Large
IT and ERP projects are difficult and can be disruptive to any
organization if not planned and executed properly. Such an initiative
can actually increase your costs, decrease morale, increase
frustration, and show limited business benefits. JMDSolutions helps its
clients to overcome these problems and clearly understands how to
ensure you realize the benefits of ERP. JMDSolutions's consultants are
experts at identifying, measuring, and maximizing the business benefits
and ROI of ERP implementations in order to ensure ERP benefits and
success.
Many assume
success or failure is the fault of the software you purchase, but in
reality, 95% of a project's success or failure is in the hands of the
company implementing the software, not the software vendor.
Here are just a few ERP implementation critical success factors that we have seen:
1.
Focus on business processes and requirements first : Too often,
companies get tied up in the technical capabilities or platforms that a
particular software supports. None of this really matters. What really
matters is how you want your business operations to run and what your
key business requirements are. Once you have this defined, you can
engage in a more effective ERP software selection process.
2.
Focus on achieving a healthy ERP ROI (Return on Investment) : This
requires doing more than just developing a high-level business case to
get approval from upper management or your board of directors. It also
entails establishing key performance measures, setting baselines and
targets for those measures, and tracking performance after go-live.
This is the only way to maximize the business benefits of ERP.
3.
Strong project management and resource commitment : At the end of the
day, your company owns the success or failure of a large ERP project,
so you should manage it accordingly. This includes ensuring you have a
strong project manager and your "A-player" from the business to support
and participate in the project.
4.
Commitment from company executives : Any project without support from
it's top-management will fail. Support from a CIO or IT Director is
fine, but it's not enough. No matter how well-run a project is,
problems arise (such as conflicting business needs), so the CEO and
your entire C-level staff needs to be on board to drive some of these.
5.
Take time to plan up front : An ERP vendor's motive is to close a deal
as soon as possible. Yours should be to make sure it gets done right.
Too often, companies jump right in to a project without validating the
software vendor's understanding of business requirements or their
project plan. The more time you spend ensuring these things are done
right at the beginning of the project, the less time you'll spend
fixing problems later on.
6.
Ensure adequate training and change management : ERP systems involve
big change for people, and the system will not do you any good if
people do not understand how to use it effectively. Therefore, spending
time on money on training, change management, job design, etc. is
crucial to any ERP project.
7.
Make sure you understand why you're implementing ERP : This is arguably
the most important one. It's easy to see that many big companies are
running SAP or Oracle and maybe you should too, but it's harder to
consider that maybe you don't need an ERP system at all. Perhaps
process improvement, organizational redesign, or targeted best-of-breed
technology will meet your business objectives at a lower cost. By
clearly understanding your business objectives and what you're trying
to accomplish with an ERP system, you will be able to make a more
appropriate decision on which route to take, which may or may not
involve ERP.
By ensuring
you have these 7 critical success factors in place, your organization
will be much more likely to maximize the business benefits of ERP.
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