The Hindu Business Line : A practitioner's manual

It happened in a popular software company. "More than 30 separate systems supported the company's finance, operations, and human resource groups. Based on divergent platforms, the systems communicated through a complex series of costly custom interfaces. Batch processes moved information among systems, but as the company grew, the window required to run the batch grew as well - to more than 12 hours."

This is the tale of Microsoft, dating back to the mid-1990s.

"Microsoft executives realised that the corporation needed a new global and integrated core business solution.

Such a solution would help in reducing internal operating costs and improve manager's access to decision-making information," narrates Jagan Nathan Vaman in ERP in Practice, from Tata McGraw-Hill (www.tatamcgrawhill.com) . Microsoft began implementing SAP R/3 in right earnest, and the results were tangible.

Nearly two-dozen human resource systems were replaced, and more than 25 systems interfaces were eliminated. Also, `simple Internet-based, bolt-on tools that link directly to R/3' could help save more than $20 million annually.

Another case study in the book is about MBF Australia, a health insurer, which moved from COBOL to Oracle Financials, and reaped the benefits of E-Business Intelligence and Oracle Balanced Scorecard. "Managers were able to drill down through the data and analyse problems by divisions, by state, and by product. They no longer needed to call up the CFO to ask what is going on."

Yet another story is about Procter & Gamble's CDSN (consumer-driven supply network), which helps the company produce `what is actually selling, not what is forecast to sell'.

This is not just another ERP book, quips the author in the preface. "It is a practitioner's manual with concepts, principles, practices and programs that are `in practice'."

For starters, ERP (enterprise resource planning) is "a set of applications for core business operations and back-office management."

ERP is often misunderstood and confused with software tools and implementation, notes Vaman. "It is actually a management system for continuous improvement."

ERP's predecessors are MRP (materials requirement planning) systems (I and II) of the 1970s and the 1980s.

"ERP is a massive software engine that seeks to provide a single seamless interface to all departments, systems, and existing data within an organisation. This helps each department understand how it fits within the organisation's macrostructure and how it impacts that macrostructure." As a result, ERP systems are unlike any other software systems, points out Vaman. "They don't merely change the look and feel of an employee's computer screens, they reinvent the way a company and its people operate."

ERP is today CEA (comprehensive enterprise application) says the author. And, in a chapter on `future directions', he asks, `What is the next ERP wave?'

ERP has a new name, EAP (enterprise applications). "ERP is not dead but the three-letter-acronym is becoming dated, as the top four vendors - SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards - have all become EAPs. In addition, all four have incorporated SCM (supply chain management) and CRM (customer relationship management) into their ERP suites."

Also, EPAs are gaining strength over BoB (best-of-breed) products, one learns, continuing the journey through an alphabet soup.

"Putting a BoB suite is difficult. Keeping it up and functioning is even harder - consuming as much as 75 per cent of the IT budget. As ERP vendors become EAPs with fuller offerings, it becomes harder to justify BoB suites."

Recommended read for IT professionals, and more importantly, the users.

Cyber-snobs, fast-forwards and mouse potatoes

In a chapter on `purchasing behaviour', one gets to read about `technographics.'

What is of interest in Art Weinstein's Handbook of Market Segmentation from Jaico (www.jaicobooks.com) is that it addresses the technology segment.

`Segmentation marketing', as you may be aware, is about `knowing your customers, giving them exactly what they want or may want, building strong relationships with channel affiliates and co-marketing partners, and communicating via highly targeted promotional media.'

An early example in the book is of Alltel, an Arkansas-based telecommunications company that avoided head-to-head competition with six leading wireless service providers, and focussed instead on rural subscribers.

"This niche marketing strategy has netted them about 7 million customers."

Tap census data for insights on demography and geography, advises the author. For example, TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) that the US Census Bureau offers is a computer-readable mapping and geographic database.

"Plotting geographic coordinates, TIGER serves as the underlay for address/area data that result in high-quality, digital maps."

In a chapter on `purchasing behaviour', one gets to read about `technographics' or technology-based market segments, according to Forrester Research. Five segments that Weinstein mentions from that study are:

Cyber-snobs: These people upgrade frequently and invest in trendy technologies.

Fast-forwards: They are well-to-do and short of time, so `they seek time-saving and productivity-oriented technologies'.

Handshakers: `Successful executives and professionals who let their secretaries do their computing.' Because `they believe personal relationships are the key to success'.

Mouse potatoes: These people are PC-focused, affluent, and `technology-loving individuals who constantly seek new experiences'.

Traditionalists: The ones who adopt only proven and ubiquitous products.

Interesting analysis.

Tailpiece

"I need the landline to make occasional calls to my mobile."

"What for?"

"To locate where it is!"