Individual undulations of individual ERP vendors, not enough to deny the stable rise in the market, the market "Lei Sheng, the rain is small", because the user's lack of confidence industry version is never customized according to customer needs, but has a industry The characteristics of commercial software leadership cooperate with small and medium-sized manufacturers with industry backgrounds, will be a wise choice of users to experience a gradually accepted process for IT consulting and supervision services markets.
Recently, "Computer World" reported continuously published an opinion article from ERP vendor, analyzed the life of ERP for a year, and many of them were very exciting. The author fully agrees that the ERP market presents a good point of view in 2004, and at the same time, the author wants to explore the needs and market in ERP from another aspect, ie the user's point of view.
As a user, the author believes that the situation and hotspots of the current ERP can be described from the following five aspects.
1. Market Trend: Local fluctuations have risen
To talk about the market, you can't avoid the issue of "ERP Overcluration". In rapidly developing IT industries, with technology constantly updated, new concept is an endless phenomenon. From the perspective of enterprise applications, ERP and its predecessor MRPII provide modern management from sales, production, procurement, inventory, until the after-sales service, and modern management of logistics, capital flow, information flow, and business flow. Mode is the scientific reflection of enterprise management needs, so it has long been accepted by the company, and it is deeply rooted. Many companies currently want to use this as an effective means to achieve the optimization of the resources, improve management level, and become the key content of manufacturing informationization, and the basis for realizing e-commerce, collaborative commerce. Can you find out more than a new idea that there is no mature, new technology and new products replace it?
On the other hand, ERP also keeps pace with the times, continuously expanding new content, using new technologies, covering more industries, to adapt to the requirements of the situation. The National 863 program "Based on the advanced management model and ERP", "New Generation ERP", etc., is the development direction of ERP in the next few years.
ERP's application in various industries is a long-term progress, but corporate demand has always shown steady growth. Although there is an undulating, it is mainly affected by the economic environment, such as the economic benefits of state-owned enterprises, and some industries have a comprehensive loss. Especially in China's joining the WTO, the survey data showed significant increase in various aspects, and it is inevitably reflected in the market. Under the big trend of GDP growth in 2003, even if there is a sudden incident such as "SARS", it is only the implementation progress of some projects, and there is no overall trend of the market.
According to the analysis of the informatization project in early 2004, ERP accounted for more than 80%. Some CIO said that the company's intentions were not left around the new concepts proposed in 2003, still seeing ERP, optimistic about its application prospects. Therefore, although some industries, local regional markets have fluctuations, some manufacturers have high results, and the market trend of enterprise integrated management information systems represented by ERP has always been smooth and upward.
2. User attitude: Watching mature
The user's attitude is the market's wind direction. Previous ERP projects, governments and industry projects and support part of funding, and companies have certain blindness. Incidentally, many companies use information as a channel to support the government to fund the registration loan, now mainly from the actual needs. These companies that survived in the market, leaders' decision is rational, investment, and strive for effectiveness, the purpose is to improve their competitiveness. In this sense, the user has matured, which is conducive to the health and stability of the market.
The continuous growth of demand is an indisputable fact, but do not say, demand does not directly decide to buy, reflecting the gap in the market, the truly user users do not have so much, that is, the so-called "big thunder, rain." In fact, the user is not allowed to eat, not trust, hold, and wait and see attitude toward the current ERP. Looking back over the years, the implementation effect of enterprise management information systems, a large number of systems in traditional manufacturing companies are running normally, play an indispensable role in corporate management. Compared with other industries, capital investment is small, the equipment is relatively old, but the resource utilization is still not low, the success rate is never zero, and the excessive pessimistic estimate deviates from objective practical. As for some systems do not meet the expected results, some systems have not been used normally, and they must do specific analysis.
In the 1990s, most of the ERP is a state-owned large and medium-sized enterprises, including some listed companies. Later, due to large area losses, economic benefits, plus reorganization and restructuring, inevitably affect the effects of the system implementation, resulting in success There are not many cases.
Analyze some failure cases, have a concept of concept, system constraints, loss of personnel, management bases, and technical reasons such as planning, developers, and implementation levels. All of this may be improved in the future. The mature ERP products gradually expand the active participation of the application, the professional consulting body, which significantly improve the success rate of the system, and firmly firmly confident.
Another manifestation of users' maturity is the selection and more demand, in addition to brand, price, service and other factors, pay more attention to whether ERP manufacturers have industry backgrounds, have a case of the same industry enterprises, and understand the success of these cases. CIO must go to these enterprises to find out in the heart. For enterprises in other industries, even "Gold Cases", there are questions: Can the production process are not available in our factory? This gives the manufacturer's industry version of the problem.
3. Industry versions: demand continues to bull
863 Relevant experts believe that in manufacturing information, ERP is both a key point, and it is difficult. It is difficult for it to not only technical projects, but also a systematic project, covering all aspects of enterprise management, and also involves the full process of manufacturing production. And manufacturing companies are the main users of ERP. According to relevant institutional investigations, although the information investment in energy enterprises is large, its ERP accounts for 6.5%; the circulation enterprises are hot spots, and only 19.2%; the manufacturing industry accounts for 63.1%, which is the big market that ERP manufacturers must pay attention to.
The manufacturing industry is inseparable from production. Production is a process, which runs through every link in business management, production management is an important part of enterprise management. Like ERP, manufacturing enterprises, software-oriented software should have industry features, enriched products industry versions, form their own advantages, which is not only beneficial to business choices, but also benefits market promotion. Once you want to examine a software, ERP manufacturers often claim to "facilitate all kinds of industries", "suitable for a variety of companies." This is actually equal to everything, the user must not college, unable to choose.
To use a version to put all the industries in, this is the performance of the market. In some successful systems, financial software, in-memory storage management software, as an important part of ERP, or vacancies, or only simple planning and statistical functions; or custom development, difficult to promote to other companies, difficult to form Industry user group. Some developers do industry users, each time you have to do secondary development. It is often developed and sold, sales follow customers, how can customers ask software, development must meet all users of the user, the result is that the software is, the more complicated, and the additional function is increasingly complex, the degree of commercialization is reduced. For industry versions, some manufacturers have different opinions. The workload increased by the development of the software industry is considerable, the key is the development technology and management methods. This is not customized according to customer needs, not a case, industry version is commercial software with industry characteristics, is the accumulation of industry experience, to extract industry features, map users' special needs to the system.
Software development technology and standardization management such as component reuse, system assembly interface, function module assembly, maintain the overall, normative and compatibility of software products. But the gap between mature software with foreign countries may not be the development tool, but the accumulation of experience and knowledge. Manufacturers can pass the pilgrims, choose the industry in the market, first step, will have a higher return.
4. Market strategy: big manufacturers play with "small brothers"
In order to improve its product line, domestic-leading ERP manufacturers improve market competitiveness, and recent integration, mergers, etc. With the completion of these integration and the maturity of the market, the trend of cooperation in division of labor is further appearing. These manufacturers have the advantages of product line, development force, sales channels, have their familiar areas and industries, but to get involved in new industries, lack of professional consulting practitioners, and lack related industry experts, this is the whole of the company's overall grasp The implementation of the system has a serious impact.
In fact, even if ERP enters the "Warring States Age", due to its own characteristics, the differentiated markets in all walks of life cannot be divided into several leadership of several leaders like other software products. The CCW Research (CCW Research) market statistics report show that in the general management software market, the top ten brand manufacturers' market share is less than 50%. In the market capacity outside the statistics, there are more space for survival and development to many small and medium-sized manufacturers. They can gradually form their own business scope in a particular industry, and take advantage of familiarity with the industry, close to the market, and improve the product level of the product. Just grasp the user's needs and market trend, you can share your own user groups at a point, keep the market share and make a brand.
Therefore, leadership is a wise choice to cooperate with small and medium-sized manufacturers with industry background. The phenomenon of playing a "little brother" in the future is not accidental.
ERP manufacturers focus on product design development, launch new versions, upgrade old versions; service providers bear the previous management consulting, project implementation and follow-up maintenance, so that industry solutions are truly combined with products, services, and ensure the success of the user system. Cooperate with industry-cultivation service providers, developers can focus on product development and design, improve software core functions, enrich industry versions, update the version in time, and improve the level of commodity. Last year, the lead manufacturers have positioned themselves as "product developers" and handed over consulting services to industry partners. I hope this kind of cooperation can obtain beneficial experience and explore the new model of providing higher quality services for industry users.
5. Consulting Supervision: It is also necessary to strive for greater trust
Consultation and supervision is the two new hotspots in the 2003 ERP market, and to reduce project risks, and ensure that the system has successfully implemented an unleurvened role. However, the current actual situation is that the company's understanding and acceptance of consulting and supervision requires a process. In recent years, many large and small consulting companies have emerged, most of them are known as the supervision business, and the charge is very considerable. On-site consulting thousands / person, day, implementation costs and software costs, supervision charges are 2% -5% of project fees. Users can not help but question: I spent money, is there a value? Of course, the price can be discussed, the elasticity is also very large. But the more you don't have the user's heart.
I want to go to the information system, the selection is only valued by the computer, the network, and now I'm the key point of ERP, I realize that the application software is the core and choosing partners is the key. On this basis, some large and medium-sized enterprises have begun to pay attention to the role of IT consulting consultants, and they are indispensable as an indispensable partner in ERP projects, but use foreign software. It is expected that it will have a considerable proportion after two or three years. The supervision system is also the case. The "Interim Provisions on Information System Supervision" just issued a year, due to the relationship between the project cycle, its effect is not fully displayed. The user can only accept the participation of the supervision body by the key role of success, implementing the supervision, implementing specifications, and progress monitoring of the project. It is necessary to use the important role in understanding the consultation and supervision as soon as possible, and must standardize the qualification certification of these institutions and improve their overall quality.
The common feature of these two institutions is that high quality talents must have management experts, technical experts and industry experts, which is the core competitiveness. To organize and cultivate such a team is the urgency of obtaining user trust. Some companies have introduced how many doctors, or even postdoctors, but the number of projects implemented in personal experiences is not much, and the type is single, and the user cannot be convincing. Most consulting companies are very young. They are more important for new technologies. It is often familiar with software products, but often has a lack of understanding and experience of resolving specific problems to the industry. The CIO of a company in Guangdong complained: they came to the company, I have to spend a lot of time to introduce the situation and conduct industry training.
These two types of institutions have an fundamental difference: Management consulting companies can maintain distribution agency relationships or strategic partnerships with many software vendors. Depending on the needs of users, help them choose the right product. This is a little like a doctor to see a doctor and pharmacy selling medicine. Nowadays, there is a hospital, both for the doctor and sell medicine, many contradictions cannot be solved, the medical system reform is to "Medical Person" can provide patients with satisfactory service. Of course, this is only an ideal pattern. In fact, most consulting companies only "catch the medicine", regardless of the "prescription", only responsible for the implementation of one or two software company products, users are also roughly recognized this real situation. The supervisory mechanism must be a third party to strictly adhere to the neutrality. After strict review and certification, the management consulting and software implementation of similar projects can not be carried out to ensure the fairness and justice of supervision. Otherwise, it is only when "referee" is another "athlete", can you protect the user's interests? Between these two institutions, there is a normal flow of people in the same needs, and the business "eat" is equipped with the principle of fair competition. A company, which was issued by the supervisory company, and the signed software company, and the replacement software company actually and the supervisory company were consulting cooperation, the results were self-evident. This type of problem has become an obstacle to the restricting supervision system.
Finally, I hope that ERP vendors work together with relevant consulting companies and supervision agencies to achieve multi-party win-win situation for users through better products and services.
(Source: British energy network)
