Links: ERP Market Searching for "New Value"

Here are articles, which discuss opportunities in the ERP industry, as IT managers continue investing in new value-add opportunities to their legacy investment.

ERP Investments Still Top the List for Corporate IT Spending

Forrester Research survey data shows that more than two-thirds of companies are still investing in their ERP systems--despite the recession, upgrade costs and maintenance fee complaints.

The Future of ERP

Since the dawn of automated, electronic capture of corporate financial, operations, supply chain, HR and sales information data—what's become, more or less, ERP—companies have cumulatively spent billions, if not trillions, on managing and trying to extract value from their vast data repositories.

ERP: How and Why You Need to Manage It Differently...Computerworld. Excellent discussion of real-world ERP managers and how they are testing a path forward.

ERP isn't much different today than the technology early adopters installed 15 years ago. But new technologies make traditional ERP seem dated. "The concept of ERP is not dead, but the technology under it is," says Bill Brydges, managing director of the ERP practice group at the consultancy MorganFranklin.

Cloud computing, mobile applications, social knowledge sharing and predictive analytics present trouble spots for CIOs trying to move ERP systems into the future.

Meanwhile, Christensen advises, CIOs need to keep making noise about bringing in upstart vendors that offer the technology the big guys don't. CIOs Galonis at Choice Hotels and Harten at Haworth are doing just that as they pressure their current vendors to hurry up with new capabilities.

Further out, Stanec, for one, dreams of seeing ERP vendors develop packages that help companies generate revenue. "Then," he says, "we'd have something interesting to negotiate."

A New Source of ERP Value

CIOs want better integration of analytics for data insight.

The same could be said for mobile.

Combine Legacy Corporate ERP With iPads to Get a Big Win For IT Departments

Depending on the industry, 20-40% of any given user population--typically the execs, managers, and engineers--need a mobile tablet for day-to-day use, because they don’t sit at their desk and can’t easily use laptops. These people only employ about 20% of the screens and functions in a typical corporate ERP suite, and by happy coincidence, that 20% is generally not keyboard intensive and thus perfect for a touchscreen interface.

So – this points to a great strategy. Find the right 20% of your ERP functionality, port it to the iPad (and make it look like an iPad app, none of that sneaky Citrix re-hashing of the same old ERP interface). You then become a hero to a group of highly influential users, get better participation in corporate systems, and provide a good starting point for the IT team to learn about mobile.

Strategy 3: Pick Subset of Features for iPad Conversion

How to develop a mobile strategy for your organization, part 3:

Focus resources on a subset of your features

As we said earlier, there is a specific group of high-value users -- on-premises managers, executives, scientists, doctors, etc. -- who are the most likely users for iPad versions of your ERP applications.

• These users are highly influential within the organization, so it's a great strategy to get their buy-in to this new platform
• They have been frustrated with ERP in the past because it didn't fit well with their fast-moving, professional status
• If IT departments can provide iPad-based systems, these users can be converted from skeptics to champions for the IT agenda, which is a big win for corporate IT
• Finally, these users use a certain subset of features from a typical ERP system. They use features that are "supervisory" in nature, usually not with a high degree of data entry or clerical functions

This is great news, because it points us to a simple, powerful strategy for succeeding with iPad ERP conversions. For your organization's mobile strategy, it makes sense to:

• Pick a subset of features from your ERP, Enterprise, or line-of-business application suite (whether purchased off the shelf from a vendor, or written as a custom application). Pick only those features used by your target group
• Focus on converting those high-value features "first" with your targeted resources
• Focus on quality over quantity; you must make these iPad versions significantly better, or in some cases, completely different from your legacy interfaces

This makes sense because with the iPad we don't want to just do a quick conversion of old, legacy designs. The touchscreen-mobile paradigm is a significant break from the character-based, screen-and-keyboard-based computing. To properly master this paradigm takes concentrated effort and is not straightforward. Our team and others are busily developing basic techniques for this conversion, but every organization will have its special needs that will require careful thought.

By narrowing your resources on a smaller number of features initially, you not only avoid getting too spread out (and rushing through a half-way version) but also get earlier wins with a few targeted, high-value, influential users who will then provide more internal support for the project.
Example: Creating an "iPad version" of an accounts payable system

1. First convert the accounts payable approval functions used by managers and VPs. These users are often mobile. Use the iPad or iPhone features to make this AP approval functions simpler to use and "touch centric". Make the old boring financial software interface better...make it intuitive and instantly understandable.
2. Don't include the payable entry screen in this first version. Payables entry is typically data-entry centric and used by accounts payable clerical workers or managers, and these people are already comfortable using workstations for their workday, and should not be the first choice for an iPad interface.

Strategy 2: iPad/iPhone System -- Greater Than Sum of Parts

How to develop a mobile strategy for your organization, part 2:
Take advantage of linkage between iPad (tablet format) and iPhone (smartphone format)

What is Apple's greatest strength compared to the competition? They offer both a smartphone and a tablet. This is a powerful competitive advantage, because the Phone and iPad form a linked, integrated platform which buyers perceive as a stronger long-term bet compared to other competitors who only offer smartphones. As developer or researcher, we can use this linked system in ways dramatically different from smartphones alone.

This linked system of smartphone + tablet uses a human interface design which is dramatically easier to use. Some consider the lack of a keyboard to be a problem. We consider the elimination of the keyboard to be not only necessary (keyboards are fundamentally useless in tablets) but also an opportunity to free ourselves from old, tired user interface standards which have been holding us back for years.

Now we can design software, which selectively and intelligently employs both form factors -- the tablet, carried as a clipboard by supervisors, managers, and engineers, and the smartphone, carried in the pockets of all employees. I can provide one set of features to a supervisor carrying the tablet, and a different set of features to a set of workers carrying phones, and design those features to optimize the functioning of the entire team.

There is a single common operating system, and a single code base for both form factors, supported by a single common vendor.

This linked system is greater than the sum of its parts. Vendors will soon begin releasing innovative new designs, which fully demonstrate this concept.

And when if Microsoft, HP/Palm, Google, and Blackberry come out with their tablets, following this same philosophy, then they will be more competitive. Maybe at that point we can change the title of this blog to "Tablet ERP Strategies."

Our Elevator Pitch

When people ask "can you summarize your work and findings" -- this is what we say:

"Our team has been looking at iPhone usage for several years, and iPad usage for the past couple months, in real corporate environments. We are finding dramatic improvements in speed and efficiency for iPad compared to identical Windows-based data entry screens for a certain percentage of enterprise corporate users...about 50% on average. For these people, not being tied to a desktop or laptop is crucial in the performance of their duties, and thus the iPad represents a significant time savings and relieves long-standing pain points."

This elevator pitch is subject to change at any time, depending on the cycle of the moon and the arrangement of the tea leaves.

A Great Quote: "Laptops are Cumbersome and Artificial"

This quote so perfectly explains why the iPad is so much more efficient than a laptop for a lot of users:

"Have you ever watched a teacher rotate around the room to observe student work with a netbook or laptop? It is cumbersome and artificial. The focus is always in the end on the hardware and not the student work. There is a stop point at which they need to put the machine down and type in it."

Now replace the phrase "teacher rotate around the room" with the following:

• Retail manager work with employees to manage the store
• Physician see patients
• Supervisor work on manufacturing shop floor
• Biologist work in laboratory
• VP of human resources interview a series of applicants

Now we can start to see a very sizable group of potential users. And this is just the start.
Sure there are a lot of professions for whom laptops (or desktops) work just great. For example; software developers, IT managers, accountants, and analysts.
But there are a lot of people (as we've said before, often the most influential people in an organization) for whom laptops and desktops are cumbersome and artificial to use in day-to-day work.

60 Billion/Year in Waste Due to Poor Software Design

From a CIO interview, coverage of Wrench in the System, a book that discusses the long-term problems with ERP software:

"Wondering why your company's staffers are using only a fraction of the software features and functionality that your bounteous enterprise software offers?

Harold Hambrose can give you an answer. In fact, Hambrose, founder of Electronic Ink, a consultancy specializing in designing and developing business systems, wrote a book about what he claims is the $60 billion that U.S. businesses will waste this fiscal year on poorly designed software."

It's easy to point out these problems, but as any IT manager can attest, it's very difficult to get agreement between groups of people as to how to "fix" the problem.

In many organizations, the problems are deep, and political.

That's where the iPad is a fantastic opportunity...a good rallying point, that could help your organization get past the problem of poorly designed software. It's new, it's technologically stunning, and it's popular.

Harness that popularity and "love affair with the new" to drive your projects forward.