The E&A User Group and Technology Conference has helped hundreds of manufacturers and wholesale/distributors successfully implement technology and industry best practices to reduce costs and increase their sales and profitability.

In the general sessions, attendees gain unparalelled access to leading subject matter experts who explain how your company can build competitive advantage. Breakout sessions explore in-depth how the feature/functionality of specific Infor ERP industry solutions can benefit your business. 

• General Sessions
  • What cloud computing really means for your business
  • How to grow your business with online marketing services 
  • Eliminating the 7 deadly wastes: the path to lean distribution and lean manufacturing
  • Mid-Atlantic economic snapshot featuring Anirban Basu (Baltimore event only)
• Breakout Sessions
  • Distribution industry solutions
    • Infor ERP FACTS
    • Infor ERP SX.enterprise
    • Infor ERP TakeStock
  • Manufacturing industry solutions
    • Infor ERP VISUAL

For more information or to register, select an event below:

Earnest & Associates ('E&A') is pleased to announce it has been selected by Infor Global Solutions to represent Infor ERP VISUAL, the leading software solution for midmarket manufacturing companies. E&A's market territory for VISUAL includes the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and eastern Tennessee.

"We are very excited about the business opportunity," said Tim Earnest, president of E&A. "VISUAL's low cost of ownership makes it an ideal solution for emerging manufacturers looking at ERP for the first time as well as larger organizations with more demanding, specialized requirements."

Founded in 1978, E&A has established itself as one of the leading services companies in North America dedicated to supporting the Infor product line, providing industry solutions to over 400 companies located in 25 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. E&A's customers collectively employ over 15,000 people and generate annual revenues in excess of $8 billion dollars. These companies rely on E&A to manage their enterprise software systems including accounting, e-commerce, finance, inventory, MRP, purchasing, sales, warehouse management and other specialized applications.

"The addition of VISUAL to our product portfolio allows E&A to leverage its years of experience in manufacturing industry best practices," commented Mike Manning, director of sales at E&A. "With the addition of seasoned VISUAL business consultants Jeff Alexander and Gary Ussery to our staff, E&A can support a diverse range of manufacturing business models, including engineer-to-order, make-to-order, configure-to-order, make-to-stock, and assembly-to-order," he continued.

For more information, contact Mike Manning at (410) 766-6076 or visit the E&A web site at www.earnestassoc.com.

E&A Managed Services has announced a new remote backup option for servers running IBM’s AIX operating system.

E&A’s new solution utilizes an Internet connection to transmit data to a secure data center. The initial full backup is performed one time.  Thereafter, a software application continuously monitors the server; only changes are transmitted, thus reducing the total volume of network traffic and allowing your Internet connection to work faster. These incremental backups take only minutes to process and are usually scheduled to run during non-peak processing times such as evenings and weekends.

Additionally, E&A will continue to offer remote backup services through its partnership with Matrix datacenter, where files marked as changed since the last backup are transmitted according to a preset schedule.

To learn more, contact Ken Litaker at 410.766.6076 x304.

As more consumers and businesses flock to the Internet to find products and services, surprisingly few small businesses are making an effort to meet them there. Earnest & Associates hopes to change all that with offering an affordable solution that helps small companies succeed in online marketing.

“There’s a huge lag between consumer behavior and what small and medium-sized businesses are doing to help their customers find them,” says Tom Birdwell, marketing manager at E&A. “The larger businesses get it, and they’re enjoying a period of relative dominance on the web.”

According to a 2009 report from the research firm Hitwise, 82 percent of consumers use search engines to find businesses, yet just 44 percent of small businesses have a website. Of that 44 percent, 30 percent do not engage in Internet advertising at all. Many small businesses still use newspaper and directory advertising to help customers find them, when the reality is, most people use Google, Yahoo or other search engines to find companies they want to do business with.

“A lot of small businesses think just having a website is enough, but if no one can find it, if it doesn’t drive sales, it’s just a glorified business card—helpful but not proactive in any sense,” says Tom.

E&A’s goal is to help its clients achieve success online by taking advantage of key online marketing techniques that work well for smaller companies – things like website development, email marketing and search engine advertising.

From speaking to its customers, E&A believes that a few persistent myths are preventing smaller companies from marketing online. The top ones are that to be successful, you have to spend a lot of money, be (or pay) an Internet guru, and that Internet marketing is hard to learn. While this used to be the case, times have changed: companies like E&A have automated, smart technology built to help smaller businesses with the key tasks of online marketing. Using E&A's online marketing services tool as a basis for providing services to smaller companies means online marketing is now available to any business that may be short on time, money and technological savvy.

“Whether small businesses use our services or not, they should at least know that online marketing isn’t a luxury anymore. It’s a necessity. And fortunately, it’s never been easier to get started,” said Tom.