Plus Computer's ERP Software Weblog

Top 10 Ways the Transition to IFRS will Impact Your ERP System!

by Leslie Satenstein, Technology Evaluation Centers

The coming North American changeover from GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) will most likely present a number of challenges for your company. Today's feature blog post shows you the top 10 ways the transition from GAAP to IFRS will impact your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

With so much riding on your company selecting the right accounting software, and with so many solutions to choose from, what should you base your decision on? Today's feature white paper recommends you start with an understanding of both the strengths and weaknesses of your company's financial information capabilities.

Did you know that digital dashboards, browser-based accounting, and .NET technology allow you to get away from traditional reporting systems that produce endless pages on financial and business conditions after-the-fact? In today's feature article, learn how you can get the financial information you need on the fly, without having to rely on static, often dated financial statements

Read the whole article, here: http://blog.technologyevaluation.com/blog/2008/10/28/top-10-ways-the-transition-to-ifrs-will-impact-your-erp-system/

Should You Cut Back or Freeze IT Spending in a Recession?

by Larry Blitz, TEC Technology Evaluation Centers, http://blog.technologyevaluation.com

With little doubt that the US economy is in or near recession, the big question now is whether we’re heading into a global credit freeze and financial meltdown. If the worst happens, all bets are off—we’ll be pretty much in uncharted territory. But if we do manage to escape with nothing more severe than a typical recession, what approach should you take towards IT spending?

The usual knee-jerk response in a recession is to cut back or freeze IT spending. But is that necessarily the best strategy?

I can’t give you a definitive answer, nor can anyone else. Much depends on the particular circumstances surrounding your organization, and there are many to consider: your business model, the industry you’re in, your competitive position, the financial health of your company, and the state of your IT infrastructure are some of the major ones.

But I can draw on a couple of analogies. One of them comes from the advertising industry, where I spent many years as an advertising sales representative. In difficult economic times, many advertisers tend to cut back on ad spending, some dramatically so. But there are other companies that don’t cut back. With their competitors lowering their advertising profiles and ducking for cover, these companies see it as an opportunity to grab market share and emerge ahead of the pack when the good economic times return. And more often than not, it’s a winning strategy.

Read the whole article here: http://blog.technologyevaluation.com/blog/2008/10/08/should-you-cut-back-or-freeze-it-spending-in-a-recession/

7 Strategies for B2B Marketing during a Recession: The Definitive Guide

by Jon Miller, http://blog.marketo.com

Should B2B marketers change their strategies during a recession? Does a recession always mean marketers have to work even harder to find ways to do more with less? Can a recession create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive? These are some of the topics I recently explored on a panel at the SMX Advanced conference in Seattle.

Are we in a recession?

First off, let me explain I do not think we're in a recession in the US — yet. A recession requires two quarters of negative growth in GDP, and Q4 last year saw 0.6% growth while preliminary numbers for Q1 this year were 0.9% growth (Bureau of Economic Statistics).

So we may not yet be in a recession, but times are growing increasingly difficult for consumers. The subprime mess is real, exorbitant energy and food costs are cutting into discretionary spending, and the weakening dollar is importing inflation to our economy. According to How I Spent My Stimulus, the $152 billion stimulus package is going primarily to reduce consumer debt or to pay for higher gas and food costs, i.e. it is not going to stimulate incremental spending.

What this means is that we are in the worst possible non-recession. Prior downturns avoided becoming a (global) recession because of the resilient American consumer. This time, it looks like we won't have that saving grace — meaning things may still get worse before they get better.

What does this mean for B2B marketing and advertising?

Fewer consumers means less demand; less demand means that efforts to stimulate demand (i.e. marketing) are less effective overall. Put simply, when people buy less, advertisers spend less. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, US advertising dropped 9% in the 2001 recession while Internet advertising fell a whopping 27%.  I should point out that this slowdown applies to business-to-business marketers as well because of second- and higher-order effects, i.e. as consumer spending drops, the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.

To read the complete article, click here: http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2008/06/7-strategies-fo.html?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoiua%2FfLqzsmxzEJ8n46ussWJ6PrK5ZsjsFF5atVA%3D%3D