How Do You Know When It’s Time to Upgrade Your ERP System?

The introduction of ERP can be easily called a revolutionary step, not only from a technical perspective but also from the business one.

Now, Why do we say that?

Well! Let’s start with a brief introduction to what an ERP is to help you understand that better.

To explain without using much technical jargon, we can say that ERPs are systems that combine, interpret, and make good use of data from an organization.

In simpler terms, an Enterprise Resource Planning System combines CRM, accounting, database management, inventory control, and many similar systems. It helps an organization maintain, manage and use the complete information running through their organization in a centralized manner.

The way it transformed business operational capabilities is remarkable, and thus, we call it revolutionary.

Most of the successful businesses you know have their ERP systems working day and night to create a better product cycle, an improved customer engagement cycle, and many other operations.

Problems With Inefficient ERP Solutions

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If you own a business, you might have got one for yourself too. But wait! When was the last time your ERP systems received an overhaul or an upgrade?

Can’t recall any such instance? That’s not just you, but it’s the common mistake made by most ERP owners.

Change is the only constant; that’s true for life and in the case of ERPs, too. The follow up question from here onwards would be, how do you know when it’s time to upgrade your ERP system?

For that, we have to analyze our current ERP system and find out if it’s in accordance with the organization’s business goals or not.

Listed below are a few problems that might arise when using an inefficient ERP system. If you are familiar with even one of the problems listed here, you need new ERP systems.

Underperformance Due To Use Of Legacy Technology

You have a well-oiled ERP system that is working on its full potential, and it’s giving you results too. But when you are compared with other businesses operating in the same domain as yours, you always get negative feedback.

The reason is that your ERP systems are underperforming and pulling you down in an uber-competitive world. You might be using outdated legacy technology software that cannot compete with new and advanced methods used by the latest implementations.

Need Of New & Efficient Methods

You may need to switch to a new system if you cannot make full use of your current ERP systems.

There can be several issues that cause this, including the system operating through a complex UI that your staff is having a hard time handling; the system may be lacking specific features, or even – there’s something you just don’t like about the system.

Economic Needs Over Functionalities

In business, there’s always a phase where saving economic resources is a priority to keep your business up and running. So, here you can make a switch to ERPs offering lower prices than your current ones.

Assess your current requirements and go for a solution that gives you just the right amount of features at a competitively lower price.

No Real-Time Connectivity and Mobility

If your current system cannot use the power of the internet in the contemporary world, which lives on connectivity, then it’s a waste to have them.

Switch to a new system that uses cloud-based methods of accessibility and makes the whole operations mobile.

Primarily all the new ERPs are using the SaaS structure. They are hosted over the internet and are accessible at all times from any given location.

The Problem Of Unscalability

One of the significant advantages of switching to new systems is the scalability factor. You can always opt for resources according to your current usage.

If your current ERP is not scalable and you need to make a major adjustment every time you’re looking to scale up, then it’s time for a change.

Requirement For A Custom Build

Your current systems might be new, and they have all the new features that one can think of, but it’s still not working for your specific needs. Then you require a tailor-made solution made for your business only.

In such cases, the switch is made where a new system is developed according to your requirements only. Generally, larger organizations with a global footprint go for this kind of enterprise solution.

How To Choose The Right ERP For Your Business Needs?

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At this point, we know that having an inefficient ERP implementation is somewhat similar to not having an ERP at all.

The whole reason you have an ERP system is to process data. The prevalent and hidden factor in all the problems we listed with ERPs above was the inefficient data processing.

One can say that faster and efficient data processing has become the need of the day rather than just being a requirement due to the fast pace at which data is generated today.

So, to solve the problem at hand, we’ll look into what kind of ERP software we should switch to.

Now, if you ask anyone with sizable domain knowledge of ERP systems, you’d only get one recommendation: SAP S/4HANA.

The reason behind such recommendation is, SAP is an industry leader in the domain. Moreover, their systems are being used in every known field of business and by almost every enterprise worldwide.

SAP S/4HANA was introduced back in 2015, and it has already had a transformational effect. From variable deployment methods such as cloud-based or on a local environment to being much faster, reliable, secure, and so on, this business suite from SAP contains it all.

Moreover, it has a simple design, is easy to understand, and has many other benefits like making complex calculations while giving real-time outputs of the same data.

Embedded with Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Machine Learning, and more, have made it an efficient solution for processing bulk data and creating meaningful use.

These systems are efficient when you’re working with them, but the implementation procedure is critical. To make the process quick and hassle-free, there are several tools that can assist your business in the migration to SAP S/4HANA.

How To Efficiently Shift To a New ERP System?

Implementing changes is never an easy task, since change is often accompanied by resistance.

Whether you’re switching to a healthy lifestyle or a new ERP, you’re bound to face moments where you would rather go back to the old, familiar and easy ways.

But luckily, with the development of new technologies, brand new implementation methods are also being made. One such methodology that is a little less known but quite effective is CI or change Intelligence.

With the use of CI, you know when and how to make the changes in a given timeframe. Every move is calculated and organized so that you face minimal problems while the change is seamlessly happening in the background.

The result is the full implementation of the software or methodology gradually without disrupting your current business operations.

Conclusion

We covered how to analyze your current ERP system when problems such as usage of legacy technology, need for efficient methods, economic issues, and real-time connectivity issues arise. In such situations, you require the implementation of a new ERP system.

To solve the issues faced with inefficient ERP systems, SAP S/4HANA is introduced as a probable solution. It comes with massive advantages such as variable deployment methods, including cloud support, much more extensive data processing capabilities, faster speeds, and easy-to-use UI.

Lastly, the time to implement SAP S/4HANA is inversely proportional to the time it saves while processing. Thus to consider that, one can look for probable solutions, such as implementing SAP S/4HANA through Change Intelligence.

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