By Jean-Christophe LLINAS - CEO Akuiteo SAS

As with all companies, a software publisher needs to provide a quality after-sales service.

Why? Because the two biggest factors in creating client loyalty are the quality of products and services sold and the client support provided.

Therefore, you need it to maintain your existing client base and you also need it to get those clients to assist you in winning new clients. A happy client will be your best ambassador.

ERP systems give great structure to a business, but they used to have a reputation for being inflexible and even old-fashioned. But that was then... and this is now. The latest generations of integrated management solutions are designed for digital and bring agility to the whole business. We'll tell you how.

Your business is unique, as is its organisation. So you think that it's impossible to function without a custom ERP system. Don't be so sure. Let us explain why you should avoid specific developments.

The choice of billing methods in service companies are strategic because the repercussions of that choice are many and varied. However, it is often dictated by clients or even by custom and practice in the market. Here's a little guide to the advantages and disadvantages of the different billing methods to help you take back control.

You want to adapt your business to the economic context and commit yourself to the digital transformation that everybody's talking about at the moment. Amongst other things, this transformation involves choosing to deploy a new management platform, or ERP, at the centre of your information system. As part of this process, you are the project owner and your future partner is the project manager.

The implementation of an ERP system creates such disruption in a business that the success of the project depends largely on its acceptance by staff. For this reason, it's best to start the management of change in an ERP project before you've even selected the software package, and to continue after it's been put into production.

You probably know that Excel is the world's most popular calculation software. However, does that necessarily mean that it should be the basis of financial management in a business? It's not an open and shut case, particularly because it's seen as not being sufficiently specialised for some aspects and may risk damaging the company in the long term. 

The change of ERP system in a company is a project that needs to be carried out according to a rigorous schedule. However, your carefully laid plans can be upset by two main factors:

• Extension of the different stages by the client,
• An increase in the number of days required by the publisher integrating the new software.

There often appear to be tensions between these two services.

Your consultants ask you what on earth the salesperson has sold this time and how they're going to manage to stay within the budget! The salesperson doesn't understand what the project team is moaning about while he's working his socks off to get the contracts in!

Obviously, the company needs all its human resources to succeed. These two services are at worst doomed to work together and at best to enrich each other.

The service sector is the one that is most affected by the differences between production and invoicing. Although the manufacturing of goods involves a more direct link, a more immediate and concrete correlation between production and invoicing, the service sector requires more complex financial management. Some work phases resulting in the production of a service do not give rise to production that is immediate or directly quantifiable.