You’ve taken years to “perfect” your systems. Why “risk” upgrading? Your CRM system gives you the information you need when you need it. Your ERP seems to be managing just fine.
On the flip side, how well have you truly improved them? Maybe you’re still entering parts by hand when they arrive because your inventory management software can’t read scanners. Your CRM system shows you the revenue from each client’s orders, but it doesn’t let you track ordering patterns, making it hard to ensure your just-in-time production is actually on time. And what if there isn’t really any “risk” at all?
You need your systems to interface in real time. Don’t fear the upgrade!
Upgrading can:
1) Keep or improve your competitive edge: Updated systems help you stay up-to-date with the newest innovations, opening up more chances. Right now, your data center struggles to communicate with your branch office, not to mention sharing data online. (And we won’t even bring up the cloud.) Upgrades come with features you may not have thought about 5, 10, or even 20 years ago. The ability to create enterprise mobile apps lets you take advantage of the BYOD trend.
2) Ensure system compatibility: Yes, those desktop computers using Windows 97 still work fine. Meanwhile, your sales team is demanding the latest and greatest half-pound (1/4 kilo) model with Windows 8. Any time the sales team needs to send an order back to the factory, they need to download it and save it in a format that the warehouse computers can understand. Wouldn’t you prefer the sales people focus on selling?
3) Streamline processes to increase business efficiency: We’re not stressing ROI here, we’re simply talking about eliminating the hassle factor so your employees can do what they were hired to do, instead of using their time to work around antiquated systems. Also, I’ll say it even if you don’t want to hear it: Stop being lazy. When you rely on old business processes simply because they still work, they are probably not the best solutions.
4) Reduce your technical risk: Software life cycle management is how companies ensure they can always support the latest versions. If you don’t upgrade, that support goes away. When your ERP company is already up to version 7.2, and you’re using version 2.5, you’re very alone in the world. Also, with each upgrade, you benefit from not only new features, but upgrades within the underlying OS, often increasing hardware efficiency and ultimately reducing operating costs.
5) Make your lawyers happy: Corporate data theft is no longer an if, it’s a when. Your old systems are very, very easy to hack into, as security wasn’t so much an issue “in the good old days.” Wouldn’t your customers be thrilled to know that you were the source of their credit card fraud and identity theft?
We know that the idea of an upgrade is sometimes intimidating. You don’t think you have the budget or the time and don’t want to risk any system outages. Besides, your upgrade pain reduces significantly if you’ve already taken a practical approach to integration. Even with upgrading, integration is maintained across versions without having to rewrite your integration flow.
Remember, too, the sales engineers at your vendors have seen it all. They’re in the trenches every single day, seeing what happens when an ERP system is on version 1.2 and the CRM system (under a different IT manager) is on version 6.65a. Their whole raison d’etre is to help you.
Why not have the latest versions of everything, fully upgraded, when there’s no risk involved?