Section

Choosing your tool

Excel, ERP, off-the-shelf or custom: which for what, and how not to replace three spreadsheets with a fourth.

4 articles

Excel, an ERP and a custom application don't replace each other: each does one thing very well and the others badly. The spreadsheet is unbeatable for framing a problem and breaks down as soon as several people update it. The ERP holds the records and imposes its rules. The custom application lives at the point of contact with the field.

So the useful question is almost never "which one?" but "which one for what?". Having all three is the most common case, and it isn't a failure. What costs money is re-keying the same data into all three.

This section also helps you decide before buying: measuring what off-the-shelf software really covers of your cases, and knowing when an old ERP deserves to be opened up rather than replaced.

Choosing your tool5 min readMulti-site, multi-company: what standard software gets wrongOff-the-shelf software holds up fine on one site. Across several sites and companies, each team bends it its own way, and group reporting gets rebuilt by hand every month.ByJérôme KnopsRead the article
Choosing your tool5 min readWhatsApp groups at work: what they fix, what they breakOne group per job site, photos, hours and instructions lost in the thread. What messaging does very well, where it breaks, and how to get the work out of the thread.ByJérôme KnopsRead the article
Choosing your tool6 min readYour ERP is forty years old, and that isn't the problemAn old ERP that runs well isn't technical debt, it's an asset. How to open it through APIs instead of replacing it, and when to change.ByJérôme KnopsRead the article
Choosing your tool6 min readExcel, ERP or custom app: which one for what?Spreadsheets, ERPs and custom apps answer different needs. Which for what, and why most companies need two of the three.ByJérôme KnopsRead the article

Thirty minutes to find out what you actually need.

Talk it through

Other sections