We have come a long way since we started out with this series. From how to know when it is time for a new system to specialised topics like Business Intelligence! With all the topics we have discussed, it should have become clear that every business’ situation is unique to some extent, and the solution or system that will work for you will depend on your business’ specific needs and requirements. However, my approach has always been to look at the options of fulfilling all or most of your needs with one system, especially the businesses in the SME sector that do not always have a million dollar IT budget. There are two things that you can be 100% sure of that will always be present in your business, Accounting and IT, and you can also be 100% sure that these two “factors” are constantly evolving, so I would like to look at the bigger picture for a change and discuss the future trends of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) / Business Management Systems and how it will affect your business in Namibia.

I discussed the definition of a DSS and looked at some of the different types of DSS. The article concluded with the statement that a DSS is a highly specialised and powerful tool that can add tremendous value to your business, but that it is not always affordable or necessary for every business. So this week we will investigate how your ERP / Business Management System can be utilised to help you make better decisions.

I am always putting emphasis on the fact that the real value of having the right ERP / Business Management System is because it allows you to take better decision, since you will have correct information available in real time.

“Better” decision in this sense is obviously very wide, but it can be anything from better timed decisions (early warnings of products selling more or less than expected), decision that will save you money (e.g. keeping less inventory of a certain product) or a strategic decision (e.g. spend more/less money on marketing for a product).

This week we will look at forecasting, a business process that is used in almost every business area, whether it is done on the back of a cigarette box, or with sophisticated computer systems!

This week we will look at another “sub-component” of the whole supply chain, the warehouse function. This is such an important function in most supply chains that we will deal with this in a separate article.

Rikus discussed the concepts of Supply Chain Management and Just in Time last week. To elaborate on this, I am going to discuss two concepts of a more advanced nature relating to supply chain management today, namely Inventory Optimisation and Supply Chain Visibility. I will kick-off with Supply Chain visibility, as this is a fundamental concept applicable to everyone.