SMEs need to realise that success and sustainability are not mutually exclusive.

SME managers across the UK have traditionally skirted around energy management and sustainability in favour of focus on short-term profit.
But rising energy bills and new carbon reduction legislation are now conspiring to force their hand.

SMEs need to realise that success and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, says Adrian Newton of Energy Solutions by bringing sustainability into the boardroom, companies can not only slash energy costs; they can also boost their bottom line, build their brand equity and reinforce their reputation.

Despite growing interest in corporate and social responsibility (CSR) issues, the UK’s business leaders have, until recently, neatly managed to sidestep any real strategic approach to energy management and sustainability. A recent survey by O2 of senior leaders in the private and public sectors revealed a divergence of views on this issue.

While 46 per cent of respondents said they planned to prioritise sustainability over the next two years, 36 per cent acknowledged that they would move away from it. But the report also showed an emerging consensus that sustainability is good for business, with almost 60 percent of the senior executives questioned saying it would increase market share over the next ten years and 44 percent thought it would boost profits by underpinning a more efficient operating model.
According to Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP, sustainability is a trend that is “really powered by IT”, especially as SAP provides software that supports all different enterprise areas, from supply chains and logistics to distribution and HR.

“Software is key because software can measure, optimise and improve how business is run."

“IT creates transparency. With software, you can find the areas where you can have the biggest impact [on the carbon footprint.”

To Find out More about SAP Business One, designed specifically to meet the needs to small to midsize companies, visit www.beabetterbusiness.co.uk or www.beabetterbusiness.ie

Original Article: SME Web

Drop in UK Business Failures; SAP Business One can help!

Equifax Business Failures Report: 13.2% drop recorded year on year.

Equifax has released its latest figures on business failures across the UK, showing that despite continuing difficult trading conditions, businesses are doing their best to reverse the negative trend.

In August 2010, there was a reduction in the number of businesses that went bust across every sector compared to the same period last year. Overall there was a 13.2%drop year on year.

There was also an 8.2% decline for August compared to July. Only the Retail sector saw a small increase in failures in August compared to July at 3.2%.

“As was the case at the end of Quarter 2, our Business Failures tracking shows the very close control businesses continue to put on cash flow and costs” explained Nic Beishon, Head of Equifax Commercial Information Solutions.

“Our numbers also seem to suggest that the banks might have been responding to calls to free up their lending criteria to provide new funds to businesses. This could have played a part in helping businesses struggling with cash flow as they chase late payments. More often than not these are good healthy businesses – they just need a helping hand when late payments make it hard to balance the books at the end of the month.”

“Headlines continue to report cuts in headcount as well as some fairly high profile failures. But a close control on debts and cash flow management certainly appears to be working for many businesses. The trend that we saw throughout all of 2009 for failures to increase has definitely been reversed – which has to be positive news for businesses and their employees."

“The speculation has continued about whether we are heading for a double-dip recession, but our Business Failures Report seems to indicate that all the right actions are being taken by UK businesses – and the organisations that support them - to survive in the continuing difficult trading conditions.”

SAP Business One can help support small to midsize companies through the recession allowing them to work smarter, turn downtime into productive time, enhance efficiency and improve visibility across the organisation which can support the maintenance of crucial cash flow. Flourish during the recession with SAP Business One.

To find out more visit: www.beabetterbusiness.co.uk or www.beabetterbusiness.ie

Original Article: SME Web

Software powering sustainability, SAP continues to reduce carbon footprint!

“Sustainable development is a dynamic process which enables all people to realise their potential, and to improve their quality of life, in ways which simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support systems.”

Forum for the Future Annual Report 2000

According to Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP, sustainability is a trend that is “really powered by IT”, especially as SAP provides software that supports all different enterprise areas, from supply chains and logistics to distribution and HR.

“Software is key because software can measure, optimise and improve how business is run."

“IT creates transparency. With software, you can find the areas where you can have the biggest impact [on the carbon footprint.”

SAP reduced its global carbon footprint by 15 percent last year, saving the company around €90 million. This comes as the company announced a 12 percent increase in revenues.

The reduction, from 501 kilotons of carbon in 2008 to 425 kilotons in 2009, was well ahead of the company’s annual goal of five percent less than the previous year’s emissions. SAP attributed the achievement to internal measures such as reducing the number of business flights, and the impact of the economic crisis on the business.
SAP’s long-term goal is to reduce its total carbon emissions to the level of 2000 by the year 2020.

This is no easy task, as Dr Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP, explained: “Our carbon footprint is mainly driven by the number of people in the company. In 2000, we had 24,000 employees. In 2007, we had 50,000 employees. Now, we are at about 48,000."

“We need to reduce the carbon footprint for each employee by more than 60 percent.”

Original Source: Businesszone.co.uk

Torelli contemplates the benefits of SAP!

Torelli is a Boutique Bicycle Company manufacturing premium bicycles, frames, parts and accessories. They are the first company to have their SAP Business One implementation and corresponding business transformation tracked and documented by Information Week.

In a video blog posted this week, Torelli’s Product Design Manager Christian Feldhake describes how with the company’s new ERP implementation, a simple thing like offering a customer free shipping on a product would actually become, well … simple.

When asked by a colleague whether it was okay to extend a free shipping promotion on a phone order, Feldhake explains that currently, only CEO Todd Linscott can authorise the offer on those particular products in question, and the chief executive was off-site at the time, visiting customers. So for the time being, no discount, and consequently, no sale.

But that is all about to change, Feldhake says, thanks to the technology makeover Torelli is receiving this month, courtesy of SAP and Navigator Business Solutions.

"With the new software we're going to have from SAP, we'll be able to go in and put a limit on the amount of discounts, or set predetermined discounts in the software," Feldhake says, taking a break from packing up bike frames to ship out to Torelli's dealer network. As a result, “The salesperson, or the customer directly over the phone, will be able to answer those questions without having to go to higher management.”

That kind of empowerment means that everyone at this small company — and even the customers themselves — will have the information at their fingertips to close deals, and thereby help Torelli meet its goals for success.

Source: Information Week

SAP sales surge by 300% in Latin America

SAP is experiencing soaring demand for its products and services among large businesses and government agencies in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina, according to an article quoting an SAP executive. One of his comments: "We are going from a focus on cutting costs to a focus on growth."

From a news article on Business News Americas' website:

SAP's current average sales transaction to large enterprises in Latin America has spiked 300% in comparison to last year, the senior VP of the company's large enterprise division for Latin America, Felix Feddersen, told BNamericas.

The increases have been most marked in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina, while verticals seen turning up investments include finances, retail, oil and gas, mining and metals and, in the case of Brazil and Mexico, the public sector. . . .

Large multinationals headquartered in regions such as Europe and the US are channeling funds to growth markets such as Latin America. Additionally, booming Latin American economies are accelerating expansion of regional firms, which are seen automating their entire operations.

SAP's Feddersen said the huge jump in sales has been led by customer-facing apps, including CRM and BI, resulting in a 56% increase in revenue from license sales for the quarter and a 35% jump in revenue from software and related services.

SAP Business One “is a great management tool”

Delivering innovative services that allow disabled clients to have a meaningful life is the Bea Fisher Organisation’s mission. Yet when legacy software could not keep pace with the demands of entrepreneurial business entities, the organisation turned to SAP Business One.

“As we developed more sophisticated service delivery methods, we needed to better understand the true cost of our operations. SAP Business One provides the power and visibility that meet our needs.”

George Zaychkowsky, CEO, Bea Fisher Organisation

Bea Fisher needed to improve visibility into service delivery performance and their ability to serve clientele by increasing process efficiency. They wanted to replace their old manual record keeping systems, enhance the efficiency of data entry and report generation in relation to their financials. When choosing software to support their needs a key criterion was that the solution would be scalable so as to support business growth.

SAP Business One was selected due to its robust functionality to support finance, manufacturing and HR process, intuitive report generation and decision support feature. SAP Business was identified as being affordable scalable software that would meet their current and future needs.

The Bea Fisher organisation now has an enhanced ability to generate business intelligent which supports decision making, and the now have increased accuracy when it comes to accounting data and cost estimates for operations. Less effort is now required to produce financial reports and they have the improved visibility into staff performance and service delivery which they sought out to achieve.

“Our management team can use the software to learn exactly what staff members are doing and what care clients are receiving,” Zaychkowsky adds.
“In time, we’ll be able to document the performance of our care providers and use that data to improve client outcomes. The added visibility and insight we have gained makes SAP Business One a great management tool.”

SMEs - Website domain name increasingly important and cheaper than you think!

“If you have a web site, it makes your small business look big.”

Natalie Sequera

The .uk domain name is now 25 years old and is a must for digital business.
Sedo has revealed in its latest domain market study that domain names are more important than ever, especially to small businesses.
Findings from our quarterly domain market study reveal that Britain’s country code top-level domain (ccTLD) still holds excellent value and is one of the most popular extensions traded on the domain market.

The .co.uk domain is currently the second most traded ccTLD, behind Germany’s .de extension and when it comes to the top selling domains, TVs.co.uk represented one of the highest sales of the quarter (including all .com addresses) and was auctioned for £51,000.

While this shows the value businesses are prepared to place on a domain, extended media coverage around the expensive web addresses can make SMEs feel that acquiring decent domain names is out of their price range. The reality is quite different and many web addresses come onto the secondary domain market at a more reasonable price; the median reported sales price of all .co.uk’s is £348 - a price that certainly wouldn’t break the bank and would help a SME ensure an optimal digital presence.

Developing a strategic domain name is crucial for brands to steer their online presence in the right direction. Top words should be identified in the given markets, develop a list of target domains and purchase URLs that available immediately

Keyword domains related to search terms will often rank highly in natural search listings and receive a higher quality value than those run through paid search campaigns.

Good domains will also increase the number of listings of a brand in search engines and assist with link building.

A full domain portfolio will hinder competitors’ online standing in a particular market place and minimise brand damage. Companies such as Sainsbury’s (taste.co.uk), the Times (news.co.uk) and Barclays (bank.co.uk) all use this strategy and it can be very usefully be applied to SME also, when .co.uk domain names are available to buy at an average price of £1,338.

Businesses should consider domain names as a cost-effective way to increase conversion, boost sales and drive traffic in their quest to build a strong and attractive digital presence.

Our domain name represents what we endeavour to do; support you in your endeavors to become a better business with SAP Business One and Intelligent Essentials.

www.beabetterbusiness.com