iContro Software Sdn Bhd (‘iContro’), the leading 100% local Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) brand and provider, says that an ‘Asian Business Culture’-infused system is imperative for local manufacturers to successfully adapt their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to be compliant to the impending GST ruling, and more.
iContro’s Chief Executive Officer Lee says that the fast approaching GST deadline is driving a revival of the local ERP market.
He says, “The local ERP market has been soft for quite some time due to economic uncertainties, so the GST deadline is a silver lining as it forces local manufacturers to overhaul their ERPs.
Many Malaysian manufacturers have long been coping with their legacy ERP systems due to the fact they started adopting ERP technology much earlier as compared to other ASEAN countries.”
Invest in ‘Asian Business Culture’ ERP Systems
On this note, He says that major ERP vendors have long been over sighted about what the Asian manufacturers and companies really need – which are ERP solutions that are integrated with the ‘Asian Business Culture’.
“Contrary to market perception, Asian businesses are more dynamic, fluid and versatile than their Western counterparts, where business is more linear, direct or simple,” he explains.
In a 2014 survey released by Panorama Consulting, nearly one in five respondents expressed that their companies ERP implementation was a failure. Further to that the report indicates that 63 percent of implementations were over budget.
“Cost of customisation of western ERPs often comes as a shock to companies as the existing technology isn’t able to fully integrate the ‘Asian Business Culture’ into this core enterprise IT system without heavy customisation that costs a lot of money,” adds Lee.
Already by default, most ERP are extremely costly projects that require huge amount of product customisation, which experts will tell you is the main reasons for many failed projects. Panorama Consulting’s survey points out that, 25 percent of respondents shared that their companies ERP projects were implemented after extreme or complete customisation.
“Therefore businesses that choose ERP systems that do not integrate this ‘Asian Business Culture’ functionalities and automation – invariably face significantly higher project (implementation) failure risk as this core IT system (ERP) of the business is already a mismatch with the inherent business culture,” Lee explains.
He says that specifically, local manufacturers require an equally dynamic, and a lot more powerful yet easy to use ERP system that delivers higher efficiency, higher productivity with higher control mechanism, as compared to their Western manufacturing counterparts.
“Asian manufacturers can only thrive by being successfully supported by technologies that are reflected in their automated design of the ERP – which is indeed the most crucial IT support for all of their business operations.”
Going Beyond GST Compliance
With the implementation of GST, it is mandatory for businesses to have a complete end-to-end automation starting - from manufacturing to distribution and accounting operations as GST entails tracking and reporting throughout the entire chain of operations, within the organization as well as the entire group and business ecosystem.
“It is common to still find Malaysian manufacturers operating in partial computerised and automated environments. Therefore it is essential that manufacturers leverage on ERP investment that goes beyond the statutory GST compliance, for better business automation,” says Lee.
iContro Expands Regionally Starting with Singapore
iContro is also expanding its business to Indonesia & India.
“iContro G5 is currently making waves in Malaysia. We have successfully replaced numerous top 10 ERP providers and ensuring our customers experience higher efficiency and ROI and we are certain our certification and in-depth market intuition will be a benefit for customers who are still looking for an ERP system to meet the 2015 GST deadline,” ends Lee.
“Having established ourselves in Malaysia, we’ve been seeing increasing demand for iContro ERP in Singapore. We have already started working on a few clients there and believe this is a good time for us to expand our business into the region, first to Singapore and soon to Indonesia.”
“In line with this, we have just confirmed with a public listed company which will be purchasing our ERP’s financial, distribution and manufacturing modules. This is a great start to our Singapore expansion and with the pipeline we have, iContro is confident that we will generate a sales revenue of approximately SG3 million by the end of 2014 for Singapore,” explains Lee.
The iContro ERP system is fully developed based on the Asian business culture. The 5th Generation iContro G5 is a massive 62-million line of codes system that comes standard with 1850 reports as compared to the average 500 reports available from the nearest competitors. iContro G5 is also among the first full-fledged ERP system in the world to be TUV-Certified (of Germany).
“Typical ERP upgrades are usually associated with risks and unacceptable disruptions, but the TUV-certified iContro G5 delivers smoother upgrades within shorter periods without having to re-do any previous customizations.
“In the next few months we will also be heading into Indonesia with iContro, followed by the Philippines, China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan as there is a high demand for Asian Business Culture centric ERP modules that currently requires high optimisation at a bigger cost with existing western ERP counterparts,” adds Lee.
“To facilitate this expansion into various markets, iContro will be launching a Multi Lingual version of the TUV-certified iContro G5 ERP in 2015,” ends Lee.
About iContro Software Sdn Bhd
Established since 1995, iContro Software Sdn Bhd which is part of the Planetsoft Group is a 100% local Malaysia-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions provider which has designed the iContro G5 ERP. The company is currently the dominant ERP brand in the process-based type manufacturing, supplying ERP to 90% of all paint manufacturers in Malaysia. Currently iContro has over 250 customers includes DGL (Australian Paint Manufacturer), Teikoku (Japanese Ink Manufacturer), Hume Marketing and Damansara Realty Berhad amongst many others.
iContro provides improvements to business processes and performance based on the best practices of Asian Business Culture Paradigm, championing the "LEAN, SPEED & CONTROL" business model.
The company develops products with the technological foresight to provide high quality business solutions which enhance the financial operations and management capabilities of many small & medium-size corporations.
iContro is the first in the world to be internationally TUV-Certified with its ERP system achieving an overall compliance of 93%.
Featured in : ENTERPROSE IT NEWS, MIS ASIA, BORNEO POST