Presenting Author

André Lourenço

Paper Type

Completed Research Paper

Abstract

Cost reduction and cost-awareness were, are, and probably will always be one of the major concerns of all organizations worldwide. This has been accentuated by difficult economic times, and is particularly true among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where competition is even fiercer. But as essential as it looks, advanced costing techniques are expensive to implement and require expertise not present in most organizations, making them inaccessible to most of SMEs. In this paper we present a proposal of a cloud-based solution offered as a service designed to address this problem based on re-utilization, integration with ERPs and better data visualization that will make it affordable and easier to use for SMEs. This proposal was demonstrated with a limited prototype applied in a community pharmacy and it was evaluated through interviews with experts and potential users.

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A Cloud-Based Service for Affordable Cost Analysis

Cost reduction and cost-awareness were, are, and probably will always be one of the major concerns of all organizations worldwide. This has been accentuated by difficult economic times, and is particularly true among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where competition is even fiercer. But as essential as it looks, advanced costing techniques are expensive to implement and require expertise not present in most organizations, making them inaccessible to most of SMEs. In this paper we present a proposal of a cloud-based solution offered as a service designed to address this problem based on re-utilization, integration with ERPs and better data visualization that will make it affordable and easier to use for SMEs. This proposal was demonstrated with a limited prototype applied in a community pharmacy and it was evaluated through interviews with experts and potential users.