Empowering Your Organization for Growth With Strategically Driven ERP

Keeping up with the times is a great reason to get a smartwatch.

It’s not a great reason to get an ERP.

Choosing and implementing an ERP system is a big, dramatic change initiative. It’s an organization-wide effort. It affects people, processes and technology — no stone gets left unturned.

ERP is transformative.

Being an early adopter really isn’t a great reason for manufacturing companies to make this move.

On the other end of the spectrum, waiting to make the change to a modern ERP until your legacy infrastructure or applications have run their course puts you in an equally bad position.

Eventually, the developers of these legacy solutions start to retire. Often the applications are no longer supported, nor are they being upgraded. The solutions are sunset, and you’re stuck with technology that is breaking down and unfixable.

In this situation, you’re chasing shiny new objects in an attempt to fix this big problem quickly — or worse, you’re forcing your people’s hands to make the change to ERP when they haven’t been properly prepared for it.

Your best bet? Plan ahead.

In this article, we’re going to explore the big trouble spots to look out for with legacy technology, what digital transformation is, really, and why your company should be strategically driven when it comes to technology.

What to Watch Out for With Legacy Technology

Unsupported technology creates more problems than just not being able to get your system fixed when it breaks. It also creates major security risks.

Unsupported systems don’t receive critical security updates and patches, which can compromise every system across your company. In fact, cybercriminals often target sunset systems because they’re easy marks.

Maintaining legacy systems can also be more costly than upgrading. A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office revealed that the amount spent on obsolete technology has been on the rise.

When you add maintenance costs to the cost of lost productivity when legacy systems start failing, you can start to see how a more modern solution may make more financial sense within your growth strategy.

Where Digital Transformation Fits into Strategic Planning

“Digital transformation” can mean anything from digitizing manual processes, to modernizing IT infrastructure, to innovating with new digital business models. In a nutshell, however, it is using digital technology to optimize and grow your business.

For many businesses, digital transformation has enabled them to engage better with customers. I’ve certainly seen this with family-owned manufacturing companies — but the biggest benefit in this space, I believe, has been better engagement internally. Digital transformation enables employees to work more effectively, communicate more easily, and accomplish more day to day. Empowering employees in this way then bolsters the broader organization’s success and results in a better customer experience.

When you think about strategic planning for ERP, I encourage you to think about it from a people standpoint in addition to a technology standpoint. What do your people need today — and what are they going to need in the future to keep your company steady on this growth trajectory?

The Benefits of Forward Thinking for Manufacturing Companies

Planning ahead to modernize your technology empowers you to prioritize the most impactful changes. It also enables you to choose the most appropriate time to implement the new technology, and it gives your people the opportunity to adjust in advance of the implementation.

Strategic planning for technology gives you runway.

You’re no longer chasing the quick fix at the cost of your company’s long-term health. You’re no longer dazzled by high-cost features that may or may not actually improve processes for your people. You’re able to make thoughtful, financially sound decisions around your technology. You’re able to uncover broader value including improved operating efficiency, inventory optimization, and predictive maintenance that have beneficial effects across your organization.

You’re able to create positive transformative change.

ERP Enables Your Company to Continue to Grow

Don’t wait until you’re forced into digital transformation to start readying your company for ERP. The earlier you begin your strategic planning for ERP, the more it will serve your organization.

If you’re still relying on legacy technology, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have to implement new technology solutions. Even if that’s three to five years away, there are still things you can do right now to strategically drive that future change:

• Assess your existing solutions and what you expect from them in the next three to five years.
• Discover what existing solutions are on the market that can meet your needs.
• Find the gaps between what you’re going to need and what’s on the market.

The point is, look far enough down the road that you don’t hit a wall when your legacy technology reaches the end of its life.

Some ERP solutions have earned a bad rap for creating expensive disasters. The reality is, most of these disasters could have been avoided by bringing the right people into the selection and implementation processes. Read more about avoiding ERP disaster in this article.