A well designed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system should work for you and not against you. Experienced ERP consultants understand this and will work with you to develop and implement systems that tie directly to your unique business and its business strategies.
While the companies that provide and implement ERP systems have good intentions, not everyone involved understands how difficult implementing an ERP system can be. Without serious forethought and rigorous planning, your ERP system implementations may not be as successful as you hoped or could fail all together. As an unfortunate result – in addition to the possibility of having no ERP system at all – you’d be forced to accept mediocre performance from your very expensive enterprise resource planning software.
Don’t let this happen to you. Take the time to research ERPs and study them; you’ll quickly find that most managers and solution providers often underestimate the time, effort, skills, equipment, and money required to implement a complete and lasting ERP system.
One good place to start planning is called “bridging the gaps” and is about evaluating your current business strategy and determining if your current software system is meeting your needs. The places where the current software is falling short is known as a “gap” and, in knowing those, you can begin formulating a list of things that you’ll need in an ERP system. (Sometimes this is known as “mapping your current business processes.”)
Once the opportunities for improvement have been identified, you can work with your staff and the ERP consultant to choose the right ERP for you – as well as the right add-ons – to make the system extra tailored to your business so that your processes are easier, your costs are reduced, and your profits are increased.
Your ERP system should not be viewed as an extra cost. It does have a high price tag initially, but, when properly designed and implemented, enterprise resource planning systems will provide you with a competitive advantage, opening up new markets and identifying hidden opportunities.
So: properly implemented ERP systems need to be designed specifically with your company in mind, streamlined, and closely integrated with your overall business strategy in order to be worth the time, effort, skills, equipment, and money required to implement them. When they are, they’re a huge success that will change your business for the better.
Contact us at Oates & Company today. We specialize in enterprise resource planning systems and would be happy to help you decide if getting one is right for you.
