07-14-2010, 04:22 AM
Enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) are management information systems (MISs) that integrate and automate many of the business practices associated with the operations or production and distribution aspects of a company engaged in manufacturing products or services
SAP ERP system
1- SAP ERP is the leading ERP solution, particularly for large organizations, with over a 25% market share. The only realistic competitor is Oracle who have about half that. Microsoft are also a significant player, but largely for smaller organizations. Most of the rest of the market is made up of ERP solutions that offer niche or reduced capabilities, the so-called "Tier 2" solutions such as Baan, Sage, Lawson or Epicor.
2- . For many small or medium-sized companies SAP is too expensive and complex to implement - typically consultancy costs exceed the combined software and hardware implementation costs - although SAP has put a lot of work into making it's products more attractive to smaller organizations. For me, for a large multi-national organization, it is difficult to seriously consider anything other than SAP as a viable long-term platform for optimizing supply chain performance.
3- it's hard to see SAP either gaining a significant market share or losing much, but the increased interest in Software as a Service (SaaS) has the potential to redefine the market much as the move to client-server and web-based solutions did in the past.
OTHER ERP systems
1- The ERP systems that are designed and built are often owned by companies that have a specific origin. Some of those companies have been outsourced, and started to produce for others. The question then is, what type of company was the mother organization; a producer or a distributor.
2- A ERP Supplier focused on production will most of the time also deliver logistical modules, but their expertise is production.
The third type of ERP is again quite different than the previous ones. Both the production and the logistics focus of an ERP supplier share the fact that they concentrate on primary business processes.
3- The third type of an ERP system excels not in production, nor in logistics, but in finance. Finance is the area where both logistics and manufacturing meets, but it is not part of the primary process.
According to the profile of your organization you should set your focus on one of these three ERP characteristics.
SAP ERP system
1- SAP ERP is the leading ERP solution, particularly for large organizations, with over a 25% market share. The only realistic competitor is Oracle who have about half that. Microsoft are also a significant player, but largely for smaller organizations. Most of the rest of the market is made up of ERP solutions that offer niche or reduced capabilities, the so-called "Tier 2" solutions such as Baan, Sage, Lawson or Epicor.
2- . For many small or medium-sized companies SAP is too expensive and complex to implement - typically consultancy costs exceed the combined software and hardware implementation costs - although SAP has put a lot of work into making it's products more attractive to smaller organizations. For me, for a large multi-national organization, it is difficult to seriously consider anything other than SAP as a viable long-term platform for optimizing supply chain performance.
3- it's hard to see SAP either gaining a significant market share or losing much, but the increased interest in Software as a Service (SaaS) has the potential to redefine the market much as the move to client-server and web-based solutions did in the past.
OTHER ERP systems
1- The ERP systems that are designed and built are often owned by companies that have a specific origin. Some of those companies have been outsourced, and started to produce for others. The question then is, what type of company was the mother organization; a producer or a distributor.
2- A ERP Supplier focused on production will most of the time also deliver logistical modules, but their expertise is production.
The third type of ERP is again quite different than the previous ones. Both the production and the logistics focus of an ERP supplier share the fact that they concentrate on primary business processes.
3- The third type of an ERP system excels not in production, nor in logistics, but in finance. Finance is the area where both logistics and manufacturing meets, but it is not part of the primary process.
According to the profile of your organization you should set your focus on one of these three ERP characteristics.