User Review
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Legacy ERP- With large, well-known enterprises on one end of the competitive landscape and rising startups emerging on the other, growing businesses face an interesting dilemma. Every single competitor is working to deliver the best products, 24 x 7 services, and responsive customer experiences. But at a time when time, capital, and resources are extraordinarily tight, growing companies need to make a permanent shift in their ERP strategy to address evolving needs and fuel sustainable growth.
Take, for example, this research finding from IDC. Although revenue growth is understandably a top priority for 41% of surveyed small and medium-size businesses, 35.4% identified legacy applications and
custom code as top barriers to meeting that goal.1 And in most cases, the most problematic technology is an ERP system implemented years ago as a system of historical records, outdated insights, and little to no visibility into future opportunities and risks.
So how do you know whether your business is part of the 35.4% that has outgrown legacy ERP? According to IDC’s Mickey North Rizza, program vice president of Enterprise Applications and Digital Commerce, growing businesses should watch out for any of the five warning signs.
Sign #1: Massive data left unused
Every organization collects large volumes of data every day, internally and externally. But when growing companies move from a legacy ERP to a more intelligent one, they are usually caught off guard when they see how much valuable, much-needed intelligence is left unused. Worse yet, frustration across the leadership team intensifies when it considers opportunities missed from not tapping that wealth of knowledge.
Understanding the importance of getting the most value from all data, Sothis quickly realized that its legacy ERP couldn’t generate the comprehensive insight needed to increase profitability and gain a substantial edge over the competition. The consulting firm, which helps clients digitalize their operations throughout Spain and beyond, gained total visibility over its customer projects – standardizing processes, increasing profitability, simplifying system maintenance, and accelerating the introduction of new innovations.
Sign #2: Disconnected user experiences
Connecting employees, suppliers, and customers to relevant resources and data points is critical to meeting everyone’s expectations. Unfortunately, most organizations have spent years developing and adopting different ERP tools, such as custom functionality and spreadsheet-driven analytics. In return, the ERP landscape becomes so overly complex that applications, processes, and data are challenging to maintain and integrate.
Most times the only way to unravel these challenges is to start with a clean slate. For Shenzhen Huasheng Home Furnishing Group Co. Ltd., this line of thinking led to the implementation of a cloud-based intelligent ERP.
To energize rapid growth, the home furnishing holding group enabled responsive order-based production, visual traceability of product quality, an integrated management center powered by personnel, data, and target process and real-time financial online processing. Furthermore, IT costs were reduced with the ease, efficiency, and standards of a cloud-based intelligent ERP while engaging employees in innovative, well-rounded work.
