ERP Competition And Challenges For SMEs/SMBs

SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) market situation is completely different from other market.

Competition –

The SME market is characterized by a lot of competitors, who are trying to be a market leader. The competition is hard and we have to fight to get a sale.

Less earning –

SME used to keep a little margin and they have little earning capacity.

Decision making –

SME Company takes about 6 months to a year for final decision making for ERP. You will have to wait and ensure awareness. You have to keep pushing the same winner buttons: sector specific, same vertical, state of the art solution and low cost price, lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).

SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) Company will not wait for you; you have to push all the time. Whenever they call you have to present there.

Characteristics of the SME customer –

They are hardworking, humble, simple minded etc. They work 24×7x365, they know more than anybody. Their approach is very humble and polite. They have proud of their business. They like simple solution for their organization. They are simple and flexible. They can change themselves according to business environment.

Perception of SME Company –

For SME, it is very difficult to maintain the overview of ERP since there are too many functionality and concept changes. It is necessary to understand the available resources and their utilization in ERP. There are too many bad stories of ERP failures, but you can control the development without ERP. You have to be careful in selecting of an ERP.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) –

Industry specific ERP template has no problem to stand up and say: I believe that this is the right solution for you dear customer. ERP covers the latest best practices and process need for a specific sub industry.

Read more about Small Scale Industries in India and their advantages. Also read Business Management Books on nickmutt.com

Copyright © Nick Mutt, All Rights Reserved. If you want to use this article on your website or in your ezine, make all the urls (links) active.

SAP B1 – SAP Business One Solutions And Implementation

SAP Business One (SAP B1) is an ERP software package from sap. 70% SAP B1 ERP customers are in SME segment. It made exclusively to meet the needs of small and medium size organization. SAP B1 has 14 core modules:

1. Administration Module
2. Financials Module
3. Sales Opportunities Module
4. Sales Module
5. Purchasing Module
6. Business Partners Module
7. Banking Module
8. Inventory Module
9. Production Module
10. MRP Module
11. Service Module
12. Human Resources Module
13. Reports Module
14. E-commerce

SAP B1 is integrated through SDK (Software Development Kit) component called DI API, DI API Server and UIAPI. SAP B1 has a GUI (Graphical User Interface) which offers a 2-tier (client/server) and Microsoft Windows. 3-tier architecture is possible with the help of Citrix server. SAP B1 provides other components that allow development of add-ons to the application.

SAP B1 Implementation

Vanila implementation (standard/rapid implementation) used to take 1-2 months time for all basic modules. If you wish to go for customizations it will take more time- based on your needs and wants. In the standard implementation organization has to change their process according to software. Before starting the implementation, organization must do GAP analysis, Process Mapping, SRS (System Requirement Study) it will be helpful in deciding and implementing the ERP.

Read more about SAP R/3 Architecture visit www.nickmutt.com and also read some Business Management Books.