You can only ensure the success of each project if there is marketing project planning done to each project proposal approved. It is imperative that you know where you are now, what the market wants, what you plan to achieve with the project and how you plan to get there. These are the elements that you need to have if you are putting together a marketing plan.

During the implementation stage, which happens as soon as you are thru with marketing project planning, you have to make sure that you and your employees follow the strategies and techniques that are listed down together with the tasks and resources that are going to be used. Problems usually arise when companies do not use the tools listed down in the plan, even if they are all in place. Most companies do not consider or even address project risks. This is dangerous because it delays developments, increase costs and it affects customer satisfaction. From a marketing project planning view, all risks should be included so it should be addressed immediately. And just like any plan, evaluation is important so you can monitor the results.

It helps us to become better in what we do. This is exactly what Enterprise Resource Planning does. It is technology at its best. It helps people work faster and it enables them to become smarter. Therefore, it gives the company more capacity when it comes to decision making and it enables company owners to eventually venture to other profitable opportunities. These are the reasons why companies have prioritized the integration of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system amongst all the other projects that they have. They know that the returns will be great. Company problems will decrease and profits will increase. Manpower capacity will be at its best, no extra people doing nothing. No redundant tasks.

The reason why Enterprise Resource Planning is able to do that is because it enables the company to share data throughout the organization. So it helps in the reduction of cost and it ultimately improves customer satisfaction due to faster turn-around-time. Plus, the employees are better equipped to answer queries by clients. Answers that make sense and not automated responses. So the ERP System brings about happier employees, happier clients and a happier company.

This article will summarise the top six lenders in terms of their number of employees, annual sales, market share and customer base. As this is any rapidly changing industry, the circulation changes monthly so you might want to bookmark this page and return to it from time to time to ensure that you get the latest information.

Perhaps the best known vendor is SAP. SAP is based in Germany and has 17,000 employees. Their annual sales is estimated at $3.3 billion and they hold a commanding 30% market share. They have 9000 customers including Chrysler, Honda, IBM, Bank of Canada, Proctor and Gamble and General Motors.

The other major European vendor is Baan. Baan is headquartered in the Netherlands. It has just under 5000 employees with an annual turnover of approximately 700 million US dollars. It holds 5% market share with about 300 customers including Motorala, Mercedes Benz, Boeing and Nortel.

PeopleSoft, a Californian company, has just over 4000 employees with a turnover of $815 million. Its 6% market share consists of 13,000 customers such as Adidas and Nynex.

Oracle, also based in California, has 36,000 employees with an annual turnover of over $7 billion. It has a 10% market share. Its key clients include U.S. Postal Service, CBS, Nike and Kodak.

The other US vendor is J.D. Edwards. They have 4100 employees with a turnover of $650 million. Then for the half thousand customers comprise approximately 7% of the market share.

SSA is the only UK-based company on this list. They have two half thousand employees and an annual revenue of almost $450 million. Their market share is 5% and their clients include Revlon, United Distillers and Smith Kline Beecham.

All these vendor’s offer of products which can operate on the latest client/server architecture. Their products are also web-enabled and can easily accommodate e-commerce applications.

Selecting a vendor is a nontrivial task. Generally, companies seeking to implement an ERP system, conduct an extensive formal evaluation of shortlisted venders. This is process can take up to six months and is often managed by external consultants who specialise in vendor selection.

These days, one cannot risk not being able to meet the demands of your customers because you will lose them to your competitors.

Your business should survive these hash economic times and then thrive and then eventually fly off and become successful. But even when your business is successful, you should still continue to improve your business, because change is constant - especially in the business world. Never settle. If you do, your competitors will always be watching at the sidelines and will be the ones who will be waiting eagerly for customers that your company was not able to satisfy. So in order to avoid this from happening, you need the help of Enterprise Resource Planning. This software will enable you to improve work processes through the integration of several of your business processes, which will improve the productivity of your employees and your business.

There will also be a huge reduction in operational cost because of the integration. You will be able to make smarter decisions and you will be able to deliver the right service and quality products to the right customers at the time they were expected to be delivered. Thus, you will be able to meet all your commitment to your customers. Happy customers, happy you!

* After seven years and $0.5 billion implementing their ERP system, Dow Chemical abandoned the project as the hardware was not appropriate. Initially they chose a mainframe-based solution and then had to start a new project worth a client/server architecture. * After investing hundreds of millions of dollars in an ERP system, Mobile Europe were forced to shelve the project. This is because their merger partner were not happy with the implementation. * FoxMeyer Drug believed their ERP system was the main reason why their company went bankrupt. * Applied Materials were forced to abandon their ERP system when they realised the scope of the organizational changes and modifications to their business processes required.

What’s common in these examples is how an ERP implementation can cause great distress to an organisation. Instead of providing benefits, failed implementations come at a great cost both financially and commercially. In the case of FoxMeyer Drug, the company actually went bankrupt. This might be an extreme case, but it is not uncommon to hear companies spend millions of dollars trying to correct a were implementation.

In general, most problems are caused by the company trading to change their business practices to match that of the ERP system. The company should fully comprehend how the ERP system will impact their business processes and mitigate against the associated risk.

There can also be various technical challenges. In the case of Dow Chemical, and incorrect hardware platform was selected with devastating consequences.

Another category of risk is that the company may not have the resources required to do the implementation properly. As mentioned in previous articles, consulting companies are usually used to implement the ERP systems. These companies can be very expensive. Also, the project can drag out for many years. This places great financial strain on the company and its soaks at skilled personnel who are unable to perform their usual tasks.

It is not the intention of this article to put you off an ERP implementation because the benefits can be substantial. Rather, we just wanted to highlight some of the things which can go wrong so that you are prepared. Pre-warned is pre-armed!!

Although not a single piece of software, ERP integrates most of the functions and therefore does introduce new management capabilities such as supply chain management.

An ERP implementation is a major investment, often costing millions of dollars and ties up significant company resources including computer infrastructure and skilled human resources. Implementations are always unique and should match the business processes of the company. Modern ERP software utilises the ’best of breed’ philosophy in that it automates the best processes for a particular industry. So, if a company’s business processes do not match what is required for the software implementation, additional efforts is required to re-engineer the processes of the company.

Many companies use an ERP implementation as a catalyst to improve their business processes. The first step is to simplify existing processes. Then the company should integrate the various processes. Finally, the integrated new processes should be automated using either an existing system or a new system which might – or might not – be available from the ERP vendor. So in short: ‘Simplify, Integrate, Automate’ in that sequence!

Some companies prefer to implement ERP in stages in order to reduce risk. This is a wise decision, as ERP implementations are, by definition, very risky especially if processes and workflows need to be redeveloped. A staged implementation does however introduce its own set of risks. Unavailability of key staff and cost blowouts are examples of such risks. Many ERP software vendors provide their software in a modular format to accommodate this type of implementation.

It is important to manage staff fears and expectations. Many ERP implementations are characterised by changes in staff roles and responsibilities. Companies therefore face resistance from staff and the project is sometimes even sabotaged by staff fearing their jobs. This fear is real because the company after an ERP implementation will look very different and may well require staff with new skills sets.

In spite of all the risks, a well managed ERP implementation has many advantages. As the key information systems are now linked together, the company’s various departments can easily share data. In addition, the workflow between the various departments should now be more streamlined and, of course, automated. The net result of these improvements is a faster and more cost-effective operation and better customer service.

Security breaches can originate externally or could be a result of insider fraud. This article looks at external and internal security threats to your ERP system, and provides possible solutions to ensure that you ERP system remains secure.

EXTERNAL THREATS To combat external threats, ERP systems have traditionally relied on network-based defences such as firewalls and Virtual Private Networks. The philosophy behind this approach is to prevent an authorised outsiders from accessing the corporate information systems. However, modern ERP systems are designed to facilitate the sharing of information with selected trading partners with systems such as supply chain management. The ERP implementations must therefore allow external users to access the company’s core systems so the traditional approach of blocking external access is no longer appropriate.

INTERNAL THREATS

Prior to ERP, internal security revolved around user access control whereby a user’s access was based their specific job requirement. For example, an Accounts Payable clerk could access the Accounts Payable system but not the Inventory Management system. User access control centres around individual user IDs and passwords, and maintaining rules which define which user IDs have access to which applications. This approach does not work in the context of modern ERP systems because they are designed to integrate the various business functions – and Accounts Payable clerk may have a legitimate reason to access the Inventory Management module in the ERP system!

SOLUTIONS

Logs – individual transactions are logged and available to internal auditors and security staff through an audit log report. These logs provide detailed information on each transaction and can be sampled for irregularities. To use audit logs effectively, the ERP system needs to be configured to maintain audit logs. There is a processing overhead associated with maintaining audit logs. It can be tedious to manually audit these logs so you may need to customise a exception report to highlight transactions which appear to be unusual.

Continuous monitoring – this goes one step beyond monitoring system logs. It incorporates sophisticated analysis to identify fraudulent elections or misuse of the system. The rules need to be 100% accurate and continually updated to reflect the real-time business environment.

However, it is sad that resource project planning has been overlooked at, most of the time. Some have overlooked the importance of managing the resources that are used for the project at hand. These resources are needed for the completion of the project. The project can become successful if the resources are properly allocated.

Source project planning includes the following: time, money, people, materials, energy and even space. Ineffective use of time can be the downfall of the project. If the project manager fails to manage it, then all the other resources are affected. Thus, it is very critical to any project. Money pertains to the budget assigned to the project. So the project manager should be able to manage the budget properly. Over budgeting and under budgeting can directly impact the project. People have the greatest impact to the success of the project. This makes the importance of managing the people involved critical because they are the ones who make use of the other resources mentioned. The materials used for the project refers to anything tangible. Energy refers to the tools used. Last but not the least, space refers not only to the physical site but it also refers to the centralized communication hub especially if one has virtual teams. Tracking all of them and managing them properly are the keys to keeping the project on track.

The precursor was Material Requirements Planning (MRP), which was the first system to manage the entire manufacturing process. But that was then and this is now. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the modern way to manage the internal workings of a business. By internal workings, I mean processes such as planning for resources, operational control and management control.

ERP is a back office system. Your customers, suppliers, general public have no interface to this system. Instead, the system integrates to your business and all departments there in. In particular, ERP managers the key functions such as manufacturing, supply chain, inventory management, and all financials such as invoicing and accounting.

ERP streamlines business activity using state-of-the-art software. The software is cost effective in that it relies on reusable one dealer code. It is also applicable to a large cross-section of industries. These industries include healthcare, utilities, manufacturing as low as the government and general business.

The call of a ERP is the software. ERP software comprises many modules, generally each module manages one business function. Typical modules include: Production Planning (manufacturing capacity and resources), Purchasing (raw materials acquisition and strategic sourcing), Inventory Control (supply chain management), Sales and Marketing (purchasing, shipping, invoicing, marketing campaigns, support), Finance (accounting and financial reporting), and HR (day-to-day management of employees, industrial relations, record-keeping).

ERP software systems help manage your business. They on useful in that they provide an end to end solution in a single integrated solution. This has the effect of reducing operating costs, facilitating daily operations and even help with strategic planning.

To ensure a successful implementation, it is vital that your employees have the adequate skills and experience necessary to use the system properly. This may involve additional training and educational programmes.

Once your system is installed and your staff are correctly trained, your business will operate smoothly and be consistent with recognised business processes. This would ensure that your business is profitable.

Just like what happened to Lehmann. Who would have thought that a company as big as that would be in so much financial trouble that it affected everybody in the whole wide world.This is the first time a financial disaster had made a whole country declare bankruptcy. Although, it is not actually JUST because of what happened to Lehmann and AIG.

As much as employees look hard upon mergers and lay-offs and redundancy, one thing that they should keep in mind is the company is trying to stay afloat. Owners sometimes have to make hard choices to be able to survive and one of these choices are compulsory retirement to some of their employees. Sacrifice a few for the greater good. Besides, company owners want to improve work processes with technology. So tasks and processes are not as manual as before. And different positions are being held by one employee because of automation. Do not look unkindly upon these changes, especially if brought upon by enterprise resource planning. You are assured that with ERP, everything will work out for the best.