SMAC is an acronym for social, mobile, analytics and cloud and is having a disruptive effect on businesses. To keep up, businesses are searching for more agile and modular software platforms to facilitate this movement. Companies using software solutions that are not designed to consider SMAC will find it more difficult to survive the new business age where it is important for companies to continuously and innovatively engage with their employees, vendors and customers. To run effectively, businesses make use of systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Considering the pillars of SMAC, it becomes critical to provide the means for employees to review data on the go. Let’s take a further look at SMAC’s influence on ERP systems.
Social
What does SMAC have to do with ERP software? Think about how society has changed, making us more social beings, reliant on the instant gratification and instant communication from all the social media platforms we subscribe to. Apply this to your work environment, employees need tools that help them gain access to business data and processes on the go. When they do, a salesperson can be sitting with a client, able to check that their account is clear, what their previous order history is, whether there is available stock in the warehouse to place an order on the spot. Today’s workforce demands the use of business software that aids collaboration from anywhere. The software must be easy to use and just as attractive and intuitive as social media apps – in other words, the focus must be on improving the user experience.
Mobile
Doing business on mobile devices has become a popular and prevalent form of communications in South Africa. According to a report by World Wide Worx, South Africans have a growing appetite for internet access, especially on mobile. In fact, the report states that internet penetration will reach 40% this year. It adds that South Africans use the internet for communications (reported by 31% of respondents) followed by social networking (24.9%) and information (23.7%).
We have become accustomed to using our phones for social interactions when we can just as well conduct business on them. If your manager is out of town and receives a purchase requisition on his mobile device, he can accept or decline it immediately, instead of only doing so when he returns to the office next week. According to Tia Malevitis, Business Development Manager at SynergERP: “A lot of our clients enjoy the fact that they can gain access to company workflows on their mobiles and react to them immediately as opposed to needing to wait until they get to the office to approve a requisition.”
Analytics
Enterprises have access to more data now than ever before, the trick is to have access to the right data at the right time so they can make informed decisions. Sage X3 is role-based, which means that you can put the right information in front of the right employee with very little additional work. Analytics is no longer just for the c-suite any more, it must be readily available to everyone because insights or inspiration can be drawn from anyone in the organisation.
Cloud
The alternative to the typical on premise ERP deployment has been replaced by the Cloud – CIO’s are shifting the way they think, moving away from the large IT investments for hardware, application management, middleware, security etc. In addition, companies prefer to channel their energies and resources to core business functions as opposed to building large and costly IT departments. These IT related overheads are not more efficient, productive or profitable, in fact the Cloud promises reduced costs, more flexible and scalable operating models and an overall improved customer experience.
Companies are under pressure to adopt SMAC thinking
The workforce is putting great pressure on businesses to cater for SMAC thinking and forcing them out of the traditional mindset. Employees will actively look for companies that can cater for a remote or flexible working environment. Overtime should not require having to come to the office to get work done. Companies have to keep in mind that they are no longer servicing just clients any more, it’s about catering to your workforce as well, and that includes millennials who expect access to these social elements.
A company-wide SMAC ideology with the right software means that you will be able to offer enticing collaborative interfaces that are accessible anywhere, use big data to drive better decision-making and deliver a sophisticated, yet affordable, infrastructure through the cloud. Sage X3 delivers this effortlessly because the solution is designed with SMAC in mind. Take a closer look at Sage X3 capabilities by downloading our infographic below.
