September 2022
Solution Spotlight: The Benefits of a Low-Code/No-Code ERP
ERP Tip of the Month: 7 Steps to Save Knowledge When Key Employees Leave
Meet the Team: John Havird
The Benefits of a Low-Code/No Code ERP
It's time to switch to a Low-Code/No-Code ERP.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has seen a significant transformation over the last few years. Driven by demands for more agile business solutions, with better security and smaller IT footprints, the leading ERP systems of today are cloud-based and include significant low-code and no-code configuration.
What is low-code/no-code?
Low-code/no-code tools are an embedded ERP functionality that can be utilized by business users to create and modify layouts, reports, workflows, add automation and much more by using drag-and-drop functions that require little-to-no knowledge of application configuration, coding or programming languages.
Low-code/no-code provides business users (who are often the most familiar with requirements and workflows in an organization) with the ability to automate and streamline their daily work so that it's more efficient and does not require IT resources or long development cycles to make improvements or modifications.
Big Benefits
The most significant benefit of an ERP that allows for low-code/no-code development is that changes are initiated and created by the people who are closest to the work – the same people who know it best.
Within the low-code/no-code ERP, tools and features are readily and intuitively accessible and provide the user with information to connect needed data and make modifications in real time to do their job more efficiently.
This ability often eliminates a traditional ERP configuration and development process that may involve a Project Manager, Scrum Master, Business Analyst, Functional Expert, Developer or QA Staff backed by requirements gathering, development, testing, and roll-out processes that can only be initiated if ROI can be justified.
Moving the process closest to the work translates to more agile change and user empowerment, at a much lower cost that does not require other departments or employees. More importantly, the time from idea to benefit is shortened.
Why low-code/no-code now?
ERP software has greatly changed over the last decade. Traditional ERP systems used to sit in a large data center, managed and supported by a horde of security, IT professionals and ERP configuration specialists. They required significant upfront investment to implement, change, upgrade, patch and maintain. Everything took too much time to make even small changes. Today’s ERP is cloud-based, feature rich, with straight forward pricing and designed to empower the people using it.
If you're interested in learning more about the latest no-code/low-code ERPs and how they can help your organization, contact Meridian Partners today!
We have experience and knowledge implementing, optimizing, and supporting leading ERP software from Workday, SAP, and many others.
7 Steps to Save Knowledge When Important Employees Leave or Retire
Loss of knowledge is an ever-increasing problem faced by most businesses today. Driven by a competitive job market that’s creating staff changes at a record pace, due to job elimination, the retirement of long-standing employees, and the great resignation many companies are struggling and straining to operate when key people leave.
In an ideal world, every job and task would have well-defined training and a how-to manual, supported by cross-trained teams that can pick up the work without a missing a beat. However, that is just not the case in many organizations.
When someone leaves, there are some creative solutions to mitigate risk and capture essential knowledge before it walks out the door with them.
The first thing to try?
Video archives!
That probably sounds expensive, complicated or difficult…doesn’t it? Well, it’s not! And the necessary tools are probably on every employee’s desktop already. Most employees have one or more video conferencing tools. These include Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and many more.
The steps to make a video archive couldn’t be simpler…
Have employees create a list of key processes or tasks they perform on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual or as-needed basis.
Review the list and pare down any duplicates.
Organize the list by area or department, task name, role that it performs, frequency, etc.
Create a shared and secure folder structure categorized by area or department that meets any privacy or governance requirements.
Assign items on your list with instructions to make a recording that narrates the task and anything important to remember while performing the task.
Save that recording in the secure, shared folder and check that item off the list by adding the date completed
Note that if the task changes, you will need to update the videos.
A readily available repository is now ready to help train new employees or ease transitions for employees when a colleague leaves unexpectedly. Best yet, this won’t pull employees away from their normal job functions to create or require an army of technical writers to document your entire business. It’s inexpensive and can be started and completed quickly.
Want more ideas about how to empower your business? Contact us today! We have experience and knowledge helping customers solve business problems leveraging solutions from Workday, SAP, Microsoft and many others.
Each month, we highlight a key team member making a difference for our customers. This month, we would like to recognize John Havird a Supervisor on our Federal Team.
John recently retired from 10 years of active-duty military service and has 18 years of logistics, management, and supervisory experience. He is excited to bring his specialized skillset to Meridian! He has extensive experience leading people and projects for the DoD and Federal Government.
While active-duty, John was a Munitions Systems Craftsman and was involved in the design, test, manufacture, and movement of bombs, missiles, and countermeasures. Working with munitions required John to develop an acute sense of attention to detail, communication skills, leadership, and the ability to de-escalate and avoid potential issues.
When asked about his preventative approach to issues, his response was: “You have to run towards your problems, because after a certain point you cannot outrun the results.” While this is certainly true for explosives, he has taken this motto and applied it to all areas of business and life.
Most recently, John partnered with a medical testing and production company as a Logistics Account Manager. John took it as a personal challenge to redirect trends and to reframe service level agreements. He worked with the client’s executive teams to develop new processes and overhaul local service models. John was able to introduce new tracking hardware and renegotiate service options with national carrier and courier providers. The combined efforts of John and his team saw a reduction in spending and delivery delays with an increase in logistical maneuverability and client relationships.
John currently resides in Georgia with his family. Outside of Meridian, John and the entire Havird family enjoy taking advantage of the many outdoor opportunities the piedmont region has to offer.
Meridian Partners is a minority owned company and SBA-certified 8(a) leader in providing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Business Intelligence, and Budgeting solutions. Meridian helps organizations maximize business processes to be more agile, efficient, and transparent through the optimization of their enterprise systems.