Ten years of e-commerce growth in just 90 days
How integrated inventory management and reporting helped many businesses rank not tank At the height of the pandemic, a decade of
e-commerce growth occurred in just 90 days, a 2020
McKinsey study revealed. Adopting smarter technology
@CloudsolveAU
Rhys Roberts, Director, Cloudsolve Rhys Roberts is a cloud Integration industry leader with over 25 years’ experience in retail, manufacturing, accounting and technology sectors. Rhys, who has a unique combination of skills and experience across accounting and manufacturing, heads Cloudsolve: a reputable Sydney-based software advisory implementation firm. He’s driven by the incredibly powerful transformations that he and his team have achieved for hundreds of product-based businesses, through systems integration.
was the key for many businesses. This article is
T
he last 18 months has seen an extraordinary 2 speed economy, with a mix of “winners” and “losers”. For those in the former group this has been a phenomenal period for businesses, with e-commerce a key driver. Those less fortunate have experienced lockdowns, recession and in some cases business failure. At the beginning of 2020 (even with the benefit of hindsight) I can see no obvious clues as to how COVID-19 would differently impact different businesses. That is not the case now: with the world irrevocably changed there are some clear indicators as to which businesses will be best positioned for financial success for 2022 and beyond. Management Consulting firm McKinseys found that “reinventing the organisation for speed” was key to success in the post COVID-19 era. “An organisation designed for speed will see powerful outcomes, including greater customer responsiveness, enhanced capabilities, and better performance in terms of
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customer efficiency revenues and return on capital”, their report stated. With a commercial accounting background that spans change management and technology adoption, I know firsthand the power of technology to lead reinvention.
as being critical, and which are within the reach of small businesses through apps such as LOCATE, Big Commerce and Xero. Business owners can be a pretty demanding bunch – and so they should be! A few of the features they need include:
Which begs a number of questions. What are the real benefits of spending on technology? Can that spend deliver for the business owner? Who is going to make that assessment, and offer advice? And what are the key features that these businesses need to succeed in 2022 and beyond?
1. Real-time operational information across the entire business, of open orders, stock on hand, impending shortages, and much, much more. Business owners can use this to fill more orders in full on time, whilst not letting their stock holding blow out (a sure way to kill cashflow). 2. Real time / visible from anywhere / on any device financial data of sales and gross margins by channel, by category, by rep and by many other criteria. 3. Real time integration, completely eliminating the need to rekey data, speeding up delivery, eliminating errors and reducing costs. For businesses selling online at scale this is critical.
This is the list we have identified
But what about other users –
And yet, while CFO-level accountants in larger organisations have the ear of the CEO, in mid-sized businesses processes and systems often lag behind the owner’s vision. The owner can see the opportunity for their business, but doesn’t know how technology can assist with execution, and has no one to make that assessment.
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