The checklist to avoid the ERP implementation failure
Posted On November Monday 8, 2021
It was reported that in 2004, the HP Company recorded a 5% drop in its profits due to delays, cost overruns, and loss of revenue implementing a centralized ERP system for the entire organization.
Vodafone missed migrating several of its clients to a new ERP platform it was implementing by the time it was revealed had to carry a fine of 4.6 million pounds sterling.
While ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is the backbone of the all-kind business, a wrong implementation has long and long lasting effect on an organization. One of the hardest things about successfully executing a plan for something as expansive as NetSuite ERP software is making sure you avoid the unintended pitfalls that could undermine even the best-designed plans.
Even with a strong conceptual understanding of ERP systems and the implementation process itself, there are several things you need to keep in mind to make the business process smooth.
Here are few thing to avoid for a successful implementation:
Not doing efficient planning
Planning is one of the crucial factor for the implementation of an ERP system and many companies end up forgetting to have a right launch for the project. This makes the understanding of the processes erroneous, and those who are involved get lost during the course of the project. And that’s not what you want for your business, right?
So, when implementing an ERP system, start with a building a committee which should comprise executives and management which establishes strategy and priorities, identify the right project teams, hardware infrastructure installation and more. This team would keep engaging the end users to enable a smoother transition. Such steering committees help in having a handle over the entire execution at all times.
Not choosing the right ERP
Before making any decision, you have to know what the real need of your company is and plan the best way to solve it. A preliminary investigation can be made on the available ERPs in the market and doing a comparison between them. Try to understand the operational demands of your business, define the areas that require ERP assistance and select them according to the one that best suits your purposes.
In the same way, knowing the benefits and limitations of ERPs is vital in order to expect ideal results from the solution. Oracle NetSuite ERP has been one of the best ERP systems for businesses of all sizes including large enterprise.
Inadequate budget for implementation
First of all, you must realize one crucial thing: implementing ERP software takes time and money. Unfortunately, this fact is often missed by members of an organization who are not well informed of both the required investments and the potential returns from an ERP system. Due to the intensely competitive nature of many industries, there can be extreme pressure to produce results quickly and save money doing so.
Without a deep conceptual understanding of what it takes to get an ERP system up and running, it can be easy to focus on short-term costs without considering the potential for long-term ROI.
Believing that the implementation will be immediate
The implementation of NetSuite ERP is fast, as long as the entrepreneur makes the necessary effort to organize and load their data. But as it has to integrate different areas of the accounting, logistics, Sales and more it requires collaboration of all personnel involved in various departments and hence the implementation also depend upon various factors including availability of data, how trained and willing the team is to name few.
It is important that a realistic expectation is arrived in consultation with the implementation team to set right expectations and implementation is not done under immense pressure which leads to mistakes.
Lack of staff training
Did you know that the most common cause of ERP projects failing is lack of training? Yes, this is real and needs your attention. Transition is one of the biggest challenges in ERP implementation and employees should be offered training to help them bring in the change comfortably. Various mix of learning media, such as online tutorial classes, user guides, resources related to frequently asked questions are to be built for a easy transition.
A wrong migration of data can unleash real chaos
The migration of data from the old system to the new ERP is undoubtedly another of the most delicate moments. If you are not careful in transforming and cleaning the data, you will not only lose valuable information but will also waste a lot of time.
Thus, in this process, the test environment is once again the key because here, you can see the errors that may appear and, consequently, correct them in the best way. This point is also important when choosing the ERP. You must choose software like NetSuite that offers good compatibility with your current system, since; otherwise, data cleaning may take too long.
Wrapping Up
An ERP solution is not a one-time event but an ongoing process. It is something that the company has to continually maintain control to avoid any systemic aberrations or failures that could affect the functionality of the ERP software.
Finally, regular software updates from the vendor are one of the solution requirements after the deployment is complete. Maintenance should also be performed periodically as an aspect of ongoing support, which helps ensure a smooth, functional solution.
Does your company want to successfully and effectively implement ERP systems for business processes? Then, you have the support of our NetSuite Consultants at all times, and we will accompany you in the implementation process to make it a total success.
