ERP Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ERP Systems - Essay Example Organisations seek ERP systems for various reasons and among them are the desires to adopt better business practices, globalisation, increase flexibility, and centralise information among others (Hallikainen 3). The software infrastructure also presents an opportunity for the business to sustain a competitive advantage in the evolving world of information technology in business. This is achieved by ensuring cooperation and integration of various departments in an organisation and is in line with information technology, a key aspect in relation to effective management (Bernroider and Koch). There are various applications offered by ERP system depending on the needs of the organisation, which include supply-chain management, human resource management, customer relationship manager and accounting applications. PeopleSoft is among the leading ERP systems designed to provide comprehensive business and industrial solutions to organisations who desire better management. PeopleSoft boasts of over a thousand features and enhancements to produce a robust solution by the use of simple yet advanced graphical user interface. The key factors to consider while selecting an ERP system include availability, reliability, system functions, and customer support services. However, there are challenges associated with the acquisition and maintenance of enterprise resource planning systems. One of the biggest problems associated with implementation of enterprise resource planning relates to company goals and objectives. Most are the times companies seek the services of ERP systems without clearly defining measurable goals and objectives at the onset of the project and as a result, end up modifying or changing them. This follows the common belief that the implementation of ERP systems is normally an enormous upgrade. This beats the very benefit ERP seeks to provide, that of efficiency and increased productivity, which has seen most projects fail. In addition, such actions contribute t he rise in costs and delays in implementation. Enterprise resource planning software does not offer much flexibility and as such (Almond). Companies may be forced to adapt according to the models presented by the implemented ERP. Such changes may require restructuring of company policies and objectives in order to embrace the new system. ERP systems are known to have many features to offer, which tend to create confusion in most companies seeking to acquire the services. This can be attributed to the wide scope at which the applications function and as such, companies may not understand where to begin with the process of acquiring ERP systems. To resolve such issues, companies seek expertise from specialist who evaluate the company needs and recommend on available software options. In addition, ERP systems are expensive to acquire and maintain. This limits its use to companies and organisations that can afford or those that are fully established to require such managerial tools. Thi s indicates that ERP systems have not fully proliferated across all levels of businesses and organisations. The cost of implementation is also high considering that the software and applications require a certain degree of compliance with regard to computer hardware, in order to reap complete benefits of the system. As such, companies are forced to expand the budgets and afford more resources to the critical stage of implementation. Should