HORIZON ERP

While defining ERP strategy, many organizations neglect one of the highest value-added aspects of their enterprise systems: business intelligence. For the last few decades, companies have been heavily investing in new ERP systems. However, throughout those investments, business intelligence has been overlooked. Business intelligence is a pretty vague term when absent of context, so it’s understandable why some executives gloss over this important aspect of ERP systems. Here are a few things to consider when incorporating business intelligence into your ERP strategy: Business intelligence, reporting, analytics and dashboards can help deliver a majority of ERP system benefits.  Many executives focus on reducing costs with their ERP initiatives. Increased efficiencies reduced IT maintenance costs and streamlined business processes are often the primary reasons for implementing new  ERP systems . But most organizations have spent years–or decades–wringing inefficienc...

It takes a lot of time to keep track of the total hours worked by employees, stay up-to-date with tax preparation and update employee profiles. It’s time to get a new HR & Payroll system if the HR department can’t keep up with daily operations. Here are five reasons why there is a need of payroll software. 1.     Save Time:  Payroll can be very strenuous with the mass amount of operations needed to keep everything in order. Calculating hours, tax preparation and employee data maintenance can take multiple hours to complete when it's done manually. Investing in a good HR & payroll system will allow information such as direct deposits pay, up to date tables, and even updating the general ledger to be automated. 2.     Reduces Human Error:  When businesses manually enter employee wages, there is always the possibility of human error. Use of a payroll system to reduce human error and save the company money. 3.   ...

Through the treacherous years of manual processes, outdated legacy systems, inaccurate performance data and internal operational breakdowns, most organizations are ready for a heavy dose of  business process reengineering (BPR) . While this is mostly good news; there is a catch. As unfortunate as it may be, everyone has differing opinions of what business process reengineering actually means and wonders what its correlation is to ERP implementations. Here we are discussing seven common myths associated with BPR. Business process reengineering doesn’t need to happen on ERP projects.  This is perhaps the most misguided of all the myths mentioned. Every ERP system – regardless of which you choose – will most likely wreak some sort of havoc on your business processes. Most of these changes will be positive improvements, but will still require some effort in defining your operations in the new system environment. 2.       Simply implementi...

The Hackett Group found that there is no correlation between performance and world-class performance.   The ERP market is competitive and cutthroat. It raises the question of whether it is the ERP technology itself or other factors that increases performance. Based on various expertises’ experience, the specific ERP tool is just one piece of the business performance puzzle. How the organization designs its business processes, how well they establish KPIs and measure performance, how one design the organization and employee roles, and how well to train employees to use the new system are just a few aspects that can have a huge impact on the success of the ERP implementation. However, all of this is not to say that the ERP software itself is not important. Obviously, one has to select software that best fits the business requirements and operational model. But the key is that ERP is simply an enabler, and not the sole reason, of increased business performance. The...

While enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has proven to be invaluable for all types of businesses, you cannot always be certain the ERP system you are using is without gaps. Fortunately, performing a GAP analysis can help you determine what functions and/or services your ERP software may be lacking, whether accidentally, deliberately or because it still needs to be developed. In addition to being without certain features and functions, there are several other gaps you should watch out for with your ERP software. Here’s a quick look at the five most common gaps: Your ERP system is missing features, functions or services that could benefit your business. Yes, this is stated above but it is important enough to mention again. There are three crucial components your ERP software should have. Although sales and marketing are apparent, service is not. However, it is essential for tracking complaints, warranty claims and service issues that require the assistance of you...

It’s unlikely that someone would go on a long journey without first procuring a map and planning their route. People have an easy time visualizing a destination when planning their route but don’t understand the pitfalls that lie in the journey. Business process management is the road map  to the destination of a successful ERP implementation. Like all road maps , there are multiple routes to consider. Within an ERP implementation there are various levels of business process management to consider as you design your new system: Business Process Management (BPM) –  Business process management is a holistic approach used to evaluate, improve and align business processes to an organization’s overall goals and strategy. It enables businesses to be more efficient and flexible to change. Business Process Improvement (BPI) –  There are a variety of approaches within business process management; the first being business process improvement. In this app...

Mismanaged expectations and misinformation shared during sales cycles for  ERP systems  are major reasons why so many implementations fail. Unfortunately, buyers of new ERP systems often rely on faulty information when making their purchasing decisions.  Educated buyers that go into their  ERP implementations  with their eyes wide open are much more likely to succeed than those that don’t. Here are 4 common myths that one should be aware of before investing in the new ERP initiative: ERP implementations can be quick and inexpensive ERP vendors  and their sales reps love to sell the concept of quick and easy implementations. We’re all looking for that silver bullet or “easy button” that we can use to make our implementations easy, but these myths don’t exist. The business transformation portion of the implementation will always be the most difficult aspect of client’s project, and no implementation tool can automate those activities. ...

In any industry, there are big players and smaller ones.   Whether a company is a micro business or giant corporation with triple digit years’ worth of experience, each and every one of them can benefit from operational organization methods, such as ERP systems.   In each situation, it is important to consider the size of your company, its needs, and what may happen in the future.   Most importantly, there is no cookie-cutter option, and when consulting an ERP system, keep in mind that your individual needs outweigh the biased views of ERP vendors. ERP Systems for Small Companies They may have a limited budget and no need for the functionalities of an ERP system, which may be a good fit for a large corporation.   It is important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for ERP systems when it comes to suggesting the correct functionality for a business. It is an ERP consultant’s job to help a business judge their real ERP needs, as we...