November 10. 2014 from LinkedIn – “…Why is it that so many ERP implementations go so wrong? In my current role I meet regularly with ERP survivors and casualties. My best but unscientific estimate is that 90-95% of them have horror stories to share…” Read more 180 View – There is a big difference between a horror story and bumps in the road. We would agree that there always bumps in the road. What you need is someone on your team that knows how to adapt or a coach to get you through it – someone like Pat Wade from […]
How Production Systems are Like the NFL
December 16, 2014 from IndustryWeek – “I sometimes find it difficult to describe what I do to friends and acquaintances who have careers outside of manufacturing and rarely give much thought to how things actually get made. To the uninitiated, if I were to say “I help manufacturers to implement continuous improvement (CI) models” or “I support companies in their production system journey,” I might as well be speaking a foreign language because, while these statements resonate with those of us who live and breathe CI every day, they don’t mean much to the rest of the world…” Read more […]
Project Management for an ERP Implementation
180 Systems has now launched a new practice area. The implementation of a new system is a big project and requires skilled project managers. Our clients often don’t have a lot of experience in project management especially related to implementing new systems. The vendors have project managers but their focus is project management of their own resources rather than that of our clients. It is also possible that there are conflicting views of scope between the vendor and our clients. As project manager for our clients, we will ensure that these and any other conflicts are resolved expeditiously and fairly. […]
Top 10 Trends in Cloud ERP
May 19, 2014 from enterpriseAPPStoday – “Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) software hasn’t really caught on yet. But according to a recent Gartner survey, it will soon. Here are some of the top trends shaping cloud-based ERP…” Read more 180 View – Most of our clients are more interested in finding a solution that is a good fit, not overly difficult to implement, in their budget and supported and implemented by a company that knows their industry really well. They don’t care that much how it’s deployed. Cloud deployment does not seem less expensive than on premise deployment even when […]
Why Big Projects Go Bad
June 26, 2014 from CFO – In a project’s earliest stages, very little is known about what it will take to execute it. So most companies seek out expert internal opinions — usually from proponents of the project, since they are the most knowledgeable. The problem is bias. Research is clear that project proponents are likely to fall under its influence, favor optimistic outcomes and produce dangerously inaccurate estimates. Most companies can accurately estimate small projects that may take, say, three to six months, but they are horrible at estimating the time and cost of big ones. There are three […]
ERP Pricing Models
ERP vendors don’t make it easy to calculate the cost of using their system. There are lots of variables to consider including: License – buy a perpetual license to use the software Hosted – annual or monthly fee to use the software by user Named user – for anyone needing any access to the system Concurrent user – for the number of people needing access at the same time Full users – need multiple parts of the system such as a purchasing manager Light users – need limited use of the system such as someone that just creates requisitions or […]
Oracle in the Cloud
According to IDG News Service, “Oracle is now the industry’s second-largest SaaS vendor after Salesforce.com” As well, “Oracle is also seeing traction increase for its cloud ERP (enterprise-resource-planning) software, adding 120 new customers in the fourth quarter alone”. This was news to us, so I contacted Oracle directly to get the inside scoop on their ERP cloud offering. Oracle Fusion has been rebranded as Oracle ERP Cloud and there are a couple of hundred implementations across North America with many new opportunities keeping the Oracle sales team hopping. Oracle ERP Cloud is so far targeted to organizations providing professional services, […]
ERP Support Requirements Range Widely
March 2014 from computer economics – “…Our study, ERP Support Staffing Ratios, shows the typical range of ERP support staffing ratios for installations of all sizes. At the median, there are 58 users per ERP support staff member, rising to 131 users per ERP staff member at the 75th percentile. At the 25th percentile, each ERP staff member supports just 29 users…” Read more 180 View – A key question in the selection process should be the effort required to internally support the system. It is really hard to get this information from the vendors and references should be asked […]
Enterprise Software: Suites Don’t Always Win
February 6, 2014 from The Enterprise System Spectator – “The major enterprise software providers promote their pre-built integration as a selling point in capturing new business from existing clients. They argue that, rather than attempting to integrate different systems from different providers, organizations should buy everything from a single provider and get the integration for free…” Read more 180 View – The Enterprise System Spectator continues to be a good source of independent thinking. This article is about ERP vs Best of Breed and there is no winner. […]
SaaS and Cloud ERP Observations: Is Cloud ERP right for you?
December 12, 2013 from Aberdeen Group – “Over the past six years, Aberdeen has ben measuring the willingness of organizations to consider Software as a Service (SaaS) as the deployment model for their ERP implementations…” Read more 180 View – Although the article is a year old, it is still relevant. The article distinguishes between 2 cloud models – one is SaaS or a public cloud and the other is a hosted model or private cloud. The definition by Aberdeen is confusing as both models are hosted. However public cloud and private cloud does make sense. In the public cloud, organizations […]