This view from Syscom…
“When deciding upon whether to change your company-wide business systems to a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning suite, you have good reason to be nervous,” said John Ewing of Syscom. “It’s a significant cost, it takes a long time and not everyone within your business will like it.” At Syscom, we believe that you buy in raw materials to make something that you can then sell. How difficult can that be?
John continued: “It is made difficult because we have ‘people’ who interpret information presented by the systems you employed who then act on that information using the processes you defined perhaps many years ago.” Processes should be agile for the world we now serve as it changes so rapidly. If we fail to move with it, we will undoubtedly be left behind as the industries we serve are shaken up.
But does that mean we do nothing? “Of course not,” said John. “We could always adapt what we have again and again. Many companies decide upon this course of action but don’t realise how unstable and growth-restricting it can be.”
25 years ago, there existed many (so called) ERP systems purchased by companies looking for tighter control and better reporting services. The driving force then is the same as it is today – cashflow and control of it. But, as time has gone by, such systems have become dated and no longer able to give that control you first envisaged. Reports are now created by the thousand that go unread and no-one has complete visibility of virtually anything. So how did this happen?
“The primary reason is that development stalled and where some companies invested revenue back into their systems,others did not, leaving companies to fend for themselves. This led to a myriad of smaller bolt on services becoming available creating the bespoke ‘spiders web’ IT infrastructures seen in so many companies today that require complete backward compatibility checks to be carried out for every change that is made.” Is that what you want for the future of your company?
“The question is not whether you should change or not, the question ought to be whether there are far better systems available that will give you greater flexibility, far tighter control and cost you far less in the long run,” said John.
ERP systems over the past 20 years have fallen continually in price and tripled in functionality making it one of the best value for money purchases available. Of course many horror stories exist of projects taking years to finish and at triple the cost. But, ask yourselves a question: are you seeking to change because the present systems you employ no longer fit the way you work and that you are constantly changing things? Have your systems become so bespoke that it costs a lot of money each year to maintain? If the answer is yes to either, then have you really finished that project?
The thing is, you need to continually develop as a business to sustain your share in the market and grow within others. Your ERP should be flexible enough to develop with you. But, such flexibility should not come at a price, it should be there when needed and you should not require the services of external consultants each time you face such change. This is what you are investing in when you choose Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Modern ERP systems are scaleable, adaptable and customisable to meet the growing needs of your business today and tomorrow. Microsoft Dynamics AX is all that and what’s more, using the Microsoft ‘Sure Step’ project management tools, projects are now delivered ahead of time and under budget.
As such, Syscom are able to offer you fixed price, fixed length projects and state that ‘if we take a day longer then we will pay for it’. How can we say this?
For over 40 years we have been installing ERP systems and our experience within Manufacturing& Distribution is second to none. Our knowledge of untangling vast varieties of processes coupled with our ability to simplify production methodology means we can deliver on our promise and create for you the robust ‘fully integrated’ cross company system you require.
It comes in the form of Microsoft Dynamics AX and will last you for years to come.
