Question

1)Why do you think it is so difficult to find successful ERP implementation?
2. How do you think cloud computing will help ERP implementations find success?
3. What advice would you give a company deciding to implement an ERP system?
4. How can integrating SCM, CRM, and ERP help improve business operations at your school?

Answer 1

1) Most Medium and large cap enterprise have ERP system in place as it is the most important control tool available. There are various ERP platforms available like SAP, ORACLE, Tally etc. Futher, within each ERP system, there are different modules available like Production Planning, Material Management, Warehouse management, Payroll etc. While most organisations know that ERP is pivotal in sustainability and profitability of the company, many find it difficult to implement it successfully. Reasons are :

a) Lack of Training - Any ERP system requires training of employees in order to use it successfully. Companies need to make superusers who are masters in using ERP and can train other employees to use the basic ERP commands

b) Lack of customisation - ERPs need to be customised to the respective nusiness and customer codes needs to bought in order to make ERP effective. However, organisations, in order to cut costs do not spend on customization and end up taking the most basic version which does not serve the purpose

c) Changing Mentality - For on organisation which has always been working on spreadsheets and manual billing, it is very difficiult to convince people to start using ERP. Most often, organisations end up only using the invoicing and accounting feature of SAP and not the material management, propduction planning part.

2. Cloud computing is the buzz work when it comes to implementing ERP these days. Cloud computing allows the business data to be stored in remote servers i.e. the companies dont have to buy the servers. This solves major problem of maintainance of the servers and data theft. One of the main issues that organisations face in implementing ERP is the untimely crashing of servers. Since maintaining the servers is not the core activity of the organisations they dont possess expertise in this area. Cloud computing relieves companies from the headache of server crashing and data theft.

3. I would give the following advice :

a) Go for remote servers

b) Choose the right ERP system depending on the nature of use. If the purpose is just invoicing, ERP as simple as Tally is sufficient. If ERP is going to be used for other purpose like MM, PP, Payroll etc, go for better ERP systems like SAP

c) Get customised ZCodes for your specific use

d) Train all the employees both on how to use ERP as well as importance of using ERP and not bypassing it

4. Implementing SCM, CRM & ERP in a school is an interesting idea. It can bring the staff, the students, the parents & the vendors on one platform. It can help integrate lot of data and generate complex reports which can be used for analysis both by teachers and the management.

For example, the ERP will contain the stocks of all lab equipments like beakers, flasks, masks etc. Max and min levels of all these stocks can be defined in the system. Every time a beaker or a flask is broken by a student, the lab incharge can post the same in the ERP and if the inventory falls below the min level, automatic schedule to the vendor can be relased so that the missing beaker gets replaced without delay

Another example is Storing data regarding students like attendance, grades, exam schedules, sports activities etc can all be stored in ERP and can be used by both teachers and students and parents for identifying strengths and improvement points of the students. It can also be used to find a group of students with similar abilities and skills for a group activity or a competition.

There can be endless applications, i have just cited two.

I hope this helped!