Judy Kiarie

CASE ANALYSIS: LARKIN UNIVERSITY

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a. What are the likely advantages of an ERP system for B & R? An important aspect of an ERP system is whereby it integrates the major business processes of a company so that data is easily shareable and available to all users for instance a sales person at bedrooms to go receives an order of a bedroom set when puts in the order will be able to know whether the bedroom set is available and inventory is short this will generate a request to have it available but if its available it will create an order which will be received by the pick department so that after payment the consumer goes to the docking area to pick up their product without having to provide a receipt other than id as confirmation of picking up the item. A company ERP system that is able to do this saves not only time but also reduces costs due to having a system that is streamlined, creating efficiency and therefore ensuring customer satisfaction. In this case B&R will be able to reach out to more customers which would increase their sales but spending less as cut out the advertising costs, additional employees that would be needed for expansion to different cities but since its online this costs are removed. Another benefit of the ERP system would make it easy for B& R to make decisions on whether the success of their business as information would be easily retrievable from the new system depending on the software that would be used. Since the funding of the project is a lot, its safe to assume their ERP being created is very extensive and therefore would be able to provide the company with extensive information and analyze data to ensure they will be making maximum profits for instance the sales number and monitor behavior of buyers to ensure they meet their targeted needs. I also think an ERP system would give a competitive advantage to B&R against its competitors for similar companies like them without the system and for those that have the system then they make par to each other and able to compete at level ground giving them an idea of where improvements are needed to make them more marketable and where provide them with more exposure. b. Visit the websites of the major ERP vendors. What are some of the characteristics you notice about their customers? I went to three ERP vendors website which were Oracle applications, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, Info and Great Plains dynamics eEnterprise. One main characteristic that I noticed about the customers of the vendors mention above was the size of customers the vendors targeted: Some of them were large enterprise customers, midmarket customers, and small business

customers who had unique requirements that they needed their ERP system to perform. The ERP vendors were able to cater specifically to the needs of the consumers by understanding and tailoring to the requirements of these companies. For example I noticed when reading the reviews of Microsoft dynamics the consumers had one thing in common, most of them had started as small businesses and when their companies grew they needed ERP software that would help them do this and turned to Microsoft dynamics because of its motto work forward. One of the companies from Microsoft dynamics were Urban Ministries Inc., Used their software to achieve efficiencies and reach new market segments, klasik Moto chose it to increase their budget efficiency by 100% and lowered discount. This sentiment resonates with the consumers of Oracle applications i.e. simply markets which is an international company with food chains all over and believes oracle was able to help them review and automate their key accounting
processes.

This brings the next characteristic whereby the consumers of the ERP vendors are not limited by boundaries and the offers services to businesses that have already expanded to different countries or businesses that are trying to expand and reach out to more consumers. Some of the consumers can be seen to need high complexity software and would therefore select specific vendor ERP. For example Aerospace and defense, chemical manufacturing industries use SAP and info that its software is actually meant for this manufacturing companies. C. B&R has heard some horror stories from other CEOS about ERP implementations. What are some of the concerns B&R should address as they move forward with this project Implementing an ERP causes massive changes and therefore a company has to carefully review this so as to be able to get the full benefits of the ERP. Critical issues that must be carefully considered to ensure successful implementation include commitment from top management, reengineering of the existing processes, integration of the ERP with other business information systems, selection and management of consultants and employees, and training of employees on the new system. B&R should address as they move forward with the project the overall total costs including the hidden charges that may arise when installing the process and how it will be able to integrate with other business information system thats already in place. Also the B& R has to consider the implementation time how long the process will take and how this will affect the business , one has also to consider ERP vendors ensuring you select the vendor whose ERP system meets your company needs and objectives and how

ERP system selected would also facilitate the B & R business applications already in place. Also the CEOs have to consider the capability and strength of IT staff so as to know whether they would need consultant who would assist in the training and transition into the new ERP system which also means consider the training of all other employees. At the end the CEOs have to ensure there is compatibility of the ERP environment that they have decided upon.

Reference Ultra Consultants. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.ultraconsultants.com/erp-vendors/erp-vendors/tier-ii-erp-vendors/infor-globalsolutions/ Oracle ,(2013) Retrieved from http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/customers/customersearch/simply-market-1-ebs-ss1914036.html