Manufacturing And Warehousing IT News For VARs — July 15, 2014
By Trisha Leon, contributing writer
Recent articles discuss ways to help your customers harness Big Data, manage the finances of IT, and understand the benefits of enterprise resource planning
How Your Manufacturing Customers Can Harness Big Data
Due to the vast amount of data produced by manufacturers — especially global manufacturers —IT architecture is the foremost challenge for achieving visibility into manufacturing operations. LSN Research shares recent advances in manufacturing software technology which have turned this over-abundance of data into a competitive advantage for cutting-edge manufacturers. The article, “Delivering Actionable Intelligence with Global Manufacturing Analytics,” discusses the challenges with traditional manufacturing IT architectures, how taking a MOM (manufacturing operations management) platform approach to operations can help to overcome them, and why such an approach is critical to harnessing the future potential of manufacturing Big Data on the horizon.
NAED PAR Report Released
The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) released its annual NAED PAR Report Industry Overview that compiles performance data from NAED electrical distributors to provide a benchmark for performance in 2013. According to Industrial Distribution, “The report shows that electrical distributor profit margins increased to a median of 3.4 percent in 2013, consistent with 2012’s median. Among the top performing “high profit” distributors, the 2013 profit margin was 6.6 percent, up slightly from last year’s profit margin of 6.3 percent.” The report also provides in-depth information on investment along with income statement, balance sheet, and financial and productivity ratios.
Shedding Light On Financial Management Of IT For Your Customer
The article “Financial Management of IT: Do You Know Where You’re Going?” by Dave Blanchard of Industry Week explains how companies can improve their overall IT maturity and financially manage their IT more successfully. According to financial consultants Mike Stiglianese and Larry Maisel, “The single most important factor in having a successful IT financial management implementation is having a thorough understanding of what needs to be implemented before deciding on how to implement it.” Financial management of IT is an important component of a companies’ overall success, and VARs can provide guidance to their customers to help them more effectively manage the process.
How ERP Software Can Benefit Your Customers
Cloud computing can be confusing, and the idea of using enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in the cloud could add to the confusion. The Industry Week article, What Do You Really Know about Cloud ERP? by Rick Veague, demystifies the cloud by defining key terms that clarify the issues around cloud ERP. It explains how ERP can be implemented within the cloud and how businesses can navigate the cloud by understanding cloud ERP, SaaS ERP, and perpetually licensed ERP delivered through a private cloud. The potential offered by cloud computing should motivate VARs to assist their clients implementing into their own business model.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Manufacturing And Warehousing Tech Center.