Frost & Sullivan Africa, in partnership with Syspro, has completed an investigation into the myths and truths about Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). African Fusion presents a short introduction.
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Increasing geopolitical tensions and supply chain shocks have pushed executives to adopt and implement digital solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology to minimise disruptions and maintain business continuity. However, adoption and implementation can have a wide range of outcomes, which has led to many misconceptions, truths and myths around this software.
Advancements in ERP systems have increased the adoption of the software in organisations across a range of industries. Collaboration, efficiency, and flexibility are attributes that have shifted from ‘desired’ to ‘crucial’ in our post-pandemic world. Adopting business processes and digital tools to limit disruption has dominated executive agendas, with recent events revealing just how fragile our systems are to supply chain shocks.
Defined as an end-to-end business tool organisations use to centralise and manage business processes, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has seen widespread adoption across a range of non-traditional industries and market segments over the past decade. Originally designed to manage quality and inventory in large manufacturing enterprises, ERP systems have transformed to support a much wider range of organisations. Today, anything from financial services to distribution businesses, and from small start-ups to large multi-national corporations can afford and derive significant value from ERP systems.
The advanced offerings are now linked into a range of advanced technologies. Insight from an interview with an ERP specialist reveals that, since 2016, ERP systems have seen widespread adoption of cloud services, mobile services, network access and interconnectivity between devices.
This has not only reduced entry barriers and incremental costs, but it has enabled ERP systems to integrate a whole new range of IoT (Internet of Things) and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) devices. The transition will lay the foundation for more ‘advanced technologies’ to be used efficiently and effectively in the years to come, by harvesting data for these advanced applications across various parts of the organisation, from HR to manufacturing.
To truly maximise the benefits of any ERP system, however, it is crucial to have the right expectations, which is why SYSPRO and Frost & Sullivan have released ERP Myths & Truths: Dispelling Misconceptions About Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, which is a white paper that addresses the myths surrounding ERP systems and uncovers the truth about this software.
ERP systems generate vast amounts of data which, if integrated and utilised effectively, can become one of an organisation’s biggest assets. This could include optimisation of supply chains, customer profiling and other business process insights.
The research paper addresses 16 common myths that occur along the four lifecycle phases of ERP systems, including: Decision making; Selection; Implementation; and Managing.
Whether considering buying a first ERP system, switching providers, or looking to maximise an existing investment, this paper uncovers the real truths around these innovative and essential systems.
“If you look at the common ERP misconceptions, it is clear how most companies might be missing out on a true opportunity for growth. From finance to inventory, manufacturing, reporting and more, ERP gives a single source of truth that is used across all the areas of business to consolidate disparate systems and eliminate manual processes. With the many disruptive factors affecting businesses today, there has never been a better time to deploy an ERP solution than right now,” says Doug Hunter, manager for Customer and Ecosystem Enablement at SYSPRO.