If it has been four years or longer since you installed your current ERP system, you’re probably beginning to struggle with it, even if you don’t quite realise it yet. Like a subconscious noise you just sort-of tune out, the need for a new ERP strategy only becomes clear when someone points out the signs all around you.
Upgrading your ERP system can be difficult – but if you’re seeing any of the following signs, it has also become vital.
Sign 1: Processes Driven by ‘Work-Arounds’
The first-generation ERP systems were very inflexible, and businesses that sought to take advantage of them often had to reinvent their internal processes to conform. Even if your system is later-generation, as the system ages businesses usually wind up compensating at first by altering departmental processes. If generating a specific report takes a long time due to aging software, you can deal with it by shifting around internal deadlines.
Eventually, this becomes untenable, as your processes are a hopeless tangle of hot-fixes designed simply to compensate for an aging software environment. Once you realise this, you know it’s time to upgrade the ERP system.
Sign 2: Lack of System Integration
If your system’s technology has become outdated and integrating new systems has become difficult – or even impossible – the time has come to consider upgrading. Otherwise you’re losing the advantage that using cutting-edge systems and software can offer – your ERP is slowing you down.
Sign 3: Lack of Support
If the software vendor who sold and installed your ERP has been merged, acquired – or gone out of business – and you’re finding it increasingly difficult to get effective support, patches, or security help, that’s an intolerable situation. A new ERP system will immediately rectify this and allow your business to get back to the cutting edge – where it belongs.
Sign 4: Inefficient (Or Impossible) Reporting
Has getting useful reports out of your ERP system in a timely manner (or at all?) become a challenge? The data trapped inside your ERP is of incredible benefit and value to your organisation – but only if you can extract it in coherent and timely reports. If this has become a struggle, it’s a clear sign that it’s time to investigate your options.
Sign 5: Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
The Total Cost of Ownership is the sum total of all costs associated with an asset – and your ERP’s TCO goes up every year when you consider both hard (software, hardware, power, staffing) and soft costs (like training people on outdated software, response time deficits, having to include additional reporting tools, etc.). At a certain point, the TCO of your existing ERP system is greater than the cost of purchasing and maintaining a new ERP.
As you can see the signs are there, and the signs are clear: It’s time for a new ERP System. Need help? We’d be happy to discuss your current situation and your options for going forward at any time – Our team can be contacted on 1300 583 097 or marketing@endeavouraust.com.au.
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