficiencies,  receive an improved level of service and access new and innovative user-driven functionality. However, once the decision has been made to move suppliers, how does a business choose between one software supplier and another?

Business software solutions, especially mid-market software applications, are not easy to differentiate. Businesses may think – “Surely an accounting system is the same regardless of which company it is purchased from?” This is simply not the case. There are some fundamental differences between both software solutions and suppliers. To aid a business’ decision-making process, they should consider the following:

• Product Investment – Does the supplier have clear, user-driven product road maps? Are they making financial investments and committing manpower in order to continually deliver a leading-edge solution?
• Breadth of Solution – Can the supplier offer ‘best-of-breed’ software solutions across a broad range of areas? Can these solutions be integrated together?
• Financial Stability – Is the supplier in a strong financial position?
• Customer references – Does the supplier have happy customers that can act as reference sites?
• After-sales support – How are customers treated post-implementation? Is there a proven after-sales support process in place?
• Location – Is your chosen supplier based in the UK where you can more easily influence future product developments, or are they simply a UK subsidiary of an overseas company where you will have little access and influence?
• A trusted advisor – It’s important that the chosen software provider is not just a supplier but is able to act as a trusted advisor, providing ongoing advice and recommendations. For instance, does the supplier keep abreast of regulatory changes and advise its customers on the software impacts of these changes?

Organisations that take the decision to remain with flawed software solutions and suppliers rather than investing in more advanced systems from quality suppliers may be thinking that they are saving money. In fact, they’re likely to be operating inefficiently, leaking money,  receiving a poor level of customer service and paying over the odds for annual maintenance. It’s therefore important for businesses to review their software solutions every few years and take an honest look at their customer-supplier relationships. Failure to do this is akin to providing competitors with a green light to steal the march.