Blog

Whether you embrace new and existing technologies whole-heartedly or with a sense of dread, the need for reliable IT support simply comes with the territory. For some manufacturing and distribution companies, the question then boils down to the type of support you need: in-house staff or remote, outsourced services?

Historically, the decision-making process for SMBs was more difficult, more carefully weighed. That’s been especially true for small firms who have had a hard time making the mental leap from handling everything in-house to having it managed remotely. But today, more companies seem to be accepting the notion that remote managed services are today’s new norm. Here are three significant factors behind this shift—and why they bring about good news for manufacturers.

1 – More Complex, Global IT Environments

Guest blog by Jonathan Kall, CEO, Vecco International

So you’ve just learned that there’s good news… and there’s bad news. First, the good news: your sales for a specialty item manufactured in-house are through the roof. In fact, they’re way over forecast.  

Now, the bad news. You’re short on production orders. And raw materials. And coordinating your global supply chain in a timely manner to meet your customers’ needs feels like an even taller order. 

Guest blog by John Hamel, Principal, TurningPoint Systems

Prolonged downtime is every manufacturing firm’s nightmare. Even companies running the highly-reliable IBM i OS recognize they need some sort of disaster recovery plan in place to protect their business from major disruptions. 

A friend of mine, Rob, has been complaining for years that corporations have not been making capital expenditures. Rob has a forklift resale business, and by his measure, this has been the slowest economic recovery ever from a recession. Rob’s not alone, either. Many would agree that the past few years have marked a definite collapse in long-term business investments. 

However, in recent months, both Rob and I have noticed an uptick in capital expenditures. At first, we figured it may be a momentary blip. But we’ve found more and more signs that this may truly part of a larger trend. Only time will tell to be sure — but in the meantime, here’s a look at some of the evidence to suggest that the tides are turning on capital spending. 

Cloud technology is now so prominently established that it seems as if it’s been around forever. But it wasn’t too long ago that its adoption was characterized by a cautious wait-and-see attitude, rife with perceived risks and unknowns.

Today, along with the development of so much new functionality in the cloud, there’s been a dramatic shift in thinking for most organizations — and that’s essentially changed the way manufacturing companies can approach the concept of “best of breed.”

If disaster strikes, how quickly can your business get up and running again? IBM Power Systems running the IBM i operating system (OS) have a solid reputation for uptime of nearly 100 percent. While this is good news for many organizations running the IBM i OS, it can also be dangerous when it leads to complacency. Having the right disaster recovery plan — one that ensures your mission-critical applications are available, no matter what — is as critical as your applications themselves. That may be why High Availability (HA) solutions are growing in popularity. Here, we’ll take a quick look what recent trends tell us about HA solutions —  and what they add to your disaster recovery plan that you may not already have. 

The enterprise solutions running on your IBM i platform are your most important business assets. Are you covered in the event of a disaster? As reliable as the platform is, every system will eventually face unexpected downtime, and even a short-term hiccup can cause a long-term business disruption. Between re-work, missing data and even lost customers, you can’t afford to leave your backup and recovery strategy to chance. To operate with efficiency and peace of mind, you need a fast, flexible DR solution that meets your company’s unique needs. One way to create a solution based on your company’s unique needs: start with your business requirements. Learn how in The Ultimate Guide to Disaster Recovery.

When it comes to IBM i managed services, most small and mid-sized businesses think big – perhaps a little too big. Given the broad range of system and OS support services many MSPs offer, people often make the mental leap from handling everything in-house to outsourcing all IT-related processes and equipment. From hardware to hosting to backup, analysis and other support services, they’ll automatically envision an all-or-nothing approach to hiring an MSP. When outsourcing seems like such a major undertaking, companies with smaller, more intermittent needs tend to avoid the process altogether. 

Eventually, your ERP will need to be replaced. Whether your vendor ceases support or your current software fails to meet your evolving needs, your legacy platform won’t last in our increasingly complex, data-driven business environment – at least not without some changes. 

For most manufacturers, the top two considerations for a replacement are cloud-based ERP platforms and Tier I on-premise solutions. There is a third option, however – augmenting your existing ERP with cloud-based, niche functionality-specific add-ons. Following are a few of the pros, cons and critical considerations of each option. 

Throughout the business world, IBM i and its predecessor, the AS/400, has gained a solid reputation as a robust OS platform. Over the years, this popular and reliable operating system, comprised of integrated and dependable hardware and software, has been viewed as a relatively closed system, as secure as secure can be from outside intrusion and risk. But security cannot be taken for granted.