Some businesses find the best IT strategy involves maintaining more than one ERP software solution. While it may seem counterintuitive to some, the upside benefits can be significant. Say your business already has a large-scale enterprise ERP solution, perhaps managed by your corporate IT department. But it lacks core functionality to handle specific manufacturing or distribution requirements – or the cost is too high to expand or customize it to your needs. With a two-tier model, companies implement a second ERP solution for specific divisions or plants, perhaps located in different parts of the globe. And with EDI and cloud technologies, the two systems can usually share data. A two-tier ERP strategy can thus save money and provide greater agility.