World events in recent years have driven shifts across industry which in turn, have forced organisations to rethink the way in which they operate. A combination of the pandemic, Brexit, war and impending recession, have driven a more urgent need to invest in digital capabilities which can deliver the agility and resilience which has become paramount in a volatile world.
When looking at ERP in particular, this means a rethink of the traditional rules and features to look for in some cases. But what, specifically, are the new rules, and how can they be applied to ensure organisations source the most modern, relevant capabilities from which to thrive in a turbulent economy?
The first point to consider here is that there has been an evolution of the role of the CFO. No longer focused solely on looking retrospectively at the numbers, the modern CFO is forward-looking, and requires an understanding of business drivers in order to apply meaning to numbers and make predictions on the future. The impact on ERP is that is cannot be the system of record that it once was. It has to be intuitive, dynamic and provide easy to access insights from which to inform decision-making. The right ERP should afford users the agility to make decisions at a moment’s notice, with those decisions underpinned by comprehensive, accurate, real-time financial insight.
Accelerated by Covid, cloud has rapidly matured to become the preferred option for many organisations looking at new ERP. But depending on the existing infrastructure, and demands of the organisation, a hybrid approach can be a more suitable option in the short to medium term. Traditional on-premise solutions run on a organisation’s own servers, and they are responsible for all associated administration and expenses, from deployment, operations, support, customisation, integration, maintenance and upgrades. In the modern digital era, this approach can prove costly, but for companies who have invested heavily in infrastructure, it can sometimes be more cost effective in the short term to maintain this model. A hosted, or Software as a Service model, represents more of a hybrid approach, whereby software physically resides at a remote data centre and is supported by a third-party hosting provider. This model removes the need to maintain hardware infrastructure, and associated up front capital expenditure. What it doesn’t eliminate is the same costs for customisations, upgrades, integration, and support and service as with an on-premise model. Full, or multi-tenant, cloud is clearly the future. Cloud ERP, on the other hand, delivers capabilities directly to the users’ desktops, with the flexibility and scale to expand with the business’ demands, and regular, automatic updates to avoid the need to schedule expensive and disruptive upgrades. Because it is operated from a single system with a single set of resources, application infrastructure and database, there is no upfront capital investment.
In-depth system knowledge is a given when it comes to ERP providers, but sector experience and expertise is often missing. The right provider should have experience in your particular industry, understanding the specific challenges you face and knowing exactly which capabilities of your chosen solution you can exploit to not only derive optimum value but to meet these challenges head-on.
In a world where visibility is fundamental to make the best decisions, having systems which are integrated and can facilitate a comprehensive view of operations is key. Cloud facilitates the kind of integration necessary via APIs and web services, and through selecting a system which encompasses all core business process, such as Opera 3 SQL SE, the need for multiple third party integrations is minimised.
Implementation success and a strong track record are the obvious ones, but be sure to look at the detail, whether that pertains to security or data ownership. The right vendor should be able to clearly define the ROI associated with your investment and work with you to create a business case which can be used to secure buy-in from all relevant parties.
Managing the pace of change inherent across all business now means selecting the right digital ERP capabilities from which to underpin strategy, and establishing a dynamic plan which can be reviewed, revised and updated as the demands of the business dictate, or market conditions change.
With a plethora of options to choose from, it’s vital that organisations understand what to look for in a system, and can evaluate the respective merits of on-premise, hybrid or cloud as deployment models. Few would argue that cloud is the future, but timing is key and its benefits must be balanced against existing infrastructure and business demands. Regardless of your chosen ERP, it should unequivocally deliver greater efficiency and faster financial closes, insight-led decision-making and agility, and real-time visibility and reporting from which to inform strategy.
Through considering the new rules and all-important questions to ask when selecting a new system, organisations can ensure they’re in the best position to maximise ROI and win market share in what are increasingly turbulent markets.
Posted On: November 23, 2022
