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LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

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Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#221

Post by acdha »

woodpanel wrote: post #215
acdha wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like all the more reason to hire a couple more employees than trying to save an infinitesimal amount playing games to pretend that they’re contractors

Why should freelancers be forced to become employees? And how is Lidl supposed to find suitable candidates, if - as I said - the most capable and suitable ones, are freelancers?

Who said anything about forcing anyone? The problem described was LIDL sacking a bunch of people who had worked exclusively for them for 6 months and presumably would have been happy to continue doing so, except that LIDL would have had to pay a little more tax.

Also, if you can’t find people to hire for a mission critical system, that’s a strong sign that you either need to not make it critical or start aggressively investing in training — which is still considerably cheaper than a 500M write-off.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#222

Post by thirdsun »

rushabh wrote: post #87
kokey wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every few years, over the past 20 years, I look around to see if there are any open source contenders in the ERP space. There are usually a couple, but you never get to hear about them again. I think it's a difficult space to enter and succeed in and I think most efforts probably underestimate the complexity and isn't funded or run well enough to tackle that adequately.

ERPNext has been around for a decade now and doing quite well! https://github.com/frappe/erpnext . Founder here, happy to answer questions.

I've been interested in ERPNext for years and always kept an eye on it as an alternative or replacement for our in-house developed ERP, which currently grows in complexity and may end up at a point where it's too much of a burden for a small team like ours.

One area where ERPNext really seems to be lacking is marketing and presentation. You definitely have the features, but I don't think you're doing a good job of showcasing and documenting them, particualrly before I create an account. You try to show those features in Youtube videos, but the production value doesn't seem to be much higher than a private screencast - I'm worried that this kind of presentation actually hurts you.

Another problem is language support. Last time I checked you worked on community based translation efforts, which resulted in experimental international support. May the quality of the translations has improved since then, and of course I could (and did) help, but without proper doemstic language support (german in my case), there's no way I could use ERPNext with our non-tech, barely english speaking staff.

Other than that I've been intrigued for a long time and wish you would not delete free single user accounts so soon (do they still exist at all?) - I tend to try ERPNext from time to time, with long pauses inbetween, and often have to create a new account.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#223

Post by fargozzi »

syntaxing wrote: post #68

Anyone have a good recommendation for SAP alternative for small medium businesses (SMB)? All the companies I work for use something equally convoluted like Oracle and SAP. When I worked at a startup, I debated for a long time which ERP/PDM system will be the most effective (which I never answered).

You could implement SAP for SMB as well. I even know several startups who decided to go SAP. The key is to limit customization(I bet you don't have complicated accounting or logistics processes) and stick to SAP consultants from Eastern-Europe(2 times cheaper compared to German consultants, due to their lack of German , wich you don't need) - just search linked in for consultants fromt he biggest SAP hubs in the region: Slovakia, Poland(mostly SAP Basis consultants), Latvia (Project management, ABAP and SAP ERP). Good luck!

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#224

Post by fargozzi »

Problem is that many companies when starting SAP implementation ending up building their own ERP on top of SAP. And that is ridiculous waste of money. From my experience that is mostly due to internal company politics and lack of IT management skills.

Just one example : we had a big implementation in the big region where Implementation manager for SAP introduction was originally from. He was approached by some factory director and asked if we could change the standard process as "You know we have these guys working for years and they are not very adaptive for changes..let's make it easier for them, will ya?" And Implementation manager agreed. "As ERPs come and go, but connections and people stay there". So it took 3 consultants + 2 developers three months to rework the process. It later was not working perfectly, so many bugs and enhancements(as these guys couldn't stop asking for more changes) caused more money spent in support.. And it's just one episode in several years long implementation cycles.

On other hand I had very smooth implementation in TOP 50 company. But for them it was not only to implement as software, but also to audit their internal processes and to eliminate waste. There dedicated Implementation Manager started introduction to SAP with words: "We are Columbus, SAP is as ship which will bring us to America. And wont be easy, but I hope you will all jump on this ship otherwise we will have to leave you..".

SAP ERP is made for standardizing and simplifying processes, so just don't invent light-bulb every time you need a light in a room.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#225

Post by fargozzi »

manmal wrote: post #93
netinmate wrote: post #86

Customization is key, you CAN't customize. I worked on an SAP implementation, a Fortune 500 company, complexity like crazy, sub-companies, of sub-companies, of sub-companies, federal, state and local compliance for what the company did, operating in 50 states, with an International supply chain, and our integrator was nothing special. We held firm to the NO CUSTOMIZATION rule, we re-engineered our processes to fit SA…

Do you think enterprises can even profit from adapting to SAP‘s structure (streamlining etc), or do you think this does not matter anyway?

Sap brings transparency to the processes inside your company. You don't know what is happening in the mind of you accountant on the other side of the World. How bills are issues and if these are payed correctly and in-time? How do we choose credit control, who is approving purchasing spends? Internal and external audits could not see whole picture and they are not there all the time and even more - if someone would like to hide something from them it could be easily done in most cases.

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#226

Post by dcd6406 »

jgust wrote: post #142
bumholio wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we re-engineered our processes to fit SAP. That sounds just about like the most revolting and negative endorsement you can make for a business solution. Every company is special and the flexibility to adapt to a changing environment is what keeps a company alive during those times of crisis, that always come. "We can't do this because the system does not allow it" is great and expected at the warehouse worker level…

Something I learned in ERP 101: Don't customize software to your process unless the process is your competitive advantage.

Excellent response - couldn't agree more!

Re: LIDL cancels SAP introduction after spending 500M Euro

#227

Post by dcd6406 »

Aloha wrote: post #197
muxator wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, let's say you manage to update your client's processes to the ones that best fit the SW you are selling. Eventually, the time for upgrading will come. Magically the specification for the new system will be: "it has to work exactly like the last one", and the last one will naturally happen to be yours. Who wins? The customer? Maybe (how clumsy it may be, he now has a stable, supported process, after all). The vend…

I make custom systems for a living, I also support a CRM/ERP solution for SciFi conventions which often has custom enhancements for customers. The real answer is to meet in the middle - sometimes the you have to be willing to tell the customer no - its just how it goes - and sometimes you need to go back and bang on the developers to go get it to work the way the customer thinks it ought to, because the customer is c…

Agreed - great comment
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