Irrespective of how efficient you are or how skillful your team of professionals is, when adopting a new system, failures are bound to happen. As a developer or the leader, it is important for you to step above, assess the system, and prepare strategies to embed a change.
Similar is the case with respect to ERP implementation. The fact that there has been a constant hype with all the cloud computing tools and corresponding solutions, more and more organizations are planning to restructure their organization. ERP implementation here stands as the most common solution.
Though a promising solution, a few of the industry leaders are worried about ERP implementation failures. Definitely, the solution comes in with a huge cost and one would not want the same to fail. Yet, stepping back is not the right way to deal with change.
To help you out, we have created a checklist that would allow you to avoid making ERP implementation failures. Without much ado, let’s move ahead and uncover the same.
- Define Business Goals
The first step when gearing towards a transformation is to outline the end to end goals of the business. What this suggests is that long before jumping on the automation bandwagon, one must have a clear understanding of the business goals. This helps prevent ERP implementation failures while aligning strategies in a way that effectively maps to the business objectives.
- Gather Your Requirements First
The next step towards ERP implementation is to stack up all the requirements within your business organization. Having a clear perspective of the features and the functionalities mandating change is a must. There always lies a possibility when you can shift your entire business to ERP but that’s not the smart way out.
It is important to analyze and assess your system and find processes that require ERP implementation. Identifying the pain points of a system is also necessary as it helps reduce the problems of post-migration.
- Consult Your Employees Before Migration
Wondering why would you ask them? Often, it so happens that managers consult their leaders, the key decision-makers, and the stakeholders, neglecting the end of employees. The employees are the ones who would use the system more, and they are the ones who were accustomed to the issues and glitches with the traditional system. Seeking their advice and taking their help to find out what processes need automation helps avoid ERP implementation failures.
- Selecting The Right ERP Software
Once you have chalked out the processes and are confirmed about the processes that need to be migrated to the ERP software, you now need to step ahead and select the ERP software for your business.
There is a trend where business leaders make a purchase through referrals or mindlessly invest in single software as their competitor is using it. While this might be an easy way to get started, it isn’t the best practice. For every business, the selected software must be one that has features required for effective business operation.
- Collaborating with the ideal partner
Even though you have employed some of the best experts in the industry, you cannot rely on them for the migration process. The fact that migration is a crucial process, an inefficient method could account for ERP implementation failures. Hence, the need here is for an expert and one who is well aware of the in and out of ERP assessment, integration, and implementation.
Make sure you aren’t moved by the timeline. Even if you want quick results, make it a point that you prioritize quality. The right partner will not just help you transform your business but also optimize processes for better productivity.
- Opt For Long-term Planning
ERP implementation isn’t a one day task or something that wipes out soon. ERP solution is bound to transform every business and in order to make the most out of it, plan for the long term.
Pick solutions that help you grow in the long run. Selecting software that limits the number of users or doesn’t allow you to extend your business in the future would do more bad than good. It is important that you create a roadmap for at least five years in advance for better results.
- Make Sure Data is Correct
Entering the wrong data in the ERP system would lead to inaccurate results. Before starting out and flooding data within the system, learn to you it right first.
In order to avoid ERP implementation failures, you need to assess all of the data, find the appropriate ones, and then migrate them. Remove all the unnecessary data from your database. This in a way cuts down the time needed to engineer the change, increasing efficiency.
- Rigorous Testing Procedures
Install an active environment where the implemented software can be tested in a continuum. A primary reason behind ERP implementation failures is the inappropriate testing phase.
Having an environment where you can effectively test the solution not only outlines the errors within the same but also facilitates a future proof solution. In addition to the above, rigorous testing would reduce the downtime, fix system overloading issues, invalid data integration, and unauthorized access.
- Train your team
Once again your employees come into the picture. Your employees are the ones who would use the system. If they are incompetent and not aware of the technicalities of the system, it would account for ERP implementation failures.
It is important that you schedule training modules for your staff to educate them and make them aware of the same. Working on the ERP system, the modules and the keystrokes help understand how to run the system effectively.
- Seek After Implementation Services
While all of the above were confined to the phases before the ERP implementation process, this one is after you have integrated the same within your organization.
ERP integration is a long process and will require assistance post-implementation.
Look for partners that offer after implementation support. Even if your vendor doesn’t provide significant support post-integration, set aside a budget to hire someone that will provide support. This will help you avoid all sorts of ERP implementation failures.
Conclusion
Remember it is not the solution that leads to errors but the way the same has been implemented is the major cause of failures. Dealing with ERP implementation failures is not a tough task to do.
Also, it isn’t something that you do after the software has been integrated within your business infrastructure.
In fact, the road to seamless system migration begins with the ideation phase itself. You must plan and strategize beforehand to avoid errors and issues, in the long run, leading to a successful migration.
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