Unhappy with Your ERP? The Problem Might Be the Data

Selecting and implementing an ERP solution is complex and requires very careful planning and execution.

While many implementation failures (or “just OKs”) can be attributed to poor planning, lack of change management, a lack of understanding of needs, requirements, and so forth, most of the time the problem possibly has nothing to do with the ERP itself or the implementation.

As data becomes a more prominent player in the technology landscape, organizations are focusing on how to use it for reporting and analysis but are not considering the role data plays in a foundation that supports key business applications like ERP.

The fact is, ERP solutions—and for that matter, CRM, SCM, and the like—regardless of how sophisticated they are, depend on data.

Without clean, reliable data that can be easily accessed by the software, even the best ERP you can buy will either fail in the implementation phase or disappoint when it goes live.

Just as a building is only as good as the foundation it sits on, an ERP solution is only as good as the data architecture supporting it. We are seeing this so often that we have expanded the data discussion when we talk to prospects about purchasing a new ERP solution.

Following is just one small example of how the right data strategy and team can help you succeed.

This global growth investor, with $80B+ AUM, has been an HSO customer for many years, originally implementing Dynamics AX and HSO’s Multi-Entity Management solution and later engaging with us on a major transformation, including an upgrade to Dynamics 365 Finance (D365).

As happy as the firm has been with D365, they started struggling with financial reporting when posting. They were unable to get near real-time reports, which affected the accuracy of the analysis, and some key decision-making functions faced delays. In addition, out-of-box reports needed customizations for the customer's business model (not recommended in the out-of-box versions of reports by MSFT). In addition, reporting was very slow.

This was a problem, and naturally, the firm assumed the issue was with D365, so they called us in and prepared themselves for the news that they would have to make significant customizations to their system or purchase additional reporting tools.

They were surprised by the answer.

We asked our data team to conduct a data strategy assessment and roadmap—to look “under the hood” at the firm’s overall architecture—to determine the root of the issue. They determined that the ERP system was fine; the problem was with data strategy and reporting.

They proposed a modernization of the firm’s data platform using Microsoft Azure native cloud services, which they could execute surprisingly fast, would be scalable, and offer excellent performance.

Part of our DnA Framework, the Modern Data Platform Accelerator accelerates the enablement of new data platforms with a framework that provides a unified platform for seamless data integration and comprehensive analytics capabilities. It brings data into a data lake from multiple data sources, including D365, and processes it for big data consumption in near real-time.