| | December 20168CIOReviewBefore you read this, take a moment to Google "ERP." What did you notice? Many big-name IT vendors are competing for their slice of this growing pie, and for good reason. Allied Market Research predicts that the size of the global ERP software market will reach $41.69 bn by the year 2020. It's clear that businesses are not starved for choice when it comes to selecting a vendor for ERP technology--but in my opinion, selecting and implementing the technology should be the last piece of the ERP puzzle, not the first.Here's why: businesses often unnecessarily struggle by trying to deliver ERP systems as technology projects, rather than a full business transformation program. ERP systems have become the central collection point for masses IN MY OPINIONIn Defense of the `E' in Enterprise Resource Planning By Neil Jarvis, CIO, Fujitsu Americasof unstructured or isolated company data--if they are not developed with clearly defined integrated information expectations and business relevancy in mind, this data risks being isolated in business unit storage tanks. This goes against the original intent of establishing data collaboration suites that benefit the entire enterprise.Redefining ERPWith that being the case, my message is a simple one--never lose sight of the `E' in ERP. By creating silos, businesses spend vast quantities of time and money on technologies that, in the end, fail to bring lasting organizational change. So here's my proposal: Enterprise Resource Planning should henceforth be known as Enterprise Relevant Possibilities (notice that only the `E' is the same). This modest, but important shift helps businesses stay focused by keeping the ultimate goal of ERP on top of mind--harnessing the ever-increasing speed of data to create business-relevant information.Once that mindset is engrained, and only then, should businesses start the internal discussion about which technology that best suits their needs? Here are some suggestions to keep in mind once that time comes: The ERP solution should not be bound by extensive and complicated data algorithms, but instead be intuitive in tying together data based on the transformed business needs. The program should enable the collection of interconnected data that allows timely and appropriate decision-making.Neil Jarvis
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