After joining the new company, I also started using a new ERP system.
This isn’t my first time. I’ve switched companies several times, and each one had a different ERP system. Some had more intuitive interfaces, others had more complete features, and some required getting used to new workflows. But I’ve never thought it was a big issue.
After all, the core logic of ERP systems is pretty similar. As long as you understand the production process and spend some time learning the operations, most people can gradually get the hang of it.
Until this time, when I first encountered 鼎新. Before this, I had some expectations about it. While job hunting, I often saw postings that preferred candidates with “鼎新 ERP operation experience.” Over time, I assumed it was probably the most widely used and mature ERP system in Taiwan. I even quietly thought that learning it would give me an advantage when changing jobs in the future.
But once I actually started using it, I realized things weren’t quite what I imagined.
Many operations aren’t intuitive workflows I would naturally think of, and the connections between modules aren’t very smooth. What impressed me most was checking the BOM—it wasn’t possible to view the full structure directly. Instead, you had to click layer by layer, level by level. Sometimes, just to verify one material, you had to switch between several screens.
After a week of learning, I still often couldn’t find functions or understand the logic behind some operations. At first, I thought it was just because I was new, so it felt difficult to use. Later, when I asked my colleagues, I found out they all felt the same way—they just got used to it over time.
Suddenly, a saying came to mind: “If you stay in the abalone market long enough, you stop noticing the stench.”
When you use the same system every day, many things that once seemed odd or unreasonable eventually become “that’s just how it’s always been.”
Later, I couldn’t help complaining to a friend: “I really don’t get it—why does such an unintuitive system still have such high market share?”
My friend calmly replied: “Probably because it’s cheap.”
I was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood.
Often, when companies procure a system, what they consider isn’t whether it’s user-friendly for frontline staff, but implementation costs, maintenance costs, customization fees, overall budget, and whether it meets business needs. The people who actually use the system every day are often not the ones who decide which system to buy.
From the company’s perspective, such decisions may not be wrong, but from the user’s perspective, every extra click, every extra screen switch, and every extra data lookup adds up to time.
I used to think good tools would naturally be welcomed by the market. Later, I gradually realized that in the business world, many things are never decided solely by “whether it’s easy to use.” Price, implementation cost, maintenance resources, brand, market share, and even long-term corporate partnerships can all influence a company’s choice.
So now, I can only fumble my way through while slowly getting familiar with the new system. After all, tools don’t always adapt to us, but work still has to go on. It’s only after this experience that I truly understood one thing: whether a system sells well and whether it’s the most user-friendly don’t always have an absolute relationship.