Category: Business

Businessmen would agree that in the business world, giving gifts once in a while can never be avoided. Be it Christmas or an important client’s birthday, gift-giving is one of the most effective ways of establishing stronger ties to those who matter to you and your business. This may not be totally true but even as this, it is the most common perception. You might not believe this but there are times when giving gifts can be the worst thing that you can do. This is especially true when you are invovled in an international business. This is because each race or nationality has its own belief about business gift giving.

It’s interesting that while some countries may be very open to gift-giving, others can actually take the act to be completely unacceptable. For example, in the Czech Republic, Columbia, Indonesia and some others, giving gifts is a warm gesture between corporate people. This can be misunderstood as bribing when youre on other countries like Australia, Denmark or Uruguay.

It’s interesting that while some countries may be very open to gift-giving, others can actually take the act to be completely unacceptable. For example, in the Czech Republic, Columbia, Indonesia and some others, giving gifts is a warm gesture between corporate people. However, there are other countries like Australia and many others that find this act offensive because they think that this is like a bribe.

Therefore, it is important that you try to find out about different countries and their beliefs when it comes to this kinds of things especially when you are involved in international business. Generally, we feel that when we give a gift to a client or a colleague during his birthday, it can strengthen our business relationship. The effect can be otherwise. It can still make negative vibes that may be considered to affect the business relationship. It is significant to always know the background of the people you consider giving presents for this reason.

The issues around gift giving may not even be purely cultural but religious as well. It will be a good idea to research on peoples cultures you are planning to give presents even when working for a company. For example, you might think of giving your boss a little token on his birthday. Perhaps you cannot give him anything made of cowhide as in India, cows are considered sacred if this person is Indian.

There will be rituals or rules that have to be pursued as giving gifts is not really discouraged in some cases. The Chinese, for instance, consider red a lucky color. The monetary value of a gift may also affect its meaning in almost all cases. Whatever thing that is costly can make the receiver feel uncomfortable or even embarrassed. In other cases, a gift should fit the level of relationship that the giver has with the receiver.

There are more differences among nationalities in terms of their gift-giving customs and it is important to consider these before you give anything, no matter how well-meant.

In comparing to other ERP and Small and Midsize Business Accounting applications, SB1 is more flexible and where traditional system may require programmer to code the custom logic and then integrate it with existing user interface and the database – SAP BO may have this custom logic to be easily set up in User Defined Tables and User Defined Fields, and SAP B1 software developers already supplied simple user interface to work with newly created objects, let’s us show you how. We will be assuming that you are on SAB BO version 2007A, international version 2007B should be the same if you translate our article to you local language, and if you are on SB1 2005A/B, you should be able to find the same functionality in slightly different menu paths:

1.OK, let’s assume that you need few new fields to be associated with Business Partner, such as Statement Type: email or mail. You will need new field on the Business Master table, the field should be named Statement Method, it should be Drop Down List with two options: Email and Mail. Please, open Tools->User Defined Tools->User Defined Fields-Management. Expand Master Data, Business Partner, highlight it and click add button at the bottom of the form. Name the field Statement Method, give appropriate description, alphanumeric, Structure: regular, mark Set Valid Values for the Field and click new to create Email and Mail options in this new DDL. Now, open Business Partner and pull out existing customer, for example. in Menu: View->User Defined-Fields and you should notice that New Small Windows is now open to the right of the Business Partner Master Data window, here you may select Email or Mail from DDL, when you will click on OK (or Add, if you are adding new Business Partner/Customer), Statement Method will be saved together with the regular Business Partner info. For those of you who are IT people or Software Developers, please click on View->System Information and then place your cursor over new field – you will see that it is created in OCRD table (Business Partner Master Table)

2.Let’s come out on the fresh air and between us, who are Corporate ERP consultants discuss, what we just saw. In other more traditional Corporate ERP, MRP, CRM, Sales Order Processing systems, etc., this is legitimate so-called “customization”, where programming is required or at least recommended. SAP Business One does the job in out-of-the-box install with five minutes long setup procedure. Please, relax and expect more surprises, let’s move on to new custom table creation

3.User Defined Tables. Tools->Customization Tools->User Defined Tables Setup, here give it the name, description, and select No Object if the table will be stand alone, or select Master Data if it is supposed to be linked to Master Data table, or Master Data Rows (in you plan to link it to Business Partner Address, which is Master Data Row classified table), Document (if you plan to link it to AR Invoice, or other legitimate document header), or Document Rows (if you plan to link it to AR Invoice Inventory Item or Service Line, for example). In our example, let’s try to be moderate and give you just simple example, we would like to create Non-Inventory Item Monthly Cost table, which is No Object. Give it the name, description, and then Tools-> Customization Tools->User Defined Fields Management, expand User Tables, highlight Non Inventory Item Monthly Cost and click Add: Add Year, Month and Cost fields (feel free to apply your judging on the type). Now, let’s enter the rows into newly defined table. User Defined Windows, select your newly created table and feel free to enter data there. Small comment, SB1 designers looks like were trying to make our life easier, so the created two mandatory fields: Code and Name, we recommend you to enter unique values there

4.SAP Business One Executive Demo or technical presentation. Via Web Session and Phone Conference you can request this service being USA, Canada Nationwide, in Europe, Brazil, Latin America and Internationally

5.Second Opinion on SB1 implementation or modules selection. This service is popular if your local SB1 reseller failed in challenging implementation, when you have to do complex Data Conversion, Integration to Legacy Systems, including Lotus Notes, Oracle Custom DB, legacy ecommerce

6.SAP B1 as Publicly Traded Multinational Corporation local branch ERP. SB1 licensing is relatively cheap and considering the fact that it is localized (translated to local languages in the majority of the countries: Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Israel, Russia, China, to begin the long list; plus it is certified with foreign countries tax agencies). Special considerations to the customers, where their corporate ERP is not localized in the overseas branches. Good example is Dynamics GP Great Plains, it is only supported in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Arabic countries, Spanish Speaking Latin America and English Speaking South East Asia. If you have Dynamics GP Great Plains as your Corporate ERP in USA or Canada, please consider SAP Business One in such country as Brazil, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, etc., for your local branch with GL or even full data consolidation to Dynamics GP via Great Plains Integration Manager. SAP Business One allows simple data export to Microsoft Excel, or you can do exported data marking on SB1 SQL DB level

7.How to get help? Please, call us: 1-866-528-0577,

When looking into business application for your home or small business, there are several things to keep in mind. Here are some tips to help you get the program you need to run your operation efficiently, and still keep yourself within your budget.

One of the first things to do is consider the essential functions of your business. Administration is a good place to start. It is a cinch that you will need business application that will allow you to keep track of the day to day functions of your work. To that end, business tax software integrated into accounting processes is a must. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent business application solutions that will make it easy to generate invoices, post payments, calculate employer and employee taxes, keep up with business checking accounts, and all the factors that go into handling the finances in a professional manner.

You will also need business application to create sales and marketing materials, letter templates, and other items for business correspondence. Something to keep track of your leads, prospects, and clients is a good idea as well. Business contacts software can help with this, as can several other excellent thematic programs on the market. If you plan on handing out a lot of cards, you may want to invest in some business card software as well. Business cards software is not very expensive and allows you to change the look of your cards whenever you like. Business card design software will often come with templates that you can use. All you have to do is fill in the blanks and print the cards. If you are starting up on a shoestring, there is a free thematic application that you can download from the Internet. In fact, if you own an office software program, check closely for some of the document options. You may find that you already have free business card maker included in your office suite.

There is no lack of business application that you can purchase. No matter what type of business you have, there are business application packages offered by application development companies that will help out with just about every task. You can get personal training studio business application, auction business management software, and business valuation software. Discounted or free business application will help stretch your operating dollars, so dont rule out using other programs. You can always upgrade to other business application when there is more money available to invest in the business.

Business benchmarking is the process wherein you determine which company is the best, the one that sets the standard and identify the standard. Basically, you compare your own processes and the metrics that you use with your competitors. However, benchmarking is not only about concentrating on your rivals. You will actually take a look at the wide industry itself and compare it with the other industries. That is certainly a difficult thing to do and being tasked to do so means that you have to take a look at a wide variety of dimensions including quality, time and price. When you benchmark, you will be able to do things better, quicker and much more cost effective. In this case, business benchmarking is a crucial process for organizations. Even though it is tricky and complex, you can simplify the whole procedure by means of benchmarking with balanced scorecard.

The balanced scorecard is known for being one of the most versatile business tools ever invented. You can measure the efficiency and the performance of the most important factors that affect and may affect the success of your business. Using key performance indicators, you can create performance based management and use that system to monitor the efficacy of various processes. The BSC takes on the customer, the internal processes, staff efficiency and growth and not only the financial capabilities of your company.

Now, how do you use benchmarking with balanced scorecard? The answer here is simple: you will need your company data and use them to compare against your toughest rivals in the industry. Thus, you will have to measure your products, services and practices that are similar with the top firms in the world. This will allow you to determine the reasons as to why those companies are seen as progressive and productive. Knowing such elements and details will also enable you to incorporate your present knowledge about how to run the company better.

Those enterprises that are considered at the top of their game know what they are doing. This is why you also have to know yours. In this case, you have to be fully aware about the standards so that you can compare yourself against them.

Benchmarking with balanced scorecard lets you compare and evaluate your business against the other firms so that you can improve the situation of your business. You can use the information that you have obtained to enhance not only on your profitability but also in attracting new customers, retaining them and in meeting their expectations. In addition, you can also help your staff acquire more knowledge and develop their skills in selling products or performing their jobs. In this case, you are able to manage your company better through the benchmarking with balanced scorecard.

One of the useful things about benchmarking with balanced scorecard is that this permits you to effectively reduce time and expenditures without sacrificing the quality of the project or the product. Lastly, this whole process can aid in making the right decisions. Exploiting the data obtained from the tool, you can determine the right choices and avoid errors in judgment.