It's the Data, Stupid -- ERP vs. Best of Breed (Round 923)
I recently read through this article in the CPO's Agenda that highlights some of the major arguments in favor of balancing ERP and best of breed investments. Recently, I've spoken with a number of folks who complain that a continued draw-back of ERP in the Spend Management arena -- especially in the areas of spend visibility and supplier performance management -- is the challenge of consolidating information across multiple, disparate systems. Granted, the performance and capabilities gap between best of breed and ERP is narrowing, but, as the article states, "The major ERP platforms ... are orientated towards capturing and consolidating data from their own databases, not those of competitors. In contrast, best-of-breed solutions -- almost by definition -- are designed from the ground up to work with a wide variety of data sources." Food for thought, as the battle between ERP and best of breed continues to go on.
- Jason Busch
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http://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2006/08/09/what...
And yes, I think my title is catchier. ;-)
Yours is a far more in-depth analysis than mine -- and I like the title as well. The danger of writing posts ahead of time is something like this happens. Needless to say, I would have absolutely given you credit had I read your post first, but alas, I wrote mine earlier in the week!
A good example of ERP-inclusivity-idiocy is Kronos (http://www.kronos.com). I recall a number of years ago major ERP analysts, possibly in a simultaneous 20 watt flash of look-at-me-I-went-to-Business-School inspiration, agreeing solemnly with each other that time-and-attendance functionality would be subsumed by ERP systems, and that Kronos therefore couldn't possibly survive as a stand-alone company.
I guess a couple of ERP vendors actually believed them, so they made a stab at time-and-attendance functionality. Both of them wound up running for the hills with angry customers at their heels, when they eventually realized how difficult the vertical really is, and how much effort it would take to throw away everything they'd done and do it properly. These days? Well, they recommend Kronos.
Doesn't prove anything, but it's illustrative.