Should you upgrade to to LN or replace Baan ERP with a new software system?

This is a question many of your industry peers are facing. Your decision will shape your business processes for the next fifteen-plus years.

Our survey of 213 Baan ERP customers revealed:

• 71% will be looking at multiple systems, and
• 29% will be upgrading to Infor LN from BAAN
• How do you decide whether to upgrade BAAN or replace it with a new system?

Here’s how one of our clients approached this very challenge:

Facts

Our client, Jamesway Incubator Company, is a North American subsidiary of Petersime NV. Jamesway is a multi-site engineer-to-order, project-based manufacturer of incubation and hatchery systems. Following project installation, the company provides ongoing customer and technical services. Jamesway operates heavily customized Infor BAAN 4C4 ERP software. Petersime operates a different ERP system.

Objective

To determine whether Infor LN or the parent company’s ERP system will become the future backbone of Jamesway’s solutions architecture.

Challenge

Jamesway’s experience was common among companies running legacy, customized Baan ERP software. Key challenges for companies wrestling with this decision include:

• How to assess the usefulness of existing customizations in a future environment
• How to assess implementation benefits in an upgrade scenario versus in a new software implementation scenario
• How to model total cost of ownership and return on investment of the various scenarios
• How to do an apples-to-apples comparison of different systems and vendors

Solution

For Jamesway, we conducted a one month assessment that yielded a competitive analysis of LN against the parent company’s Tier-II ERP system. Each option was measured against Jamesway’s critical and nice-to-have needs. We provided a transformation roadmap, which included an analysis of upgrading to LN10.5 or replacing Baan ERP with the parent company’s ERP software. Our analysis examined:

• Functionality by department, including extension and customization needs
• Solutions architecture, technology platform, and data architecture needs
• Implementation schedules, external consulting needs, costs, and risks
• Vendor profiles and risk
• Total cost of ownership

Of equal importance, our review included an ERP project readiness analysis that spanned organizational, business process, and data architecture needs. The goal of this part of the review was to help Jamesway establish a strong foundation for implementation and to minimize project risks. Here’s what Barbara Mitchell, Jamesway’s IS Manager, says about working with Pemeco:

“Pemeco delivers! The team excels across key disciplines – business process, systems, and plan execution – a combination that’s tough to find in consulting firms. Pemeco quickly delivered an actionable, deep needs assessment, a competitive analysis of ERP vendors, and an implementation plan. We’re now working with Pemeco to optimize our existing business processes and data to make sure we’re ready to hit-the-ground running on implementation.”

Barbara Mitchell, Information Systems Manager, Jamesway Incubator Company

Are you wondering whether to upgrade Baan to LN or replace it?

Download our 5-step action plan to help you decide: