The Importance of ERP to Senior Management
By Steve Leadbeater
Introduction
There is a belief among some senior management teams that ERP is a useful tool for functional managers and they do not need to understand how a company’s ERP system works (they see that as the role of the functional manager).
However, the ERP system should be seen as a tool that enables senior management to make better strategic business decisions based on comprehensive and reliable data rather than gut instinct or emotion.
Why ERP Matters to Senior Managers
Senior managers who understand the ERP system and more importantly know how to extract and interpret the data a good ERP system provides has a better understanding of the entire organization which enables better and faster decisions. They do not have to rely on second hand information with the possibly of biased opinions from other people.
It is true that statistics can be presented in different ways by different people/departments. Of course functional managers will use data with the aim of demonstrating to senior executives that their team is performing well. But this ‘tailoring’ or selective use of data can lead to conflict and confusion in the senior managers decision making process.
ERP for Senior Managers v. Functional Managers
The best way to ensure senior managers have the data with the parameters and accuracy they need to make those tough business decisions is to become advocates of ERP in their organization.
It starts with KPI being set by senior managers linked to the business strategy. Senior Managers should set templates and the criteria for data analysis for their top level KPI. This ensures they get the correct data criteria they have set and in the format they want. Functional Managers then have the responsibility to provide this data accurately and timely for senior management to review.
Senior Management needs to have an understanding of the process of each business function whereas functional managers need to know every detail.
Functional managers are the hands on experts in their ERP process and their task is to ensure data is collated for the smooth running of the department and then to provide the data reports in the format and criteria determined by senior management.
It is typical that further data reports and KPI are set by department or functional managers to compliment the top level KPI presented to senior management which allows them to make better decisions at their level and also to use in discussions they may have with senior management for business improvements.
Conclusion
The team at Visibility provides an ERP system that supports all of your business functions. We can help you automate your shop floor, get more production efficiency, improve utilization, shrink your lead times, lower your costs and improve your customer service level and also provide business intelligence reporting to support everything mentioned above.
We also offer Professional Services utilizing people with many years of real industry knowledge to provide an independent review of your business processes. They can then support both functional and senior management in the implementation of efficient process and effective reporting systems for true visibility of your entire organization.
We are here to enable and support you to grow and improve your business. To learn more, reach out here and schedule a free demo today.
