Pre-built SAP Business One Integration to Shopify

Many Third Wave customers have accomplished integrating SAP Business One Inventory with Shopify and other e-commerce platforms. This is done with a pre-built solution implemented with the Bizweaver integration and process automation application. We have decided to write up a series of posts around our Shopify integration and include videos showing e-commerce integration with SAP B1.

API Mapping and Error Monitoring

Our solution connects and passes inventory into Shopify via the Shopify Inventory API, provides the essential data mappings to both systems out of the box, stages the data prior to updating Shopify, provides run-time error monitoring and correction, and provides easy access for customization.

The solution includes the requisite data mappings to/from the Shopify API. One of the key benefits of this solution is the ability to trap any transactions with erroneous or malformed data without interrupting processing. Administrators are provided with a web UI using the Versago Portal Platform for viewing and correcting the errors. The corrected transaction will then process automatically, and the correction can easily be added to the workflow to auto-correct the issue if it occurs in the future.

Pre-built with Flexibility

The solution is also designed for easy modification to meet the unique needs a business may have. One of the most time-consuming aspects of application integration is understanding the APIs. With this solution, you do not have to spend hours learning the Shopify integration API. That work has been done.

Error Handling Made Easy

Another nice feature of this solution is error handling at the point of updating either Shopify or SAP. If for any reason a transaction is not passing the SAP DI or Web Services APIs (perhaps because they are momentarily down) the transaction can be reprocessed without interrupting other processing.

Nail Your Shopify Integration

There are many application integration tools and solutions a business can choose from. We believe Bizweaver and our pre-built solutions provide the best balance between simplicity and control at an affordable price.

Recording: Integrating SAP Business One Inventory with Shopify

Innovation at Heart

As the most experienced SAP Business One Gold Partner in North America, we help scale and support your business, every step of the way. Our expertise extends beyond SAP Business One and ERP. Our customers enjoy having a single provider for all their needs. No matter how your business system requirements grow and change, we are there to assist you.

Third Wave’s implementation process and consulting team has created a customer retention level average of 98.7% year over year and is the only partner to achieve 100% customer retention. We have a 95% implementation success rate. Contact us and see how we can help you get the most out of SAP Business One.

Versago and Bizweaver

SAP Business One runs better with Versago and Bizweaver, our innovative portal and business process automation platform for modern operations.

Extend the power of SAP with a connected workforce and smart integrated eCommerce, CRM, EDI, and 3PL with SAP Business One.

Collicutt Challenges

• Inefficiency and poor visibility into production workflow and job status
• Gaps in hand-off from sales to service team for maintenance contract offer
• Lack of visibility into stock-outs and inventory for the parts team
• Inefficient and error-prone absence request/approval workflow lacking company-wide visibility into employee absence schedule
• Inefficient, error-prone, time capture for technicians
• No central management of field service activity

Solution

• Simple, user-friendly Versago web portal enabling people in different roles to access and update only the information they need to perform their job
  • Production Job Board
  • Sales-to-Service Notification
  • Parts Team Portal
  • Absence Scheduler/Calendar
  • Field Service Portal
  • Invoice Approval/Payment Workflow
• Real-time processing and synchronization of portal activity with SAP Business One

ROI

• Eliminate blind spots into production job challenges as they’re occurring
• Immediate insight and risk mitigation relative to job costs and available materials
• Recapture maintenance contract revenue and customer satisfaction
• Planning accuracy resulting from removing inventory blind spots
• Company-wide resource availability visibility
• Field-service delivery and cost predictability
• Increase employee morale from reduced confusion and simpler communication
• Fully leverage the investment made in SAP Business One!

“I don’t know if we’ll ever be done finding uses for Versago.” — Ryan Krutzfeld, VP Operations, Collicutt Energy

The Big Picture

ERPs allow for planning, tracking, and measuring a business’s operational processes. However, typically they are touched by only a fraction of the people effecting the business. A business fails to realize its full potential even when it has an ERP because the larger population of employees, customers, and vendors is unable to contribute to or benefit from essential information! This disconnect is costly and introduces speed (and accuracy) bumps across the enterprise. Speedbumps take lots of forms. Some of the more familiar ones are: stuck in an email inbox, filed in a cabinet, hidden in a spreadsheet, not integrated, not mobile, not systematized, etc.

Speedbumps have a way of going unnoticed, slowing things down, sometimes for years. Why? Because people get used to them and the frustration they cause. But they undermine the performance of the company. They are also often the root cause of customer and partner satisfaction problems!

About Collicutt

Collicutt Energy is a world class leader in anything related to industrial engines. They sell, service and provide parts for a variety of engines that power compressors, generators, pumps, etc. Collicutt represents and carries world-class products like MTU/Rolls Royce Power Systems, Scania, Waukesha, and Motortech that support the business in order provide to top-of-the-line service to customers. Collicutt’s customers are treated to a relentless pursuit of improvement through innovation and agility.

About Versago

Third Wave’s Versago portal platform (including Bizweaver integration and process automation) removes costly speedbumps and accelerates information flow by enabling employees, customers, and vendors to access and contribute to critical business information. They do this in the context of their jobs and in complete sync with SAP Business One. Collicutt is taking full advantage of Versago to cure gaps in various processes and areas across their business.

With Versago, anyone, can accomplish their tasks easily and accurately at just the level of involvement they need in any process or activity. They can access or update any information via simple, user-friendly web pages from their laptop/desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone.

There is no end to the use-cases Versago can address. To make setup easy, Versago ships with pre-built screens and integrations to SAP Business One.

Collicutt Use-Cases

Problem: Job Workflow & Tracking
A variety of things can constitute a ‘job’ at Collicutt, including solution builds, rebuilds, and maintenance. These are complex projects taking place across a 70,000 sq ft facility. Communication re: job stage, status, materials, cost, and time was decentralized across email, paper, etc. A limited number of people had the ability to key updates back into SAP manually. This mode of operation was inefficient and too error prone to be at the heart of Collicutt’s delivery process.

Solution: Versago as Job Board Portal
Using Versago, tasks for jobs are issued to the floor. Versago becomes the digital shop traveler. Technicians on the floor using iPads can access the tasks, log time against them, and update the status. A two-step workflow enables approval to move from project managers to supervisors. From a common screen supervisors can track job performance against quoted cost and hours, and purchase order status. Everyone has the interaction and visibility they need.

Problem: Sales to Service Hand-Off
After a generator is sold there is supposed to be a handoff to a ‘service salesperson’ to offer a preventative maintenance contract. This handoff was handled in email and being missed. It resulted in customers not benefiting from the full range of Collicut’s service value as well as a loss of additional revenue.

Solution: Versago as Sales Portal
Based on an order status change, the service salespeople receive a notification and from Versago can access the order and see the appropriate actions to take with the customer. Collicut also enables any employee to generate a lead from Versago, Sales to add and update opportunities with follow-up, and Sales Management to ensure follow-ups happen.

Problem: Inventory Visibility for Parts Team
Members of the parts team need to have 24/7 access to inventory to participate in job planning and respond to customer needs. To do this they would take a laptop home so they could log in to SAP to check stock. With Versago, Collicutt saw a better way.

Solution: Versago as Parts Team Portal
Configuring access to inventory in Versago requires no work. Versago ships with a template SAP inventory listing that can be assigned to the appropriate roles, filtered, and formatted to what they need to see. The Collicutt Parts Team members can access this from their phones at any time.

Problem: Employee Absence Request
Employees filled out absence requests using editable PDF files that were then emailed to their managers. This was yet another decentralized process resulting in low visibility into employee PTO across the company.

Solution: Versago as Employee Portal
This was another quick win for Collicutt with Versago. Employees can log in to Versago and fill out a simple form indicating planned absence. It then becomes visible to a supervisor who can approve it in Versago. Bizweaver is then used to update an OutLook calendar making it visible to the organization. The PTO is also displayed in a calendar within Versago which is accessible by all employees.

Problem: Field Service Coordination
Like all the above examples, field service coordination and information exchange were managed via disparate forms of communication. This caused all the same time efficiency, error potential, and frustrations. Collicutt was in the market for a field service application which can be expensive, require integration to SAP, and would be yet another app added to the organization. Collicutt saw how their field service needs could be addressed using Versago.

Solution: Versago as Field Service Portal

Dispatchers use Versago to assign a job to a technician or multiple technicians.  Based on how the job is set up, certain Versago forms become available to technicians.  When they get to the customer’s site, Versago steps them through job tasks in a certain order. They fill out mandatory/job specific forms, confirm or edit the equipment information (with a real-time update back to SAP if there is a change), enter their time and fill out a resolution.  Time entries go through a 2-step approval. It is automatically updated in the job costing module in SAP. Customers log in to Versago to access nicely formatted service reports.

“We are very passionate about Versago. It’s an amazing tool.” — Ryan Krutzfeld, VP Operations, Collicutt Energy

Vuzix Challenges

• Communication and coordination around Customer RFQs
• Communication and coordination around Purchase Requests
• Accuracy and visibility of production floor data and activity
• Lack of easy-to-access insights and analysis of Sales Activity for executives
• Visibility of inventory, BOM explosions, and purchase order receipts

Solution

• Simple, user-friendly Versago web portal enabling people in different roles to access and update only the information they need to perform their job
• Real-time processing and synchronization of portal activity with SAP Business One

ROI

• Reduce risk of lost revenue
• Eliminate time and overhead associated with confusion in responding to quote and internal purchase requests
• Provide quick insight to company sales and production performance
• Stop unnecessary manual data entry into SAP
• Greatly improve customer satisfaction and employee morale
• Return valuable time back to both Vuzix and Customer staff to focus on more valuable activities
• Fully leverage the investment made in SAP Business One!

The Big Picture

ERPs allow for planning, tracking, and measuring a business’s operational processes. However, typically they are touched by only a fraction of the people effecting the business. A business fails to realize its full potential even when it has an ERP because the larger population of employees, customers, and vendors is unable to contribute to or benefit from essential information! This disconnect is costly and introduces speed (and accuracy) bumps across the enterprise. Speed bumps take lots of forms. Some of the more familiar ones are: stuck in an email inbox, filed in a cabinet, hidden in a spreadsheet, not integrated, not mobile, not systematized, etc.

Speed bumps have a way of going unnoticed, slowing things down, sometimes for years. Why? Because people get used to them and the frustration they cause. But they undermine the performance of the company. They are also often the root cause of customer and partner satisfaction problems!

About Vuzix

Vuzix is an industry leader in Augmented Reality (AR) technology. They provide innovative products to defense, security, and other enterprise customers, as well as consumers. They are engaged in the design, manufacturing, marketing, and sale of Waveguides and Smart Glasses. Vuzix origins are in R&D for next-generation military display solutions. They have grown into a leading supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality technologies. Their next step is to bring the next level of Waveguides Optics to the world.

About Versago

Third Wave’s Versago portal platform (including Bizweaver integration and process automation) removes speed bumps in information flow by enabling employees, customers, and vendors to access and contribute to critical business information while in complete sync with SAP Business One. Vuzix is taking full advantage of Versago to remove costly speed bumps in various processes and areas across their business.

With Versago, anyone, can accomplish their tasks easily and accurately at just the level of involvement they need in any process or activity. They can access or update any information via simple, user-friendly web pages from their laptop/desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone.

There is no end to the use-cases Versago can address. To make setup easy, Versago ships with pre-built screens and integrations to SAP Business One.

Vuzix Use-Cases

RFQ Initiation
A large enterprise customer lacked one place to submit RFQs. The customer would send quote requests in an email to one member of the sales team. The rest of the team had no visibility to the RFQs. Without shared visibility and management of the customer requests, Vuzix could not fulfill orders on time. This caused business disruption for the customer and put revenue at risk for Vuzix.

Versago as Customer Portal
Versago is a role-based application. Customers can log in to Versago under a Customer role. They are then able to fill out an RFQ form. They can also review a listing of all submitted RFQs.

Once an RFQ is submitted in Versago, Bizweaver sends a confirmation email to both the requestor and the sales team and creates a sales quotation in SAP.

Purchasing Cycle
Purchase requests were submitted manually outside of SAP. Requestors had limited visibility into the status of the request throughout the purchasing cycle. Buyers had to spend time chasing approvals and then manually re-entering the data into SAP to cut a vendor PO. This process caused delays in fulfilling requests and caused low morale in the Purchasing department as they spent their time completing data entry rather than performing value added activities.

Versago as Purchase Request Portal
People can log in to Versago under a Purchasing role and submit Purchase Requests. This is a form that has built-in lookups to pull relevant vendors and items from SAP in real time, as well as user information. There is another role called Purchasing Buyer that allows the purchasing team to review all requisitions and add the proper G/L coding before the request is emailed to the appropriate approvers.

Production Orders
The system being used was confusing for managers, supervisors, and direct labor employees. It could only be accessed by one person at a time because of licensing costs. Mistakes were made resulting in inaccurate data. This caused problems for supervisors and managers. It also affected the performance of the direct labor employees.

Versago as Production Portal
People in QA and Shipping log-in under a Production role and enter their time, issue materials, and receive finished goods into stock. QC inspectors log all their inspection results. Everyone experiences simple, user-friendly web pages. Users can access issue and receipt error logs and listings of open production order times and time approvals. This enables both operators and supervisors to monitor the transactions being logged through Versago. Bizweaver (included with Versago) processes all the data transacted from Versago into SAP against Production Orders, including issuing items and resources. For the QC processes, Bizweaver invokes inventory transfers to designated warehouses in SAP based on the result of inspections.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming
Companies using Versago form the ‘versago habit’. Once they experience the ease of solving problems for different kinds of users, the ideas for more uses for Versago just keep coming.

Vuzix has also configured an Executive role enabling management to log-in and access charts for comparative sales analysis. Another role enables access to purchase order receipts, inventory levels, and BOM explosions.

Versago enables access to this information in perfect sync with SAP, from any device wherever a user is. It does this via simple, user friendly screens, not complex enterprise application user interfaces.

The 4Cs For SAP Business One

The 4Cs for SAP Business One podcast: Tyson McMurren and Mike Hamm discuss hot topics in the SAP Business One ecosystem. The 4Cs is designed for SAP Business One users to help them overcome common challenges and get the most out of their ERP system. Topics will surround the 4Cs: Core, Connect, Communicate and Control. If you have a topic idea or would like to be a guest please contact us.

As North America’s longest standing SAP Business One Partner we’ve literally been with our customers every step of the way and are deeply passionate about their success. Our leadership team ensures each SAP Business One customer benefits from both our implementation discipline and creative problem solving to support their current and future needs. We hope this podcast will help you drive profitable growth and leverge your investment in technology.

Want to know more about the 4Cs

Recenlty we took the time to analyze what defines ERP success and drives growth. We wrote a blog highlighting it is not just the Core ERP solution that drives growth but a combination of the 4Cs. Read the post here  The Essential Elements of The Connected Enterprise

The Podcast feed:

• Smart Warehouse with Chase Linsenbigler
• Validation, Visibility & Velocity with Aaron Armendariz from WiSys
• Employee Engagement
• 2021 review and 2022 Predictions for Small and Mid-sized Companies
• Real-Time Inventory Management with SAP Business One

Listen on Spotify of find us where you listen to podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/2yTw5lkXwUcvx8idhJVJtd

The Podcast YouTube Playlist:

The Connected Enterprise is an essential system for creating a profitable company in the modern era.

The global pandemic highlights what successful businesses know: a Connected Enterprise is essential to compete, survive, and thrive in a digital economy.

The Connected Enterprise harnesses digital transformation to increase insights, productivity, and customer experience across every department. For most businesses, the ERP or should be at the core of this. It’s the foundation for managing transactions, real-time insights, and growth at all times.

Businesses all too often accept the pains of being disconnected. They’re reluctant to incur the cost of change. This is short term thinking. The ROI from becoming an organization committed to digitalization (becoming connected) are indisputable and widely published.

While some organizations may understand the importance of becoming a Connected Enterprise, they may lack the skills to make it happen. In this blog entry, we offer a way of breaking it down.

The connected enterprise is comprised of four vital elements:

• Core
• Connect
• Communicate
• Control

Each of them represents an essential aspect of competing and thriving as a business. Read on to discover what each element means and how neglecting it could be costing your business.

Core

Most companies understand the importance of the Core. But many fail to address it in a way that will scale with the business. Neglecting to centralize and automate the core transactional data of the company on a modern ERP solution is a crucial mistake. It’s impossible to scale a business efficiently without the ERP as the trusted source of truth.

Many organizations put off getting a core ERP system in place. They live with the costly pains associated with delaying this for too long. It is a mistake to live with software that does not integrate transactional activity throughout the vital cycles of the operation. Managers put the business at risk by doing this and deny themselves efficient access to the other 3 Cs – Connect, Communicate, and Control!

A business will realize vast benefits from unifying on a core ERP system. Then it’s positioned to transform into a modern, connected digital enterprise.

Connect

In high-performing companies, people, processes, systems, and the Core operate in lockstep with each other because they are Connected.

‘Connection’ is essential for making sure the entire business ecosystem leverages and contributes to the Core. The Core ERP is the system-of-record for the business. It’s the source of truth for all transactional data including areas like service, sales, and marketing. However, outside the ERP system, there are more key stakeholders, processes, and other systems. Examples are E-commerce platforms, trading partners, suppliers, shipping and logistics providers, and more. These entities must be electronically connected to the Core and to some extent with each other.

Access to vital information can take too much time to obtain without the right tools when teams and business units are geographically dispersed or working from home. It introduces overhead, for example, when Warehouses and Purchasing don’t have access to the same data. There is excessive communication as each department tries to understand what is going on in the other. When transactions fail to flow efficiently with trading partners or suppliers there are chargebacks and lost business. Are we all working with the same data at the same time? Is that data in lockstep with the Core?

Critical channels such as E-commerce must stay synchronized with the Core or risk lost sales and damaged customer confidence. In the current economic environment where most sales are online, the lack of Connection can be deadly.

Communicate

Communication has always been at the heart of the business. How we communicate continues to evolve. In the current environment, people are not meeting face-to-face and require efficient interaction. The interaction needs to happen over more centralized channels. When channels are decentralized across email, spreadsheets, phone, paper, fax (yes fax), chat, etc. the result is excessive communication where the essential information gets obscured and confused.

Most communication between people in daily operations involves or is enhanced by data. Most of this data resides on the Core. It is completely possible to include core data automatically in communications via connections that have been established.

Organizations that struggle to include timely and accurate data in human interactions are at a disadvantage. Critical cycles like Quote to Cash, Purchase to Pay, Plan to Inventory, Forecast to Delivery, Design to Production, Service Call to Invoice function inefficiently. It creates unnecessary overhead when the channel for communication is not in sync with the Core. These cycles break down when the communication of information between people is paper-based or stuck in email.

Control

It should seem obvious at this point that control of business would be a very hard thing to maintain without a central Core system of record; Connections between that core and people, processes, and other systems; and the ability for people to communicate efficiently via those connections with accurate, timely data.

Without the aforementioned 3 Cs, the 4th C, Control, can not be attained. In an economy running on digital rails, this is deadly. Daily operations where everyone feels engaged and energized are great and that might feel like control. But it’s only an illusion of control without addressing the 4 Cs.

What does real control of an organization look like?

Control is the ability to make decisions based on the most timely and accurate information available. ‘Instantaneous’ is the standard today. This is what digitalization enables. It’s not just a matter of thriving as a business, it’s a matter of being in the game at all. ‘Accurate’, ‘easy’, ‘instantaneous’ must be the words that describe information management in your growing business in this digital age. Real control is possible in such a Connected Enterprise.

Senior managers are in control when they can quickly understand and approve margins and discounts on products to capture fast-breaking opportunities.

Forecasting is in control when precise order activity and inventory status can be viewed and updated by stakeholders from wherever they are. Companies that are unable to forecast and make reasonable assumptions about the market will fall victim to even normal fluctuations.

Accounts Payable is in control when purchase request and invoice review and approval flow seamlessly through the organization.

Trading partner relationships are in control when EDI activity is uninterrupted, readily visible, and manageable.

Customer satisfaction is in control when service transactions and associated billing cycle times are accurate and predictable.

Tackle the 4 Cs for a More Profitable Enterprise

Simply put, enterprises that prioritize Core, Connection, Communication, and Control capture opportunity. They respond to demand at high speed and higher profitability.

Third Wave Business Systems can help. We are your partner in implementing the 4 Cs, drawing on over 20 years of experience working closely with small and mid-sized businesses.

1. Third Wave is an SAP Gold Partner, the world leader in ERP software. We’ll help you select the best solution for your company and the right deployment model either on-premise or in the cloud.
2. Third Wave has hundreds of SAP Business One ERP implementations under our belt with deep experience in multiple industry sectors.
3. Third Wave will be your advisor in realizing the 4 Cs. We provide the products, solutions, and experience to realize true Control as a Connected Enterprise. Our integration and process automation application Bizweaver and web platform Versago power a wide diversity of Connect and Communicate solutions, affordably tailored to our customer’s varying needs.

To learn more about how SAP Business One, Versago, and Bizweaver can transform your business into a Connected Enterprise, schedule a customized demo with one of our professionals today

The term “customer experience” exploded in popularity in the past few years. The concept of customer experience— making it easy for customers to do business with you— is nothing new. Good business has always relied on knowing your customers and catering to their needs.

However, customer experience (CX) has taken on new dimensions as B2B relationships migrate to the digital realm. The ability to collect customer trends and insights through data and respond to them has increased personalization at an unprecedented level.

Customer journey mapping is critical to improving your overall CX. If you understand where your customers meet and interact with your company, you can tailor their experience resulting in increased loyalty and ultimately higher demand for your products and services.

Here’s what you need to know about CX, customer journey mapping, and how you can catch up to build your business.

Why CX is Crucial to Business Growth

CX no longer sets companies apart from their competitors. Customers have come to expect an experience tailored to fit their needs. Organizations have to consider CX to remain viable and competitive:

• 75% of customers are more likely to purchase from a company that knows their name and purchase history and recommends products based on their preference.
• 84% of companies that improve their CX report an increase in revenue.
• 73% of consumers say a good experience is crucial in influencing their brand loyalties.

It’s no wonder, then, that Adobe’s Annual Digital Trends Report found that businesses place CX as the most exciting B2B opportunity over content, data-driven, video, and social media marketing. Studies show that investing in CX has the potential to double revenue within 36 months.

Efforts to improve CX, then, can have an incredible impact on the success of your business. While companies may understand this in theory, the challenge is in finding practical ways to implement changes. How can you help improve your customer’s interactions with your company and brand? Customer journey mapping is a critical skill to improve your CX.

What is Customer Journey Mapping?

The customer journey with your business and your products is unique to your company. The more you understand how your customers come to you, and when they interact with your business, the more you can create an experience tailored for them.

Customer journey mapping allows you to understand your customer’s journey and needs. It requires taking the time to dissect your customer’s touchpoints and channels of interaction with your business, possibly even at a persona level. Data-driven tools allow you to optimize your use of the channels and enhance these touchpoints to create the best possible experience for the customer.

While it can have a positive impact on your customer experience, the concept of customer journey mapping can be overwhelming to a growing business. It takes time and focus to do this on top of everything else going on in the business. It requires increasing the investment in digitalization. Where could you possibly find the time to pinpoint all the touchpoints let alone implement the technologies to sense and optimize them?

How ERPs Can Elevate Your CX

In implementing SAP Business One, organizations have already undergone a detailed mapping of their processes. The quote to cash and customer service processes, for example, are templates for customer touchpoints. For every marketing document in SAP, there is a physical touchpoint upstream and potentially multiple touchpoints where a workflow is involved. A business can leverage this analysis that has already occurred.

Just a few examples where touchpoints are upstream of the ERP…:

• Reviewing and Paying Invoices
• Quote Requests/Processing
• Order Requests/Processing
• Orders Requests based on Previous Orders
• Reviewing Order Shipments
• Returns Requests/Processing
• Placing/Tracking Service Requests
• Your company news, updates, announcements, notifications, and alerts.

Your organization does not have to spend incredible amounts of time searching to find all of its customer touchpoints. Your ERP provides a natural blueprint for you.

Why Mobile is Critical for Your CX

While understanding the customer journey is crucial, optimizing it means far more than making it easy to read or access online. As CX continues to evolve, mobile becomes a prominent component in how customers experience your brand.

In the past, other factors could offset a bad mobile experience with your company. That is no longer true. Mobile phones can become essential to the way most people do business. According to Statista, 50% of all internet traffic in 2019 was mobile. People are on the move and no longer chained to the desk. Brands need to keep up with their customers’ mobile needs if they want to have a positive CX. This is just as true for B2B customer experience in all industry sectors and points in the supply chain as it is for B2C.

In 2020, though, the mobile experience’s importance took a sharp turn upward before many companies had a chance to keep up. Few people foresaw the current environment that has forced many people to work remotely. Who knew in January that most people in most countries would be forced to work from home in March and for the foreseeable future?

While mobility and mobile features were once about the convenience factor, they have suddenly become indispensable.

Which companies are in a position to cope with this new environment? The business that makes their daily B2B customer transactions and interactions available via whatever device the customer has in their hand, whether smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

How to Catch Up on the Mobile Necessity: Versago

While businesses that are already equipped with a customer journey map for mobile business are ahead of the curve, organizations that are behind do have a chance to catch up, though. Within the SAP Business One global marketplace, there is a portal application called Versago, which can be installed and operational in one day. As a web and mobile platform integrated with SAP Business One, Versago provides a channel for optimizing an unending list of customer touchpoints, elevating Customer Experience. Within a day or two of installing Versago, your customers can access the information and data input they need to easily and quickly conduct business with you.

The effort put into making it easier for customers to interact with your organization will more than pay for itself in the future. SAP Business One and Versago make it fast and feasible to make your company easy to do business with and more profitable than ever.

To learn more about how Versago can take your CX to the next level, now, in 2020, a time when your business most needs it, schedule a customized demo with a Third Wave expert today!

Companies today have relationships with customers and vendors with their own preferences, systems, and behaviors. To work with them effectively, you need to ensure that you have the right technology ecosystem—one that allows you to rapidly develop and establish new processes for all your different customer and vendor relationship needs and to connect them together and with your operations to support business transactions. Learn how Versago can help make that happen.

Your customers and vendors have their own preferences, systems, and behaviors—and that means they need to be approached in custom-fit ways.

To do that, you need the right tools. In addition, you need to ensure that you have the right technology ecosystem—one that allows you to rapidly develop and establish new processes for all your different employee, customer, and vendor relationship needs and to connect them together to support business processes and transactions.

We built Versago as part of an effort to make the process of creating and establishing a technology ecosystem that supports business processes easier and more impactful while constantly adapting to the ever-changing needs of SMBs. Built with the leading ERP software SAP Business One in mind, and complemented by our Bizweaver real-time process automation and data integration product, Versago allows our clients to scale human interaction while in perfect sync with the information in SAP Business One supporting highly adaptable, effective business processes at scale. Versago together with Bizweaver supports infinite process scenarios connecting internal and external players and SAP Business One across sales quotes, orders, quote-to-cash, purchase-to-pay, production, service, delivery, returns processing, warehouse activities, and more.

Ecosystems are so central to successful business relationships today that it can be easy to forget that they’re a relative newcomer to small and mid-sized businesses. To get there, we worked together with our existing customers to understand the daily challenges they face to run their businesses effectively and realize their full digital potential without the distraction of new technologies. Versago is purpose-built to help small and medium-sized businesses take full advantage of digital and software tools realizing the potential of SAP Business One for a connected enterprise.

Now it’s truly possible to tie together your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with your existing processes and technologies in an effective way to support employee, client, and vendor interactions.

For SMBs, the better you understand what’s possible now, the easier it is to ensure that you’re creating and maintaining a best-in-class technology ecosystem that can support your business relationships in unique ways.

The Rise of Ecosystems

As a concept, integration and digital transformation has been advertised for quite some time in the shape of software suites, and cloud-based software offerings. But the majority of cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) offerings are still basically suites that are owned by a single company from bundling a collection of business software into a cohesive whole. Without extensive customization it is difficult—if not impossible— to effectively share data and coordinate cross-department, vendor and client needs and other actions with a single solution.

The rise of technologies like APIs that allow for greater data agility and processing makes continuous data management possible.

People had been talking about technology ecosystems forever, but this was the first time that diverse technology ecosystems for employee and customer management really started popping up, instead of just cloud-based suites that positioned themselves as an all-in-one ecosystem. Still, the varied nature of the needs of SMBs that differ from those of larger enterprises, make it very difficult for SMBs to find the right solution.

Even though we’re now seeing a greater acceptance of the idea that built-for-purpose tech ecosystems are the way forward, and a key part of digital transformation, SMBs are left behind.

The days of developers and consultants building one of a kind custom software solutions on top of stand-alone technology are on the way out.

Now, instead of focusing on how to make single-purpose apps that proliferate around a business we are shifting to a platform-based ecosystem that empowers small and medium-sized businesses to focus on what’s important to them. Versago is a systemic shift in digital transformation for SMBs to leverage SAP Business One ERP.

Today’s Ecosystem: An Adaptable Operations Management Solution leveraging core systems of record for a Connected Business

The business relationship we know from ten years ago is a thing of the past. The evolution of employee, client, and vendor relationships driven by technology puts their needs at the center.

To deliver on that expectation, it’s essential for businesses to choose the right technologies and to ensure that these solutions can work together as part of a cohesive ecosystem to support business communications and transactions.

Making this happen is a process, and requires a strategic approach and long-term vision. Plenty of businesses set out to build an ecosystem for themselves and end up with a technology stack of disparate systems that lacks security and scalability, with nothing working quite as well as it should. To succeed you need to make sure you’re working towards these key goals:

– Your technology ecosystem supports true data agility
– Your technology ecosystem is integrated with your ERP or accounting system of record
– Your technology ecosystem should enable adaptive cross-platform and cross-channel experience (communications & transactions)

The only way to reach these goals is to ensure that you have an ecosystem that can support information processing and employee, customer, and vendor engagement across platforms, devices, and channels. It takes the right collection of solutions, but it’s achievable today and worth the investment.

Versago: The Building Blocks of a Connected Business

We’ve architected Versago together with Bizweaver to integrate with other systems and technologies in a secure way. The easy to use web interface of Versago and data processing power of Bizweaver are central to successful business processes and relationships. Businesses that use the leading SAP Business One ERP leverage Versago to create a timely seamless feedback loop between people and the ERP system of record.

As the number of related technologies linked to business transactions has increased, we evolved the Versago Platform to cover infinite use cases created by SAP Business One experts.

Today, Versago enables small and mid-sized business to build a technology ecosystem that’s perfect for their business and unique needs—and capable of supporting the connected experiences that today’s employees, clients, and vendors want—connected to each other and to the system of record in a secure way.

Versago supports small and mid-sized businesses digital transformation strategy across these categories:

1. Data & Infrastructure Agility (Data Integration & Processing)
2. Real-time Reporting and Insights
3. Business Process Optimization
3. Channel Growth
4. Integrated with SAP Business One ERP
5. Service, but not quite SaaS

Conclusion

No one tech ecosystem will be right for every business or every industry, and keeping up with the ever-changing pace of marketing, technological, industrial and client/vendor-centered demands plus the shifting customer expectations will often mean adjusting the solutions your employees leverage to fit your current needs. The Versago platform enables a tech ecosystem that can grow and change with your customers, vendors, and business.

To learn more and start the journey towards a true, connected business request a custom demo.

About Versago Platform

Versago is a web and mobile platform integrated with SAP Business One enabling the broader population of people and processes across a business’ ecosystem to leverage the power of SAP for every function supporting growth and operating efficiency.

Versago is easily configured to support multiple use-cases to grow your business. With its extensive library of pre-built functionality and workflows already integrated with SAP Business One, your business can be up and running in less than a day with no software development required.

Benefits of Versago & SAP Business One:
– People and Processes Always In-Sync with SAP Business One
– Simple User Experience, Low/ No Training
– One Configurable Platform vs. Multiple Apps
– Streamlined Processes with no SAP Manual Data-Entry Bottlenecks
– Paperless Processes
– Faster Customer <> Supplier Interactions
– Branded to Reflect Your Business
– Increased Customer Satisfaction with Digital Solutions

What Is Digital Transformation (DX)?

The common definition of digital transformation states that it “is not necessarily about digital technology, but about the fact that technology, which is digital, allows people to solve their traditional problems and they prefer this digital solution to the old solution.”

A preference for a digital solution over an old solution could have occurred in 1990 as much as it could occur today. What has made digital transformation the global phenomenon that it is today is the acceleration of preferred digital solutions in all facets of life.

The acceleration has occurred on the foundation of cloud computing, big data and analytics, mobile, and social technologies, and further by technologies higher up in the digital strata, such as AI, 3-D printing, robotics, and IoT. And what all technology shares today that was absent in the 1990s is connectedness (i.e. the Internet) and, in recent years, readily-available interoperation (APIs).

Why Do Small Businesses Need To Become More Digital?

One of the biggest reasons a small business needs to become more digital is that billions of people are connected online via millions of applications. Where people gather, value exchange follows. The connected world is a 24/7 global marketplace that, in terms of access to customers and suppliers, levels the playing field for small businesses.

Learn More: Leveling the Playing Field with SAP Cloud for Small Businesses

It also levels the playing field in that information – the hottest commodity in a connected world – can be leveraged by anyone. The connected world has grown to become a marketplace of marketplaces.

For example, the Alibaba marketplace brings millions of B2B buyers and suppliers together from around the world. LinkedIn brings millions of job seekers and hiring companies together. Facebook completely leverages information by virtually turning its members into unpaid employees who provide billions of pieces of free content, and then monetizes their presence and the content on the platform.

Small and mid-size businesses, particularly ones that have been around for decades, may think digital forces have less impact on them. They might believe they’re running fine with tried and true trading partners and processes. Or, to them, the intersection between what they do and the digital world isn’t intuitive and becomes a lower priority.

But a connected marketplace of billions of users that never sleeps cannot be ignored and will eventually significantly influence, if not completely disrupt, all traditional business models.

The Two Prongs of Digital Transformation

There are two primary ways a business can approach digital transformation:

Prong 1.) As something to help run the current business better.

Prong 2.) As something that could highly influence or augment the business model, the value the business provides, and its revenue streams.

Prong 1

While this first approach to digital transformation is more focused on the current business, it has the potential to seed real new value and impactful change. In this effort, a business should involve the people who understand current processes and the opportunity for improvement. Digital transformation benefits are often more attainable near-term in this approach than in the “change the business” approach described below.

In this “run the business” approach, digital transformation opportunities may simply come from asking a series of questions centered around a primary question: “How might we become a more connected business?” To find the possibilities, a business should look across its operations, its trading ecosystem, and its business model to identify where people and systems could have a more direct connection to each other with more timely and accurate information. For example:

• When a salesperson needs an updated view of orders or inventory, how do they get it? Does someone extract it from a database and email it to them? What would be a better connection to inventory for the salesperson?
• How do salespeople provide their forecasts on a regular basis?
• How do suppliers receive and keep track of purchase orders?
• How do suppliers provide status updates on orders? What would be a better connection for the supplier?
• How do customers connect with the business to review and pay invoices?
• How do people on the production floor capture data?
• How fast and accurately does data get to approvers in any process and then synchronized with the ERP system?
• How do field technicians connect to provide service updates and associated T&M?
• Are all of these and many more daily interactions mobile and being managed by a central system that is fully integrated with systems of record like the ERP solution?

Even in today’s connected digital economy, there are still processes and interactions around a business’s ecosystem that are email-based, spreadsheet-based, even paper-based. These methods are decentralized and do not leverage investments already made in systems of record, like the ERP system. In these cases, in our experience, there is a meaningful and achievable digital transformation opportunity.

Prong 2

The second approach to digital transformation is a “change the business” endeavor. To undertake this, a business should identify and involve people with an entrepreneurial spirit. Here, the business must consider its model in the context of a digital economy.

Is digital transformation as simple as making sure its products are available for purchase online? Perhaps. Or maybe the business has an opportunity to innovate new value leveraging its expertise and data assets unique to its domain. Perhaps this could lead to new types of services that can be deployed more readily in the connected, digital space that create new value, new types of customers, and generate new revenue streams.

Pursuing this kind of digital transformation requires business leadership to set time aside on a regular basis for brainstorming and discovery. What makes sense will depend on the company, the sector of industry, market forces, and other factors.

Breakthrough collaborative problem-solving methodologies, like Human Centered Design, have helped both name brand enterprises and small businesses put their customers and new value creation first in their pursuit of this type of digital transformation.

The Connected Opportunity

Products like Third Wave’s Versago, a web/mobile platform, with Bizweaver, integration and process automation, together with ERP solutions like SAP Business One, offer an opportunity to small and mid-size businesses to become more connected across their trading ecosystem and internally. They enable a business to centralize, automate, and streamline human and system interactions like those listed in our first prong and hundreds more.

As compared to developing new digital business models in Prong 2, centralizing and mobilizing information sharing as in Prong 1, is simple. The ROI is proven. A business can get started on this today.

It’s more important than ever for small and growing businesses to assess their business model in the context of digital transformation. Do the amazing connected technologies available today offer an opportunity to innovate new value and revenue streams? Businesses must go through this self-evaluation. In the meantime, with applications like Versago and Bizweaver, there are immediate and affordable ways to become a more connected business on behalf of customers, suppliers, and employees to replace old solutions with a digital solution that people prefer.

About Third Wave Business Systems

Third Wave Business Systems is an SAP Gold Partner with decades of industry experience implementing and integrating SAP Business One for small to mid-sized enterprises. Begin transforming your business with an ERP solution that centralizes and streamlines processes across your business for richer insights, faster production, enhanced business agility, and a competitive edge in your market.