What is Acumatica ERP?
Enterprise Resource Planning Software
Acumatica is a leading provider of cloud business management software that empowers small and mid-size businesses to unlock their potential and drive growth. Built on the world’s best cloud and mobile technology and a unique customer-centric licensing model, Acumatica delivers a suite of fully-integrated applications, powered by a robust and flexible platform. Acumatica is designed for businesses looking for modern enterprise software powered by the cloud.
Acumatica ERP Suites
The modules in the Financial Management Suite are integrated with each other and also with the other Acumatica suites. Click here to learn more about the Acumatica Financial Management Suite.
End users enjoy an enhanced procurement process with budget validation and overspending protection, always keeping the board approved budget in mind. NonProfitPlus empowers organizations through effective financial management. Click here to learn more about the Nonprofit Accounting Suite.
The Customer Management Suite provides a solution to efficiently work and communicate with customers through the Acumatica Customer Portal. Helpful tools enable customers to see all the relevant information about their interaction and perform relevant activities online. Click here to learn more about the Acumatica CRM.
Project Accounting Software features are integrated with the general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, sales orders, purchase orders, inventory management, and the employee portal. Click here to learn more about the Project Accounting Suite.
Integration with CRM ensures that your entire organization, from sales to support, has visibility into your distribution processes. Click here to learn more about the Distribution Management Suite.
Acumatica ERP Training Blog
14 eLearning Statistics Acumatica End Users Should Know
About 2 years ago, we decided to tackle the challenging task of creating an ERP learning environment that was created for Acumatica End Users. Although not very common in the ERP world, our team had experience in other industries and was able to watch eLearning turn into the norm for training staff and students.
We’re going to use some of the items highlighted below in the infographic to describe the relationship between eLearning and ERP.
- The Average Online Learner is 34 years old: Although baby boomers did not grow up with technology, a large portion of the workforce has established some comfort level with online learning. This means that the number of people in your organization that will be more than willing to learn how to use an ERP system online, rather than in person, is going to continually grow.
- For every $1 a company spends on training, they can receive $30 in productivity gains: When an organization adopts a new accounting system, they are hoping to implement a solution to an existing business problem. Although the software could be a great fit for the company, the employees are often the hinge of success or failure. Imagine purchasing a brand new HD Television for your home, but only ever watching channels in SD. New solutions require us to approach tasks differently. Integrating an asynchronous training solution into your implementation will be an investment that will pay off dividends in the future.
- Companies who offer best practice eLearning and on-the-job training generate around 26% more revenue per employee: One of the best selling features of Acumatica ERP is the unlimited user licensing model. This allows you to connect everyone in your organization, even if they are a lite user that only enters Time and Expense or a board user that simply views high-level dashboards. In a company of 500+ users, often segmented around the world, how do you provide training? Online learning is a key part of the success of any sized ERP implementation, and you’ll see the success in your bottom line.
Check out the other statistics listed below from the original infographic. Which are most important to you?
ERP Training – Should we use a MOOC or Structured Online Course?
There are many different models for online learning that are currently employed successfully. When it comes to training for software applications, we’ve observed primarily two methods: a MOOC (aka Massive Online Open Course) and structured courses where users are enrolled and evaluated. Our goal in writing this today is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method, as well as the goals for each one.
Before we get too far into the subject, I’d like to make clear that I’m not advocating for one style of eLearning over the other. The coexistence of learning content is powerful. Many of you know that we currently offer an eTraining product for Acumatica ERP called AcuCademy. One of the benefits of online learning in 2016 is that there is so much content available, free or paid, on the web for users to digest, and any opportunity someone has to learn something new is a good opportunity.
My entrance to ERP was through the development of our eTraining Tool, AcuCademy. Before working for NonProfitPlus, I was a Spanish teacher. I was also involved in the development of various language courses delivered specifically in an online environment.
So what is a MOOC anyway? A MOOC, also known as a Massive Open Online Course, is a place where an institution of education or some other organization provides open content for anyone that can access it. There are some fantastic organizations out there, like iTunes University or Khan Academy that provide incredible, high-quality instruction for anyone interested in learning about the topics posted. The biggest advantage of a MOOC is that these open course environments are created to scale to a large user base, and they are free! The goal of an open course is to provide useful content and learning opportunities to the general public.
A structured course environment, like Lynda.com or AcuCademy, is a tool with a specific purpose. Rosetta Stone or Mango Languages are also great examples of subscription learning services. If learners are interested in learning about something and achieving success in it within a highly structured curriculum, a MOOC may not be the best option. If someone is serious about learning French, enrolling in a course inside of an online program like Mango or Rosetta Stone could be a much better option than depending on free material that they stitch together into a sequence that makes sense for them.
There are two areas in which a MOOC and a structured eLearning course differ that we’ll highlight here together: User retention and User engagement. MOOC’s are notorious for having hundreds of thousands of users. As a free resource, users enroll with excitement and enthusiasm. The flipside of high enrollment is low completion ratios. According to the Educause Review Online, only between 2 and 10 percent of students that enroll themselves in a MOOC will complete the course.
Structured learning subscriptions have lower course registrations, but yield much higher completion rates. This is often due to the fact that many users in a structured course are completing professional development hours or certifications for their careers. When we sign up users for AcuCademy, a group administrator is often designated. The group administrator might be the CFO, Acumatica Partner or another type of Financial Administrator of an organization. In this type of scenario, the goals are much more defined for practical application. This in turn raises the accountability.
As mentioned earlier, we recommend that these two methods of online learning coexist. It is always better to take advantage of any learning opportunity you have access to!