11/03/2008 by Justice Odei Som.

The ‘GO’ for a Packaged Software solution is one of the biggest challenges faced by organizations. While some parties will be advocating for its importance others will be more interested in the failure issues evident in history. The solution to this decision should always lie in a comprehensive business case the new system. The merits of an of enterprise systems implementation are as huge as the failure implications. If business managers only concentrate on the expected benefits thereby neglecting possible failures, it can lead to the collapse of the company.

Packaged Software adoption process requires as stated earlier requirements definition and other business drivers. These drivers could be seen as a migration from an already existing system to an enterprise-wide system. The ‘need’ is defined by the following migration processes:
 From Intra-Company to Inter-Company
 Reaching out to Suppliers
 Reaching out to Customers
 Reaching out to alliances
 Reaching out to Competitors
 Social Integration through global networking
 Technology of Extended Reach
 Beyond fax –Electronic Document Interchange
 Inter-Company Databases and Applications
 Online Collaboration

The migration process has impacted companies with both negative and positive consequences. The implications of cost and the accompanying benefits put most at risk. From above, it could be inferred that the highest point to attaining a competitive edge is by integrating all functional areas of the business. Research in business integration, have for the past been on the integration of marketing, R&D and sales. This proved useful but with the emergence of information system, it has been observed that integrating marketing with technical functions (IT) provide excellent results and also, increases company-wide initiatives. Also, without efficient interaction, an effective integration will not be achieved and it is enhanced by information flow. Organizational systems need to interact with both people and processes of the organization with all being in phase. Organizations are today operating in integrative environments that include competitors, suppliers and partners.

This makes it sound good, if customer data and the cost of developing new applications are available to many to share. The Packaged Software implementation decision could be from either the attainment of business process efficiency, technological push as depicted by the competition, or an information technology perspective. In any of the three scenarios, it will be better for organizations to define the need critically with reference to the current situation, future prospects of the organization, and a comprehensive business case.

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21/12/2007 by Justice Odei Som.

Stove-piped systems allow data to flow slowly and in batches requiring repackaging and at times reentry to facilitate its flow across different functional departments of an organisation. The zeal to integrate all business functions and ensure compliance across multi-functional departments has posed a challenge to business-IT/IS managers. The result was to set up a data warehouse available to the organisation. This serves the purpose of meeting all departmental needs and also securing both the customer and supplier. ERP package software integrates the business and IT service functions of the organisation beyond the firm’s boundaries. Certain organizations have software  systems that  perform some or most of the functional duties of an ERP package software, but the ability of ERP to automate all business functions in a unique fashion makes ‘its appeal clear’ to business (Hitt, Wu and Zhou, 2001).

The most widely used ERP systems is the SAP R/3 which was introduced in 1992 by SAP AG. It will interest you to know that two of the best world software companies IBM and Microsoft run their business on SAP R/3. ERP standardized and integrated environment provides a level of interoperability that no standalone system can meet. To achieve it will be very expensive to justify. The integrated nature of ERP allows data entered at one part of the process cycle to be carried forward to the next part of the cycle for further or future processing. ERP systems have made legacy systems outdated. The case of Owens Corning confirms this assertion. The business went from having more than 200 legacy systems to fewer than 10 (Bae and Ashcroft, 2004).

The selection and acquisition of an ERP package could be a difficult process requiring expertise in both business and IT. The process should be dictated by the business needs and financial capability of the organisation. By finance, I mean the total understanding of the cost and risk factors involved in an ERP implementation project. The ERP market has grown and is still growing. It has been forecasted that about 70%-80% of multinational firms will use the package software by 2010 (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2004). This growth and popularity is attributed to a number of factors which will be stated later in this chapter of the study. In 1993 for example, ERP revenue in North America was $319 million, and then it experienced a 55 fold increase reaching at a peak of $17.7 billion by the close of 1999, a further 30% increase took the total revenue to $23 billion in 2000 (Pang, 2001)………….

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