QAD Elevate Program, Elevate, QAD Cloud, QAD Adaptive ERP

Disruption

Disruption is everywhere and, as we know, it’s not always a once in a while event. But it’s not very helpful to only focus on solving yesterday’s problems and disruptions. How do we prevent a pandemic (or at least its impact), a chip shortage and its effect on auto manufacturing, the Suez Canal ship crash that stops global shipments, a deep freeze in Texas that takes out the petrochemical industry, a labor shortage, etc. The trick is that the next disruption is unlikely to be any of those. Plenty of people will try to fix the old ones but few will truly be prepared for the next ones.

A company’s ability to manage current disruptions while preparing for future disruptions will depend on their ability to change on short notice. It will largely depend on how they manage the three Ps: process, people and product.

Process – Companies should be flexible enough to adapt their business processes to support changes in the market. Companies should continue to evaluate their business process and adopt the best practices in their industry to improve customer service, reduce waste and stay competitive.

People – Employees need to use the latest tools to enable them to do their job more efficiently, improve collaboration both internally and externally and make decisions in real time.

Product – Systems, especially ERP systems for manufacturers, need to stay current in order for companies to adopt new technology, industry best practices and business processes to stay competitive. The ERP system should provide a platform for employees to unleash their full potential with a world class user interface, analytics and collaboration tools.

The Risk of Doing Nothing

In addition to risks related to a company’s inability to adapt to business disruption, there are several other risks that companies will face for not staying current with their ERP systems. Here are some of those key risks:

Data Loss and Security

Companies risk losing data due to outdated operating systems, servers and ERP systems. A more recent trend is losing data to hackers and viruses due to lack of security patches and running unsupported software. This is particularly true when a business is using old on-premise servers running an old version of ERP.

Failure to Meet Compliance and Regulations

Companies risk meeting compliance and regulatory requirements when running old versions of ERP software. Failure to comply will result in heavy fines and adverse audits. Companies will face rising costs of monitoring and meeting statutory tax reporting and accounting rules compliance. This may even impact the company’s reputation and business.

Employee Turnover

With a tightening labor market, companies risk losing employees and the ability to attract new talent. This is further aggravated when employees have to work with old technologies or systems. Having the right tools for today’s workforce is a must.

Losing to Competition

With fast changing market conditions, companies should remain agile and responsive — this cannot be done with old technology and systems. A company’s inability to leverage new technology and industry best practices will put them at risk of becoming less productive, less competitive and eventually losing business to competition. 

High Costs

Risks increase a company’s direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include system maintenance, higher labor cost due to inefficiencies, data breach, downtime, etc. Indirect costs include lost business, loss of growth and market share, etc.

Missed Opportunity for Growth

Companies risk the ability to adapt, scale, automate and respond to the changes in their operating environment. This has a direct impact on its ability to grow and establish their position in the market. Modern, cloud-based ERP enables companies to be more agile and be more competitive. 

Low Customer Satisfaction

Outdated and fragmented systems often result in a disconnect between departments and what they know about the customer. There is no single version of truth when it comes to both the customer and the company’s own data. Companies miss the opportunity to provide the right response to their customers. Customer expectations are not met, ultimately resulting in low customer satisfaction.

Key Considerations 

Companies can now leverage QAD’s ELEVATE ERP upgrade opportunity to achieve their business goals The QAD ELEVATE Program embodies agility by enabling an upgrade to QAD Adaptive ERP through a rapid, low-cost, automation-powered approach. Here are some key considerations:

Blueprint and Roadmap 

It’s important to establish a blueprint that will address the company’s business goals, top challenges and outcome requirements using industry best practices and the modern ERP as an enabling tool. The path to a world class model should include the definition of a roadmap that includes an upgrade to a modern ERP as a first step and future phases that include business goals and strategy like digital commerce, enterprise quality management, connected supply chain, etc. This blueprint and roadmap should be aligned and agreed at all levels — company executives, business leaders and information technology teams. A buy-in and commitment from all these stakeholders will be critical to the success of this journey towards a world class model.

Customizations

Companies should not migrate all customizations developed over years. Most of these customizations were built with technology and capabilities that are now outdated. The users who requested these customizations are either no longer working for the company or it’s not a requirement anymore. Customizations should be retired or replaced with new standard product functionality, advanced user interfaces, personalization, app extensions, reporting and analytics.

Non Intrusive Extensibility is the new paradigm when it comes to customization development. Using this approach, successful companies are able to reduce rigidity within their ERP systems and achieve their goals and objectives by adopting standard products and best practice models. This will also enable companies to stay ahead of the competition by upgrading on a regular basis and take advantage of new technologies and functionalities available within modern ERP.

New Functionality and Features

Companies should review their current ERP system for new features, functionalities and more importantly the Industry best practices that are required to be successful today. There are new modules, products and integration technologies that will help companies achieve their business goals, solve business problems and more importantly provide them opportunity to adapt to the current ways of working.  

Cloud

Companies can reduce risks to their business by implementing a modern cloud ERP strategy. The ERP applications should be updated with bug fixes and new features multiple times per year to avoid risks to their business. Cloud provides timely patch management, including critical ones that can avoid downtime, cyberattacks, etc. Cloud also provides business continuity with monitoring, data protection, scalability, high availability and disaster recovery.

How QAD Can Help

The QAD Cloud delivers excellent security, availability, scalability and performance needed for QAD applications. It includes around-the-clock and around-the-world support in multiple languages.

QAD Adaptive ERP is designed to provide excellent fit for global manufacturers and ensures fit over time to help manufacturers address changing business conditions. QAD Adaptive ERP on Cloud will make your business more agile and adaptive, with greater access to the latest technology, advanced analytics, more real-time data and cutting-edge security. This approach maximizes return on initial and ongoing investment in ERP and supply chain software.

The QAD ELEVATE Program is designed to seamlessly help you upgrade to QAD’s modern Adaptive ERP system with a dedicated QAD team (factory model) to quickly implement at a reduced cost compared to traditional upgrades.

QAD Advisory Services will help develop a blueprint and roadmap specifically for your business to achieve your business goals and address any business challenges you are trying to overcome. QAD Advisory Services leverage our industry best practice model and show you how to eliminate customizations while leveraging the new capabilities within Adaptive ERP.

If you would like to learn more about the QAD ELEVATE Program and how it can help you rapidly upgrade to QAD Adaptive ERP on Cloud, please visit our website or contact us directly.

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