How to choose an ERP system?
Currently, the application of an ERP system in business operation and management is indispensable. To be able to successfully deploy it, businesses need to consider choosing the most suitable ERP system for their business.
Determine the company target
To determine the goals of an ERP project, companies must start with the actual difficulties of business management of the enterprise. It is the shortcomings of the current management system that will help companies determine the goals and requirements necessary to proceed with an ERP system.
In fact, many businesses have quite vague, unclear, and very general goals for implementing ERP projects. Therefore, the enterprise’s ERP implementation is also ambiguous.
Determine the company status
The choice of which ERP to deploy needs to consider the synchronization as well as the compatibility of the ERP with each other. To determine the current status of the management information system, we need to base on 4 basic factors Organizational structure, Business Processes, Business Policy.
Through determining the current state of this system, enterprises will find out weak points about the current system. In light of identifying problems that adversely affect the system implementation for enterprises; enterprises will seek for a solution to address difficulties and challenges.
Compare between different ERP suppliers
After having fully met the requirements as well as preliminary research on the current company’s situation, businesses will have a basis to work with suppliers and choose the appropriate deployment unit. There are a few things that businesses need to pay attention when choosing the right ERP software provider:
- Ensure that the supplier’s ERP software must be compatible with the existing software and applications of the enterprise
- Make sure the supplier has completely understood your business needs.
- Request ERP providers to give more information toward technical requirements and Pricing Proposals.
Evaluate the capacity of a chosen ERP provider
Once you’ve submitted a request for information to your supplier and received a response, it’s time to thoroughly evaluate your existing ERP systems through at least four criteria: cost, user demand support, internal process improvement, and flexibility.
Select the suitable ERP provider
Before making the final decision, in the final step of the ERP software selection process you should check up on these aspects:
Reassess ERP project: Assess the capabilities and costs of your ERP system against your business processes and needs and the budget for the ERP project. Review the benefits that an ERP system brings to your business and its financial viability at this point. Also, consider what the true cost of ownership of implementing an ERP project will be.
Assess hidden costs: Before choosing an ERP system, you should calculate the cost of replacing hardware, updating software programs, and performing routine maintenance. These are all actual costs to successfully implement an ERP project but are not mentioned in the supplier’s quotation.
Contract Negotiation: Negotiate the most favorable terms for you and ask the ERP software supplier to make a commitment to the quality and success of this project.
What are the key methods in ERP integration?
ERP Integration is the process that connects your ERP system with other systems or software. Why ERP integration is important?
Originally, when installing ERP software, businesses are already able to manage business activities intuitively. However, if you integrate ERP with another software or system, it makes the management process even smoother. The ERP integration aims at sharing data across systems to improve productivity and create a consolidated data system.
There are three main ways to integrate your ERP system with another system:
Point-to-point: Point-to-point is considered the simplest form of integration. It involves the use of custom code to connect two apps together. As point-to-point integration is a fixed solution, businesses lose their flexibility, and can not get real-time updates. Therefore, as your business grows, you can not apply this method.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB): ESB is a complex middleware tool that helps to integrate separate components and services into a system and distribute work between those components and services.
An integration platform as a service (iPaaS): iPaaS is a cloud-based software package used to create new applications or streamline data flow by linking existing services and applications. Together, it provides a way for organizations to easily use the basic building blocks to streamline a process or set up a service.
Benefits of eCommerce ERP Integration
An ERP system can do more than what eCommerce offers because it simplifies most of a business’s workflow.
Reduce manual errors: A good ERP eCommerce integration will practically eliminate the possibility of errors and omissions due to manual operations. Common errors associated with manual processes include incorrect order quantity, wrong shipping address, incorrect inventory status, missing or incomplete information, potential redundancy data, and most importantly price updates are not accurate.
Control business data efficiently: With the integration of ERP-E-commerce, all data fields about inventory, order information on the e-commerce platform, customer information,… will be automatically updated in real-time, on the same system. As a result, you will be able to manage in a more intuitive way.
Reduce operating costs: Good integration between ERP and eCommerce greatly reduces employment costs. You won’t have to hire an eCommerce site manager. The integration solution helps to update items, prices, or images, as well as automatically download orders, update fulfillment information, etc.
Maintain customer loyalty: By integrating the ERP platform with eCommerce, companies can use the available information of customers from the ERP system to run advertising and promotion programs on the e-commerce platform. As a result, the relationship with customers is maintained.
Final Words
If not using an integration solution, while working on multiple platforms at the same time; you will easily encounter problems such as data loss, data duplication, leading to business bottlenecks.
HexaSync Integration Platform is a professional integration service provider. If you need a solution to synchronize data between eCommerce platforms with an ERP system (such as the Acumatica ERP system), then Beehexa is a certain name you need to think about. It is time to streamline your business with Acumatica integration or other ERP system integration by deploying fully customized HexaSync software. HexaSync plays the role of a middleware that automates the data-sharing process and reduces the possibility of human error so that your company can focus on effectiveness and revenue.
