Resurrecting Your ERP System

In this Christian Easter season of resurrection and forgiveness is it time to look at you Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with new vision? 

After all, if you are in business today after the last few years, then you have accomplished something great.  It has been tough.  Give yourself a pat on the back and a nod in the mirror. 

 

If my phone and email are any indication you probably receive dozens of calls and hundreds of emails every day.  Everyone seems to have “The Answer” to your challenges.  They all seem to know all-of-a-sudden how your business runs, what is wrong and the miracle solution.  Are they trying to tell you how to run your business?

Really?  How long have they been in business? 

 

Now, in all fairness, length in business alone is not always a fair indication of success.  A lot of people have been displaced and have opened their own business with the talents and skills built in a lifetime.  A famous person said in response to a salesperson’s claim of 20 years of experience (and no new sales) that he really had one year of experience 20 times and perhaps he needed to look at what he was doing and how with a new perspective. 

 
You cannot do what you have always done and expect the same results.

Times are a changing.  Your ERP system has updates.  The world is changing and there is a need to stay “current”.  What worked in the past may not work well with the future.  Think about how you do banking now.  It is still leveraging income, expenses and cash flow.  But, how do you interact with your financial institution?  Are you using their online services?  Balance inquiries, statements, transactions, transfers?

 

In what way is your financial institution servicing your needs and the needs of their customers in general?  Is customer service a key component?  Forget for the moment the fees they tack on to seemingly everything, are they customer focused?  After all how different are all of these separate banks? 

 

I see it all the time at networking meetings.  This somebody tells me how great their bank is and how wonderful life is there.  Then six months later they are working at a competitor’s bank and guess what?  I hear how wonderful they are and how they are customer centric and they now have the tools to service their customers better.  All they did is switch business cards.  What is missing is that they are the key ingredient.  If they learn to listen and service their customers, then when they switch banks in another year, their customers will follow. 

 

It is customer service and relationships that matter most.

 

So, what does this have to do with resurrecting your ERP system?  Everything. 

 

You may actually have everything you need at your fingertips.  You may just not be utilizing what you have.  Have you turned on all of the interfaces?  Can you properly cost your manufactured items?  Are you taking advantage of all of your part discounts from your suppliers?  What about vendor discounts?  The list is long. 

 

What are you doing now?  How can that change?  Do you need to change?

 

Perhaps you just need to stop making changes and take advantage of the upgrades you are already entitled to now.  Most ERP providers today charge an initial license fee and an annual license fee.  The initial fee is what you pay to get started.  The annual fee is your payment of confidence that the solution provider is constantly looking to providing great service to their customers, listening to your needs and upgrading their solution to meet changing demands.  It is how the ERP provider stays in business.  Service their customer’s needs.

 

You need to service your customer’s needs too.  Otherwise, they will go else ware.  A happy customer is loyal and a loyal customer refers business to you.  When is the last time any one of your customers sent you a referral?  When is the last time you sent a referral to someone else?  It is a two way street. 

 

Resurrecting your aging systems may mean new training, upgrading or perhaps selecting a new system, because your customers are worth the investment.

 

How do you know which if anything should change?  That is where your trusted advisor comes in and even if you already have one, maybe you need new eyes.  A long time advisor is a great asset.  But when can that relationship hurt you?  If they know you so well as to shy away from what you need for any type of fear, loss of business, hurt feelings, etc, then they have lost their objectivity.   I am not suggesting you terminate that relationship.  They still are a great asset and can contribute in many ways, but you also need to look out for your business.

 

At Dolvin Consulting we leverage our relationships with industry experts to help your team look at what you are already doing to see if a resurrection is necessary.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  After all, you may just find out that you are already doing everything you can.  That would be a nice feeling, would it not? 

 

There are all types of solutions at all levels of investment.  That does not mean they fit your budget.  What can you do now to prepare the way for the future?  What are your options?  What will your business look like in 5-10 years?  Will your current solution provider be able to keep up?  Will they still be in business?  Will they be bought out by another company that does not care about you? 

 

The time to build you new relationship is now.  Contact us to see how we can help.