Well, if you have made it to our little corner of the Internet then its probably a safe assumption that you are in the market for an ERP system. This JobBOSS review is geared toward helping you streamline and cut costs in your machine shop. Our Shop JAH Machine, Inc has been actively using JobBOSS for quite some time. We thought it would be helpful to share our own JobBOSS Review to help other similar shops that are interested in making the jump.
What is JobBOSS?
If you have spent some time in the manufacturing industry then JobBOSS has probably been a term that has come up from time to time. Either way, here is some additional background on the software. JobBOSS is a software suite that is usually referred to as a ERP solution. ERP translates to Enterprise Resource Planning, and this type of software is used by, companies to manage their day to day business and automate back office functions related to their manufacturing processes.
JobBOSS helps various sized manufacturing shops to track and cost jobs. One of the main problems when doing RFQs for customers ends up being not knowing what your bottom lines costs were. That is where JobBOSS comes in handy. It allows your administrative staff and shop staff to manage job information day-to-day. In addition, it helps job shops be more responsive to their customers and deliver their jobs on-time. This was probably one of the bigger selling points of why we decided to make the jump to start using JobBOSS.
JobBOSS helps Save Time and Money
JAH Machine has seen a substantial reduction in overall administrative tasks since we no longer have to manage and track jobs without a central solution. That extra savings not only increases the margins on jobs but helps with being able to increase capacity as well. Since all the data is located in a single database, it gives all users simultaneous access to the information specific to the job function. This has helped the JAH Machine leadership team visibility into what is happening on the shop floor and in the office. Another benefit is that we were surprised about was the ability to cut down on lost time. We no longer have to worry about the administrative staff having to wait for the engineering staff for updates, the updates can occur in real time as work is completed by all assigned users.
JobBOSS places a strong emphasis on costing, productivity and scheduling. It is flexible and designed to handle everyday situations based on the manufacturing flow in these types of facilities. Information is entered once and is always readily accessible to users. Things from job history, job status and delivery performance to profit analysis.
JobBoss Deployment (Cloud vs. On-Premise)
An area that we haven’t seen a lot of talk about on other JobBOSS reviews revolves around the actual IT requirements that you will need to potentially taken on. One of the first decisions that your shop is going to need to make is who is going to be handling the day to day work required to keep the JobBOSS lights on. Do you have a IT staff in house? Do you want to just have someone else deal with it? Well the good thing is that JobBOSS does have a solution for both scenarios.
Hosting your JobBOSS software on their Cloud platform means your JobBOSS data is housed on a secure virtual server. This means no on-site hardware or software installation or maintenance is needed. JobBOSS Cloud requires less time and focus from your technical/administrative staff. Also it is accessible 24/7 on many different internet-enabled devices. So if you are a smaller shop and do not want to deal with the headaches, or manage and staff for your own IT infrastructure, then the Cloud option that JobBOSS offers might be worth considering.
On-Premise, on the other hand, means that your business data is maintained on your on-site servers that are accessible through your internal network. As a whole, on-premise solutions provide you greater overall control. As well as can operate without being connected to the internet. On-Premise will however require an on-site technical staff capable of handling and maintaining the hardware and software.
At the end of the day, there is no clear cut answer, it really depends on what your specific shop needs are and what the price point is that you are looking to spend. Below we have included a chart that reviews the key components of both offerings.
How much does JobBOSS Cost?
If you want a clear picture of ERP shop management software costs, the simple answer is – it depends. To their credit, JobBOSS does provide multiple options for flexible software, platform and payment terms. Depending on what Deployment (Cloud vs On-Premise) you use the costs can vary, and there may be some modules they offer that you can opt out of the see about lowering the overall cost to your business. While I would like to have included a specific pricing guide in our JobBOSS review, it wouldn’t be fair to list out what our shop pays as everyone’s requirements are different.
There is a per user software charge with a minimum of one user for each deployment. So you can add/remove users and will never have to pay for a seat license that you do not plan to use.
If you want to give it a try on a free trial basis, follow this link to sign up.
JobBOSS Offerings
JobBOSS is a modular application suite, so there are a number of different components that you may feel are necessary to your day to day work. However, there are some that you may feel that would not provide you any value. You can pick and choose what specific functionality you are looking for and have that tailored to your specific needs. Below I have included a chart that shows the different tiers of service that is generally
Final Thoughts...
Closing out our JobBOSS review, we wanted to provide some final thoughts. Going with an ERP system has alot of key benefits. While I know the initial cost impact to your business may seem to be high, and the learning curve may be steep for some. It is the best decision that any shop can make without a doubt. You will look back after a few months after implementation and think to your self why you did not implement JobBOSS sooner. It is without a doubt one of the greatest investments we have made to help grow JAH Machine into a great AS9100 certified Machine Shop.
