An ERP Migration Solution for Cloud Transformation

Forrester analyst Duncan Jones published a research paper in February 2022 titled “On-Premises ERP: Should You Love It Or List It?” The title was taken from a popular reality television show that focuses on homes that people love but require maintenance. Should you continue to invest in them and renovate, or should you put them up for sale and purchase a new home? A similar conundrum exists in today’s ERP world. There are many options for Next Generation ERP platforms – what Forrester refers to as Digital Operations Platforms or DOP – that enable organizations to compete in today’s business climate with its uncertainty and blistering pace of change. But many organizations have made large investments into their current ERP technology and may not be ready for change. The User Perspective Wire machine manufacturer Schleuniger is one such organization. During the Net at Work-hosted webinar, “Love Your Legacy ERP, Or List It?,” Jones served as a guest speaker alongside a panel of ERP users, including Lia St. Armand, MIS Administrator at Schleuniger. St. Armand shared her experience with a legacy, on-premise ERP solution running on an Access database. “We’ve been with our ERP system for a long time. All of our users are familiar with it, they know the tables, they know the fields…[and] we have a lot of customized customer relations that we do. Our biggest thing is that we want to provide exemplary customer service, not just good or great customer service, we want to go above and beyond. So we have a lot of tie-ins to our ERP that will allow us to automate a lot of processes that would be manual.” While the IT department at Schleuniger is able to support the customizations of its ERP system, another ERP user panelist, ACD Distribution, didn’t have such extensive staff support. The Middleton, WI-based company is a distributor of toys, hobby gaming, board games and game-related merchandise. CFO Marilyn Maher reported that they had been using an unsupported ERP system and, after having a history of working with unsupported ERP and knowing the challenges associated with it, didn’t want to relive the experience. “We made a decision very early on…and we decided to just go ahead and move…because of its support and the feature enhancements we would get from it. And it has served us very well.” “At Net at Work, we do not believe that there is any one right answer. There is only the best answer for your organization and what you are going through at this moment.”
-Doug Mow, CMO at Net at Work Know When to Go The panelists connected on a common goal, however. Both stressed the importance of properly serving the customer. Jones explained that ERP or DOP solutions should stand to meet the needs of customers through operational effectiveness, speed of service and customer experience. He also cautioned against the “temporary fix where really you need to change the underlying solution.” St. Armand echoed this sentiment. “If we were going to make a change, then it would need to be something that did more, that did it better. Not something that would take away from the customer service that we already provide,” she said. If you find that your current system isn’t helping you fulfill your customer promise, that’s when options like a Business Health Assessment or other analysis may be needed to help you map out your technology strategy to overcome existing shortcomings. “At Net at Work,” explained Doug Mow, Chief Marketing Officer with the company, “We do not believe that there is any one right answer. There is only the best answer for your organization and what you are going through at this moment…we just urge you to make that decision well informed and commit to it.” To learn how your organization can benefit from a strategic partnership with one of the leading technology consulting firms in the United States, contact Net at Work today.

The war in Ukraine. Soaring gas and food prices. Rising interest rates in an effort to control surging inflation. Small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) throughout North America are feeling the impact of the current economic climate. 91% of SMB owners indicated these economic trends are having a negative impact on their businesses, according to Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Businesses survey from April 2022 – which is a reported 86% increase from earlier in the year. Inflationary pressures topped the list of significant challenges identified by these businesses, and for good reason. How quickly an organization can respond to challenges in the marketplace can often be the difference between success and failure – and the current inflationary period is no exception. Companies that have a good handle on their margins and can adjust pricing rapidly to minimize their absorption of rising costs will have a leg up over those that lack profitability analysis and/or possess an intensive and drawn-out process to roll out new pricing. “Companies that have a good handle on their margins and can adjust pricing rapidly…will have a leg up over those that don’t.” Weathering the Economic Climate But if you’re shaking your head – maybe your margins aren’t fully known, or there are several hurdles you need to regularly jump over to release new pricing – you now have a major opportunity to weather this period and prepare your business for either a “soft landing” or a full-blown recession in the coming months. Cloud-native Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), otherwise known as Next Generation ERP that includes Business Intelligence (BI), enhanced workflows, flexible commerce, a platform ecosystem and global/scalable financial functionality, allows you to routinely understand the profitability of product lines, projects and more as costs climb (and fall). Armed with this real-time data, you’re in a better position to align costs and pricing closer for more accurate forecasting and control over what should be driving your business, regardless of economic conditions. If you’re struggling with data siloes, which are often inherent to legacy ERP systems like Sage 100 or Sage 300 ERP systems, and they’re holding back your ability to lessen the impact of inflationary pressures, we’re here to help. Net at Work remains one of the top 100 Value-Added Resellers (VAR) today, providing the leading technology and expertise to make your ERP migration journey a seamless one. Learn more how you can best position your SMB organization against inflation by watching this recorded webinar for “SMB Talk: Cash Flow Limitations Caused by Inflation.”

Most legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) can trace their roots to applications rooted in the 1990s. While vendors have rebranded and re-marketed them, and added some new functionality, it’s hard to hide that the technology predates the digital age. These applications are slow, can’t scale, force users to adapt their workflows, lack mobile capabilities, and simply don’t possess the agility needed to handle the complexities of the digital world we live in. It’s time for a new breed of ERP equipped to take on this brave new world. It’s time for Next Generation ERP – aka Fourth-Era ERP or the Digital Operations Platform. What is Next Gen ERP and why does it matter? In this, the first in a series exploring the topic, we help define terms, identify five core next-gen capabilities, and challenge you to begin planning your move. ERP — then and now Early in the 1990s, existing MRP applications began to include finance and accounting components in their mix — rebranding the bundle as ERP. ERP grew quickly, with adoption rates accelerating as Y2K approached and companies worried if their programs could make the transition from a two-digit date field to four. (Most did just fine, by the way.) Throughout the early 2000s, ERP became the center of business strategy for many organizations. Applications that we refer to as Next Gen ERP (Gartner refers to them as fourth era ERP and Forrester uses the term Digital Operations Platform) came into the spotlight more recently. Next Gen ERP represents a more radical shift — one that extends the application’s functionality outside the enterprise — into a wider ecosystem that can include customers and suppliers, partners, competitors and stakeholders. So, what makes an ERP Next Gen? Five hallmarks of Next Gen ERP There’s no definitive set of credentials needed to join the Next Gen ERP club, but we’ve identified five hallmarks we think are essential in the digital age. We’ll take a look at each one in more detail in upcoming posts. 1. Business Intelligence: Tools that support a data-powered operation across every department and location.
2. Enhanced Workflows: Smart workflows and process automation that reduce or eliminate manual touchpoints and keep tasks on target.
3. Flexible Commerce: Tools to help your business transact the way your customers and business partners want, including eCommerce, EDI, subscription options, and customer/vendor portals.
4. Platform Ecosystem & Globalization: Technology to help your organization complete in a global marketplace, including flexible deployment options and multi-language support.
5. Global/Scalable Financial Functionality: Capabilities that support growth at a global scale including multi-company, multi-currency, and multi-book plus advanced reporting and analysis functions. Why Next Gen now? You may be thinking, my ERP is working just fine, why should I consider updating to a Next Gen ERP solution? There are many good reasons to make the switch, but perhaps the most compelling reason is that it’s likely your competitors already have. Gartner predicts that by 2023, 65% of companies will use ERP applications that can be categorized as fourth-era or Next Gen. It’s time to begin planning your organization’s move, or you risk being outperformed by more nimble competitors. Legacy ERP systems don’t meet many of the needs of modern enterprises operating in a rapid-evolving technology ecosystem. They’re not adaptive or intelligent enough. They don’t support streamlined remote access, require too many manual touchpoints and workarounds, nor do they provide the deep insight necessary for strategic decision making. Conversely, Next Gen ERP applications are built on modern technology that is easy to work with and simple to maintain. They offer capabilities that allow an organization to scale operations efficiently, without adding more administrative personnel. They harness vast amounts of vital business data and allow you to query and present that data for faster and better decision making. In addition, Next Gen ERP applications support and advance your relationships with customers and business partners. And they support global operations and continued growth. If your organization is considering a generational shift in its ERP strategy, we would welcome the opportunity to assist you in selecting and unleashing the best solution for your needs. In the meantime, join us for this continuing series detailing the power of Next Gen Business Management Software.