Don’t Go Breaking My Heart…Bank…System…

All very likely outcomes when changing your ERP! Results from a recent ERP survey indicated 'the need to improve business processes and workflow' is one of the top motivators for organisations to change their ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. As anyone who has gone through this process knows, changing an ERP system can cost hundreds of thousands of rands and be very disruptive to the entire company.

Risks to consider prior to changing ERPs

• Changing an ERP system to fulfil additional requirements may result in other areas of business being overlooked.
• People mistakenly assume all functionalities of the current ERP solution will come standard in any other ERP, inadvertently swapping one set of problems for another.
• The typical ERP implementation cycle is lengthy and requires a great deal of change management and user training to obtain successful results.
• Before embarking on such an ambitious and rather risky project, ensure you have identified all the shortfalls within your existing ERP solution. Furthermore, investigate alternative 'best of breed' solutions, which can provide the additional functionalities you require, often at a fraction of the price.

A BPM (business process management) product, such as FlowCentric Processware, facilitates the integration of various systems and sections of the business, allowing a company to cater for, and uniformly enforce, their specific business rules across the enterprise. The processes can be mapped with a link into ERP, allowing BPM to act as a user-friendly interface into the transactional ERP solution. A product like FlowCentric Processware can be deployed rapidly, without much disruption to business, and requires minimal user training. The solution provides a single user interface that is so easy to use that all staff members, IT and non-IT, can accurately follow the steps to ensure business runs smoothly.

BPM is designed for high customisability, offering a flexible, cost-efficient way for companies to widen the reach of their ERP. Companies can use BPM to turn what feels like an ill-fitting ERP solution into a holistic system, which operates the way the company does. Not only does this increase user satisfaction, but it also ensures a company's unique processes are maintained, and in turn, safeguards the organisation's competitive advantage.

BPM should be considered integral to any company's evaluation of ERP.

Do not overlook the value of BPM in extending your current ERP and unlocking operational efficiency.