Companies selling packages such as SAP, Baan and MFG/PRO have emerged the top vendors who by developing Indian versions of their ERP packages, have succeeded in capturing the market. However, most of these installations have taken place in bigger industries and are yet to touch the small and medium segment since ERP is seen as an expensive proposition.

An ERP installation on an average costs a minimum two per cent of the turnover of a company, besides the many hidden costs that surface during implementation. The cost of appointing ERP consultants too is prohibitive.

But there are exists a huge market potential and some software companies are looking to capture this segment by offering small- and medium- size companies ERP packages tailored to suit individual needs and sans any frills.

Among them are Mumbai-based Ontrack Solutions Pvt Ltd and Infoworld of Pune. Companiessuch as these were among the many to showcase their abilities at the ERP '98 convention organised by the Computer Society of India (CSI), Pune Chapter and ERP Journal, a monthly magazine devoted exclusively to ERP.

Ontrack has tied-up with Prometheus Software Developments Pvt Ltd and will market and implement the Pronto ERP package. Pronto, an Australian company, is a leader in the small/mid size segment. Ontrack's S Venkatesh who is looking after the enterprise systems business says that smaller companies do not have complex business processes and focus on their basic functions. So his company will be offering different modules to the smaller companies.

"Within ERP, the maximum benefits come from MRP-II (manufacture resource planning) and we are selling this to the smaller companies as they do not need to invest heavily in additional hardware." For instance, an investment of Rs 10-15 lakh would be enough for a company with a turnover of Rs 10-15 crore.

Kunj B Tibrewal, director, Infoworld, istargetting even smaller companies. He has developed Mini ERP for SSIs with modules on financial accounting sales and purchase order, inventory, production, excise and HRD payroll, sufficient for the operations of a small size company, Tibrewal says.

Small companies may be persuaded to implement ERP eventually: when larger companies go live on ERP they would demand that suppliers/vendors too integrate with the company's systems in order to be fully online.