Don’t Let the New Year Happen To Your ERP

A First-of-the-Year Reset for Infor VISUAL Users

The start of a new year always brings momentum—new goals, fresh budgets, and renewed expectations from leadership. But for many manufacturers, January also quietly exposes a hard truth:

Your ERP didn’t magically improve just because the calendar changed.

If you’re running Infor VISUAL, the new year is actually the perfect time to pause, evaluate, and reset how your system is supporting the business. Otherwise, the same frustrations, workarounds, and inefficiencies will simply follow you into another year.

Let’s talk about how to avoid that.

The Hidden Risk of “Business as Usual”

Most ERP challenges don’t show up as catastrophic failures. Instead, they creep in quietly:

• Reports that no longer reflect how the business actually runs
• Manual spreadsheets living outside VISUAL
• Processes that “work,” but only because one or two people know the tricks
• Integrations that were never built—or were built years ago and never revisited

When these issues go unaddressed year after year, the ERP slowly shifts from being a system of record to a system of friction.

The new year is your opportunity to stop that drift.

A Simple New-Year Checkup for VISUAL

You don’t need a full reimplementation to make meaningful progress. Start by asking a few honest questions:

1. Are we actually using VISUAL the way we intended?

Over time, shortcuts become habits. Modules go unused. Features get ignored. A quick usage review often reveals opportunities to streamline without adding cost.

2. Where are we still relying on spreadsheets?

Spreadsheets are a sign of unmet needs—not failure. They’re also a roadmap. Each one tells you exactly where VISUAL could be extended, automated, or better configured.

3. Do our integrations reflect today’s business?

E-commerce platforms, shipping systems, CRMs, EDI, and production tools evolve fast. If your integrations haven’t been revisited recently, they’re likely creating extra work instead of removing it.

4. Can leadership get the answers they need—quickly?

If reporting still requires data exports, manual cleanup, or IT intervention, that’s a signal worth addressing early in the year.

Don’t Just Maintain—Modernize

One of the most common mistakes VISUAL users make is treating ERP as something to maintain instead of something to continuously improve.

Modernizing doesn’t always mean replacing your ERP. Often it means:

• Tightening configurations
• Cleaning up processes
• Adding smart integrations
• Improving visibility with better dashboards and reporting
• Ensuring your infrastructure and backups are ready for growth

Small improvements made early in the year compound quickly over 12 months.

Make the New Year Intentional

The companies that get the most value from VISUAL don’t wait for problems to force change. They plan for it.

A short review in Q1 can:

• Reduce manual effort across departments
• Improve decision-making for the rest of the year
• Prevent “surprise” ERP issues later
• Align technology with where the business is actually headed

Most importantly, it ensures your ERP is working for you—not quietly holding you back.

Start the Year With Clarity

The new year shouldn’t “happen” to your ERP.

It should be something you intentionally shape—based on where your business is going, not where it’s been.

If you’re an Infor VISUAL user and haven’t stepped back to assess your system in a while, January is the right time to do it.

A small reset now can make the rest of the year run a whole lot smoother.