1. When you have been using your ERP for more than 5 years old, then it might be a sign to upgrade it. Most experts suggest that in this year span, you need to reevaluate your ERP system, whether or not it’s still has the power to efficiently run your business.
2. Another sign to upgrade your ERP is when you find it very difficult to do system integration. When a company become larger and its business expanding, sometimes buying a third party software in unavoidable, and this will require a system integration with your existing ERP system. The most
important question you need to ask is whether or not it’s time to upgrade your ERP system to reduce maintenance work and integration cost?. The newest ERP system is now built based on a service oriented architecture (SOA) that could help you reduce maintenance and integration cost.
3. You should upgrade your ERP system when you have missing some features that could help you run business effectively, for example when you have create a new business process that involving sending order electronically then you would need SAP ERP web functionality, and that will be a sign to upgrade your system because of lacking functionality.
4. When you’re relying on the ERP knowledge to run your business, e.g. an ERP consultant, then it is very important to keep the latest upgrade in all your ERP systems, because that will determine your success in the ERP competing market. By upgrading the system you will keep your knowledge and skill updated and ready to compete in the open market.
There you have it, 4 main scenarios that could help you decide whether or not you need to do the upgrading. If your business fall into one or several of these scenarios then it’s a good sign that you need to upgrade your SAP ERP system.
I've been thinking for quite a while about upgrading, but as I'm sure you know- it's not an easy decision. According to your scenarios (and pretty much any consultant I've spoken to) it's time.. I guess I can't put it off much longer.