I recently did a blog post talking about the different types of customers. I think that conversation is very relevant when talking about capital investments in your ERP software. Just to recap, the 4 major categories of customers include: (see my previous post for more details).
- The early adopters
- The “middle” adopters
- The late adopters
- The never adopters.
ERP customers are no different. There will be new customers and they will naturally fall into group 1 (at least for the initial purchase), but if you look at the SAP customer base, there are a LOT of customers out there that currently have some form of an existing SAP product. Not every customer has a need or the budget to immediately upgrade to the latest and greatest products (HANA, Cloud for Customer, even CRM, etc). Often customers will be years behind the curve on implementing new products. And when they do upgrade, how can you tell if you are getting your money’s worth? Let’s say you spend $500,000 in licensing, hardware and implementation/testing cost. You now have the latest support pack. Can you see areas of your business that suddenly run more efficiently? Can you see performance improvements that allow your employees to enter data faster, solve customer issues faster, or get things out the door faster? Often there are licensing/support costs associated with older revision, or there is specific functionality that has been recently released that your business really needs. Every organization needs to ask itself if upgrading the ERP system has the ROI to justify the capital expense.
At JaveLLin Solutions, we are here to support the customers that have no need, no interest or no budget to upgrade, but still want to improve their day to day processes. Our goal is to help those customers leverage their existing investment. Rather than spending $100,000 ~ $1,000,000 or more to “hopefully” see dramatic gains in their business. Shouldn’t your business focus on the problem areas that can be easily fixed. By focusing on specific areas, you can really tell if you are getting your ROI.
Our goal at JaveLLin Solutions is to understand your issues in service management. We work with you to develop a solution based on applications, configuration and best practice processes to simplify service in your ECC system. Our experience is your key to a well-oiled service machine.
Thanks for reading,
As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to check out our SAP Service Management Products at my other company JaveLLin Solutions,Mike