mySAP™ ERP For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Differentiating Yourself with ERP

In This Chapter

• Taking a business model-driven approach

• Understanding differentiating versus standard processes

• Defining innovation

• Looking at the change cycle of innovation

• Making changes in processes with less investment

• Finding a common language for IT personnel and businesspeople

Imagine that you are the CEO of a company. You come to work every day with great ideas about how to make your business more agile, and to adjust your business processes to changing business conditions. What are the stumbling blocks to all this progress? One big one could be that your IT department can't make changes quickly enough, and any changes they do make come with a huge sticker price.

Putting Enterprise Services Architecture-enabled ERP applications in place in your business allows your IT systems to enable, rather than get in the way of, change by providing a flexible, cost-effective foundation for innovation.

ERP and ESA are a dynamic duo that creates an environment that helps you handle your business processes more easily and flexibly, while lowering the investment necessary for innovation. You can save money because the interface to technology is simplified, and the underlying technology is open (meaning it plays well with other technologies) and far easier for developers to change with no special training required. With an ESA-enabled ERP, you can implement your business innovations and adapt to changing markets quickly and with a lower up-front investment. ...