Did you know that Tuesday is the most productive day of the week? According to a survey by Menlo Park-based Accountemps, nearly half of executives surveyed said employees reach their zenith performance on Tuesday. Followed by Wednesday, Thursday, and then Monday - not surprisingly – Friday is the least productive day.
Are you a morning or afternoon person? If you combine your personal work energy peaks with the high energy workdays, you'll get more done, conquer difficult tasks with ease and have a greater sense of accomplishment. It's true! (Well, it must be true because I saw it on the Internet!)
But seriously, the research has proven it. So how will you rearrange your tasks to be more productive, make a bigger contribution and have a greater sense of satisfaction come Friday?
Posted by Diana Van Blaricom, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Epicor HCM
In today’s global economy education is more important than ever for companies implementing and using ERP systems, yet education must evolve. Today we face different challenges and opportunities in learning. For example, we have the Net generation, global business climate, cost pressures, competition, and the ever-changing demographics in the workplace. Companies that make a solid investment in education see the benefits in both tangible and intangible results. It is certain we see the return on the investment in education for employees in their time to ramp up and do what is required in their job––this can be the sales associate able to demonstrate and communicate the product features for prospects, the help desk employee able to successfully close a customer call with satisfaction achieved, or the consultant that has helped to implement enterprise features to improve a customer’s business. We also see returns for customers in implementation of ERP systems––on-time implementations, project completed per budget, and most importantly, implementation with knowledge transfer.
With Epicor, there is a corporate-wide commitment with Epicor University to develop solid content, deliver best in class education with predictable results such as certification, and focus on lifelong learning. Learning never stops as skills wane, people move on, processes mature, technology continues to develop, and of course, new hires come on board. So knowledge development and delivery remains a focus of successful companies like Epicor.
Epicor University focuses on doing exactly what other ERP vendors should do, but have not. Epicor University brings so much more than just delivery that most vendors do adequately; it brings the essential elements of strategy, content, technology, and delivery together for meaningful performance results. Because, results matter in today’s business world––anywhere.
The global education provided by Epicor University delivers what learners require to connect––combining Formal Learning (e.g., Online Help, Embedded Education Courses, Virtual and Classroom Education, Certification and more) along with Informal Learning for all target audiences – customers, employees, and partners (podcasts, video casts, simulations, job aids, etc.).
In an earlier post on why SaaS software makes sense in this economy, we noted how the benefits of SaaS software (which began gaining traction about the time of the global financial crisis of 2007-2009) have continued to gain momentum in the context of today’s economic uncertainties. The business benefits of SaaS software are contributing to this growth.
In a post by Internet security and compliance firm MXSweep, they cite six business benefits of SaaS solutions:
Lower total cost of ownership
No infrastructure concerns
Faster go-live time
Easier upgrades
Use-based pricing
Improved security
Likewise, a study by IBM supports this notion of business benefits in greater detail. According to the report, cost savings and faster time to value are the leading reasons that companies consider cloud-based solutions such as SaaS software. When asked what would induce them to acquire cloud-based services, 77 percent indicated reduced costs via software licenses savings, hardware savings, lower labor and IT support costs, and lower outside maintenance costs. Seventy-two percent cited faster time to value as a result of relieving pressure on internal resources, simplification of upgrading/updating, speed of deployment, and the ability to scale IT resources to meet needs. A third factor involved reliability: 50 percent of those surveyed indicated that improved system reliability and availability were positive considerations.
The study sees test and development as a particular area where companies can gain business benefits from leveraging the cloud. In terms of innovation in this realm, benefits include:
Cost savings (so new IT services and projects can be funded for more clients)
Facilitating the market entry of developers with self-service IT, best practices, tools, and processes
New applications to increase the speed, volume, and quality of innovation
New business models, operating models, technology, and organizational design to foster innovation
On the cost-savings side, benefits include
Reducing IT costs through virtualization, standardization, and automation
Driving down the costs of tools and software with SaaS delivery in development environments
Deploying development environments for lower costs and improved quality
An often-overlooked benefit is more focused vendor and community support. Australian-based technology strategist Peter Evans-Greenwood details this one in a recent post on his blog: “As there is only a single version in play, support efforts from the vendor and user community are focused on the version that you’re using. This also avoids the problem of getting left behind on a stale and unsupported platform.”
Cloud-based solutions such as SaaS software help organizations incorporate, design, deliver, or manage software development to build smarter products and services and increase the utilization of hardware and IT staff, all while managing risk and cost across the software development lifecycle. These are powerful benefits, indeed.
