Small or big, ERPs are a competitive essential part of any investment today

Enterprise Resource Planning systems are not a fancy IT 'nice to have' things that large companies need. They're actually indispensable in running any business of any size today.

Here's some advise i got from ERP experts:

“It's not an IT project. Define the business requirement carefully, due diligence it, attend conferences to see what other businesses in the industry are doing (globally), before decision on what the scope is.”

Mohammed Alkhotani, Business Network Head - Middle East & AFRICA, SAP

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“it is very important for business owners to really understand their business process, document it, and to syndicate what they like and what they don’t like about these processes.

Make sure the people using the ERP are interviewed in the planning phase to make them feel they are participating to make this new system.”

Salman Faqeeh, Country Director, Cisco Services Sales

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“Hire a consultant, independant of the implementation company. He must have business acumen, change management & project management. He will Protect you from risks, define requirements, advise on selecting the right implementation vendor.

Project Management cannot be from the implementation vendor.”

Mazen Anan, PMO Consultant, UAE Ministry of Labour