Posted by Matt Lewis
There’re many things to consider when upgrading your ERP solution: from cost, reliability, and training requirements, to scalability. Today, we’re highlighting 14 keys to help narrow the options and focus on the ongoing needs of your business.
There’re many things to consider when upgrading your ERP solution: from cost, reliability, and training requirements, to scalability. Today, we’re highlighting 14 keys to help narrow the options and focus on the ongoing needs of your business.
1. Emerging Solutions
Technology changes fast. By the time your competitors are upgrading their ERP solutions, odds are that solution is about to jump the shark. Keep your eye on emerging solutions, monitor team workflow, identify needs, and pay attention to areas where you could boost efficiency.
2. Spend to Save
Nothing is free, the challenge is identifying areas where you’re spending more than necessary because of dated systems: laggy software, inefficient data storage, manual updates, and other problems are lurking in your “antiquated systems”, costing untold time and resources. Weigh the costs of inefficiency against the price of upgrades and you’ll find that upgrading is an investment with great return potential.
3. The Price of Success
The benefit that reliable, fast access to information provides your teams can be immeasurable, but difficult to quantify, making them harder to justify to budget-conscious board members. Instead of “pricing” those improvements, consider them aspects with a view to whether they can improve customer relations. Fast, reliable data retrieval will yield higher customer satisfaction, leading to more word-of-mouth referrals and an improved corporate image.
4. Team Change
Involve people from multiple teams across the organization in a “task force” to find a new ERP solution and you’ll reveal issues the existing solution causes up and down the chain from your desk. This provides a rounded case for upgrading and a more cooperative atmosphere during the inevitable chaos of a new system rollout.
5. Expect Strong Solutions
Assessing business software solutions can be problematic. Identify the team’s needs during planning: what reports are useful in boosting profits, productivity, and ROI? Think about the data your business needs and don’t be afraid to ask for it.
6. Seek Specialized Solutions
Determine what makes your firm unique, and focus on those aspects of your model to ensure new ERP solutions meet your current and emerging needs.
7. Shortlist Key Features
Have the team identify must-have, nice-to-have, and “dream world” features based on their usage.
8. Adaptation is Key
Your ERP solution should be flexible enough to meet the current and emerging needs of your thriving business. It’s vital new solutions be as seamless as possible when integrated with existing environments, allowing staff to adapt quickly, and providing the stability that customers expect, while being scalable and customizable for the future.
9. Prioritize Integration
Integrated solutions are extremely attractive for the de-duplication they can offer: time is money, after all. Wherever you integrate business management solutions, you’re can truly maximize ROI for upgrades.
10. Online Integration
Future-proofing is more than providing scalable data for the back-office. Solid, future-facing ERP solutions provide opportunities to extend your business online with traditional and mobile e-business functions, even if your team isn’t “there” yet.
11. Scalable Solutions
Growing businesses need scalable systems – and scalable systems need open architecture. ERP solutions with open architecture allow for flexible scaling, add-on features, and growth.
12. Learn Team Needs
Be familiar with features others rely on and seek ERP solutions with familiar screens and shortcuts to minimize transition/training time.
13. Paperless Possibilities
By rolling out paperless billing, an ERP solution will save you paper, printing, and postage costs.
14. Avoid Early Demos
It’s easy to be seduced by pretty pixels when you haven’t done the due diligence and formed a list of objectives for your ERP upgrade.
These are just of the step you will need to take in order to find the right ERP for your needs. Finding the right ERP solution can change the way you do business. Be sure to properly evaluate your needs before choosing which one to go with.
These are just of the step you will need to take in order to find the right ERP for your needs. Finding the right ERP solution can change the way you do business. Be sure to properly evaluate your needs before choosing which one to go with.
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