With 2009 behind us (woo hoo!) it may be useful to look back on key blog themes and reintroduce a few of our favorite posts and white papers from last year, one final time. If you’ve been reading our blog regularly you may have noticed that we have a strong POV on ERP systems. Our Mantra: ERP systems have place, it’s just not in Purchasing.

Granted, ERP systems are useful for managing general ledger and transactions, but they are very difficult to implement and maintain, and generally unwieldy to use (to the point that we’ve even likened them to that big honking TV console in your grandparents living room.) Employees are often so frustrated by the complexity of the system that they just give up on using it at all, thereby creating adoption and compliance issues.

It takes a courageous purchasing manager, CFO, or CIO to admit that ERP systems aren’t delivering the expected impact, take a stand and figure out how to strategically extend those systems so that they do; but it is possible–especially with SaaS solutions, and probably inevitable. (Remember when people thought floppy discs were indispensable?!)

Take the first step into a whole new decade (woo hoo, again!!) with an e-guide that CIO.com published on What’s Next in ERP (including a killer article on Why ERP is Still So Hard.) Educating yourself is always a great resolution, in any decade.

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