Selecting an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or business management solution is a time-consuming task and can be an expensive decision.
Choosing the wrong one for your unique business could halt your company
moving forward, and since 68 percent of software implementations
encounter severe issues or even fail, it’s important to prepare
thoroughly before selecting a solution. The key to preparation is not
only getting educated about the ERP solution environment, but following
these ten steps—in order (and don’t skip any!):
- Make a business case.
What drove your company to start looking for a solution? What are your
objectives? What are your business needs? What do you expect the ROI to
be? Although this is often the hardest internal step, you must answer
these questions—and more—to understand why your company should use an
ERP solution.
- Encourage executive support.
This ERP process must be viewed as a business transformation
initiative, not a technology project, and software is flexible enough
that anyone—even non-tech employees—can use it. Thus, everyone
(especially the executive team) needs to support the project and stay
involved from start to completion.
- Assign a dedicated team.
Figure out who in your company wants and has the capabilities to
dedicate their time fully to the ERP project. Select individuals from a
number of departments—logistics, marketing, finance, etc.—so that you
have multiple viewpoints, and provide them resources to cover their
day-to-day responsibilities, allowing them time to work on the project.
- Align your vision and strategy.
Every business needs a vision and strategy—the key is to align both.
Furthermore, your business processes should reflect the strategy, and
the right ERP solution must have the critical functionality that allows
those processes to work.
- Define project methodology.
Included in your methodology should be a timeline, clear outline of
responsibilities, and stops throughout the process to determine whether
or not you should continue to the next step. It’s vital to plan in
phases instead of the all-at-once approach.
- Execute change management.
It’s one of the most overlooked areas in business, but is critical for
success. There are numerous areas of organizational change management,
and all are important to consider—from business process management and
improvement to ERP performance measurement and optimization, among
others.
- Create metrics.
Without metrics, you risk not knowing down the road if the ERP solution
is working or not. Put together some measurable goals—whether that’s
retail sales and profits or average inventory costs—for each level and department in your organization. Remember that everything is measurable.
- Provide incentives.
Inspire your employees to deliver. Show them why and how it helps them
both personally and professionally. And it doesn’t have to be expensive.
Rewards and promotions work as well as cash to some people—they idea is
to motivate and acknowledge great work.
- Plan post-go live.
Continuous process improvement can make or break your business. Your ERP
solution project does not stop after you go live; in fact, the most
critical benefits of ERP are achieved after implementation.
- Select your ERP solution. After you’ve gone through steps one through nine (remember, in order!), you can focus on selecting the right ERP solution. This step relies upon a number of factors. Will you outsource the research or perform in-house? What publisher are you leaning toward? Which implementation partner will work best with you? Is your infrastructure ready? These are all points to think about when selecting the software.
Although it’s a complex process, it
is absolutely necessary to go through each of the steps above. If you
find yourself becoming overwhelmed with all the information and
different ERP solutions, or you are not sure how to get past a step,
consider finding a partner to help.
Regards,
Sathish
