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ERP Testing ERP Business Analysts ERP Contracting ERP Data Migration ERP Reasons to Get One ERP Forces Changes in Business Rules ERP One ERP is the same as any other ERP ERP Security is OXYMORON ERP The Whole is Bigger than the Parts
More MBA questions randomly answered. Who knows what they teach in these business courses or what type of student would ask me a question, but I give it a go.> Hi stephen, > > I was browsing internet for my project for my MBA > class and came across your website. > > I am doing a project "selecting a ERP vendor". Main > objective of the project is to find "ERP Vendor" for > our XYZ company. > > Doing further analysis, I am stuck at collecting > following information. > > -> in real life, what are the business needs of the > company that makes them buy ERP software. > > -> for e.g. If i have a XYZ company, with 1000 > employees, manufacturing unit, 5 offices in US. > We are currently using a custom system to support > out business needs. But why should our company go > for ERP software and not use the custom system. > > Above questions are random. If you could help me or > direct me where I can find answers to above questions, > it will be helpful. > > Thanks -- NiravHello Nirav, Good luck on your project. In my opinion ERP software should be used for business needs that do not make the company money. For example, UPS, the shipping company, should not use an ERP to track package inventory, shipments, logistics, routing. That is how UPS makes money, they have to be better than anyone else in those processes and ERP are rarely the best at any one thing. Human resources, payroll, accounting, equipment maintenance, other inventory, and orders might be candidates for ERP for a company like UPS. These processes might be easier to manage with a coordinated ERP package and make no money for the company, they are overhead. What reasons would a company go with ERP instead of internal software? Maybe the company was moving from old hardware-software and must change the internal system anyway. The Y2K move from mainframe and obsolete architectures caused a boom in ERP sales, as companies looked at pouring millions into old systems and thought that instead, they should shove millions into newer architectures and software. But maybe the idiot CEO read an article in a magazine, or a competitor got some ERP gewgaw in SAP or PeopleSoft. Or they just fired the MIS group and lost the ability to manage custom software. Many times I have seen management decisions to buy ERP that make no sense at all and are major failures that lead to the losses in the company. These are also "real life" reasons that ERP are implemented.