Before beginning your search, take the time to analyze your manufacturing company as a whole and find the gap in your process. In what areas could you improve efficiency and productivity? Identifying areas of weakness will help focus your ERP search.
The first question should be, is your business currently using an ERP system or not? The process will be different for companies brand new to ERP versus companies looking to change ERP systems. If your business is brand new to ERP you should identify the driving factors for looking to move to an ERP system- is your business growing rapidly, are you finding gaps in your manual process, is an ERP system a new regulatory requirement of your industry, is your ‘out-of-the-box’ software not sophisticated enough anymore. These are just some of the many reasons a company may decide it’s time to invest in an ERP solution.
If you are currently on an ERP system, but looking for a new solution, a good place to start is to answer the question “why”? What do you like and dislike about the current system? What features from your current system do you need in your next system? What features do you wish your current system had that it doesn’t? What does your business process look like on the current system? Are you taking full advantage of your ERP system? Or are their areas of your business you still enter manually or use another system for?
Answering these questions will help you identify what features you absolutely need in an ERP solution, what features would be nice, and what features you can live without. It will also help the ERP vendors in the running to better focus their presentation- from targeting demonstrations to your needs to estimating implementation time to identifying areas where you may need customization.
If you think Visibility could be the right choice in selecting an ERP system for you company,visit our ERP solutions page.
