Welcome TechnologyAdvice viewers to this week’s product spotlight.
Today I’m joined by Marketing Manager Samantha Hornby from Blue Link ERP an ERP software
provider.
Samantha, describe Blue Link ERP in one sentence.
Blue Link ERP provides inventory management and accounting ERP software for small to medium
sized businesses, primarily those in the wholesale and distribution industry.
Great, well what differentiates Blue Link ERP from its competitors?
One of the biggest differentiators is that we are an all-in-one solution.
Right out of the box there are a lot of robust functionality, including everything from inventory
management, a full accounting suite, contact management, order entry and processing, and
warehouse management.
A secondary factor, in addition to those features, we also have add-on components that are typically
only found in much larger systems.
Those types of specialized features could include everything from lot tracking, ecommerce
integration, mobile barcode scanning, as well as landed cost tracking.
Lastly, we are a completely customizable system.
We understand that no two businesses are exactly alike, and therefore the software can be customized
to meet the individual needs of our customers.
Ok, well, let's talk about your ideal customer.
Blue Link’s ideal customer is ideally somebody that understands that the software purchase
is a strategic investment, and not just a necessary evil.
These are customers that have outgrown their existing introductory system, maybe they want
to move away from a piecemeal type system, but they know that software can help them
grow and that’s something they want to continue to do.
To be more specific Blue Link works best with companies that have between 5 to 100 employees
specifically in the wholesale and distribution industry.
This would include companies who deal with products such as apparel, food, medical and
pharmaceutical, industrial products, consumer packaged goods, as well as customers who operate
in the retail and ecommerce space.”
Great, well how is Blue Link ERP priced?
Blue Link prices its product based on features and users.
Some of the features you get out of the base package would cover everything from accounts
receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, bank management, all your sales orders, purchase
orders, invoicing, quoting, and all that sort of stuff.
Then if you do want some of those more more professionalized features such as ecommerce
integration they can be added on as necessary.
We also price the product based on whether you want the cloud version or the on premises
version.
With the cloud would be Blue Link hosting the software our servers versus on premises,
where you would actually host the software internally on your own servers.
”
Let's talk about limitations.
What is a limitation for Blue Link?
One of the limitations would be that we aren’t really a basic system.
It does require a certain level of discipline from users when actually using the software.
This is in particular to some of the accounting stuff, because it doesn't adhere to accounting
regulations and rules.
This could sometimes, take some getting used to, especially for companies coming off of
more introductory systems.
We also say a limitation is that we only focus on our core industry, wholesale and distribution.
If a customer comes to us looking for something that is more manufacturing specific, even
though we can do customization work, we try to stay away from those businesses because
that not really our sweet spot.”
Alright, well let's talk about best practices.
What is a best practice for implementing Blue Link ERP?
One of the best practices for implementation would be just starting with the basics.
There are so many efficiencies to be gained right out of the box, that it might not be
necessary to get all those bells and whistles right away.
These additional features can be added on very easily at any point in time.
It can sometimes make the transition easier for the company and employees to start with
the basics.
When it comes to choosing between cloud or on premises, unfortunately there really isn’t
a right answer.
It depends on what the company currently has set up.
For example, we say for smaller businesses that don’t have staff to manage the IT side
of things it might be worth looking at the cloud where they can push that kind of responsibility
to us as the vendor versus on premises where companies do have that staff internally, and
they may have servers and hardware set up, so they want to continue to run the software
internally.”
Thanks for joining us today Samantah, if you would like to find out more about Blue Link
ERP check out our website, technologyadvice.com, where we can help you find the best technology
for the needs of your business.