Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has been IT`s top priority over the last decade. It made sense - and still does - to integrate essential business functions. The arguments for it are still sound. The alternative is business chaos with islands of information that deny enterprises the operational efficiencies and information they need to stay competitive.
It was the execution not the vision per se that sent many companies off the rails.
Paul Whalley, Columnist, ITWeb
With hindsight, the ERP business analysts were too ambitious in trying, at the same time, to attack inefficiencies and streamline business processes. But that was the next great business challenge for Western companies largely free of the perennial labour problems of the 1970s and 1980s.
The solutions themselves were vast, by and large proprietary, and demanded IT resources that were not - and are still not - widely available, though the new generation of components-based integrated business solutions have obviated this complexity.
It was the execution not the vision per se that sent many companies off the rails. It is a lesson that needs to be borne in mind today as companies rush headlong into e-commerce. While the industry`s ability to cope with complexity has improved tenfold over the past 10 years, the need for implementation and execution simplicity prevails.
Workable solution
Today, many companies are licking their ERP wounds. It took much more than vision and business school philosophies to turn this concept into a workable solution. It required people who knew where they wanted to go and how they were going to get there; people who realised the importance of incremental success rather than striving for unobtainable goals; and people with the focus and discipline to stick to a structured road map.
Above all else it needed the support of the end-users. SA did not have too many of any such people. In fact, neither did the rest of the world.
One of the big mistakes - and this is not hindsight - was that companies were sold on the Big Bang approach to ERP. Such was their belief in the concept that, despite the complexity of the task in hand, primary, secondary and tertiary objectives were given equal priority.
Some companies put in the necessary effort and money and succeeded; many abandoned the task before even getting off the ground, while others are still trying to get on the right course.
Those same companies, driven by market forces, their customers, shareholders and partners, are now looking to roll-out an e-commerce solution. Once again speed is the priority. In fact, the urgency is greater than anything most IT departments have experienced, even those veterans of ERP campaigns. Fortunately, even the most sophisticated e-commerce implementation need not rival the old ERP in complexity. But the big question is - have we learned from our mistakes in implementing ERP?
To begin with, IT must not be pressurised by senior executives to get sites up and running as quickly as possible. A recent Forester Research report on e-commerce (March 2000) says there is a danger that such pressure "drives myopic e-commerce teams to select feature-rich but proprietary packages. When the inevitable need for additional functionality arises, users find their choices are limited or non-existent."
E-commerce goals
Before leaping or being forced to jump into the brave new e-business world, a company`s e-commerce goals are better served if IT and management first step back and prioritise its e-commerce goals, determine what its existing resources are and what needs to be done to successfully meet basic requirements.
For example, the deployment of a self-service sales application might sound like the killer e-commerce app, but not if the basic sales/fulfilment infrastructures are not in place. Prioritisation and sequential implementation is the name of the game today as it should have been with ERP.
Initially, all that might be required to get a company onto the e-commerce road are order status and product availability facilities.
That is not to say that companies do not need a sense of urgency when it comes to e-commerce implementation. There is a danger of "he who hesitates is lost", but, learning from ERP, it is better to take one - albeit quick - step at a time and make sure it works rather than take a giant leap into the unknown.
Forester advocates that companies avoid application lock-in by seeking out open platform products that allow for deep customisation as well as the flexibility to integrate with new best-of-breed applications.
It is here that open standards-based component technology comes to the fore. They should be the key building blocks across all business applications today, delivering the flexibility companies need to bring successful solutions to markets rapidly, suited to their unique business needs while still integrating easily with legacy, next-generation and best-of-breed products.
Analysts, suppliers and users of business applications today agree: the future belongs to component-based systems. With component technology, implementations succeed, time schedules and budgets are adhered to, and the systems perform as they are supposed to. But above all, they can be extended, modified and changed as required.
Another advantage of an open systems component-based business applications strategy is that it allows IT to set achievable, sequential goals. Rather than a Big Bang approach, e-commerce teams can establish a series of reachable milestones, turning a number of small successes into overall success.
Back boiler
Also, if ERP has taught us nothing else, keeping deadlines is critical to success. Project teams should not allow any deviations to plans. If new functionality comes up half way through the project - and we are living in a world where that is very likely to happen - then leave it on the back boiler until that part of the current plan is complete and proven.
ERP projects made the big mistake of being sucked into changing functionality and new must-have features. This result was missed deadlines, runaway costs, and a system that had the potential of using all the bells and whistles, but never quite reached finalisation.
The advantage of a "baby steps" implementation strategy is that new functionalities can be accommodated easily at a later stage, when time and money allows.
After the headaches of ERP, e-commerce is going to be a pleasure. But remember IT cannot do it alone. Everyone involved in e-commerce processes must to be involved in determining needs and proving implementations.
Above all else, remember that however good the system implemented, like ERP, it is not going to make a bit of positive difference to the business by itself. It is the people who use it who make the difference at the end of the day.
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