While some customisation of software may be necessary

Whether your organisation complies with these suggestions - and it should be added Rosetta Stone that sometimes these factors can be seen as reflections of alignment maturity as opposed to stepping-stones for achieving that heightened state - any IT implementation, especially one as significant as ERP, should keep all of these factors top of mind.Supply chain criteriaMany ERP systems are implemented as part of the supply chain process of an organisation. Here, again, the above success markers are relevant, but Tim Payne of Gartner ("Supply chain and IT strategies must align around five key themes", August 2007) suggests that "enterprises should focus on five technology areas - business process agility, data management, analytics and performance management, collaboration, and sensory networks - as the sources of technology-enabled supply chain innovation".Payne says "focusing on these technology areas will give the IT organisation more credibility as an ongoing participant in the dialogue [with the supply chain organisation]". He goes on to recommend:Periodic demonstrations of new technology capabilities, coupled with the co-development of supply chain initiatives, as new capabilities arise in these areas;Developing a plan for incorporating new infrastructure components that are needed to support innovation areas; andEvaluating the supply chain IT strategies and SCM vendor-sourcing criteria with the supply chain organisation for conformance and alignment based on the five key themes and related discussions, adjusting IT and sourcing strategies to address perceived gaps.All well and good. But, despite the best planning and Rosetta Stone Software setting of firm criteria, there is always the issue of compromise - that such an important and far-reaching a system as an ERP will not perfectly match your organisational set-up. The Aberdeen report suggests that "if your business processes were developed over time - in an unstructured way - the possibility exists that no ERP system will match exactly. Search out ERP solution providers with customers in your industry, evaluate the fit, and balance the need to adapt your business processes to conform with the software against aligning the software to your processes. While some customisation of software may be necessary, (only 11 per cent of respondents have zero customisation) it adds expense and effort to the initial implementation, and the complexity of future upgrades."In other words, if you bend a little to accommodate the ERP, while still maintaining your markers of success, you will find that the ultimate payback is a system that works well with an organisation in sync with itself.It is important overall, therefore, to look at all options, and that includes a range of suppliers, to assess the issues, drivers and pain points that you may have been facing in the past, and that you might be looking to deal with or, hopefully, avoid in the future to ensure the best fit for your organisation.The next article in this series will look at "Managing the total cost of ownership - What you need to know".IBS Australia develops ERP solutions, ERP Systems and business management supply chain software for inventory management systems Rosetta Stone Japanese, manufacturing ERP software, business intelligence systems and integration ERP software.

Posted in: Rosetta Stone,Rosetta Stone Outlet,Rosetta Stone Spainish,Rosetta Stone V3