With ERP, it’s Not What You Do that Kills You, it’s What You Can’t Do!
3/28/2011 at 10:31 am by
Doing nothing is easy. We all know how important it is to make a business case for an ERP system – a project that fills everyone from the president/CEO to the CIO with dread and the fear of a bottomless pit of time and money. In life they say it’s not the things you do that you end up regretting, it’s the things you don’t do. I’d like to make a similar point in favor of ERP adoption. ERP planning, selection and implementation is a complex process. No doubt about that. And designing the best solution for your business is equally daunting.
But what about the cost of doing nothing?
What I’ve seen. I’ve visited hundreds of companies. Here’s something I can say with authority: Every company I’ve visited with old legacy systems has a list of things they “CAN’T DO.” They have come to live with those limitations. In many cases they joke about those limitations.
And it’s these CAN’T DO’s that are costing them money–holding them back.
So, what’s on the list? Here’s the most common examples:
- They can’t interact with suppliers and customers electronically.
- They can’t open up their inventory and product information to the web.
- They can’t retrieve important documents electronically.
- They can’t identify their real costs or if they do, it’s not until much after those costs are incurred.
- They can’t analyze sales in any meaningful way other than the same old stale reports they’ve been getting for years.
- They can’t visualize how proposed changes in business and operations will impact revenue and profit.
- They can’t . . . . . . the list goes on.
Doing nothing is cheap. Really? The cost of doing nothing is not the money spent support old systems. It’s adding up the cost of all those “CAN’T DO’s.” And when most of those CAN’T DO’s are your competitors CAN DO’s you’re at a competitive disadvantage.
As the saying goes, “Life is what happens while you’re busy planning the future.” Business stagnation is what happens while you’re busy planning how to avoid the future.
What’s on your “Can’t Do” list?
image: TarynMarie







