ERP - Business Process

In Part 1, I discussed the first step in deciding if you company is ready for a new ERP software or ERP vendor upgrade by looking at your business processes and identifying the suboptimal or “bad” business processes that have evolved over the years to accommodate the limitations of your ERP systems. In Part 2 we will look at the next step in your enterprise systems evaluation process by digging into your Systems Technology Shortfalls. The first step in your ERP systems technology evaluation is to ask yourself if the technologies you are currently using are an asset to your business. If you are having integration issues, can only get the inside scoop of how your system operates from a few members of the IT staff who first implemented the system a decade ago and cannot be supported from outside sources, you don’t have any documentation anywhere, and the knowledge base and training can only be accomplished by a few key individuals, it is most likely time to get a new ERP system and ERP vendor. Software applications and technology change very quickly and ERP software is no different. As a completing business you need to ensure that your ERP software systems are keeping pace with new IT advances in the market and that the ERP apps you use are easy to integrate with other systems. You also need to have strong support resources available, and have the ability to customize your enterprise system to better fit your business if need be. Companies with older ERP systems may find that they have more than one ERP systems that focus on specific areas or departments within the organization as companies in the past were managed by department levels. Each department operated and worked autonomously with their own particular business processes and IT infrastructures. The issues with this business structure is that organizations without comprehensive, unified systems have problems managing information from multiple sources, incur more costs, and require more resources to upgrade software from multiple vendors and sync information. ERP vendors have since innovated and developed enterprise applications to resolve these integration issues with “one stop shop” solutions to take the place of the older disparate stand alone systems of the past. The caveat is that in choosing one ERP vendor and one ERP solution, you are putting the life blood of your company in the hands of one entity. The point is to make sure that your new ERP vendor and their ERP modules and full enterprise package will meet your needs, and that the vendor will be around to service and support your needs ten years down the road. In Part 3 we will dig more into what system and what ERP vendor to place your bets with in – Finding Your Next ERP Software Vendor.