“Enterprise Resource Planning” was born from a previous tool: Manufacturing Resource Planning that followed Material Requirements Planning. ERP had their boom in the 1990’s when many companies used the Y2K problem to replace their information systems.
An ERP is a tool to integrate the data and processes of an organization into one single system to ensure proper communication and efficiency. It is cross-functional and enterprise-wide (typically including manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, accounting, human resources, marketing and strategic management) and neither customers nor general public are involved in this process (it is a back office system).
After this brief introduction, for me it is beyond any doubt that for any company of a certain size and a relatively complex organization an ERP is a must and the advantages regarding the implementation of an ERP far outweigh the cons And that’s why most companies enjoy having one and SAP, Oracle Applications, The Sage Group and Microsoft Dynamics are making millions out of it.
However, here we have a first issue to be addressed: the basic hell(?) about ERP implementations is that most companies are not real enterprises, not really mature enough for it. As the software puts pressure on individuals to make change happen, company culture changes into a more mature one. Thus, ERP really can make a company grow up
The problem with ERP software is that takes years to write the code that runs it and then the ERP companies take that same code and sell it to all their customers. Customizing the tool means rewriting the code, that is, months of work (even years!) and more money. It’s never possible to have really everything in one software package!
So… Should the big guys abovementioned change their way of doing business or should companies adapt to them?
So far companies have been the ones bearing the bulk of the cost but business changes and software must move with it . If any small change in an ERP can take weeks or months (rolled out, tested, integrated and recompiled) why should users of the systems suffer all this? Is it not enough that they do their jobs? And this is without including the bugs!
My conclusion would be that, in the short term, you must only take the steps if the pros clearly outweigh the cons, otherwise your software will be more similar to a ball and a chain. However, in the long term, the big ERP providers should add more value by creating platforms and tools which adapt to customers´ needs and not the other way round. My question is… Can this be done ? Let’s go and ask Qrimp!
Greenlighthouse's Blog 