About this Website
Once, a user of an ERP system told me “Putting this system to work was like changing the tire of a truck while the truck was in movement…”
I still marvel at how accurate that comment was, and at how well it depicts the task of switching ERP systems in a company.
Yet, technological advances make switching to better technologies an inescapable reality.
If you are my age, you probably barely remember flip phones, and never had one, but at that moment, say 20 years ago, users loved their flip phones.
Now, with smart phones available, it would be unthinkable for those same persons to accept a flip phone as their personal device of choice.
But at the same time, many of them don’t perceive that the advances in ERP software technology over the same period were as impressive as those in phones.
And when a company decides to upgrade their ERP technology, they many times do not realize that they will use their new ERP for many years,
typically from 5 to 10 years, and more in many cases, because switching ERP systems is perceived to be a cumbersome and disruptive process,
that no one wants to jump into if they can avoid it.
And then, there’s the fact that companies change over time. The company that incorporated an ERP system 5 to 10 years ago is probably not doing exactly
the same today, so their ERP should be “redeployed” or “re-customized” to suit it to their new reality.
Modern technology has provided for that. ERP systems of the new generation come with the ability to be self-extended and self-customized
by the informed end users, so as their companies change and their software functionality needs change with the changing company,
the new generation ERP systems allow the original software to be extended or changed without the need to replace it.
Without replacing the software, without writing new software, without any knowledge of software development or of database technologies,
the new generation ERP systems allow you to change their internal functionality, allowing you to define tightly integrated new submodules and screens,
that follow your new reality.
ERP systems are usually sizable investments for the companies that acquire them, which, as prudence dictates, should in turn demand a proper analysis
of what exactly are the companies getting for their money. In that respect, the devil is in the details, as the saying goes.
Yet, many of the cases of incorporations of a new ERP software end up with the wrong software selection, just because the purchasing company officials
trust the big brands not to provide a "lemon" software. It's incredible to learn how many of them have hated those decisions for many years,
and how many have lost their jobs as a result of those decisions.
And then, there's the implementation.
Many decision makers buy ERP software from one of the big publishers to be on the safe side, but the publisher will ultimately have little to nothing to do
with how the software is implemented for you, and how you will use the software.
That depends instead on "dealers" or "local experts" that, more often than not, have little to no experience in putting ERP software to work for a company
in the line of business of their new customer.
Disaster occurs frequently, as you would expect from my description above.
So, I decided to demystify the process of ERP comparison (spoiler: it does not involve listing all the features of the packages under consideration
in a big matrix and comparing them side by side, that will not work, please see my videos on ERP implementation).
I will include information about the techniques and key concerns which need to be decided in order to succeed in the implementation of an ERP software package.
Thank you for coming to me for ERP insights!!!
Brau