Recommendations

Explore New Marketing Channels (Anna Paulovkin)

Benchmark Scientific may be able to reach and interact with their target audience in a more varied way if they extend their marketing platforms outside LinkedIn. They could investigate the following additional marketing channels:

• Industry-specific Forums & Communities: Participating in industry-specific online forums and communities, where professionals and researchers come together to deliberate on relevant issues, may offer a chance to exchange knowledge, promote merchandise, and cultivate connections with prospective clients.
• Email Marketing: To keep in touch and nurture leads outside of the LinkedIn network, employing an email marketing plan to connect with current and prospective clients with news, offers, and instructional materials may be helpful.
• Webinars and Online Workshops: By offering webinars and online workshops on subjects linked to scientific research, lab equipment, and industry trends, Benchmark Scientific can showcase its products and expertise to a targeted audience who is interested in learning and staying informed.
• Social Media Platforms: By increasing a presence on other social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, they can reach a wider audience, including researchers and students who might not be active on LinkedIn, and share content and interact with followers there as well.
• Partnerships and Collaborations: Benchmark Scientific may be able to increase its reputation and reach within the scientific world by forming partnerships and collaborations with relevant universities, research centers, industry groups, and other companies.

Benchmark Scientific can continue to use their dynamic marketing strategy while increasing company visibility, engagement, and profitability by investigating these new marketing channels.

Recommendations for the Inventory process and (BYOD) policy and practice in place.  (Margareth Espinal)

Benchmark Scientific has managed to work with a nonserialized inventory process. However, they need a  system that can facilitate and simplify their inventory system just by adapting a serialized process. Implementing a serialized inventory process can greatly enhance inventory management accuracy and efficiency, especially in industries where tracking individual items is critical. Their inventory valuation report shows that their inventory value exceeds 6 millions dollars, so having a system to keep everything in tracking will definitely be worth it. Before selecting a software solution, it's essential to assess the  manufacturing company's specific requirements, budget, and scalability needs. Considering scheduling demos, reading user reviews, and consulting with industry experts to choose the best inventory management software for the  company is the best way to start. There are many Inventory Management  Software that they should look into that can be cost-efficient in the long run. After analyzing all their processes we found that the following can be very good options for this company considering their size, revenues, marketing strategies and MIS. 

• Fishbowl Inventory
• SAP Business One
• Oddo
• Sage 100
• Infor CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine)

After analyzing and studying Becnhmark’s policies We discovered that they do not have a

(BYOD) policy and practice in place. Given the benefits and risks of both options, implementing Mobile Device Management (MDM) software and desktop virtualization significantly lowers the risks and provides more flexibility for the employee, with less hardware to manage and worry about. A company like Benchmark Scientific where they have so many sales reps nationwide should have such a policy to increase efficiency and convince their employees. 

According to the article, BYOD, this kind of policy creates significant convenience for employees as they no longer must carry multiple devices with them. It also enables them to choose the type of device they are most familiar with and comfortable using. BYOD policies also enable workers to work from anywhere, anytime

• Cost reductions
• Improved productivity 
• Latest technology
• Reduces training time
• Employee empowerment

To conclude, BYOD has proven to be an attractive policy for companies to adopt. It is very convenient to the employees as they feel in their comfort zone and don't have to carry so many devices with them. This policy can also save money to the company by cutting hardware expenses and software licensing costs. From the safeguards in place, the company won't have to worry about cyber threats as it will cut down on the device management measures. 

Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Software (Amanda Dixon)

During our project research for Benchmark Scientific, we discovered several operational issues that could be improved by the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning Software. Currently there exist several different information silos, which is the isolation of data contained within a particular department. For instance, a lack of a central database prevents the purchasing department from gaining access to customer inquiries received by the sales teams. Such information could be valuable as it would aid the purchasing department in developing forecasts based on consumer demands. Another example of an information silos within Benchmark Scientific is the isolation of key financial data that the operational team could benefit from. For instance, the finance department currently manually develops their forecast using excel spreadsheets that are saved on local PCs. These forecasts are used to place orders to replenish depleted inventory items. However, great value can be gained from financial forecasts. For instance, the human resource and/or operational team could adjust their employees schedule to match anticipated fluctuation in consumer demands.

Another reason why Benchmark Scientific would benefit from using an ERP system is the limitation of their current Accounting Software. Currently, Benchmark Scientific uses Quickbooks which provides the basic accounting function of tracking income, expenses, assets, liability, and equity. It also provides a method to streamline bank reconciliations and generate standard financial statements. However, it is limited in its ability to effectively track inventory. Currently Quickbooks does not have a robust inventory tracking that updates in real time. Secondly, Quickbooks is not currently being used to aid with Human Resource functions such as payroll.

To continue making strides toward achieving and maintaining their competitive strategy, we believe using an ERP system would be instrumental for Benchmark Scientific’s growth. An EPR system provides an integrated platform for multiple business functions such as customer and supplier management, accounting, and inventory management. 

There are several benefits that Benchmark Scientific would gain from using an EPR system. One benefit is the access to a centralized database. All data would be stored in one main area which would make it easier for corporations to run comprehensive queries and reports that would provide business intelligence that provides management vital information to aid with business decisions. Secondly, an EPR system will increase productivity. Sophisticated EPR systems can streamline and automate certain tasks that are currently being done manually. It can also eliminate redundancy which is highly probable whenever information silos exist. Another benefit that Benchmark Scientific would experience from using an EPR is increased data security. With data being stored in one centralized place, the IT department can implement more effective controls of who can access which data and provide a greater level of protection for sensitive and proprietary information.