Author: Paul Henriques in: Business Solutions
It can take years. From picking an ERP to seeing the benefits of its usage can take years. That was your personal experience when you implemented your current system so long ago. Along the way you added plug-ins and gadgets and widgets. Your top-of-the-line and cream of the crop ERP system has been the backbone of your processes for longer than many of your employees.
Lately, though, it’s begun to feel very sluggish and old-fashioned. Maintaining it has become a chore with things like operating systems that are no longer supported and security updates that you have to pay out of your own pocket to test and implement. There are even newer components to your regular software packages that the old ERP can no longer talk to, leading to hours of added data entry work (with all the errors that it creates). As a final nail in the coffin, new hires often complain about how your ERP is not as good as their former place of work.
Like with every other aspect of manufacturing, a regular audit of the process will help you find places where you can improve. This post has already mentioned the added time it takes to print reports, the time it takes to manually transfer data between systems, or the added errors. When it comes to your legacy ERP system, the biggest wastes may need refining. Things like:
Keeping your current ERP up and running requires 3 separate costs:
To summarize, you are paying workers to specialize in something you don’t need, paying for service that you can’t use, and paying more for hardware that does less, and is slower, than many off-the-shelf items you can readily find at any big box store. New ERP systems can solve most of these costs by moving to a cloud-based model, where you need less IT staff, less service fees, and less specialized hardware.
While the previous section items are quite easy to view, as you can get the fiscal values to calculate how much it costs you to run your ERP, these items are part of the daily usage of your ERP, which run up the following added unaccounted-for costs:
To summarize, running a legacy ERP can be costing you with inefficient business processes and bad decisions. New ERP systems can solve most of these costs with a more efficient user interface, a single database for all your transactions, and better reports and dashboards.
The previous costs can seem pretty steep, but there’s more bad news your old ERP isn’t telling you. With manufacturing companies around the world seeing a hiring crunch that has lasted most of a decade (and gotten worse), you need to revisit what you do to keep your employees happy and engaged:
To summarize, your legacy ERP can be costing you workers that don’t want to spend their time getting used to an ancient system that is no longer relevant. Adding a new ERP system that is modern and familiar can help decrease your onboarding time (and costs) and improve staff retention.
In manufacturing, complacency can mean the end of a company. Wasting time, money, and valuable resources on out-of-date systems in this global economy can quickly become a detriment to your competitiveness. On the other hand, investing in a future-ready product or system can help you ensure you stay competitive for years to come. With your costs adding up and your benefits being harder to find, maybe it’s time to look for a new ERP.
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