Learning From an Unsuccessful ERP Implementation

“Try. Fail. Learn. Repeat”

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications offer a lot of valuable services to an organization including fixing bugs in service delivery to cost-cutting. But there are various factors that may cause freaks in the smooth workflow after or during the implementation of an ERP application in your organization.

Generally, an ERP package contains around ten to thirty modules for automating almost all your business processes. While integrating this platform into your infrastructure, it may loud various problems due to multiple reasons. Few experts suggest that most of the time the failure arises due to people or the software. It can be due to wrong management, inadequate resources, deadline issue, cost factor, etc.

According to Gartner’s’ prediction, around 90 percent of the organizations will fail to implement the ERP successfully in their infrastructure. Well, even if companies incorporate the use of Quality Management System Software to ensure the end-quality of the product, they lack in the beginning. Why does it fail? The reasons can be many but try to adopt the below-discussed strategies to achieve the desired results:

Half Baked Commitments:

A typical ERP application takes 12 to 18 months for implementation. But few executives think that ERP can be implemented in very little time, cost, and without any contingency. It’s not their fault, ERP vendors promote their product in this manner that anyone could believe that its implementation is that easy and fast. Even software executives will tell you that it can be implemented within a few months. But, don’t believe in these unrealistic facts which can lead to inadequate budget and resource allocations. So it is very essential to outline all your requirements before making your first move towards its implementation.

Avoiding General Deficiencies in Application :

Various organizations failed to notice some requirements of the implementation. Or there may also be any system functionalities that are neglected before the installation such as any flaw in the configuration. Improper management can also be the one reason for a zig-zag workflow. Ignoring these flaws isn’t the right option, instead, try to resolve these issues before they become the root cause of your failure.

‘Training’- Well, who needs that?

Understand that training is not an afterthought, but it’s a necessity. Training makes a revolutionary change as it makes a user to embrace the system. People who get trained with the properly designed and clarified objectives can understand the complete potential. They are fully prepared to embrace new technologies to accomplish their work easily. While without proper training every step to your goal seems difficult and challenging.

ERP will bring Victory :

ERP demands proper carefulness. Since you have decided to implement it in your system, each corner of your business need to examine closely. From technology, hardware, applications to operations, and management- everything is examined carefully and are documented to get better insights. Once successfully implemented, the analysis of the data collected from your system will help you to uncover the relevant information for making critical business decisions. Applying big data analytics through Hadoop or Spark like technologies will produce the desired results.

Resource Management is necessary :

Improper resource management is one common blunder observe in the ERP implementation. Some organizations allocate resources in the beginning before mapping their complete requirements. Without the complete knowledge of the internal and external resource demand, its projection is critical. Try to maintain backup resources for the critical scenarios which may happen during the implementation. Consult with the expertise to understand the skills, time, resources, quantity, etc., needed for the ERP. Ask your departments such as Accounts, Finance, Supply and Distribution, IT, etc., to outline the internal key areas which can cause the problem during the ERP implementation.

In a few cases, organisations need additional applications during the implementation which wasn’t mentioned in the budget. So, try to allocate little budget for such expenses.

If successfully applied, ERP will change technology, structure, tactics, and the way of doing business. The only thing that remains the same is the main objective of your business. Few organizations fail in the beginning because they don’t seek for a change instead they implement it directly in their traditional business environment without even performing any audit or making a powerful strategy. ERP brings victory to those who understand it well.