ERP Implementation guide

The Ideal Approach to ERP for success.

Implementation guide to optimize rate of success

Implementing ERP is a radical change both technologically and all other levels with management co-ordination and overall acceptance throughout the organization.

It is fair to say the success of ERP depends upon the company’s openness to change, the employees, management and vendor are all involved at a certain level to ensure this success. The vendor must be able to sensitively help everyone understand the short term and long term advantages acting as the “change-agent” rather than being a spectator watching from outside the boundaries.

However, the indispensable fact that tons of implementations fail due to lack of a proper and structured review before hand cannot be overlooked.

Every business is different, every organization has complications that require a custom approach to be able to deal with, “one size doesn’t fit all” is a befitting statement in this scenario.

Ideally a business is filtered and assessed on the basis of various criteria’s to determine whether or not ERP is a viable option for them.

Here are a few guidelines that will help for a seamless ERP implementation within your organization.

-          Under and Underline precise goals:

An Investment in ERP is one that can actually provide for huge returns, albeit it comes with the condition that everything is pre-determined and ready to go.

The initial steps involves evaluation of the companies, determining areas that need more focus that others, measuring possible risks and complications and outlining a counter for them are all important to have an overview of the whole project.

-          Evaluate ERP solutions strategically:

Post Documentation evaluate specific areas within your business that can benefit the most of out an ERP system, this will help understand the scope of application within the business for your ERP software and also allow you to understand which areas are more suitable than others and how to go about them.

-          Integrate your ERP solutions and opt for customizations:

Every business has elements that help it stand out of the crowd which is also essential for survival, however, with that being said, every difference also calls for a different resource that your business demands.

 Depending on the industry that it operates within and the customer base it caters to your ERP vendor might have to be open and able to provide customizations within the software as the business grows.

-          Familiarize your employee base:

Change is not always welcome, most generally at large scale. When talking about ERP implementation, it ideally changes your business functioning almost entirely for good.

Your ERP vendor must act as the “change-agent” and be able to communicate the short term and long-term benefits that the organization will enjoy after the “shift” phase concludes.

In terms of software familiarity, your employees have to all understand everything from A to Z, the fundamentals of the suite that is implemented within your organization.

In a nutshell:

There isn’t “one” determining factor when it comes to successful ERP implementations, rather a plethora of segments that need to be carefully assessed, reviewed and taken care of strategically.

Planning well in advance, having a back-up plan and estimating risk and complications, management-employees co-ordination can all go a long way in determining whether your ERP software will be a success of failure.