Why management information systems (MIS) layered on an AI ERP will always win big!
by Rick Kostopoulos, CEO/President, NewGen Business Solutions
Logic, logic, and a bit more logic. But wait? What if I want to change my thoughts on something, what happens?
Logic is determined through facts, either good facts or bad facts. If you have seven systems with bad data sets, that is considered bad facts, and therefore bad logic.
Not tooting my own horn, but I was fortunate to almost triple major in school in accounting, management information systems (MIS), and in logic-based electronics.
The one thing I learned through those disciplines is that there is no easy way around the decades of thought behind them.
I would like to put the “AI will figure everything out” myth to bed, at least for the foreseeable future.
Accounting is “the language of business.” Debits and credits are derived from accounts receivable, accounts payable, invoices, purchase orders, sales orders, inventory markups and markdowns, payroll, fixed asset purchases, and fixed asset sales. It might feel overwhelming (or boring), but the numbers guide every business decision.
Then consider management information systems—that’s the layer that is industry specific—it is the logic that helps events professionals do their jobs correctly, whether a General Service Contractor, an Exhibit House, or a Venue.
Each industry role has a specific set of business processes but struggles to apply normalized accounting practices. Combine them with an accounting system like the one found in ConventionSuite, built atop NetSuite’s world-leading AI cloud-based ERP system, and they’re off to the races.
The icing on the cake: AI. Yes, AI. Lots of bits and lots of bytes. Lots of sugar and lots of spice. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
When you study “logic-based electronics,” you quickly realize why the server farm (data warehouse) down the road is five times larger than the wind farm on Old Man Johnson’s 1,000-acre ranch down “them there road.” That thing is big.
Folks, if you have seven systems, and try to link them using AI, you’re the reason why that server farm needs a nuclear power plant to operate it. Managing this industry is hard enough with one normalized data set; adding six more is crazy. The lights are dimming as I write.
Here’s an example: You have a car that uses simple logic to track lines on the right and left side of the car to stay in its lane, but a paving guy paves over one of those lines, which causes the car to lose all sense of direction, and off the road it goes.
So, what do we do? We add ten more systems to the car. A system to track gaps, a system to track surrounding cars. Another to track what’s a mile ahead, which satellites are above, what follows behind. You get it. Each system adds more data, more data storage, and bigger server farms to process the data.
Now take that thought and apply it to the disjointed systems currently used in the market today. The AI consultant walks in the door and says, “You know what I’m going to do for you? Do you remember Old Man Johnson’s ranch down the road? Did you know they dismantled the wind farm and built a server farm on it? Well, you’re in luck, that server farm powers my new, super, duper, ERP AI Business Process Fixer, and it’s going to straighten this mess out.”
The only issue is that the “server farm” does not know the event services industry. The business processes can’t be that much different, can they?
It’s going to be like that.
One thing to learn from this now is to fix your data, or you will be left behind very quickly. A full- featured ERP with an MIS built for your industry is a lot easier (and less energy-consuming) for AI to figure out than seven disjointed systems working against each other. It might seem very painful to get organized and eliminate data redundancy, but it’s the first step to controlling your own destiny.
It may be five, ten, or 15 years down the road before AI understands MIS event services workflows, plus all the ERP system logic needed to run them. Will your business survive that long on incomplete logic, high energy-consumption servers, and the AI experts’ fix-all solutions? The lights dim as AI asks seven different systems that question.
One more thing—I’m not knocking on AI. It does some great “icing on the cake” things. AI thrives on logical, non-redundant data. It’s pretty smooth when there are no bad facts or bad logic.
But when there are bad facts and bad logic, they are consistently bad, which makes you and your team consistently bad. That’s when we step in with the solution, clean up your data and establish good logic with one unified system that leverages AI to amplify your potential (not duct tape it).
Say no to massive server farms (data centers) and yes to non-redundant factual data. The farm animals will appreciate it!
Rick Kostopoulos is an ERP expert with over 28 years in the industry. He is the founder, President, and CEO of NewGen Business Solutions, and the creator of ConventionSuite, the only NetSuite-powered ERP built for the events, venue, and tradeshows industry. Email sales@newgennow.com for more information. conventionsuite.com
