In this ecommerce podcast, James & Paul interview Luke Hodgson, a specialist in managing ERP & other back office system integration projects for a wide range of clients.
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When the word ERP integration is mentioned in an ecommerce project, it either creates a surge of panic and fear, or people assume it’s just a simple case of sending data between two systems and underestimate the potential complexity and impact. In this episode we interview Luke Hodgson, a specialist in managing ERP & other systems integration projects for a wide range of clients.
We discuss when a business needs an ERP and when it doesn’t, the pros and cons of using one vs. not and how integration projects can be de-risked. Tune in to learn for Luke’s practical experience as the founder of both Patchworks and HighCohesion.
Tl;dr – what we cover:
- When a business does and doesn’t need an ERP
- Sensible approaches to integration
- De-risking ERP integrations
Key Discussion Points
- What are the main pain points that trigger businesses to start looking at ERPs?
- How should a business approach this process: what do you think the first steps should be and why?
- We know you run a consultancy, but putting that to one side, can businesses without experienced and large IT teams ever do this well without consultants or external inputs?
- We’ve talked a lot about pros and cons about ERPs and I know you have strong views here – what are the main things that dictate the suitability of ERP vs non-ERP for the average brand?
- What might an equivalent stack look like if you to not use an ERP?
- Which stakeholders would you typically deal with when evaluating this time of things – who should have the biggest say?
- When comparing ERPs, what should decision makers be looking for and why?
- For those that are looking at ERPs, how can these projects be de-risked?
- There are lots of big legacy platforms like SAP, Oracle etc. and newer players like Odoo, what’s your view on where things are going and what a modern ERP should look like?
- Do you have any parting suggestions for brands looking at investing in back-office with a view to scaling?
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