Corporate ERP Selection: International Business Aspects
Article by Andrew Karasev
If your organization is engaged in international business and has or plan to acquire subsidiaries in South America, Asia or Europe, and you are currently in research on future ERP for the whole corporation, we recommend you several aspects to consider. This small publication is intended to IT managers as well as decision makers from your accounting and finance departments:
1. ERP in Headquarters, assuming USA or Canada. Typically this is not a question, but rather existing precondition. If you are going into international business, your company is already established in the homeland. Let's assume you are mid-size organization and deploy Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics or eEnterprise, and this application covers required business logic: Inventory and Warehouse management, Manufacturing, Logistics, Shipping and Receiving, Sales, Purchasing, Fixed Assets, etc. It is natural to come out with the idea on implementing Dynamics GP overseas, why not? If required, we could translate several screens and reports into Brazilian Portuguese, for example and off you go?.. Unfortunately international business realities are more complex and you should think about localization for your subsidiary basing country, let's say Brazil
2. ERP Localization. Accounting application localization should be understood in two parts. First, it should be translated into local language. Of course, you do not like to reinvent the bicycle and translate Dynamics GP from English to Portuguese at your own expense, you would like to know if this already done. Unfortunately the answer is no - Dynamics GP is not marketed in such country as Brazil by Microsoft, instead Microsoft Business Solutions Brazil recommends Dynamics AX Axapta or NAV Navision. Second aspect of ERP localization is local tax code and government reporting compliance. In Brazil, to give you few examples, you will have to enforce sales invoice logic to support sequential factura numbers, plus tax code is very complex, where municipalities have their tax authority - this makes tax add-on required. It is unlikely that you will be able to do tax calculation add-on on your own
3. Consider Top ERP Brands, localized for your intended country. In the case of Brazil, you may think of Axapta to be too complex for implementation and integration with Great Plains in US. It is common when your overseas subsidiary is smaller than your headquarters facilities. If you have Great Plains in USA, we recommend you to consider SAP Business One in Brazil, as it is totally translated and tax compliant with Brazilian legislation
Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum http://www.albaspectrum.com help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577 info portal http://www.pegasplanet.com - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting
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