The Short URL for this post is http://bit.ly/Selected_Articles_1
Introduction
In this week's post, I have selected five great articles to sate your thirst for knowledge on ERP. These do not fall into any specific theme. The first article discusses five benefits of ERP Optimization which is the process of identifying the gaps in ERP, developing bolt-on solutions to handle these gaps and integrating them with ERP. The second article is a comparison between the two major ERP Vendors in the market, SAP and Oracle. This article can act as starting point in the ERP Selection Process. (Note to myself, post articles related to the theme 'Comparison of top five ERP Vendors). The third article from Third Stage Consulting discusses the cost of having bad consultants in your ERP Implementation team.
Fourth article is an interesting on on the difference between Quote to Cash (QTC) and Cash Conversion Cycle as the measure of the Velocity of the sales process. The article explains the importance of QTC in the modern sales scenario and explains the limitations of Cash Conversion Cycle. Despite having spend 20 years implementing ERP, I learn something new every day.
The post rounds off with a discussion on customer experience. It discusses the metrics to be used in measuring customer experience, the tools to measure them and the challenges in measuring the same. It discusses the need to go beyond Customer Satisfaction and Net Promoter Score as measures for Customer Experience.
Finally additional reading section gives three more selections. They add different perspective. I will review them in a future post.
Great articles all of them. Hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I did.
Top Five Articles
1. The top five benefits of optimizing your ERP: Elizabeth Quirk for Solutionreview.com
https://solutionsreview.com/enterprise-resource-planning/the-top-5-benefits-of-optimizing-your-erp/
Despite its wide flexibility and plethora of features, an ERP may not be able to address all the requirements of the Enterprise. ERP Optimization is the process of identifying the gaps in the ERP System and using external applications to plug the gaps. This is the opposite of customization which is the processes of plugging these gaps by modifying the ERP System.
The main benefit of optimization is that it becomes easier to upgrade the ERP system.
This article lists a few more benefits. They are:
2. SAP Vs Oracle: Which ERP System is right for you?: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/sap-vs-oracle-erp/?utm_campaign=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode%3A%20SAP%20vs%20Oracle&utm_source=twitter%20promote%20mode
For the companies in the initial stages of ERP selection process, this report helps understand some of the main differences between SAP and Oracle. While SAP scores better than Oracle in Multi-currency, Audit and User Defined Dashboards, Oracle scores better on Workflow Configuration, Customer Contract Management, Purchasing and Quality Assurance. Oracle has a slight edge in Implementation Duration (12 months against 14.7 months for SAP) and length of Operational Disruption (121.7 days against 128.5 days for SAP), they score almost equally in resource allocation between internal and external resources.
What surprised me most was the role of ERP in digital strategy. Almost 70% of SAP customers said that ERP played a major part in their digital strategy as against only 45% of Oracle Customers. This flies against everything I have read so far on ERP The article says that SAP is implemented by big companies, but the Oracle Customers are not SMB either.
Something else must be happening.
One of the problems with this article is that it is generic. It uses different products from the vendor to compare different features. This is hardly helpful to a customer since they will be interested in comparison between two specific products, SAP HANA versus Oracle EBS. But hey, this is just an introductory article.
Also read the post in 'Additional Readings' section from Third Stage Consulting for another perspective on the same topic.
3. Beavis and Butt-Head do ERP Implementations: Brian Potts for Third Stage Consulting Blog
https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/beavis-and-butt-head-do-erp-implementations/?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com
This article uses the two characters from MTV era sitcoms to give a few lessons on how not to do ERP Implementations. The lessons are:
4. Quote to cash is better than cash conversion. Here is why: Bryan Lapidus for Digitalist Mag
https://www.digitalistmag.com/finance/2019/07/11/quote-to-cash-is-better-than-cash-conversion-heres-why-06199379
This is a great article. Quote to Cash looks at the end to end Sales Cycle from the time you raise a Quote to the time the customer makes the payment. This is a measure of the velocity of the sales cycle. Another measure of Velocity is the Cash Conversion Cycle which is calculated as per the formula (Days of Inventory) + (Days of Sales Outstanding) - (Days Payable).
In both cases, lower the value, the better.
Quote to cash is different from other velocity measures in three ways:
Great article. Very insightful.
5. The importance of measuring customer experience: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/the-importance-of-measuring-customer-experience/?utm_campaign=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode%3A%20Customer%20Experience&utm_source=twitter%20promote%20mode
What are the challenges in measuring customer experience? What are the tools and technology used to do it? What are the metrics that should be measured? All these questions are answered in this article.
There are three challenges in measuring customer experience: These are:
Finally we come to the question of what should be measured. Common metrics are 'Customer Satisfaction' and 'Net Promoter Score'. The latter measures customer loyalty. In addition, each stage of customer interaction with the Organization should be tracked through regular interaction with the customer.
The advantage is that such interaction will give you ideas for process improvements and new product / service offerings. This will help increase the customer satisfaction further.
Nice article. I liked it. The points are well known and well understood. However it gives pleasure to see them on the paper.
Fourth article is an interesting on on the difference between Quote to Cash (QTC) and Cash Conversion Cycle as the measure of the Velocity of the sales process. The article explains the importance of QTC in the modern sales scenario and explains the limitations of Cash Conversion Cycle. Despite having spend 20 years implementing ERP, I learn something new every day.
The post rounds off with a discussion on customer experience. It discusses the metrics to be used in measuring customer experience, the tools to measure them and the challenges in measuring the same. It discusses the need to go beyond Customer Satisfaction and Net Promoter Score as measures for Customer Experience.
Finally additional reading section gives three more selections. They add different perspective. I will review them in a future post.
Great articles all of them. Hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I did.
Top Five Articles
1. The top five benefits of optimizing your ERP: Elizabeth Quirk for Solutionreview.com
https://solutionsreview.com/enterprise-resource-planning/the-top-5-benefits-of-optimizing-your-erp/
Despite its wide flexibility and plethora of features, an ERP may not be able to address all the requirements of the Enterprise. ERP Optimization is the process of identifying the gaps in the ERP System and using external applications to plug the gaps. This is the opposite of customization which is the processes of plugging these gaps by modifying the ERP System.
The main benefit of optimization is that it becomes easier to upgrade the ERP system.
This article lists a few more benefits. They are:
- More informed decision making: By having all the information in a single platform, Optimization helps business to take better operational / tactical decisions.
- Allows for increased productivity:
- Promotes cutting operations costs: Having all applications in one platform reduces the labour costs and increases labour productivity.
- Improved process automation:
- Enhanced customer service:
2. SAP Vs Oracle: Which ERP System is right for you?: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/sap-vs-oracle-erp/?utm_campaign=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode%3A%20SAP%20vs%20Oracle&utm_source=twitter%20promote%20mode
For the companies in the initial stages of ERP selection process, this report helps understand some of the main differences between SAP and Oracle. While SAP scores better than Oracle in Multi-currency, Audit and User Defined Dashboards, Oracle scores better on Workflow Configuration, Customer Contract Management, Purchasing and Quality Assurance. Oracle has a slight edge in Implementation Duration (12 months against 14.7 months for SAP) and length of Operational Disruption (121.7 days against 128.5 days for SAP), they score almost equally in resource allocation between internal and external resources.
What surprised me most was the role of ERP in digital strategy. Almost 70% of SAP customers said that ERP played a major part in their digital strategy as against only 45% of Oracle Customers. This flies against everything I have read so far on ERP The article says that SAP is implemented by big companies, but the Oracle Customers are not SMB either.
Something else must be happening.
One of the problems with this article is that it is generic. It uses different products from the vendor to compare different features. This is hardly helpful to a customer since they will be interested in comparison between two specific products, SAP HANA versus Oracle EBS. But hey, this is just an introductory article.
Also read the post in 'Additional Readings' section from Third Stage Consulting for another perspective on the same topic.
3. Beavis and Butt-Head do ERP Implementations: Brian Potts for Third Stage Consulting Blog
https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/beavis-and-butt-head-do-erp-implementations/?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com
This article uses the two characters from MTV era sitcoms to give a few lessons on how not to do ERP Implementations. The lessons are:
- Don't put unqualified resources in significant ERP roles: It is important to identify and address the knowledge gaps.
- Don't go cheap on your ERP implementation: Plan for sufficient budget for your ERP implementation. Hire the best consultants, pay for third party audit, do not cut training budget...You may pay much more for post implementation repair.
- Don't act without proper implementation planning:
- Don't take guidance from wrong people: There are limits to the knowledge of your System Integrator. Do not depend on them for advice on Organizational Change Management, for example. Pay for the right knowledge. It is a worthwhile investment.
- Don't forget an ERP risk mitigation plan: Your ERP implementation is bound to face risks sooner or later. Have a robust and continuous risk assessment and mitigation plan in place.
4. Quote to cash is better than cash conversion. Here is why: Bryan Lapidus for Digitalist Mag
https://www.digitalistmag.com/finance/2019/07/11/quote-to-cash-is-better-than-cash-conversion-heres-why-06199379
This is a great article. Quote to Cash looks at the end to end Sales Cycle from the time you raise a Quote to the time the customer makes the payment. This is a measure of the velocity of the sales cycle. Another measure of Velocity is the Cash Conversion Cycle which is calculated as per the formula (Days of Inventory) + (Days of Sales Outstanding) - (Days Payable).
In both cases, lower the value, the better.
 |
| QUOTE TO CASH PROCESS - OVERVIEW |
- It focuses on the sell side of the business including CPQ (Configuration, Pricing, Quote), Quote to Order Conversion, Picking, Shipping, Dispatch and Collections. Focus on this will make the Sales Process more efficient. This covers more departments and operations than a simple cash conversion which is a financial number.
- It encompasses many departments and may call for process redesign and IT Solutions. For example, if your sales cycle goes through many internal approvals, it may call for automated workflow solution to be developed.
- The most important difference is that Q2C effortlessly integrates with e-Commerce. In the Online Sales market, inventory may be minimal. In this situation, cash conversion cycle, with its focus on Inventory becomes irrelevant.
Great article. Very insightful.
5. The importance of measuring customer experience: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/the-importance-of-measuring-customer-experience/?utm_campaign=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode%3A%20Customer%20Experience&utm_source=twitter%20promote%20mode
What are the challenges in measuring customer experience? What are the tools and technology used to do it? What are the metrics that should be measured? All these questions are answered in this article.
There are three challenges in measuring customer experience: These are:
- New Variables: E-Commerce has upended the customer experience and expectations over the last decade. Organizations are struggling to understand the ever changing expectations.
- Lack of Integration: CRM applications that track customer experience is not integrated with the ERP and the BI system. Parts of customer experience lie in one system and rest in ERP system. Due to this lack of integration, Organizations do not get a single source of truth about customer
- Lack of Ownership: Who should own customer experience - sales or marketing- is a question for which Organizations are struggling to find answer.
Finally we come to the question of what should be measured. Common metrics are 'Customer Satisfaction' and 'Net Promoter Score'. The latter measures customer loyalty. In addition, each stage of customer interaction with the Organization should be tracked through regular interaction with the customer.
The advantage is that such interaction will give you ideas for process improvements and new product / service offerings. This will help increase the customer satisfaction further.
Nice article. I liked it. The points are well known and well understood. However it gives pleasure to see them on the paper.
Additional Readings
1. The challenges of hiring an ERP Consultant when you do not like asking for help: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/challenges-of-hiring-an-erp-consultant-when-you-dont-like-asking-for-help/?utm_content=96086321&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-38267863
2. Five roles of a business process owner: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/business-process-owner/?utm_campaign=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode%3A%20BPO&utm_source=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode
3. SAP Vs Oracle: An overview of ERP software leaders: Michael Huang for Third-stage Consulting Blog
https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/sap-vs-oracle-an-overview-of-the-erp-software-leaders/?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com
1. The challenges of hiring an ERP Consultant when you do not like asking for help: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/challenges-of-hiring-an-erp-consultant-when-you-dont-like-asking-for-help/?utm_content=96086321&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-38267863
2. Five roles of a business process owner: Panorama Consulting Blog
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/business-process-owner/?utm_campaign=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode%3A%20BPO&utm_source=Twitter%20Promote%20Mode
3. SAP Vs Oracle: An overview of ERP software leaders: Michael Huang for Third-stage Consulting Blog
https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/sap-vs-oracle-an-overview-of-the-erp-software-leaders/?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com
11. Week 2019-13: ERP Implementation: ERP Project Management
12. Week 2019-14: ERP Implementation: Requirements Gathering
13. Week 2019-15: ERP Implementation: Solution Design
14. Week 2019-16: ERP Implementation: Solution Testing
15. Week 2019-17: ERP Implementation: End user training
16. Week 2019-18: ERP Implementation: RICE
17. Week 2019-19: ERP Implementation: Integration
18. Week 2019-20: ERP Implementation: Data Migration / Conversion
12. Week 2019-14: ERP Implementation: Requirements Gathering
13. Week 2019-15: ERP Implementation: Solution Design
14. Week 2019-16: ERP Implementation: Solution Testing
15. Week 2019-17: ERP Implementation: End user training
16. Week 2019-18: ERP Implementation: RICE
17. Week 2019-19: ERP Implementation: Integration
18. Week 2019-20: ERP Implementation: Data Migration / Conversion
26. Week 2019-28: ERP for SMBs
27. Week 2019-29: Selected articles on ERP
27. Week 2019-29: Selected articles on ERP
Disclaimer:
The articles in this blog post are those that I
found interesting and relevant to the topic of ERP and technology in
general. I have no commercial association with any of the entities
mentioned in this article. I may be following a few of these entities on
LinkedIn and even some of these entities may be on my LinkedIn or
Social Media network. These articles are selected purely based on their
relevance to the objective of this blog, to promote ERP. Finally, the
summary is mine. While I stay close to the points in the articles, I
also elaborate a few of them based on my understanding.
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