Hardly any other element of a company, apart from the owner or decades-old managing director, is as difficult to replace as inventory management, which has been tried and tested for decades.
And yet there comes a time for every company and every entrepreneur when technical reasons or years of accumulated frustration about the technical inadequacies of the AS/400, Siemens Nixdorf, Comet system or even more modern ERP systems such as NTS Apollo, Baan.
It is also possible that your own company has grown so far and fast that Lexware, Haufe and Sage or the still widespread Excel with Word or even paper invoices are simply no longer sufficient.
Perhaps your own company has grown so far and fast that Lexware, Haufe and Sage or the still widespread Excel with Word or even paper invoices are simply no longer sufficient.
Of course, it can also be the other way around, that due to a company split or downsizing, giant giants like SAP or MySAP simply no longer fit. Or that MyFactory didn't fit your company from the outset, when all you really needed was a bill of materials.
Vielleicht wurden auch die Hoffnungen und Erwartungen an eine kostenlose Lösung wie JTL, WeClap und Odoo dann doch nicht erfüllt.
In short, there are numerous reasons to introduce a new ERP system, from modernization and staff shortages to costs or simply changing preferences and requirements.
And that hurts. Well-established habits, cherished or previously undiscovered errors, missing data outputs on the side to be replaced, missing import interfaces on the new ERP side, lost (or even deceased) specialist knowledge... These are just some of the birth pangs that you will experience on the way to a new ERP system.
And such a changeover is usually associated with enormous costs and an immense amount of time. And perhaps also a change of technology, e.g. from an AS/400 or Siemens Nixdorf Quattro with Comet to Microsoft Windows or Amazon/Azure Cloud.
Selection of inventory management
Hier kann ich als Jahrzehntealter Navision Financials Attain/ Microsoft Business Central 365 „Veteran“ ganz sicher keine neutrale Empfehlung geben: Die lautet bei mir immer: NAV. Beziehungsweise nun halt „Business Central“, da steckt noch immer viel NAV drin 🙂 Gott sei Dank!
Und ich kann ja auch, zum Glück, nix anderes. Mach eines, mach es richtig. Es gibt aber neben Navision Financials & Microsoft Business Central 365 hunderte von anderen ERP (Enterprice Ressource Planing) und Warenwirtschaften allein in Deutschland, noch mehr in der restlichen Welt. Wie bekommt man da einen Überblick?
Es gibt zahlreiche TOP x Listen, Reports, best Practice Studien. Kunden wie Sie versuchen sich mit riesigen „Featuritis“ Listen alles an Ausnahmen zu sichern, was in den letzten 3 Generationen im Unternehmen vorkam. Und schlimmstenfalls bekommen Sie dann auch noch ein ERP, welches mit Gewalt so kaputt gebogen wurde, damit es ihren Anforderungen entspricht – für entsprechend Geld. Noch schlimmer: Sich auf irgendwelche „industry solutions“ einlassen.
My recommendation: Ask your competitor, if this is out of the question, at business conferences or from business friends, which ERP they have chosen and why... and above all: Would you choose it again today? A good developer, a good team behind a software solution is more important than the last bit of exotic exceptional treatment. Even if you don't get a recommendation straight away, you will definitely get a dozen systems that you can sort out - that's worth something!
Nur auf eines würde ich setzen: Ihr System sollte sich -auch wenn Sie das nicht vorhaben- von Ihnen selbst weiterentwickelt werden können, also eine Entwicklungsumgebung bereitstellen. Und: Die Finanzbuchhaltung sollte ein integraler Bestandteil der Lösung sein, nicht so „Irgendwie mit dran“ oder „Suchen Sie sich eine aus“. Das schreibe ich hier mit über 30 Jahren Erfahrung mit Navision – schon von der DOS/OS2 Zeit her.
Selection of technology
Cloud or no cloud, that is the question here...
Is it nobler in the mind to endure the slings and arrows of raging fate in one's own cellar, or, arming oneself against a sea of plagues, to venture into the cloud after all?
With Business central, the good news is that you have a free choice - even later, during operation, a move from one technology to the other is almost painless.
This much in advance: I am not a friend of the cloud. But in the end, it's not me who has to make the decision, it's you. So I've put together a few cons, but also a few pros for and against a cloud solution. Take a cup of tea and 30 minutes... at least.
The important thing is what comes out at the back - order confirmations, delivery bills, invoices
Start with this! Go through your documents with a potential partner. What should it say, where does this data come from, how important is it? You can often separate the wheat from the chaff right here. No unit conversion, but you need it for liters, barrels, bottles? No customs tariff numbers, but you need them for certain customers? No representative tax/billing? No special prices? Multi-level conditions? Long article numbers? Customer article numbers? Your receipts reveal a lot about your company history, let your receipts tell it!
The decisive factor is what goes in at the front - importing existing data from the current system
Even if it hurts: Give your potential partner your company history and let them show you (possibly for a fee, but it's worth it!) how they can get it into their system.
"Then we'll get 20 students to start at the end and they'll quickly type in the orders"? Hands off! That won't work! And: You don't know BEFORE the real start whether it will work! "We have an import generator here that you can use to prepare and import your data." Hands off! As a rule, this requires very extensive pre-processing of your old data, which means that you can only carry out rudimentary tests with your old data before going live: Failure on the day of the changeover is practically pre-programmed.
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