ERP - Change is the only constant !
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12:46 AM |
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ERP softwares are weird.
Lets say we have some ace ERP consultants, and they're going to foist an ERP solution (it's always a 'solution', never mere software !!) upon some unsuspecting co.
THE GOAL
To provide one single software for all departments within an enterprise, HR, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing ... everything !! This should make life easier for all these departments.
OPTION # 1
If the co. decides to adapt the ERP as-is ('out-of-the-box' implementation of the industry's 'best practices', whatever that means), then the software will not really mirror the co.'s functioning. And the so-called 'best-practices' will probably not be what the co. wants.
End Result - the ERP implementation fails in it's goal !!
OPTION # 2
If the co. decides to customize the ERP to reflect their old practices, they end up paying a huge amount of money, spend a lot of time, just to do the same old things on a new software. Wait! Do people do that??
End Result - the ERP implementation fails in it's goal !!
OPTION # 3 (the middle path)
The co. uses specialized front-end systems, retaining their old practices. The ERP functions as a back-office system. The end users are happy, since their specialized systems can mimic actual industry practices better than some cookie-cutter approach suggested by the ERP chaps. And since the ERP is the common backbone/back-office system, the IT systems of all the departments can actually 'talk' to each other.
That's the best option, I hear?
Forget, for a second, the fact that the ERP chaps will make pots of money here, billing for all the integration. Here's the definition of an ERP as per CIO.com : 'ERP’s true ambition.... It attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those different departments’ particular needs'
So, is the best form of an ERP implementation the one that actually defeats the very purpose of an ERP implementation? And potentially turns out to be the most expensive for the co. ?
Like I said, ERP softwares are weird.
There's no 'best option' !
Lets say we have some ace ERP consultants, and they're going to foist an ERP solution (it's always a 'solution', never mere software !!) upon some unsuspecting co.
THE GOAL
To provide one single software for all departments within an enterprise, HR, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing ... everything !! This should make life easier for all these departments.
OPTION # 1
If the co. decides to adapt the ERP as-is ('out-of-the-box' implementation of the industry's 'best practices', whatever that means), then the software will not really mirror the co.'s functioning. And the so-called 'best-practices' will probably not be what the co. wants.
End Result - the ERP implementation fails in it's goal !!
OPTION # 2
If the co. decides to customize the ERP to reflect their old practices, they end up paying a huge amount of money, spend a lot of time, just to do the same old things on a new software. Wait! Do people do that??
End Result - the ERP implementation fails in it's goal !!
OPTION # 3 (the middle path)
The co. uses specialized front-end systems, retaining their old practices. The ERP functions as a back-office system. The end users are happy, since their specialized systems can mimic actual industry practices better than some cookie-cutter approach suggested by the ERP chaps. And since the ERP is the common backbone/back-office system, the IT systems of all the departments can actually 'talk' to each other.
That's the best option, I hear?
Forget, for a second, the fact that the ERP chaps will make pots of money here, billing for all the integration. Here's the definition of an ERP as per CIO.com : 'ERP’s true ambition.... It attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those different departments’ particular needs'
So, is the best form of an ERP implementation the one that actually defeats the very purpose of an ERP implementation? And potentially turns out to be the most expensive for the co. ?
Like I said, ERP softwares are weird.
There's no 'best option' !
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