ERP selection-recognize your size

Source: it168

Unconsciously, at the end of the year, many enterprise leaders will begin to budget for the coming year. With the rapid development of information technology, the budget of the IT department has become more and more important. It is not only about upgrading the hardware, but also about whether the pace of Information Technology of the entire enterprise needs to be further considered, all are of concern to enterprise leaders.

For enterprise leaders, the most desired result is that the steel can be used with ease. Of course, the money should also be spent in the place where the money is spent, and whether it can provide phased support for enterprise informatization, some management aspects are even improved. Among them, ERP is often a big consideration.

The ERP project "seven-point selection, three-point implementation", or "Seven-Point Software, three-point implementation", has long been hard to understand, however, the final project of many enterprises still fails to be "selected". Does the company's leaders not pay attention to selection? Not necessarily. In many cases, there are too many vendors involved in the selection, and the company has long been overwhelmed by the sweet words from various vendors. it is conceivable that the wrong model will be selected.

Selection is not enough. You must have a set of theories and carefully arranged selection steps. No matter how the manufacturer packs the tickets for us, you must stick to your own position, follow the established pace and identify your size. You will never change your strategy easily.

Recognize your own size

Here is an inappropriate example, but it can help you better understand this concept. ERP model selection is like buying clothes and shoes. When we decided to buy clothes and shoes, everyone had a small Abacus and a small standard, for example, you need to buy about the price range, brand, material, and size.

Although the original intention of everyone to buy clothes and shoes is the same in mind, it is inappropriate for someone to buy the clothes and shoes that are satisfactory, they even put them in the garbage. Why does the same mind scale produce different results?

After entering the store, sellers always persuade us for various reasons.

Shoes seem a little tight

It doesn't matter. It will be loose to wear it.
......

The shoes seem to be a little bigger.
It doesn't matter. When it's getting cold, you have to add a mat and wear a thick slack.
......

How can this dress be so expensive?
This is imported from France.
......

It seems that this dress is not good.
This brand, this price, this material, is definitely worth the most
......

This seems a little far away, but we have to admit that in the ERP model selection, many people often make mistakes like clothing and shoes. In the ERP selection process, how should we recognize our own size!

1. Enterprise Scale

The scale of an enterprise is the first question to be considered. What is the positioning of the enterprise itself? How many employees will be involved in the entire ERP system operation process? Strategic planning for enterprises in the next three to five years-scale expansion and so on, these are the first steps to consider, because the number of sites will be involved when purchasing ERP. Whether the enterprise's existing network architecture can meet the needs, or even maintain a certain growth rate in the next three to five years, whether the network architecture can meet the needs, and whether the server hardware needs to be upgraded, upgrade before ERP or wait for three to five years.

2. Project Budget

Although the failure of the ERP project depends largely on the correctness of the model selection, the correctness of the model selection is often related to the budget. The liquidity of small and medium-sized enterprises often plays a very important role in the operation of enterprises. They need to spend tens of thousands or even more to invest in ERP projects at a time. Are these budgets well arranged, determines whether the daily actions of the enterprise are affected.

3. Project expectations

That is, what is the expected goal after ERP implementation? The main purpose is to use ERP to optimize the entire production process and ultimately achieve the goal of saving production costs. Do you still want to take the Enterprise Management step or do you need to take the two points into consideration?

4. Number of modules

ERP is a general term. If we look at it in depth, we need to identify the specific modules and which modules should be placed inside the Enterprise. Or do I just want to buy a financial account? Here, we must have a clear understanding. Now many enterprise leaders think that they have bought financial software or financial modules in ERP, this is definitely a wrong logic. The full name of ERP is enterprise resource planning, which is not competent by a single financial module. Therefore, what aspects of the enterprise, that is, the specific modules corresponding to ERP, and which modules need to be considered before the selection.

Knowing ourselves and ourselves is the only thing we can do. The scale of an enterprise should be the first thing we should consider. At the very least, we should have a global grasp of the Enterprise at a high-level level. The project budget and number of modules basically determine the software layer, and the project expectation determines the "quality" of the software ". Only those who have their own background will be targeted during the specific communication process with the software vendor during the selection process, rather than being easily influenced by the theory of the vendor's "big shoes" and "small shoes.

Taboo for easy choice

Let's go back to the example above. The most important thing is to shake our "size" when we buy unsuitable shoes or unsuitable clothes ", it was defeated by the seller's sugar-coated shells. The same is true for the ERP model selection. Even if you recognize your own size, you cannot make mistakes. Otherwise, you will shake your "size" in your mind ".

1. No long-term plan

As mentioned above, considering the size of an enterprise is very important, because the size of an enterprise varies with the overall network architecture, server hardware, and software. Or it is wrong to treat ERP as a "one-click sales. We must consider long-term cooperation with ERP vendors, especially the expansion of later stages, software upgrades and improvements. Therefore, when the manufacturers propose a series of tempting conditions, we must seize the long-term planning, rather than giving up the long-term planning for immediate benefits. Once the project is successfully launched, many other aspects will depend on the ERP vendor.

2. Price-oriented

During the ERP model selection process, some ERP manufacturers often throw their killer price wars when they know that their advantages are gradually lost and may be out of the back-selection team ". And will give us a bunch of commitments, so on the surface, we can buy the most cost-effective products. Here, we still need to focus on our original budget. Of course, it is a good thing that we can pay less while achieving our expected goal, but if we spend 0.2 million on a failed project, 0.3 million can achieve the expected goal. Which one will you choose? I think everyone will select the previous successful project on 0.3 million. Therefore, in the face of the Price Promotion of manufacturers, we must not lose our "size" because of greed and small profits ".

3. Do not talk about services

After the ERP project is selected, the services provided by ERP vendors are very important during implementation and after the system is officially launched. After all, the computer knowledge of employees in the enterprise is uneven. ERP vendors are relatively experienced in implementing many projects and have many unique experiences in training internal employees. In order to save training costs, some manufacturers often propose to train only employees in the IT department, while employees in the company are trained by the IT department. Or simply, we don't need to talk about the service at all. After the contract is signed, we can only be held by ERP vendors.

Iii. Summary

Seven-Point Selection and Three-Point Software. For the selection, I think it is "seven points on their own, three points on the vendor ". Many times, our own ideas and mentality have already laid the groundwork for project success and failure.

The model selection is the key to the project from start to end, and it is also the first step for the project to sail. As a business leader, you must recognize your own size, identify your size, and stick to your own ideas during the model selection process, finally, select the appropriate ERP system.