About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.


About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.


About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.


About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.


With Industry 4.0 taking the lion’s share of headline space, smart manufacturing technologies are bigger than ever. For many manufacturers, these concepts can seem more than just a little intimidating, if not worthy of some cautious scepticism. Fortunately, there are manufacturing technologies that have been proven by years of practical application. Industry 4.0 concepts support them with more informed data and more efficient process improvements. We’re looking at you EDI. The concept of a digital twin is another one of these manufacturing technologies anyone can implement to improve operations.

What Is A Digital Twin?

The term “digital twin” refers to a digital replica of a physical asset. This asset can be any common hardware found on any factory floor. This includes heavy equipment, a smart machine, a robot, a work cell, an inspection station or a manufacturing line. These “Physical Twins” are anything that can provide data to the Digital Twin for interpretation. Connection bridges the physical and digital to create a cyber-physical system, whereby data flows through and informs a process.

The digital twin concept can be broken down into three distinct parts:

  • a physical product
  • a digital/virtual product
  • connections between the two products

Digital Twins birthed in the Apollo Missions

The digital twin is a true example of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) at work.however, the concept outdates the term Internet of Things by decades.  The term was coined by John Vickers of NASA in a 2010 Roadmap Report. however, the concept goes back even further in the NASA toolbox when the Apollo program utilized digital twins of the Command Module, Lunar Module and Lunar Rover to carry out maintenance, support, and troubleshooting activities.

How Are Digital Twins Used In Manufacturing?

As we stated before, the connection between physical and digital twin creates a cyber-physical system that feeds real-time performance data to operators, analysts, and managers.

Individuals and groups fulfilling these roles within an organization can leverage industry 4.0 concepts to analyze and interpret data to make sound predictions and carry out appropriate actions. Here, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) all come together to troubleshoot, raise alarms to identify potential problems, view maintenance conditions, support the various condition-based maintenance required to maintain seamless operations.

How Do The Components Of A Digitial Twin Work Together?

Analytics, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) technologies all have a  hand in making Digital Twins work for manufacturers. Here’s how they come together to deliver leaps in process and operational improvement:

  • Industrial Internet Of Things (IIoT): Connects the physical and digital systems to provide accurate data in real-time.
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): Intelligent software analyzes the data, provides an interpretation of what is physically taking place, what outcomes or problems may arise, and what actions should be carried out to maximize performance.
  • Machine Learning (ML): Builds on scenarios, both experienced and potential, to execute analysis more quickly and orchestrate improvements for the physical counterpart, ideally, without human intervention.
  • Analytics: Additional tools that simplify the data to communicate, diagnose, predict and prescribe actions to optimize the operation of physical systems.

How Do Digital Twins Optimize Or Diagnose To Improve Operations?

By leveraging the data they receive, Digital Twins get a snapshot of how machinery or other physical systems operate throughout a process. The data serve to build a picture of what is good performance and what is bad or what is streamlined and what is bottlenecked.

Optimization comes into the picture when historical data can inform future operations to “say” this didn’t work well last time, let’s try something else. One example of how digital twins are used in optimizing machines emerges with the maintenance of power generation equipment such as power generation turbines, jet engines and locomotives. How can we make this piece of machinery more efficient? Let’s look at the historical data and improve on past performance by trying other tweaks our engineers and machinists can implement. Or, better yet, what hypothetical concepts can we experiment within the digital realm? The same is true for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. In enterprise architecture (EA), architects create EA blueprints as a digital twin for the organization.

A more relatable example may be found in autonomous vacuums. Many homes now employ robotic servants to clean while their owners are away. Digital twin technologies could effectively map the optimal vacuum path of a room and then employ that strategy to mitigate wasted energy and clean living spaces more quickly.

Diagnostics are another huge component of digital twins’ utility. By referencing historical data for machinery, a digital twin may be able to predict maintenance intervals, make service recommendations, and ensure downtime is kept to a minimum. In his case, the digital twin isn’t relegated to just one machine or just one plant. IIoT technology can connect like-machines across an organization or several organizations to show a more complete picture of how machines perform under an array of conditions. This includes when they are most likely to breakdown or characteristics that can indicate a serious issue is looming on the horizon.

Leveraging The Digital Twin

To be certain, a digital twin and the technological concepts it relies on are no substitute for a skilled workforce. Those autonomous vacuums don’t dust or polish just yet. However, digital twins can inform and supplement your skilled workers to better utilize their machinery and improve operations overall. By now, it should be clear that implementing the concept of a Digital Twin within your organization can yield real benefit. Consider adding this invaluable tool as a complement to your business operations and remain competitive.

Epicor ERP delivers this technology in the form of a production environment. This component of the solution allows users to map their entire production process or even back-office process for simulated activities. This way, any company using Epicor ERP can experiment with their mad scientist and what if we tried this ideas on how to improve operations without the hassle of interrupting day-to-day operations. The result is a fine-tuned approach to process improvement that can be utilized in real-time after pushing the changes into the live Epicor ERP environment.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.


Cloud ERP deployments benefit businesses in a big way. They offer security, agility, and can enable your business’ adoption of other modern technologies. However, Information Technology (IT) departments can be one of the greatest sources of resistance when it comes to the adoption of cloud ERP solutions.

Cloud ERP Solutions

Business leaders looking to leverage the benefits of cloud ERP solutions don’t just need to do their own research on cloud ERP deployments. They also have to be able to make the compelling case for transition and convert resistance from IT staff. Adopting a Cloud ERP system is a significant change for the business as well as the departments charged with maintaining integral systems. Namely, your IT department. Here are 7 ways to get IT teams on board with cloud ERP software.

1. Understand And Communicate The Need To Take Action

A healthy sense of urgency can move things in the right direction more quickly than one might think. The call to action from the top of the food chain can grab attention and get all of your business’ moving parts moving towards a much-needed change. It takes compelling arguments and exceptional storytelling skills to communicate why the move to the cloud is what your company needs.

Features, functionality, and, most importantly, benefits to how business gets done every day need to be conveyed. Help your staff to understand that if you are not in control of your digital transformation, your competitors will make that choice for you. Doing nothing can leave you in a poor position to capitalize on beneficial tools as well as leave you vulnerable to the shortcomings of traditional ERP deployments. Advancing your business with more advanced technology signals to top talent that your business is doing what it takes to excel in a competitive marketplace.

2. Don’t Short-Sell The Impact Of This Transition

Transition to the cloud isn’t just an infrastructure change, it’s a change in how your company operates both physically and philosophically. A new way of thinking and working can upset the way your IT department has functioned for years, if not decades. Acknowledge it is a huge change and show your teams you are committed to equipping them with the tools they need to thrive in a new environment.

3. Actively Listen To IT Concerns

Spending time with your IT employees and listening to their questions and concerns will impact buy-in considerably. In many ways, it is your IT staff’s job to think about what could go wrong in ay given scenario involving your business’ technology. Here are some examples of what you might hear:

  • “Cloud ERP providers won’t understand how unique and complicated our business is.”
  • “Putting our data in the cloud is way too risky.”
  • “Our compliance regulations won’t allow us to use the cloud.”
  • “What will my job be after we move to cloud-based ERP?”

Show your staff that you are actively listening by taking notes, repeating back what you heard, and commit to coming back with answers at a later time. This effort of active listening and showing that you are genuinely interested may well be the best thing you can do to remedy concerns.

4. Get Help In Addressing Concerns And Answering Questions

You may have the perspective needed to move the business forward, but IT staff have the benefit of boots on the ground when it comes to working with technology hands-on. Their concerns are valid and may appear as imposing roadblocks. However, their intent isn’t to scare you into submission. The challenges created by new technology are those keeping your IT staff up late at night and working long weekends. If you are not equipped to provide answers to their concerns, consider enlisting the help of experts to make your case. An experienced partner, vendor, or consultant can provide credibility to your arguments and lay IT fears to rest with the information they are looking for to confidently follow your lead.

5. Learn From Experience

At this point, your company isn’t the first in your industry to move to the cloud. More and more companies are making the move to cloud ERP, from small and medium business to enterprise-sized organizations. Your industry counterparts can deliver invaluable wisdom when it comes to approaching the problem of how best to make the transition to cloud-based ERP systems. This includes both what to do and what not to do. Alternatively, you can enlist the help of a trusted ERP partner to connect you with reference customers that can share their experiences. Value can often be found in following.

6. Make It Clear What IT Will Look Like Post-Transition

IT arguably has the best vantage of a company’s business processes, not to mention how data and customers “move” through the organization. Cloud ERP is designed to help free them of cumbersome tasks, like troubleshooting. When left unencumbered by the burden of these activities, opportunities for cross-functional business process improvements emerge. This can take the form of helping users leverage technology more effectively or assisting with the cleaning and maintaining important data. Essentially, IT transitions from a non-revenue generating department and one of enabling your revenue-generating business components.

It’s important to understand and communicate that the nature of technology work will change for your IT staff. Though, development, configuration, and break/fix work will still exist—along with the need to manage your relationship and activities with cloud ERP vendors. Help your IT employees understand the tremendous technology and business value they will provide after you’ve made the move to the cloud.

7. Create The Plan. Execute The Plan.

Undertaking digital transformation and owning your company’s technological evolution is wrought with distractions and pitfalls. It can be easy to lose your way along the path to your goal. Without a sound change management strategy, you may find yourself very far from your intended outcome, if you ever reach your destination at all. Set up milestones and clear goals for your IT staff to ensure your project is a success.

Maintaining a team mentality may be your biggest asset of all. It cannot be overstated how important it is to offer consistent support and provide the assistance and advice teams need. Don’t forget to celebrate the little victories along the way to complete your transition to the cloud. With discipline and determination, your project will be a success and you’ll be experiencing the benefits of cloud solutions before you know it.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.


Join Encompass Solutions, SourceDay, and Dell for an educational webinar on how supplier collaboration improves business performance. Dell Technologies presents and details of how software has helped the company transform its workforce and supply chain.

an image of the live webinar banner for sourday encompass webinar on modernizing supplier collaboration, with dell case study

It’s Time to Modernize Supplier Collaboration

Escape the manual dance of phone calls and email with your suppliers. Learn how market leaders like Dell have digitally transformed the first mile of their supply chain. The company goes even further to improve visibility and accountability with suppliers through software. How could supplier collaboration software improve how you do business?

What to expect from our procurement experts

  • Dell’s Director of Supply Chain Gentry Pate will share how Dell used software to transform its workforce and make Dell’s supply chain more efficient.
  • SpendMatters’ analyst Nick Heinzmann will discuss why market forces are driving manufacturers to wring waste out of their supplier relationships.
  • SourceDay’s CMO Sarah Moore delivers best practices to start your journey.

Watch The Full Webinar 

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.


2019 ERP Trends

2019 ERP trends and digital transformation strategies can take many shapes. However, an ERP solution may exist as the most powerful tool to empower businesses. These systems unify people, processes, and resources within a single environment, more importantly, one that provides a single source of truth (read data). With a modern ERP system in place, you can inject renewed vigor and capability into once disparate, siloed systems and departments within your organization. The ERP landscape is changing constantly alongside new and emerging technologies. Businesses are increasingly leveraging these technologies as they become more attainable than they have been in the past. New deployment methods also enable smaller organizations to do more with less. You can download a free PDF guide of the most essential ERP selection strategies, here.

Here are just some of the 2019 ERP trends we expect to see take shape over the next year.

More System Audits And Disaster Preparedness

Cybersecurity has long been brushed aside as a buzzword but, with ransomware and bad actors abound, it is a topic taking up more and more meeting time among IT professionals and C-suite executives. Maintaining systems is another topic that often gets put on the back burner, as businesses find a system that works for them and effectively ride it until the wheels fall off in many cases. however, failing to maintain modern infrastructure for critical systems is setting oneself up for disaster in the long run.

Last week I spoke with a newly-hired IT professional whose company manufactures products for the railway industry. Their company had been operating on an AS/400 system for more than 15 years. In all that time, it had been working without a hitch and the company could get by conducting business as usual without a second thought. Until they couldn’t. The system began freezing intermittently a few weeks ago. It eventually required a hard reset as many as three times a week, taking 2-3 hours to become operational in each instance. Eventually, it stopped responding altogether. It was then revealed that there were no backups of any kind and no disaster recovery plan in place. A mad dash to get something, anything done and resume operations ensued. However, the company was left in the dark with an in-house system on antiquated hardware with that left no quick recovery in sight.

an image of an IT professional wishin he had paid more attention to the 2019 erp trends and digital transformation topics sooner

Fortunately, the company was able to locate an AS/400 and data recovery specialist in Florida that had an intimate knowledge of their systems. They are now on the road to recovery. What’s important to note about this situation is that the subsequent events brought their systems to the forefront of just about every internal conversation. Moving forward, there will be a disaster recovery system in place and you had better believe they’ll be backing up their data religiously.

While anecdotal, the account highlights the need to be hyper-vigilant at a time when technology is moving faster than most businesses can. You should always be evaluating your systems and disaster preparedness plans, regardless of what technology you use. There will always be companies that won’t budge on setting aside the budget for regular audits of internal systems and disaster recovery plans. However, more companies are getting on board with the idea of ensuring they are safe from infrastructure failure from the inside out. Tech will earn more focused discussion not just in the server room, but in the boardroom, as well.

Cloud Deployment Of ERP On The Rise

The above anecdote leads into our next item on the list of 2019 ERP trends, whereby traditional deployment models of ERP systems fall by the wayside, and cloud deployment is elevated to top preference. This deployment method not only saves companies high upfront costs associated with traditional deployment models but also provides a significantly more capable data protection strategy to be adopted.

cloud erp as part of 2019 erp trends

ERP vendors that offer cloud deployment are already pushing for this method over on-premise and hosted options. These entities often have substantial budgets for the storage and security of client data that surpass anything small and medium-sized businesses can alone dedicate to maintaining their internal systems. While cloud deployments will certainly be on the rise, we expect traditional deployments will be offered and implemented less frequently if not entirely phased out, as a result.

More Failed Implementations

That headline is one you probably don’t want to read, but it’s a result that manifests all too often. As many as 2/3 of all ERP implementations fail. It’s a scary statistic. When businesses without the experience and teams they need try to implement an ERP system on their own, a menagerie of things can go wrong. With this push for digital transformation and the adoption of technology to stay relevant and competitive, we expect many small, medium, and even large enterprises will be lulled into a false sense of capability. On the other end of the spectrum, we anticipate many independent contractors and other tech professionals making moves to break into this competitive market of ERP integrations and consultations. The results will be many new operators faking it until they make or learn on the company dime

If you are considering an ERP implementation as part of your company’s digital transformation strategy, at the very least you should consult with the vendor directly about best practices. Additionally, there are value-added resellers (VARs), independent consultants, and project managers with decades of experience in the field who can ensure these projects are successful. Do your research and align your organization with a proven partner that can deliver effective strategies to make your implementation a success.

Accountability For Integrators

As ERP systems become more affordable and prevalent in small and medium business environments, we fully expect more failed implementations to result as more businesses adopt the technology without proper preparation. However, not enough can be said about the increased scrutiny that will be heaped on independent consultants and integrators. It’s understandable for a business to want to go it alone if they’re already paying the in-house staff carrying out the project. Bringing in external help can be costly. This is doubly so when the hired help doesn’t deliver on their contractual obligations.

increased accountability as part of 2019 erp trends

Unfortunately, there are a lot of less-seasoned professionals in the implementation space. With so many ways to conduct research, read unbiased reviews, and consult with former customers of integrators, businesses have plenty of resources at their disposal to find the right partners. They also have the right tools to let the world know when one hasn’t lived up to their promises in the past.

No More “Old Way” Of Doing Things

As with all new processes, integration needs to be approached with caution and a considerable amount of planning. Let’s say a business, not unlike the one mentioned earlier, decides to implement a new enterprise-wide system. Continuing to operate with the same processes that are decades old just doesn’t make sense. Businesses will have to adopt change not just at the technology level, but at structural and operational levels, as well.

new methods of achieving results as part of 2019 erp trends

With new technology, new ideologies need to emerge within an organization so that it may rise to operate on the same level as its innovative tools. Internal processes, organizational cultures, and business models will all need to be reevaluated. If change is deemed necessary, that change needs to be managed appropriately. This way, operations are not disrupted while these new approaches to how things get done take root.

Start On Your Path To Digital Transformation

If these 2019 ERP trends have piqued your interest in taking your organization to the next level of operation, we can help you get there with a few essential strategies to adopt in your ERP evaluation process.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.