CIOs need to consider how well a software solution can handle the end-to-end requirements of their business when choosing which ERP to implement.
Sunil Mathew, COO of Focus Softnet, says this is the major capability CIOs should be looking for when considering deploying an ERP solution.
Focus Softnet has recently upgraded its complete product portfolio and its flagship product, Focus 9, now has multilingual capability and is GCC VAT compliant.
“The most important aspect for any CIO looking to implement an ERP is to ask to what extent is it meeting the end-to-end requirements of the entire operations that he has,” said Mathew.
“The most important aspect of any ERP is not to create different data silos where different applications are handling different data bases, we are looking at everything end-to-end.
“For example, for a warehousing company the most important aspect is from your advanced notification right to the final delivery of your products to the consumer, everything in between needs to be taken care of by the application.
“The system should be capable of handling multiple stages in multiple formats on multiple device interfaces. You can’t take your system into a warehouse – you will be taking a handheld device into the warehouse so it should be capable of processing data and processing forms on a handheld device.
“The system is well capable of handling the whole process end to end for any vertical.”
The company offers customers vertical-focused solutions that offer a targeted industry specific version of their ERP offer.
Focus Softnet’s vertical market capabilities include Focus RMS (Retail Management Suite), Focus e-RMS (Restaurant Management System), Focus MRP (Material Requirement Planning) and Focus WMS (Warehouse Management System).
“The product itself is flexible for customisation but for every vertical you can’t keep customising so we have created vertical ready templates,” said Mathew.
“For example, for sales and distribution, automobile, real estate, the service industry, manufacturing, and housing, there is a ready-made template.
“So for every specific industry requirement we have created ready-made templates which are out-of-box implemented so the time for implementing a new vertical normally is three to four months for an ERP but with a ready-made template it will not take more than a month or 45 days.”
Security is another consideration for small and medium businesses as they begin to use cloud-based solutions on multiple connected devices. Software solutions from Focus Softnet are optimised for all forms of mobile, connected devices including thin-PC clients, with remote access.
“Now that Focus 9 is a cloud ready application which is accessible across multiple platforms, be it thin client web application or mobile application, the accessibility of data across multiple locations is very easy and very quick with the kind of architecture we have defined for Focus 9,” said Mathew. “Gone are the days when you really had to worry about synchronisation of data back and forth, keeping multiple servers or having an offline server etc that’s no longer required, it’s all online and is immediate with a cloud option.”
