Many large companies look to their Information Technology (IT) departments for solutions to achieve greater efficiency and for business software to improve customer services. Nowadays, of course, all solutions have the inevitable TLA, or three letter algorithm, and ERP, SCM and CRM are no exception.
In fact, every company of any size performs all of the tasks associated with these business solutions but may not be using a consistent suite of programs designed for these functions. Smaller businesses especially are likely to be using simple spreadsheets or databases to control and manage their resources and customers.
The Risk of Business Software as a Solution
Business managers are always looking to compare the cost of IT solutions with the potential return on investment (ROI). Business software can be very expensive as well as require costly resources or outside services to implement. The potential ROI can be difficult to calculate until an in-depth study and analysis has been carried out especially as the benefits are often long-term growth rather than cash savings.
ERP, the Complete Business Solution
The biggest decision and most risky solution is that of an Enterprise Resource Planning system, or ERP. This solution can be a complete replacement for all of the business software and procedures within the company by a single suite of programs that are specifically designed to efficiently manage assets and resources based around a comprehensive financial system.
The benefit of ERP is having a single solution provider for everything from accounts through manufacturing and warehouse management to human resources. Every package is linked to allow extensive business intelligence. The risk, however, comes from the potentially unlimited resource and pain in either attempting to adapt current procedures to the ERP solution, or in throwing away the way the business runs and whole-heartedly accepting the wisdom of the service provider.
Examples of ERP Suppliers
One of the biggest and best-known ERP supplier is Sage, who came from being a well-respected accounting software producer and has extended the functionality to implement Enterprise Resource Planning. See Sage ERP for a description of this system.
Another supplier that has an extensive customer base and who advertises profusely on both television and particularly in airports is SAP, who provide complete business solutions across the range of software and service. See SAP ERP for this particular range of products.
SCM for Efficient Management of the Supply Chain
It is hard to improve on the definition provided by the Association of Operations Management, the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) Dictionary when it defines Supply Chain Management as the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand, and measuring performance globally".
Many companies have an approved supplier list to ensure quality and perhaps ensure a second supplier for critical components, but SCM helps manage a complex array of suppliers that is often associated with products that have a lot of components that are created by many manufacturers.
Example Solutions for SCM
SAP also have an SCM package which can be seen at: SAP SCM.
Oracle is another large company that supplies SCM as seen at Oracle Supply Chain Management.
CRM, Customer Relationship Management
All accounting systems have records for each customer and some smaller companies tend to rely on these records together with a log book or simply personal memory. When the pressure of work is high, however, it is easy to forget critical information about a potential customer or even the details of a promise of a sale.
A CRM software solution provides a database where every piece of communication such as telephone call; email or direct conversation can be logged to ensure that promises can be met and leads can be efficiently followed. This is especially important where a business has many customers or those that have a team of sale staff who may need to know the details of the last conversation.
The biggest and most well known supplier of CRM is SalesForce who can be found at SalesForce CRM.
Smaller businesses have grown up with one of the first implementations of CRM which was ACT!, now owned by Sage, and which can be seen at Sage Customer Management.
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Dave Corby - Dave Corby is Director of Engineering Software for a large American inspection company.
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