ERP Introspective in the New Year

1/7/2011 at 12:22 pm by The Sage ERP Team

The holidays and the new year are a popular time for a little introspection. Did you live the last year like you wanted to? Have you achieved your goals? Are you where you thought you’d be a year ago?

Amidst all that self-reflection, don’t forget to ponder a little bit on your business life in addition to your personal one. What about the goals you’d set for your company? How well do you really know your business?

It’s been said before on this blog and on others, but one of the major reasons that some ERP implementations fail to achieve their full potential is because the men and women in charge of those companies didn’t fully understand their own businesses or the way that ERP could improve their day-to-day functioning. So how can you be sure that you know enough about your company to make your ERP implementation successful?

Here are a few tips.

First, be honest with yourself about your company’s flaws. ERP is designed to address shortcomings; if your business were perfect, you wouldn’t need ERP. That doesn’t mean there’s a fatal problem in your business, but rather that there are areas were your professional ventures could improved by the speed and accuracy of computer software. Look for areas of redundancy – where more than one person must enter or re-enter the same data, or where two jobs or processes could be merged into one – and areas where efficiency is lacking. Be on the lookout for anything that slows your business down. ERP is designed to take these drags and make them quicker, leaner and better.

You should also familiarize yourself with the areas in which your company is especially strong. If you’re really good at something, you can check that off your list as you look for potential ERP systems. You’ll want to choose the system that addresses your weaknesses without any unnecessary extras – you’ll save yourself cost and time by choosing the system that’s most appropriate for your specific business. After all, if you have a runny nose, you’re better off picking a medicine that just handles mucus and congestion than you are taking a painkiller designed for nausea, headaches, backaches, sore throats and fevers.

The more aware you are of your company’s relative strengths and weaknesses, the better equipped you’ll be to decide which ERP system is the right one for you.