Competitive Advantage

10 Pages 2375 Words

address the needs of part of the enterprise, creating islands of automation and a need for integration that requires considerable effort. A typical ERP system gives you an 80% solution. You must still implement the remaining 20% to fit your enterprise needs. In the end, you will pay more for customizing this last 20% than for the entire ERP application. It is not unusual for companies to spend millions of dollars to implement an ERP system. ERP requires the re-engineering of a company's process and culture. With solutions like SAP you must change your operations and processes to match the logic of the ERP package. ERP must be integrated with the rest of the IS environment. They must build the infrastructure that ties their new ERP package with their existing mainframes, DBMSs, data warehouses, Web servers, and email systems.

Thus a proper implementation of the system will provide a competitive advantage, based on the company integrating the system with its own processes to make it unique, and the cost and time put in will be offset by the benefits of the system. The first step in a successful implementation project is gaining a solid understanding of ERP systems and benefits in relation to your own business expectations. Now it is up to the company to take the implementation to the extent of fitting in with their business processes. Many competitors will have an ERP system but it is useless if it is not integrated with the company's business processes. Its like any tool, you must know how to utilize it for it to be an asset, but first you must evaluate the tool to see if it will fit in with your business, as every business is unique. Some important points to be kept in mind while evaluating an ERP software include: 1) Functional fit with the Company's business processes 2) Degree of integration between the various components of the ERP system 3) Flexibility and scalability 4) Complexity; user friendliness 5) Quick implementation...