All in All
Did you know that Mercedes Benz® produces over 60 different car models? Why would they do that? Why can’t they use their engineering prowess to design an all-in-one vehicle that satisfies everybody?
You know the answer, of course. Different consumers have different needs and budgets. Young people need a small car. New families need room and reliability. Empty nesters may be looking for something that’s a little more fun.
It seems that it’s only the ERP industry that still believes one size fits all. The thinking goes something like this: “It’s easier for people to change than for software to change. So, let’s just produce one version and ask customers to change their behavior to adapt to the software.” In any other industry, that would be a recipe for disaster. In ERP, it’s viewed as “efficiency”.
At Lawson, we disagree. We know different customers have different needs and we try to accommodate them. That’s why we have Lawson M3 and S3. M3 is for companies who make, move, or maintain a physical product and who need to keep track of product cost, quality and distribution information. S3 is for companies whose primary output is a service rather than a product. Product companies and service companies have different needs, different reporting requirements, and different KPI’s. Why wouldn’t they need a different product?
At Lawson, we believe that all-in-one means compromise-for-all. We’d rather deliver different strokes for different folks.
As its name implies, The Lawson Opinionizer offers opinions. We believe we've got our facts straight but we don't guarantee it. A new Opinionizer appears every Monday. If you have an opinion, send an e-mail to Opinionizer@lawson.com
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