ERP Solution

Many large Fortune 500 businesses, government institutions and big universities became familiar with the words “ERP solution” in the late 1990s and early years of the new millennium. Many of these large organizations implemented an ERP solution years ago in order to unify all of their departments and all of their business functions onto a single integrated software platform. A large company with a new ERP solution could allow employees from every department to share access to databases housed on collective servers and run applications from those shared servers using software interfaces that had the same look and feel. A fully implemented ERP solution offered a way for these businesses to coordinate department functions, improve communication, efficiency and asset management, and reduce error. The return on investment for any given ERP solution depended on several factors including employee training, ease of implementation and accurate estimate of initial need, but in general, returns were high. Large enterprises with large budgets rushed to install new systems and free themselves from outmoded legacy software before the new millennium, and by the middle of the next century, the large enterprise market had been more or less saturated. Every large business that wanted an ERP solution had one.

At this point, ERP solution providers are beginning to target smaller business clients, and their approach has been two fold.  First, large providers are striving to educate small business owners and CIOs on the definition of ERP and all the ways that a new ERP solution might revolutionize small business functions. Second, in order to fit small business budgets and compete with smaller providers (who often offer industry specific product suites in addition to more affordable solutions) large providers are customizing their services and software packages. These moves allow the large providers like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft to remain competitive and fight successfully for small business market share.

If you’re conducting research to find the ERP solution that fits your business and your budget, be sure to investigate product offerings from providers of all sizes. The larger vendors may be more reliable in some ways, but this is not guaranteed, and you may find everything you’re looking for in a freeware or open source solution available over the internet for no cost at all. You may also decide that you’d rather avoid the maintenance concerns involved in purchasing your own software architecture. If this is the case, consider investigating an ERP hosting solution or service provider who can allow you rent space on a shared server, thereby sidestepping the cost of hiring your own IT staff. These are just a few of the many options available. A thorough research process will help you find the right ERP solution for your business.

Erin Sweeney
ERP Solution

Written by :

tracey boxer