| Recently there appears to be an increased | | | | - Ensure accountability and compliance with |
| amount of interest in Enterprise Resource | | | | auditable accounting. |
| Planning (ERP). Originally adopted by | | | | |
| manufacturing organizations, its main focus | | | | - Reduce Operating Cost. |
| was for the management and control of | | | | |
| inventory. Since then the functional scope of | | | | - Facilitate day to day management. |
| ERP solutions has grown, and as a result so | | | | |
| have the benefits and adoption by other | | | | - Eliminate data silos by creating a single, |
| industry verticals within the wholesale and | | | | centralized repository of timely, accurate |
| distribution segment, including those within | | | | business data. |
| small and medium enterprises (SMEs). | | | | |
| | | | - Enable more effective resource allocation |
| Typically organizations juggle several | | | | and management. |
| different business applications to manage the | | | | |
| intricacies of their business. But now | | | | Whilst these benefits mentioned are |
| businesses understand that they need to stop | | | | significant they are only true benefits to a |
| wasting resources managing these multiple | | | | business if the ERP model is a good fit for |
| "silo" systems and improve visibility for | | | | the company. A particularly good fit is for |
| better decision making via a single | | | | companies that need to formalize their |
| centralized seamless system. | | | | business processes and activates across |
| | | | multiple departments. These companies are |
| Most ERP solutions contain a range of modules | | | | generally trying to deal with multiple |
| to improve a variety of back-office | | | | versions of the truth across the business due |
| functions, including: | | | | to their disparate systems. This prevents |
| | | | managers from making good business decisions. |
| - Financials & Accounting: includes | | | | An ERP solution can help enforce good |
| functionality such as general ledger, cash | | | | business processes and consolidate the |
| management, accounts payable and receivable, | | | | information to provide an accurate cross |
| and fixed asset management. | | | | departmental picture of the "state of the |
| | | | nation". |
| - Time & billing: includes features for | | | | |
| billing/invoicing, time and expense | | | | When considering an ERP solution it is |
| management, and Project/Job monitoring. | | | | advisable to consider a single vendor |
| | | | solution that provides the flexibility and |
| - Supply Chain Management: includes | | | | modularity of adopting the different ERP |
| management around Inventory and Order | | | | functional areas. Implementing ERP within a |
| Fulfillment. | | | | company also comes with a need for a cultural |
| | | | change within the organization. A 'lets do it |
| - Employee Management and Productivity: Human | | | | all now', otherwise known as a 'big bag' |
| Resource Management, Employee Activity | | | | approach can be a far too overwhelming |
| Management and Administration. | | | | transition and difficult to manage. Just like |
| | | | any software implementation the solution will |
| At a high-level some benefits that can be | | | | only be as good as the people that use it so |
| expected from implementing an ERP system | | | | user adoption is critical. When evaluating |
| includes: | | | | ERP solutions it is just as important to |
| | | | consider the quality of professional services |
| - Improve decision making & strategic | | | | provided by the vendor just as much as the |
| planning. | | | | core solution capabilities. The successful |
| | | | delivery and adoption of an ERP into a |
| - Improve productivity with greater | | | | company will enable the solution to perform |
| visibility and more automated back-office | | | | to its full potential and provide great |
| processes. | | | | results. |
| | | | |