While it may currently be difficult to speak of any rays of light shining through the current pandemic, political scientist, author and President of Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer (pictured above) recently pointed out one silver lining – at least in terms of the U.S. economy – amidst the ruin of the current COVID crisis.  He notes the continuing dominance of U.S. tech companies.

13 of the world’s 16 largest Internet companies are American.  More than that perhaps, is the fact that the U.S. produces “far more of both the biggest digital platform companies and the startup unicorns [startups with a billion plus in revenues] that will drive innovation in artificial intelligence, Big Data, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, drones, and other cutting edge technologies that will dominate global economic development for decades to come.”

As the U.S. is also becoming the world’s de facto banker by increasing margins (over 60% of global foreign exchange reserves are denominated in U.S. dollars, with the Euro a distant second around 20%), we’re also extending our dominance in tech sector innovation.  U.S. companies are setting new standards in many of these areas.

The current COVID crisis, Bremmer notes, has actually increased the U.S. advantage, thanks to the tech sector’s central importance in restarting many stalled economies.  He points out such predominantly U.S. originated innovations like geotracking for contact tracing, the development of immunity passports and the ability to conduct business at a safe ‘social’ distance.  Or take Zoom, whose “daily meeting participants” count soared from 10 million in December to over 300 million by April.  An even better metric, “daily active users” has not been revealed by Zoom, but Microsoft’s Teams platform claims 75 million DAUs, Google has exceeded 100 million daily meeting participants and Cisco has 300 million Webex users.  All are American companies.

Unfortunately at the same time, far too many people are dying, lives are being upended and livelihoods are being lost.  Bremmer ends a piece he wrote in Time Magazine in May noting this: “… Whatever else can be said about tragically dysfunctional American politics and the country’s substandard health care system, the U.S. has lasting advantages that will matter in the years ahead.”

It’s small consolation for some, but these times will pass, eventually, and Bremmer rightly points out at least this one ray of hope of an America emerging stronger.

PSSI has been implementing ALERE accounting and manufacturing software for over 25 years, and we still think it’s one of the best-priced, best-functioning manufacturing software products you can buy anywhere.  Users appreciate ALERE’s flexibility over many other systems. 

This month TIW Technology President Rod Hatcher explains how companies are set up in ALERE, and why the way ALERE does it is important and makes sense to users.

ALERE is unique in that it manages all companies, including your company, together. In fact it is the first menu option, called Company that appears when the software starts. Why is that important to you?

Well, would you prefer multiple different places in software to remember where key company information is located or would you prefer one? After all, the only difference between companies is their relationship with your company. And, there are significant benefits to this approach.

Company information is only entered once. Companies can be both customers and suppliers. Payables can be directly offset against receivables. The process of doing refunds or credits is considerably easier. In fact, the entire process of managing companies and their locations becomes smoother for your staff.

In ALERE, it is a concept called Single Point Entry.

Your Company Comes First!

How do you find your company on the Company screen in the Manager module?

Your company will always be the first, or top, company on the Treevision list. When your company is chosen the Locations, Consignment, and Contacts tabs are active (and visible in the picture below, if you squint just right – sorry). The Customer and Supplier tabs are inactive and are used for those companies listed below yours.

The Locations tab for your company is where all of your business locations are established. This includes consignment locations, anywhere equipment is stored, and locations your company uses for scrap.

The purpose of the Consignment tab is to provide key information for consignment locations. A consignment location must exist on the Location tab before using this screen.

The Contacts tab is where you add and manage the employees at each of your company locations. It is here that the personnel are entered with additional distinguishing information for sales and service staff.

Each location in a company can be assigned attributes which determine what role that location will play within ALERE. These characteristics are profoundly different between your company and other companies. Defining locations by these attributes tells the software how to handle those locations and helps to filter the browser lists that are called when using certain functions throughout ALERE.

Want to Learn More About ALERE?  

TIW has a 7 minute “Manufacturing Overview Video“ on YouTube that gives a concise summary of what manufacturing software can do for you.  Click the link below to see why ALERE may be a great fit for your manufacturing operations.

• Interested in a trial version for your organization?

PSSI can work with you to understand better what a manufacturing software system can do for you.  For information on obtaining a trial version, contact Larry Lukasik at the number below.

To learn more, call us any time at 877.273.2444, or visit us on the web.