More Visibility, Faster Reaction
In the current economy, the kind of data Oberwager was able to access can be the difference between success and failure, says Andy Woyzbun, an analyst at research firm Info-Tech Research Group. The more visibility you have into your cash flow, inventory, suppliers, and manufacturing processes, the faster you can react to the market. Even in tough times, Woyzbun counsels against laying off staff or otherwise pulling back on ERP maintenance. Supply chain management is more critical than ever: When working in a contracting market, the survivors will be the ones who can communicate efficiently and electronically with suppliers and customers, as well as internally.
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line in the Philippines
Visibility has been Oberwager's guiding principle. He spent more than $100,000 building Sundia's custom intranet. All his employees report weekly via the intranet, which houses the VAN Advanced Data Exchange that Sundia uses for EDI transactions, and a variety of other tools. Oberwager even uses a Webcam to see what's happening in the company's factories in Thailand and the Philippines 24 hours a day.
The weekly intranet-based reporting program -- called 15/5 after the number of minutes it should take an employee to write a report and a supervisor to read it -- is the application that makes the virtual organization work. When a supervisor reads an employee's report and sees news appropriate for her boss, she checks it off, and it's automatically copied into her report. In this way, relevant information -- problems with factory machinery, employee issues, changes in sales cycles -- flows rapidly to the top. Oberwager says he gets a report generated in near real time from 120 employees all over the world and can stay on top of the business without conference calls. "I get better information, faster, which enables me to reduce meetings and work in the office," he says. Oberwager, in turn, sends his weekly report to his board of directors.
Being smart about where to cut IT costs while also making shrewd technology investments can shave expenses from your bottom line, improve your operating efficiency, and maximize your existing resources. Plus, if -- like Sundia's Oberwager -- you make the right technology moves, you could even wind up with a competitive advantage when the economy recovers. And in times like these, a competitive advantage like that goes an awfully long way.
Elaine Appleton Grant is a reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio and a long-time business journalist.
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