Companies that have taken the leap into the ERP Age, wiring up their operations across the organisation, are soaking up the benefits of having real-time, accurate, and crisp facts and figures delivered to every desktop so greedily that they've forgotten about the messier half of information management.So this is the other side to the picture.
WHILE ERP integrates all kinds of data-no matter where in the organisation it originates-into a single, accurate, updated body of information available to everyone, it can only work with structured, formatted, objectively-verifiable facts and figures.
ERP software is designed to model and automate all the basic processes of a company, from finance to the shop floor, with the goal of integrating information across the company and eliminating complex, expensive links between computer systems that were never meant to talk to each other. ERP may be an enabler of quick and result-oriented decision-making. But it is passive as it only provides information that managers ask for, without ensuring that they act upon it.
DEMANDING AS it does the installation of expensive hardware, extensive customisation of the software, and time-consuming planning and implementation, converting an organisation to ERP is a long-drawn-out process, which often impedes operations for months.To be noted is the fact that an ERP package may not provide a readymade solution to all the operational woes of a company. In order to ensure that the software is truly effective, a crucial factor that needs to be assessed is its adaptability to the business environment.
DEPLOYING a highly business-oriented package like ERP needs proper planning and implementation based on the requirements of an organization.
In order to make the ERP package truly beneficial for the company and its employees, it is also important for the management to involve end users in the decision making process. Their needs and problems have to be identified so that the abominable ERP becomes more manageable.
