Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Choosing ERP Platforms

Companies must take utmost care while choosing the ERP platforms as they will affect the entire business environment if chosen wrongly. Most of the companies plan to choose the ERP platforms that are similar to the present working environment of the company. That is a good idea but the companies must look at other important issues when they are considering the ERP platforms. This piece of writing will give you in-depth details on the parameters you need to consider while choosing the best ERP platform.


Tested Platform or not in the Live Environment
Yes, this is the most important factor you need to consider when you are checking for the best platform. The best platform would have been tried and tested at other business environments successfully. If it is already a tested platform, it will give the best results in any business environment. The tested applications will not allow the errors that come while working in the business environment. Of course, the companies may face the problems in the initial stages but as time passes, the properly tested platform will not allow any errors in the procedures.

Networking Aspect
The networking is again an important factor as it is the backbone for the internal communication. The platform should allow the information exchange and data transfer between the internal departments. It is better if the customer know about the channels used to dispatching the information to understand the networking facilities of the platform. As ERP applications will be implemented to streamline the information flow between the departments and the employees, it is very important to check the networking facilities and the tools associated with the platform to disseminate the information.

Friendly Designs
Most of the ERP applications built in very complex way. If the designs of the application are also complex, it is very difficult to operate in the business environment freely. Ensure the designs are user friendly in the ERP application as the designs speak about the platform of the ERP applications. The designs will be worst if the platform of the ERP is bad.

Scalability and Sustainability of the Platform
In this competitive environment, the companies tend to change the business procedures very frequently. The chosen application must sustain for the longer period and must fit into the procedural changes in the business. In a nutshell, the platform has to tune itself for the changes in the business environment.

These are the general parameters you need to look at while choosing the best ERP platform. Of course, all these parameters does not required for the any single company but choosing a platform with all these features would help in the future. ERP applications work well where it is designed on the perfect platform. So, focus on these parameters and probe the ERP vendor to know more details on the ERP platforms. Unless, the customer does not keep all these things in mind when choosing the ERP platform, it is very difficult to get the best one.

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