February 2009 After the Global Economic Crisis that overwhelmed the whole world in 2008, one of the most popular topics that are being discussed today is how to survive the crisis with opportunities...Most economists think that the way to survive the crisis is launching new investments and turning the crisis into opportunities instead of crying over spilt milk...The crisis is in fact a time to learn and recover provided you make use of the opportunities revealed by the crisis. Those who do not miss that opportunity will prove much stronger after the crisis.
Besides, it is important to make use of opportunities without underestimating the danger in the current Global Crisis. As a matter of fact, it is recommended that precautions should be taken keeping in mind that the balance of the market is impaired in the crisis atmosphere. Moreover, companies may get rid of many harmful habits by cutting their coats according to their clothes at times of crisis.
Crisis is something useful unless you do not miss the opportunities it creates. Crisis is a time to learn and to discover one's self. Those who seize the opportunity will prove much stronger after the crisis. (16 December 2008 - Newspaper 'Dunya' - Ugur Tandogan). From this point of view, businesses should make use of the crisis as an opportunity and take necessary measures to bring down stocks, cut unnecessary expenses, and utilize the idle capacity. All these require the use of ERP. It is possible to achieve reduction in expenses and rise in revenues with a correctly-adapted ERP program that may be useful for the business. Thereby, operations dependant upon a person as well as repeated operations will be eliminated, manpower, machinery and other resources will be used much effectively, the quality of goods and services will improve, accurate reporting will be enhanced with accurate data, and managers will be able to make strategic decisions with a much accurate control and analysis. Aside from this, ERP enables the making of strategic decisions to reduce investments in those product groups where loss is high by giving a much realistic picture of costs in the Global Crisis atmosphere in which profit margins are low. As regards those profitable product groups which continue to remain on the production line, it will help reduce the excessive stocks with a proper material requirement planning and bring down the retention cost. As capacity planning assures an optimum arrangement of works in accordance with their lead times, the commitment to the customer, and thus, customer satisfaction will enhance.
In addition, we can even say that the time of crisis is the most convenient time to put ERP projects into practice with the effect of the reduction in peak times that used to prevent employees from participating in and sparing time for the ERP adaptation stage for various reasons.
In Turkey, ERP applications picked up speed in the last 5 years and the market grew around 15% per year. Given these figures, the requirement to make strategic decisions by collecting data accurately and analyzing collected data properly may enforce companies to invest more in ERP during the crisis. Using ERP software along with the advantages it brings will make it possible to survive the crisis with the least damage. Companies that are able to comprehend that requirement will decide to make such an investment in order to seize the competitive advantage.
