Visibility has selected beautiful San Diego California as the site of 2012 Visibility International Enterprise Conference (VIEC)!  It will be held on April 15-17, 2012.  We are currently in the process of selecting conference hotels and finalizing agendas.

At last year’s conference in Tampa, one customer said “pick someplace warm”.   Since we alternate regions of the country each year and were on East Coast last year, we considered west coast warm destinations…well, San Diego simply jumped out!  Beautiful beaches, shops, dining on the ‘catch of the day’, Sea World, the famous San Diego Zoo…lots to offer, along with some great conference hotels.

The conference is a huge event for us each year as we get to spend several days listening to customers and exchanging ideas.  Each year many great initiatives emerge from this event.

We will be unveiling VISIBILITY.net 9.0 along with hosting many great educational sessions and customer forums.  Stay tuned for the announcement of Hotel selection and detailed agenda, but the first steps of city selection and date selection are done and we can’t wait!

A real person now answers our phones!

At Visibility, Nikki started answering our phones today.  Yes, a REAL PERSON!  So when you call our company, chances are you will now speak to Nikki instead of the dreaded ‘auto-attendant’.  Will it make a difference to our customers?  We will soon find out. 

Oh, we will still use the auto-attendant now and again, if folks are out or on a break, but for now, real people are being re-introduced to our phone system.

So when you next call Visibility, be readyto have a real conversation instead of pushing buttons on your phone!  And please let Nikki or me know if it is a better experience for you …

Visibility customers can now deploy Visibility enterprise software on Amazon Web Services

Visibility Corporation (Visibility) today announced that Visibility enterprise software is now available to run on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). VISIBILITY.net ERP, VisMobile Shop Floor and Data Warehouse Suite and Visibility Business Intelligence Solutions are now supported and available on Amazon EC2. Customers who operate VISIBILITY software can now leverage the scalability, reliability, security and utility-based pricing model of AWS for production workloads with full support from Visibility.

Customers may use their existing Visibility licenses on Amazon EC2 at no additional license cost. New customers can acquire licenses from Visibility whose enterprise solutions are designed for complex engineering intensive manufacturers.

To increase speed of deployment for customers, Visibility will publish a set of pre-configured Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) to help reduce implementation times from months to weeks or days. Customers can start accessing their installation within minutes of purchase.  In addition, to minimizing installation and hardware maintenance costs, customers can also take advantage of existing features such as Amazon Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), Auto-Scaling, Security Groups, Amazon CloudWatch, Reserved Instance pricing, and many more when deploying Visibility applications on AWS.

“This is an exciting relationship for us,” said Jack Saint, Visibility President and Chief Operating Officer.  “Speed of deployment has never been faster and Amazon EC2 offers the utmost in flexibility, reliability, and availability. Our web-based product plays well in the cloud, and our templates make it easy to start using the product.”

“With the availability of Visibility software on AWS current and future customers will be able to take advantage of a low cost point of entry, coupled with cost savings in IT infrastructure for the long term, and the flexibility of growth and additional resources deployed as needed,” said Jackie Aldrich, Director of Account Management at Visibility. “We see the distinct advantages of this model which is particularly suited to today’s economic climate.”

For more information on running Visibility Applications on Amazon EC2 contact visibility at www.visibility.com.

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In the fourth quarter of 2010 sales of tablet computers and smart phones eclipsed PCs and laptops for the first time ever.  IDC has projected that by 2015 more Internet access will be from smart phones and tablets than from PCs and laptops combined.  Others say this will happen even sooner.

So the question needs to be asked:  Will PCs soon go the way of 8-track players, floppy disks, pay phones, rear projection TV sets, and VHS tapes…the list goes on and on?

The advent of Cloud Computing and high bandwidth wireless networks, iPhones, iPads, the next generation Microsoft/Samsung tablets and the Windows 8 touch screen operating system, have created a technology revolution that is accelerating faster than any in history.

‘Arab Spring’ a term coined to describe the recent revolution uprisings in Egypt and Libya, is nothing compared to the ‘Tablet Spring’, ‘Smartphone Spring’ and ‘Cloud Spring’ revolutionizing the technology world!  It’s hard to believe; just over a year ago I was in Europe when the iPad first hit the stores there.  And with Microsoft jumping into the game, another avalanche of tablets is coming.

So where does that leave software vendors?  First, ensure products can play nicely in the Cloud and on tablets, have a zero footprint client for all functionality, adhere to web standards like html 5, be Windows 8 compatible, and keep eyes and ears on new technology advancements like never before. 

With data, files, and applications moving to the Cloud at breakneck speed, why bother having a big PC or laptop?  Tablet keyboard interfaces and touch screens, wireless routers with printer hookups, will help eliminate the need for Desktops or Laptops.   Facebook is moving to your TV set.  And business and financial software is available in the Cloud today, accessed using tablets.

So what’s coming next?  Do you think we will see a PC/laptop graveyard at the local dump soon or will PCs remain part of our daily life for many years to come?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

One of my ERP customers likes Pearl Jam and he loved The Hangover Part II.  His hobbies include biking and going to the lake.  He really enjoys reading Science Fiction.

How do I know all of this?  Facebook, of course!  Just recently, Facebook signed up its 250 millionth customer and would now be the World’s fourth largest country based solely on membership.  People are now spending more time on Facebook than they are watching TV.  So should businesses start moving into this new world as well?

My Dad was in sales and would have loved Facebook.  He always talked about building relationships with his customers and getting to know them as people first.  He would have used this to build rapport during sales calls and meetings.  Not only could he now find out something about their likes but the information is fresh and up to date.  Where else can we find out that Mary just returned from a fabulous week in St. Lucia, Chuck is hoping this will be the Steeler’s year, Phil just attended his daughter’s wedding, and Brenda is still very happy that her daughter is finally entering her senior year in high school.

Social media is a veritable open book into who our trading partners are.  Social media has expanded in 2011 faster than the Internet itself grew in its early days.  Disney now has over 6 million likes on its Facebook page; the Company Facebook page is becoming as important as one’s web site at getting the message out.  And it is more interactive.  Discussion boards, comments, surveys, likes and dislikes, all help us listen and interact rather than just talk.  Listening to customers has always been important and Facebook lets us learn so much more about them.  Employers have been using Facebook to review potential hires and their backgrounds for some time now, but customer service and sales folks  are just beginning to see the benefits.

Where is this all leading?  We started accelerating the use of Visibility’s Facebook page recently to disseminate more information but more importantly, also to listen.  How are you using social media?  Have you had any great feedback or ideas either as a consumer or host of a corporate Facebook Page?  As always, I would welcome and invite comments or shoot me an email with your take on this social media thing!

There is no question that “The Cloud” will be the future deployment method of choice for enterprise applications, including ERP. It is already available today for those willing to take to The Cloud, which some early adopters have started doing. The real question is when will the majority of companies deploy their ERP to The Cloud?

The first obstacle to migration is the confusion among many over what The Cloud actually is. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, asks “What the hell is Cloud Computing” in an infamous YouTube video rant that has gone viral. A quick review of The Cloud on Google reveals many differing definitions for Cloud Computing. I guess you could say the definition of The Cloud to many, is, uh, still a bit cloudy!

Basically Cloud Computing allows users to have ubiquitous on-demand network access to software applications over the web where the actual software and data reside “somewhere out there”, in “The Cloud”. In layman’s terms, logon to an application using your web browser and don’t worry about where the stuff is. Most of America now uses Facebook. Facebook is an example of a Cloud-based application. The Facebook software and all of the Facebook data (e.g. your photos you uploaded from your digital camera, iPhone, or computer) reside “somewhere out there” in The Cloud. You don’t need to worry about data storage, or what version of Facebook you are running, or what underlying software and database is needed to support it, or what the operating system is, or what kind of horsepower the server has. That’s all someone else’s problem. You just log in from a browser. That is the beauty of The Cloud! No IT department to support it, just register and start using it.

The Cloud has already become a popular trend in software deployment for some applications. Certainly CRM has moved there (see salesforce.com), along with Google’s Gmail, consumer-based applications, and social media. One of the next big frontiers in The Cloud is Cloud-Based ERP.

So what about Cloud-based ERP?

Modern ERP systems are actually made for The Cloud. Personalization features, custom configuration options, customizable screens, personal menus, customizable portals, better ad-hoc reporting and Business Intelligence, flexible end-user data import and export capabilities, and built-in workflow and tools all reduce the need for custom programming, typically done on a traditional on-premise ERP application. Most modern ERP systems are also web-based, running from zero footprint client browsers. Couple this with Security and Internet bandwidth improvements, world-wide connectivity and availability, and the stage has been set. Cloud-based ERP systems are not somewhere in the future. They are here today.

Visibility’s solution can be deployed either in The Cloud or locally across an intranet as a traditional on-premise ERP. More and more of our prospects are asking about The Cloud, and some early adopters have already moved there with our application. But most still remain on-premise. My expectation is that acceptance to Cloud-based ERP will accelerate as The Cloud itself becomes more prevalent as an enterprise application deployment option. This represents a major platform shift and change to how manufacturers and IT folks approach enterprise application selection and deployment.

The movement to The Cloud for ERP will likely be a gradual one. And it may even be done in phases for larger organizations. We’ve had prospects ask if they could move to The Cloud down the road, or if they could start their implementation in The Cloud and then take it back in house. For us, providing flexibility is the key here. The Cloud decision need not be permanent either way. Would your organization consider Cloud-based ERP today? What are the concerns, and what will keep you away from The Cloud?

In the future, ERP will be in the Clouds. That is clear. The only question now seems to be the rate of migration.

My high school soccer team played its home games at Columbia Park, now called Joe Moakley Park, in South Boston across the street from Carson Beach.

From left: Flemmi, Weeks, and Bulger sitting in lounge chairs at Columbia Park in South Boston in the 1980s, the same field where the author played his high school soccer games. Republished from Boston.com (DEA photo by Special Agent Mike Swidwinski)

During the years I played there, Whitey Bulger, Steven ‘the rifleman’ Flemmi, and Kevin Weeks used to meet on folding chairs in the field adjacent to ours to ‘discuss business’. Staying far away from probing wiretaps, they were still being photographed by police surveillance cameras. It was a tough time to be in South Boston. Busing as a means to solve racial segregation had been forced on “Southie” by a suburban judge, and the city had turned into a war zone. Thirty special MDC police patrol cars would line our field every afternoon, positioned so they could take in a soccer match while waiting for the inevitable call to duty. When the call came, all 30 cars would start their engines, turn on their blue lights, and race around the corner to G Street and South Boston High School where the school buses would be loaded, and required an escort service to get through the gauntlet of racial slurs, obscene gestures, and occasional rocks and bricks. All while the games went on.

The Southie Park was a plethora of activity. One game at the park, Johnny Mac, my team’s goalie, yelled over at our bench “Hey Coach! We’ve got a situation!” While play continued at the other team’s end, a bag lady had started making her way right across our field, in the direct path of any counter-attack our opponents might mount. “Excuse me, Mr Referee?” my coach calmly asked. He was a veteran coach, had seen it all through hundreds of matches, and this was no big deal to him, just another challenge along the road. The ref stopped the match, and coach dispatched me and three teammates to help move the bag lady along. I took her grocery cart, with all of her earthly possessions, and pushed it over to the sideline. My teammates picked her up, much to the lady’s chagrin and protest, and moved her out of harm’s way. We got back into position, and the ref signaled the resumption of play with no cards issued. Minimal disruption.

A few weeks later, Mac called over again. “Coach!” This time two stray dogs had selected the top circle of our penalty area, about 18 yards directly in front of our goal, as their romantic spot to produce baby pups. Another unexpected obstacle. Another challenge for our calm and experienced coach, easily handled.

All around us distractions arose, including cop sirens, police escorts, gangster meetings, and misdirected bag ladies; my Coach calmly dealt with whatever came up and kept our focus where we needed it to be.

ERP implementations inevitably have their own unexpected challenges and distractions. And a good coach can help. Some interface to a shipping manifest that everyone on the implementation team had forgotten about until two weeks before go live, a customer insisting on a certain format for their invoices, the new holding company demanding more information that the legacy system had tracked. Each time these things come up, experienced ERP consultants and implementation managers have to calmly address them. Their experience at solving the unexpected becomes invaluable.

In an ERP implementation, expect the unexpected. Calmly assess and determine the best solution with minimal disruption to the flow of the project. Manufacturers are used to challenges in the process of making things: Machine breakdowns, employee turnover, supplier performance, quality concerns, and inventory shortages; which are all a fact of life for manufacturers. So too, ERP Software and consulting firms should leverage their ERP implementation experience to deal with the unexpected during software implementations. Experience from consultants who have gone through many implementations and who have seen all sorts of unexpected challenges should be a critical piece of the success.

And when the figurative bag lady decides to take her grocery cart through the manufacturing shop floor during a production cycle, the experience of your ERP software vendor and consultant should be used to help folks remain calm, determine solutions, keep the team focused and minimize disruption of the project. Meet each as just another challenge along the road to be overcome. Calming experience, dealing with challenges one at a time with minimal disruption, and keeping focus is the key to success in ERP implementations.

If you’ve encountered unexpected bag ladies during your implementations, I would love to hear about them and how you dealt with them! Shoot me an email or a comment.

I recently returned from a visit to a client located in Tornado alley, just outside of Kansas City, Kansas.  When we arrived at the airport we were told a Tornado had touched down nearby, about an hour before we landed, and folks had apparently all scurried into the basement of the parking garage for shelter. 

While retrieving my bags, my customer texted me “Tornado touched down about a mile from the office but no buildings were hit.  See you in 45 minutes.  Welcome to Kansas.”

Two months earlier a client of ours, owned by a northern Japanese parent, was awaiting word on whether to continue with an ERP implementation due to the tsunami and its impact on their headquarters.  Another client had to halt manufacturing operations for a few weeks because some of the key components they used were short due to the tsunami’s effect on the Japanese supplier’s ability to operate.

Tornadoes, tsunamis, snowstorms, hurricanes, and floods are all real dangers and considerations for companies in today’s world.  My Kansas account gave me a tour of their parts inventory department, where all employees were huddled just two hours earlier, while the Tornado was making its way to the ground nearby.

Their parts department was built to withstand a category 5 tornado with concrete walls surrounding an underground warehouse.  They had built this in anticipation of just such an occurrence.  Ah, life in Kansas.

A big selling point to their customer was that they had tornado proofed their inventory storage.

When selecting a location, manufacturers should consider the territory.  Although no place is safe from random severe acts of Mother Nature, (as noted by a recent devastating tornado in, of all places, Springfield Massachusetts!), location should be considered.  If your plant is near rivers or oceans, flood proofing is mandatory, if you are in California, Earthquakes should be anticipated, Florida plants need to be ready for Hurricanes, and the northeast for snow and severe cold.

I could not help but be impressed by my client’s preparedness.  And his customers, who demand uptime and production consistency, were impressed as well. 

It dawned on me that all manufacturers, when selecting suppliers, should ask about the supplier’s preparedness for potential disasters, particularly those in zones of danger.  Their readiness to handle these should be measured right alongside traditional measurements of quality, production capacity, and pricing. 

I would be interested to know if any manufacturers out there have considered natural disaster preparedness in picking their suppliers. As an ERP vendor, should we be incorporating disaster preparedness into our vendor performance measurement tools? As always, I would love to hear your comments and insight!  We are definitely not in Kansas anymore!

As a member of the management team at Visibility, I’ve always considered our annual user conference to be the most important time of the year for me.  At the conference each spring, I get to meet many customers, spend a lot of time with them, both one on one and in group settings. I get to know them personally, learn how they’re using our product, and find out what challenges they face in their businesses.  Basically I get to listen.

After researching blogs and subscribing to many myself, it struck me that this is a good way to reach out to customers in another form.  A good way to listen, share observations, and ask for feedback and input.  And since blogs are open to the world, I can also get opinions and feedback on a variety of subjects from non-customers.

My hope is that the topics I present will generate thought and feedback, so I can listen.  Listening (and not talking!) is where I know that I can learn the most.  I enjoy looking at the world with a sense of humor, as laughter is always good for the soul, and I will do my very best to not be boring!

So with those hopes and aspirations, I enter the world of blogging!  Please humor me with your feedback, comments, and personal insight.  Let the blogging begin!