Startup organizations with minimal technology needs may be able to run on QuickBooks and spreadsheets, but those basic approaches can quickly become liabilities once a company starts to grow, hire more employees, take on new customers and branch out into different lines of business.
Larger organizations that have been using on-premises legacy solutions for years or decades face similar challenges in the current business environment. Customers, employees and business partners all want to be able to work in the cloud, for example, and the company that’s found itself throttled by legacy software can’t even offer that fundamental capability.
“Even if you’re not thinking about upgrading to a cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform, your competitors probably are,” said Kyle Collins, director of business development at DSWi, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Solution Provider Partner.
In return, those organizations are reducing their business costs, automating more of their day-to-day processes, managing their supply chains better and keeping their customers happy. “Companies that don’t make the move now may get left behind,” Collins warned.
6 Signs that it’s Time to Make Your Move
If your organization is dealing with any of these technology roadblocks, it’s time to start exploring your options and learning how Oracle NetSuite can help:
- You can’t support your newly-remote workforce. When the pandemic forced people to start working from home instead of in the office, companies that were using on-premises systems found themselves in a bind. For example, DSWi worked with one company that was using an on-premises legacy system and had never had a remote workforce in the past. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides access to users 24/7/365 around the globe, whether in the office, out in the field or working from home.
- Your ERP customizations are keeping you up at night. It’s not at all unusual for older ERP systems to be overly customized to the point of becoming a problem. These systems are highly inflexible and require extensive IT support for the most minimal changes. And every time you have to upgrade to a new version of your ERP, your customizations have to come with you—thus creating problems with version lock, high IT bills and other headaches. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you get two predictable updates annually and an ERP that comes with a high degree of native functionality right out of the box.
- Data silos are commonplace throughout your organization. When software systems can’t “talk” to one another and share data among themselves, the resultant data silos will proliferate. Employees wind up having to download data from one system and upload it to the next, or share the information across departments using spreadsheets and email.
- The total cost of ownership (TCO) of your ERP is getting out of control. A financial estimate determining the economic value of an investment versus your total direct and indirect costs over the system lifecycle, TCO is a good indicator of whether you’re putting too much money and resources into your existing ERP or not. If you’re shelling out a lot for IT staff, servers, maintenance and the system itself, then it’s time to reassess these investments and compare them to the cost of using a modern, cloud-based ERP like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- Your CFO prefers Operating Expenses. The large upfront outlay associated with on-premises ERP solutions falls under the capital expense (CapEx) category, but the subscription fees allocated to cloud software are operating expenses (OpEx). This is one of the biggest attractors for cloud users and it’s especially relevant in the current period of economic uncertainty that companies are dealing with. Rather than make large CapEx outlays, organizations can spread the financial responsibility associated with cloud software over time.
- Your investors are asking for it. If your organization is vying for a capital infusion this year—but still running on QuickBooks, legacy solutions and spreadsheets—investors are probably going to ask you to do better. They’ll want accurate financial reports produced on the dime, for example, and a good picture of the company’s historical growth patterns and future growth prospects. Piecing this information together using spreadsheets isn’t going to impress anyone, and particularly not today’s discerning investors.
If your company is grappling with any or all of these challenges right now, it’s time for a change. By aligning your company with an experienced partner like DSWi to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can break through all six of these barriers while also saving money, gaining operational visibility and centralizing your core business processes.
