When an organization decides to deploy an ERP business management software, this is a decision that is costly, as this involves the cost of the software itself, consultation fees, training, post-implementation support. In addition, the full implementation can take months to fully deploy.
Despite the above characteristics, approximately 75% of ERP business management software projects will fail to meet their objectives according to Gartner Reports.
Knowing all these, the next question will be, what steps can be taken to avoid failure when deploying or selecting an ERP system? Below are some tips from our 25+ years of experience deploying business management solutions and services. So let’s get into it.
1. Select an ERP Business Management Software that is most Fitted for Your Business and Industry Needs.
Not choosing the best-suited ERP solution is amongst the recipe for failure. The first thing to do is to make an exhaustive list of what your business needs and industry requirements. This will require inputs from multiple stakeholders.
The list should include functional, operational, and strategic must-haves, as this will ensure a smooth implementation process.
Another aspect to consider is if the current IT infrastructure in your organization will support the incoming ERP business management software you want to deploy. Also, make sure the ERP software is regulatory compliant.
2. The Total Cost of Acquisition
The common mistake businesses make when determining the cost of an ERP solution is that they look at the cost of the software alone, not knowing that it goes beyond that.
Your business needs to also consider other costs like.
· Cost of implementation.
· Cost of hardware and servers (either on-premise or cloud).
· Consultation fee.
· In-house resources and personnel to maintain it.
· Post-implementation support.
3. Evaluate Your Implementation/Integration Partner.
When you don’t carefully evaluate your vendor, you’re leaving a stone unturned which can give room for failure. The implementation is a significant part of the ERP business management software deployment.
Use the following to guide yourself when vetting your vendor.
· Can they get the job done according to your specification?
· What is the ROI you can expect from this deployment?
· What the budget is like?
· How long will it take to implement the software?
· Request references of other exact or similar sites they’ve done.
4. Getting Top Management Buy-in
Another factor that determines the success of an ERP business management software is the top management buy-in, this doesn’t mean they have to be involved in all the steps of implementing the software. However, their involvement in the form of setting the direction, allocating resources, giving the project priority, establishing communication, and periodic evaluations are huge contributors to the success of the project.
5. Establishing a Well-Defined Roadmap
It is critical to develop a roadmap of how the ERP business management software implementation will go. As it ensures a smooth process and divides the project into phases.
The roadmap contains the scope of the project, the execution date, cost, time to start seeing benefits. It should also contain details of the areas of the business that will be affected and how the ERP software is going to improve it.
In addition, a detailed roadmap outlines the sequence at which the modules would be implemented. In most cases, the accounting module is first implemented followed by other add-on modules e.g HR and Payroll, fixed assets, etc.
6. Assembling an inter-departmental Team
As a follow-up to having a roadmap, you’ll need to have an inter-departmental team to manage the implementation. This team should comprise representatives from different departments/units like accounts, HR, IT, inventory/warehouse.
Having an inter-departmental team will ensure the different units are able to ensure the software improves their activities while also creating buy-in by the employee, thereby creating overall project success.
7. Onboarding, Training, and Handholding
Another key element after the implementation of the software is to train and onboard the personnel that will be interfacing and using the software. If they are undertrained, be sure that they won’t take full advantage of the software thereby frustrating the whole efforts to deploy the ERP business management software.
At Softcodes, what we do after training and deploying the ERP software is to do what we call handholding. We support the customer on the software usage for 3-12 months for free till they gain mastery of the software.
It is always working for us, and we have seen some of our competitors implementing this strategy.
Conclusively, deploying an ERP software isn’t rocket science like many make it seem, it just needs you to put measures in place and be realistic. The above tips are to guide or you can read other articles on this blog relating to business management software.
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