Analysis of Enterprise ERP selection strategies

With the continuous development of the enterprise itself, more and more information is generated during the operation of the enterprise. At the same time, various departments of the enterprise need to obtain the speed and quality of information in the process of making decisions. Due to the traditional manual operation mode, various departments form an information isolated island, which makes the information of each department unable to be fully shared, and the possibility of deviations in decision-making will greatly increase. At this time, as the core of enterprise informatization, selecting and using the ERP system becomes a necessity for enterprises. However, ERP is a large-scale, complex logic, and enterprise information tool that involves the operation processes of various departments of an enterprise. We must be scientific and careful about the selection of this tool, this is also the first step towards success for enterprise ERP. So how can we make a good selection of enterprise ERP? We need to start from the following aspects:

1. Set up an ERP selection team

Since it is a complex project, it must be managed in the form of a project. The establishment of an ERP selection group has become the first step in selection. How to determine the composition of the project team is also very important, general composition model: senior leaders, department leaders, and IT personnel. This makes it easy for all components to assume their respective responsibilities and perform their respective duties. Senior leaders grasp the degree of matching between the management idea of the management software and their own enterprises and the stability of the partner. Leaders of various business departments grasp the adaptability of the software to the needs of their own departments; the IT staff grasp the rationality of the software technology and overall architecture, as well as the scalability and foresight of future development. However, the ERP model selection is prone to a misunderstanding, that is, IT personnel and IT department think that ERP has something to do with the computer, and there are very few people involved in the selection of other departments, however, IT personnel are generally not very familiar with the business of each department of the company, so they cannot determine whether the ERP system can meet the informatization requirements of each department. Therefore, the risk of selecting an ERP system increases a lot.

2. education First
due to the complexity and complexity of the ERP system, it is a new information tool and many people are not familiar with it, I cannot know exactly what this tool can bring to our work? The products in the ERP market are also mixed. We must master some professional knowledge to compare and identify them, we need to assess the maturity of the ERP system and the degree of matching with our work processes from which we should begin. These are all problems that must be solved by education, make relevant personnel have a comprehensive and specific understanding of this information-based tool, and then they can examine the system according to these specific standards or requirements. However, there are few enterprises that can achieve this in ERP selection. Even if all departments participate, they do not know where to start, and the degree and Effect of participation will be greatly reduced. The direct consequence is that there is no problem in the selection process. Many unexpected problems will occur during the training and use process after the selection, and the cost will increase.

3. management requirement analysis
enterprise management requirement analysis is the top priority of ERP selection, because the purpose of choosing and using the ERP system is to meet the requirements of various departments of the enterprise for decision analysis information. In addition, management requirement analysis should be examined from both macro and micro aspects.
in terms of macro aspects, should an enterprise go to ERP? The current system cannot meet the information requirements of enterprises. It is necessary to use the highly unified ERP system to integrate and share information to complete decision-making. This is a necessary condition for enterprises to use ERP; are there any conditions for ERP? The company's current management and operation processes are normal and smooth. It is very important to have corresponding human resources, equipment and other resources to support the ERP system operation. When should we use the ERP system? Generally, factory production is divided into busy season and off-season. in the off-season, the time is usually relatively spare, and ERP is the best time for enterprises.
at the micro level, the specific needs of various departments have become very targeted:
how can we meet changing market demands?
How to Make the customer's commitment accurately and timely?
how to handle urgent customer orders?
how to maintain a balanced production plan and activities?
how to avoid material shortage?
How to Avoid inventory backlog?
How to accurately and timely understand production conditions?
How do I determine whether production is being executed according to the plan?
how to manage suppliers?
how to improve product quality?
how to reduce product costs?
how to make financial analysis in a timely manner?
how can we truly play the role of planning, control, and analysis in Financial Management?
How can enterprises handle problems with a unified viewpoint and common language?

only each Department analyzes and lists its specific requirements, and then asks the system to give specific answers, in order to assess the actual matching degree between the ERP system and the factory operation, the more the matching system is suitable for the informatization needs of the factory, and the system with a large difference in matching can be directly ruled out, this type selection is more practical and has the lowest risk.
4. ERP vendor survey and function demonstration
although the enterprise management requirement analysis has a preliminary understanding of the basic matching degree between the ERP system and the enterprise. When the board is fascinated and the audience is clear, it is difficult to find some problems as the enterprise itself. ERP vendors are more familiar with ERP systems, and experienced ERP vendors also have rich industry experience, responsible suppliers will submit a survey report that lists the problems and requirements of enterprises found during the survey. It also helps enterprises to analyze and use software to help enterprises improve their performance. The survey report is actually a means to evaluate the power of suppliers. experienced suppliers can identify them at a glance in the survey report. After the investigation is completed, the supplier starts to explain the enterprise's research problems and targeted ERP solutions after communication and collision, not just the product function demonstration. Of course, in this process, the necessary functional demonstration is required for specific needs of various departments. Some details can also be seen in the processing of this software.

5. Pay attention to the scalability of the ERP system

For the selection of ERP, enterprises should also consider the expansion of future informatization. Enterprise Informatization is not only ERP, but also the core of enterprise informatization. Enterprise Informatization also involves office automation, workflows, and even e-commerce, supply chain, and CRM, the mechanical and electronic industry will also involve PDM. These are actually relatively independent categories, but they are not absolutely independent. As long as it is an information tool used by enterprises, there must be data exchange and Process convergence between them, otherwise it will become an information island. Therefore, it is vital to select partners to consider the informatization of enterprises! Whether the partner has multiple product lines for different fields, whether different product lines can be seamlessly integrated, and whether it is ready for data exchange, these are important factors for enterprises to consider when selecting partners. If you can use one product, you can use one product to avoid data integration from different vendors. Whether the integration is successful or not is convenient for applications. If there is a problem with the interface in the future, identifying which supplier is responsible is a major challenge! At that time, if the distinction is unclear, enterprises may fall into a situation where the providers of information-based tools push each other.

6. Successful Cases of ERP vendors in the same industry

Because the same or similar industry has many similarities in terms of products and processes, the application status of enterprises in the same industry can be used as a loan and test, looking at the Application Experience of suppliers in this industry, success is not a success, because he has too many contingency; success is a true success, because it is a regular inevitability! Select an appropriate company! Of course, there is a way to test the application of case customers. It's not just a simple discussion, just chat. Many companies do not know what to ask when visiting case customers, and sometimes they are blinded by customers who are willing to maintain suppliers. Make sure you have some preparation. You can ask some questions that are difficult for your enterprise to handle. It is also necessary to check the scope and extent of the customer's application module, the application effect, and so on, as well as the service provided by the supplier; the problems faced during the implementation are a good opportunity for the enterprise to learn from the lessons learned by the enterprise, so as to avoid implementation risks and ensure the success of the project.

7. Focus on the service capabilities of ERP vendors

The ERP model selection must also pay attention to the follow-up service capabilities of ERP vendors. The above is just about the ERP product itself. Good software products. If you have no experienced consultants to help you import them, that's just a CD! Generally, ERP services include implementation and after-sales services, which are equally important. Complex implementation process requires not only the consultant's rich implementation experience for guidance, but also a very good project control method. Therefore, the qualifications and experience of consultants are important. Imagine that if the consultant is a college student who has just graduated from college, how can he provide management advice to enterprises? How can we coordinate the complex relationship between enterprises and control the progress of project implementation? Of course, the implementation of ERP is not a personal heroism, and the excellence of Personal consultants does not make the enterprise ERP sustainable success. This requires the supplier to have a rigorous service mechanism to avoid the company's excessive reliance on the individual, and ultimately rely on the strength of the ERP supplier team.

8. Price considerations

For a complicated enterprise information product such as ERP, the cost is relatively high. Any enterprise has its own budget. However, when selecting ERP products, we must not excessively pursue low prices. Otherwise, we may lose service quality or even fail. You cannot see the many invisible costs of ERP implementation. For example, the R & D investment of ERP software suppliers, in order to ensure the continuous after-sales service investment; if the product is not mature, the secondary development will delay the implementation cycle too much, and the implementation cycle will lead to the burden on the Enterprise and the risk of failure, decreased confidence and excitement of enterprise personnel, fear of ERP resulting from ERP failure, insufficient supplier experience, insufficient implementation, insufficient management problems to be solved, weak project control, etc... ..., If the enterprise has a certain amount of additional expenditure, it is best to invite professionals to help with training and participate in selection. In this way, the effect of education and the professionalism of selection will be more obvious. This is what we often say: "A penny is a commodity.

If enterprises can strictly follow the above methods in the ERP selection process, it is also very difficult to choose an ERP manufacturer with powerful products, mature products, complete product lines, complete services, numerous customers in the same industry, and reasonable prices.. This is also the first step towards enterprise informatization.