5 Ways Manufacturers Can Leverage Downtime

Times like these, when forced to work from home, can be some of the most productive and creative for organizations. So, if you can't manufacture parts let's see if we can manufacture some ideas to help leverage your downtime.

1. Upgrade your ERP software

Upgrading your ERP software can take anywhere from a couple days to multiple months. Why is now a good time to upgrade? There's less of a chance for the upgrade to disrupt your business.

Did you know, that newer ERP software like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central uses apps and extensions that make it easier to upgrade your software going forward? This is because the base software code does not change but is only extended through apps. Therefore, upgrades of the base software are much quicker and error free.

2. Audit Your Marketing Efforts

Marketing is the gift that pays for itself over the long run because the more exposure you can create the better chance you'll have of acquiring new customers.

Here's four suggestions to help get you started with auditing your marketing efforts:

1. Perform a contact purge and move leads to their proper marketing lists. Get rid of leads that consistently show up as bounces. Here's a good article to help.

2. Audit your content and update pieces that performed well for you in the past. Here's a good article to help.

3. Create and/or edit Nurturing Campaigns. Here's a good article to help.

4. Audit your website's SEO. Here's a good article to help.

3. Create Product Videos

Product videos help create awareness for your organization and products offered. These videos can be anything from demonstrations to a how-to use the product. Here's a video Solution Systems did that showed how to create custom Power BI data sets and reports with Business Central.

This video showcased two products that Solution Systems sells, Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and how to use them together to get the biggest benefit.

4. Brush up your skills through digital learning.

We are all lucky to live in an age where almost anything we need is readily available through the internet. That includes how-to videos, online courses, and product overviews to help you educate yourself and become a master at your craft.

5. Host a weekly or monthly digital "talk."

Now's the time to educate your prospects. To do this you could host a weekly Q&A session on Instagram, create a monthly product talk, or simply put out a weekly how-to video. Here's an example video of a monthly tech talk we do to help educate prospects. This video discussed the challenges faced by employers when employees work from home.