FEATURE: ERP
Bringing order to
the chaos with
ERP systems
Enterprise resource planning systems provide the solid foundation
and efficiencies needed to leverage new technologies in the digital
landscape of today’s business.
O
rganisations globally are
looking to capitalise on digital
technology and with Africa
facing rising global competition, it is
becoming more important for African
enterprises to drive efficiencies through
the business and gain better access to
real-time information to support their
decision-making process.
That’s the word from Keith Fenner,
VP Sage Enterprise, Africa and Middle
East. Fenner highlights that against this
dynamic backdrop, we are seeing African
organisations step up their IT investment
and embrace the need to modernise
business with next-generation business
management software.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
All-inclusive
Heath Huxtable, Executive Head of
Braintree at Vox, claims that by nature,
ERP systems are industry agnostic and
the benefits of an ERP system can be
realised across all industries and by all
scales of organisations.
With ERP systems covering an eclectic
range of businesses, customisation is
key. Epicor’s ERP solutions are reactive
to this and this adaptability is evidenced
in Epicor’s versatile customer base,
as Epicor’s Johani Marais, Channel
Manager Africa states: “Within sub-
Saharan Africa, our customers come
from a wide range of industries, from
packaging to IT hardware distribution,
to manufacturing, shop fitting and
more. Although our focus is more on
the private sector, the Government of
Lesotho as well as the Government of
Tanzania, including Zanzibar, have been
using Epicor solutions since the early
2000s. The Government of Tanzania, for
example, has 1,875 Epicor users across
45 ministries and 34 local authorities.”
Springboard to new tech
As businesses are rapidly evolving in a
new dynamic environment, so are the
ERP systems supporting them; even
helping them to embrace these new
technologies, as Marais says: “Businesses
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