July 1, 2013 from Logistics Management – “Shippers continue to grapple with the age-old dilemma of having to choose between ERP-developed supply chain software and those targeted solutions produced by best-of-breed providers. Here are a few tips that could make the choice a little easier…”
180 View – We are always running into the question of ERP vs. Best of Breed. As my MBA professor often said, the answer to the question is “it depends.” There will be situations when the needs of an organization compel it to invest in a best of breed solution as the ERP vendor only scrapes the surface. The problem with best of breed is integration despite all the technology advancements such as web services/xml. Ideally the ERP or accounting system is already integrated with the best of breed. If not, make sure you have a well-defined specification as well as an understanding of costs to implement as well as to stay in synch as the integrated systems are upgraded.
Great response 180 ! The devil is ALWAYS in the integration details. We see it day in and day out.
The key if you are selecting either the ERP solution or the best of breed is to ensure rigorously that each choice has a clear and defined data usage and data integration strategy. If you are dependent on the provider for your integration capabilities you are limiting your business’s ability to respond.
We are living now in the data economy and APIs are becoming king. If the application has no defined API don’t walk away, run away.
This gets you away form the single silo solutions and custom development. In today’s world a solution that has no API has a limited shelf life.
Robin Smith
Virtual Logistics Inc.
http://www.virtuallogistics.ca