The dilemma: Business benefits or simplicity
When to go with standard, customizations – or both?
The choice between the three solutions, Best-of-Breed, Best-of-Suite, and the ERP system with customizations is not easy. When can you “settle” for pure standard? When will system customizations to a reasonable extent be the best solution? And what does it take to go outside the standard system with a Best-of-Breed solution?
The answer lies in the balance between business benefits and simplicity. On the one hand, there is no need for unnecessary complexity. On the other hand, the ERP system must be able to fulfill business requirements now and in the long term.
“Too much coding is a dead end”
Steffen Meyer, Service Account Manager at Tabellae, predicts that add-on solutions will continue to play a major role in an ERP solution.
“There is a reason why we will continue to see add-on solutions for example for banking, Shop Flor Control and documents. Even though the standard ERP system can do more and more, it will be a very difficult task to get it to solve customer-specific needs in vertical areas,” says Steffen Meyer.
And you don’t have to worry that the integrations will be a problem. “Integrations are of a completely different quality today than a few years ago and ISVs are certified by the ERP vendors,” he says.
With the continuous and frequent updates of the ERP system, the integration may need to be adapted, but the ISVs are at the forefront of this through their certification, and the responsibility is theirs. This must be weighed against the challenges of extensive coding within the system to address the vertical needs somewhere along the way. “Too much coding is a dead end that will make updates difficult and expensive,” says Steffen Meyer.
