(September Issue) ERP (enterprise resource management) systems are in-depth solutions that cover multiple facets in your company and are designed to simplify business processes and ease the burden on your workforce. “ERP is a term used to describe the software a company uses to run its business on,” says China Martens, an analyst with Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) in the area of application development and delivery. “It’s a combination of accounting and inance, human resources management, order management, procurement, project management, and vertical business processes speciic to the industry or industries the company operates in.”
But having a definition for ERP doesn’t necessarily make its importance abundantly clear. Yes, it’s a large part of your business, but it’s difficult to know what constitutes an ERP system and how you should go about implementing or upgrading one. We’ll show you some of the major beneits of utilizing the full capabilities of ERP and help you determine whether or not you’re company will beneit from implementing a new system.
YOU MAY ALREADY HAVE IT: If you’re asking yourself whether or not ERP is necessary for your business, George Goodall, senior research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group (www.infotech.com), has a simple answer: “ERP is essential for companies of all sizes.” But you may also be surprised to know that your company more than likely already has a functioning ERP system, even if that isn’t what you call it. “Any company or organization that has to manage financials and assets within the enterprise has some sort of ERP system,” says Goodall. “The real issue that people have is that in many cases the systems that people use might be underpowered or lack features.”