Two significant management challenges must be addressed to achieve the benefits of an ERP system: identifying core processes and changing the core processes. Identifying core processes most companies are structured functionally and processes are cross-functional. Companies have, for example, “material managers” and “production managers” who are focused on their piece of the process and its optimization.
There is no manager of “order to payment” process who is interested in optimizing the entire process rather than just one piece of it. The benefit of an erp sap is its ability to optimize processes. Before an ERP system is selected, it is critical for the company to identify and manage its core processes, based on a set of critical success factors — activities which a company must do well to differentiate itself and hence be competitive — such as “time to market,” “service level,” and “product quality.”
