Modernising ERP Integrations for the Cloud

A cloud ERP upgrade can involve more than moving the central system. According to ERP Today, food manufacturer Charlie Bigham’s used its Syspro upgrade to replace legacy middleware that connected business systems. The case offers a practical lesson for growing businesses in Nigeria: before changing an ERP, understand how orders, stock, labels and other information move through the business. Otherwise, a change to one connection can disrupt work elsewhere.

The problem was around the ERP, too

According to ERP Today, Bigham’s had used Syspro ERP for more than a decade. Its integrations ran on middleware that was difficult to manage and inflexible. High-priority support issues often involved the movement of data between systems. The company’s implementation partner, HIT Technology, described a buildup of older systems and quick fixes that had become unsustainable.

Bigham’s treated the move to Syspro in the cloud as a chance to address those surrounding systems as well. ERP Today reports that the company replaced its legacy middleware with an integration platform that moves data between Syspro and key business systems. It also moved electronic data interchange for orders and invoices, and a labeling application, to cloud-based services.

For a business considering a similar upgrade, the decision is not simply whether to move the ERP. It is whether the connections around it are still understandable and supportable. An upgrade may expose old dependencies that have been easy to overlook while systems continue to work.

Map the handoffs before replacing them

ERP Today says Bigham’s connected retailer orders, recipe management, labeling and warehousing. The new integration layer also enabled a separate warehouse management system project. The article reports that warehouse staff use handheld scanners for instructions on picking goods, including what to pick, the quantity and where to find it.

The transferable lesson is to map the work and data, not just the application list. Before replacing middleware, identify:

• Which systems send or receive information through it.
• What information passes between each pair of systems.
• Where people correct data manually or rely on workarounds.
• Which business activities depend on each connection.

This is a planning checklist, not a claim that every business has the same systems as Bigham’s. For a Nigerian business, it can help make the scope of an ERP cloud decision clearer and highlight which departments should be involved before changes begin.

Keep the change workable for users

According to ERP Today, Bigham’s formed a team of super-users from different departments to map processes and assess readiness. The company aimed to change as little as possible for users: familiar interfaces and existing workflows were retained unless there was a strong reason to alter them.

That approach brings an important question forward: which changes are necessary for the new setup, and which would add disruption without addressing a real problem? Involve the people who handle orders, production, warehouse work and reporting when reviewing the proposed design. Their input can help reveal handoffs that are not obvious from a software diagram.

Treat the integration layer as a foundation

ERP Today reports that Bigham’s has begun a companywide data programme, using Microsoft Fabric to bring transactional and unstructured data into a shared environment. The article says its first output was dashboards for sales and marketing, with more data to be added in priority order.

That does not mean every ERP upgrade should include a data programme or warehouse system. It does show why integration decisions can affect later work. A growing business should first ask whether its data flows are documented, whether errors and manual corrections are visible, and whether the proposed design can support its next operational needs. Only then can it judge whether replacing middleware belongs in the ERP upgrade scope.