How to Know if You Should Migrate to a New ERP Solution
From time to time, an organization will choose (or have) to upgrade from an existing software to a new solution. ‘Migrating’ to new software is becoming more and more common, as it offers businesses the opportunity to advance to better information systems and enjoy new robust functionality, at reduced costs. Over the years, The Answer Company has developed migration paths to new ERP solutions to ensure that the experience is a pleasant and productive one to users of ERP. Currently we are working with multiple Sage PFW ERP customers migrating to modern ERP systems.
There are key signals companies should be aware of that indicate it’s time to migrate to new software.
Outgrowing Current System
Emerging companies may outgrow their current systems due to increased business, employee growth, business expansions or mergers. This growth and development can put pressure on software systems, especially if the company relies on smaller or older ERP systems unable to support this growth. The result is a management system that does not fit the company or users’ requirements.
Some of the signs indicating that it may be time to migrate to a new ERP solution include when the current system:
is unable to support current number of transactions
cannot give access to increased number of end-users (company’s employees whose jobs depend on access to management software)
is not expandable to new and additional locations, or does not integrate with new business units
is unable to support more complex business processes that the company may want to adapt
cannot expand to new foreign markets
Need Additional Functionality
Perhaps one of the strongest drivers of ERP migrations, and yet the most likely to go unnoticed, is the need for additional functionality within a company’s systems. Unless major developments or personnel changes take place, signals related to the additional functionality are likely to go unnoticed, if for no other reason than the difficulty in pinpointing what functionality is absent.
As a company grows, in addition to increasing access and locations of their systems, new functionality will become essential, Some of the functionality related sings that a new solution is in order include when the current system:
does not provide business intelligence capabilities such as analysis and financial reports of business performance
cannot handle foreign currency or tax compliance for additional jurisdictions
doesn’t offer control over financial period reporting
does not have vertical functionality for specific industries, such as warehouse and inventory management, distribution management, or manufacturing management functionality
does not have applications for business units like sales, marketing, customer service (i.e. – Customer Relationship Management – CRM)
does not support activities of human resources or offer asset management functionality.
Adapting or Upgrading to New Technology
The need to upgrade to new technology can happen independently or concurrently with business growth or additional functionality needs. Companies may change the way they do business, such as the need to support mobile workforces through web based applications, or simply want to avoid downtime due to crashes and costly maintenance that comes with old technology.
As the company moves ahead with upgrading to new technology, it may find that the existing ERP system is not able to adapt to new technology, so a new solution is in order. Usually this news will come from technology experts and some signs that may indicate a need to migrate to a new software include that the current system:
is based on obsolete programming language, thus not supported by newer software or hardware technology
has data silo, where one area of business is unconnected to the rest of the company, or connected through manual processes
is based on DOS, and it will need to move to Windows, SQL server standardization.
does not have a centralized database, thus analytical and reporting functions are not accurate
can only be accessed from on-premise computers
ERP Solution is Discontinued
The last, and most unfortunate reason to migrate to a new solution is if your current solution is being discontinued. This is only really unfortunate because you are being forced to make a change but it is actually a change to improve your current systems, plus providers of ERP solutions do their best to make up for the inconvenience with price incentives and support. Solutions are discontinued for a variety of reasons, like lack of support, lack of integration with third party applications, aging technology, or the development of competing products.
The good news is that if you were happy with your current system, and are disappointed that it won’t be around anymore, odds are that you will want to continue with the same provider. Providers like Sage, do their best to make it worthwhile to customers to stick with their solutions, offering big discounts for much more advanced technology.
If you find yourself familiarizing with the reasons listed here, it may be time to migrate to a new solution.