JACKMAN
Are you finding that legislative compliance of the kind required by Sarbanes-Oxley and the US Bioterrorism Act is an overhead and a burden that customers are saying they don’t really need in their business at this moment?
BEESLEY
Mincom has made some minor enhancements to the audit and traceability functionality within Mincom Ellipse (ERP suite), to satisfy customers’ implementations of Sarbanes-Oxley standards. However, it does seem to be an onerous load. We therefore continue to work with our customers to understand the changes in their business processes that may be affected as a result of these requirements. We work with them to see what enhancements can be made to their business processes and how managing this load can be put back into supporting IT systems.
BEESLEY
Do you see consolidation in the ERP space as an opportunity or hindrance to Pronto?
JACKMAN
It should be that consolidation drives value for customers, but I am not necessarily seeing that in many recent mergers and acquisitions. And from what I hear, neither are customers.
Indeed, acquisitions sometimes force a migration on to a different product and technology, and customers are understandably anxious about this as often these are unproven. Even where a vendor makes the statement “we will support you for such and such time” customers usually stop and at least consider buying another system, leading to opportunities for us.
JACKMAN
There has been considerable consolidation in the ERP space recently. Do you feel that a bigger company is better for customers?
BEESLEY
Acquisitions are undertaken for a number of reasons—to build an application portfolio, increase customer base, revenue opportunities and so on. But the end result needs to add value to the customer. If not the market will punish you.
Increasingly customers prefer to deal with fewer suppliers in order to reduce integration and product upgrade costs. Our strategic acquisitions, including Exedra and most recently Comlabs, have been to provide comprehensive solutions to address customer needs.
BEESLEY
What advice do you offer companies doing an ERP implementation?
JACKMAN
I think it is critical that customers challenge their ERP supplier’s credentials. You need to meet other customers in the same industry that are successfully using the ERP system to do business. You also need to meet the experts that are going to work on the project, ask to see their implementation methodology documentation and drill into the milestones they plan to establish to track project success.
On the customer side, it is equally critical to accept that ERP projects require time and commitment from the business. ERP has whole-of-business impact and will normally raise change-management issues. Senior executives need a clear vision of the outcomes and business change they are seeking to deliver, and need to allocate sufficient time to track the project to confirm this delivery. They should engage IT, but not be blinded by technology for its own sake.
Finally, the customer should assign a full-time project manager with sufficient authority and responsibility to cut through issues as they arise.
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