New software for SME record keeping

Small and medium enterprises can now benefit from the fully-integrated open-source enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Business solutions provider e-Methods for Business Management Corp. (e-MBM) in partnership with xTuple headquartered in Virginia, USA, to distribute and implement xTuple products in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

According to circular no. 9-2009 by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2009,  all large taxpayers must have electronic record keeping requirements or computerized accounting systems.

e-MBM responded to this call by launching a free software called xTuple PostBooks, a open source baseline powered by open source software like the PostgreSQl database, the Qt development environment and its own OpenRPT report writer.

Cristy Llacer-Oreta, president and chief operating officer, says “we saw the need to bring over xTuple ERP in the country to respond to a growing local economy and address the requirements whose operations have become more complex.”

She also stresses the idea that in order to help small and medium entrepreneurs focus on their core business needs, an open source software can help automate their accounting needs for free and allow them to easily transition their records to a fully-integrated system.

xTuple integrates all critical functional areas in one system: sales, accounting and operations—including customers and supplier management, inventory control and manufacturing and distribution.

It also allows easy migration from other accounting systems and is friendly with desktop applications that run on Windows, MAC or Linux, she adds.

Other distinct capabilities xTuple offers are: it provides access to unlimited users, globally available through the Internet, it controls inventory in all warehouses in various locations, records transaction in any currency of any country and it provides a comprehensive consignment module.

On top of that, xTuple also has a mobile web application that can run in iOS and Android. Open source xTuple is free to use or to share so one can get the source code and improve the software.

Oreta also points out that among the advantages of open source is aside from it being cost-free, it is also easy to integrate and other areas can easily be tweaked through the software. Finally, it also offers free cloud hosting.

e-MBM also has something to show for large companies which require vertical functionality and commercial software license. They can avail of xTuple’s commercial products packaged for industry segments such as manufacturing, distribution and retail.

There are over 800,000 registered companies belonging to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector, with over 400,000 new companies registered in 2012 according to a estimated data from the Department of Trade and Industry.

Oreta believes that turning to xTuple ERP is a vital step for companies whose growth can generate millions of jobs in the process and help respond to the demands of a growing economy like the Philippines.

The e-MBM assures its buyers that they will be with them along the way as they offer services that includes: on-site training, online technical support, consultation visit, implementation services, programming services, customization of programs based on client’s requirements and creation of bridge software for seamless transaction of files.

SMEs can also design their own time frame on when they want to implement the integration of their books to ERP or they can opt to use the rapid implementation which will just take 15 days to set up.

Over 5,000 SMEs in the country are being serviced by e-MBM. Five SMEs have already availed of the xTuple ERP and one large manufacturing company has signed up for the commercial software license of xTuple.