Articles

Ever wondered which ERP vendor is best?

Panorama Consulting Solutions ranks ERP vendors for 2017 and comes up with a winner… That winner is Epicor – but at iStart, we have a nagging suspicion that the very notion of ‘the best ERP vendor’ is something of a ‘how long is a piece of string’

Gartner: Top technology trends you cannot afford to ignore

Gartner has published its annual list of the top strategic technology trends, which includes software-defined anything (SDx), 3D printing, mobile apps, cloud/client architecture, hybrid cloud and IT-as-service-broker and smart machines… The list covers the technologies that Gartner analysts deem as having the most potential to have significant

Online or On Premise?

The interesting thing about online solutions is that, although the lingo changes, the concept is not new. For the last 10 years evangelists of the “hosted” solution have been banging down doors trying to get people to believe that you are better off as a business if

Worldwide IT spending to grow in 2016 – but only just

Just how much will the tech-crazy world blow on IT in 2016? Around US$3.54 trillion… While that number represents growth, it is only just in the green according to the Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast. At a mere 0.6 percent over 2015 spending, the researcher is anticipating

Managing the Production of Food

A number of the customers that we have serviced over the years are well known Australian manufacturers of mass produced food products such as Cakes, Pickles and Chocolates. We have learned a great deal about this vertical as a result of this experience. What are the special

When Time Tracking by Spreadsheet is No Longer Good Enough

If you have a small to medium sized organization and you need to track your employee time, you probably started simply enough. Using a spreadsheet method to list each employee, every project or client and the associated hours worked. At some point you will find it is

Hosted versus Installed Time Accounting Systems- Which is Right for Your Organization?

Today’s business owners can choose from many options for time accounting systems. Companies often concentrate on how they will use the system and what they need to do to complete and manage their time entry and reporting. Equally as important is how and where you will manage

Mind the knowledge gap – IT in the boardroom

Following a number of high-profile project train wrecks last year, we ask if there is enough understanding of IT at board level. Clare Coulson spoke to those in the know to get some answers… “This topic is actually a very timely one,” says Paul Matthews, CEO of the Institute of IT

Project Management – Punch Above Your Weight

When it comes to delivering high calibre projects on-time, on-budget, anywhere in world … innovative small businesses can compete with the best of them. In fact, small scale can bring a number of advantages, such as speed, adaptability and close customer relationships, that bigger organisations find hard

SME Systems: Knowledge Transfer Between Generations

Of the 2 million small businesses in Australia (and millions more in the US, UK and other nations) many are facing a critical challenge: How can they best transition knowledge from Baby Boomer staff and owners to Gen X and Y employees? ‘Has anybody else seen that