Your office’s ERP system is practically its life’s blood. Choosing to upgrade or even switch to a different ERP system is a momentous decision. It’s not the same as upgrading typical software from your home computer. There’s hardware considerations, downtime to schedule, employee training to plan, and that’s not to mention all of the customizations needed to suit your individual business and transferring all of your system data from old to new.
These are just a few reasons why many organizations drag their feet when it comes to ERP installation and changes. As such, it’s even worse when the installation or upgrade project is failing. But how do you know when it is failing? More importantly, what do you do when you discover it is failing?
9 Clear Signs the ERP Project is Failing
- Significant cost and schedule overruns happen in the implementation. No effective mitigation and prevention is in sight.
- The solution and vendor selection was delegated to IT or another business group, and the business as a whole was not part of it.
- The executive sponsor isn’t really participating in the project hands-on, but serves as a figurehead.
- A year or so after the deployment, you still can’t demonstrate any of the results you hoped for.
- The solution is implemented, but highly customized. Costs and management overhead will thus only increase.
- You didn’t have a clear, prioritized list of goals for the project, and you can’t even share any ERP goals with your employees. Random results ensue.
- The existing business processes are translated to ERP without any optimizations. It’s business as usual, with different technology.
- ERP does not fit the way the company’s processes operate and requires users to either work around it or make adjustments. But these changes aren’t more productive or efficient.
- The chemistry, communications, or collaboration between your ERP partner and your stakeholders aren’t satisfactory. It’s unlikely the outcome will be what you want.
Many companies are too tolerant of ERP systems and projects that don’t deliver what they individually need. Don’t let your business tolerate an ERP system that doesn’t deliver what your organization needs. If you observe any of these nine events and conditions, it’s time to change course. Call in a different ERP partner, replace the ERP solution, or revise the approach if it’s not too late to do so.
If you’re looking for more information on ensuring your ERP implementation project goes right, please check out our free ebook: Getting ERP Right: Success vs. Horror Story. Need help with your ERP project? Contact us at any time.
