Benefits of Open Source ERP to Small and Medium Businesses

Considering its robust platform, many developers have come up with beautiful web based solutions including ERP. ERP on this platform is not really new. It has been around for some years now. However, looking at its acceptability, one of the open-source ERP has also received venture funds recently. It proves that ERP on Open Source is a viable business solution not only for the industry users but also for investors.

What makes Open source tick?

Huge technically well qualified community

Very definition – Open to change from users

Free – all Open Source components are either free or nearly free

Maintenance is today available from third party vendors, though at a cost

Free regular upgrades

Backing by mighty software vendors like Google, Facebook etc.

Thus, any software developed on Open Source proves to be less costly to implement, though not free as many people imagine. Only negative is that there are no standards, or in other words, there are too many standards. But, with proliferation of vendors in this field, it is possible to work around given standards, say Suse Linux from Novell or Red Hat etc.

All this has made it possible to develop large complex applications like ERP on open source. With some years of experience on Open-source based ERPs and alternative revenue models that have emerged, it is possible for a user to opt for this ERP. Outside India there are many such ERPs today in the market. In India too, ESS has taken the lead by releasing an ERP based on LAMP stack.

How does such LAMP based ERP make sense to small & medium sized companies?

User does not have to worry about license cost of third party components like O/S, Database etc. nor does the user have to worry about AMC for these products. Third party vendors do provide AMC for LAMP based products also, but user has an option. If he/she is technically savvy, he/she may chose to maintain the system by self. If however, user is not tech-savvy one may chose to go with a vendor for regular support.

With support of large community of developers it comes with features that are much more user friendly many times than what people imagine.

Because of the quality of developers, generally the software is lighter to work on and maintain.

With technology base of Open Source, products built on this platform are more suited for Cloud computing structure than other heavy weight products in the market.

It is light weight as compared to other available proprietary technologies, thus consume lesser hardware and network resources.

With Cloud computing coming up as the next wave, ERPs built on LAMP stack have natural advantage in exploiting this technology.

Thus, it makes eminent sense for Open Source ERP for SME. The users can look at various alternatives available.…

The Positive Impact of Employee Schedule Software

If there are a lot of different schedules in your workplace, consider the use of employee schedule software. This type of software comes in numerous titles and can be used in many different ways to make scheduling easy. If you think that this may be a help to you in your business or work area, consider some of the following.
Software such as this can be popular with both employers and employees themselves. Employers can use this to organize employee schedules in their workforce. As a result, it can make changing and arranging shifts much more convenient and easy than it was before. You can also configure shifts for multiple employees or make changes as needed. Making the software available to employees allows everyone to be aware of their schedule change.
Because of this, adding shifts or picking them up as an employee can be more convenient as well. Employees may prefer logging into software or on software equipped sites to access their schedule whenever they want. This is better than the alternative of having to call into work to discover what shifts are available or what their schedule is for the week. There is also no concern for losing printed schedules or missing voice mails about shifts.
Using scheduling software can improve your ability to keep track of any hours and days that you or your employees have worked as well. If you need to keep track of information for documentation in your workplace, this can be a good way of organizing those statistics. It can also be useful to employees that have to take care of their time sheets or other paperwork.
The price for software systems such as this usually then varies depending on the software style and uses itself. Usually the employer will take care of this cost. However, if the work requires that the employee also needs the same software for use, then sometimes the cost may also be applied to the employees as well. It depends on the work policy of the company or business.
Since there are many variations of software, it is important to consider the options that are available. Researching different types and realizing the strong points and assets of each can help you to narrow your choices. More specifically, once this has been done, software costs can be compared for the best value.
In general, the use of this style of software can greatly benefit both workers and their employers. It allows both to organize their schedules more clearly and effectively. In this scenario, there is likely to be less confusion about shifts and their times, and days in the schedule are less likely to be missed.
This is basic information regarding the use of employee schedule software. If this seems like an option you may be interested in for your business, you should research the different styles that are available. Consider what your scheduling needs are and try to find a software title that will best suit those needs ultimately.…