ERP Lessons from Rich People Who Stink at Golf

You’ve probably seen it before. A bad golfer buys the best equipment hoping it will make him better at golf, when in reality, a bad golfer with nice clubs is still a bad golfer. That’s the analogy used in this CIO.com article entitled, “ERP Lessons from Rich People Who Stink at Golf.” Many people think the best golf clubs will make them a good golfer, just like many companies think that an expensive ERP will always make them more efficient.

However, for an ERP to help a company, they must be running smoothly to begin with. An ERP is not designed to fix bad processes, but rather to make the current process more efficient.

I agree with the author’s point, but I believe there’s another point to be made. Many companies think that an expensive ERP is all they’ll ever need. After all, a product that costs 6-7 figures should do it all…right?

What a company needs to understand is this: ERPs are still pre-made solutions, and therefore won’t fit everyone perfectly. No matter how expensive it is, there are always a few things an ERP won’t be able to do. Many are surprised and/or upset to realize they need something else besides their ERP.

Many companies need ERP add-ons, or additional software that supplements their ERP. This is not uncommon. Here’s a good example of a company that bought an expensive ERP, only to realize they needed functionality beyond its capabilities. Find out what they did to fix the problem>>