Nonetheless, they constitute a valuable foundation for a wide range of new value-enhancing applications. -- Dorien James and Malcolm L Wolf Today, the competition for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software packages is fierce and vendors have frantically developed strategies to make their software available to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) (Blumling, Frick & Meehan, 2002)
41). In fact, many SMEs have reported disappointing (Chia & Ling, 2003) or even disastrous results from their ERP initiatives (Bhattacharjee & Moreno, 2003)
CMW was founded in 1986, and grew over the years to become one of the largest independent manufacturers in its industry in Europe. At the time, the company's management recognised that its existing approach to practice and performance were not competitive, and despite having the requisite talent and expertise to succeed in its industry, there were no immediate solutions forthcoming from the industry itself (Coghlan & Coughlan, 2003)
This constraint relates to the fact that most SMEs have a simple and highly centralized structure; are "resource poor" terms of their human, financial and material assets; and are confronted with greater environmental uncertainty as a result of having a lower measure of control over their extraorganizational situations. Gable and Stewart cite the example of most SMEs having less influence over computer vendors or consultants and thus they may receive a relatively lower level of service; further, SMEs can be situated in more remote areas, where service delays are longer and external computing resources less available (Gable & Stewart, 1999)
Because SMEs typically use ERP software to facilitate the exchange of information throughout their organizations, ERP vendors usually sell their applications in suites that contain various modules such as audit trail, payroll, purchasing, point of sale, manufacturing, inventory, job costing and bill of materials (Piturro, 1999). The competition in the ERP industry is also fierce, with SAP, the ERP market leader, and Oracle, the number-two company, consistently extending their product ranges to compete against emerging products from smaller competitors in newly identified functional areas (James & Wolf, 2000)
There are, however, a wide range of ERP alternatives available to assist in this regard, depending on what size firm is involved (Laursen, 2002). The majority of the ERP software packages are most appropriate for companies with more than $500 million in annual sales and more than 500 employees (Johnston, 2003); however, there are now a number of ERP solutions available on the market and even the main ERP players have solutions that are appropriate for the SME market (Krystkowiak, Bucciarelli & Dubois, 2004; Bielski, 2002)
Review and Discussion Background and overview. Today, more and more SMEs are being pressured by an increasingly globalized economy to modify their traditional management styles, both operationally and organizationally, by replacing them with more streamlined and integrated systems that serve to improve the speed and flexibility of their physical and information flows (Jones, 2002), help synchronize demand with supply, and help manage transactions more accurately (Bigras & Gelinas, 2004)
There are, however, a wide range of ERP alternatives available to assist in this regard, depending on what size firm is involved (Laursen, 2002). The majority of the ERP software packages are most appropriate for companies with more than $500 million in annual sales and more than 500 employees (Johnston, 2003); however, there are now a number of ERP solutions available on the market and even the main ERP players have solutions that are appropriate for the SME market (Krystkowiak, Bucciarelli & Dubois, 2004; Bielski, 2002)
Today, more and more SMEs are being pressured by an increasingly globalized economy to modify their traditional management styles, both operationally and organizationally, by replacing them with more streamlined and integrated systems that serve to improve the speed and flexibility of their physical and information flows (Jones, 2002), help synchronize demand with supply, and help manage transactions more accurately (Bigras & Gelinas, 2004). There are, however, a wide range of ERP alternatives available to assist in this regard, depending on what size firm is involved (Laursen, 2002)
Among the strategies commonly used by ERP vendors are preconfigured solutions, implementation methodologies and hosting options. Because SMEs typically use ERP software to facilitate the exchange of information throughout their organizations, ERP vendors usually sell their applications in suites that contain various modules such as audit trail, payroll, purchasing, point of sale, manufacturing, inventory, job costing and bill of materials (Piturro, 1999)
There is a lot to be learned from the SAP Crystal Presentation Design Software. Tools like this one can be applied to all different areas of life (Burns, n
When a person can do that, he or she can often make the best and most informed choice, since knowing what could happen with all of the different options is one of the best ways to see which option will work out both in the short-term and in the long run. Having a business - or even part of a business - fail to do well simply because of a technology or data problem is an unfortunate issue that can occur when people do not use the right tools (Krigsman, 2011)
However, if the company gets into the wrong partnership, it can spell disaster. ERP, or enterprise resource planning, is such an all-encompassing type of system that is it crucial to a business's success that the right vendor and the right software be used (Burns, n
That comes into play because some organizations are uncertain about what kinds of software they can get and what that software will do. Because they have trouble with that issue, they simply rely on the vendor to tell them what they need (Krigsman, 2011)
That is worth considering, but too many companies do not know how to work properly with vendors. Companies that are planning on using ERP systems must focus on what they need before they go after a system that will provide that to them (Wailgum, 2010)
). Locating the right company and software for the job is something that all businesses must consider, no matter what size they are or what kinds of needs they have (Donovan, 2011)