Important Things to know before Implementing ERP

You have seen your business evolving & growing over the period and has reached the stage where you think it needs to be more organized.

Congratulations, this is a great place to be in.

You’re thinking about adopting tools like ERP software but not sure how to go about implementation and ensuring your project will be successful.

We think you should consider below things before starting your ERP journey.

First thing first, don’t consider this as merely IT Project

Although ERP is often considered as IT Investment, it is not the same as buying a piece of hardware or installing some productivity software. ERP is going to touch almost every corner of your business. Most people in your team and the way they work would be affected by this change. Bringing all member of your team in this project would certainly help you in getting the best out of your investment. So, treat this as a business transformation initiative and engage everyone.

ERP Project requires careful planning

ERP projects fail due to poor planning. It’s not only about ERP consultants schedule & onsite visits or number of days of training would be conducted. ERP Project requires planning of time, resources & budget.

You must consider, how much time will be spent with consultants for discussing current and proposed business processes, how much time is required in preparing or cleansing data which will be migrated to new system, when is the best time to switch from legacy system to new software, what would be investment in infrastructure (e.g. buying new server)

You should also consider other planned or unplanned events that could affect the timelines of your project. E.g. Your sales force are attending the annual conference of your industry or upcoming holidays when some of your team members would be out of office.

In Richard Marcinko words, More you sweat in Training, Less you bleed in combat.

ERP project requires efforts from both you and your ERP Consultants. You will have to keep motivating your team and yourself throughout the project as there will be a lot of work to be done. Be it conducting requirement gathering sessions or preparing master data or reading & approving project documentation or even training your staff for that matter. To avoid any potential pitfalls, you must work on strategy and plan your resources accordingly.

Not only ERP evaluation or selection but also the implementation of new software takes time. There are many tasks involved in executing the ERP project and most of them are dependent on each other. On average ERP project in small businesses takes 4-6 months, therefore, setting right expectations about Go live date is crucial.

Prioritize Business Process Improvements Over Software Features

Most ERP Softwares are built on basis of industry best practices or at least has developed based on industry experience. Leveraging that experience and adapting to standard processes would be much benefit in a long run. This would also help you in streamlining your business and avoiding costly software customizations.

Whether you’re implementing ERP for the first time or you want to do a better job than previous software implementation project, you must keep this list in mind. This will help you ensure your project is completed on time and deliver benefits to your organization. In case you need assistance with gathering and documenting business needs, preparing ERP blueprint or Implementing complete solution, Evomatiq has got you covered. You can learn more about how we could help your business here.