Blue Link ERP – Product Spotlight Video

Mark Canes

[fusion_text]News Release: Blue Link speaks with TechnologyAdvice.com about Blue Link's Inventory and Accounting ERP software.

The following summary post is from TechnologyAdvice.com, a website that provides reviews and rankings of business software, including customer relationship management tools, the best ERP software, and more.

Recently our very own Samantha Hornby, spoke with Eric Perry of TechnologyAdvice to go over a few features, best practices and what makes Blue Link ERP software unique.

Samantha described how Blue Link ERP is an all-in-one inventory management system and accounting ERP system targeted at small to medium sized businesses with approximately 5-100 people. Check out the full interview video or read below for a transcript of the conversation.

[/fusion_text][youtube id="u5RN0XE-So8" width="600" height="350" autoplay="no" api_params="" class=""][fusion_text]

TA: Welcome Technology Advice viewers to this week’s product spotlight.  I’m joined today by Samantha Hornby, the marketing manager of Blue Link, an ERP software provider.  Samantha, describe Blue Link ERP in one sentence.

Hornby: Blue Link ERP provides inventory management and accounting ERP software for small to medium size businesses, primarily those in the wholesale and distribution industry.

TA: What differentiates Blue Link from its competitors?

Hornby: One of the biggest differentiating factors is that we are an all-in-one solution, so right out of the box there’s a lot of really robust functionality including everything from; inventory management, a full accounting suite, contact management, order entry and processing and warehouse management. A second differentiating factor would be that in addition to those features we also have add-on components that are typically only found in much larger systems. Those types of specialized features would include everything from; lot tracking, eCommerce integration, mobile barcode scanning as well as landed cost tracking.  And then lastly, we are a completely customizable system. We understand that no two businesses are exactly alike, and therefore the software can be customized to meet the individual needs of each of our customers.

TA: Let’s talk about your ideal customer.

Hornby: Blue Link’s ideal customer is ideally somebody who understands that the software purchase is as a strategic investment and not just a necessary evil.  These are customers that have maybe outgrown their existing introductory systems, maybe they want to move away from a piecemeal type system, but they know that software can help them grow and that’s something that they want to continue to do. To be a little bit more specific, Blue Link works best with companies who have between about 5-100 employees, specifically in the wholesale and distribution industry. This would include companies who deal with products such as apparel, food, medical and pharmaceutical, industrial products, consumer packaged goods, and then as well as customers who operate in the retail and ecommerce space.

TA: How is Blue Link ERP priced?

Hornby: Blue Link prices it product based on features and users. So as I mentioned, some of the features that you would get out of the base package would cover everything from accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, bank management, all your sales orders, purchase orders, invoicing quoting, all that sort of stuff. Then if you do want some of those more specialised features such as eCommerce integration, they can be added-on as necessary. We also price the product based on whether you want the cloud version or the on-premises version. With the cloud that would be us hosting the software on our servers, versus on-premises where you would actually host the software internally, on your own servers.

TA: Let’s talk about limitations. What is a limitation for Blue Link?

Hornby: I guess one of the limitations would be that we are not really a basic system, so it does require a certain level of discipline from users when actually using the software.  This is in particular to some of the accounting stuff because it does adhere to accounting regulations and rules. This can sometimes take a little bit of getting used to, especially for companies coming off of more introductory type systems. Then we also sort of say that a limitation is that we really do focus only on our core industries, which would be wholesale and distribution.  If a customer comes to us who is looking for something more manufacturing specific, even though we can do custom work, we try to stay away from those businesses just because that’s not really our sweet spot.

TA: Alright, well let’s talk about best practises. What is a best practise for implementing Blue Link ERP?

Hornby: One of the best practises for implementation would just be starting with the basics.  There are so many efficiencies to be gained right out of the box, that it might not be necessary to get all those bells and whistles right away. These additional features can be added on very easily at any point in time, so it can sometimes make the transition easier, for the company and employees, to start with the basics.  When it comes to choosing between cloud or on-premises, unfortunately there is not really a right answer.  It really depends on what the company currently has set up. For example, we say that for smaller business that don’t have staff to manage the IT side of things it might be worth looking at the cloud where they can push that sort of responsibility to us as the vendor. Versus on-premises where companies do have that staff internally and they may already have servers and hardware set up so they want to continue to run the software internally.

TA: Thanks for joining us today Samantha.  If you would like to find out more about Blue Link ERP, check out our website, TechnologyAdvice.com, where we can help you find the best technology for the needs of your business.  Thanks for watching.

Software Buying Guide