Implementing an ERP software system represents both a significant technological and cultural change for any manufacturing or distribution organization. An ERP system changes the very nature of individuals’ jobs, roles, and responsibilities within the company. Unfortunately, the ERP industry is wrought with failed implementations or terrible stories of companies not being able to take orders, receive product, or ship orders to customers upon go-live. Read More…
Generally speaking, implementations fail for two reasons. First, the manufacturing or distribution organization’s internal ERP implementation project team was simply not committed to executing the necessary tasks to complete the software implementation in a timely fashion. Similarly, the ERP vendor was not able to deliver what it promised during the sales process or was not equally committed to completing the implementation successfully.
Secondly, and perhaps more commonly, ERP implementations fail because the organization did not select the right ERP solution and vendor in the first place. Successful ERP implementation projects do not begin with signing contracts and paying a software vendor money for software licenses; rather, successful ERP implementation projects begin with a well-structured, quantitative ERP software evaluation process that looks in-depth at each ERP system’s complete set of functional capabilities and how such functionality translates to tangible benefits and potential ROI for the manufacturer or distributor. To a degree, “selecting” an ERP system is different than “buying” an ERP system.
At TGI, we encourage each of our potential new business prospects to evaluate TGI and Enterprise 21 ERP through a thorough, quantitative ERP selection process, and we offer free ERP software selection tools to assist in this process. Depending on the nature of the industry the prospect is in, the prospect’s software requirements across various business departments and units (accounting, order entry, inventory and warehousing, purchasing, manufacturing, etc.) expected software implementation time frame, budget constraints, and countless other factors, we are often times a great fit for the prospect. Other times, however, we may not have the most viable solution for a particular business. The point is that through a thorough ERP software evaluation process, strengths and weaknesses of each software vendor and solution can be identified, allowing organizations to select the best possible ERP solution for their respective businesses while simultaneously providing a stepping stone for organizations to complete their ERP implementation projects successfully.