Small Business Strategies Part 1- Successful Globalization through ERP

     Technology and globalization have made it possible for a small business to appear big and allow it to move and capture new territories which were unattainable locations controlled by industry goliaths. Globalization is now defining the new arena that was until now not available. The small business is much stronger and no longer restricted to its local neighborhood. The target market for the “local guy” is evolving and it is now evidently becoming the “global guy”, taking orders and delivering values to the global customer, just as the medium and large businesses do.

How does a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) successfully develop and implement an Enterprise Resource Plan to accrue competitive strategic benefits?  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has long been associated with costly, sophisticated process consolidating software applications for large businesses.   In the past, the SME was not able to conceive of a way to structure this type of plan into their strategy.  

            ERP’s have been a weapon of choice of the big guys. Now ERP is a necessity for even the SME in order to be successful in a fast paced hyper-competitive environment. Various process solutions have become more readily accessible to the “local guy” allowing for a flattening of the world market. So this creates many questions. What purpose will the ERP ultimately serve for its business? How will it help the business to achieve its mission and realize its goals? What strategic benefits would it provide; and at what cost? What organizational resources will be sacrificed in terms of time and training? And finally, are there suitable products offered in today’s market and how do we ensure that they will be flexible to technological advances?

             Let's talk about how you can make this happen for your small business. More to come.