ACUMEN
ACUMEN, by Cyberwolf of Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
Clients: 180+
Target Market: Book publishers with sales of $1M to $50M
Email: lmasco@cyberwolf.com
Phone: 505-983-6463
Web Site: www.acumenbook.com , www.salesreveal.com
Functionality: Full ERP System - including GL, AR, AP, Inventory, Royalties, Sales Rep Commissions, Title Information, CRM & optional modues for; ecommere, advanced warehouse management, EDI, email list management, subscriptions, remote fulfillment, credit card processing, & more.
Summary:
From our perspective, Acumen is the leading book publishing software solution for publishers with sales of $2M through $10M. For the last five years each year they have sold more systems each year than each of their competitors combined, and in 2007 experienced 30% revenue growth.
The key advantage of Acumen from publishers that we have spoken to is their single integrated database. Information about all of your publishing operations is available from one source and this information is constantly updated. If you want to know sales, returns, royalties earned or who purchased this book its available. There is no need to export information out of one system and import it into another system. The integrated database increases the productivity of their staff and ensures that key information is not hidden on someones personal computer.
When we talk to publishers the one feature that they all like about Acumen is the wide range of options available. If they want an integrated website there is an optional module that includes site design and hosting. If they work with two currencies; such as US and Canadian dollars, Acumen has an optional module for that. If they use an outside service to process their orders Acumen has a module that allows you to import sales from each of the leading distributors (such as Publishers Group West).
At the same time publishers tell us that you really need at least one person on your staff to embrace Acumen and learn it. If you don’t you may come to rely on their technical support staff too much, and that can drive up the cost, especially if your staff doesn’t like to read the Acumen user manuals to research those tasks that they rarely perform.
Another aspect about Acumen is that its design enforces solid accounting practices and prevents you from taking shortcuts. Some publishers like this, some don’t.
In Cats Pajamas; a competitor, you can change the unit cost of inventory by going to the product record and changing the cost, and the inventory is instantly revalued.
In Acumen to adjust inventory you need to make an inventory transaction with an offsetting debit and credit. If you adjust stock levels down you must recognize an offsetting expense, such as inventory write-off. In both cases the general ledger and inventory value is affected as of the date you assigned to the transaction.
Who uses Acumen? Over 180 publishers utilize Acumen. Their most well know client is Sourcebooks, one of the largest privately held publishers in the United States. They started with a single user system and have added new user licenses as they have grown.
Acumen’s management has a good understanding of what publishers are suitable for their system. If Acumen is not a good match for a publisher they will refer them to a competitor who can; usually its IBS Bookmaster or Vista.
All in all, Acumen is a solution that publishers with sales of $1M through $30M should consider.
