Selecting an ERP solution is not an easy task and when tasked with go live decisions to meet the deadline, it becomes all the more hectic. Usually an ERP Implementation may take few months to few years to actually go live and start giving ROI. In such cases, the management may be in a fix to deploy the ERP soon and Go Live with the solution. But if the decision is taken in a haste, it may ruin the whole project and do more harm than good. There is a huge cost which is involved in the solution in terms of actual pricing, resources and time. If the decision is taken in a haste, then the whole project will go for a toss.
How will you take the Go Live or No Go Live decisions ?
Is the new ERP solution now fulfilling your exact business needs?
This is the most important question to answer reason being that a lot of times, over-customization happens and the company might lose its vision and the purpose for which the ERP solution was built. In the end of the customization, if the solution is not as per the business requirement, then even when the Go Live happens, the company will not be able to benefit from it.
Over Customization can also delay the Go Live date and the company might end up losing more than what they have bargained for. There are very few ERP solutions available which are resilient and flexible to meet your requirements or prepare yourself for customizations, hence, the company would opt for customizations. The company should see to it that the customizations do not delay the Go – Live date. To prevent this from happening, the company should keep their requirements very specific and just restrict to what they need.
Complex systems usually cause user adoption issues in the employees
If the ERP software is very complicated, then the users will face a lot of issues in adapting to it, hence increasing the Go – Live date. If the users themselves are not trained properly, they will not be able to use the system to its full potential, hence, causing issues for the company.
To avoid this scenario, the company should have a clear understanding with the ERP Vendor about how the training will be given to the employees. It is not a good practice to depend on user guide or some PDFs supplied by ERP vendors. These documents are good to read but you can’t completely rely on it because those will be standard documents not customized for your business.
Un-customized training and not adequate training will prove to be harmful for the company and may affect the Go – Live decision. It will not be feasible to Go – Live without the complete training done for all the staff and the management.
Is it a good time to go-live?
Go – Live during the peak season for the company spells a huge mistake. Usually after a Go – Live, there might be some issues which may crop up from the system. It may also involve visiting the code again and re-deployment. If the Go- Live happens during the peak season, the company may face loss of transactions in some way or the other. Go – Live during the off-season will help the company to cope up with the Go-Live issues effectively with losing minimal data.
Also, migration of complete data is very important before going live. Be careful, take baby steps while implementing the ERP Solution, it will definitely help to mitigate the risk that can occur while using newly implemented solution.
To know more about smooth ERP Implementation, write to Sage Software Solutions at sales@sagesoftware.co.in
