In today's highly competitive market, manufacturing companies are continuously challenged by rising material costs, competitors and ever-evolving customer requirements. Most companies look to their ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems for cost control, flexibility, and improved information visibility into every facet of their business environment to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
If you too are trying to achieve these goals but feeling discouraged by the level of complexity, duplication of efforts and lack of visibility into business in your ERP system, then its time to look for an alternative to your legacy ERP system.
Listed below are the alarming signs to see if your ERP system is threatening your business growth-
1. Evolution of the ERP does not follow the dynamic growth of your company
If your software vendor provides new releases only 12-24 months and new features can't be implemented as required to meet market needs, you might lose opportunities and remain ahead of the game. On top of it, generally these up-gradations are expensive and take months to complete. This can keep you lagging in the market while accommodating high maintenance cost.
2. Incomprehensible data
When it is not easy to access your data from the ERP system or it is present in 'silos', it is very difficult, if not impossible, to draw reports for inventory/manufacturing planning or analyze it for important business decisions.
3. Business Information not accessible while travelling
In today's world it is imperative to be able to do business-on-the-move. When you are traveling and out of office network, and can't stay in touch with business operations, it can adversely affect your efficiency and business agility.
4. Your trading partners can't easily connect/access information
Inter-connectivity with your vendors/suppliers and clients is the key to achieve competitive advantage. If your suppliers need to load special software to connect to your system or can't get easy access to the information they need like your orders or inventory levels, it might lead to loss of existing or potential clients. Just-in-time replenishment can sometimes be the game-changing strategy.
5. New employees finding it difficult to learn your ERP system
If you are spending huge time and money in training new employees to learn your legacy system, it's an additional expenditure and employees can get easily frustrated when instructed to learn old technology.
6. System not able to support global market
In today's global marketplace, it is not acceptable if your system can't support countries with different languages. Translating system to local language and rolling out localized financial data through spreadsheets is highly cumbersome and error-prone.
7. High Maintenance
It pays to improve your bottom line by lowering your operating and maintenance costs. If annual maintenance for your ERP system is over-budgeting your IT expenditure, it's 'the sign' for you to look for alternate solutions.
If your legacy, on-site ERP system imposes some or all issues mentioned above on your business, it's time to explore other options before you lose your market-share. It is worthwhile to explore SaaS(Software as a service) ERP systems which provide robust system without the need for expensive servers, operating systems, database software, backup equipment, and the IT specialists to manage all of that.
Some of the major advantages of such a system are:
1. It is accessible by authorized users through the Internet with a standard web browser
2. Ideal for managing multiple plants, and for linking customers, suppliers, and employees into a centralized database of real-time information no matter where they are around the world.
3. The solution easily incorporates and manages data in multiple languages, currencies, and date formats, including local tax and business mandates and other business requirements unique to a specific country.
4. No servers, software, databases, backups, or other infrastructure are required.
If you too are trying to achieve these goals but feeling discouraged by the level of complexity, duplication of efforts and lack of visibility into business in your ERP system, then its time to look for an alternative to your legacy ERP system.
Listed below are the alarming signs to see if your ERP system is threatening your business growth-
1. Evolution of the ERP does not follow the dynamic growth of your company
If your software vendor provides new releases only 12-24 months and new features can't be implemented as required to meet market needs, you might lose opportunities and remain ahead of the game. On top of it, generally these up-gradations are expensive and take months to complete. This can keep you lagging in the market while accommodating high maintenance cost.
2. Incomprehensible data
When it is not easy to access your data from the ERP system or it is present in 'silos', it is very difficult, if not impossible, to draw reports for inventory/manufacturing planning or analyze it for important business decisions.
3. Business Information not accessible while travelling
In today's world it is imperative to be able to do business-on-the-move. When you are traveling and out of office network, and can't stay in touch with business operations, it can adversely affect your efficiency and business agility.
4. Your trading partners can't easily connect/access information
Inter-connectivity with your vendors/suppliers and clients is the key to achieve competitive advantage. If your suppliers need to load special software to connect to your system or can't get easy access to the information they need like your orders or inventory levels, it might lead to loss of existing or potential clients. Just-in-time replenishment can sometimes be the game-changing strategy.
5. New employees finding it difficult to learn your ERP system
If you are spending huge time and money in training new employees to learn your legacy system, it's an additional expenditure and employees can get easily frustrated when instructed to learn old technology.
6. System not able to support global market
In today's global marketplace, it is not acceptable if your system can't support countries with different languages. Translating system to local language and rolling out localized financial data through spreadsheets is highly cumbersome and error-prone.
7. High Maintenance
It pays to improve your bottom line by lowering your operating and maintenance costs. If annual maintenance for your ERP system is over-budgeting your IT expenditure, it's 'the sign' for you to look for alternate solutions.
If your legacy, on-site ERP system imposes some or all issues mentioned above on your business, it's time to explore other options before you lose your market-share. It is worthwhile to explore SaaS(Software as a service) ERP systems which provide robust system without the need for expensive servers, operating systems, database software, backup equipment, and the IT specialists to manage all of that.
Some of the major advantages of such a system are:
1. It is accessible by authorized users through the Internet with a standard web browser
2. Ideal for managing multiple plants, and for linking customers, suppliers, and employees into a centralized database of real-time information no matter where they are around the world.
3. The solution easily incorporates and manages data in multiple languages, currencies, and date formats, including local tax and business mandates and other business requirements unique to a specific country.
4. No servers, software, databases, backups, or other infrastructure are required.
Seeking for SAP system, call Alenu IT Now! at (65) 6884 5030
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