Codestone

Category: Accounting and financial software

Businesses concerned about the disruption a large-scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) system deployment can cause should opt for organic growth in their platforms.

This is the suggestion of industry commentator Steve Cohen, who wrote in an article for Africa’s Business Daily newspaper that firms can purchase a core base and important modules first before expanding at a later date.

According to Mr Cohen, starting off with accounting and financial software - such as SAP Business One - is often a key foundation for future modification.

"First [comes] payroll add-on modules," he remarked. "Then human resources. Then procurement, customer relationship management and business intelligence."

Step-by-step improvements such as this are "infinitely adaptable, scalable and non-scary," the expert explained.

This allows companies to change their ERP systems along with market needs, he added, while introducing new technology at a pace with which users can feel comfortable.

Increased functionality was recently predicted as a key feature of 2010 ERP technology by Jason Busch, executive editor and contributor to Spend Matters, who remarked that SAP in particular will be innovative with its products.

Posted by Jack Gilbert