Answer to Question #256638 in Management for Rathore

Question

Suthar Timber Merchants in Patiala, India, features a large selection of building supplies, including timber, fencing and decking, moldings, hardwood flooring, sheet materials, windows, doors, ironmongery, and other materials. The prices of building materials are constantly changing. When a customer asks about the price on fixtures, fittings, hangings, and other items, sales representatives consult a manual price sheet and then call the supplier for the most recent price. The supplier in turn uses a manual price sheet, which has been updated each day. Often, the supplier must call back Suthar's sales reps because the company does not have the newest pricing information immediately on hand. Assess how the use of ERP systems/ softwares can help the business improve their situation. Identify the cons of implementing the ERP solution/ software solution for Suthar Timber Merchants do to avoid a failure in the implementation.

Answer 1

Current business Process in Suthar Timber Merchants: Currently, due to constant change in prices of suppliers, whenever there is customer inquiry about the price of any material, Suthars' sales representatives call the supplier for the latest price. The supplier, in turn, gets back to the sales representative with the latest price, and then the representative gets in touch with the customer about the latest price. This process seems to be involved too much interaction and it is possible that instead of waiting for the latest prices, customers can buy the products from some other vendor.

Enterprise Resource Planning system plays an imperative role as it improves overall business productivity through managing efficiently all the resources of Suthar Timber Merchant. Employees across the Merchants can access shared data and information without the need to maintain manual records. Everyone can access the data immediately, hence the company management can take significant decisions quickly and eliminate duplication during manual sheets entry. ERP integrates and analyzes important financial data. It also uplifts productivity and lessens delays in the Timber Merchants. The cons of implementing the ERP solution in the Merchant is; high cost of software installation for example the initial software investment is high especially when moving from other older systems to ERP. Also, the Merchant will take a lot of time to train its employees and detract from everyday business operations. Migration of data from the old sheets to ERP is difficult. Data migration can be overwhelming, but working with an experienced ERP implementation specialist can streamline the process and provide recommendations for completion. Another con is customization may be required to meet Suthar Timber Merchant's particular business needs.