International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421 33

Volume 3, No. 6, June 2014

Study the Importance of SWOT Analysis on ERP

Implementation
Dr. Ramdas S. Wanare, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Account & Applied Stat. Vivekanand Arts, Sardar
Dalipshingh Commerce & Science College, Aurangabad
Amar R. Mudiraj, Research Student, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad

ABSTRACT process without having the interaction with the individual

of different organization. Any organization who wants to
implement the ERP must understand the organizational
Any organization which wants to survive in the market
mission & vision. ERP is one of the most though, time
must have the new and advance technical tools and
consuming and costly process which take more than a 2 or
weapons to reach and sustain in the todays rapidly
3 yrs to get fully implement in the organization. For this,
changing world of business. ERP stand for Enterprise
every organization must analyze and ask the question to
Resource Planning and it is an integrated tool used by
itself as is there any need of ERP implementation in the
many of the organization to be an advance in all the
Organization? , Ones we get the answer in Yes then the
aspect as compare to others. As ERP is the long-term, time
organization look for the Business Process Reengineering
consuming, tedious and costly process , the Top level
(BPR) which deals with the current working process and
management not in a mood to fail in the ERP
problem with the current working style. Another analytical
implementation and for this the organization always
tool for analyzing the organizational position to go for the
looking for the tangible and intangible factors which
ERP implementation of not is SWOT Analysis. SWOT
affecting on ERP implementation. And to achieve this goal
analysis is the tool used for analysis and Planning to
SWOT analysis is the structured planning method used
evaluating the factors affecting on the achievement of
mostly where the organization looking for the factors
business. This paper will highlight the SWOT analysis for
affecting on the ERP implementation and out of those
the organization which goes to ERP implementation. In
factors which factors are favourable and which are un-
the paper we consider some basic factors which further get
favourable are get determine. By this tool the organization
fragmented into the SWOT matrix which has the effect on
can decide whether they are in position for going to
the ERP implementation.
implement such huge technical change in their
organization of not. This paper highlighting the SWOT
analysis process and list-out some important factors which 2. INTRODUCTION TO SWOT ANALYSIS
plays very vital role during the ERP implementation. PROCESS:

Keywords The SWOT Analysis the business tool used to highlight

ERP, SWOT, SWOT Analysis, Strengths, Weaknesses, the different factors affecting on the business process
Opportunities, Threats. which the organization plan to design and implement for
achieve the mission and vision of the organization. The
1. INTRODUCTION SWOT analysis firstly describe by the American business
and management consultant Albert S. Humphrey in the
Todays Business has the different dimension on which 1960 and 1970. The SWOT stand for Strengths,
any organization gets the unique place in the eyes of Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The tool
customers. ERP is one of the important and new identifies the internal and external key factor which seems
dimension gets popular now days. ERP is the software to be very crucial and important to achieve the
business tool which integrated different module of the organizational goals and objectives. Any organization
organization like HR, Marketing, sales, Financial etc. ERP which want to implement ERP the organization look for
help the organization to flow the business data among the the factors which effecting on this process to control and
different department as common entity. By this every mange the problems which comes during the ERP
department can have exact and accurate data for the implementation.

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International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421 34
Volume 3, No. 6, June 2014

influence on the organization from the outside world,

which are mostly not under control of the organization.

Further the internal factors are divided into two sub

categories Strengths & Weaknesses of the organization.
The External Factors are gets divided in Opportunities and
Threats.
The next step in the SWOT analysis will be creating the
SWOT matrix which consisting the list of factors which
comes under the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats of the organization.

The last step to SWOT analysis will be top level

management analyze the strengths of the organization and
keep them as weapon for achieve the target. Similarly
organization focuses on the weaknesses on the
organization which they have to control and cover-up
during the ERP implementation. With the same top level
management look for the opportunities in the outside
world to grab with the help of their strengths during the
ERP implementation. During the analysis and grabbing the
opportunities the tangible and intangible threats creates the
hurdles in the ERP Implementation which has to get
manage and control during the execution of ERP
implementation process.
Which shows the process gets started with the Top level
management and they ready to implement the ERP in their
organization. Ones they decided they are call the meeting 3. SWOT MATRIX FOR ERP
with the all concern people who have direct and indirect IMPLEMENTATION:
influence on ERP implementation from different level of
organization like Board Members, Mangers, Dept Heads,
Technical Staff, Supervisors etc. The meeting gives the
idea about the vision and mission of the organization and
the objective which the organization plans to achieve with
ERP implementation. The meeting also clarifies the role of
individual and groups in implementation process.
Ones everyone gets the clear idea about their role in the
process, the top management start to collect the
information about the current status of the internal and
external environment of the organization. On base of this
information, organization starts to make a list of factors
which will create the influence on the ERP
implementation.

Ones the list get finalize about the factors affecting on

ERP implementation , the organization starts to divide the
factor divide them into two major categories internal
factors and External Factors. Internal Factors which a can
controllable and inside the organization environment.
External Factors are those factors which have the
Fig 1.2 SWOT Matrixes for ERP Implementation

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International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421 35
Volume 3, No. 6, June 2014

3.1 Strengths: the new technology. While end of ERP implementation

It stands as a characteristics or factors that give an edge for most of the organization hired the consultants for
the company over its competitors, which give the implementation and deployment of the ERP and after
advantages over others in the market. The Strengths finishing the task the consultant are leave the organization.
factors are the factors depends upon the organization can Here the problem arises in the regards of maintenances of
go for ERP Implementation some of the factors are listed the ERP and if we have no group of people who have the
in the matrix like Cost, Schedule, Infrastructure , efficient enough knowledge of ERP technology deeply so, again the
and experiences manpower and last long-term mission & consultation process get started and it increase the cost of
vision. The organization having strong financial hand can process. Most of the organization fails to analyze the need
go for any new change in the organization and as, ERP of market and customer requirement and by poor
needs lots of money so cost can be one of the important knowledge of the market the ERP implementation may get
Strength of the organization. ERP implementation is long failed.
and time consuming process so, it required more time
schedule for better implementation in organization and if 3.3 Opportunities:
the organization has the enough time so it will be more It stands as characteristics or favourable situations which
beneficiary for ERP. If the organization already has the can bring a competitive advantage in the market. The
better infrastructure in hand it makes more easily to ERP organization that always looking for the new opportunities
implementation otherwise more time take to create a new to achieve the objective will never face the failure in
setup for the new technology deployment. Most of the market. Similarly the organization who planning for ERP
organization considering the human resources are their implementation need to find the opportunities in the
main strengths and if the organization have the more market for the ERP implemented technology adopted
efficient and experienced man power so the thing are get organization. While considering the opportunities in
easily adopted and implement perfectly in most of the market for organization the first element is customer and
cases. Above all the strengths of the organization has the ERP will create the rapid and corrective responds to the
clear , advances, long-term mission and vision in Top Request for Proposals (RFPs) of customer. The next
level management the organization will always stand as opportunities can be possible by ERP in organization is, it
supporting poll for the ERP development team as parental can create the one of the consultant division in the market
tree to achieve the goals and objective. for the ERP implementation for other non-ERP
implemented organization. With the help of Rapid
3.2 Weaknesses: responds to the RFPs of customers, the ERP creates the
It stands as characteristics or factors that can be harmful if opportunities to make our customer satisfied at certain
used against the firm by its competitors or it can be level. With the help of ERP we can have the idea about
disadvantages relative to internal environment of the how and what data flowing among the different processing
organization. During the ERP implementation the role and activities in organization , which keeps top level
support of Top level management plays a vital role and if management updated in the regards of organizational
decision making is having any Bureaucratic nature of the information. The ERP also gives the better understanding
Top level management during the implementation the of the current organizational workflow and fund-flow
people on other level of organization may not have faith which help the organization to change its tactical decisions
on the Top level and it may affect very badly on the ERP by creating new strategies for the improvements.
implementation. Some time all the people of the
organization may not technically sound as compare to the 3.4 Threats:
ERP development team and if the people who are having It stands as characteristics or un-favourable situations
the direct operative position on ERP system then they which can negatively affect the business or cause trouble
must understand the technology. If they failed in for organization. While considering the Threats parameter
understand the technology so it will be one of the weakest in the ERP implementation the very first factor comes in
thing for the organization. Some time the people of the mind is security for providing the data which get travel
organization not in position to change their traditional from the different individuals, divisions, departments,
working environment and they are not in position to offices and plant, some time at same location or different
acquire the new technology in their working mode, some geographical location which need more security. One of
time can be more dangerous for the organization to acquire the most costly threats for the ERP implementation is

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International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research (IJMSSR) ISSN: 2319-4421 36
Volume 3, No. 6, June 2014

Maintenance Cost of ERP system which requires [2] [2]. Amar R. Mudiraj (2013), Erp: An Effective
continuous monitoring, time and people in the process. Resource Utilization Tool For Organization,
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Competitor is the most and biggest threat for any Process Management Icmlt Pp 122-127
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technology as compare to our technology then, there is Process Reengineering And Erp Systems Benefits,
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have the technically enough to solve the problem may face [5] [5]. www. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
in coming time, which can reduce the dependency on the [6] [6]. Jennifer Lonoff , (2013) 13 Common ERp
ERP development consultant which are outsiders for the Mistakes and to avoid making them from
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maintenance. [7] [7]. www.rapidbi.com/created/SWOTanalysis.html.
[8] [8]. David Williamson, Peter Cooke, Wyn Jenkins,
4. CONCLUSION and Keith Michael Moreton (2003) Strategic
Management and Business Analysis, Butterworth
This paper highlights the SWOT analysis is the process as and Heinemann publications, Great Britain.
eye opener for the organization which gives idea about the
factors affecting on organization during the ERP
implementation. This paper also describes the some
factors divided into internal and external factors. The
internal factors affecting by inside environment which
more controllable by the organization itself. The internal
factors includes the Strengths and Weaknesses of the
organization , which describe the Strength as main
weapon of the organization present inside on the
organization and Weakness as some non-favourable
factors as a disadvantages to the organization and it must
overcome to achieve the goals. The paper lighten the
external factors like Opportunities and Threats which
provide the favourable situation where the organization
can convert their strengths into profit for the organization.
The threats just creates the trouble to the organization in
the form of Competitors , Advance Technology, Change in
customer mood etc where the organization need to face
positively to achieve the goals set by the top level
management. At last the SWOT analysis creates new path
for the organization on which business can go longer,
profitable and reach the success in ERP implementation.

5. REFERENCES:

[1] [1]. Manmeet Singh Hora (2012) Predicting the

future of ERP- A SWOT Analysis

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