The ERP Implementation Process; A Tool For Bottom-Up Improvement
If you’re just getting started on the long road of the ERP implementation process and have sifted through several options for your platform provider, you’ve probably heard it all from the software sales people. How ERP software can make your organization’s day-to-day operations thousands of times easier, how the technology can automate tasks and data entry that might have taken hours previously—the sales pitch goes on. However, when implementing new enterprise software, you shouldn’t just be thinking about modeling your ERP to your current processes, you should also consider this an opportunity to fundamentally change and improve your business processes themselves.
Business Process Modeling
One of the key stages of an ERP implementation is the modeling of your business processes—mapping out every role, task and interaction within your system. Enterprise resource planning software is built to support all of the usual jobs that an organization goes through day-to-day, and you need to illustrate and understand every job you will be asking your new software to do. Of course, this part of the ERP implementation process is crucial; you need your ERP built to support every aspect, task and role on day one of go-live. However, the need for ERP support for every single one of your business processes begs the question; are you sure all of your business processes are the best they can be?
Use The ERP Implementation Process to Support Business Goals
Hopefully, during the decision making and selection stage of the ERP implementation process, you’ve sat down with your C-suite and project team and laid out the objectives of your project. They should be similar to the things you brought up to justify that new ERP to your C-Suite; increased ROI, ease of software use, stronger organizational data and greater interconnection within your enterprise. Obviously, that ERP software should be helping you get there, but are there inefficiencies that you don’t need to build that ERP software around? Obviously, enterprise software customizations can be complex and costly, and customizing around something that is not absolutely necessary to your business’ success is a colossal waste of time and money during that ERP implementation process. If the ERP is meant to make your business more efficient, then take the time to ensure that all your business processes are as efficient as they can be before you map that new software onto them—then you’ll be even more amazed by the results after going live.
Transformation Beyond Technology
The business process modeling stage of an ERP implementation should never be seen as a stagnant activity—simply talking through tasks and putting pen to paper. You need to use the meetings with your project team and every employee to remodel those business processes that might not be the most efficient, or that are repeated throughout departments that can be fixed by accumulating into a single software process. The most important takeaway from the ERP implementation processes should be the emphasis on development on all levels of a business, not just the software suite. Leverage the change to incite further innovation in all aspects of your business.
Using the ERP implementation process as a transformative tool will garner even more rewards for your business than just the cost savings and increased efficiency that come advertised with the software. Go beyond the sales pitch and take the business process modeling as a tool to overview every single business process and tasks that go into your end product and really prioritize before even beginning to build out that new software.
About to set out on your own enterprise software implementation? Get in contact with one of Datix’s expert consultants today. We have over 18 years of experience in ERP implementations for businesses of all sizes and the world over. We can come in at any stage of the ERP implementation process and help you work at constructing the right ERP system for you and transforming your business processes along the way.
