Picture this: Domestic sales are great. Foreign markets offer the opportunity to grow, and you’re primed to tackle global trade. You run your business on SAP, and building on that foundation to support global trade is the right strategy. Product development, marketing, finance, IT, compliance, legal, procurement, and distribution are closely involved in your global business plan; you’re putting the pieces of the global trade puzzle in place and one of your major projects is implementing SAP Global Trade Services (GTS).
One of the most critical security challenges enterprises face is the compliant enforcement of access control. Establishing an effective set of access controls and auditing to maintain compliance is vital to ensuring both short- and long-term security protections. Your business has many people touching large amounts of company data; data that can be destructive if used incorrectly, which can damage your or your customers’ reputations. You will be held liable by those affected by compromised data if a data breach occurs, making data access control a top priority in the realm of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC).
The process of an ERP implementation is not an easy one, especially given the costs associated with these efforts. Executive management will want to see great return on investment (ROI) results for any ERP implementation—whether it’s a complete rollout or adding modules or functionality such as GRC or GTS—in a short period of time. This key question will have to be answered before you can move forward with your project: How exactly will our ERP implementation produce the return on investment we need while meeting expected business productivity gains?
Savvy enterprises navigate the complexities of international trade while minimizing global supply chain risks. Success in global trade requires a reliable supply chain: ingredients, materials, or components reliably sourced; products manufactured with consistent quality; sales properly transacted; and shipments correctly brokered. However, each of these links in the chain is subject to numerous trade rules and regulations, where failure to comply can result in significant fines, penalties, or sanctions.
According to a JP Morgan Chase report, 74% of U.S.-based businesses are seeking to expand globally. However, the landscape surrounding the global trade arena is rife with regulatory uncertainties. The unfortunate reality these businesses quickly come to realize (sometimes painfully so) is that each country and international trade partnership has its own collection of business and trade regulations, making it a must to prioritize trade compliance over global logistics management.
While most businesses develop a project plan when they start their ERP implementation, more often than not it contains large gaps that could jeopardize ERP implementation efforts. These gaps often occur because the business missed one key step in their planning: stepping back to look at all the little things that make their organization run.
Should I go with a generalist or specialist? When you want some work done, a project completed, or a problem fixed, that’s a question you’ll often ask. When you’re about to embark on an enterprise resource planning (ERP) project and are comparing ERP vendors, you’ll be making a similar decision. Is a large, globally recognized firm with thousands of employees the best match, or is a smaller firm with a specific business focus the better choice?
Are you managing your cross-border supply chain logistics as efficiently as possible? If you have high volumes of international trade and are not currently employing an ERP system like SAP and itsGlobal Trade Services (GTS) module, the answer is no. If you’ve already implemented SAP GTS, the answer might still be no.
An increasingly connected world, by necessity, has become an increasingly regulated business world. Monitoring, interpreting, and implementing complex sets of regulations places ever-greater demands upon employees with security, compliance, and international trade responsibilities. As a result, organizations are aggressively looking for methods to automate as many compliance processes as possible.
Most of the steps that a company can take to reduce ERP implementation risks do not actually revolve around the technical details of the project. When you enlist the help of an experienced and highly skilled partner, you will find the technical side of an ERP implementation easily covered. As a business, you are best served by focusing on these three steps to proactively mitigate ERP implementation risks.
