Extend on the outside – opportunities and risks
ERP systems such as IFS Cloud™ facilitate the integration and management of essential processes and technologies within a single framework for businesses. An evergreen update model ensures that users are always on the latest version and has access to the latest features and security updates.
Written by Andreas Ehrengren & Andreas Isengaard
Unique needs of a business
Staying with core has proven to be the most beneficial option and should be first priority. However, it is important to recognize that a standard ERP solution seldom aligns perfectly with the unique needs of a business and customers normally face a choice to either start to customize the ERP; or extend it elsewhere.
The challenges, requirements, and strategies of a business normally evolves over time, necessitating corresponding changes in its tools and service needs. When the capabilities of an ERP system fail to adequately address the needs of your business, it becomes essential to consider its extension. This consideration often appears during the implementation phase, but it also remains a continuous process as the company grows and evolves.
But why extend your ERP in the first place?
When an ERP lacks essential features, organizations typically face three alternatives. They may opt to overlook the issue, resulting in diminished productivity; they can invest in a new ERP system, which entails considerable expenditure of both time and resources; or they can enhance their existing ERP by integrating it with new systems, ensuring it evolves alongside the business’s processes.
Among these options, the third – extending the ERP on the outside – typically proves to be the most practical solution in many scenarios. However, our recommendation is to not simply trade one big box to another big box.
Learn about our solutions
Adapting to change while ensuring business continuity
The key in this modern day of age is the ability to cope with continuous change in a world where everything is evergreen, to ensure that business critical flows run as normal in every update, and to quickly address and adapt to changes that will occur. Having all modifications and extensions in “another big box” will not solve the main challenge, which boils down to consistent and rapid testing as well as quality assurance, and you might risk locking yourself up in that other big box.
Customers still need to still dedicate time and resources to ensure that business critical flows run as smoothly and possible and at the same time adhere to whatever changes that occurred or came with an update, big or small. But what other options is there then?
Empowering customers by simplifying updates and ERP extensions
We believe that the world is much more complex, and our customers should be able to free up time to focus on the business, rather than spending precious time on receiving updates, performing repetitive testing, and coping with change. Our customers should also have the freedom to replace extensions and extend the ERP without locking yourself up in another big box. It is important to make informed and careful decisions on what the extend on the outside application should be.
Addovation addresses this using three offerings: ALM, TaaS and best-of-breed.
ALM (Application Lifecycle Management)
With application lifecycle management from Addovation we ensure that you can spend more time focusing on your core business rather than testing and adjusting to changes.
Our belief is that staying evergreen should be as smooth as possible and unnoticeable for our customers. It “should just work” seamlessly.
Curious and want to know more? Check it out here!
TaaS (Testing as a Service)
We do understand that there might be complex integrations with vital 3rd party software and systems that is beyond our and our customer’s control. This is why we also offer testing as a service; we automate testing for you that will automatically notify whenever a flow fails or changes.
More about testing as a service here!
Best-of-breed
Addovation believes that extending on the outside but using best–of–breed for various purposes is a more flexible offering for our customers and one can more easily replace a component or module without affecting the surroundings too much, and you don’t risk locking yourself in “another big box”. A common surveillance and monitoring platform though is key to keep track of health and operational status, whether is your databases, mobile application or data & insight tools and reports.
Whether you already have existing systems and tools or want to know more about our complete offerings that are cloud ready, Addovation is there to help and guide you in a transparent way. Addovation offers a wide range of services and expertise stretching from modern workplace, business solutions all the way to digital experiences and integration platforms such as Boomi and Azure Integration Services.
Conclusion
So, the bottom-line is – consider what is best for you and your business, the level of flexibility you want going forward and whom you want by your side to guide you!
Want to know more about Addovation?
With years of experience and a proven track record of success, Addovation is the trusted partner you need to achieve sustainable, long-term growth. Our expertise covers a wide range of services, ensuring a holistic approach to digital transformation. Let us handle your digital transformation needs so that you can focus on your core business with confidence.
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Andreas Ehrengren
Presales Architect Manager
andreas.ehrengren@addovation.com