- Joined
- Aug 17, 2007
- Messages
- 14,243
- Reaction score
- 2,166
I want to change ERP systems. Ours is hopelessly outdated, though robust and fundamentally a sound DB. But the interface is horrid and there's a lot we could do to improve and add efficiency to our systems with a more modern product. Our current system is very old (we installed it in 1994), it's now owned by a former programmer there who basically just tries to keep the plates spinning with his existing customer list, isn't selling new implementations, and little "improvements" he does are never tested or properly vetted and we end up being his test sites. It infuriates me.
But the people internally here who know the system well, and who would be most in the line of fire with a change, and who also do rightfully fear the risks inherent in any ERP changeover, are desperate to wring every last drop out of the current system.
One of my biggest and most immediate needs is a CRM/customer service suite. My one internal guy, the VAR, and the ERP provider have asked me to put together a detailed list to spec out what I need. I've humored them, though it's frustrating for me to have to "spec out" a requirements doc for a CRM system. Imagine you want to buy Excel, and someone says "I can write you something as good as Excel, just tell me all the features you need!" You wouldn't even think of about a million things in Excel that someone else, or the huge user community, or a development team, or a market research group, would have captured... and that you'd be pleasantly surprised to discover in the application.
Well, anyways, I've humored them, but now here I am debugging this Mickey ******* Mouse "customer portal" they've developed for me. I feel bad, they're trying really hard, but part of making the case that we need a CRM system is humoring this attempt at developing a homegrown one, even though it's a harebrained ******* idea, and here I am typing stuff like "This search functionality is unclear; when I type xyz I get such and such in a dialog box and then etc etc etc"
FML.
But the people internally here who know the system well, and who would be most in the line of fire with a change, and who also do rightfully fear the risks inherent in any ERP changeover, are desperate to wring every last drop out of the current system.
One of my biggest and most immediate needs is a CRM/customer service suite. My one internal guy, the VAR, and the ERP provider have asked me to put together a detailed list to spec out what I need. I've humored them, though it's frustrating for me to have to "spec out" a requirements doc for a CRM system. Imagine you want to buy Excel, and someone says "I can write you something as good as Excel, just tell me all the features you need!" You wouldn't even think of about a million things in Excel that someone else, or the huge user community, or a development team, or a market research group, would have captured... and that you'd be pleasantly surprised to discover in the application.
Well, anyways, I've humored them, but now here I am debugging this Mickey ******* Mouse "customer portal" they've developed for me. I feel bad, they're trying really hard, but part of making the case that we need a CRM system is humoring this attempt at developing a homegrown one, even though it's a harebrained ******* idea, and here I am typing stuff like "This search functionality is unclear; when I type xyz I get such and such in a dialog box and then etc etc etc"
FML.
There is that too.
