Author: Paul Henriques in: Business Solutions
It feels like yesterday that you got your, at the time, start-of-art ERP system. Once you were over the implementation and learning process, you started seeing gains. Improved productivity led to more customers and more profits while staff were happier just using the new system. The system quickly told you what you needed to know and you could move forward, confident that you knew what to do based on your available data.
But lately it seems like the problems are never-ending. Your system is sluggish, defects are making it through to customers, you’ve started seeing more and more cancelled orders, and even your veteran staff try to find a way to avoid using “that old clunker”.
Implementing an ERP system often results in growth. This is great… Until it isn’t. The ERP system you invested in so long ago wasn’t ready to deal with growth and it is not enough for your firm anymore. Between your previously strong growth, any acquisitions, product diversification and small batch custom orders, and even your ventures onto a more global market have left your old ERP struggling. Any one of these items can mean that you had to add some 3rd party plug-ins or resorted to manual actions.
There are only two reasons to stay with the old: Familiarity and implementation costs. But what is lugging around that old ERP system actually costing you? Will the costs of moving to a newer system quickly be offset by benefits? Many sites, including ours, have covered the costs of legacy software. Things like added maintenance costs, decreased system performance, and lower staff retention. Maybe now is a good time to start looking for a replacement.
One of the largest problems with legacy systems that you have outgrown is the glut of bad data that starts to appear. Things like input errors, data entered into multiple different screens, or data that doesn’t communicate across your business units. OnRamp’s Better Data white paper discusses how this can impact your productivity and decision-making. And this gets worse if you have separate systems for each business unit. If these systems aren’t made to communicate with one another, you end up with sheets of questions instead of actionable answers.
To sum it up, running a system that provides you with bad data is akin to running a second factory with nothing to sell. Just a net loss. Improving your available data alone is a task worth undertaking.
Regular mishaps can be a very simplified way to say your teams are creating too many defects, scrap, and machine downtime. Or maybe your legacy ERP system keeps having issues sending data to a different source and records that seem to ‘magically disappear’. Small mishaps cost time and money. And small mishaps often lead to bigger and bigger problems. This poses the question: Is your ERP working with you to improve your quality, your measurements, and your maintenance?
Whether it is corrupted data or calibrated cutting tools, if your ERP isn’t keeping you informed of issues so that you can action them before they spiral, what is it doing? Your ERP system must contain ways that help you minimize inefficiencies.
This is the start of the end. All those other issues that have cropped up because of your old ERP have started hurting your customers and that means they have started to look elsewhere for the product or service you had provided them.
There are many reasons that your customers may be leaving but all of them can be addressed quickly with a good ERP. Things like: poor quality, constantly delayed shipments, over-priced products, and poor service. Having access to good data that notifies you when you need it will allow you to resolve minor issues before they become too big and cost you customers.
As you know, there are so many ways to hurt your bottom line. Returns, less sales, under-priced products, excess wages, excess maintenance… What are the pain points that caused your business to go from thriving to struggling? Is your ERP giving you the information you need to move in the right direction that will see you return?
Lower revenue and profits are of crucial importance. So, knowing what you can to do improve those items is just as important.
After a while all technology can start to feel sluggish. When it comes to an ERP, you also want it to be future-ready in a way that can improve all your process performance. With things like:
These are all items that can drastically improve your process performance with better automation that you might not be getting from your legacy system.
Getting a future-ready ERP system can help improve your decisions, data, profits and processes all while cutting waste and costs.
For more information about how OnRamp ERP software can add value to your business fill in the contact form below. A member of our support team will contact you within 1 business day to discuss any questions you have.
Start the collaboration with us while figuring out the best solution based on your needs.
Our efforts began as an internal project of Mancor Industries when we identified the need for a more cohesive ERP system to manage the complexity of multiple plants, multiple products, multiple customers and multiple functions.
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