Strategies for Maximizing the Back Office without Breaking the Bank

If your organization is using PeopleSoft today, it is likely that a decision has been made to remain on that platform for the foreseeable future. Your company may have:

• Little appetite for the disruptions and costs of change.
• Higher priorities in the organization than the administrative systems.
• No complaints with the PeopleSoft's functioning.

Realistically, the decision to “stay the course” doesn't imply that the system fully meets the organizational goals or that there aren't areas to increase the value of the solution, but that is where optimization comes into play. We recommend you employ the below tactics to drive positive outcomes while pushing down costs and increasing the utility of your ERP solution:

Optimize the Deployment

A 2020 survey found an overwhelming 93% of companies have at least some shelfware – software they've purchased at one time and never put to use. PeopleSoft has so much functionality that few companies deploy everything. Implementing the functionality that you already own can have an impressive impact on your operational goals without incurring any additional software licensing fees.

Another common scenario is an implementation that was deployed years ago and then kept static. PeopleSoft is always growing, evolving, and improving. Your business is also changing. Aligning those two allows the organization to achieve the greatest ROI from the original investment.

Take a fresh look at the software and make sure that it is fully supporting your organization. Dust off the shelfware, deploy newly introduced functionality, and take a look at more efficient ways to operate your business. Change doesn't have to be big. A plan for incremental, continuous improvement is often the most cost-effective way to align and optimize the system.

Optimize the Support Model

PeopleSoft is a wide-ranging solution that needs a lot of hands on deck to maintain. It is not uncommon that a company requires 6-12 people to keep PeopleSoft running. These staff members know your business inside and out and could be used more strategically to solve issues that require that specific business knowledge; keeping the ERP system functioning may not be the best return on that staffing investment. Managed Services allows the everyday activities of supporting the users and the software to be performed by a 3rd party, freeing up your most valuable asset – your people – to focus on the business.

Optimize the Infrastructure

Many firms have made the decision to move their software to the cloud, mostly to remove the distraction of managing and maintaining hardware to support their PeopleSoft system. Many ERP customers expect that this means a move to Software as a Service (SaaS). Moving to a SaaS ERP is highly disruptive and expensive, so why not keep PeopleSoft and get the benefits of SaaS without the expense of making that change?

PeopleSoft hosted on the cloud provides all the same benefits of SaaS without the downside. You get to keep a solution that meets your needs today and eliminate costly hardware investments and associated support costs. You don't get the disruption of a platform shift, forced upgrades, or the inability to modify the system to account for true business needs. All the upside and no downside.

Your PeopleSoft framework can be moved effortlessly to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and maintained there without missing a beat.

ERPA Can Help You Optimize PeopleSoft

Don't confuse the decision to stay with PeopleSoft with satisfaction with the status quo. Look for opportunities to use the tools at your disposal in ways that will allow your business to get the most value out of your ERP investment. If you'd like to speak with someone about the options available to you, please fill out the form below.