FEATURE: ERP
“With the advent of trends such as
Industry 4.0, we are rapidly moving
to a smarter and more automated
business environment, and our business
management solutions must keep up.”
They are designed to support modern
ways of working, continues Fenner. “The
beauty of the new generation of solutions
is that they sweep away many of the
barriers that made companies hesitate
to invest in, or upgrade, their enterprise
applications. Where an ERP installation
for a medium-sized or large enterprise
could take up to a year to complete in the
past, companies can get a cloud-based
business management solution up-and-
running in a matter of a few weeks or
months, depending on their needs.
“With the advent of trends such as
Industry 4.0, we are rapidly moving
to a smarter and more automated
business environment, and our business
management solutions must keep up.”
Ensuring maximum ROI
Fenner outlines the following
considerations for companies looking
to gain maximum ROI from a business
management software implementation:
are often looking to increase profitability,
drive productivity up and costs down.
They need a technology solution that
will enable growth opportunities both
now and into the future. A good ERP
solution will provide the foundation with
which to leverage new technologies such
as the Internet of Things, big data and
analytics, social collaboration, mobility
and additive manufacturing.”
Sage’s Fenner concurs: “One of the most
significant reasons to upgrade an ERP
platform is to get ready for the next
wave of disruptive digital technologies.”
Modern business management software
is agile, modular and rapid to roll-out.
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• The user experience: The software
should give employees the ability to
access data anytime and anywhere as
well as on the device of their choosing.
The user interface should be clean and
tailored to the employee using it, no
matter where they are in the world.
• Scalability: A system should
support the growing demands of the
business as it expands and changes,
whether that means expanding
into new geographies, adding more
employees, or accessing new features
and functionality.
• Built for digital: The solution must
be built for mobile-first customers
and employees, massive data
volumes, and intelligent connected
sensors and devices.
• Configurability: A business
management solution should be
flexible enough to adapt to the
organisation’s processes where
necessary, while empowering it to
enforce tighter process disciplines in
its workflow, if that is its desire.
Reaping the benefits
With organisations worldwide looking
to simplify and streamline day-to-day
processes in a chaotic digital world,
it’s hard to ignore the company-
wide benefits that ERP systems can
bring. Huxtable emphasises that the
benefits to be gained from a business
management system are bountiful:
“Streamlined business processes,
increased efficiency, visibility and
potentially a reduction in costs,
whether that is labour, outsourcing
or effort cost etc.” He also claims that
businesses stand to gain a competitive
advantage: “Vendor insights into the
organisation will allow meaningful
management and strategic decisions
to be made around the direction the
business takes.”
Similarly, Sage has seen first-hand the
benefits businesses have reaped from
ERP systems, Fenner explains: “Many
users of modern business management
solutions, in our experience, achieve up
to 60% revenue growth, increases in
productivity in the region of 40%, and
efficiency gains of around 60%. These
gains come from automating processes,
gaining real-time insight into business
information and integrating business
processes and data across the business.”
ERP industry in Africa
Despite the positive influence that
implementing a business management
system can have on organisations,
there remains barriers to these
solutions in Africa.
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