A career in ERP

By Taru Bahl

IN today’s aggressive world economy it is no mean task to maintain your position as the market leader. All the while, as you work towards completing mission critical assignments, the tides are turning towards newer technologies. Computer and information technology professionals who had capitalised on their strengths in the boom period of the early 90s are now under pressure to add value to their skills and move onto more lucrative sites.

Things like Internet commerce are driving dominant suite vendors to partner with unproven start-ups. New companies are making inroads into supply chain and customer applications while the established players continue the fight over crucial market share for core applications in financials, HR and basic marketing.

The challenge of the new millenium for every software development company is therefore to be able to facilitate and support the mind-boggling complexity of operations evolving in the world of business.

New systems of merchandising, marketing, administration, inventory control are mushrooming in every industry. These are subjecting programmers to unprecedented pressure to deliver support for them. Technology must serve the dual purpose of reliability today and relevance tomorrow.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as implemented by a growing number of companies world-wide provides them with an application that integrates business processes. It is also a means to increasing productivity while cutting costs. According to the International Data Corp, the ERP applications market in India is likely to grow by 90 per cent in 1999. The $ 17.9 million Indian market in 1997-98 owed its revenues to 350 companies which opted to install ERP solutions. World wide there are over 15,000 sites and approximately 2.2 million users. Major players in the market are SAP AG, Oracle Corp, PeopleSoft Inc, Baan Co, QAD Inc, J.D. Edwards & Co.

ERP has been around for over two decades but in the Indian sub-continent it has appeared only in the last three to four years. Why it is considered more efficient than the earlier traditional application systems is because it takes into account all aspects of business. The ensuing data becomes part of a composite whole. It can be availed of by multiple users for multiple uses at multiple places.

The tangible benefits which an ERP application offers include reduced manufacturing cycle times, lower costs, higher productivity, freer access to data, greater flexibility in work processes, transparency and an environment which is conducive to quicker decision making. Many ERP professionals get the bulk of their ERP experience in an end-user setting and, after that, attempt a full throttled leap into full time consulting or contracting.

Consulting and contracting are often used interchangeably although they are actually two different kinds of services.

Consultants are employees of consulting firms who get commissioned to work on projects which could be for one week, one month or longer duration. They travel extensively and have all their bills picked up by the client firm. For most consultants, the client firm represents less a place to cash in on skills and more as an opportunity to hone them, beef up their resume and garner some worthwhile experience. Because your client list is going to make all the difference when you do your next sales pitch.

Contractors, on the other hand, are independent or are incorporated individuals who seek out their own contracts and get paid on an hourly basis by their clients. This can be extremely remunerative for the top-of-the-line professionals. Their travel schedules too are hectic but they do have the flexibility of picking and choosing their assignments.

Why ERP is being sought after in the Indian market is because Indian companies are now inching away from recruiting large IT departments for in-house development, preferring packaged software instead.

Then, there is also the increasing pressure to cope with the Year 2000 problem. The growing importance of having streamlined, well-integrated businesses, which spell efficiency at the press of a button, is something which is getting continually reiterated.

ERP chains started out with developing applications which were targeted at manufacturing functions. Today, they are moving beyond the precincts of the organisation by creating supply-chain and customer-chain management functions. So much so that ERP packages are being successfully implemented in areas such as insurance, banking, health care and telecommunications. Since technology had a hefty price tag it was only the bigger companies which could avail of ERP. Now with applications like PeopleSoft 6, even smaller and medium companies have access. Presently, the small and medium enterprises account for 35 per cent of the Indian ERP market, which is quite a sizeable one.

How does one become an ERP professional? The market is still very uncertain at the moment and there aren’t many recommended training institutes offering recognised courses. Those which have been set up by fly-by-night operators not only charge an astronomical fee but also do not teach you anything relevant. Before you enroll, find out if the institute and the software are legal, if it houses the latest training-infrastructure and if it has a decent placement cell.

The best thing to do is either to join a major ERP vendor and avail of the expertise and guidance offered at his training centre. Alternately, stick around in your company till it installs an ERP package and learn on the job. SAP for instance offers training through its alliance with Price Waterhouse and Baan Info Systems Ltd offers training at Baan Technology Park, Hyderabad. Oracle has training centres at PWA, Calcutta and Blue Star, Delhi.

Hyderabad is the new IT capital, India’s Silicone Valley. Complete Business Solutions India is a wholly owned subsidiary of Complete Business Solutions Inc, USA which is according to a marketing tie-up with PeopleSoft Inc, USA, provide training for PeopleSoft 6 in India.

There are over 80 institutes in Hyderabad offering training on ERP implementation. The training fee on SAP R/3 could approximately amount to Rs 2 lakh.

Since the money you command both in India and in the overseas market is attractive, people do not think twice before making that investment.

Professionals in the field feel that the demand for ERP is likely to continue for the next five years or so by which time most small and medium companies too would have gone in for ERP solutions.