ERP and Parenthood Series: What Shopping for ERP Vendors and Baby Strollers Have in Common
By: Katie Foley
In many ways, selecting an ERP system and selecting a baby stroller have a lot in common. Perhaps the most obvious shared quality is the many options to choose from when it comes to ERP vendors and baby strollers.
Let's start with the baby strollers. After we found out we were expecting my daughter, it was time to put together the baby registry. One of the key components of the registry is of course the baby stroller. Who knew there were so many options when it came to selecting a stroller?!?! Prams, travel systems, umbrella strollers, jogging strollers to name a few! Well I thought I had done my research and selected the perfect stroller... but only a little over a year into this parenthood thing and we now have 4 strollers sitting in our garage. Yes you read that correctly... FOUR!
While strollers are pricey, they are nowhere near the investment a manufacturing company makes when it purchases an ERP system. Imagine if the first ERP system didn't provide everything your company needed and you had to invest in more than one system?! In the manufacturing world there is no room for an error like this so putting the proper due diligence before making an ERP decision is extremely important. Take a look at our guide to stroller buying and ERP system selecting below.
Identify What You Are Looking For.
When it came to a stroller I knew what I wanted in a stroller - something flexible to grow with us from newborn days to double stroller days, something convenient for running errands, something lightweight for travel, and something durable for jogging and walks on old cobblestone sidewalks in our town. While I thought Stroller #1 had all of these features, after some use I found that it will be a great basic stroller to grow with us from our daughter's first days to siblings down the road, but was still missing some key features. Stroller #2 offered a car seat attachment so we could easily go from car to stroller on busy errand days. Stroller #3 was purchased when we needed a lightweight option for airline travel. And finally and perhaps my favorite, Stroller #4 is a heavy duty jogging stroller perfect for long runs with Dad so this Mom can have an hour to herself. Of course it would have been nice to get all of these features in one stroller rather than having four strollers take up real estate in our garage, but the nice thing is that we had the luxury to make these mistakes and learn from them - I figure we can always pass on a stroller to expecting friends.
If a manufacturing company were to select an ERP system that was missing the core capabilities needed, it would be a much bigger problem. ERP solutions can be costly investments up front if you consider the license fees, consulting fees, hardware setup, and employee downtime for training and testing a new system. Before you start your ERP search it's important to analyze your manufacturing business as a whole and identify what areas of the company you could improve productivity and efficiency in. Narrow down your search criteria to must have features, would be nice to have features, and don't need features and begin your research from there.
Do Your Research.
When it comes to baby strollers, although researching the many different options can be headache inducing, it is quite easy with all of the online resources nowadays. From the online product descriptions to the countless baby themed blogs to word of mouth from other moms, there are so many ways to gather information about a baby stroller before narrowing in on one.
When it comes to ERP systems, the research process is a little more extensive. Researching an ERP system typically includes submitting a detailed RFP to all prospective vendors, scheduling an on-site demonstration, learning about cloud v. on-premise deployment options, considering the ERP vendor's implementation style, and reviewing contracts. Taking the time to complete each of these steps is critical to picking the perfect ERP solution for your manufacturing business.
Customer Testimonial.
Before signing on the dotted line for a baby stroller purchase or ERP system investment, make sure you hear from other customers on their experience with the product. For a baby stroller, this could be as simple as reading the online reviews on Amazon or Target. However, for an ERP investment, it is a good idea to visit one of the ERP vendor's current customers for a site visit. Have the ERP vendor provide some options of other customers that may be in a similar geographic location or similar industry so that you can see what you might be getting day-to-day if your business is to choose the same ERP vendor. If you can't make an on-site visit happen, reach out to at least a few customer references before making your decision.
Now, you know what you're looking for, you've done your homework, and you've heard from other customers, all that is left is to make the final decision! I sure hope you have better luck with your first baby stroller choice than we did. Thanks for reading this installment of our ERP and Parenthood series - stay tuned for more to come!
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