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ERP Software as GDP Indicator for China

ERP Software as GDP Indicator for China
By Frank Mulligan, Talent Software
The rollout of international level enterprise software in China has, over the
past 10 years, tended to follow a definite pattern.

The first phase began
in the early 90’s and only saw large scale systems such as SAP and Oracle. These systems
were rolled out in the US first. Closely after the US came Europe followed by
the first world markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Finally, China
was rolled out based on business models developed in the other countries. And
often there was no rollout at all, at least not for a few years
more. Before the 90’s, of course, international companies in China were
unlikely to get any of the kind of software and had to rely on manual systems.
Aaah, the good old days….. By the end of the 90’s China was on a par
with small first world countries like Singapore. The volume of software was
increasingly higher than these small markets but with its huge distances China
still posed a challenge. Now you began to see the emergence of software
specifically for HR and local systems like Platinum emerging. Another
five years on and things have changed again. I note with interest the
recent announcement by Adidas Group that they will roll out an e-recruitment
solution from a company called Jobpartners. This company is not at all known to me but
obviously they have something if Adidas is rolling them out
worldwide. What got my attention was that the rollout would be
simultaneously in Germany, the US, Hong Kong and Greater China. So now we are on
a par with a multinational’s HQ country and the US. Other countries will have to
wait and they don’t even get a mention in the press release. China has really
arrived. As if to emphasize this point, a report by Kevin Wheeler Global Recruiting
Trend 2006, informs us that Chinese is now the number one language, besides
English, for Applicant Tracking Systems(ATS). It ranks alongside German as the
second language of choice for ATS’s that are installed on a world-wide basis.
This tells you a lot about the installed base of ATS’s globally. Sometime
you find alternatives to GDP figures in surprising places.

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ERP Outlook by Microsoft

In reading this article on MS and ERP, the question came up “Is Microsoft really going after the smaller companies with their Dynamics ERP offerings?” So far all of the indications are that they are targeting SAP and Oracle as their competition. Is this a little arrogant of Microsoft, trying to compete against the established Tier 1 vendors in ERP? Oh… Yeah… they’re Microsoft. The same company that went after Lotus 123, Netscape, Word Perfect, and others. Find a niche that uses software, exploit it with the fact that MS software runs well on MS Windows, it has a familiar look and feel to it, and give it away for free or market the hell out of it.

So far that is not what has happened with Dynamics, but it is still early. What has happened so far is that they have completed wave 1 of their project Green integration. They have built a common user interface for all the Dynamics products (AX-Axapta, NV-Navision, GP-Great Plains, SL-Solomon). They have also built common database tools. Now Mr. Gates is outlining a future with CRM and Dynamics that integrates to the “Live” tools on the web, including MS CRM integration to the Live website for targeted advertising. Add to that that 2007 Office is going to have intimate linkages into and from Dynamics. The user interface is MS Outlook. Based on MS CRM, which essentially now plugs into Outlook, Dynamics will soon do the same. So you will have a single, familiar Desktop tool for managing Email, Customer Relationships, and Enterprise Data. All with the familiar Microsoft look and feel plus links into Microsoft Live.

Sounds irresistable for a midsized company who wants simplicity and flexibility. However, now your entire enterprise is dependent upon a single vendor for the Back Office (servers and database), Front Office tools (MS Office), and your enterprise data.

Further, as it stands right now, Microsoft is taking a familiar approach of providing a development platform for partners to extend. In Dynamics, the code is flexible with many MS partners building niche add-ins to the products. As we understand it, the core product of Dynamics works fine, but doesn’t drill to deep into any industry. The Microsoft Industry Builder addresses that by having MS VARS (Value Added Resellers) become specialists into certain industries and then developing the vertical software necessary on top of the Dynamics product. Yes, it is integrated and native, being built with the Dynamics tool set. Yes, it is supported. If anything happens to the VAR, then as long as it is a Microsoft certified Industry Builder solution, you get the Microsoft support for that vertical extension.

So is SAP and Oracle out of reach? Based on history, no they are not. And based on history, they should be preparing for a real fight.

An ERP who owns who

If you have been around even a short time in the ERP software business as either a user or a provider, you are sure to know of the latest acquisitions. The big ones of course are all the companies Infor bought as well as the Oracle mega mergers of PeopleSoft/JDE. Here is a website dedicated to tracking these acquisitions, called fittingly enough The ERP Graveyard.

The ERP Graveyard has a spreadsheet of acquisitions going back to the 1990’s. So if you are interested in what happened to so-and-so software, you might find your answer to dead ERPs here.

Challenge Of ERP Implementation Q & A

This is a good commentary on the challenges of an ERP Implementation. It can be summed up in that it is a technological, financial and human challenge that requires extensive change management.

Challenge Of ERP Implementation Q & A
Rick Maurer
Question: ERPs seem like a good idea, so why is return on investment so low?

Answer: Resistance often kills many of these new systems. Even though the promise of what an ERP can do is high, the planners often fail to look at how the users are likely to view this ‘improvement.’ ERPs take away the old tried-and-true ways of working. Even though some of these cobbled together systems aren’t all that good, people understand them. When they are asked to give up what they know and what they can rely on, you often get resistance to using a new software system.

ERPs also threaten the fragile balance of power and control. The old system allows departments and some individuals to
control the type of information that gets out – and control the way data gets disseminated. The new system destroys all of that and that can be threatening.
One manufacturing plant has spent millions on an ERP, and kept throwing money at the technical parts of project, with no success. What they failed to Read more…

About the Author:
Rick Maurer is an advisor to organizations on ways to lead Change without Migraines. He is author of many books on change including Beyond the Wall of Resistance. His web site offers over 100 free tips and tools for leading change successfully. www.beyondresistance.com

ERP Software Solution: A Closer Look at What It Is

ERP Software Solution: A Closer Look at What It Is
Mike Piotrowski
ERP Solution

Information technology has not only transformed the way we live in modern society, but also the way in which we do business. Enterprise Resource Planning, often referred to as ERP, is becoming one of the most commonly used software systems in several industries and organizations. The object of this article is to provide pertinent highlights about exactly what ERP is.

The definition of Enterprise Resource Planning refers to not only software but also the business strategies employed as part of the implementation of ERP systems. This implementation makes use of various software applications in order to improve the performances of organizations in resource planning, control of operations, and control of management.

ERP software contains several software modules that work to integrate vital activities across operating departments. An ERP System not only includes the ERP Software but also the business processes and hardware that make this system work. These systems are more than the sums of their parts as the many components work together in order to achieve one common objective-to provide an organization with a greatly improved and streamlined business process.

History of ERP

ERP has been well over 20 years in the making. This system is the result of the trial, error, and growth of Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRP) during the 80’s. MRP was the evolution of Inventory Management and Control, which was conceived during the 1960’s. ERP has grown beyond the coordination of manufacturing processes into the integration of back end processing on very large scales. From its origins as a legacy implementation ERP has morphed into a new and improved client-server architecture.

Benefits of ERP

This software attempts to bring all aspects of the business into one single enterprise-wide database or information system. This allows instantaneous information and communications to be shared between multiple departments. The primary benefit of this is a greatly improved efficiency in business operations. Implementing this system will not only help communications between departments but in day-to-day management functions as well. ERP is an ambitious design that also supports the resource planning part of corporate planning as this is often the weakest link in strategic planning as the result of the inadequate integration of ERP software with Decision Support Systems.

ERP Failures

It would be quite rude to conclude without at least mentioning the fact that failures in this system are occasionally reported in one of the four components of an ERP System. These systems are: ERP software, Business processes supported by the ERP System, Users of the ERP Systems, and the hardware and/or operating systems upon which the ERP applications are actually run. The failure of one or more of these components has the potential to cause the entire ERP project to fail.
Ontech Systems of Milwaukee Wisconsin, is committed to making a difference in your business through the productive use of computers, networks, software and the vast array of products and services we offer. Contact Mike Piotrowski, President of Ontech Systems to discuss a new ERP business solution for your company today.
Provided By: Computers and Technology

ERP Packages Feature Comparison

There is an interesting ERP comparison article on ITToolbox. It is however skewed in the applications considered. The author compared Oracle and SAP against Microsoft Great Plains (Dynamics GP). This is an unfair comparison since the more powerful ERP application from Microsoft is Axapta (Dynamics AX). Great Plains plays in a different market space.

Further, one of the compared products is Seibel. The title is ERP packages, yet Seibel is a CRM product. To make this more confusing, the comparison included PeopleSoft Enterprise 8.8 and 8.9 and EnterpriseOne 8.11. EnterpriseOne is the JD Edwards product, but there was no distinction in the article as to which PeopleSoft application was being compared for specific features.

Despite these shortcomings, the article brings up a lot of very good points about the various applications. The seven application criteria mentioned in the article are good items to consider in any larger system implementation. Whether or not they make any difference in the small to midsize business is a question to consider. For example, Web Services may not be really important to a manufacturer who is simply trying to get control of their inventory.

In the ERP market, it is often difficult to compare apples-to-apples, however it still looks as if people are trying to compare apples, oranges, and pears…

Take a read and let us know your thoughts!
ERP Packages Feature Comparison

ERP Packages Feature Comparison

Manufacturers Don’t User Most of Their ERP Software’s Features, Says Aberdeen

Published: September 18, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Based on a detailed report put together by Aberdeen Group and commissioned by a bunch of ERP software suppliers, companies with ERP software don’t use most of the features that have been painstakingly woven into their software.

Aberdeen based its analysis on a study of more than 1,000 manufacturers. The study was underwritten by Infor, Lawson Software, Plexus Systems, QAD, and SoftBrands, and presumably they provided some of the customers that Aberdeen talked to as well as the cash to do the survey and report that resulted from it. Aberdeen also talked to customers using other ERP suites, including those who have deployed Oracle and SAP suites.

According to the study, called “The ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark,” two thirds of the manufacturers surveyed said that they make their choice of which ERP software to use based on features and functionality, but then, on average, they use only … Read More

ERP and OS Security Concerns

An interesting topic concerning ERP is which platform to run on. This is one of the first questions that needs to be asked in deciding on an ERP system. But the answer is not always as simple as you think. Below is an interesting article about Operating Systems and their security. More so, how it can affect and ERP system.

Security Concern

Which operating system is most secure open source or Windows? For manufacturers that all depends, says John Harney

According to most experts, vendors of the dominant enterprise manufacturing applications like ERP, supply chain and CRM have long-proven, proactive patch and other security programs. Instead, problems arise due to security vulnerabilities in the operating systems (OS) they run on or the applications (their own suite modules and related apps) they support.