Exact acts fast to help SMEs fight weak economy

Exact Software, a leading provider of integrated ERP solutions, has responded fast to what analysts are calling a widening global recession.

Launching Exact solutions for challenging times, the multinational software firm has come up with a set of solutions to help small and medium-sized businesses thrive in a volatile economy, as well as boost long term performance. This move is supported by the recent findings of consulting firms like McKinsey, who say that IT solutions can be used to highlight a modest number of activities that, when corrected, deliver a disproportionate amount of value (Managing IT in a downturn. Beyond cost cutting, McKinsey, 2008).

When a recession hits, its a natural reaction to become prudent about spending. Our solutions are designed to help businesses cut costs and streamline their processes intelligently and quickly, making it easier to overcome adverse conditions as well as continually improve efficiency , says Roland Rott, Exact Softwares Managing Director of EMEA.

Exact believes that a stormy economic climate is best weathered with a three-point strategy: improve your cash-flow, reduce your costs and gain full control of your business. Exacts solutions for challenging times aim to help firms implement this strategy and thereby rapidly improve their financial position by optimizing a range of key business processes, including accounts receivable, accounts payable and stock control.

We want to help firms save time and money by automating processes, gaining a continual, real-time overview of customer orders and payments, and improving cash flow through speedier invoicing and fewer outstanding debts. Its basic business sense, and we know from our own experience that it works, says Roland Rott.

According to Exact, its solutions can optimize the entire order-to-cash accounts receivable process, saving time, lowering risk, improving cash-flow and providing a crucial real-time business overview. This involves, for example, automating and integrating processes in one system, facilitating customer order and payment monitoring, better assessing customers credit status and reducing bad debts.

Exact also says it can streamline the procurement- to- pay  process, helping firms gain control of costs, improve cash-flow and enhance transparency. This means, for example, aligning incidental spending, expenses and purchase limits, optimizing invoice approval and eliminating the need for hard copy invoices stored in multiple departments.

For businesses in the manufacturing, wholesale and construction industry, Exacts stock control and logistics solutions aim to give firms more accurate stock control and reliable delivery.  Reducing stock levels reduces costs, and with more reliable delivery firms can increase customer intimacy and stimulate repeat sales a key source of profit in difficult times.

With 24 years of experience on the global software market, Exact says its in an optimal position to understand the challenges faced by todays SMEs. Having prospered through several recessions, the companys practice what you preach philosophy is reflected in cost-cutting solutions designed to help firms save time, gain a real-time business overview, reduce risk and optimize their cash-flow no matter how stormy the economic climate.

About Exact

Established in 1984, Exact Software is one of the worlds leading providers of business software solutions. Its integrated solutions comprise traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) as well as related software solutions such as human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), corporate performance management (CPM), project management and electronic workflow.

Exact is headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands and has offices in Europe; the Middle East; North, Central and South America; Asia; Australia and Africa. With around 2,750 employees, subsidiaries in more than 40 countries, and solutions available in 40 languages, Exact currently serves customers in more than 125 countries. Exact Holding N.V. has been listed on Euronext Amsterdam since June 1999.