By Katie Foley
Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans to name a few of the many choices offered on Thanksgiving day. When it comes time to search for an ERP system, you are also faced with many choices. There are many ERP vendor choices out there and each vendor has many options when it comes to choosing an ERP system and tailoring it to your company’s needs.
Thanksgiving brings family and friends from near and far together much like an ERP system brings together people within a company. This can be done in two ways. First, the ERP implementation process requires people from all departments to work towards the common goal of implementing a new ERP system (much like a family comes together to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner). Second, an ERP system allows for a business that may have been running several smaller systems concurrently or running a different ERP system at different locations, to come together on a single business system. Now a manufacturing plant with 3 locations in 3 different states, can be tied together in real time through the ERP system.
If you’re an impatient cook, Thanksgiving dinner is probably not something you should be hosting! A large turkey can take hours to roast in the oven, and whipping together the various side dishes also takes time, patience, and planning. Similarly, if you are an impatient team leader, you’re best to not be on the ERP implementation project. From choosing an ERP vendor to creating an implementation plan to training your employees on the system, an ERP implementation does not happen overnight and it requires hard work and dedication to get through the challenges you may face.
A Thanksgiving dinner requires the “staples” such as turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. However, not all Thanksgiving dinners are exactly alike as every family has their own unique traditions, much like ERP systems. Yes, you have the “staples” such as Accounting, Inventory, Purchasing, and more. But when it comes to optional modules, every company has unique needs and priorities. Are analytics important to your business? Then business intelligence might be the add-on you choose. What about being able to capture information in real time from the shop floor? Then a Warehouse Management System might be your top priority.
There’s nothing better than a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in my opinion. For a business, there’s nothing more satisfying than finding and implementing an all-in-one ERP solution that increases productivity and improves efficiency across all aspects of your business. It might take a little time, patience, and dedication, but when you see the return on investment there's nothing quite as satisfying.
To learn more about Visibility's ERP offerings click here.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Visibility. We are wishing you a holiday weekend filled time spent with family and friends. Safe travels to all!