

Ask HN: Which is better: creating ERP System regular or ERP through Internet? - ODosari

Hi,<p>This is Obaid AlDosari and I'm planning to create some parts of ERP system such as Recruitment and Training System to enable customers to use the work-flow easily and to get accurate results. So, which one is better to put my application as a web application or put is as the traditional application and they have to purchase it though my sales employees? and should it cost lesser money if it's going to be on the internet?<p>Note: I know If I will sell my application globally it's easier for me to sell it.<p>Thanks,
- Obaid AlDosari
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michael_dorfman
If I were you, I'd put all thoughts of "ERP Systems" out of your head. The
complexity involved in dealing with ERPs is enormous-- as in, you'll need to
manage a large staff of programmers to even get started.

So: the question then becomes, should you build your Recruitment and Training
app as a web app or as installed software?

The first question: are there any advantages you see to the customers to one
approach over the other? Surely, if you are about to build something, you know
the market and have some target customers picked out-- what do they think?
Would they be more likely to buy a web app or an installed app?

Second question: where is your technical experience? Have you (or your staff)
got more experience in building web apps or installed apps? In the absence of
a strong sentiment from your customers/prospects, I'd suggest you stick with
the platform you already know best.

~~~
ODosari
Thank you Michael for your useful comment,

I know how it's hard to do ERP System, however, I will start just with one of
the Recruitment or Training and I consider Recruitment to be the first then
will follow it with others components.

I will develop them to be used as web app in both cases, if they are going to
be as internet app or internal network in customer office, why will I start
with Recruitment or Training? because I'm working in HR and I have enough
experience in those fields and I know exactly what customers/companies need
form both systems. Also, I add new features they are not found yet in any
other smiler applications and it needs only 3 developers and 6 months of
continuance work to build one of them (Recruitment or Training application).

In addition, I'm addicted to programming and I use any platform that makes it
easy for me to create my application.

So, returning to my question which one is the better?

Thanks,

~~~
michael_dorfman
_So, returning to my question which one is the better?_

I can't give you the answer to that question, nor can anybody else, as it
depends on a lot of factors. What I can do, and have been trying to do, is to
help you identify what those factors are so you can answer it yourself.

You have HR experience; that's good. You say you know exactly what is needed
for a Recruitment management tool. That's also good. Of course, before you
start developing, you're going to want to validate your business idea. You
need to do what's called "customer development", and make sure that the
product you are designing meets the needs of others in the field, and not just
your own needs (when you were working in HR).

You'll also want to look at the competition. What other Recruitment management
tools are out there? What are people currently using? By looking at these, and
talking to prospective customers, you should be able to get a good idea
whether having this app on the web will add value, or only add risk (in terms
of security).

Which brings me to my final point: being "addicted to programming" isn't going
to help you. To create a piece of Enterprise software, you're going to have to
know one platform inside and out. You're going to want to have already
developed several smaller (non-Enterprise) apps on this platform. And, you're
going to want to have a staff of developers that is already trained and
comfortable on this platform.

The recent mess with Diaspora is a good example of what happens when people
try to build complex, enterprise-quality software on platforms they don't
already know intimately.

