9 Reasons To Switch Barcode Scanning Solutions

Overhauling any part of your existing technical infrastructure—especially if you’re running a 24/7 warehouse operation—is not a project for the faint of heart. Cost is your first and perhaps most obvious consideration, quickly followed by downtime, training, and sustainability issues. All of these factors add up to substantial risk and investment across several fronts, and caution is certainly warranted before committing your business to any sort of significant operational change.

If you’ve been thinking of making a change to your barcode scanning solution, but you’ve hesitated because you’re not sure whether any product currently on the market would justify the time and effort involved—or you’re concerned about business interruption—we invite you to consider the advantages of ERP Suites Scanability: an orchestration-based barcode scanning solution created by JD Edwards experts specifically for JD Edwards users. We have identified 9 reasons why JD Edwards users should switch barcode solutions:

1. In-depth JD Edwards & Industry Expertise
2. An Ongoing Partnership Approach
3. Your Subscription is an Investment in Further Innovation
4. Reduced Server Requirements
5. Ease of Building Custom Scripts
6. No Downtime
7. Fewer & Less Expensive Training Requirements
8. A Multi-Tiered Security Model
9. Compliance Protection

1. In-depth JD Edwards & Industry Expertise

Many barcode scanning solution providers lack JD Edwards expertise. They know their product and they can staple it onto your existing architecture readily enough, but they don’t have the JD Edwards knowledge and experience to weave it seamlessly into your operations. By contrast, JD Edwards is our specialty—it’s literally all we do. Our technicians understand day-to-day JD Edwards operations inside and out. More than that, however, we also understand the industry—the larger business and financial world in which JD Edwards lives. For this reason, we offer a holistic, big-picture approach that extends well beyond your scanning solution, offering support for your entire business model.

2. An Ongoing Partnership Approach

ERP Suites utilizes a partnership approach with our customers. We don’t install our product and then wish you luck going it alone, or else manipulate you into paying us even more to come to your rescue if you need to make a change or things somehow go awry. Instead, we work with you on a continual basis, getting to know your personnel, your business, your methods, and your JD Edwards architecture. This approach allows us to help you proactively, anticipating your needs and heading off potential problems. If unexpected issues do arise, however, you’ll have the advantage of being able to call upon support personnel who already know you and your business well.

3. Your Subscription is an Investment in Further Innovation

Because ERP Suites is exclusively focused on JD Edwards, and Scanability is SaaS (Software as a Service) based, the cost of your installation and support subscription not only serves to maintain your current operations, it also has the benefit of funding research and development efforts that will bring your business added value as we continue to evolve and improve. You won't find the same level of investment with other ERP consultants or barcode solutions as they are too distracted with other ERP systems.

4. Reduced Server Requirements

Many barcode scanning solutions require their own dedicated infrastructure to integrate with your network—often on the order of four to six additional servers, potentially adding up to thousands of dollars in additional support and licensing costs. With ERP Suites Scanability, you only need to have an AIS server installed and configured and be running on Tools release 9.2.4.6. If you have JD Edwards Orchestrations installed, you’ll probably already have AIS installed and configured as well, given that all Tools releases since 9.2.4 require AIS. We also recommend that customers have separate HTML servers for E1 application users and a separate AIS/HTML pair for Orchestrations and Scanability users. This configuration helps with performance, and if there’s an issue with Scanability or Orchestrations, your JD Edwards users won’t have to log out of the system while you’re working to troubleshoot it.

5. Ease of Building Custom Scripts

Most barcode scanning solutions require custom support code written in native scripting languages. Because these are designed by consultants who are not typically JD Edwards experts, they often perform only simple functions and can accumulate over time as you make changes to the system. By contrast, because Scanability is based on JD Edwards Orchestrations, and because our technicians are JD Edwards specialists, we can quickly and easily build powerful scripts that will meet your performance requirements more simply and efficiently. We can also leverage your custom E1 applications quite easily via Orchestrations, and without the need for additional coding.

6. No Downtime

As the old saying goes, “Time is money.” Scanability can save you on both because you won’t have to take your old barcode scanning solution down while we work to install and implement Scanability. You can go right on using your existing solution until Scanability is ready to go live, thus affording a seamless transition.

7. Fewer & Less Expensive Training Requirements

As mentioned previously, most barcode scanning solutions utilize custom scripts that are written in native coding languages and severely limited in terms of functionality. As a result, scripts tend to multiply over time, as you’ll have to create a new one every time you need to refine your processes. This can represent a challenge in terms of training your operations personnel because there is so much more for them to learn, remember, and interact with. Because it’s based solely in JD Edwards and doesn’t utilize third-party software, Scanability can greatly reduce the number of scripts required for your architecture—in some cases, by up to 50 percent. This, in turn, simplifies user interfaces and the training requirements needed to operate them. ERP Suites also has a free online Knowledge Base, where your users can browse for answers to simple support issues.

8. A Multi-Tiered Security Model

With many barcode scanning solutions, your users will be logged into the system under one shared account, making it difficult if not impossible to audit or restrict individual user activity. With Scanability, on the other hand, since you’re running solely on JD Edwards and don’t have to interface with third-party software, you can create individual accounts and customize security settings for each of your users. This way, you’ll be able to restrict the flows, data, and applications your users have access to at any given time, and you’ll be able to audit their activities at will.

9. Compliance Protection

Another potential drawback of running barcode scanning solutions that utilize one shared account for all users is the fact that Oracle licensing requirements do not allow proxy accounts for volume-based usage. If audited while using one of these solutions, you could be found in violation of your licensing agreement. Scanability avoids this pitfall by allowing you to create individual accounts for all of your users, thus assuring that you remain in compliance with Oracle standards.

Recognized Expertise

Founded in 2006, ERP Suites has over 100 technicians with decades of combined experience in ERP applications (Oracle and JD Edwards being our specialty) and currently supports more than 300 customers. Oracle itself honored us in 2018 with three of its Distinguished Partner Awards in recognition of our work with educating JD Edwards users about the innovative potential of Orchestrator. Scanability is the most recent development in our efforts to both simplify and enhance our customers’ interactions with JD Edwards and represents our ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation. To learn how switching to Scanability for your organization can improve your business, contact us today.