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ERP must be flexible to survive

The days of software vendors dictating how companies should run their businesses with prescriptive software is drawing to a close, says Stephen Corrigan, MD of Palladium Software.


Johannesburg, 20 Jan 2015

An ERP system that is not sufficiently flexible to meet changing business demands is an anchor, not a sail, holding the business back, not driving it forward. This is according to a Gartner report that now defines legacy as 'any system that is not sufficiently flexible to meet changing business needs'.

Local business solutions provider Palladium Software stresses that many business executives are concerned about the lack of flexibility in their business applications portfolio, yet tend to do little or nothing about it due to a reluctance for change.

Organisations that are not bound by specific manufacturing or supply chain demands are beginning to take advantage of the greater opportunities to obtain a better functional fit and the process flexibility offered by modern applications. However, this shifting towards newer and more agile technologies will not necessarily result in better cost-value outcomes for many organisations, says Stephen Corrigan, managing director of Palladium Software.

Few organisations would say they are achieving real business value from their ERP systems. Yet many of these same organisations are making the assumption that cloud will automatically provide more agility at lower cost, therefore increasing value.

Corrigan does not believe in the traditional 80/20 fit principle. "We realise that in today's age, companies need to have a 100% fit in order have the edge over their competitors, and the days of software vendors dictating how companies should run their businesses with prescriptive software, is drawing to a close.

"We have always believed in our software, offering clients the ability to add defining features to their business process, right from our Acumatica Cloud ERP to our Palladium Software range, even for the start-up businesses. In addition to this, all our products are Microsoft certified, using the latest in technologies and ensuring the highest standards at all times," he explains.

Palladium offers custom development for clients at a nominal fee, allowing it to extend its development resources. All features are developed in such a way that they are incorporated into the main application that benefits all clients. This philosophy has aided in Palladium extending its core development team from two to six developers.

"The features we've developed range from temporary customer credit limits to the automated sending of outstanding customer invoices on-the-fly from sales document processing routines. They are really limitless and extensive, and I would go as far as saying that 75% of our development in our 2015 edition has been client requests that have changed the business," he explains.

Evaluation of ERP solutions must become even more rigorous; organisations will find that the hybridisation of ERP requires greater focus on aspects that were taken for granted in previously integrated monolithic 'out of the box' ERP solutions.

As vendors begin to understand and adapt to the hybrid world, their offerings become more complex and their commitment to provide easy-to-use integration for the hybrid environment will both require critical examination. Long-term sourcing arrangements are likely to require greater flexibility in order to cater for changing integration requirements.

"In terms of ERP, our Acumatica Cloud ERP application ships with a complete development toolkit, allowing it to be fully modified by the client in structured environment. In addition, it ships standard with a customisable Wiki for help as well as a complete set of Web services on every form for any form of direct integrations," he adds.

Corrigan believes this is the new generation of software that has been created to be fully adaptable. "Standard features include user rights that are granular down to field level. We also have definable literals that allow users to process in the language of their choice. Using Google Translate, this process is now straightforward and really bodes well for our country with the 11 official languages."

As alternatives to monolithic on-premises ERP and as enterprise applications continue to mature, CIOs and application leaders must take action to address the fast-approaching reality of legacy ERP and its implications for their business in the postmodern world.

"We have seen a great adoption of our philosophies and technologies and this demand has resulted in us recently opening an office in Cape Town. In summary, the days of an accounting software vendor dictating how clients should run their business, due to the inherent software limitations of the application, are dead," he concludes.

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Palladium Software (www.palladium.co.za)

Palladium Software is a division of MyERP Software, a company that has been offering tailor-made business solutions to businesses throughout Africa, from the single-user SME to large multi-user, multi-site corporate customers, since 2002.

MyERP prides itself on providing best-of-breed software that can be tailor-made to the client's precise business requirements. All products are Microsoft Certified, and use the Microsoft SQL Server Database, ensuring its clients are exposed to the highest quality in software development.

The Palladium product range offers clients affordable feature-rich 'out of the box' functionality, while AccountMate and Acumatica offer clients the ability to modify the core source code itself, affording them complete flexibility with cloud or desktop deployment options. This functionality is supported by MyERP's highly qualified business partners, consultants and developers.

Editorial contacts

Ivor van Rensburg
IT Public Relations
(082) 652 8050
ivor@itpr.co.za
Stephen Corrigan
Palladium Software
(011) 367 0656
stephen.corrigan@myerp.co.za