Visual South Insights

What should I be thinking about?

If you are in the process of choosing an ERP, it’s important to consider the company you could be partnering with. An ERP selection is a big decision in many ways, one that will affect your company for years to come. But it’s not entirely about the product itself (although making sure it has a good evaluation is important). The partnership you enter into with the vendor must also be the right move for your company. You should be comfortable on a variety of levels with this partnership, but here are the top three things to consider as you shop around:

What does ERP stand for?

You may have been asked to find ERP software for your company but are still wondering, “What is an ERP system?” An internet search of the term “ERP” will yield quite a bit of information, and not all of it is helpful. So let’s start with an ERP definition: ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, which refers to the management of business processes in an organization. These processes typically include:

• Financials
• Production planning
• Engineering/manufacturing
• Shop floor control
• Sales
• Inventory management
• Purchasing
• Quality

Growing pains

If you are a small- to medium-sized manufacturing company that is growing, you are likely experiencing growing pains. Those pains can come from a lot of different directions, but in our business, we hear about growing pains as they relate to software. As a business grows it becomes more sophisticated and complex, and in turn, the software tools used to manage processes need to match that level of sophistication.