Business Applications
What and why
Business applications come in all shapes and sizes. From the pervasive accounting system and it's big brother, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and a whole host of other applications to support and systematise various business operations.
Our go-to Free Open Source Software (FOSS) stack, called Frappe, offers not only ERP and CRM, but a whole plethora of other business applications.
We regularly assist with implementing business applications
Enterprise Resource Planning
An ERP system is indispensable and the preeminent system in any organisation. It manages and records every financial aspect of the organisation. Other than catering predominantly for financial accounting, it is normally tightly coupled with other aspects such as stock control, manufacturing, logistics, etc.
Customer Relationship Management
CRM caters for the management of all contacts, individual and institutional, their addresses, contact detail and every conceivable relationship with the organisation. From a sales perspective these relationships are normally referred to as the sales pipeline and manages the stages a Lead will progress through the pipeline to eventually culminate in a Customer. However CRM can be used for any relationship management such as marketing campaigns or stakeholder engagement.
Human Resources Management
HRM covers all the aspects of managing your staff. From Onboarding, Attendance, Leave, Payroll, Taxation, Training, Performance Management, etc. It is normally integrated with a number of other systems such as ERP and CRM.
Content Management Systems
CMS allows you full control of your organisation's websites and online presence. It uses easy to fill-in templates which is then published and rendered directly on your website. It places the ongoing maintenance of your web pages directly in the hands of business people. Things such as publishing a new blog post or disseminating a newsletter to a specific recipient group has never been as easy.
eCommerce
The majority of business transactions, both B2C and B2B, nowadays are conducted via online services and the days of face to face transactions are few and far between. A webshop is the modern way of offering your goods and services and concluding the transaction with ease-of-mind electronic payment and other fulfilment obligations.
Learning Management Systems
An LMS is used to facilitate in-house training and development. However it could also be used to offer tuition as an online service. It manages all course material and each participant's progress.
Knowledge Management Systems
KMS intends to capture knowhow as a corporate asset. It uses things as a Wiki (user-editable, collaborative website), which can be updated freely, by any knowledgeable individual and then exposed to a larger audience.
Help Desk
Customer service has never been as important. It can be a matter of hours before your organisational reputation is tarnish beyond repair. You have to keep in touch and respond to queries in the most effective manner possible. Assign a ticket automatically and monitor all interaction with the client. Escalate and delegate a ticket based on business rules. Gaining a customer is a costly and highly competitive endeavour, hence also make sure you retain them.
Document Management Systems
Make sure all of your business documents are indexed, accessible and properly secured with access rights. Share them with individuals or groups, and allow real time collaborative editing. No longer hunt for that elusive document you though you had on your laptop.