ERP: The Future of Business Automation

About the Book

"The most impressive aspect of this book is that it would be highly useful to ERP professionals and all those who are getting initiated in this field. The case studies very effectively demystify the technicalities...."

C. Kumaresh, SVP Tata AIG, India

"The work offers details of different types of problems in ERP planning faced by the companies and gives suitable solutions; discusses the available features of and the gaps in the available ERP solutions; addresses the possibilities of future enhancements, and clears misunderstandings about ERP... particular interest is the use of charts, diagrams, tables and case studies in different chapters...."

Dipankar Das, McGraw Hill Education, India

"I personally think that this is a fantastic effort and you actually have tried to consolidate all your years of knowledge into a small readable book...."

Rafi Khan, Director Pre-Sales SAP, Pakistan

It was in early seventies that the buzzword ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) was first heard. ERP has originated from MRP (Material Requirements Planning) which is the fundamental aspect of production management, planning and control. Later it became MRP-II which included purchase, inventory, logistics and distribution. The significance of integrating MRP with finance, accounting, sales and distribution system was felt at an early stage, and the idea emerged as ERP software solution. Initially it was called IIS (Information Integrated System).

During the last one decade, many ERP software brands vanished from the market as they were unable to cope up with the rapid technological enhancements and regular change in business concepts. Those who continuously invested in upgrading their solutions have not only survived but also capitalized on the technological growth and were, later on, accredited, applauded and ranked by prominent international institutions/surveyors.

The current ERP market is vibrant and gradually growing. In recent years it has witnessed many mergers, demergers, acquisitions, arch-rivalries, bankruptcies, scams, competitions as well as associations. ERP or ERP-II or whatever name it is given, the fundamental concept of ERP will remain the same and the future business automation solution lies in ERP.

The book ERP: The Future of Business Automation explains the technicalities and functionalities of ERP solutions and illustrates different business scenarios to explain how ERP can be used as a tool for business automation. It also discusses in detail the reported problems and myths about ERP solutions. The book attempts to epitomize the ERP market in general and ERP software solutions in particular. It will be useful to companies planning for ERP solutions and prove equally beneficial to the students in management studies.