Breakaway from Old, Disconnected Legacy ERP, and Into a Modern Connected Business Platform
Legacy ERP is an older enterprise software solution that is no longer being enhanced or even supported by the publisher, primarily because of technology limitations. Developed decades ago, Legacy ERP systems are also limited in how they connect to other business applications and work with today’s modern technology. When business applications can’t “talk” to each other, they are commonly referred to as “siloed systems”. Duplicate date entry to complete an order from sale to shipment is a good sign you are working in one of these siloed systems. Can sales tell their client the status of their orders without consulting with various other internal team members first? Can your manufacturing process notify shipping and sales when the order has finished production and is now ready to ship? Can your field service personnel access job data while working away from the office, possibly outside the normal workday? Shipping errors, broken delivery promises, and inadequate inventory levels are also signs that you might be working in a siloed system that needs to be overhauled to create a connected business.
Legacy ERP systems are also limited in how they can interact with modern technology tools like smartphones, and tablets—items that have been around for a relatively short time —but are now used universally in today’s modern world. More and more, Business Owners and Corporate Executives regularly perform business activities like email, texting, as well as connecting with collaboration tools (like Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.), but those who embrace modern cloud-based ERP technology can do so much more!
Legacy ERP systems are increasingly expensive to maintain and upgrade, especially when they have one or more integrations that must also be maintained in synchronization with the latest version of your ERP. Siloed systems are by their limitations, siloed systems”, as information must be gathered and analyzed from several sources in order to make a business decision. This ultimately slows down your business.
A Connected Business, however, is a company where all your internal and external stakeholders are brought together to share the same information. A Connected Business Platform is a unified platform, where all business functions like Financials, CRM, Service, Manufacturing, Warehouse Management, and eCommerce all are contained in a single system and database. Information needed by each stakeholder is available, anytime, anywhere, on any device. A path to complete digital transformation starts with a modern system at the heart of a business.
So why do businesses with old Legacy ERP Systems, stay content with what they have and not embrace the technology change that is right in front of them? Why do they keep doing things inefficiently, when so many powerful business tools are available now? Perhaps it’s the “we have always done things that way and it worked for us so far” thinking, the investment of time and money, or simply the fear of change. In the modern age where business analytics are crucial to agile decision-making, and customers expect to conduct business with you using modern technology, maybe it’s time to embrace the change now and make your organization a Connected Business!