As COVID continues to rage and some areas of the country are locked down, many businesses struggle. On the other hand, by all reports, many other businesses had their best year ever in 2020. What is clear across the board is that the pace of technological change has accelerated. Whether it is due to going virtual and other COVID impacts, trying to keep up with changing customer needs, being resilient to ever-changing conditions, and/or the desire to increase profitability, what was expected to be in place by 2025 is being put in place imminently. Are you prepared for this digital transformation?
Which Technologies are Relevant?
It absolutely depends on your industry, supply chain partners and your unique situation; however, there are lots of conversations, progress and focus on ERP, artificial intelligence/ machine learning, IoT, augmented reality, automation and robotics, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, cyber security, business intelligence, CRM, B2B/ B2C, demand and supply planning, WMS and many more topics. By all accounts, if you tried to pursue each of these objectives, you are likely to fail miserably. So, where do we start?
Start with Your Base
Just as you cannot worry about window dressings for a house with a shaky foundation, you cannot think about progressive technologies if you are built on a house of cards. Will your ERP system support advancement? Or, will you struggle with a hodgepodge of software that will not enable growth and profitability?
Although I am not a proponent of upgrading ERP without a substantial reason (after all, it is one of the most significant investments of time, money and resources you’ll ever make), you also cannot be left in the dust. More companies will pull away from the pack during these turbulent yet opportunistic times than in any other within the foreseeable future. Are you prepared for success? If not, you must start by upgrading to a modern ERP system. In today’s environment, there is no possibility for success without a solid, scalable ERP system that supports providing a superior customer experience, allows for both efficiency and resiliency, enables configuration to support differentiation while also supporting easy upgradability and facilitates the seamless integration with best in class technologies to support evolving business needs.
If you are interested in whether it is time to upgrade (or not) and how to select an ERP system AND partner, please refer to our blog for countless articles of value or contact us for assistance.
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The Prominence of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Technology