What keeps you awake at night?

Fri, 11 Oct 2019

Using your ERP system more efficiently can help keep your business out of your bedroom.

Do you struggle to get enough sleep? If so you are far from alone – about 4 in 10 Australian adults suffer from a lack of quality sleep according to our Government literature.

We have no reason to believe the statistics for typical Sage 300 users would be any different to the general population, but…

…we like to think those who make good use of Orchid’s productivity and automation tools are sleeping better, and longer.

To find out why, read on.

Burning the midnight oil

Exactly how much sleep you need varies from person to person, but the consensus is that most adults require about 8 hours a night. Some world leaders have not only claimed to function well on far less, but saw this as a badge of honour:

Margaret Thatcher famously survived on 4 hours a night…and often expected her staff to do the same.
Kevin Rudd, 2-time former Australian Prime Minister, was reported – by his wife, no less – to get by on as little as 3 hours a night.
Napoleon Bonaparte, another alleged 4-hour-a-night man, is often quoted as saying the required sleep hours were “6 for a man, 7 for a woman, and 8 for a fool.” (Would he have dared say that today?)

Whether those were their actual sleep hours is questionable. Whether they functioned well on them is more subjective…and possibly depends on your political leanings.

If they truly did consistently keep those hours, I’m guessing they weren’t a lot of fun to be around.

Bad sleep patterns are bad for business

Prolonged sleep deprivation doesn’t just make you irritable, it can have serious health impacts.

Many other symptoms are also clearly incompatible with running a business effectively. To list a few:

Reduced alertness and concentration
Shortened attention span and poorer memory
Poorer judgement and decision-making ability
Loss of motivation
Increased risk of making errors

Work Smarter, Sleep Better with Orchid

Many of the tips for healthy sleep are unrelated to work, e.g. establishing a regular routine; avoiding alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes...and of course seeking professional advice if it’s becoming a serious problem for you.

When it comes to other tips, like turning off your computer earlier and relaxing before bed, we might well be able to help.

Orchid’s catch phrase is “work smarter, not harder”. Our range of Sage 300 add-ons can improve your efficiency and effectiveness, potentially allowing you to:

Sleep longer: Increased productivity can help turn work time into play time, or family time…or sleep time!
Sleep better: By making Sage 300 work more pro-actively, e.g. through tailored alerts and custom workflows, you can ‘rest assured’ that things are running smoothly…putting you in a better frame of mind when your head hits the pillow.

Let’s have a closer look at how our products could make this happen.

Collaboration & Business Intelligence

Info-Explorer – a single multi-dimensional cube can replace multiple 2-dimensional reports, both saving time and improving the quality of your decision making.
Document Management Link and Notes – contextual information and links to relevant documents, available when and where needed from just about anywhere within Sage 300. No more rifling through filing cabinets and operations manuals!

Automation & Productivity

Report Runner – save time by having easy access to regular reports, with parameters saved for future use.
Process Scheduler – the efficiency of having key processes automatically scheduled, with the option to run them unattended during off-peak hours. Sleep easy knowing you’ll still be notified if something goes wrong!

Tailoring & Integration

Extender: Tailor Sage 300 to make it work for you, rather than having you be a slave to it! Trigger notifications and workflows when specified events occur, creating a more pro-active and productive ERP environment.
Optional Tables & Data Views – store custom data within Sage 300 to support your business processes and improve decision making. Speed up report development and execution by making more efficient use of Optional Fields.

Streamlining Financial Processes

Inter-Entity Transactions – save hours or days each month reconciling multiple entities, with auto-generated GL entries keeping your loan accounts in balance at all times.
Inter-Entity Trade - auto-generate reciprocal documents when related entities trade goods or services, eliminating the need to manually create and check duplicate entries.
EFT Processing – Instead of spending hours printing, folding and posting cheques and remittance advices, an EFT batch can be created and imported, and remittance advices emailed, in a matter of minutes.

Operations & Inventory Management

Return Material Authorizations – manage your returns from within Sage 300, and keep your inventory and financial records in synch and up to date. Not only will you sleep better, but your customers will too!
Bin Tracking – track items accurately across multiple bins. No more late nights turning your warehouse upside down looking for misplaced inventory!