> I (am actually told to) teach that changing the business to fit SAP is preferable to changing SAP to fit the business. And it's accurate advice. It shouldn't be, but it is. SAP is SAP. It doesn't care about your USP. Or your custom approach to business. As far as SAP is concerned all businesses are the same, they do the same things, and all must conform. Resistance is futile.
I've worked in companies making decisions around which ERPs to implement. You have two options: roll your own ERP or adapt your processes to an existing one.
The first approach means that you are basically committed to becoming a software company. At a minimum an ERP needs to tie together your accounting, supply chain and inventory. So it's not a simple endeavor and it's easy to mess up. You'll need a team of people to build it and you'll need ongoing support. Compared to these costs, the price that SAP or NetSuite will charge you for their ERP is trivial.
Alternatively, you can adapt your processes to an ERP. In many cases, this is the right thing to do. It means that you can use readily-available software and have practices that are good enough.
I've worked in companies making decisions around which ERPs to implement. You have two options: roll your own ERP or adapt your processes to an existing one.
The first approach means that you are basically committed to becoming a software company. At a minimum an ERP needs to tie together your accounting, supply chain and inventory. So it's not a simple endeavor and it's easy to mess up. You'll need a team of people to build it and you'll need ongoing support. Compared to these costs, the price that SAP or NetSuite will charge you for their ERP is trivial.
Alternatively, you can adapt your processes to an ERP. In many cases, this is the right thing to do. It means that you can use readily-available software and have practices that are good enough.