Wednesday, November 16, 2011

ERP Solutions are Strategic

In today’s technological world there are Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for just about all industries.  The birth of these solutions came several decades ago when Manufacturers needed better ways to manage their inventory, equipment and personnel.  As the underlying technology improved many people created solutions for other industries.



The name indicates the benefit.  Connect your “Enterprise” by creating a central repository of information that everyone can share and you create opportunities for efficiency.  The more efficient you can be, the greater the profit potential.  Even small reductions in inventory levels from more accurate counts and warehouse management translate to the bottom line.

So is an ERP solution strategic or tactical?  Actually the solution can be both.  It should be in your organizations long term goals or strategic plan to implement the right solution.  How you implement and utilize the enterprise solution is tactical. 

Does your business have all of its information in a central repository?  Can you retrieve the information in a usable format that allows you to make quicker decisions and evaluate your performance? 

Has your company grown enough since your last solution that you have multiple systems patched and linked through manual processes.  Every time you touch the data it gets corrupted.  It is inevitable and you end up making incorrect conclusions about operations.  You find yourself not trusting the system in front of you.  You stare out at the shop floor, your inventory locations and wonder. 

How accurate was your last physical inventory?  How closely does production match your paperwork?  Do you know what the true costs of your inventory items?  Are you paying your employees to do twice the work?  Ouch, these can be costly issues, especially when the economy is so lean and we are all learning how to do more with fewer resources.

You cannot prevent obsolescence, it happens.  You cannot compete in today’s market using old technology.  Every company needs a trusted advisor.   Someone they can turn to for advice.  They usually start with a project manager or consultant and over a period of time that person becomes trusted.  You know you have reached that point when they even recommend other solutions that do not benefit them, just because it is the right solution for you.

We do not know each other, but I invite you to contact us to so we can show you how we are different.  Let us help you calculate what the Return on Investment (ROI) will be so that you will be able to determine the best Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of available new solutions.  Dolvin Consulting is here to help.

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