ERP Trends - Future of Enterprise Resource Planning

 

ERP software, in the beginning were intended to provide enterprise wide solution for all business activities with single application and single data repository, but today ERP is headed towards another direction and may start appearing quite different in near future. SAP and Oracle have been the giants of ERP industry and even these companies have shown clear signals of changing their strategy and planning to provide more practical solutions to their customers rather than sticking to the old theory of ERP software.

 

 

 

The change which ERP software seems to adopt in near future is to have more modular approach than striving to resolve the problems of businesses with one single application. In the effort of providing one single application with all the functionality for all core business aspects ERP software have become more robust and thereby more and more complex and costly to implement. Today many companies use big ERP software at their head offices and small, easy to implement 2 tier software at work locations, these software are from different companies so sometimes problems with integration and communications arise, but companies manage such issues because they are manageable and inflict much lesser expenses and time wastage than implementing a big ERP at each location.

 

 

Fabricated ERP solutions with set of applications where each application having deep functionality for a single business aspect like HCM, CRM, SCM, Financial management etc with complete and easy integration facilities with other applications is the future form of ERP. This gives user the leverage to switch onto ERP with step by step approach and also does not require dedication of all the human and financial resources for ERP implementation. Such a suite will have more solution-oriented applications and since all the applications will interact with one data repository and will also be able to communicate with each other in real time so all the benefits of ERP software which were perceived at the beginning will remain intact.

 

ERP solutions inclined and equipped with more and more e-commerce facilities and tools shall come up in near future. The availability of this feature in ERP software has opened up gates for midsize companies to make their presence felt in the global markets and in order to attract more and more users from this sector, e-commerce facilities shall hold the prime place in all the ERP company's marketing and designing strategies in future.

 

Hosted ERP, cloud computing, on demand and SaaS were all introduced in order to capture mid-size and small sector companies by providing economical and easy to use solutions. The time and money involved with on-premise ERP software scared SME for opting for ERP solutions despite of its huge benefits, with these solutions minimum IT infrastructure is required and very less time is needed for implementation, this gives SME companies an ideal solution to utilize ERP benefits for growing and expanding their business. Such offers with more eased out licensing models and facilities are expected in future to attract more and more small and midsize buyers. Strong data security features and advanced ways of keeping backup of the user's data will also come up to increase trust and credibility of such solutions even in the eyes of large organizations.

 

Synnove Systems provides quality SAP Consulting Services in the region with our regional offices in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our award winning team bring innovation and differentiated capabilities that help Clients create value and deliver business outcomes. Synnove Systems is set to become a market leader in Enterprise Business Solutions. Synnove Systems – One of the competent ERP Company in Malaysia‎, best accounting software Malaysia, ERP systems Malaysia, best ERP software in Malaysia‎

 

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How to select a new ERP system?

 

ERP software selection or how to select ERP can be a tough question to answer. It is an important issue and the right selection leads to a successful implementation. While doing the ERP software selection, the management should keep the time frame required for implementation, cost of the implementation, customization time and cost in mind. Enterprise Resource Management system integrates the various functions of the business organizations such as Human Resources, Finances, Production planning, Sales, inventory, etc. The implementation requires a lot of time, money and effort and so the management should know how to select ERP correctly. An ERP system provides many benefits to an organization and increases the productivity of the organization.

 

ERP software selection depends on many factors and can be a tough decision to make since there are a number of ERP packages in the market. Since there are so many options, making the right ERP software selection has to be done carefully. To select ERP, one should study the business requirements and select the one which is best suited to the organization. A proper ERP selection can deliver many benefits within time and budget allotted. A proper system selection methodology includes a structured approach. Everyone involved should be aware of the format of selecting the vendor. The vendor should offer focused demonstrations that are relevant to the business. This will help to make a proper decision.

 

 

The management should be fully involved in the decision as the ERP system involves nearly all the departments of the organization. The top management should participate in the selection of the vendor and other activities. How to select ERP can be a complex decision which will have economic consequences; therefore, the right ERP software selection has to be made.

 

Sometimes the companies make some mistakes which leads to improper ERP software selection. The requirements have to be studies well before and after the ERP is implemented and without doing this; one may make a wrong selection. Some people stress on the cost factor alone ignoring other factors. If the management is not properly involved in the decision on how to select ERP, it may be done by just one department or one person which may be biased to his department. An understanding of the offer given by the vendor must be well understood else it can lead to delays. ERP systems also fail when there is a lack of knowledge inside the company. A consultant with sound knowledge should be appointed. Vendors should be chosen keeping their track record in mind.

 

The ERP software selection is for long term so one should ensure that the product being bought will stay long term. The requirement for the ERP software should be established initially and then the right ERP selection team should be put together. The ERP software should be able to adapt to the business by being flexible enough. Also, the ERP software selection should be based on the number of organizations using the software. A high number would mean lesser risks. Keep the above factors in mind while deciding on how to select ERP for your organization.

 

 

Synnove Systems provides quality SAP Consulting Services in the region with our regional offices in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our award winning team bring innovation and differentiated capabilities that help Clients create value and deliver business outcomes. Synnove Systems is set to become a market leader in Enterprise Business Solutions. Synnove Systems – One of the competent IT consulting companies in Malaysia‎, ERP software Malaysia, ERP system Malaysia, SAP Malaysia sdn bhd. 

 

3 International Business Park,
#03-31 Nordic European Centre,
Singapore 609927

 

 

 

 

What is ERP and How It Can Help Your Business Grow?

 

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a software package through which an organization achieves an integrated system of data and processes. An ERP system combines all the elementary functions of an organization irrespective of its business or charter. ERP software undertakes to unify all departments and functions in a company onto a single computer system that serves the specific needs of all those departments.

 

The entire functionality of an organization is enclosed in a single package that would be covered by two or more systems. An example of such software could be an accounting software which offers both the Payroll and Accounting functions. The entire business runs more efficiently with a single software program performing for the requirements of those in human resources as well as in finance and in the warehouse.

 

Normally, each department in a company is embellished with computer systems, which are optimized in such a way, to carry out specific functions of a department. However, with ERP all of them are threaded together into a single software program that runs a single database. This enables all the departments to share the information and communicate with each other.

 

Implementing of ERP

 

The implementation of ERP software does not involve any "in-house" skill. This is why the cost of smaller projects can be reduced if specialist ERP implementation consultants are hired. The time required for ERP implementation essentially depends on the size of the business, and other factors such as the ambit of changes, customers consenting to take ownership of the project. While a small project (like less staff) may just take three months to plan and deliver, a multi-site or multi-country implementation may take years to complete.

 

An interesting feature of ERP implementation is that the company who purchases the ERP product takes over the ownership of the project. For implementation, the companies go for an ERP vendor or third-party consulting companies. There are three areas of professional services offered by the ERP firms - consulting, supportive and customization.

 

Consulting Services

 

The consulting team handles the responsibility of initial ERP implementation. It also conducts the delivery of work until it goes live. Normally their work includes product training; creation of process triggers and workflow; optimization of the system; and enhancement of reports, complex data extracts or implementing Business Intelligence; and specialist advice to improve the way ERP can boost the business.

 

The team also undertakes the most critical part of the project - planning and jointly testing the implementation. In the larger ERP projects, consulting is done in three levels: systems architecture (the overall dataflow), business process consulting (mainly re-engineering) and technical consulting (basically programming and tool configuration).

 

Generally, the cost of the ERP implementation in most of the mid-sized companies ranges from the list price of the ERP user licenses to double of that amount, which depends on the level of customization. However, the large companies spend much more on the implementation than on the cost of the user licenses.

 

Customization Services

 

The process of customization involves extending or changing the way system works using new user interfaces and application code. Customization normally reflects the work practices, which are not presently in the core routines of the ERP system software.

 

For instance, the code may include an early adopter features like the mobility interfaces, which were rarely used earlier. There are other examples such as interfacing to third party applications (it is easy customization for larger implementations as there are typically dozens of ancillary systems with which core ERP software interacts). During the ERP up gradation, professional service team is also involved to determine whether customizations are compatible with the new release.

 

One of the major considerations in the ERP package is that it can be very expensive and complicated. So most business use the top practices embedded in the acquired ERP system.

 

The customization work is usually undertaken as tailored software development on a time and materials basis. There are many cases where the work delivered as customization does not include the ERP vendors Maintenance Agreement. Therefore, there is no obligation on the ERP vendor to warrant that the code works with the next upgrade the core product. However, if there were no description on how to use the customization, the effort would be sheer waste as it is quite difficult to train new staff in the work practice that the customization delivers.

 

Support Services

 

After installation of the system, the ERP consulting company enters into a Support Agreement, which ensures that the staff could run ERP software in an optimal way. This is conducted by a committee headed by the consultant through participative management approach, already decided during the design stage with the client's heads of departments.