You might think you’ve heard it all before: the cloud saves you money and time and is the magical key that will unlock productivity and efficiency. Every cloud provider out there has a different way of wording those benefits and trying to convince businesses like yours that their solution is the way forward. 

We know how challenging it is to not only make the right technology decisions for your business but to know if you’re truly getting your money’s worth. That’s why we wrote this free eBook to help you understand tangible deliverables and benefits you’ll actually see from the cloud – specifically cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP).

Here’s a brief summary of what we cover in the eBook:

How You’ll See More Cash…Faster

Cloud ERP systems unify and integrate your technology and data across one platform – delivering a seamless flow of information throughout all aspects of your organization. Why should this matter to you? Without integrated data, you have less visibility and are stuck in siloed systems. The eBook explains exactly how the cloud helps you achieve this integration. 

How You’ll Boost Agility

Being able to stick and turn when a crisis arises is now one of the chief hallmarks of a competitive business. Organizations that were leveraging the cloud in 2020 had a much easier go of things when they needed to launch remote work instantly. Cloud ERP offers multiple ways for you to introduce flexibility into your organization so you can reduce IT time and labor and take advantage of a modular design experience.

How You’ll Support a Remote Workforce

Even if your business eventually returns to full in-office work, you must have a way to support mobility and the security of workers’ mobile devices for the foreseeable future. The cloud gives you that, and cloud ERP specifically offers an easy, secure way to manage mobility.

How You’ll Sleep Easier at Night

Speaking of security, if you’re one of those business leaders worried about the insecurity of cloud technologies, this eBook will ease your fears. We explain why that concern is a relic of an older era and how businesses are tackling cybersecurity with cloud ERP in sophisticated ways.

How You’ll Grow for Years to Come

By getting more out of every dollar, leveraging scalability, and seeing faster time-to-value, you’ll soar ahead of your competition and set yourself up for future growth. It’s simply the nature of the cloud. 

Any Questions? We’re Here

Since it’s our mission to guide businesses through cloud migrations and make long-term improvements, we’ve seen the positive impact of cloud ERP time and again. We wanted to create a helpful, free resource for decision-makers like you who are trying to sift through all the cloud material out there. If you have any questions, please reach out to us. Our experts are here to get you the honest answers you deserve.

The past couple of years has taught us some hard lessons. You might be asking a few questions about how to evolve your business: 

• How can I stay secure while operating remotely?
• How can I support the new digital customer experience?
• What types of technologies do I need to invest in to stay competitive and be ready for whatever comes my way?

If any of those questions are on a continuous loop in your mind, you’re not alone. Business leaders in every sector and in every size of organization scrambled to answer the same. Along the way, it’s likely you thought about the cloud and cloud-based technologies as possible solutions. We’re here to tell you the cloud can solve a lot of today’s problems while enabling you to grow your business. 

Since we know moving processes and technologies to the cloud can be a lot to tackle at once, we created this free eBook to give you an in-depth guide on how exactly the cloud works: How to Build a Resilient and Competitive Business in the Cloud walks you through several improvements you can expect from a cloud ERP system, including:

Discover How Cloud ERP Supports the Future of Work

It’s clear that in order to be a competitive business, you need to offer remote or hybrid work flexibility for the foreseeable future. This is where cloud ERP shines. Want to support mobility for any permutation of the workforce? Then cloud ERP is a must.

Any organization planning future growth must accommodate remote and hybrid work. But how do you keep data and information safe? This eBook highlights how the cloud improves data governance and controls ensures always-on business continuity and delivers end-to-end security at no additional cost. Even if your business will eventually fully go back to in-person work, you cannot afford to put security on the backburner anymore. Cloud ERP addresses these security concerns in the long term. 

Learn Why Agility Is Your Key to Competitive Growth

In the eBook, we reveal how cloud ERP allows your business to move with the tides – whatever they bring. By freeing you from the time and cost burdens required with legacy hardware, the cloud gives your staff the ability to contribute to higher-value tasks. You’ll reduce IT management time and labor, enjoy automatic, instant upgrades, and access a modular design for flexibility and scalability. 

When You’re Ready for the Cloud, We’re Here

At OTT, Inc. we have seen the transformative power of cloud ERP and have dedicated ourselves to helping organizations leverage it. Our Trusted Partner Path five-step methodology is proven to help businesses build resilient, competitive operations in the cloud. We love watching our customers improve efficiency, profitability, and productivity as a result. 

Download the eBook to discover the ins and outs of how cloud ERP will enable you to improve operations today and prepare for tomorrow. And don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about the information in the eBook or about how to move your business forward in the cloud.

Nonprofits of all sizes must make amazing things happen while spending the least money. And although innovative, state-of-the-art technology solutions can help with this in many ways, nonprofits are often worried about the potential cost of implementing and using cloud ERP solutions.

Fortunately, OTT, Inc. can help you reduce these costs. We offer cloud ERP for nonprofits by both Microsoft and Oracle NetSuite, each with discounts and social impact programs for nonprofits.

The basics: what are social impact programs?

Social impact programs are designed to help nonprofits of all sizes, with all kinds of missions, boost the impact they’re able to have in the world. The focus is around reducing costs, increasing efficiency, boosting visibility for stakeholders, and making it easier to measure the success of your mission.

Although the details vary somewhat, both Microsoft’s and NetSuite’s social impact programs have the same basic features. These programs are designed to help nonprofits of all sizes improve performance and outcomes by providing affordable access to modern cloud solutions.

The core of this idea starts with:

1. Discounts and donations for software solutions

Both Microsoft’s and NetSuite’s programs offer free and/or discounted cloud solutions for nonprofits that qualify. The solutions available for discounts range from cloud ERP and CRM solutions to nonprofit specific tools and apps. For example, Microsoft offers discounts and donations on user licenses for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud-based solutions. NetSuite offers a base donation of their nonprofit solutions with no-cost activation, along with significant discounts for additional functionality such as FASB reporting, nonprofit budgeting, and more.

2. Free and low-cost trainings and services

Both the Microsoft and Oracle NetSuite programs include trainings and events for nonprofit employees to learn how to get the best use from their software solutions. Microsoft’s offerings include self-paced and instructor-led online trainings on how to use Azure and Microsoft 365. NetSuite’s offerings include pro bono consulting services and solution designing projects to address unique challenges.

3. Nonprofit-specific functionality

Both NetSuite and Microsoft offer tools and apps that are built specifically to help nonprofits with common challenges such as donor and fundraising management, grant management, budgeting, compliance, security, and more. These apps can help nonprofits succeed by increasing the efficiency of operations, boosting visibility into different aspects of the organization, and providing excellent ERP at a reasonable cost.

Want to learn if social impact programs could help your nonprofit?

If your nonprofit is looking for ways to leverage technology, you’re exactly who these programs are designed to help. If you’d like to learn more about the discounts, services, functionality, and how to apply for these special nonprofit benefits, OTT, Inc. can help you navigate the details.

As a solutions partner specializing in helping nonprofits, our extensive industry experience is an asset from day one. We can work with you to help ensure that you get the most possible benefit from these social impact programs. You’ll also appreciate our Trusted Partner Path implementation methodology to get up and running quickly with expert support services to maximize the long-term value of your investment. Contact us today for more information

As a nonprofit trying to increase the efficiency of your operations, you want to invest in resources that will pay for themselves quickly and continue to deliver returns. You’ve probably heard about the benefits of unified, fully integrated nonprofit cloud ERP solutions like NetSuite or Dynamics 365. But the big question is, are they worth the cost?

Here at OTT, Inc., we work extensively to help nonprofits succeed and create significant long-term benefits. Ensuring a return on investment has multiple components to it: first, it’s important to keep costs down. Second, it’s critical to get the best use of the software solutions so the value of the benefits exceeds any potential costs. With this sensible approach, we can resoundingly say that yes, cloud ERP software can affordably help your nonprofit increase social impact. Here’s how it works:

Keeping Costs Down

Both Microsoft and Oracle NetSuite offer powerful nonprofit cloud solutions at reduced costs through social impact programs. We explain more about how the social impact programs work in a different article, but the general gist is that these programs offer nonprofits free and discounted cloud solutions, reduced costs training and services, and nonprofit-specific toolkits that focus on providing functionality especially critical for nonprofits (such a donor and grant management).

Additionally, cloud solutions themselves offer cost savings in a variety of other ways, such as reduced hardware costs, increased mobility, eliminating the cost of upgrades, and access to data-driven analytics tools.

By keeping costs low and focusing on the features that are especially helpful to nonprofits, these programs help you get a quick return on your investment while addressing specific challenges related to your nonprofit – and not paying a bunch of money for unrelated functionality you don’t actually need.

Maximizing the Benefits

When the benefits of a particular tool are high enough, that tool pays itself back. That’s why getting top-notch cloud solutions designed for nonprofits is such a valuable investment. An integrated cloud solution can directly help your organization increase social impact in a variety of ways.

· Donor Management: Spend less money on fundraising by targeting the right donors at the right time and in the right ways.

· Grant Management: Maintain financial compliance, gain full visibility into grant performance, and provide transparency to donors and the board.

· Budgeting: Automate and streamline the budgeting process so you can create more accurate budgets and stay on track.

· Reporting: Consolidate data, easily tailor reports to a specific audience, and simplify how you can create and share more meaningful information.

· Volunteer Management: Keep volunteer information in one secure location and analyze it to best utilize volunteer hours.

· Task Automation: Automating daily processes such as data entry helps save time and money while freeing up employees to do more important things.

· Improved Security: Cloud solutions offer top-notch cybersecurity, which is an incredibly valuable asset to nonprofits; cyber threats are constantly increasing as the value of data grows.

Learn how OTT, Inc. and cloud ERP solutions help nonprofits increase social impact

OTT, Inc. specializes in helping nonprofits leverage integrated cloud solutions at an affordable price, for a big return on investment. Not only can we help you navigate the cloud solutions, we’re familiar with Microsoft’s and Netsuite’s social impact programs, so we can ensure you take full advantage of these valuable discounts. Our 5-step implementation methodology, the Trusted Partner Path, guarantees measurable outcomes for our customers. Contact us today to learn more.

Finding and retaining top talent is a major task for businesses who want to succeed. Seeking out and hiring employees is difficult enough – how do you keep them once they’re hired? A productive, healthy employee culture is critical to the long-term growth of your business.

One factor that can boost employee happiness and morale is investing in a cloud ERP system for your organization. Here are 6 reasons why cloud ERP can lead to happier employees:

1. Spend more time on valuable tasks

Cloud ERP solutions automate tasks, streamline workflows, provide AI-assisted analytics, and so many more tools that allow your employees to spend less time on repetitive tasks. If employees are complaining about entering duplicate data into spreadsheets, sorting through long email threads, looking for receipts to submit expenses, etc.—it’s time for cloud ERP. Free up employees’ time so they can do their jobs faster and spend more time contributing to more valuable initiatives.

2. Reduce frustration

Dealing with outdated or undersized ERP can create frustrating daily problems. Whether it’s navigating complex workarounds, manually re-entering data between applications, or troubleshooting broken spreadsheets, a legacy ERP system can mean a lot of unnecessary annoyance for your workers. Help them know that you value them by making their lives easier with modern, integrated, cloud-based ERP.

3. Keep everyone informed

Helping everyone understand where they fit in the big picture is a key part of employee satisfaction. With the right cloud ERP solution, you can provide every employee in your organization with access to the information they need—when, how and where they need it. Empower workers by giving them personalized, customized dashboards to complete tasks quickly and track their personal or team progress towards goals.  

4. Allocate resources more effectively

With a cloud ERP system that makes it easier to monitor and schedule resources, you ensure everyone has the tools and assistance they need to get their jobs done. For example, make sure that the technicians in your field service center have the parts, training, and information they need to improve your first-time fix rate and boost customer satisfaction.

5. Provide remote access

Whether it’s a technician trying to find customer information while they’re in the field or an employee trying to answer a question while they’re travelling, a cloud-based ERP solution provides secure 24/7/365 remote access to key data, in a mobile-friendly format. Help your workers keep up with the pace of modern business by giving them better mobile access. 

6. Show a commitment to future growth

One key feature of cloud ERP solutions like Dynamics 365 or NetSuite is the automatic application of regular updates. This means that your workers will have access to new technologies and productivity tools as they become available. Additionally, investing in future-focused cloud technology shows that your business is committed to remaining ahead of the curve in order to thrive in the long-term.

Want to learn more?

OTT, Inc. can help you explore cutting-edge cloud ERP software solutions that fit your business and your budget. Contact us today to speak with a cloud ERP expert and learn about our 5-step methodology, the Trusted Partner Path.

Most ERP and business management systems have the ability to gather large quantities of data. However, data collection alone isn’t the goal for nonprofits. Without any analysis, you can’t turn raw data into information that can help you make better decisions for your organization.

Today’s data analysis and business intelligence tools for nonprofits are enabling organizations to measure the effectiveness of, and make improvements to, both daily operations and long-term programs. Here are a few examples of how your nonprofit can use data analytics to better achieve your mission.

1. Recognize donation patterns

Ultimately, your goal with any fundraising is to get the best ROI possible by spending less money to raise more money. Data analytics can help you achieve this on a whole new level by making it possible to precisely identify and focus on the donors who are most likely to give. You can also measure and monitor information such as number of donations received, donor or donation growth, or donations by channel.

2. Stay within budget

When you’re operating on a tight budget, it’s critical to have up-to-date information on your spending and the ability to measure it against your progress toward project goals. You can use data analytics to monitor spending as it happens and quickly get an overview of expenses or drill down to see the details. You can also set benchmarks and alerts so decision-makers in your organization know immediately if spending reaches a certain level.  

3. Measure program outcomes

Fulfilling your mission isn’t just a one-step deal, it’s the cumulative impact of countless small projects and actions that work towards achieving your desired outcomes. With data analytics, you can quantitatively measure program outcomes at a new level of detail. Monitor metrics such as progress towards project goals, number of people reached, and beneficiary satisfaction.

Data analysis tools also make it much easier to measure big-picture information such as program expenses versus total operating expenses, and year-over-year growth for your whole organization.

4. Track effectiveness of workers and projects

With data analytics tools, you can track employee progress towards goals, and even give employees access to personalized dashboards so they can see information relevant to their jobs. Help everyone stay on board with what’s happening and give them information to help them complete tasks more efficiently.

At an administrative level, it can also be extremely helpful to track absenteeism, employee retention, employee satisfaction, and other variables to measure your work culture. Your organization works hard to raise money – make sure you aren’t spending all of it recruiting, hiring, and training new talent.

5. Manage volunteer efforts

How effective are volunteers at helping your organization achieve its goals? How effectively are you recruiting volunteers in the first place? Are your volunteers satisfied with their experience? How often do they return?

Answers to these questions can have a big effect on how your organization operates and where you dedicate your time and resources. Data analytics can help you quantitatively learn the answers to these questions, and track things as they change over time.

Want to learn more about data analysis for your nonprofit?

OTT, Inc. has a proven record of helping nonprofits use cutting-edge technology to achieve their goals. Our 5-step methodology, Trusted Partner Path, ensures that your technology investments help your organization thrive for long-term success. Contact us today to talk to an expert about data analytics and nonprofit ERP solutions.

You know you want the best cloud ERP solution for your business and investment, but how do you decide? Your organization has unique needs, and there’s no single application that will work perfectly for every organization. Here are 9 things you should take into account when you’re looking for a new cloud ERP solution:

1. Which type of cloud do you need?

The latest ERP software solutions are almost exclusively cloud-based applications. However, you may not know that you have options when it comes to cloud. It’s important to think about exactly what kind of cloud setup might be best for your business, and ensure the solution you’re considering can work with that setup. Whether you’re considering public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, be sure to consult an expert to make sure your ideas will work for your organization.

2. Is the user interface easy and effective?

The user interface of the solution you choose should be easy to learn and efficient for task completion for users in a wide variety of roles. Poor user adoption is one of the leading causes of ERP failure.

3. Can you add third-party applications?

No matter how powerful and flexible an ERP solution you choose, it’s possible your specific business may need some functionality not provided within the solution itself. Does the solution you’re choosing support a wide variety of third-party applications and tools?

5. Will it work for your industry?

Every industry has different needs, and software that works really well for mid-size nonprofits may not be the best fit for a large-scale distribution business. Be sure the software you’re choosing has been successful for organizations similar to yours.

6. Are there any “surprises” with pricing?

How is the pricing structured? Will you pay monthly per user? Are there different user types at different price points? Will you need to pay extra for additional applications or maintenance? Are upgrades included? Perform a cost analysis to make sure your solution offers the best possible ROI.

7. What level of mobility will you have? 

A cloud ERP solution should offer secure 24/7/365 mobile access, with powerful and intuitive user interfaces. Although most cloud solutions offer some form of mobile access, the ease of use and extent of mobile functionality can vary considerably.

8. How secure is the provider’s cloud? 

Robust security is absolutely critical to the success of your business and something that can vary widely between cloud providers. Make sure your cloud hosting provider provides state-of-the-art security for your data. Additionally, the solution you choose should offer user-based security controls, create an obvious audit trail, and allow alerts to be set for suspicious user activities.

9. Is the ERP publisher committed to ongoing innovation?

Does the cloud ERP solution include regular updates? Is the software provider investing significant money and resources into ongoing development of new features? You want your new cloud solution to keep up with the latest technology innovations so your business can stay ahead of the curve for years to come.

9. Can you test it before you buy it?

Before purchasing any ERP solution, your implementation partner should provide your business with significant opportunities to view, test drive, and explore the solutions you’re considering. Whether it is a free trial or, if unavailable, personal demonstrations—be sure to see the solution in action before you make a decision.

Would you like to talk to an expert?

Here at OTT, Inc., we believe in helping businesses achieve measurable outcomes from their technology solutions. Our proven 5-step methodology, the Trusted Partner Path, starts with helping you ask the right questions in order to find the best-fitting solution for your business. Contact us today to discuss your business challenges and explore your goals for the future.